Newnan, GA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

The USCIS generally considers a marriage to be valid for immigration legal purposes if it was legally valid where it took place. Note, however, that people are prohibited from entering the U.S. with a B1/B2 visitor's visa while intending to apply to adjust status to become a Permanent Resident. That is because a entry with a B1/B2 visa requires "nonimmigrant intent." Misusing a visitor's visa can have very harsh immigration-related consequences. It would be wise for you and your wife to consult with an immigration attorney who, after learning all of the relevant information, could advise about eligibilities, options and strategies to attain your goals, and who then could offer legal representation in the often complex application process.

Generally, a U.S. citizen with appropriate documentary evidence of current income exceeding $29,000, will meet the economic qualifications for the Affidavit of Support that is a part of the marriage-based adjustment of status application process. This is true even if the U.S. citizen had insufficient income in previous years. Note, however, that determination of sufficient documentable income also involves calculations based upon the size of the sponsor's household, so if you may have other relatives in your household or subject to previous immigration sponsorship, that will need to be taken into account. This detail is just one of the many details in the immigration application process that can be substantially more complex than it might appear just from reading the forms, the instructions and information available on the Internet. It would be wise for you and your spouse to consult with an immigration attorney who, after learning all of the relevant information about you and your spouse, could advise about immigration eligibilities, options and strategies, and could offer legal representation in the application process.

Generally, a criminal offense approximately 11 years ago that did not stand in the way of eligibility for adjustment of status also will not bar eligibility for naturalization. A full assessment, however, would require a review of the disposition documents for that offense as well as a review of any subsequent arrests or similar blemishes on an applicant's record. It would be wise to consult with an immigration attorney who, after seeing the relevant documents and learning all of the relevant information about you, could advise about naturalization eligibility and could offer legal representation in the application process.