A question I have wondered about for a long time.

[Shag 0]

Hi fellow VJers,

hopefully I'm posting this on the correct forum

So, I've had a few questions running through my head for a few years now about my immigration experience and, now my journey is complete, I thought I'd throw this out there as, at the time, I was very blase about how to immigrate to the US and after discovering VJ when going through my naturalization I realized I was probably right on the hairy edge of falling through the odd pitfall in the immigration process. Previously ignorance was bliss

Here's my rough timeline:

Jan 00: Came to US on Visa Waiver and married my USC wife.

Mar 00: Came to US on Visa Waiver and filed my PR and EAD paperwork. My local office removed the Visa Waiver card from my passport at time of filing paperwork.

Jun 00: Got my first EAD card, started work in the US and then renewed annually until I got my green card.

Late 03: Had my interview (AOS?) in order to become a PR.

Feb 04: Received my 10 year green card.

June 11: File N-400 based on 5 year rule.

Nov 11: Oath ceremony and became a USC.

Really my interest is around how I entered the US when filing for PR in March 2000. I've read a few threads in the various forums around entering the US as the spouse of a US citizen and all seem to indicate that you should really spend a few months back in your home country getting a spousal visa and re-entering using that visa and then filing the various PR/EAD paperwork but, unless I've overlooked it in the guides, I don't see any information relating to re-entering on a Visa Waiver and then adjusting status/filing PR paperwork.

At the time there didn't seem to be an issue with filing my initial paperwork whilst entering the US on a visa waiver but did I usurp how this should really work?

Also, I never got a 2 year GC and, thus, never had to do the ROC(?) step. I just went straight to a 10 year GC. I'm thinking that this was due to it taking 3+ years to get the GC from filing? I always put the length of time from filing paperwork to getting my GC down to 9/11 happening but is it more likely that how I entered the US caused the delay? My recollection was that this was never raised when we had our GC interview.

From reading others experiences it seems like a conditional GC takes months rather than years to come through, although I may be wrong on this assumption.

TIA, Shag.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

People still adjust status...apply for greencard...from VWP and get approved. Because VWP is for tourists, it is not the true path to immigration because you entered declaring yourself a tourist, not an immigrant. But marriage to a US citizen seems to let them "forget" that issue. Some people pretend that they suddenly decided to stay and adjust because they really were only wanting to be a tourist when they entered. Whatever! The fact is, most are never asked about their intentions. If something goes badly, there is no appeal to the decision when adjusting from VWP.

There used to be a huge bottleneck in processing years ago at the FBI name check stage. Greencards took years like yours. They have since worked on the process to fix that little problem. It had nothing to do with your VWP.

A 2year greencard is issued if the applicant has been married less than two years. They want to make sure you stay married for at least two years before they give you anything more. If married longer than two years, then a 10 year card is issued. By the time you got your greencard, you qualified for the 10 year version based on the length of your marriage.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Nich-Nick

[Shag 0]

_{Thanks for the information Nich-Nick}

_{Sounds like I did dodge a potential bullet coming back in on the VWP, as far as I remember I don't remember even been asked what my intentions were after entering the US but it sounds like it's no real issue if you are married to a USC.}

_{Also, that's interesting info about the FBI name checks taking so long. I do remember, when filing the initial paperwork, and at the time being told the GC could take 18 months too two years here in Tucson. My assumption about why it took so long was I did hear they diverted resources to homeland security post 9/11, sounds like that was probably incorrect.}