Question:

What happens if marital status changes after getting green card?

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My girlfriend of 10 years and I are applying for green cards. Due to marriage not being an important thing for us, we are not married. This means that we have to put 'single' on every immigration type form we've come across as officialdom seems to believe you are not in a committed relationship unless you have a certificate that says you are (sorry, I tend to rant on this issue)

If one of us is successful in our application, will the other have any spousal rights? (I'm guessing not) What about if one of us is successful and then we go and get married?

any thoughts would be appreciated

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4 ANSWERS


  1. You are correct as a single couple you have to each qualify on your own merits.

    If one of you is approved for the green card and the other is not.

    The one approved can't help the other. To sponsor a non-relative you must be a full citizen.

    A green card holder is limited to spouse, parents, children etc.

    What you are trying to do will only work if both of you are approved. You application for green cards could take a few years to be processed.

    Marriage is the practical thing to do to fix the situation


  2. You have to be legally married to gain any spousal rights.  The law.

  3. Unfortunately it is not the case that the government will grant spousal rights to the party that did not immigrate unless you are legally married.  Furthermore, you can expect to run into serious delays of your application because in order to immigrate to the U.S. do you have to have an American sponsor--either one of your parents, a grown child--or a spouse.

  4. Nobody can have spousal rights or privileges if they are not legally married.  So if one gets in and the other does not, tough.  The one who gets in will never be able to sponsor an unrelated person.  Only immediate relatives (parent, child, sibling) who are citizens can sponsor.  Spouses who have certain employment or other visas can obtain a dependent visa for their spouse.  An immigrant would not be able to apply for a spouse until he/she attains legal permanent residence (permanent green card), and could then apply for spouse -- who will wait in their own country for 5 years since LPRs have no priority for bringing in a spouse.

    If one is rejected, marriage is unlikely to be a cure.  Once rejected, any future applications are far more likely to be rejected again.

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