Bringing a spouse of a GC holder into the USA

[hkg99]

Hello everyone, 

 

According to the research I did over the internet, below is the information that I found. Please correct me if I am wrong and I apologize for the long message. I have a couple of questions (highlighted in bold).   

 

Thank you in advance for all the help. 

 

- H

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- Getting a green card for spouse, who lives in India is roughly a 2 year process. 

   - I130 document needs to be filed to start the process. 

   - Monitor the visa bulletin and wait for the priority date for F2A category to be current. In Dec 2015 visa bulletin, the date is June 2014. This means that people who filed the I130 petition before June 2014 are getting interview calls. 

   - The new "date of filing" table, that started coming out in the visa bulletin since Sept 2015 does not help if the spouse is in India. This table only expedites the process if the spouse is already in the US on a H1B visa.

   - In the Dec 2015 visa bulletin, "date of filing" table, the priority date is Mar 2015. This means that if the spouse is already in the US on a H1B visa, she/he will get the EAD card if the green card process was started before Mar 2015.  

   - Does "date of filing" rule helps if the spouse is on visitor (B1 or B2) visa or without any visa in India?

 

- Before starting the green card process, if the spouse already has a visitor visa

   - She/he may or may not be allowed to enter the US.

   - She/he might be denied entry to the US if immigration officers see that she has been staying in the US for long periods (6months etc).

   - In some cases, some people were lucky and were able to visit the US while waiting for the green card. Some people were unlucky and had to stay out of the country and wait for the green card to be approved. 

   - Can the green card process be started once the spouse is already living in the US on visitor's visa?

 

- If the spouse does not have any US visas, is in India and the green card process starts

   -  Can she/he apply for a student, H1 or visitor's visa after the green card process has already started?

 

- The best option is to have the spouse enter the US on a visitor's visa, get admission in an university to convert to F1-visa and then start the green card process. 

   - Need to confirm if the green card process can be started if she is on F1 visa and if she would be allowed to travel outside the country!!!

   - Need to confirm if the new "date of filing" table helps someone who is on a F1 visa!!!

 

- What are other options to get the spouse to stay with me in the US, assuming applying for H1B is out of question?

- Are there any predictions on the process getting worse/better in future? 

- Are there any predictions on the priority date movement in the US visa bulletin for F2A category?