What is a Marriage Based Green Card? For an immediate relative of a U.S….
What is a Marriage Based Green Card?
For an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, a spouse is qualified to obtain a green card.
A green card is more commonly known as a marriage-based green card for your immigrant spouse and has special immigration priority. What this card grants is permanent residency in the United States to the immigrant spouse, which allows them to legally live, work and study in the United States.
Marriage-based green cards, which the immigrant partner should hold at all times, is valid for a period of ten years.
For the immigrant spouse to maintain his or her legal residency, it must be renewed no less than six months prior to expiration.
What age can you apply for green card?
There are many different Green Cards, therefore the age eligibility is also different.
For unmarried adults, who have at least one US citizen parent, they must be 21 years of age or older.
F2A applicants (spouses and unmarried children of a green card holder), the children must be younger than the age of 21 and F2B applicants (unmarried children of a green card holder), should be older than the age of 21.
Why should you apply for a Green Card?
There are many reasons why you should apply for a Green Card, some of them being:
if you are a green card holder then you can apply for a US citizenship after 5 years or 3 if you are married to a United States citizen, you can travel in and out easily, you can sponsor your relatives, spend less on university or college tuitions and much more!
If you are at a port of entry or in the United States, you may request asylum.
Regardless of your immigration status, and within one year of your arrival in the United States, you can apply for asylum.
Applying for the Green Card in 5 steps!
Each type of Green Card can differ from one another in terms of the application process, but it usually goes like this:
1. A petitioner must file an immigrant petition for you (in some cases, you can file one for yourself);
2. You file a Green Card application with USCIS or a visa application with the U.S. Department of State, only after USCIS approves your immigrant petition;
3. You provide your fingerprints, photos and signature at the biometrics appointment;
4. You collect all the required documents and prepare for the interview and
5. You attend the interview!
Can you get a green card if you marry a permanent resident?
An immigrant visa available to the spouses of U.S. citizens and permanent residents is a marriage-based green card (or ‘spousal visa’).
While the procedure can seem overwhelming, whether one partner is a U.S. citizen or green card holder, most couples qualify for a marriage-based green card.
PERM or Program Electronic Review Management, is a very important part of the employment-based Green Card process (especially for EB-2, EB-3 applicants).
PERM is filed not with the USCIS but with DOL (Department of Labor), where they test the labor market to see if there are any U.S. employers willing to sponsor foreign nationals.
How much does a Green Card cost?
The cost of the Green Card depends on the type you are applying for.
If you are an applicant residing in the United States, the government filing fees for obtaining a green card by marriage are around $1,700, but if you are an applicant living outside the United States then the fee is $1,200.
