I married her!

[Skipper]

I am a US Citizen by birth. Last week, I married a woman from Nigeria who originally entered the US on a student visa. About a year after her arrival, due to a lack of funds, she was unable to continue taking classes (she did take classes for 3 semesters prior to this). During the time she was taking classes, she entered the 'green card lottery', and won. When she went to the resulting interview and revealed that she was not presently a student due to lack of tuition funds, she was denied her green card and instructed that since she was not presently in school, she was here illegally and must immediately return to Nigeria, but she was not deported. She has since remained in the US, has continued working in the job she obtained when her paperwork was current, and has returned to school for several semesters. My question: Do I simply need to file form I-130 for her? Is there anything else to do? Should/can I file an Adjustment of Status? She hates her current job and wants to change jobs, so we need to get her legal to work as soon as possible, and our funds are quite tight. Please help!

Thanks.

[PraetorianXI]

Because of marriage to an US citizen, her "being out of status" will be forgiven and she is eligible to apply I-130 and I-485 (plus all of the other documentation).

She will not, however, be able to leave the country until she gets a Green Card. Even with an travel permit, she is subject to a 3-10 year ban.

[Skipper]

I married her!

Thanks so much for your quick reply, but I am unclear on what is meant by "(plus all of the other documentation)". I feel that I can carefully follow the instructions and successfully file forms I-130 and I-485 on my own, and that the forms themselves will require certain documentation, which I would expect to be explicitly suggested by the official instructions that accompany the forms - is this ALL the "other documentation" you were speaking of? Just trying to be sure I don't overlook any important steps here, and that there's not any additional forms that I need to file (on her behalf).

Thanks again, very much, for all your help, both to myself and to so many others here.

[PraetorianXI]

By additional documentation I mean: Forms I-684, I-693, I-693 Supplemental, I-765, I-131, g-325A.

And all of the copies of the evidence: Marriage license, passports, etc.