You're engaged or married to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and all you want is the right to be together in the U.S. Should be easy, right? It's not. Information can be hard to find, the government bureaucracy isn't helpful, delays are inevitable. Worst of all, there wasn't an easy-to-use guide through the process -- until now. Fiancé & Marriage Visas makes obtaining a visa and green card as painless as possible. It helps you decide the fastest and best application strategy for you, whether you are married or unmarried, living in the U.S. or overseas. With this friendly, comprehensive book, you can: understand the immigration process make your way through the bureaucracy prepare for meetings with the immigration service and consular examiners learn how to prove your marriage is real deal with the two-year testing period Fiancé & Marriage Visas also gives you helpful advice on protecting and renewing your green-card status. In addition, it provides all the forms and checklists you'll need as tear-outs and on CD-ROM. The 2nd edition covers the new process of applying for a fiancé visa as a married spouse, and takes into account the stricter procedures and security delays imposed since 9/11.

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Every year, hundreds of thousands of foreign-born people become engaged or married to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Just as no two romances are alike, none of these couples will have exactly the same immigration needs. Some will meet and marry overseas, then wish to move to the United States; some will meet in the United States and wish to marry and stay; and some will meet overseas and wish to come to the United States for the wedding. Each of these situations, and others, will require slightly different planning and procedures. No matter what your situation, you have one thing in common with all the other fiancés and newlyweds (or even longtime spouses). Before you obtain the right to come to the United States, whether just to get married or to stay permanently, you will have to go through a lengthy process of submitting application forms and paperwork and meeting with government officials to prove your eligibility. The processes are not simple, but they are standard -- meaning they can be done without a lawyer's help, if your case is straightforward and your marriage, or planned marriage, is for real. If you are or have ever been in deportation proceedings, you must see a lawyer. If the proceedings aren't yet over or are on appeal, your entire immigration situation is in the hands of the courts and you are not allowed to use the procedures described in this book. Even if the proceedings are over, you should ask a lawyer whether the outcome affects your current application. This book will show you how to: decide whether you are eligible choose the proper visa and submit the correct paperwork gather all necessary documents and prepare for interviews with U.S. government officials create and maintain documentary proof that your marriage is real deal with difficult bureaucrats and delays get a work permit in the United States make it through your two-year "testing period" to get your green card keep and enjoy your permanent residence status, and know when you need professional legal help. Here comes the jargon. We try to keep the technical vocabulary to a minimum in this book, but there are times when no other word but the technical one will do. To check on the meaning of terms like "citizen," "permanent resident," or "green card," please see the Glossary at the end of the book. "Visa" and "Green Card" Can Mean More Than One Thing We're about to start using the words "visa" and "green card" a great deal. In a few situations, their meanings are distinct and narrow, but often they overlap or are the same. Let's start with the narrow meanings. A visa gives you the right to enter the United States. Physically, it usually appears as a stamp in your passport. When this book advises you to go to the consulate to pick up your visa, it means that you'll be getting this stamp or an equivalent document that allows you to enter the United States. "Green card" is a slang term. In the narrowest usage, it is the plastic photo identification card that you receive when you become a U.S. lawful permanent resident. Now for the broader meanings. The word visa may also be used in situations involving immigrants who are already in the United States and won't need an entry visa. That's partly because someone in the deep dark offices of the State Department may have to allocate a visa number to these immigrants, though the immigrants may never even know it. When this book talks about your "visa eligibility" or "visa availability," it's not referring to the actual visa that you pick up overseas, but about the broader, theoretical visa that the State Department will allocate to you. The term green card also takes on broader meanings at times. more..

 

I. Introduction 1. First Things First 2. Are You Eligible for a Visa or Green Card? 3. Meeting Income Requirements 4. The Right Way to Prepare, Collect, and Manage the Paperwork 5. Overseas Fiancés of U.S. Citizens 6. Overseas Fiancés of U.S. Permanent Residents 7. Overseas Spouses of U.S. Citizens 8. Overseas Spouses of Lawful Permanent Residents 9. Fiancés in the U.S. Engaged to U.S. Citizens 10. Fiancés in the U.S. Engaged to Permanent Residents 11. Spouses of U.S. Citizens, Living in the U.S. 12. Spouses of Permanent Residents, In the U.S. 13. Interviews With USCIS or Consular Officials 14. Applying for Green Card at a USCIS Office 15. Dealing With Bureaucrats, Delays, and Denials 16. After You Get Your Green Card 17. Legal Help Beyond This Book

"An excellent resource for people who are trying to wind their way through the immigration service's byzantine rules and regulations..."

 

Useful not only to couples who are married or planning to marry, but to lawyers and legal assistants. It contains real-life, hands-on information that you won't find anywhere else.... I'll recommend this book to my friends and to my graduating law students, who plan to practice immigration law.

 

Attorney Ilona Bray came to the practice of immigration law through her long interest and concern with international human rights issues. Before joining Nolo as legal editor in charge of immigration, she ran a solo law practice and worked for a number of nonprofit immigration agencies, including the International Institute of the East Bay and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Ms. Bray was also an intern in the legal office at Amnesty International’s International Secretariat in London. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in philosophy from Bryn Mawr College, and her law degree and a Master’s degree in East Asian (Chinese) Studies from the University of Washington.

 

Fiancé & Marriage Visas by Attorney Ilona Bray
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