Family-Based Immigration
Marriage Visa to the USA: Which One You Actually Need
There is no such thing as the marriage visa. People search for one, but U.S. immigration law has several different routes for spouses and fiancés, and which applies to you turns on three questions. This page answers them in order, so you can find your own situation without wading through four that are not.
The three questions that decide everything
1. Is your spouse a U.S. citizen, or a green card holder?
This is the single biggest fork. The spouse of a U.S. citizen is an immediate relative — there is no annual cap and no waiting queue for a visa number. The spouse of a lawful permanent resident falls in the F-2A preference category, which is capped, and that means waiting for your place in the queue on the monthly Visa Bulletin.
2. Are you married already?
If you are, the route is a spousal one. If you are not, and your partner is a U.S. citizen, the K-1 fiancé(e) visa lets you enter to marry within 90 days and then apply for a green card from inside the country.
3. Where are you right now?
If you are already in the United States in a lawful status, you may be able to finish the case here through adjustment of status without leaving. If you are abroad, the case finishes at a U.S. consulate — consular processing.
The routes, in plain terms
| Your situation | The route | Cap or queue? |
|---|---|---|
| Married to a U.S. citizen, you are abroad | IR-1 / CR-1 immigrant visa | No cap |
| Married to a U.S. citizen, you are in the U.S. in status | Adjustment of status on Form I-485 | No cap |
| Engaged to a U.S. citizen, you are abroad | K-1 fiancé(e) visa, then adjust after marrying | No cap |
| Married to a green card holder | F-2A preference | Capped — watch the Visa Bulletin |
The official starting point for all of these is USCIS — Family of U.S. Citizens.
CR-1 or IR-1 — a difference of one letter and two years
If you have been married less than two years when you are admitted, you receive conditional permanent residence (CR-1) — a green card valid for two years. If you have been married two years or more, you receive unconditional residence (IR-1) and a ten-year card.
Conditional residents must later file Form I-751 to remove the conditions. It is not optional and the window for it is fixed.
Where these cases actually go wrong
Not usually on the paperwork. The recurring problems are:
- How you entered the United States. Someone who entered without inspection generally cannot adjust status here even when married to a U.S. citizen, and the fix — if there is one — is a different and much longer process.
- A prior overstay or a prior denial. Both change what is possible, and both are better raised at the start than discovered at an interview.
- Assuming the F-2A queue is short. It moves, and it can move backwards.
Government filing fees change, so this page does not print them — confirm current amounts on the USCIS Fee Schedule (Form G-1055) or the USCIS Fee Calculator. These are government filing fees only. They are not Altius Law's attorney fees.
Talk to us
Marriage and family cases are core work at Altius. If you are not sure which of the routes above is yours, that is exactly the question a consultation answers quickly.