Cuban adjustment Act question

[imailin 0]

Guys, a friend of mine want to married his girlfriend.. She is a Cuban legal resident refugee. He is not. He entered the US with a visitor visa which expired and now he is out of status. They want to get married but they don’t know if they should apply to adjust his status now or wait until she becomes a citizen (2 years fromm now). I heard that marrying a Cuban Resident gives the spouse the benefit of adjust statues without having to wait until the Cuban becomes a citizen and in some cases the process is even faster. does anyone has any experience? anything that you can tell me so I can let them know. For economic reasons he needs his statues adjusted, they want to form a family but he cant legally work in the US.

Thanks!

[LiLMermaid 2]

I don't know the answer to your questions but honestly I would hope that the AOS process wouldn't be faster for a Cuban marrying a Cuban resident rather then a US citizen. One would think the US immigration process wouldn't give faster service to a non-citizen. Not only that but I thought one had to be a US citizen before one could marry and apply for AOS? It is marriage based on marrying a US citizen...not a US resident..no matter what country the resident originally came from.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable on the subject will come clear things up but I'm pretty sure your friend is going to have to wait until she is a citizen to apply for marriage based AOS.

[imailin 0]

I don't know the answer to your questions but honestly I would hope that the AOS process wouldn't be faster for a Cuban marrying a Cuban resident rather then a US citizen. One would think the US immigration process wouldn't give faster service to a non-citizen. Not only that but I thought one had to be a US citizen before one could marry and apply for AOS? It is marriage based on marrying a US citizen...not a US resident..no matter what country the resident originally came from.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable on the subject will come clear things up but I'm pretty sure your friend is going to have to wait until she is a citizen to apply for marriage based AOS.

I understand where you are coming from... I am not Cuban, so I cant speak as one, but United States has given lots of benefits to Cuban citizens and if I am not mistaken this is one of them... I read in other forums that it will take about 8 months just to become a resident and it is not even conditional, but again I am asking here cause I am not certain of this... He is going to a lawyer this week... I will keep you posted.

[LiLMermaid 2]

I do know they get different benefits etc but I've never heard of marrying a resident and applying for AOS. I'm not sure if that would be the way to go or if there is another route that would be better for him to take to becoming a resident. Interested in the answer now myself.

[JimVaPhuong 4,864]

Guys, a friend of mine want to married his girlfriend.. She is a Cuban legal resident refugee. He is not. He entered the US with a visitor visa which expired and now he is out of status. They want to get married but they don’t know if they should apply to adjust his status now or wait until she becomes a citizen (2 years fromm now). I heard that marrying a Cuban Resident gives the spouse the benefit of adjust statues without having to wait until the Cuban becomes a citizen and in some cases the process is even faster. does anyone has any experience? anything that you can tell me so I can let them know. For economic reasons he needs his statues adjusted, they want to form a family but he cant legally work in the US.

Thanks!

The Cuban Adjustment Act allows a Cuban national to obtain a green card if they've been in the US for a year. They are not required to have entered through a port of entry, and the public charge requirements do not apply to them. Further, the CAA allows the spouse of a Cuban national to also obtain a green card through a CAA application, regardless of the spouse's nationality. However, the marital relationship must have existed at the time the Cuban national obtained permanent residence. They can't come to the US, get a green card, and then marry another foreign national and convey immigration benefits to them.

He could return to his home country and wait out an F2A visa. Depending on how long he's been out of status, he might incur a ban when he leaves the US. Given the current priority dates for an F2A, the ban would almost certainly take longer to wait out than the visa. On the other hand, if he's been out of status for less than 180 days then he could leave without incurring a ban.

Once she becomes a US citizen then he's eligible to adjust status in the US. However, that would require him to remain in the US illegally for a further 2 years. It would be a violation of the terms of service for this site for me to recommend he do this. He's not immediately eligible for any immigration benefit. He should return to his home country, and she should file a petition for an F2A. She can upgrade this to an IR1 once she becomes a US citizen.