The USCIS stipulates that your spouse must earn 125% of the poverty threshold for your household size in order to sponsor your green card. Your household size will be your spouse, plus you, plus any dependents who live with you (children or other dependents listed on your spouse’s taxes), and anyone your spouse has previously sponsored for a green card. In 2022, for a family of two (you and your spouse), your spouse Read More
Do I need to tell USCIS about my past marriages and all of my children?
Yes! USCIS considers this information relevant to most family-based applications, and even if it does not seem relevant to an employment-based application, USCIS wants to know all of this information. Make sure that you have valid, final divorce decrees for all your divorces, even old ones. We have seen cases where clients filed for applications without divorce certificates from the 1970s, and USCIS wants the Read More
Can I get a green card if I’ve worked without authorization?
It depends! If you are applying for a green card based on your marriage to a US citizen, then past work without authorization is not a basis of ineligibility on its own. You may have worked as a babysitter or in a restaurant, and the employers didn’t ask for any proof of work eligibility. You may have even used someone else’s documents, and in some cases, that will not make you ineligible. The big problem comes if, Read More
How long will it take for my marriage-based green card case to get approved?
Right now, as of December 2022, marriage-based green card cases are processing in about 6-9 months in the Boston USCIS office. We are seeing much longer case processing times in Lawrence. Cases there are taking over a year. It’s important for us to note that we are also seeing a wide range of processing times even in the same office, so even if most of our Boston cases are processing in 6-9 months, your Read More
I’m married to a US citizen. Can I get a green card if I crossed the border to get into the US?
'Yes. Crossing the border—which is a certain type of illegal entry to the US—will not prevent you from getting a green card if you meet other requirements. The most important other requirements are (1) that your US citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident spouse or parent will suffer extreme hardship if you don’t get the green card and (2) that you have an approved I-130, I-140, or I-360 petition or that you have been Read More
USCIS offices to waive up to 80% of family-based interviews
USCIS District 11 (MA/RI/NH/ME/VT) recently announced that USCIS National has directed local USCIS offices to waive up to 80% of family-based interviews. This is a huge change in USCIS practice, especially for marriage-based green card cases. Historically, almost ALL marriage-based green card cases required the US citizen spouse and the noncitizen spouse to appear at at USCIS office for an interview, before the Read More
What is a Fiancé Visa?
Deciding to get married is a big step. But for couples who are citizens of different countries, it can be an even more complicated process. In the U.S., US citizens can bring a non-citizen fiancé to the United States to live. Once in the U.S., a non-citizen also has certain rights with the fiancé visa. Read More
How Does the Green Card Lottery Work?
The green card lottery is essentially a golden ticket to enter the United States. The visa lottery is officially known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, and it one of the simplest and least expensive ways to garner permanent U.S. resident status. Each year more than 20 million people apply for these visas, but the U.S. awards only 50,000 each year. Read More
What is Adjustment of Status?
Adjustment of status is the process of applying to become a lawful permanent United States resident, also known as applying for a green card from within the United States Read More
The U.S. Citizenship Test: Three Tips to Prepare
Before becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, you’ll have to pass an exam on English and U.S. history/civics. USCIS provides Study Guides on its website. Here are three tips to prepare. Read More
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