The procedure for filing for a green card (lawful permanent residence) has significantly changed in the last year. All the applications are sent indirectly to the National Customer Service Center in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Along with each application for adjustment of status for permanent residence, attorneys normally file an application for employment authorization. The National Customer Service Center (NCSC) will mail the applicant a receipt for the adjustment application and a receipt for the employment authorization. The applicant is then required to have biometrics taken at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Application Support Center based on an appointed NCSC date. Biometrics are a scanning of your face and fingerprinting that are entered into a USCIS data base. Once the biometrics have been successfully recorded, within several months you will receive the work authorization document for which you applied, or a travel document if eligible.
The next step in the procedure is the actual adjustment interview. In the present time frame, this interview will take place within a year from the time that you filed the application. At that time you must satisfy the USCIS that your marriage to a U.S. citizen is bona fide. The applicant must also satisfy USCIS that the beneficiary, the person marrying the U.S. citizen, will not become a public charge, or otherwise be inadmissible.
You are only eligible for this procedure if you lawfully entered the United States (came on a visa/visa waiver). If you crossed the border without being inspected you cannot apply for a green card in this manner.
It is strongly suggested that you seek a competent immigration attorney to assist you in these applications. The only thing that is as complex as the Immigration and Nationality Laws is the U.S. Tax Code.
For more information, please contact Attorney Jason Y. Gans.