Hello,
First I'd just like to say I'm all excited about finding this site, and I would like to apologize in advance if I'm asking an oft-repeated question. Without further ado, here's my crazy situation;
I came to the US about 5 years ago with my girl with whom I had a son of 2 years before arriving. We all came in with visitor visas (I dont remember the numbers/codes). My mom who was already living here, was a permanent resident at the time, later became a citizen (I found out a little too late that had my mom been a citizen at the time, the situation would have been much different). She had already put in an application for me to become a resident. I was unmarried.
I applied for 'adjustment of status' and quickly got a work permit and ssn. My green card, however, took 4 years to come through. All because they wanted to make sure that I wasn't already married at the time. I was patient enough. But when I got my green card, I thought to myself, atlast, now we can get married officialy and we can start processing her application right away. Only for my lawyer to tell me, that's not gonna happen until I become a citizen no earlier than 2010!!!![]()
She stayed here and over-stayed her visa by 4 years. I'm told if we go back now, she won't be able to return for another 10 years at least. I'm told I can't apply for her while having a green card. That surprises me, since I looked at the I-130 form and it says that as a legal permanent resident, I can apply/petition for my wife. Does it matter if she's outside the country or here already? And if it does matter, then how will it be different once I'm a citizen? If I become citizen does it guarantee her being approved, even after staying here 10 years?
If I'm asking the wrong questions, or if you have different solutions/advice, I would appreciate it.
Thank you for the site!![]()

