Green Card

“I know it’s possible for an American national to marry a foreign alien and legalize the alien in the process. What are the ramifications of this process? How long will it take after the marriage for the green card to be issued so that he can legally work in the U.S.?”

The ramifications are quite beneficial for the alien – legal status in the U.S. and all that it confers, such as the right to employment and travel abroad.

“He has no intention of staying on in the U.S. beyond two or three weeks. He was coming for a holiday and a change of pace, but it seems like this is an impossible dream. What can someone like him do to get a visa? My family and I would provide room and board for him during his stay, but this doesn’t seem to matter at the U.S. Embassy. Are they cracking down on visas because of the recession in Ireland?”

Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act reads in part: “Every alien shall be presumed to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application for admission, that he is entitled to a nonimmigrant status.”

You don’t say how many years have passed since your mother declined the offer of a green card through her U.S. citizen sister. The time line is crucial for establishing whether she still has a claim for legal permanent residence here.

According to Bruce Morrison, prominent U.S. immigration attorney and author of the Morrison green card program back in the 1990s that granted nearly 50,000 visas for Irish citizens, an applicant who does not respond to an approved petition for permanent residence within one year of receiving such notice is subject to a procedure called termination of registration.