green card (i130 form) Italian spouse of an American citizen

[robertino]

Hi,

my wife is an American citizen and are planning to move in the US; at the moment we live in Italy and we have been married for 5 years

I have some questions about obtaining a green card as a spouse of a US citizen:

- Do I need to be physically present in the American territory while I wait for my application to be processed, or I can just apply from Italy and wait there?

- How long does it generally take to obtain a Green Card?

- Am I supposed to live in the US for a minimum amount of days a year, in order not to get my green card revoked?

Thanks to everyone willing to help me,

Roberto.

[Enub4]

If in USA then you can do Adjustment Of Status (AOS) if you are in another country then you need to do consular processing.

Due to Covid, everything is taking longer to process. Usually, consular processing takes more time than AOS. You should not travel to USA with the intention to immigrate with a non-immigrant visa.

The GC is the document that is given to permanent residents, in theory, you should live in the USA (one definition is more than half the time a year). If for some reason you need to travel a lot, you should keep strong ties to USA and try to return once within 180 days. Even then, an officer at the POE can question if they see that you expend more time each year outside the USA.