Читать книгу U.S. Citizenship For Dummies - Jennifer Gagliardi - Страница 68

If you marry a lawful permanent resident of the United States, you aren’t considered an immediate relative. Instead, you fall under the family second preference category. If your spouse’s I-130 Petition for Alien Relative form is approved, the Department of State will notify you when a visa number becomes available.

If you were married before your husband or wife became a permanent resident, you cannot obtain permanent resident status along with your spouse without being subject to visa limits. If, for whatever reason, you did not physically accompany your spouse to the United States when they became a permanent resident, you may be eligible to receive following-to-join benefits. This means your husband or wife won’t have to file a separate I-130 Petition for Alien Relative form, and you won’t have to wait any extra time for an immigrant visa to become available. You may be eligible for following-to-join benefits, provided your marriage still exists and your husband or wife received their lawful permanent residence status in one of the following ways:

 Through a diversity immigrant visa (winning the visa lottery)

 Through an employment-based immigrant visa

 Based on a relationship to a U.S. citizen brother or sister

 Based on a relationship to U.S. citizen parents after you were already married

If you’re a lawful permanent resident of the United States who marries a noncitizen spouse inside of the U.S., you can file Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. After a visa number becomes available, apply to adjust your spouse’s status to permanent residency using Form I-485.