Marrying a Citizen of Poland? How to Get a Green Card for Your New Spouse

If you are marrying someone from Poland, and plan to sponsor your new husband or wife for a U.S. green card (lawful permanent residence), here is some important legal and practical information.

This article provides a general overview of how the process works for most couples. Your situation might present complications or qualify for exceptions to the rules stated here; see an experienced immigration attorney for a full evaluation.

Immigration Eligibility Based on Engagement or Marriage

First, some background on U.S. immigration law. Marriage to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident provides foreign-born persons a direct path to U.S. immigration. Contrary to popular rumor, however, your foreign fiancé or spouse will not immediately or automatically receive a green card or U.S. citizenship.

If you are a U.S. citizen, your foreign-born spouse is your "immediate relative" and may receive a green card as soon as the two of you make it through the application process. This can take months or years.

If you are not yet married and your fiancé is still in Poland, you can, if you are a U.S. citizen, petition for your fiancé to enter the U.S. on a K-1 visa in order to get married in the United States. After the wedding, your new spouse can apply for a U.S. green card (lawful permanent residence). You can also choose to get married first in Poland or another country, and then apply for an immigrant visa with which your new spouse can enter the U.S. (at which time they become a permanent resident).

If you are a U.S. lawful permanent resident (not a citizen), your foreign-born spouse is a "preference relative," in category 2A, and can apply for a green card (and enter the U.S.) only after a visa number has become available. Annual limits on the number of visas given out in category 2A can create years-long waits. The waiting time changes periodically, which makes it difficult to predict, but two to five years is typical. The application process itself typically adds more months to the process.

Permanent residents cannot petition for foreign-born fiancés to come to the United States.

Overview of Obtaining a Green Card Based on Marriage

The application process for a green card based on marriage involves multiple steps, such as submitting forms and documents and attending an interview with U.S. immigration authorities. The underlying purpose is to prove:

• the status of the U.S. petitioner (as a citizen or permanent resident)
• that a valid marriage has taken place (or will, in the case of a fiancé visa)
• that the marriage is bona fide (not just a sham or fake to get a green card), and
• that the immigrant is not inadmissible to the U.S. for medical, criminal, financial, or other reasons. (See Inadmissibility: When the U.S. Can Keep You Out for details.)

Procedurally, you might have more than one option as to where and how you apply for the immigrant visa or green card, as described below.

Procedures When Applying for a K-1 Fiancé Visa

If you and your intended spouse (who lives outside the U.S.) have not yet married—or have held an informal ceremony that does not count as an official marriage in the location where it was held—you can apply for a temporary (90-day) visa with which the foreign-born fiancé can enter the U.S. in order to hold the wedding.

The U.S. citizen must start this process. Do so by filing a visa petition on Form I-129F with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), together with supporting documents and a fee. After USCIS approves the I-129F, it will transfer the case to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire, which eventually will send the case to the U.S. consulate in Warsaw, Poland.

Your foreign-born fiancé will apply for a K-1 visa through the consulate. This involves submitting forms and documents and visa application fees, then attending a visa interview with a consular official. You, the U.S. petitioner, are allowed to attend this interview, though it is not required.

After your marriage in the U.S., your new spouse applies to USCIS for a green card, through a process called adjustment of status (using USCIS Form I-485 as well as other forms; and submitting supporting documents and fee). The two of you will attend a green card interview at a local USCIS office.

Procedures for Spouse to Come From Poland on an Immigrant Visa

If you and your husband or wife have already married, and your spouse is currently in Poland, you would start the green-card application process by filing Form I-130 with USCIS (plus supporting documents and fee). After USCIS approves the I-130, spouses of U.S. citizens can move forward with visa processing. Spouses of U.S. permanent residents, however, will hit a delay; they will need to wait (on average from two to five years) for a current priority date, meaning a visa has become available in their category (2A).

After paying various fees and submitting documents to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire, the foreign-born spouse will next go through consular processing for an immigrant visa. This means submitting additional paperwork and fees to, and attending an interview at, a U.S. consulate in Warsaw, Poland. (As the U.S. petitioner, you may attend, but are not required to.)

Upon approval for the visa, your spouse can enter the U.S. on an immigrant visa, at which time they become a lawful permanent resident. Assuming you've paid the $220 green card production fee (also called the immigrant fee) to USCIS, the green card arrives in the mail several weeks later.

At Which U.S. Consulate in Poland the Interview Will Be Held

The U.S. currently has two embassies in Poland, located in Krakow and Warsaw. However, only the embassy in Warsaw handles immigrant visa applications. You will be given instructions when your case is transferred to the embassy in Warsaw, and can also check the embassy's website for information.

If your spouse happens to be living in another country than Poland, the consulate there would likely be the one to handle the case.

Procedures If Your Spouse Is Already in the U.S.

If your spouse initially came to the U.S. on a nonimmigrant (such as on a fiancé or student visa or as a tourist), and either you are a U.S. citizen or your spouse is still in valid status, he or she can apply to adjust status in the United States. The main form for this is an I-485, but additional forms, documents, and a fee must also be submitted. The two of you will attend a personal interview at one of USCIS's field offices.

Information about USCIS locations or service centers can be found at its website, www.uscis.gov. (Just make sure your spouse didn't commit visa fraud by using the nonimmigrant visa specifically to enter the U.S. and apply for a green card. See Risks of Entering the U.S. as a Tourist, Then Applying for Marriage- Based Green Card for details.)

If, however, your spouse entered the U.S. without inspection or by using a fake visa, or you are a permanent resident rather than a citizen, your situation is more complicated than this article can address. You might have difficulty obtaining a green card for your spouse, though it is not impossible. See an immigration attorney for details or if you have any questions about whether you qualify to adjust status.

Entering Into a Legally Valid Marriage

No matter where you marry, you will need to obtain a certificate that convinces the U.S. immigration authorities that it was legally recognized in the state or country where it took place. Below are some tips on doing that.

Obtaining Documentation of a Valid Marriage in Poland

If you have married, or plan to get married in your fiancé or spouse's home country, you will first need to look into Poland's requirements for legal marriage.

According to information provided by the U.S. consulate, getting married in Poland can be procedurally complicated.

At least four weeks before your wedding date, you will have to register at a place called the marriage office.

But you will need to put in some advance work before going to register, because one of the documents you will be asked to provide is evidence that you are legally free to marry; and no such document is directly available from any official U.S. source. The U.S. consulate in Poland has issued an online letter (in both English and Polish) explaining that fact. This letter will help you petition a court for a release from the requirement of presenting a certification of ability to marry, which you will need to do at the Regional Court in the area where your Polish fiancé(e) lives.

Also be sure to take along any documents proving the termination of past marriages, such as U.S. death and divorce decrees. The Polish court will demand a certified copy of the divorce decree along with the court statement that this is the final decision.

Scheduling your date before the Regional Court can take several weeks. The decision will be made on that date and become final after three weeks. (And then you've got to register, and wait another four weeks to actually marry.)

After the marriage ceremony, you will need to obtain a certificate of that marriage for purposes of U.S. immigration. The U.S. government keeps track of what documents are considered legally valid from each country, Poland included, and will reject your marriage certificate if it doesn't come from the proper source. Check the State Department's page called U.S. Visa: Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country to get further details on what documents from Poland it considers valid.

Obtaining Documentation of a Valid Marriage in the United States

If you will hold your wedding in the U.S., you need to follow the laws of the state where you marry. You will need to obtain a marriage certificate from a local government office. A church certificate, for example, is not enough.

Getting Legal Help

Although hiring an immigration attorney to help with your visa or green card application is not required, it can make your life much easier. Even if you have a straightforward case, the paperwork and bureaucracy can be daunting. And if you have any complications in your case, or worry that you should hide certain information from U.S. immigration authorities, consulting an attorney will be essential.