If you are married to a US citizen and both of you live in the United States, you can apply for your green card (Lawful Permanent Residency) immediately after your marriage. There is no mandatory waiting period before you can submit your application.
Your US citizen spouse would complete form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. You would complete form I-485, Application to Adjust Status and Register Lawful Permanent Residence. Both of these forms require supporting forms and evidence; read the instructions closely.
You cannot file anyone else's application for naturalization as a US citizen. Each legal permanent resident (green card holder) must file his/her own application after the mandatory period of being a permanent resident (at least three years for a spouse).
- The processing time for U.S. citizens filing Form I-130 for a spouse beneficiary ranges from 13-54.5 months. - The processing time for legal permanent residents filing Form I-130 for a spouse beneficiary ranges from 32-67.5 months.
Marriage to the U.S. citizen is the most common and fastest way of getting a green card for a foreign national. If a foreign national marries the U.S. citizen abroad, the foreign national becomes an immediate relative of the U.S. spouse regardless of the place where marriage took place.
Eligibility: If your spouse is included in your application, their eligibility for PR can be assessed alongside yours, which can be beneficial if either of you has any issues with meeting requirements.
If you're eligible, you can sponsor your spouse, partner or dependent children to become permanent residents of Canada. If you do, you must be able to: support them financially. make sure they don't need social assistance from the government.
You must include all your family members even if they are not coming to Canada with you. This includes: spouse or partner.
For most cases, you may request an expedite by contacting the USCIS Contact Center or by asking Emma. (You can access Emma by clicking on the Ask Emma icon on the top right of this page). You need to explain why you need expedited processing.
How to sponsor a fiancé(e) and apply for a K-1 visa. If you are engaged to a U.S. citizen and plan to marry and live in the U.S., your fiancé(e) must sponsor you first by filing a petition. After your fiancé(e)'s petition is approved, you can apply for a K-1 visa to come to the U.S.