Adjusting Status From F-1 Visa After Marrying a U.S. Citizen

If you are in the United States with an F-1 student visa and have married a U.S. citizen, you are eligible to file for a U.S. green card (lawful permanent residence). The procedure for doing this is called Adjustment of Status (AOS). Using this procedure, you can file all your paperwork with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and attend your interview in the United States.

Under the law, you are expected to file the appropriate forms with USCIS before your permitted stay under your F-1 student visa expires, which is usually 60 days after finishing the degree or any authorized period of Optional Practical Training (OPT), indicated by a "D/S" or "Duration of Status" notation on the I-94 document prepared for you at entry. (See Can You Stay in the U.S. Legally While in Between Visas?) Violating the terms of your F-1 visa, for example by working off campus without authorization, can also render the visa void, in which case you would be expected to leave the U.S. right away.

What If My Permitted Stay in the U.S. Has Expired?

Even if your permitted stay has expired, the fact that you entered the United States legally and are marrying a U.S. citizen allows you to apply for adjustment of status. The overstay becomes almost irrelevant (unless the immigration authorities happen to arrest you before you submit your green card application, in which case you'd be placed into removal proceedings).

If more than six months have passed since you were in valid F-1 status, your best bet might be to apply quickly to adjust status. If you use the alternate procedure, in which you leave the United States and seek to process your application at a U.S. consulate in your home country, you risk being hit with a penalty for your time spent in the U.S. unlawfully; that is, a bar on returning to the U.S. for 3 years if you overstayed by 180 days or more; or, if your unlawful presence lasted 365 days or more, a bar of 10 years. The risk of being found inadmissible based on unlawful presence is lower for students than others, since USCIS or an immigration judge would have had to rule that you were in the U.S. unlawfully to trigger the counting of your unlawful time, but we wanted to alert you to this risk.

See a lawyer for a complete personal analysis if you have any question about your current immigration status in the United States.

Steps to Getting Married in the U.S.

U.S. immigration authorities will accept a marriage that was conducted overseas; but if you have overstayed and need to adjust status, it's safer not to leave the United States for your wedding (or any other reason).

The steps to marrying a U.S. citizen within the United States depend on your local jurisdiction. The usual restrictions on marriage concern your respective ages, whether you are blood relations, and of course whether either of you is already married to someone else. Contact the local county courthouse to inquire. In some states, you can simply present yourself at the courthouse and get married that day. In others, you must prove local residency, take a blood test, and more.

You will need a government-issued copy of your marriage certificate in order to apply for your green card. The certificate that a church or temple might give you is not enough.

After You Are Married: How to Adjust Status to Get a U.S. Green Card

Applying to adjust status in the United States basically involves submitting forms, copies of documents, the results of a medical exam on the immigrant, and the appropriate fees, and later attending an interview at a USCIS office.

The main forms you will need to submit include USCIS Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, which the U.S. citizen fills out; and USCIS Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, which the immigrant fills out. Another important form is the I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, which allows the immigrant to obtain a work permit. And, the U.S. citizen will need to promise financial support, and show the ability to support the immigrant, on Form I-864. You will also need to include passport-style photos of both the U.S. petitioner (with the I-130) and, if the immigrant is living in the United States, of them too.

The needed forms are available for free download on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov.

Your AOS packet must be submitted by mail, not in person or online.

Note: While most types of immigrants must submit Form I-130 separately, and wait for USCIS to approve it before proceeding with the green card application, the fact of your legal entry and marriage to a U.S. citizen allows you to submit the entire packet to USCIS at one time (concurrently). Or, you can submit the I-130 to USCIS online (which is cheaper than paper filing) and later submit the receipt notice along with the adjustment of status packet.

What Happens After Submitting Adjustment of Status Paperwork

Some weeks or months after you submit the paperwork to USCIS, the immigrant will be called in for biometrics (fingerprinting and so on). Many weeks or months after that, the two of you will be called in for a personal interview at the USCIS Office.

At the interview, a USCIS official will review the paperwork and make sure the immigrant is not inadmissible (for example, hasn’t committed any crimes or been diagnosed with a communicable disease of public health significance during the required immigration medical exam), and doesn’t appear likely to become a public charge because the U.S. citizen cannot provide sufficient financial support).

In addition, because this is a marriage-based case, the official will ask both of you personal questions to make sure that your marriage is the real thing, not just a sham to get a green card. This is a huge concern for the U.S. government See Proving a "Bona Fide" Marriage for U.S. Immigration Purposes and Marriage Just for a Green Card? Legal and Procedural Problems.

If all goes well, you should be approved for U.S. residence at the end of the interview. Nevertheless, some officers will take more time to decide, and will request more evidence from the applicant. Be sure to note the deadlines on any such request and respond on time, even if it's only to explain that you're trying to get a particular document but are awaiting a response from its source.

Hopefully, you won't have to read about Options When Adjustment of Status (to Permanent Resident) Is Denied.

Getting Additional Help

Because the paperwork is extensive and complicated, you may wish to have a lawyer help you. That's especially if there’s any chance that the immigrant violated the terms of the student visa or is inadmissible. Or, if your case is relatively straightforward, consult the book Fiance and Marriage Visas: A Couple’s Guide to U.S. Immigration, by Ilona Bray (Nolo).