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My boyfriend came into the country legally but stayed past his student visa. We have been together for 5 years and are talking about marriage. Will he have to return home initially? How long of a process is it? Please tell me anything I need to know. Thank you.
Since he came here legally, it's going to be easy. He won't even have to go back home.
You'll need to file Form I-130 and Form I-485.
But for his overstay, did he comply with the terms of his student visa (meaning he attended classes)? Did he enter on a J-1 visa, with the 2 year foreign residency requirement?
Consult an immigration law practitioner.
Since he came legally you can file both of the form listed above. However, if I were you I wouldn't sit around and have a long engagement. My husband and I had a 15 month engagement planned (he came on a student visa and overstayed) and three months before the wedding, ICE came and arrested him for overstaying. We got him out after paying a $6000 bond and then got married. Trust me the process got a lot more complicated. So my advice is don't wait very long to get married and lay low in the process (i.e., no DUI's, no problems with the police) Also, don't leave the country for your honeymoon or anything. You will be able to file for advance parole with the marriage packet, but since he violated the terms of his visa if you were to leave the country after the marriage but before receiving his permanent resident card it could trigger up to a 10 year bar blocking him from coming back to the US.