If you are a U.S citizen and your spouse entered illegally
Your spouse may be able apply for a green card—but he or she must leave the United States in order to do so.
If your spouse entered the United States illegally but has been in the United States for less than 180 days, he or she could return home and apply for a green card through the U.S. consulate, just as someone would do if he or she were living abroad and applying for a marriage-based green card.
If your spouse has been in the United States for more than 180 days without legal status, he or she will be subject to a bar from entering the United States for either three years or ten years. To avoid this bar, your spouse would need to apply for a
provisional waiver to be able to return to the United States sooner.
Couples in this situation generally need to do the following:
- Submit Form I-130 to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), making sure to indicate that your spouse will be applying for a green card from abroad.
- If your I-130 is approved (generally about 6-8 months), you will typically get a notification from the National Visa Center asking you to submit the immigrant visa application and pay the immigrant visa fee. You’ll need a receipt showing that you submitted this immigrant visa application in order to then submit your provisional waiver application.
- If your provisional waiver is approved (generally after about 6 months), your spouse’s visa interview at the U.S. consulate will be scheduled, and your spouse will need to travel to his or her home country to attend the interview.
If, however,
your spouse has entered the United States illegally more than once, has entered illegally after having been deported, or has entered illegally after having been in the United States without legal status for more than a year, he or she is likely subject to a
permanent lifetime bar to entering the United States.
Click here for more information on the consequences of illegal entry.
