Q & A March 30, 2003
Q & A 1
- A 67-year-old
gets married with a citizen, who receives social security but
doesn’t pay tax. It is the citizen’s son who pays taxes will sponsor
him. Will that affect the application of the Green Card?
- If a person
applies for asylum before getting married with a citizen, will
it affect the Green Card application?
- Does the
married couple need to provide individual phone bills and gas/electricity
bills?
- If the I-130
and I-485 forms have been submitted to INS, when will the Green
Card, Work Permit, and Social Security Card be returned to me?
Does INS send the cards to the home address, or do we go to INS
to retrieve them?
5. Is it Okay to move to other states while waiting for the permanent
resident status? If yes, what kinds of procedures do we have to
go through with INS? Doe the time waited in New York is waived?
Dear reader:
- It is always
best for the petitioning U.S. citizen to support the spouse. Under
the law, the petitioner is allowed to have a joint sponsor if
the petitioner is unable to meet the financial sponsorship obligations
by himself/herself. The petitioner of course must still submit
an I-864 affidavit of support even if not able to meet the obligation
of sponsorship. In such situation, an INS officer might certainly
look twice at the case asking the question of why an individual
would marry with another if he/she could hardly support himself
or herself.
- If the alien
spouse in this case requested political asylum before marrying
with the U.S. citizen, such request even under the best of conditions,
e.g. no issuance of asylum denials, referrals to court, inconsistencies
in the application vis-a-vis the present marriage, would possibly
complicate the application based upon marriage. We have seen many
situations in which such cases cannot be closed out for many months
after a favorable adjustment interview because the INS officer
did not have the complete file of the alien at the time of the
interview and must wait for the files to be received and reviewed
prior to the officer making a final decision. If the asylum case
did not go well, further complications could ensue including inability
to adjust status to permanent residence.
- In an immigration
case based upon marriage, the INS looks for evidence of the bonafide
nature of the relationship. Some individuals believe that the
only thing that is required for a valid marriage is that the marriage
certificate is real and not fake. That is very far from the truth
as the INS generally assumes that the certificate is real, but
looks to see whether the qualifying relationship is real -- whether
the couple are sharing a life together in the same house, same
bedroom, same bed. All papers tending to show a shared life are
relevant to the INS including telephone bills and utility bills.
- Where an
adjustment of status application has been submitted to the INS
with a request for employment authorization, the speed of INS
adjudication depends upon the speed of local office of the INS.
The different offices of INS across the nation have differing
backlogs of cases and so a case which could be adjudicated to
conclusion within six months in one state could take upwards to
two years in another district office. From your fifth question
(below), you appear to be from New York. Presently it is taking
the Manhattan office of INS approximately 18 months + to interview
an individual for permanent residence through marriage. Employment
authorization can be given in approximately five months. The INS
has nothing to do with social security cards. That is the function
of the Social Security Administration. With reference to the employment
authorization cards, New York INS will send a notice to you to
appear in its office to have a picture taken and to give you the
card. With that card, you can go to any social security office
to apply for a Social Security card. With reference to the green
card, you and your husband will both be interviewed to determine
the bonafide nature of your relationship and whether you are eligible
to adjust status in the United States. If your interview is favorable
and all necessary clearances have been made by the government,
the INS officer will generally stamp temporary proof of residence
status into your passport. With such stamp, you are allowed to
leave the United States and work legally for a one-year period
of time. Within that one year, the actual card should be mailed
to you from the service center of the INS having jurisdiction
over your residence.
- If you and
your husband leave the state during the pendency of your application
for permanent residence, you should ask both the New York immigration
office and the INS office which would then have jurisdiction over
you to have your case transferred from New York to that office.
I do note that transferring a case from New York INS can be a
challenging and time consuming process. We have had cases which
were transferred in a short period, but at the same time have
had cases that took six months + to be received by the other INS
office. When the receiving office finally has the file, the timing
of your interview will depend upon the handling procedure of that
office.
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