Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #655576 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 79 pages

From the Publisher
If you are thinking about moving to the United States as the spouse of an American citizen, this book is for you.

While most immigration books can only be understood by lawyers, this book is different. The author, an immigration lawyer, describes the American immigration process using everyday English and many examples.

Chapter One describes what is a marriage in the eyes of the American immigration system.

Chapters Two through Five cover specific time frames in the immigration-processing of a marriage-based visa: Courtship and Marriage, Forms Preparation, The Marriage Interview and Denials.

Chapter Six discusses fiancé visas - what they are and how they work.

Chapter Seven provides some typical "questions and answers" to marriage-related immigration topics.

Customer Reviews

Get INS forms and instructions for free and save (...)
Yes that's right. This is a watered down digest of Immigration and Naturalization Service instructions on family related immigration, which are printed on the back of the forms you will need to fill out. Those instructions are clear enough for anyone with high school diploma to understand. (...)

Immigration Attorney, California Certified Specialist
This book is of more use to couples applying for a green card than the much larger but poorly crafted Nolo Press book, Fiance and Marriage Visas: A Couple's Guide to U.S. Immigration by Ilona Bray. The reason this book is better is because it approaches the subject from the prospective of a couple who have no prior immigration issues and gives them the background of the way the immigration service views marriage cases. Of course with the focus only on �sham� marriages, this is also a problem since many couples have some prior immigration issues which need to be presented in the best possible light in their paperwork and at their interview otherwise they will end up doing a waiver for having made misrepresentations to get a visa or to gain entry to the U.S. In contrast the Nolo Press book seems to be written for the couple who is already in trouble, perhaps already in deportation, and in my opinion those people should not be relying on a do it yourself publication. I think Nolo Press does a disservice to its readers to pretend that couples can do this process by themselves without the assistance of an attorney specializing in their locale. In the post 9-11 era, preparing an immigration marriage case without the assistance of an immigration attorney is like doing your own brain surgery.
Unfortunately there are numerous errors due to changes in the law and changes in procedures which make following the advice in this book a scary proposition. For instance, page 66 states a fiance visa is only available when the couple is not yet married. While that used to be the law, it is not anymore due to the introduction of K-3 visas. The publication date for this book is 2000. Page 39 is incorrect in that the immigrant being sponsored can be a co-sponsor of the affidavit of support. While I liked the idea of the question and answer part at the back of the book, it also suffered from being incomplete and inaccurate. For instance Question #5 assumes the spouse of a green card holder will have to wait five years for their green card. That might be true if the green card holder only recently became a permanent resident, but if they have already had their green card for over five years, it may only take six to twelve months to become a U.S. citizen and then sponsor their spouse. Question #13 the answer is probably no since depending on how long the person has overstayed, they are now subject to either a three year or ten year bar and will have to show �extreme hardship� to their US spouse (which is becoming more and more difficult to win).
As a lawyer specializing in marriage adjustment of status cases in San Francisco and San Jose since 1988, I can say that while some of the information may be true in Florida where the author practices, it would be of little use or even harmful to use in Northern California. I have never seen an immigration officer ask questions about the content of letters (it is rare they even ask for letters), let alone checking e-mail routing symbols to see if they are accurate (page 23-24). The discussions on waivers (page 45-46) is way too brief and simplistic although the author does eventually say to have an immigration attorney review your situation prior to travelling. Most cases are not given a notice of intent to deny because of sham marriage fraud issues but because of immigration violations requiring an I-601 extreme hardship waiver. While notices of intent to deny are used in Arizona and according to the author also in Florida, they are not used in Northern California. Regional differences in procedure can make a huge difference in processing marriage adjustment of status cases. This book has too little information and too many mistakes.