If you are illegal in US and marry a green card holder will you get any papers and be legal?

Answer 1

Marriage to a US citizen does not make the foreigner legal in the US. The marriage itself will be legal, but the status of the illegal person does not change. The couple still has to go through the correct steps and the process to obtain a spousal visa and legalize the status of the spouse. The first step is to file one of the two spousal petition options with USCIS, providing background information on both parties and paying fees. Once the petition is approved and has been sent to the National Visa Center, various other forms and fees need to be filed and paid. The approved petition will eventually be sent to the US Consulate in the illegal person's home country where s/he will have to go for a visa interview. At the interview s/he will be denied the visa based on his/her illegal presence in the US and if he/she is eligible, s/he will be allowed to file a 601 waiver to overcome this visa ineligibility. Along with the waiver, the US Citizen/qualifying relative has to provide a detailed letter with evidence and documentation proving that the USC will suffer "extreme hardship" if the foreign spouse's visa is denied. Waiver approval rates differ from country to country as does waiver adjudication time. The non-USC is required to stay outside of the US during the waiver adjudication time, which could be more than one year, depending on the country. If and when the waiver is approved, the spouse will receive either a green card or a non-immigrant spousal visa (depending on which type of petition they chose to submit). If itis a non-immigrant visa, there is further adjustment of status paperwork /fees/fingerprints/interviews to be done in the US before the spouse can work and until a conditional green card is received. If the couple has been married for less than two years, the card is conditional and those conditions are required to be lifted 90 days before the two year anniversary of receipt of the original card.