Naturalization Denied

[SkyWox]

Hello,

I have a few questions if I may.

1. What is the period of time for someone that is getting married to a Green Card holder to get his/her own: a) Temporary Green Card and/or b) Permanent Green Card?
2. Does it matter if the Green Card holder was recently denied Naturalization by USCIS due to "unable to prove continuous residence in US for past 5 years"? (His/Her passport, issued by another country after the US Green Card was obtained, had as declared country of residence that country and not US)
3. Will the issue from pct. 2 make the Green Card holder non-eligible for a new Green Card at the time of the expiration of current card?
4. How fast can the Green Card holder reapply for the Naturalization process? (USCIS did not say anything in their letter)
5. Is there a minimum amount of income that is required for the GC holder to have to be eligible for Marriage visa (the partner has already a kid under 18 y.o.)? (should be noted that the Green Card holder has debts of 52,000 USD and an annual gross income of aprox 34,000 USD)
6. Does it matter that the partner (the one with the kid) overstayed his/her tourist visa in US, by several months already, at the time when they decided to get married and if it does, how will their process get impacted?

Thank you

[newacct]

1. There is no "temporary green card". If you mean a conditional permanent resident with a 2-year green card, they will become a conditional permanent resident if they are married for less than 2 years on the day they become a permanent resident, and they will become a non-conditional permanent resident if they are married for more than 2 years on the day they become a permanent resident. If they do Adjustment of Status in the US, they become a permanent resident when their AOS is approved. If they do Consular Processing abroad, they become a permanent resident when they enter the US with their immigrant visa.

2. no

3. No. Continuous residence is separate from the question of whether you maintained residence.

4. You can reapply as soon as you meet the continuous residence requirement again. See USCIS Policy Manual volume 12 part D chapter 3 section C-1 and C-2 for details on when you can apply after an interruption of continuous residence. If you interrupted continuous residence by an absence of between 6 months and 1 year, and was not able to present sufficient evidence of ties to overcome the presumption you interrupted continuous residence, you can apply 4 years and 6 months after returning from that absence. If you interrupted continuous residence by an absence of more than 1 year, then it depends on whether you are able to present the same sufficient evidence that would have overcome the presumption you interrupted continuous residence for people who were absent between 6 months and 1 year. If you are able to present such evidence, you can apply 4 years and 1 day after returning from that absence; if you are unable to present such evidence, you can apply 4 years and 6 months after returning.

5. Well the petitioner needs to fill out an I-864 Affidavit of Support, showing sufficient household income, or find a joint sponsor who also fills out an I-864 who can show sufficient household income. Sufficient income for a household size of 3 would be $27,150. Also note that I-944 public charge questionnaire will also need to be filled out which will also require showing sufficient household income.

6. It does matter they overstayed before applying for Adjustment of Status. Only people in the Immediate Relative category (spouse, parent, or unmarried under-21 child of US citizen) can do AOS after being out of status. As spouse of a permanent resident, they are in the F2A category. They are not eligible for AOS if they are out of status.

The alternative to AOS is Consular Processing abroad, which requires leaving the US, which will trigger a ban when they leave the US (if they accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence and then leave the US, that triggers a 3-year ban; if they accrued more than 1 year of unlawful presence and then leave the US, that triggers a 10-year ban; they started accruing unlawful presence when their I-94 expired). An immigrant waiver for this ban is possible if they can show that their US citizen or permanent resident spouse or parent (e.g. you, the permanent resident spouse) will suffer "extreme hardship" if they can't be in the US. This "extreme hardship" is very hard to show. It is possible to apply for a provisional waiver for this ban before leaving the US by filing I-601A, so they can know the result before leaving the US.

The other option is to stay in the US illegally until you naturalize, at which point they can do Adjustment of Status in the US, without needing any waivers because they don't have a ban as they didn't leave the US.