|  WHEN
WOULD MARRIAGE AFFECT MY PETITION?
(PART II)
by Michael J. Gurfinkel, Esq.
In a previous article, I discussed various situations where marriage
would affect a person’s eligibility for a visa, and situations
where it might be advantageous to marry before being processed
for the greencard. Here are some more situations dealing with
the effect of a marriage on a person’s eligibility for a
visa:
5. Brother or Sister of U.S. Citizen
(F-4):
It is always permissible to marry if you are under
petition by your U.S. citizen brother or sister. Your marriage
will have no effect whatsoever
on your eligibility for a visa in the F-4 category. In fact, if
you marry before your immigrant visa is issued (or before you
adjust status in the U.S.), then your spouse can be included,
or added on, as a derivative beneficiary of your brother or sister’s
petition. If you get your visa through your brother or sister’s
petition as “single” and marry afterwards, your bride
or groom would not be included
under that petition. You would have to petition your spouse under
the F-2A category (greencard spouse petitioning spouse), and they
might have to wait an additional five or more years for their
priority date to become current.
6. Employment-Based Visas, such as Labor Certification (EB-1,
2, 3):
Marriage will not
affect a person’s eligibility for a visa based on a petition
by an employer. In fact, it may be advantageous to marry before
your immigrant visa is issued (or you adjust status). That way,
your spouse would be included
under the employer’s petition, and would be eligible to
receive a visa the same time as you.
7. Derivative Beneficiaries:
If a child is a “derivative beneficiary” under their
parent’s petition (i.e. their parent is being petitioned
by an employer (labor certification), or by a parent (F-1 or F-3),
or brother or sister (F-4) and that derivative child gets married,
the child would no longer be considered a “child”,
and, thus, ineligible to receive a “derivative” visa.
As you can see, there are certain situations where
it is “bawal” (or prohibited) to get married, while
in other cases, it may be to your advantage to get married. That
is why if you have questions about whether or not it is “safe”
to marry, I suggest that you seek the advice of a reputable attorney,
who can evaluate your situation and tell you whether or not it
is best to get married before getting your greencard.
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