Conditional Residence after Marriage to a U.S. Citizen

Over the past eight years, I have helped many men and women apply for permanent residence through marriage to a U.S. citizen spouse. It's one of the things I love to do. It's interesting and romantic hearing the tales of how they met and fell in love, and it's challenging for any two people to merge two cultures and two families and two lifestyles. In many cases, the American-born spouse has the advantage of knowledge of the culture, fluent English and usually, more financial resources. However, very few people in America today have any idea what it takes in terms of time and money to process permanent residence through marriage. The fees alone for the various forms you file are $1365 as of July 2007. The American spouse is often quite surprised (or even shocked) when I go through the steps, the cost, and the requirement that the American spouse (and not the foreign-born spouse) prove a certain level of income. I joke that it is a true test of their love because if you can get through this process together, you can get through anything.

Because of the "Marriage Fraud Act" of 1986, it doesn't end either when the forms are filed and the couple is interviewed by an immigration officer, and the foreign-born spouse is granted permanent residence. Once granted, the permanent residence is "conditional" for two years and after two years, another form must be filed to remove the temporary "condition." I recently worked with one of my clients who filed for permanent residence nearly 2 years ago. In this case, she and her husband had had a beautiful son and were obviously having a "real marriage." In such cases, the paperwork is annoying, a bit costly, but nothing difficult. Immigration can call the couple in for an interview after the papers are processed but to save work for them, they often do not interview couples that seem to obviously have a real marriage and one proof of that is having a child together. I told her they may not be interviewed but either way, she will receive her "permanent" permanent card in about 4-6 months and then she will be set for life in America, as long as she commits no crimes and does not leave the country for more than 6 months at a time. I enjoy working with couples in this situation because there is usually a "happy ending."