GuruImmigration.com, Los Angeles, CA (2026)

08/19/2014

Student visa holder married green card holder, what can she do?

[The following paid consultation question is taken from the Guru's past client files.]

Dear GuruImmigration,

My sister is a F1--name removed--currently maintaining status. She married a Green Card Holder (DV) in April 2009. They have not filed any petition yet as she wanted to continue studies as a F-1. They have been living together.

She is going to graduate in May 2010. Now she wants to file family petition and remain in the US with her husband.

(1) Do we file I-130, I-485, I-765, I-131 together at the same time?

(2) Can she remain in the US until there is a decision on her I-130 OR will she have to continue going to school?

Answer:

The husband is a legal permanent resident (LPR or green-card holder) and can only file an I-130 for your sister. The I-485 application to adjust status to permanent residence CANNOT...(more at http://wp.me/psE4a-1f)

(Click on Top Banner to Return to the Blog Home Page from Any Blog Article) Note: The Law Offices of Larry L. Doan in Los Angeles, CA, provides the following blog article and other information on t...

08/05/2014

Nonimmigrant Visas and Why Maintaining Status in the U.S. Is Important

Many people ask us what is a Nonimmigrant Visa? Isn’t everybody an immigrant to the United States? Well, no. Even though the media and everyday language tend to refer to everyone who comes to the U.S. as an “immigrant,” commonsense would dictate that that is not always the case...(more at http://wp.me/psE4a-J)

(Click on Top Banner to Return to the Blog Home Page from Any Blog Article) Note: The Law Offices of Larry L. Doan in Los Angeles, CA, provides the following blog article and other information on t...

07/29/2014

I-130 Approval Is Not Green Card!

The I-130 Petition for Alien Relative is probably the most common immigration form filed by people in the U.S. immigration system. A lot of people contact us right after the I-130 petition has just been approved. They’ve been waiting for years and happy. They want to know what they can do to claim their green cards right there and then!

Sorry, we have to tell them. The I-130 approval is a necessary first step for immigrants but does not necessarily entitle them to a green card right away, except for “immediate relatives.” The purpose of the I-130 petition is simply to classify the immigrant as a close relative of the person filing the form to put them into one of the recognized categories of U.S. immigration law. So, when U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) approves the I-130, it is simply saying in effect: “OK, we find this immigrant is indeed your spouse/son/daughter/sibling as you claim.” That’s all. They’re not saying the immigrant got the green card. Not yet....(more at http://wp.me/psE4a-1s).

(Click on Top Banner to Return to the Blog Home Page from Any Blog Article) Note: The Law Office of Larry L. Doan in Los Angeles, CA, provides the following blog article and other information on th...

07/24/2014

I'm Illegal, I Can Still Get a Green Card by Marrying My U.S. Citizen Boyfriend or Girlfriend?

In a previous post, “It’s Easy for Me to get a Green Card by Marrying My U.S. Citizen Boyfriend or Girlfriend, Right?”, we promised that we would discuss the hard, maybe extremely hard, marriage cases. Well, those are the ones in which the applicant came to this country illegally, the vast majority of times by crossing the border without inspection. There is a huge number of these folks living in the U.S., especially people from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and sometimes mainland China. That’s not a surprise since the U.S. southern border was and still is to some extent relatively easy to cross without inspection.

It usually comes as a shock when we tell these people that even though they are married to a U.S. citizen, they still must go back to their homeland to obtain final approval to return permanently to this country, unless they had a previous immigrant petition filed for them by April 30, 2001. However, most people simply don’t have the benefit of having a previous petition filed for them, so the green card cannot be approved while they are in the U.S. For example, Mexicans in this situation would have to travel to the U.S. Consulate in Juarez, Mexico, which is just across the border from El Paso, Texas, to be interviewed and obtain approval, a process called “consular processing.”

Just across the border from Texas? No problem, let’s book a ticket…

But wait, not so fast!...(more at http://wp.me/psE4a-A).

(Click on Top Banner to Return to the Blog Home Page from Any Blog Article) Note: The Law Office of Larry L. Doan in Los Angeles, CA, provides the following blog article and other information on th...

07/24/2014

It's Easy for Me to get a Green Card by Marrying My U.S. Citizen Boyfriend or Girlfriend, Right?

This is probably the most common question we get asked by people who are here in the U.S. and want a green card. While most people might have heard from the media and common knowledge that marriage to a citizen is the fastest way to obtain a green card, or permanent residence, the answer may surprise you: Yes, you can, but it may be very hard depending upon how you came to the U.S. and what you’ve done since.

The reason for this is that U.S. immigration law has changed so many times over the years. Each time it changes, the process gets more complicated. So, yes, a foreign person can ALWAYS be petitioned by his or her US citizen spouse. But, petitioning is only the first step. It simply is a finding by the immigration authorities that the couple is indeed validly married to each other. What about the next step?

If the applicant came to the U.S. with a visa or was inspected in some way at the border or airport, then that’s the best situation...(more at http://wp.me/psE4a-g

(Click on Top Banner to Return to the Blog Home Page from Any Blog Article) Note: The Law Offices of Larry L. Doan in Los Angeles, CA, provides the following blog article and other information on t...

GuruImmigration.com

08/19/2014

08/05/2014

07/29/2014

07/24/2014

07/24/2014

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category