When Can an F2B Green Card Applicant Marry? Timing and Eligibility Consequences
A reader asked whether, after marrying while an F2B priority date is pending, one can apply for extensions year by year and later switch to F3 to immigrate with family once the mother naturalizes. This article cites the explanation of a New Jersey immigration law firm: an F2B applicant who marries before entering the United States generally loses unmarried-child eligibility; only under specific conditions, such as marrying after the parent naturalizes, can the case convert to F3 while retaining the original priority date—otherwise a new I-130 must be filed and a new priority date obtained.
A reader asked:
My mother is a U.S. permanent resident and filed an F2B petition for me in 2011. I recently received an email from USCIS saying that my priority date is current and that I can schedule an interview. However, I married in 2014 at the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands and have a child; my husband is also a Chinese citizen. I checked online and learned that the rule seems to be that if an F2B applicant marries while the petition is pending, the petition becomes void. So can I apply to USCIS for an extension once a year? I plan to apply for an extension every year, and after my mother becomes a citizen through naturalization within a few years, I will ask USCIS to convert the F2B to F3, and then immigrate with my husband and child. Is this feasible?
F2B is for the adult unmarried children of permanent residents; if the applicant marries, the petition is automatically invalidated. If one wishes to complete the F2B immigration process, when exactly can one marry? The New Jersey immigration law firm Lee & Garasia, LLC explained in an article:
The firm's attorneys state that if the F2B beneficiary of an I-130 petition marries while the petition is pending (or even after the visa is approved but before immigrating to the United States), the petition will for all practical purposes be invalidated. In other words, the person no longer qualifies for the visa as an unmarried child because he or she is now married. It does not matter whether the beneficiary married after the I-130 was filed, after the I-130 was approved, or even after the visa was issued. If the person marries before entering the United States, he or she technically does not qualify for the visa.
Even if the I-130 has been approved, or the interview has been passed and the visa has been issued, as long as the person has not yet immigrated (i.e., has not entered the United States), the applicant loses F2B eligibility upon marriage. To avoid affecting F2B immigration status, one should enter the United States on the immigrant visa first and then marry.
If (1) the parent was a green card holder at the time of filing, (2) the parent has now naturalized and become a citizen, and (3) the F2B applicant married only after the parent's naturalization, then the F2B can be converted to F3 and the original priority date is retained. Otherwise, the F2B will be invalidated, because a green card holder parent cannot petition for a married child; no such immigrant category exists.
In this reader's situation, if she still wishes to pursue family-based immigration, she would need to file a new I-130 petition under F3 and obtain a new priority date. Based on current visa bulletin progress, after the parent naturalizes, she would need to wait at least 12 more years.
