Can I marry after green card approval (Mexico, marriage, uscis)

[vinb5]

Hi
I'm from London.recently I got green card approval notice on website.but I have read on Internet that i need to get appointment nvc than interview bla bla.

Actually my mom is us citizen and she applied for me for gc.
just few days back after 6 months process it's approveD.

My question again it's approval on website and I didn't get any kind of card or paper stating that I can fly right now and am legal to stay .

With this approval can I get married with my boy friend.will this lead to cancel my green card before I enter the country.

This is approval message.

On December 1 2014, we approved your Form I-130, Immigrant Petition for Relative, Fiance(E), or Orphan, Receipt Number . We will mail your approval notice. Please follow the instructions in the notice.

[thedwightguy]

Originally Posted by vinb5

Hi
I'm from London.recently I got green card approval notice on website.but I have read on Internet that i need to get appointment nvc than interview bla bla.

Actually my mom is us citizen and she applied for me for gc.
just few days back after 6 months process it's approveD.

My question again it's approval on website and I didn't get any kind of card or paper stating that I can fly right now and am legal to stay .

With this approval can I get married with my boy friend.will this lead to cancel my green card before I enter the country.

This is approval message.

On December 1 2014, we approved your Form I-130, Immigrant Petition for Relative, Fiance(E), or Orphan, Receipt Number . We will mail your approval notice. Please follow the instructions in the notice.

Really, why take the risk? This site has had many threads on immigration and marriage.
For the USA I'm surprised because you usually need more than one parent, unless in your circumstances there are different issues. Not worried about that. Why risk?

It won't lead to cancellation but it also WON'T GET YOUR HUSBAND into the states either, which is why he's putting heat on you?? Is that what's going on? If so, tell him to back right off.

[STT Resident]

I confess I'm totally confused about what you're asking. You can get married to whomever and whenever you want and it has nothing to do with your GC. However, if you're planning on using the GC to sponsor your non-US citizen fiancé/husband then best you go to the USCIS website linked in the first "sticky" on this forum to look into the procedure.

[trying harder]

There are some factors you need to weigh regarding whether to marry at this time or not, depending on some facts not given. Unfortunately, your choices here are between bad and worse.

Bear with me, because it's going to get a little complicated.

First, some things you need to be aware of:

1. Your green card has not been approved yet. Only the petition has been approved. You still have another round of applications to go--your immigrant visa application. That will involve some paperwork, a medical exam, a background check, etc. Then, as you note, you will need to have an interview with the U.S. consulate in London.

2. But before any of that can happen, your place in the quota backlog for your immigration category needs to be reached. I am assuming that you are over age 21. If so, you are in the Family-based First Preference (known as FB-1). Only 23,400 visas per year can be granted in that category, and no more than 7% of those can go to any one nationality. Far more than that number are requested every year, so there is a backlog in availability.

3. You got your place in that backlog line on the date that your mother filed that petition. If I am understanding you correctly, it sounds like that was about 6 months ago. You will know the exact date from the approval notice that is being mailed (it actually will go to your mother rather than you, since she is the petitioner). Look at the top of the notice for a box titled "Priority date". That's the date you "got in line."

4. For most nationalities, only those whose priority dates are July 8, 2007 or earlier are eligible to complete the final round of application referenced in #1 above. That's right, there is a wait of about 7-1/2 years just to apply for the green card. All wait times for quotas are rough estimates. They can slow down or speed up over time, so could wind up being a little shorter or a lot longer. But I've rarely seen them get a lot shorter.

By the way, the wait times I'm giving are if you are are chargeable to the UK. If you were born in Mexico or the Philippines, you are probably chargeable to that country and thus the wait is even longer (because of that 7% rule mentioned in #2 above). But for the remainder of this discussion, I'm going to assume you are not chargeable to either of those countries.

5. So, if your mother filed the petition 6 months ago, you have about another 7 years to wait before you can apply for the green card. In the meantime, you can enter the U.S. from time to time for brief visits, provided you do not intend to take up residence here. You may get questioned about your intent by border officials, so it would be a good idea for you to carry with you proof of your ongoing ties to England--to show you have a job, a place to live, etc.

Now, to the question of whether or when to marry:


6. If you get married before you have the consular interview and make initial entry to the U.S. under the immigrant visa that should result from that interview, your category changes to the Family-based Third Preference (known as FB-3). FB-3 has the same quota number as FB-1, but there are more people waiting for that one.

7. Only those whose priority dates are December 22, 2003 or earlier are eligible to complete the final round of application at this time. That's right, the wait for your place in line if you get married becomes 11 years.

8. If you wait to get married for the 7+ years until after the FB-1 category becomes current for you, you will then need to turn around and petition for your husband. He would fall into the the Family-Based Second Preference, subcategory A (known as FB-2A). His priority date--his place in line--would be set on the date that you file a petition for him, similar to the petition your mother filed for you.

9. There are more numbers available for FB-2A than for FB-1 or 3, so the wait for him would not be as long. That category is currently at April 15, 2013 for all but Mexican nationals, so it's about a 1-3/4 year wait.

10. If you go ahead and marry now and fall into the the FB-3 category, the good news is that your husband will be able to derive his status from yours, and so there would be no additional wait for him.

So, bottom lines:

- You still have at least 7 years to wait before you can migrate to the U.S.

- If you marry now, both you and your husband will have a wait of about 11 years.

- If you wait until you have your green card and migrate to the U.S. before you marry, it will be approximately another 2 years beyond those 7 years for your husband to join you, or 9 years total for him. And note that you will need to maintain your residence in the U.S. for those 2 years, or risk losing your green card.

If I were you, I'd go ahead and marry and wait the 11 years.

I'm sorry--I'm sure that none of this is good news.

[mrskay662000]

If your Mom is a USC, then yes, you can marry your boyfriend because there is still a visa immigrant category available for married sons and daughters of US citizens.

Remember, only your I-130 was approved. That only establishes the relationship and determines if you were over/under 21, and married/unmarried. You've still got some time to wait for your permanent residence (Depending on your age at her filing) and if you marry, that wait gets longer. Which, is fine, right? It gives you some time to establish your marriage before moving across the pond.

Go to the Department of State and look up visa bulletin. That will tell you what you can and can't do, and the approximate wait times.