who do i contact

[stormydayz]

I am a u.s. citizen, going to marry a refugee who lives in greece, i am trying to find out after we marry where do i go to present my papers of our marriage, and how long does it take to get through all the paper work, before he can come to the states and live with me? Should we hire a lawyer?

[Amir]

First you have to be sure you want to do this.

If he is NOT a legal resident of Greece, you may not be able to get married in Greece as many countries require at least one to be a legal resident; and even if you marry in Greece, the US consulate in Greece will not interview him there unless he is a legal resident there, so he may have to return to his country of legal residence to obtain an immigrant visa to the US, which he may not be able to do if he is truly a political (versus economic) refugee.

If he is legal there, find out what documents you need to get married there. When you go over, take immigration forms I-130 and G325 and instructions with you -- you can download and print them off the internet.

[stormydayz]

forms??

Thank you for the advise, i have already been to greece and we tried to marry already, he is a refugee from turkey due to the war he fled there and now resides in greece, but is originally from ghana, he has his pink card so he is a legal refugee of greece, that part we know we can marry there, but as for after the marriage, i am not sure so you are saying to take these forms with me? I have already been to the american embassy in greece, to annouce our marriage and we showed the proper forms, and the marriage consulate, and we have all or our papers translated into greek. I am just unsure of how to begin the process after the marriage and these forms i can download from the net i need to take with me for after the marriage? Thank you so mucch for your help and support.

[Amir]

If you are white, I highly recommend filing thru an immigration attorney.

If you have a CIS loation in town, you can get a complete spouse visa petition PACKET from them, which will include all the forms and instructions. Otherwise, if you want to download and print them from the internet, you will have to do it individually, and I think one copy of I-130 and a few copies of G325 is all you need. He will need to fill out his G325 and sign it, and you will need his info to fill on I-130 so its best to take the forms with you. Then when you return, you can mail them them to the CIS.

[stormydayz]

re:

Thank you so much i don't know if i fully understand, but i will seek legal advise and no i am not white, i am an african american woman. Does it make a difference in your color status when marrying outside your country? I am trying to make sure that when i go to greece this time we have all we need tomake the process go by smoothly. YOu have been a big help. Although this is so confusing to me?