Hi everyone,

I have come to the United States as an F1 visa holder but have been out of status since January 4 2010. I am not able to return to my home country, if I do I am going to have to stay in prison for 3,5 years because I refused to serve in the army. My passport is about to expire, I have about 15 days left on it. And my country's embassy refuses to renew my passport because I refused to serve in the army. So I am pretty much stuck at a point where I am really scared and feeling helpless.

My girlfriend is a US citizen and we are planning to get married. However, I am really scared that this might get her in trouble, adding onto the doubts I have about how I should go about this matter in order to keep me out of trouble as well.

So here are the details:

1. I arrived legally on an F1 visa. I have my I94 and entry stamps, however my passport is about to expire.

2. I fell our of status as of January 4 2010, and have not considered reinstating it due to the fact that the only way I can solve the problem I have with my own country is through getting married to my girlfriend here. (There is a process that allows me to postpone my service duty for three years, when I state that I have started taking the necessary steps to acquire another country's citizenship.)

3. I have been with my girlfriend for over a year. She is a US born citizen and she wants to marry me.

4. I have never been employed in the US and have never been charged of any kind of a crime.

And here are my questions, which I will be glad if you respond to:

1. Can I get married to my girlfriend? Is it legally possible, as I am out of status?

2. We have the means to prove that our relationship is bona fide; we have known each other for 6 years (we met in my home country), we have many common friends and we know each others' families. Actually we are planning to spend our honeymoon in my home country if we can get married. But I hear USCIS is usually very -VERY- suspicious about marriages such as ours. I care about her more than I care about myself, so is there a possibility that she might get in trouble for marrying me?

3. How does the process work? I mean, if we can get married, what are the steps that follow? I know about a few forms to be submitted etc. but can anyone provide me with a timeline, or a detailed step-by-step list of what we will be doing? What is the procedure in the status readjustment process after marriage?

This will be all. Thank you in advance to everyone that care to share their information with me.

Have a great day!