I met my husband 5 years ago online. I lived in Canada at the time and we knew we loved each other after a very short time. I came out to visit 4 times over the 5 year period, and we had cell phone bills with thousands of minutes on it every month!!
Last June I spent the summer visiting here in California. I came back in November to attend my husband's brother in law's funeral, and we decided at that time that life was too short to continue with things the way that they were...so.....My husband proposed to me on Christmas morning and of course I said "Yes!!" and we got married on January 7, 2006.
Before we got married we called an immigration lawyer to ask whether I should go home and apply for a K1 or get married, go home and apply for a K3...He told me not to do either, and asked me how long I'd been here. I told him just over a month. He asked me why I don't just get married and apply for AOS? I said "I can do that?" he said yes, that things had changed, and that married couples no longer had to go home (as long as I wasn't out of status) and I explained that I was here on my passport and had not overstayed the yearly limit of 6 months on a canadian passport.
He said if we chose to adjust my status this way, NOT to leave for any reason, or I'd be denied re entry. He did not recommend advanced parole either, unless a life and death emergency occured.
We got married on January 7, 2006 in Las Vegas....
We hired the lawyer to file the forms for us...which was quite reasonable, and we felt better because the paperwork was quite confusing and we didn't want any errors.
To make my long story short, my lawyer had me fill out a questionnaire and send the exact documents he requested to complete the documentation. He filed the documents on February 24, 2006 and within 2 weeks I had my notice for biometrics appointment dated for March 10, 2006.
On May 15, 2006 I received my Alien Registration Card, and applied for a SSN.
On May 1, 2006 I received my notice to appear for the initial interview on June 5, 2006.
We went for our interview on June 5, and were approved! The only condition on my residency is that it is a 2 year green card because we have only been married for 5 months. In 2 years we will fill in another form to have the conditional approval changed to permanent resident status, which will be good for 10 years.
The agent told me that is because they want to weed out the marriage fraud applications by attaching conditional residency for the first 2 years. I don't mind, and I understand why it is necessary. So, in 1 year and 9 months from now we will fill in one more form to have that adjusted, and that's it!
