I am from the U.S. (Long Island, NY) and my girlfriend is from Mexico (Leon, GTO). She currently lives in Mexico and I live in the U.S. She has a valid B-2 tourist visa is planning to move in with me in the U.S. in about a year. We are planning to marry and I am looking for the best way for us to get her a green card and work permission here in the U.S. We are a flexible on where and when we get married, we are just looking for the fastest/most efficient way to get her a green card and work permission considering our specific circumstances. The most important thing for her is that if she comes to the U.S. and begins the process, she has the option to go back to Mexico (for a short period in case of a family emergency, etc.) while the USCIS is processing her papers. The one snag I have as as the petitioner is that I have not filed taxes for the past 2-3 years. I was told that a family member of mine that makes a sufficient salary can fulfill this requirement with additional paperwork.
What do you think is the best option for us? Getting married in Mexico and filing for Consular Processing seems like an attractive option because she would be a legal permanent resident and have work permission when she enters the U.S. However, I don’t know how long it would take and if it takes a lot more than a year it would put additional stress on our long-distance relationship. It is possible I am misunderstanding how Consular Processing works. One lawyer told me the way he does most cases is to have the person enter using their tourist visa, wait the 90 days, get married, then file for adjustment of status. Is this a violation of her tourist visa? I am assuming this process the lawyer is using I-130?, I-485?, I-131?, and/or I-765?. Is this our best option? He said it is not recommended to leave the country while they are processing but that it could be done.
I think my question is relatively simple but after a few hours of reading through the requirements/limitations of each possible route, I still don’t have much clarity on which suits us best for our circumstances. Any insight is greatly appreciated. We may consult further with a lawyer for ~$300 but we would prefer to save the $3500 lawyer fees of filing and file the papers ourselves unless it is not recommended.
I am from the U.S. (Long Island, NY) and my girlfriend is from Mexico (Leon, GTO). She currently lives in Mexico and I live in the U.S. She has a valid B-2 tourist visa is planning to move in with me in the U.S. in about a year. We are planning to marry and I am looking for the best way for us to get her a green card and work permission here in the U.S. We are a flexible on where and when we get married, we are just looking for the fastest/most efficient way to get her a green card and work permission considering our specific circumstances. The most important thing for her is that if she comes to the U.S. and begins the process, she has the option to go back to Mexico (for a short period in case of a family emergency, etc.) while the USCIS is processing her papers. The one snag I have as as the petitioner is that I have not filed taxes for the past 2-3 years. I was told that a family member of mine that makes a sufficient salary can fulfill this requirement with additional paperwork. What do you think is the best option for us? Getting married in Mexico and filing for Consular Processing seems like an attractive option because she would be a legal permanent resident and have work permission when she enters the U.S. However, I don’t know how long it would take and if it takes a lot more than a year it would put additional stress on our long-distance relationship. It is possible I am misunderstanding how Consular Processing works. One lawyer told me the way he does most cases is to have the person enter using their tourist visa, wait the 90 days, get married, then file for adjustment of status. Is this a violation of her tourist visa? I am assuming this process the lawyer is using I-130?, I-485?, I-131?, and/or I-765?. Is this our best option? He said it is not recommended to leave the country while they are processing but that it could be done. I think my question is relatively simple but after a few hours of reading through the requirements/limitations of each possible route, I still don’t have much clarity on which suits us best for our circumstances. Any insight is greatly appreciated. We may consult further with a lawyer for ~$300 but we would prefer to save the $3500 lawyer fees of filing and file the papers ourselves unless it is not recommended.