I won a Green Card being single

[Marioapereza 0]

Hi. I've recently won a Green Card in the DV-2018.I'm already in the US with my GC and I entered in the lottery being single. I wanted to know if my girlfriend (5 years of relationship) would be able to have a GC or another kind of visa if we get married?

[Pavel1982 104]

5 minutes ago, Marioapereza said:

Hi. I've recently won a Green Card in the DV-2018.I'm already in the US with my GC and I entered in the lottery being single. I wanted to know if my girlfriend (5 years of relationship) would be able to have a GC or another kind of visa if we get married?

Since you are green card holder, you need to get married first, then apply for her on F2A Category (Spouses of Permanent Residents)

[Redheadguy03 505]

You have to get married. However, it will likely be years before approval. Green card holders can only sponsor so many people yearly and it's already pretty backlogged. 

Edited January 9, 2018 by Redheadguy03

[geowrian 22,335]

You would marry then file an I-130 (plus supporting documents) for her. ETA: ~2 years or so. The exact timeline will depend on when your PD becomes current...check the visa bulletin for the F2A category monthly. The 2 years is an estimate based on the current wait, but changes regularly.

Edited January 9, 2018 by geowrian

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

Yep, if you had married before you had your interview/got the green card she would have got one with you, but as you already have it she can’t now benefit from the DV selection and you’ll have to follow the usual spouse of LPR process.