Marriage Green Cards and Family Petitions: How They Work

Who can petition for a relative

Family immigration is built on INA § 201, 8 U.S.C. § 1151 and INA § 203, 8 U.S.C. § 1153. The petitioner must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national or a lawful permanent resident, and the relationship decides the category:

• A U.S. citizen can petition for a spouse, a child of any age or marital status, a parent (if the citizen is at least 21) and a brother or sister (if the citizen is at least 21).
• A lawful permanent resident can petition only for a spouse and for unmarried children. There is no category for a resident's parents, married children or siblings.

Each relative needs their own petition in most cases. A spouse's children are not automatically included in a citizen's petition for the spouse: under 8 C.F.R. § 204.2(a)(4) a child cannot be a derivative of an immediate-relative spouse petition and "must have a separate petition filed on his or her behalf." Children of a permanent resident's spouse can be included as derivatives, because that is a preference category.

The marriage must be legally valid where it took place and bona fide. Under USCIS policy since October 17, 2025 (Policy Alert PA-2025-23), proxy marriages, virtual marriages and same-sex marriages follow the same "place of celebration" rule as every other marriage, and USCIS reviews whether the marriage is genuine both when it decides the I-130 and again when it decides the green card application.

A resident who got a green card through an earlier marriage faces an extra rule. Under INA § 204(a)(2)(A), 8 U.S.C. § 1154(a)(2)(A), a permanent resident's petition for a new spouse cannot be approved within five years of becoming a resident through a prior marriage, unless the petitioner proves "by clear and convincing evidence" that the prior marriage was not entered into to evade the immigration laws, or the prior marriage ended with the spouse's death. The rule applies to the resident's spousal petition; a denial is without prejudice to a new petition after five years of residence (8 C.F.R. § 204.2(a)(1)(i)).

Some relatives can file for themselves instead of relying on the family member: the spouse or child of an abusive citizen or resident (a VAWA self-petition) and a widow or widower of a citizen who files within two years of the citizen's death (§ 201(b)(2)(A)(i)).

To have a former immigration judge prepare and present a case built on a marriage, see our marriage green card lawyer page; for a fiancé(e) abroad, our K-1 fiancé visa lawyer page. For a petition for a parent, a brother or sister or an adult son or daughter, or to choose between adjustment of status and consular processing, see our green card lawyer page.

Immediate relatives vs. the preference categories

How long a family waits depends on whether a visa number is needed.

Immediate relatives: no annual limit

Under § 201(b)(2)(A)(i), "immediate relatives" are "the children, spouses, and parents of a citizen of the United States," with the parent category open only when the citizen is at least 21. A "child" is unmarried and under 21. Immediate relatives are not counted against a yearly cap, so a visa is available as soon as the petition is approved; the wait is only processing time.

Preference categories: annual limits and a waiting line

Everyone else waits for a visa number under § 203(a):

• F1 — unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of citizens: 23,400 a year, plus unused numbers.
• F2A — spouses and children (under 21) of permanent residents, and F2B — unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of residents: 114,200 a year together, with at least 77 percent for F2A.
• F3 — married sons and daughters of citizens: 23,400 a year.
• F4 — brothers and sisters of citizens who are at least 21: 65,000 a year.

The family preference total can never be less than 226,000 a year (§ 201(c)), and per-country limits make the wait longer for some countries. Each month the State Department's Visa Bulletin publishes a cut-off date for each category; the petition's filing date (the "priority date") must be earlier than that date. USCIS's filing-charts page says which of the Bulletin's two charts applies to adjustment applications that month.

When a relative changes category

Categories move with life events. When a resident petitioner naturalizes, an F2A spouse or child becomes an immediate relative; when a citizen's married child divorces, an F3 case becomes F1; when an unmarried child of a citizen marries, the case drops from immediate relative or F1 to F3. A child's age is locked in on specific dates by the Child Status Protection Act — for a citizen's child, the age "on the date on which the petition is filed" (§ 201(f)(1)) — and for preference children the age is reduced by the time the petition was pending, if the child seeks the green card within one year of a visa becoming available (§ 203(h)).

Form I-130: filing, fees and evidence

Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative (edition 04/01/24), is filed with USCIS online or by mail; a spouse petition also needs Form I-130A with the beneficiary's information. USCIS's form page is plain that "the filing or approval of this petition does not give your relative any immigration status or benefit."

Fees (USCIS Form G-1055 fee schedule, edition 09/09/26):

• I-130: $675 on paper, $625 online.
• I-485 (adjustment), applicant 14 or older: $1,440 on paper, $1,390 online; a child under 14 filing with a parent: $950 ($900 online).
• I-765 work permit filed while an I-485 filed on or after April 1, 2024 is pending: $260; I-131 advance parole in the same situation: $630 ($580 online).
• I-864 affidavit of support: no USCIS fee.
• I-751 (removing conditions): $750 on paper, $700 online.
• For consular cases, the State Department charges $325 per immigrant visa application for immediate relatives and family preference cases, and $120 for an affidavit of support reviewed domestically (22 C.F.R. § 22.1); after the visa is issued, USCIS charges a $235 immigrant fee.

Evidence of the relationship. A spouse petition requires "a certificate of marriage issued by civil authorities, and proof of the legal termination of all previous marriages of both the petitioner and the beneficiary," plus photographs (8 C.F.R. § 204.2(a)(2)), and proof of the petitioner's citizenship or residence. USCIS's documentation rules are in Policy Manual Vol. 6, Part B, ch. 4; since August 5, 2026 USCIS policy tells officers to suggest DNA testing when primary evidence of a genetic relationship (parent and child, siblings) is insufficient.

Affidavit of support. In family cases, a green card applicant is inadmissible as a likely public charge unless the petitioner files a legally binding Form I-864 (INA § 212(a)(4)(C)). The sponsor must show income of at least 125 percent of the federal poverty line and agrees to maintain the immigrant at that level (INA § 213A, 8 U.S.C. § 1183a); a joint sponsor can be added when the petitioner's income is too low.

Adjustment of status or consular processing

Once the petition is approved (or, for immediate relatives, at the same time), the relative gets the green card one of two ways:

• Adjustment of status — Form I-485 filed inside the United States. A citizen's spouse who was inspected and admitted or paroled, and is not barred, can file the I-130 and I-485 together. Immediate relatives are exempt from the bars for overstaying or working without permission; spouses of residents (F2A) are not. The rules are in the adjustment of status guide.
• Consular processing — the case goes to the State Department's National Visa Center, and the relative attends an immigrant visa interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. Since November 1, 2025 the State Department schedules those interviews in the applicant's country of residence (our article on the country-of-residence interview rule); the consular processing hub and our article on getting an immigrant visa abroad explain the steps.

The trap for people already here. A person who entered without inspection generally cannot adjust status even when married to a citizen, so their route is usually consular processing — but leaving the United States after more than 180 days of unlawful presence triggers a 3-year bar, and after a year or more a 10-year bar (INA § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)). The provisional waiver, Form I-601A (fee $795), lets the person ask for a waiver of that bar before leaving, based on extreme hardship to a citizen or resident spouse or parent (8 C.F.R. § 212.7(e)). The waivers guide explains it; nobody in that situation should leave for an interview without it being settled.

Nationality restrictions abroad. Since January 1, 2026, Proclamation 10998 (90 FR 59717, Dec. 19, 2025) suspends immigrant visas for nationals of the countries it lists, and the State Department says the earlier exception for spouses, children and parents of citizens (IR-1/CR-1, IR-2/CR-2, IR-5) is "no longer available" (State Department notice); only case-by-case national-interest exceptions remain. Separately, from January 21, 2026 the State Department paused immigrant visa issuance to nationals of 75 countries it considered at high risk of public-benefits use, with no exception for spouses; as of August 21, 2026, under a court order in CLINIC v. Rubio, that pause "is no longer in effect" (State Department notice). A family in either situation should check the current notice before planning a consular interview.

A consular refusal is hard to challenge: in Department of State v. Muñoz, 602 U.S. 899 (2024) the Supreme Court held that a citizen does not have a fundamental liberty interest in a noncitizen spouse's admission (our article: no court review of a spouse visa denial).

Proving a bona fide marriage

A marriage that is legal on paper is not enough: the question is whether the couple intended to build a life together when they married. The Board of Immigration Appeals has long held that the key is the couple's intent at the time of the marriage, and that "the conduct of the parties after the marriage is relevant" to that intent (Matter of Laureano, 19 I&N Dec. 1 (BIA 1983)): joint insurance, leases, tax returns and bank accounts, and testimony about the courtship, wedding and shared life. The petitioner must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the marriage was valid and bona fide "at its inception" (Matter of Jin, 29 I&N Dec. 441 (BIA 2026)). The regulations list the same kinds of proof (8 C.F.R. § 204.2(a)(1)(iii)(B)):

• documents showing joint ownership of property;
• a lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence;
• documents showing commingling of financial resources (joint accounts, joint tax returns, shared bills, insurance naming each other);
• birth certificates of children born to the couple;
• affidavits of third parties with personal knowledge of the relationship; and
• any other documentation that establishes the marriage was not entered into to evade the immigration laws.

Under PA-2025-23 and Policy Manual Vol. 6, Part B, ch. 6, "petitioners must demonstrate that a marriage is bona fide prior to petition approval," and USCIS looks at the marriage again at the adjustment stage.

The interview. For family-based adjustment, USCIS "generally requires the Form I-130 petitioner to appear for the interview with the principal adjustment of status applicant," and spouses are not among the categories USCIS lists as eligible for an interview waiver (Policy Manual Vol. 7, Part A, ch. 5). Officers ask about the couple's history, home and daily life; they may interview the spouses separately when they doubt the marriage. Consistent, documented answers matter more than rehearsed ones. A notice of intent to deny gives the couple a chance to answer the concerns in writing before a decision.

The two-year conditional green card and Form I-751

If the marriage is less than 24 months old on the day the spouse becomes a resident, the green card is conditional and valid for two years (INA § 216, 8 U.S.C. § 1186a). Children who immigrate through that marriage are conditional too. Our article on the two-year conditional period walks through it.

• Joint petition. The couple files Form I-751 together "during the 90-day period before the second anniversary" of the conditional residence (§ 216(d)(2)(A); 8 C.F.R. § 216.4(a)(1)).
• Extension while pending. The regulation extends conditional status automatically until USCIS decides; USCIS's removing-conditions page says the receipt notice extends the status, and work authorization, "for 48 months."
• Interview. The statute requires an interview but lets USCIS waive it (§ 216(d)(3)); USCIS may do so when the file shows a bona fide marriage and no fraud, complex facts or criminal issues (Policy Manual Vol. 6, Part I, ch. 3).
• If nothing is filed, residence ends on the second anniversary and removal proceedings start (§ 216(c)(2); 8 C.F.R. § 216.4(a)(6)). A late petition may be accepted with "good cause and extenuating circumstances."

Waivers of the joint filing requirement

If the couple has divorced, or the citizen or resident spouse will not sign, the immigrant spouse can file the I-751 alone, at any time, asking for a waiver on one of the grounds in § 216(c)(4) and 8 C.F.R. § 216.5:

• the marriage was entered into in good faith but has ended by divorce or annulment;
• the immigrant spouse or child was battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by the petitioner; or
• removal would cause extreme hardship — counting only circumstances that arose during the conditional residence.

There is no fee for a waiver based on battery or extreme cruelty. A person already in removal proceedings may apply for the waiver only until there is a final order (§ 216.5(a)(2)).

Denials go to the immigration judge

There is no appeal from USCIS's denial of an I-751; instead, the person may seek review "in removal proceedings" (8 C.F.R. § 216.4(d)(2); § 1216.4). Since February 28, 2025, USCIS policy is to issue a Notice to Appear when it terminates conditional residence or denies an I-751 (PM-602-0187). Before the judge, on a denied joint petition the government carries the burden of proof "by a preponderance of the evidence" (§ 216(c)(3)(D)); the judge can also review a denied waiver. That hearing is a trial — testimony, documents, cross-examination — and the removal proceedings guide explains how it runs.

Marrying while in removal proceedings

Congress was suspicious of marriages entered while a deportation case is pending, and the law puts them under a stricter test. Under INA § 204(g) and INA § 245(e), 8 U.S.C. § 1255(e), a petition based on a marriage entered into while "administrative or judicial proceedings are pending regarding the alien's right to be admitted or remain in the United States" cannot be approved, and the spouse cannot adjust, until the spouse "has resided outside the United States for a 2-year period beginning after the date of the marriage."

When the period runs. For current cases, proceedings begin with the filing of the Notice to Appear with the immigration court (or service of an expedited removal order), and they last until the person leaves under an order, the case is terminated, or a court grants a petition for review (8 C.F.R. § 245.1(c)(8); the same text is at § 1245.1(c)(8) for the immigration court). A marriage before the NTA was filed, or after the case was terminated, is not covered.

The bona fide marriage exception

The two-year rule does not apply if the couple proves "by clear and convincing evidence" that the marriage "was entered into in good faith and in accordance with the laws of the place where the marriage took place," was not entered into to obtain the spouse's admission as an immigrant, and no fee or other consideration was given for filing the petition (other than a lawyer's fee) (§ 245(e)(3)). The request needs no form or fee: it is made in writing with the I-130, with the same kinds of evidence as any marriage case, and the burden "shall rest with the petitioner" (8 C.F.R. § 204.2(a)(1)(iii)). Clear and convincing is a higher standard than in an ordinary marriage case, so the file should be thorough from the start.

How it plays out in court

• USCIS decides the I-130; the immigration judge decides the adjustment application for a person in proceedings who is not an arriving alien (8 C.F.R. § 1245.2(a)(1)). The couple often asks the judge for a continuance while the petition is pending. Matter of Hashmi, 24 I&N Dec. 785 (BIA 2009) sets out the factors, and an unopposed motion to wait for a prima facie approvable family petition should generally be granted; later decisions are stricter where the relief is speculative (Matter of J-A-F-S-, 29 I&N Dec. 195 (BIA 2025)).
• After a removal order, a new marriage may support a motion to reopen to apply for adjustment. Matter of Velarde-Pacheco, 23 I&N Dec. 253 (BIA 2002), which modified Matter of Arthur, 20 I&N Dec. 475 (BIA 1992), sets five conditions, including a timely motion, no numerical or procedural bar, "clear and convincing evidence … indicating a strong likelihood that the marriage is bona fide," and no DHS opposition — or opposition based only on Arthur; the Board later added that an opposition must be weighed on its merits (Matter of Lamus-Pava, 25 I&N Dec. 61 (BIA 2009)). But a marriage does not stop the clock: in Matter of Yadav, 29 I&N Dec. 438 (BIA 2026) the Board held that a valid marriage to a citizen after a removal order is not, by itself, an exceptional situation for reopening outside the deadline.
• Appeals. The statute allows "only one level of administrative appellate review" of the bona fide marriage exception (§ 245(e)(3); 8 C.F.R. § 204.2(a)(1)(iii)(E)), which is the Board of Immigration Appeals.

A pending I-130 does not stop a removal case on its own. Since August 1, 2025 USCIS policy says a family petition "accords no immigration status or relief from removal," and that USCIS may issue a Notice to Appear to a beneficiary who is removable (PA-2025-12). That is why the court strategy — continuance, adjustment before the judge, or other removal defense — has to be planned alongside the petition.

The marriage-fraud bar, § 204(c)

INA § 204(c), 8 U.S.C. § 1154(c) is one of the harshest rules in immigration law. No petition can be approved for a person who has ever sought immigrant status through "a marriage determined by the Attorney General to have been entered into for the purpose of evading the immigration laws," or who "attempted or conspired to enter into" such a marriage. It is a permanent bar: it blocks every later petition — a new genuine marriage, a parent, an employer — not only the fraudulent one.

• No conviction required. The director denies the petition where there is "substantial and probative evidence" of the attempt or conspiracy; it is "not necessary that the alien have been convicted of, or even prosecuted for" it, but the evidence "must be contained in the alien's file" (8 C.F.R. § 204.2(a)(1)(ii)).
• The standard. In Matter of P. Singh, 27 I&N Dec. 598 (BIA 2019) the Board held that "substantial and probative evidence" is "more than a preponderance of evidence, but less than clear and convincing evidence," judged on the whole record, and that circumstantial evidence alone may be enough. Earlier, Matter of Tawfik, 20 I&N Dec. 166 (BIA 1990) held that USCIS must reach its own conclusion on the record rather than give an earlier fraud finding conclusive effect. The person must be told of the evidence and given a chance to rebut it.
• An old marriage counts. The bar looks back: in Matter of Nwagwu, 29 I&N Dec. 651 (BIA 2026) the Board upheld revoking an approved petition because of substantial and probative evidence of fraud in the beneficiary's prior marriage, even though the current marriage was genuine.
• A failed marriage is not fraud. A marriage that ends in divorce, or a couple that lived apart for work, does not prove fraud; the question is intent at the time of the wedding.

Separately, a marriage-fraud finding can make a person removable and inadmissible for misrepresentation, and USCIS's February 2025 memo directs a Notice to Appear wherever fraud is substantiated, "even if the petition or application is denied for a ground other than fraud" (PM-602-0187). Anyone who receives a notice of intent to deny citing § 204(c) should answer it with counsel and full evidence — the record made then is what the Board and any later case will see.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

• February 28, 2025 — USCIS's NTA policy (PM-602-0187): Notices to Appear on I-751 denials, termination of conditional residence and substantiated fraud.
• August 1, 2025 — PA-2025-12 on family-based petitions: when USCIS interviews on an I-130, and that a family petition gives no status or protection from removal.
• October 17, 2025 — PA-2025-23: a new Policy Manual chapter on spouses (Vol. 6, Part B, ch. 6); marriage bona fides are reviewed at both the petition and the green card stage; proxy, virtual and same-sex marriages follow the place-of-celebration rule; the § 204(c) bar is explained.
• November 1, 2025 — the State Department began scheduling immigrant visa interviews in the applicant's country of residence (notice).
• January 1, 2026 — Proclamation 10998 took effect, ending the travel-ban exception for spouses, children and parents of citizens; January 21 to August 21, 2026 — the 75-country immigrant visa pause, lifted under a court order.
• February and April 2026 — the Board decided Matter of Yadav (a marriage after a removal order is not an exceptional situation for late reopening), Matter of Jin (a petition returned to USCIS on the citizen's own fraud allegations) and Matter of Nwagwu (§ 204(c) applied to a prior marriage).
• May 21, 2026 — USCIS memo PM-602-0199 calls adjustment of status "extraordinary relief" and discretionary; it matters most for spouses who overstayed. The adjustment guide and our article on the May 2026 memo explain it.
• August 5, 2026 — USCIS policy on suggesting DNA tests where the evidence of a genetic relationship is insufficient.
• September 18, 2026 — DHS's final rule on the public charge ground, 91 FR 45324 (July 20, 2026), took effect for adjustment applications filed on or after that date; it is being challenged in federal court in New York.

Our guide to the family categories covers the preference system in more detail, and every immigration court is listed in the courts directory.

Carlos Maury, a former U.S. Immigration Judge, leads Carlos Maury Law; to talk about a marriage or family case — before USCIS, at a consulate or in immigration court — call (213) 769-0050. We speak Spanish.