I485 Filing and Marriage

[MobileData31]

My PD is current and my marriage is planned for early next year. My prospective spouse is on H1B. 

1. Should I initiate my I485 process and then add my spouse later via Family based? How long would be her wait time. I heard family based movements are slow and would normally take between 2- 3 years. 

2. Should I just wait for my marriage to be over and file together? 

I understand that the dates will retrogress by November. My PD is Sept 2008 and my friends told me that it should be 
current again by Oct 2015. Please provide suggestions

[itsmeusa]

1. You should initiate your I-485 stage. Next time when your PD becomes current, make sure you file her I-485/EAD/AP on first day of that month. You can add your spouse via family based ONLY when you receive GC. That's the last resort but I don't think you need to count on that as you could file her I-485 easily next time when PD becomes current. Anyway, she is on H1b. So no worries.

2. NO.

[shandan]

Not trying to tell you, that you should do this, but a couple I know were this your exact situation.

 

Their date was current and both of them were on H1-Bs with marriage date slated a few months in the future, as no body could predict the movement of dates and retrogression is a very real possibility.

 

What they did was, they married legally in US Court and filed for I-485 as married couple. They continued there separate ways until they formally got married in India in the ceremony few months down the line.

 

What it did was, saved them from a lot of uncertaininty and anguish folks have to go through due to the GC process and PD movement, and offcourse having to go through the long wait of family based GC process.

 

Again this was an experience of a couple I knew, so I thought of sharing, good luck.

[Belle]

If your PD stays current, you may get approved before your marriage. That's generally a bigger problem then PD retrogression. I would wait until marriage to file I-485s together.