Married to a U.S. citizen? Get the green card without leaving the country.

Spouses of U.S. citizens are “immediate relatives” — no visa queue, no annual limit — and can generally adjust status inside the U.S. if they entered the country lawfully. Spouses of green card holders qualify under the F2A category, which can involve a wait and stricter status requirements. Lawful entry matters more than current status: how you entered often decides whether you can adjust here or need another route.

Often, yes. For spouses of U.S. citizens who entered the country lawfully, an overstay or a period of unauthorized work is generally forgiven for adjustment of status purposes — one of the few true forgiveness provisions in immigration law. But it is not automatic and not unlimited: entries without inspection, certain misrepresentations, and prior removal orders change the analysis completely, and adjustment itself is now a discretionary decision. This is exactly the situation to have reviewed by an attorney before filing anything.

Timelines vary by service center and interview backlog; most cases run many months to over a year. With the filing you can request a work permit (EAD) and advance parole for travel — though traveling before approval carries risk that should be assessed case by case, especially in the current discretionary climate.

You receive a conditional green card valid for two years. In the 90 days before it expires, you file Form I-751 — jointly if the marriage is intact — with fresh evidence that the marriage is bona fide. We build the I-751 evidence trail from day one, so the second filing is assembly, not archaeology.

Both spouses attend. Officers test whether the marriage is real: how you met, daily life, finances, family. Where the record is strong, interviews are short. Where answers diverge from the paperwork — or from each other — cases unravel. We prepare both spouses for what is actually asked, correct weak spots in the record beforehand, and appear with you where strategy calls for it.