How do I get my fiance a green card after she enters on a K1 fiance visa?
Once your fiancée enters the United States, you have 90 days to marry. And you need to make sure that you do get married before that 90 days expires. On your arrival and departure record, your I-94, will have that listed. You also will have it stamped and listed in your passport. So make sure you check that date. And make sure you get married before that. And don't wait until the 11th hour. We've seen too many customers, for whatever reason, wait until the 90th day, and they thought they were under the timeline or time frame and they found that they were actually one day over. You don't want to do that.
In order to get the green card, you will be applying for adjustment of status, to go from non-immigrant status to immigrant status. To adjust your status, you are going to file the Form I-485. You're also going to file the I-864 with your financial documents. If you hire RapidVisa, you won't need to worry about all these form numbers or processes, as we'll guide you through it step-by-step. You'll also have a medical exam. And right now, the processing time has increased a bit over last year. You're looking at probably about eight to ten months to get the actual green card. In that time frame, there are a couple of things that are going to happen. You're going to have to attend an interview - both the foreign fiance and the US citizen. And once you have to attend the interview, approximately two to three months after that, you should receive what is called the "combo card". That's the work permit that's called the EAD, or Employment Authorization Document. You'll also receive the travel permit. That's called the Advance Parole Card. So this card is a combo card and it's about the size of a drivers license. You should get that approximately two to three months after the interview. And then, hopefully, if everything goes well, and you're approved, approximately five to six months after you receive your combo card, you'll get the green card.
A lot of people ask
Can I travel, and can I work while we're waiting for this green card to get approved?
And the answer is yes, you can. We caution everyone, though, on traveling. We've actually seen some cases where they were basically told they abandoned the process. One example is traveling outside the country and missing an interview. So basically you can travel, but we don't recommend it. It's best just to sit tight and wait to receive the green card before you do.
Once you have that combo card, the EAD, Employment Authorization Document, or work permit, you can legally work in the country. You can also get a social security number/social security card along with that.