Getting married: Good or bad for your immigration health? (2)

As previously noted, getting hitched, especially to a US citizen, can open up a lot of beneficial, life-altering opportunities for the immigration-challenged Romeos and Juliets of the world.

That was the good.

But what if the reverse happens? What if walking down the aisle or saying “I do” impairs one’s valid immigration status or negatively impacts one’s immigration plans?

There are a few “bad” scenarios that come to mind.

One is when an “immediate relative” (IR) child/stepchild of a US citizen (those under 21) gets married before getting a green card. The moment the child/stepchild ties the knot, he/she loses the special IR status and will be treated as a married child of a US citizen, a visa category with a much longer wait time.

Of course, if the young Romeo/Juliet marries an American citizen, the damage will be inconsequential because he/she can also be petitioned as an IR spouse with no visa quota limit (although the process will entail a new round of immigration filings and payment of fees).

However, if the spouse is not a US citizen, the impact can be substantial and even catastrophic, especially if the spouse has no immigration ties to the US. In fact, even a marriage to a US permanent resident is no defense against a potential immigration setback due to visa shortage issues and limited waiver opportunities.

Notably, a recurring theme is that the “bad” only occurs when the marriage is to a non-US citizen. Consequently, and this part being about the marital impact in reverse, the succeeding discussion will be limited to situations involving marriage to a non-American – as in the following scenario:

A young Juliet who holds a G-4 visa as a dependent of a Washington, D.C.-based international organization employee gets married while being under 26 years of age.

Since unmarried children 26 years old and below are legally entitled to a dependent’s G-4 visa, getting married to a non-American may result in the young Juliet losing such privilege with negative implications.

If the spouse is a US permanent resident, the young Juliet will fall out of status and will have to wait several years before she can acquire, if at all, the eligibility to become a US permanent resident by virtue of the marriage.

The same situation applies to dependents of A diplomatic visa holders 26 years old and younger or to any other nonimmigrant visa dependents below 21 years old.

However, an even worse fate awaits the unmarried children of US permanent residents who get married while the petition is ongoing.

Since there is no immigrant visa category for married children of US permanent residents, an unmarried Romeo who ties the knot while waiting for his US permanent resident parent’s petition to become current will see his American dream vanish in a flash even before planting a kiss on his bride’s cheek — thanks to the automatic revocation of the petition.

Still, nothing can surpass the wicked misfortune of someone who takes to heart the notion that getting married is never about romance by plunging into a sham marital relationship for purely immigration purposes.

Considering that deportation after prison is virtual writing on the wall in this scenario, this is by far the “worst” consequence of saying “I do.”

Ultimately, getting married is either a boon or a bane, depending on the nationality of the other party and the immigration situation of the person taking the plunge, with true love marriage to a US citizen being the most beneficial.