If you are a United States citizen or permanent resident who is married to a non-citizen, you probably have questions about the immigrant visa process. Below are answers to some of the common questions about the immigrant visa process for spouses.
Who qualifies for an immigrant visa based on marriage?
If you are the spouse of a United States citizen or permanent resident, you may be eligible for an immigrant visa. To qualify, you must show that the marriage was entered into to establish a joint life together as husband and wife. In addition, it is very important to review the grounds of inadmissibility before you apply for an immigrant visa. If any of the grounds of inadmissibility apply, you will not qualify for an immigrant visa unless you are able to get a waiver of the inadmissibility.
How do you apply for an immigrant visa for your husband or wife?
There are two basic steps to applying for an immigrant visa for your husband or wife:
Step 1: Immigrant visa petition
The immigrant visa petition process begins when a United States citizen or permanent resident submits a Form I-130 on behalf of their spouse. This form requests that your spouse be allowed to immigrate to the United States. If you are a United States citizen, your spouse will be classified as an “immediate relative.” This means that you will not have to wait for an immigrant visa to be made available and will be able to move on to the consular processing stage as soon as the petition is approved. If you are a permanent resident, you will need to wait until an immigrant visa number becomes available before moving on to the consular processing stage.
Step 2: Consular processing
The consular processing stage begins after the immigrant visa petition is approved and the petition package is forwarded to the National Visa Center. The National Visa Center will send you instructions for paying the immigrant visa fee and the fee for processing the affidavit of support. You will need to submit the immigrant visa application along with the supporting documents and the affidavit of support to the National Visa Center. After the National Visa Center receives all of the required documents, your spouse will be scheduled for an immigrant visa interview at their local consulate or embassy. Assuming that all goes well at the interview, your spouse will be issued an immigrant visa and will be able to join you in the United States as a lawful permanent resident.
How long will it take to get an immigrant visa for your husband or wife?
The expected waiting time for the approval of an I-130 for a spouse is five months. This processing time could go faster or slower depending on how many applications USCIS receives. In addition, if your application is not complete or not organized in a way that makes it easy for the immigration officer to review, you may receive a request for evidence (RFE) asking you for additional information. An RFE will slow down the approval process. Therefore it is very important that you include all of the required information in a well-organized fashion in your initial submission.
If you are a United States citizen, the I-130 petition will be forwarded to the National Visa Center after it is approved. If you are a permanent resident, however, you will not be able to begin the processing at the National Visa Center until a visa number becomes available. The Visa Bulletin is updated monthly and can provide you with an estimate of when a visa number will become available.
The amount of time that your package spends at the National Visa Center will depend largely on how quickly you can obtain and submit the required documents. The time it takes to receive an interview will largely depend on which embassy or consulate the interview will be at. Some locations have a larger backlog and it will take longer to receive an appointment at those locations.
Overall, you should expect that it will take at least one year to receive an immigrant visa based on marriage, and the wait could be considerably longer if you receive a request for evidence or you have difficulty in obtaining the required documents.
How much will it cost to get an immigrant visa for your husband or wife?
Government fees:
$420 Form I-130 filing fee
$404 Immigrant visa processing fees
$88 Affidavit of support processing fee
Other costs:
Medical exam – varies by doctor and location
Passport photographs – varies by photographer
Translation costs – varies by the translator and type of documents being translated into English
Original documents/certified copies/police certificates – varies by case
Legal fees:
Varies by law firm and the complexity of the case. For cases without unusual legal issues and that do not require a waiver, I typically charge a flat fee of $1,500 for cases involving spouses of United States citizens. This fee includes my legal services for (1) preparing and filing the I-130 petition, (2) assistance with the National Visa Center processing, and (3) guidance for the immigrant visa interview. For cases involving spouses of permanent residents, I typically charge a flat fee of $800 for preparing and filing the I-130 petition. Because there may be a wait of several years for a visa to become available for spouses of permanent residents, the fee does not include assistance with the National Visa Center processing or the immigrant visa interview.
What happens after your husband or wife arrives in the United States?
Your spouse will become a permanent resident when he or she enters the United States.
It is very important that your spouse understand the requirements for maintaining permanent resident status so that he or she does not make any mistakes that would result in the loss of permanent resident status.
If you have been married for less than two years, your spouse will receive conditional permanent resident status and you will need to remove the conditions two years after he or she enters the United States.
It is very important that you follow the rules regarding removing conditional permanent resident status. Failure to file the required paperwork or to go to the interview will cause significant legal problems.
Your husband or wife may be eligible to apply for citizenship in three or five years.
Spouses of United States citizens can typically apply for citizenship after being a permanent resident for three years. Spouses of permanent residents can typically apply for citizenship after being a permanent resident for five years. It is very important to review the qualifications for citizenship before submitting a naturalization application.
