Question:
I have a friend who is working in Virginia on an H1B visa. She is going
to get married next month to a US citizen. Can someone tell me how long
will it take for her get a green card after marriage and what exactly
is the procedure for that?
Does she need to inform her employer (H1 sponsor) about her marriage
ahead of time or does she need to inform them at all??
Answer:
that depends on the processing time for her office...see this URL
for current processing times for different local INS offices:
http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/instimes.htm
that depends...there is an exception in the law for H1B's. IF she does
not USE a MARRIAGE-based EAD card, she retains her H1B status. IF she
DOES USE a MARRIAGE-based EAD, then she changes status to "pending
adjustment" based on the marriage. So it all depends on her use of a
marriage-based EAD. If she does NOT use the marriage-based EAD, she is
still H1B and it should be of no concern to her employer.
Other things: If she comes under the Arlington office she should be aware of
the following two things:
a) Arlington requires the medical at the point of filing
b) Arlington requires the I-864 is notarized - it is not acceptable to sign
it in front of them.
Here's a page that describes the general process, and a link to the AOS
experiences page (where you'll find my experience at Arlington posted):
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/2806/index.html
http://www.skyweb.net/~rlls/aos/
As for telling the employer: No need before hand (although everyone in my
company knew for a year!!!) - afterwards there are many reasons that spring
to mind: Possible name change, tax (now married rather than single),
beneficiaries for life insurance / 401K plans, etc, etc.
Several different ways, and different time frames. Go to
alt.visa.us.marriage-based for details. General outline: you can
either apply inside the US at the local INS office. Convenient, but
can be very slow (three years in some parts of the country). Or you
can apply at a consulate, which can be very fast. If they let you file
the preliminary paperwork (known as I-130 or petition) right at the
consulate, it may be as fast as two months or so.
She's going to have to inform at least the payroll dept. because her
tax status will change. No need to do that ahead of time, of course.
Ingo's talking about filing directly to a consulate (DCF). That doesn't
sound appropriate in this case since both parties are obviously in the US.
Usually the US citizen has to be living in the foreign country to be able to
apply directly to the consulate there.
This is only possible under a very limited set of circumstances:
Primarily, the consulate in her home country must accept her case for
direct consular filing, and it must be among those who process cases
that fast. Some consulates are generous and let anybody file directly,
but many other consulates will only allow that if both partners reside
in that country.
And you don't get to pick and chose which consulate you use. With rare
exceptions, you must use a consulate in her country of citizenship (or
residence if she lives in another country, but the country of
citizenship is always an option). Be careful, even if several
consulates issue non-immigrant visas, it's typically only one
consulate per country that issues immigrant visas.
I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.
For reliable advice, please consult with a
professional immigration attorney.
