Home > Research Legal Advice > Immigration > Can an LPR marry an illegal immigrant? After the marriage, can the Illeg...
Asked about 3 years ago - Pensacola, FL
FlagThe illegal immigrant came in the country with inspection, his visa has not expired but he overstayed according to his I94.
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The simple answer is that an LPR can marry the illegal immigrant. But after the marriage, all he can do is file for the relative Petition for his illegal spouse. That filing will not confer any immediate benefits on the illegal spouse. There will be no right for a work permit, such benefits are only available if a person can adjust status legally, and if an immigrant visa is available at the time of filing.
Jacob Sapochnick, Esq
www.h1b.biz
www.visalawyerblog.com
HI....if he has overstayed over the I-94 expiry date then he is out status....however, a LPR could petition for their spouse...however this category is backlogged and they would have to wait for the priority date to come up before the 485 could be filed....and the work authorization...so the short answer to your question...is no, not immediately....unfortunately.
When an LPR marries a foreign national, legal or not, it can take many years of waiting in line before a green card is available.
When the day comes that a green card is available, if the foreign national has worked illegally, he or she is inadmissible, and cannot receive LPR status--unless there was a petition filed that applies to the foreign national no later than 4/30/01. This early filing captures the benefits of a law called 245[i], which fixes the problem of working illegally. Just having entered the US with a visa does not fix the problem. The best idea is for the LPR spouse to file for US citizenship by naturalization.
Lamar Peckham
Law Office of Lamar Peckham
555 Sebastopol Rd., Ste. C
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
[707]527-8050
A legal permanent cannot confer immediate relative status on a husband, that can only be done by a US citizen.
Your spouse would have to wait for her priority date to become current and in some cases it might take years to become current and for and for a visa to become available for adjustment or consular processing.
It is advisable for your friend not to stay beyond the period of authorized stay on his I-94.
Your friend can either renew the I-94 or change status to another category while his I-94 is current.
You may use the link below for information.
Good luck.
It is possible to file as an LPR however it is faster as a citizen. I know a few people who did this however their illegal spouse had entered the country WITHOUT inspection and actually had to go back and do an I-601 waiver through their home countries. I believe their cases took 3 years instead of the average of 1 year.
Check out the forum www.immigrate2us.net - It is a forum for any immigration situation but the majority of members have experience in going through I-601 waivers and I-130 for their spouses. Good luck..!!!
