Cima, CA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

As long as you were married within 90 days of your entry, you are still eligible to apply for adjustment of status at a later time even if your visa or authorized stay has expired. However, until your application has been submitted, you will be considered out of status and subject to arrest and deportation.

Processing of an I-130 petition takes from 5 to 14 months, but the processing time shouldn't really concern you. Approval of your parents' petition will not give you a green card for about 7 years (if you were born in Philippines - for 18 years, in Mexico - for 19 years). Every year, the government issues only 23400 immigrant visas to unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. As you can imagine, the number of approved petitions every year is much greater, especially for the natives of Mexico and Philippines. This is why right now, green cards are being issued to the sons and daughters of U.S. citizens who filed their petitions in November 2005 (in June 1993 - for the natives of Mexico; in July 1997 - for natives of the Philippines). This is called the priority date of a petition. Your place in the line is determined by the date your parents' petition was filed, not by the date of its approval; and whether the approval takes 5 or 15 months, it will be long over by the time of your turn to receive a green card. As to any other ways to come and see your parents, you can always try to get a non-immigrant visa. B1/B2 visa (visitors for business/pleasure) is the most common. Usually, you don't even need an invitation to the U.S. from a friend or a relative to apply for a B visa. The problem with getting a non-immigrant visa is that you have to convince the U.S. Consul that you have no immigrant intent (in other words, that you have no intention to stay in the U.S. after your visa expires). And that is very hard to do after your parents filed for you an *immigrant* petition! Very hard, but not impossible. If you explain to the consul that a) yes, there is an immigrant petition filed for you, but it will be years before you will be able to obtain a green card, and you know that you try to stay in the U.S. illegally, you will not get a green card even after your priority date becomes current; b) you have something in your country that you would have to come back to - job (or school), property, fiancee, friends, obligations arising from your involvement in social organizations, a grandparent or a sick friend you are taking care of, a new business you are developing, a contract you would have to start working on after your trip to the U.S., etc. (your words will not be enough, you would have to bring some proof - documents, photographs); c) and that you just want to see your parents for a couple of weeks, well, there is no guarantee, but there is a chance that the consul would give you a B visa.

If she refuses to sign I-751,petition to remove condition, you should file divorce and then file I-751 yourself based on good faith marriage exception to file joint petition. If you can show the marriage is bona fide, CIS would still approve your petition.