USCIS Marriage Green Card: Form I-130, Interview, Conditions

The requirements and process for a marriage-based Green Card come down to a few core pieces: the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse files a petition proving the marriage is real, the couple meets a financial support requirement, the foreign-born spouse completes a medical exam, and both attend an interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Whether the foreign-born spouse can stay in the United States during that process, and how long it takes, depends mostly on whether the sponsoring spouse is a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident.

Citizen Spouse or Permanent Resident Spouse

This is the single most important variable in the whole case. Spouses of U.S. citizens are classified as “immediate relatives,” a category with no annual cap on visas. A visa number is always available, and the couple can file most of the paperwork at the same time.¹

Spouses of lawful permanent residents fall into the F2A preference category, which has annual numerical limits. When demand runs ahead of supply, a backlog forms. As of early 2026, F2A has a wait of roughly two years for most countries before a visa number becomes available.² During that wait, the foreign-born spouse generally cannot file for adjustment of status or receive work authorization through this process. A U.S. citizen’s spouse inside the country may hold a Green Card in under a year; a permanent resident’s spouse may wait several years.

Filing Form I-130 and Proving a Real Marriage

Every marriage-based Green Card case starts with Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. The citizen or permanent resident spouse files it to establish the family relationship with USCIS.³ The central question the officer evaluates is whether the marriage is genuine rather than arranged solely for immigration benefits.

Strong evidence of a shared life is what carries this petition. Useful records include:

Joint bank account statements, joint tax returns, and insurance policies naming the spouse as a beneficiary.
A joint lease or mortgage, utility bills in both names, and mail addressed to both spouses at the same address.
Birth certificates of children born to the couple.
Signed affidavits from friends or family with firsthand knowledge of the relationship.

Thin documentation is one of the most common reasons cases stall. The more varied and detailed the evidence, the less likely the officer is to issue a request for additional documents.

Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing

The next fork depends on where the foreign-born spouse is physically located.

Adjustment of Status Inside the U.S.

A foreign-born spouse who is already in the United States after a lawful entry can apply for a Green Card without leaving, by filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.⁴ Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens can file the I-485 at the same time as the I-130, a procedure called concurrent filing that saves months.⁵ Spouses of permanent residents can only file concurrently when a visa number is immediately available.

Adjustment of status generally requires a lawful entry, meaning entry through inspection at a port of entry. Someone who crossed the border without inspection typically cannot adjust status inside the country, even after marrying a U.S. citizen. A narrow exception under INA Section 245(i) allows adjustment regardless of manner of entry, but only if the applicant was the beneficiary of an immigrant petition filed on or before April 30, 2001.⁶ For everyone else in that situation, the only path runs through consular processing abroad.

Consular Processing Outside the U.S.

If the foreign-born spouse is outside the United States, the approved I-130 goes to the Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC). The NVC collects fees, civil documents, and the immigrant visa application (Form DS-260) before scheduling an interview at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the applicant’s home country.⁷

The Unlawful Presence Trap

Couples who don’t understand the rules can make an irreversible mistake here. If the foreign-born spouse has been living in the U.S. without legal status and then leaves the country for consular processing, that departure triggers a bar on reentry. More than 180 days but less than one year of unlawful presence brings a three-year bar. One year or more brings a ten-year bar.⁸ A waiver may be available, but approval is not guaranteed and requires proof of extreme hardship to a qualifying U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative. Anyone in this situation should consult an immigration attorney before the foreign-born spouse leaves the country.

The Affidavit of Support

The sponsoring spouse must file Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, a legally binding contract with the U.S. government guaranteeing the immigrant will not rely on certain government welfare programs. The sponsor has to show income at or above 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for their household size. For a household of two in the 48 contiguous states, the 2026 threshold on the USCIS I-864P form is $24,650; for a household of four, it’s $37,500.⁹ Those figures update with the poverty guidelines, so check the current I-864P before filing. Active-duty military members sponsoring a spouse or child only need to meet 100% of the guidelines.

If the sponsor’s income falls short, there are two ways to make up the difference. Certain assets like savings accounts or real property can count, valued at three times the shortfall for spouses. Or a joint sponsor can step in. A joint sponsor must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, at least 18 years old, and domiciled in the United States, but does not need to be related to either spouse. Their income has to independently meet the 125% threshold for their own household plus the immigrants they are sponsoring. No more than two joint sponsors are permitted on a single case.¹⁰

The financial obligation does not end when the Green Card is approved. It runs until the sponsored immigrant becomes a U.S. citizen, is credited with 40 qualifying quarters of work (roughly ten years), permanently leaves the country, or dies. Divorce does not end it. If the sponsored immigrant receives certain means-tested public benefits, the agency that provided them can sue the sponsor to recover the cost.¹⁰ The public charge determination itself only considers a narrow set of cash assistance programs and long-term government-funded institutional care; Medicaid outside long-term institutional care, SNAP, CHIP, housing assistance, WIC, school lunch programs, and energy assistance are not counted.¹¹

The Medical Exam and Vaccinations

Every applicant must complete a medical exam by a USCIS-designated civil surgeon (for adjustment of status inside the U.S.) or a panel physician (for consular processing abroad). Results go on Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record.¹²

The exam screens for four categories of health-related inadmissibility: communicable diseases of public health significance (with specific testing for tuberculosis, syphilis, and gonorrhea), mental or physical disorders associated with harmful behavior, drug abuse or addiction, and missing vaccinations.¹³ Required vaccinations cover diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal disease, varicella, pneumococcal disease, influenza, and Hib. Which specific vaccines apply depends on age.¹⁴

Bring vaccination records to the appointment. Without documentation, the civil surgeon will either administer the vaccines or order blood tests to check for existing immunity to diseases like measles, hepatitis B, and varicella. Missing vaccinations are a leading reason people have to make a second visit. USCIS does not set the price of the exam. Civil surgeons are private physicians who set their own fees, typically in the $200 to $600 range depending on location, before any charges for vaccinations or lab work.

Working and Traveling While Your Case Is Pending

If you file for adjustment of status, you can apply for temporary work authorization and a travel document while USCIS decides your case. Work authorization comes through Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, which can be filed together with the I-485.¹⁵ Once approved, the Employment Authorization Document lets you work for any employer in the United States while the Green Card application is processed.

Travel is a separate application, Form I-131 for advance parole. Do not leave the country while your I-485 is pending without an approved advance parole document. USCIS will generally treat your application as abandoned and deny it.¹⁶ Even with advance parole, reentry is not absolutely guaranteed, so travel only when necessary.

The Interview

After forms and evidence are in, USCIS schedules an in-person interview. For adjustment of status cases, both spouses are generally required to attend at a local USCIS field office.¹⁷ The officer reviews the file, examines supporting documents, and asks questions about the couple’s history, living arrangements, and daily life. The goal is to confirm the marriage is genuine and that the applicant is otherwise eligible.

Consistency matters more than perfection. Officers aren’t looking for rehearsed answers. They want a coherent account from both spouses of how you met, when you married, and what your life together looks like. Bring originals of documents you submitted as copies, and bring updated evidence of your shared life if time has passed since filing. If the officer isn’t satisfied, USCIS can schedule a second, more intensive interview sometimes called a “Stokes interview,” where each spouse is questioned separately and the answers are compared. Significant discrepancies can lead to denial or a fraud referral. After the interview, the officer may approve the case immediately, request additional evidence, or take more time before deciding.

Filing Fees

Government fees add up quickly, and the total depends on which path you take.

For adjustment of status under the March 2026 USCIS fee schedule, Form I-130 costs $675 on paper or $625 filed online. Form I-485 costs $1,440 for applicants over age 14 and includes biometric services.¹⁸ Applications for work authorization (I-765) and advance parole (I-131) carry no additional fee when filed with the I-485. Government fees for a typical adjustment of status case total around $2,065 to $2,115, before the medical exam, vaccinations, and any legal representation.

For consular processing, the Department of State charges a $325 immigrant visa application processing fee per person for immediate relative and family preference cases, plus a $120 Affidavit of Support review fee when the I-864 is processed domestically.¹⁹ Those are on top of the I-130 filing fee paid to USCIS and the USCIS Immigrant Fee paid after visa issuance.

Conditional Green Cards and Removing Conditions

If the marriage was less than two years old on the day the applicant became a permanent resident, the Green Card is conditional and valid for only two years.²⁰ The conditional period is a built-in check on the legitimacy of the marriage. If the marriage was already two years old or more at that point, the applicant receives a standard ten-year Green Card and can skip this step entirely.

To convert conditional status to a full ten-year Green Card, the couple jointly files Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, during the 90-day window immediately before the conditional card expires. Filing too early results in rejection.²¹ If the petition is never filed, the conditional resident automatically loses permanent resident status and becomes removable from the United States.²² The I-751 needs new evidence showing the marriage stayed genuine through the two-year period: updated joint financial records, a shared lease or mortgage, evidence of continued cohabitation.

Filing the I-751 Without Your Spouse

If the marriage has ended by the time the I-751 is due, the conditional resident may still qualify through a waiver of the joint filing requirement. Waivers are available when the sponsoring spouse has died, the couple has divorced, or the conditional resident (or their child) was subjected to battery or extreme cruelty during the marriage. Waiver requests can be filed at any point after conditional status is granted, without waiting for the 90-day window.²³

For the abuse-based waiver, USCIS applies an “any credible evidence” standard, so no single kind of documentation is required. Evidence can include police reports, court records, medical records, affidavits from counselors or school officials, or the conditional resident’s own detailed statement. A mental health professional’s recommendation is not required. Current marital status or living situation does not disqualify the applicant, so someone still living with the abusive spouse can file.²³

What Happens If USCIS Finds Marriage Fraud

Knowingly entering into a marriage to evade immigration law is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.²⁴ Both the U.S. citizen or resident spouse and the immigrant spouse can be prosecuted. A fraud finding also creates a permanent immigration consequence. Anyone found to have obtained or attempted to obtain a visa or immigration benefit through fraud or willful misrepresentation is inadmissible to the United States, which blocks future visa applications, Green Card petitions, and reentry. A waiver exists but requires proof that denying admission would cause extreme hardship to a qualifying U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative.²⁵ In practice, overcoming that bar is difficult, and many people never do.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen
2
Travel.State.Gov. Visa Bulletin for April 2026
3
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4
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5
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6
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7
Travel.State.Gov. Begin National Visa Center (NVC) Processing
8
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9
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10
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11
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12
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13
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14
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccination – Technical Instructions for Civil Surgeons
15
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16
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17
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18
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19
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20
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21
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22
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23
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24
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25
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