How Long to Get Green Card After Marriage

I am often asked how long will it take to get a green card for my spouse after marriage.

If  your spouse is living in another country and you, as a U.S Citizen, are planning to file an I-130 case for her the process should take about 12-14 months in total.  If your spouse is in the United States and you are filing for a green card for your spouse based on marriage the time is varying.

For over a decade in Northern California the cases were taking about 4 months from start to finish.

Cases would be filed and would follow a predictable pattern.  The case would be filed.  A work card/ travel card would be issued to the immigrant about 3 months later and then one month later the interview would be held.  This held true until about a year or so ago.  These case have been given more scrutiny and have taken  longer to process.

Cases filed in 2017 were/have been taking a year or a bit longer to process.  The cases filed in 2018 have been processing in 6-8 months. Moving forward it is hard to say how long this type of case will be taking to complete.  Although 6 to 8 months would be my best guess.

If you are considering doing a marriage green card case you should be aware that there are many ways to make mistakes and cause problems in your case.  You should seriously consider at least consulting with an Immigration Attorney prior to filing anything with USCIS.

Please visit the marriage green card page on our website.  If you are considering filing a fiance visa then you should read our popular blog post: 10 things you should know about the fiance visa process.

Lawrence Gruner is a Sacramento Immigration Lawyer with almost 25 years of experience handling immigration cases.  His office handles cases in California, the United States and the World.  You can email him at attorneygruner@gmail.com or call him at 916-760-7270 or 888-801-6558.  He would be very happy to talk to you about your fiance visa case.

This blog post is for informational purposes only.  Laws can and do change.  Please do not rely on this blog post in lieu of a consultation with an immigration attorney.