The Law Office of David A. Breston believes in the unification of family members and dedicates a good portion of its immigration practice to pursuing family-based immigration. Wherever unification is provided for by law, our marriage immigration attorneys make every effort to achieve that result.
Each situation is unique, however, and unification is not always possible. Still, we remain committed to exploring all legal options available for our clients to immigrate through family members.
Contact Houston spouse immigration attorney today, and we’ll start exploring the options available to allow you and your family the chance to live together here in the United States of America. As with all of our services, if we look at your case and find there is nothing that can be done, we’ll tell you right off the bat. That way, you won’t waste money on a service that can’t benefit you.
U.S. citizens presently have two options for facilitating the immigration of future spouses to the US: the K-1 fiancé visa and the alien-spouse immigrant visa. For more information, contact a Houston immigration attorney for more information.
The following visas are available to spouses or fiancées of both citizens and lawful permanent residents:
In many cases, the processing time for a fiancé visa is shorter than that for an alien spouse. Fiancé visa processing can take several months from the filing of the petition to the final adjudication of the visa total processing time for the alien-spouse visa can take 6-12 months depending on individual circumstances.
If your alien fiancé is already in the United States and plans to adjust status in the U.S. via naturalization, your lawyer must contact the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
U.S. citizens may file an I-129F petition with INS for the issuance of a K-1 fiancé visa to an alien fiancé. A citizen exercising this option must remain unmarried until the arrival of the fiancé in the U.S., and the wedding must take place within three months of the fiance’s arrival if he/she is to remain in status.
Also, the alien and U.S. citizen must have met personally at least once in the two years before the petition was filed. Legal permanent residents may not file petitions for fiancé’s visas. They must marry abroad and then file an I-130 petition for the immigration of a new spouse.
If a U.S. citizen marries an alien abroad, an I-130 petition must be filed after the marriage to begin the immigration process for the alien spouse.
This can be filed either with the (INS) in the United States, or, under certain circumstances, at U.S. Embassies or Consulates abroad. U.S. Embassies and Consulates have differing policies for approving I-130s and should be individually contacted about the availability of this service.
Prior to departure from this country, the U.S. citizen should contact the INS or appropriate foreign service post to ascertain exactly what documents will be necessary to file the immigrant petition for a new spouse.
For any family-based visa, waiting periods can be long and tedious. By hiring an immigration attorney in Houston, you will make sure that your applications are filled out correctly and that the process will take place as smoothly as possible.
For more information, contact the Law Offices of David A. Breston today.