What Factors Affect the Marriage Green Card Timeline?
When you marry a U.S. citizen, you typically become eligible for a marriage-based green card. Countless factors can affect the timeline given all the steps involved and the variety of ways to get a green card based on marriage. Here we’ll explore several of the factors that may affect the timeline for your marriage-based green card approval.
Are You Marrying a U.S. Citizen or a Lawful Permanent Resident?
Even though the spouses of both lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens both qualify for green cards through marriage, U.S. citizens are given preferential treatment in immigration law. Even though a lawful permanent resident and a U.S. citizen will use the same form, Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, their spouses fall into different visa categories.
If your spouse is a U.S. citizen, you fall into the category of “Immediate Relative of a U.S. Citizen” for immigration purposes. If your spouse is a lawful permanent resident, you fall into the “Second Preference (F2A)” category. There is no annual cap on the number of immigrant visas for the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is allowed to process each year. The number of immigrant visas given each year to people in the F2A category is capped though.
Immediate relative visas are typically approved within 10-14 months. F2A visa petitions can take two to four years and possibly more.
Are You Living in the United States or Abroad?
If your spouse is a U.S. citizen, whether you currently live abroad or in the United States may also affect your wait time. If you are already legally inside the United States, you will typically use the adjustment of status process for applying for your green card. The average wait time for adjustment of status varies more significantly than if you apply through consular processing abroad.
Spouses of U.S. citizens already living in the United States typically wait between 10 and 23 months for their green card. Spouses of U.S. citizens who use consular processing abroad typically wait between 11.4 and 15 months for their green card.
Meanwhile, spouses of lawful permanent residents can expect to wait between 29 and 40 months for their green card regardless of if they use adjustment of status or consular processing.
Delays Due to Proving a Bona Fide Marriage
A marriage certificate alone won’t convince USCIS officials that your marriage is authentic. Immigration officials realize that people often get married to try to circumvent immigration law, so they diligently verify the authenticity of marriages when they process marriage-based immigrant visas. If your original petition doesn’t provide enough proof to convince them that you are in a genuine marriage, USCIS will send a request for more evidence also known as an “RFE.”
You can avoid delays in processing due to RFEs by submitting adequate evidence at the start. Here is some of the evidence you may want to include:
- Statements from joint bank accounts
- Life insurance policies in which both of you are named as each other’s beneficiaries
- An auto insurance policy that shows both of you listed
- Titles and deeds for property that you own jointly
- Leases in which you are both named
- A mortgage document that lists both of you
- Driver’s licenses listing the same home address
- Original copies of cards from family members addressed to both you and your spouse
- Family photos and airline tickets from vacations together
- Phone records that show that you call or text each other regularly
- Wedding photos
- Photos from family events showing you together
- Utility bills that are in both of your names
- Affidavits from friends, family, neighbors, or coworkers
Delays Due to Backlogs
Sometimes, delays are simply caused by a backlog of applications and petitions. The sheer volume of petitions and applications processed by USCIS is enormous. From humanitarian petitions to employment authorization documents to immigrant visa petitions, all forms compete for resources. While U.S. embassies and consulates also share the burden, closures and restrictions at these locations abroad can also cause backlogs. For example, when the State Department ran consulates at reduced capacity in 2020 and 2021, it contributed to a massive delay.
Concurrent Filing of Forms Can Speed the Process
To speed up the marriage green card timeline, if you are already in the U.S. and applying for a green card using the adjustment of status process, your attorney may file Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative and Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status concurrently. This efficiency could potentially reduce the marriage green card timeline by over a year.
Plus, since medical exams verified on an I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record are good for two years, it may be possible to reduce the green card processing time by also submitting this form at the same time. While you’re not required to file it at the same time as you apply for an adjustment of status, you will eventually need it.
Providing it ahead of time can eliminate the need for USCIS to issue an RFE. This is especially handy if USCIS decides that they don’t need to interview you. While it’s rare for USCIS to waive an interview for a marriage-based green card, it does happen occasionally, especially when ample evidence is provided.
Avoid Delays and Mistakes When Applying for Your Green Card
Your best chance of avoiding mistakes and delays is with the help of an expert immigration attorney. Nanthaveth & Associates focuses exclusively on immigration law and are well-versed in the marriage green card process. If you are ready to get your green card through marriage, contact Nanthaveth & Associates today.