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Reader: Will My Girlfriend Become a U.S. Citizen After We Marry?

Posted June 8, 2010 by David Sperling, Esq.

In “The Answer Man” series, David Sperling, Esq., fields reader questions about immigration law.

Question
I am a U.S. Citizen, born in Mineola. I am recently divorced and my son lives with his mother. Two years ago, on a vacation to the Dominican Republic, I met a wonderful young lady who is single but has two children, ages 6 and 11. Since then, I have visited her and her family three times and we are now in contact every day through e-mail and Skype.

I would like her to come to the United States and live with me, but she cannot get a visa from the U.S. Embassy. What can I do?

Answer
You did not indicate whether you wanted to marry this lovely young lady or simply spend some quality time together. As someone who has already walked down the aisle, you may not be ready for another major commitment so soon after your divorce. But if you are serious about this woman, the U.S. government has a solution for you. It’s called the fiancé visa.

Embassy officials in the D.R. and around the world will not approve a tourist visa if they believe the applicant is likely to overstay and remain in the United States. In developing countries, it is especially difficult for young people without money, property, or well-paying professional jobs to obtain a tourist visa.

You could go to the Dominican Republic and get married to your long-distance novia (girlfriend). Then you would return to the United States and start the process of consular processing. If all goes well, your wife could come to the United States in less than nine months as a Conditional Permanent Resident (CPR). More on that later.

The other alternative is to file a petition for a fiancé visa. If she passes the interview, your sweetheart will get a visa that will allow her to come to the United States for three months. If you get married within that time frame, she can apply for a green card immediately through “adjustment of status.” If the relationship turns sour, she would have to return to the D.R. She would not be able to “adjust” her status in any other way, even if she married another U.S. citizen. (She’s stuck with you, for better or worse.)

What do you need to file for a fiancé visa? Basically, you need to prove the bona fides of the relationship. This is an area rampant with fraud, so embassy officials carefully scrutinize each petition. You will need to document the relationship through plane tickets, letters, emails, picture albums, etc. Photos of a huge party thrown by your suegros (in-laws) and the receipt for an expensive engagement ring are pretty good proofs. But if you have lots of nice photos, romantic e-mails, and phone logs, you can save your money for a merengue orchestra at the wedding.

As a New York resident, you would file the I-129F by mail to the immigration service’s Vermont Service Center. Upon approval, the petition is sent to the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo. Your novia will then be scheduled for an interview at the embassy. If all goes well, she gets a 3-month, one-time-only fiancé visa stamped in her Dominican passport.

What about her kids? You have two options with a fiancé visa. The children could come as derivatives on the fiancé visa. If you did not get married, they would have to return to the D.R.

Or, if your novia was willing to leave the kids with her parents or other relatives, you could always petition for them separately after the wedding. They would be “immediate relatives,” as stepchildren in which the marriage took place before they turned 18 years old. That process would take about nine months from start to finish. The children would also be granted Conditional Permanent Resident status.

Just for your information, this is what would happen next if you got married:

If your wife’s application for adjustment was granted, she would get a green card valid for two years (that’s her Conditional Permanent Resident status). This is because you will have been married less than two years at the time her case was first approved.

Before the expiration of the card, you both would have to file an I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions. If that petition is approved, she and her children will get a permanent green card.

Three years after your novia is first approved for Conditional Permanent Resident status, if you are still married and living together, she can apply for U.S. citizenship. Upon approval, your stepchildren automatically acquire citizenship.

Image courtesy of .ygor via Flickr.

DISCLAIMER

In this column, Long Island Wins provides information about immigration law designed to help users understand and navigate the immigration system. The information contained on Long Island Wins is provided to you “as is,” and does not constitute legal advice. We are not acting as your attorney. Furthermore, statements in this column are not to be construed as legal advice creating an attorney-client relationship. Anyone with an immigration issue is strongly advised to consult with an experienced attorney or reputable non-profit legal-services organization.

Tags : answer man, conditional permanent resident, green card, i-751 petition