Immigration marriage laws?

Question

to marry a citizen to become a citizen yourself, do you have to have come to the US legally like with a visa? if you came to the US illegally can you still file for a marriage license?

Answer 1

First, marriage to a US citizen NEVER confers citizenship to the foreign spouse.

It only makes the foreign spouse eligible to apply for legal permanent residence (a.k.a. green card); and even then, there is no guarantee that the green card will be granted. After having been married to that US citizen AND having had legal permanent residence for 3 years, then the foreign spouse can apply for citizenship.

Yes, there is a specific visa class (K-1, a.k.a. fiance visa) for foreigners to enter the US with intent to marry a US citizen. The K-1 is applied for by the US citizen on behalf of their foreign fiance.

If you are in the US illegally, you can apply for a marriage license in most cases. While state laws apply here, as far as I know most states do not inquire as to your immigration status when you apply for a marriage license. Therefore illegals are free to get married to US citizens.

However, and unlike people with, for example, a K-1 visa, illegals may not apply for a green card upon getting married. They have to voluntarily depart the US and their US spouse must apply for a spousal visa so the foreign spouse can be allowed to re-enter the US legally and seek to obtain a green card.

That's the gist of it.

Answer 2

If you came to the US illegally you can still file for a marriage license. To become a citizen yourself, you do not have had to have come to the US legally (with a visa or otherwise). Furthermore, you can apply at any point in time after your marriage (although you may need to show proof that your marriage was not just for citizenship if less than 2 years).

Please refer to www.uscis.gov

to get ALL the information.

Answer 3

If a person comes in legally and they marry a US citizen then the person does not need to go back to their country of origin to get permission to enter the US with a green card instead he/she can apply from the US to get the green card.  Going thru the consulate is not easy and the US usually pardons one time of coming into the country illegally but anything more will cost a $1,000 pardon fee and then just hope that it will get pardoned because not all of them do.  Good Luck!