I wanted to see if anyone has any advice or opinions for my case specifically and I appreciate anyone's answers. Is the following considered straight forward enough of a case that we could realistically file by ourselves to obtain a green card for her, through our marriage, without a lawyer or other paid service?
Before we met, my fiance (from Ecuador) came here legally to the US back in May of 2021 on a tourist (B2) visa and she decided to stay here past her visa expiration. I met her here in the US (I'm a US citizen in NJ) at the end of the year of 2021 and we end up falling in love and by the end of 2022 she moved in with me (I rent an apartment) and has been living here with me since then. Just recently we got engaged and are now looking to start the process of filing for marriage green card.
We don't have any criminal records anywhere. No kids. We don't have a joint bank account or lease, but she does have her address the same as mine on her driver's license and bank statements. Her car is registered and insured here the same address as me. I work in a factory and she started her own house cleaning business here. We have went on several vacations over the last few years with plenty of pics and social media posts to show. We have met each others family, also with pictures to show. We are indeed in a very real, bonafide relationship and want to spend our lives together.
Does this seem like it will be straightforward for us? Based on our situation, does anybody have any advice or suggestions on anything? Does it matter that she has overstayed her visa by more than 2.5 years by now?
Thank you. A couple of other questions I have: When is she able to apply for SSN and when should she apply for it? Does she have to wait until after marriage and after we file i-130 & i-485? I'm not really sure how this works in her situation. After marriage, her last name will change to mine. Am I right to assume that she should use her new last name (mine) for filing everything?