The Marriage-Based Green Card Process From a US Citizen’s Perspective: Part 1
I’m what you would consider a “typical” American white male — raised in the suburbs, in an overwhelmingly white school with very little diversity or culture. I always knew there was something a little off about that, and while everyone from my hometown basically stayed put and didn’t venture off the beaten path, the rest of the world was calling me.
I grew up about 45 minutes west of Philadelphia. I went to college at Temple University and stayed in the Philly suburbs for nearly six years after I graduated. For most of that time, I was in a relationship with a woman from New Jersey which fell apart in the summer of 2016.
About a year before my relationship ended, I started venturing up the turnpike about once a month to New York City, which I had largely stayed away from until that point in my life. I had a friend staying in northern New Jersey who I would meet in the city every few weekends.
When my relationship ended, my friend tried to set me up with a few different women — he knew a lot of people and had plenty of connections. None of them piqued my interest until, over a group dinner one autumn night in the East Village, I met Flavia.
Flavia was 30, single, from Brazil, and had been living in New York City for a few years. I was immediately captivated by her beauty, her warmth, and I asked for her number that night. After a few weeks of talking and texting, I came back to the city the following month and we went out to dinner. The chemistry between us escalated and within a few weeks, we were in a relationship.
Up front, Flavia told me that she was getting ready to return to Brazil as her visa had recently expired. She had come in a few years earlier as an Au Pair, and by the time I met her, she was technically considered undocumented. We spent a few months together and discussed future plans (something I brought up, not her — to be perfectly clear, this is 100% legitimate and not a fraudulent situation). We agreed to live together for a few months, and if we were both still invested, we’d get married. Flavia voluntarily decided to stay and prioritized building our relationship.
Since Flavia was undocumented, she could not get a drivers’ license, so we needed to settle in a place where mass transit was reliable. I kept my job in Philadelphia but had flexibility to work remote three times a week, so we moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. I wanted to stay within “reasonable” commuting distance for the days I needed to go down to Philly, so because of that and the cost of living, we settled on the Jersey side of the Hudson.
Within a few weeks, I landed a job in Manhattan, and our living situation was working out well. So, on Thanksgiving weekend 2017, I proposed to Flavia, and she said yes! Otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing this, now would I?
I am not particularly close with my extended family. All of her family was in Brazil, so we decided to do a small courthouse ceremony on Jersey City surrounded by a few of our NYC friends. We were married over the week between Christmas and New Years, so we were able to enjoy some time off together. The day before we were married, we even adopted an Italian Greyhound puppy who we named Jackson.
Since Flavia’s visa was expired, she (we) could not travel internationally, and even domestic travel was a risk (more on that later). So there was no honeymoon following our courthouse wedding and a massive dinner at an excellent Brazilian restaurant with our friends on a ridiculously frigid New York night.
Now that we were married, Flavia was now eligible to get a green card and regain her legal status in the United States. Undocumented immigrants do not have many options to obtain or regain legal status, specifically those who crossed the border “illegally”. For those who were properly documented upon their entry, there is a stipulation within US immigration law that allows them to obtain a green card through marriage to a US citizen.
What I will now describe is the first part of the formidable process that must be undertaken by any couple in this situation — note that marriage to a US citizen alone DOES NOT guarantee ANYONE legal immigration status under ANY circumstance.
I had done my homework long before I proposed to Flavia. Everything I had read and been told supported her obtaining a green card successfully — her overstay would be forgiven! Still, I kept asking myself, what if this doesn’t work out? What if the law has changed? What if there’s something I — or she — doesn’t know about her immigration status?
I have battled with anxiety problems all throughout my life, so needless to say, this pushed all the wrong buttons for me. By writing this, I hope I can ease the nerves of you, the reader, who may be asking the same questions I was asking shortly after marrying the love of my life, who happened to be undocumented.
One of my job’s benefits was legal insurance. Through the insurance, we hired a great immigration attorney, and we were responsible only for minimal co-pays. Legal insurance is not a common benefit, so be prepared to rack up at least a couple thousand dollars in lawyer bills if you do hire a lawyer, which is HIGHLY recommended if you are a US citizen marrying an undocumented immigrant. In fact, not hiring a lawyer is basically a suicidal move if your spouse is undocumented.
The lawyer confirmed upon our first meeting that, due to the fact that Flavia was a visa overstay and crossed “legally” (meaning she was issued a visa or any type of temporary permission to stay in the country), she was, under US immigration law, permitted to receive a conditional green card at first through her marriage to me, a US citizen.
Over the next few days, we gathered all of Flavia’s documentation: original visa, Brazilian passport, her ID, her visa renewal (she was granted this after her original Au Pair visa ran out), I-94 (official “arrival/departure” record) and social security card. She was given a social security number because of the Au Pair program, though it is not so common for undocumented immigrants to have ever been issued one.
As the US citizen, I was asked to provide everything from my birth certificate, social security card, passport, state-issued IDs, to various types of financial documentation.
A key component of an undocumented immigrant marrying a US citizen is that the US citizen acts as the immigrant spouse’s “sponsor”.
It’s important to note that this is mostly a financial stipulation — United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS” from here on out) does not want the immigrant spouse to be what they deem a “public charge”, or one who accepts financial aid from the US government. Therefore, the US citizen sponsor must provide tax returns and proof of income to show that they are able to support the immigrant spouse.
Per immigration law, it is illegal for any undocumented immigrant to work in the United States. Many undocumented immigrants do choose to work, which is no surprise, and Flavia was no exception: she had been a nanny in NYC for years and continued working after her visa expired.
In addition to each of our personal documentation, Flavia and I had to fill out a number of different forms, including one on which she must declare that she was in the US but wasn’t properly documented, and worked without authorization. Don’t worry, admitting “guilt” in this situation will not endanger the immigrant spouse and is a normal part of the process.
A fortunate aspect of this marriage green card process is that as long as the immigrant follows all rules and has not been charged with any crime, any visa overstay and unauthorized work WILL BE FORGIVEN BY USCIS!!
In our case, our lawyer instructed us to file USCIS form I-485, which allows for an “adjustment of status” for someone in Flavia’s situation. This form is used in other situations as well, namely in situations where the immigrant spouse is already present in the United States.
Now for the fees, everyone’s favorite part. The process is NOT cheap: the I-485 alone costs $1,440 as of the time of this article being published. In addition, there is an up-front $85 fee for biometrics, which is an appointment that the immigrant spouse will have to attend to have their fingerprints and photo taken. This generally happens a few months after filing, and this process will be explained in detail in the next installation of this article.
In addition to the I-485, there were a number of other forms that we needed to file:
- I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative): the sponsor, aka the US citizen spouse, essentially has to petition for the immigrant spouse via this form. $535 filing fee.
- I-864 (Affidavit of Support): I touched on this above. This is the form where the US citizen spouse has to provide proof of financial support for the immigrant spouse. No fee.
- I-693 (Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record): the immigrant spouse must undergo a medical exam and provide relevant vaccination records in order to be deemed eligible for a status change. No fee to USCIS, but the doctor giving the exam will likely charge a fee that can vary with insurance, provider type, etc.
- I-765 (Application for Employment Authorization): if the immigrant spouse plans to work, this form should be filed. This is an application for an employment permit that USCIS will send the immigrant spouse while their case is under review. The fees are different per situation, but for most marriage-based green cards, it is $410.
The filing fees for all of the proper documentation amount to roughly $2,400. Note that the prices should not change whether or not the immigrant spouse is considered undocumented. Lawyer fees are obviously a separate cost that will vary.
All of these forms and relevant personal documentation put together are part of the adjustment of status package that you will file, or your lawyer will file on your behalf. Our lawyer was able to properly file everything — all we needed to do was meet with him and sign off on some documents. He and his team were even able to accept our payment information for the filing fees and send it off to USCIS.
At the time of our filing, we were instructed to send everything in physically through the adjustment of status package. We were able to use a debit card/bank account to pay for the fees — a lawyer can help simplify this process. Note that if any forms are filed with the wrong payment amount, they will be rejected and the adjustment of status package as a whole will be rejected!
It only took about two weeks to go through this entire process. Once the lawyer filed everything away, it was time to play the waiting game.
Our petition was filed in February 2018. It was July of that year until we heard anything from USCIS, at which time they sent Flavia her employment permit, which is generally the first step.
Three months after that, we got a notification in the mail from USCIS summoning us for an interview to prove our marriage is legitimate and screening for marriage fraud, which is a fairly prevalent threat that USCIS will aggressively screen for.
I’ll touch on all of this in detail in part 2.
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NOTE: if you have an immigrant spouse that is out of status or undocumented in any way, and has intention of staying in the country while their case is processed, they should NOT, under ANY circumstances, leave the country. Everyone who leaves and enters the United States is tracked by US customs. Any undocumented immigrant will be ineligible for re-entry. In particular, visa overstayers are subject to 3 and 10 year bans from the US depending on the length of their overstay. Those who entered illegally will likely face a lifetime ban. The undocumented immigrant should NEVER leave the country while adjusting status! It is also strongly discouraged to travel domestically. While domestic travel is generally not tracked by US customs, any undocumented immigrant is at risk of being stopped and asked to present proof of legal status in an airport or other travel hub.
