getting married on visitor visa with gc holder

[keyur]

Hi There,
If a visitor visa holder gets married to a green card holder in USA then is the visitor visa holder eligible to get green card immediately. If not immediately then how long does it take?
Above all, is such a marriage considered legal in USA?

If anyone knows an answer to this then please reply,

Thanks All,

Keyur

[JoeF]

"If a visitor visa holder gets married to a green card holder in USA then is the visitor visa holder eligible to get green card immediately."

No.

"If not immediately then how long does it take?"

5+ years. During this time, the person would have to maintain legal status on his or her own. Quite impossible in visitor status...

"Above all, is such a marriage considered legal in USA?"

Sure, the marriage is legal. That has nothing to do with immigration, though. The person will still have to maintain legal status on his or her own.

[keyur]

getting married on visitor visa with gc holder

Thanks JoeF,
if you know answers to the question below then can you pelase help?

1) What would be the status of the visitor visa holder after getting married in USA?
2) Can visitor visa holder work and study in USA?
3) Can the visitor visa holder travel out of USA while he/she is waiting to get a green card?

I appreciate your help on this. Thanks a lot.

[JoeF]

"1) What would be the status of the visitor visa holder after getting married in USA?"

Visitor. Marriage to a PR does not change the status. Even if an I-130 is filed, the status is not changed. The person has to maintain legal status on his or her own. For a visitor, that means that the person has to leave the country when the allowed stay as listed on the I-94 is up.

"2) Can visitor visa holder work and study in USA?"

No.

"3) Can the visitor visa holder travel out of USA while he/she is waiting to get a green card?"

Leaving the country is not a problem. However, the person would most likely not be able to come back, since the person has demonstrated immigration intent, which is incompatible with most non-immigrant visas.
In addition, if the person stayed longer than the allowed time on the I-94, the person may be banned for 3 years (if overstaying over 6 months) or 10 years (if overstaying over 1 year).