Because the purpose of a fiancé visa is solely for the beneficiary to enter the United States to marry the US citizen petitioner, the fiancé visa is subject to certain restrictions. Only marriage to the US citizen petitioner who filed the fiancé petition allows the fiancé beneficiary to adjust status to permanent resident. The fiancé beneficiary cannot change status to another type of nonimmigrant visa (such as an H-1B employment based visa or an F-1 student visa etc.).

Since it often takes approximately two years for the I-751 to be adjudicated, many people ask if they can apply for Naturalization upon the three year anniversary of their Green Card if they are still married to their US Citizen spouse. Well, it’s really quite simple. Since a Permanent Resident (Conditional Resident is a Permanent Resident with all the rights of a Permanent Resident) is permitted to apply for Naturalization upon the three year anniversary of their Green Card (90 days before) then even a Conditional Resident is eligible to apply for Naturalization even thought their I-751 is pending. What happens is that at the Naturalization interview, if the I-751 is still pending, the Immigration Officer will adjudicate the I-751 right there before they proceed with the Naturalization interview.

Numerous H-1B visa holders request an adjustment of status through their employers, but they must wait a long time before getting their Green Cards. This is one of the main reasons that even if you have an employment based Green Card pending, many H-1B holders with US Citizen or Permanent Resident spouses opt to have their spouses sponsor them right after they get married.

I recently had a couple of consultations where a US citizen was attempting to sponsor a second spouse for a Green Card. I would attribute this to the high level of divorces that occurred during the pandemic period. But let’s take a look at what it means when the US Citizen spouse divorces spouse number one and secured a Green Card for them but the marriage eventually ended in divorce. Now, the US citizen has since remarried and has a second spouse who they are thinking about sponsoring for a Green Card. I decided to create this article to discuss this issue and to provide my opinions on what might occur or what special considerations you might need to make in this circumstance. Now, I've seen this play out in various ways numerous times.

If you become a resident based on a recent marriage (less than two years) you become a “conditional” permanent resident (conditional Green Card holder). Normally, you would file a petition with your husband or wife on the two year anniversary of your permanent resident status (90 days before the two years to be exact) in order to obtain a permanent ten year Green Card. If the marriage ends before your petition is filed, or your spouse refuses to cooperate with your petition – you may still be eligible to become a permanent resident and remove conditions on your Green Card successfully.

At Khunkhun Law, family based immigration is our bread and butter. We have accompanied clients to adjustment of status interviews hundreds of times and have a great deal of experience with respect to what you can expect when it comes to your interview. Marriage based adjustment of status cases especially, require very special interview preparation because the case depends on documentation almost as much as the clients’ testimony.

Whether you are married to a U.S. citizen or a Green Card holder, the way these cases are managed can differ significantly. Also, the timelines for the latter can be longer which means that the H-1B spouse will have to make sure that they take care of their status while the Green Card case is pending.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) grants conditional permanent residence first. Then, it begins an inquiry into the legitimacy of the marriage. Accordingly, as part of the joint petition, documentary evidence showing that the marriage was bona-fide needs to be submitted. The timeline for filing this Joint Petition with the USCIS service center is 90 days before the expiry of two years from the date of the initial grant of conditional permanent residence.