Wedding before H1B to GreenCard

[Myriam Valenza 0]

Hello everybody,

I am currently living in the United States and working with an H1B visa. My company recently offered me an option to get a green card through a sponsorship program. I am sharing my life with another foreigner (we are not married) which does not have any kind of long term visa for the US (F1).
My question is, how can he get the benefits of my (supposedly) green card ? Do we need to get married before, during, or after the green card application process ?

I've been told the Green Card process in my case would likely take 2 years, so how much time would that take for him to get the ability to work and travel freely from and to the United States ?

 

Thank you for your answers !

[xyz12345 260]

6 hours ago, Myriam Valenza said:

Hello everybody,

I am currently living in the United States and working with an H1B visa. My company recently offered me an option to get a green card through a sponsorship program. I am sharing my life with another foreigner (we are not married) which does not have any kind of long term visa for the US (F1).
My question is, how can he get the benefits of my (supposedly) green card ? Do we need to get married before, during, or after the green card application process ?

I've been told the Green Card process in my case would likely take 2 years, so how much time would that take for him to get the ability to work and travel freely from and to the United States ?

 

Thank you for your answers !

IMO The most important thing to do is to get married and have your partner's name on your gc application. That saves a lot of time.

 

Your partner can wait stateside with you as long as he has his own valid visa. After marriage, I don't think though that your partner can travel in and out of the US with the F visa anymore because of immigration intent. He needs an H4 visa when he leaves the US but the process is lot quicker and probably just a matter of getting an interview appt at the embassy.

 

If your partner doesn't travel abroad and just stays in the US as a F1, then he has the OPT option and can try out for the H-1B lottery later on before changing to H4 if still needed.

 

Your partner can also change to H4 now but then his option to work may not be available anymore. He can still study though.

[arken 4,197]

Employment based GC has several steps, each step taking several months before you can finally file for AOS (to get the GC). Once your employer starts the process, you may be able to file for AOS after 8-10 months or later depending on your category and country. As long as you are married BEFORE you file for AOS, you are good, so no need to rush for marriage

 

For you spouse, to be able to work through your marriage, either it would be after getting EAD from AOS process or if AOS cannot be filed due to PD not being current, may be thru H4 EAD once your i140 is approved and your H1B has been extended. In other words, through your marriage, he can start working probably a year or later from when your employer starts the process.

Edited February 19, 2020 by arken