Legal Question in Immigration Law in California

Re: F-1 married a resident alien

You can't. Only an immediate relative can Adjust Status to Legal Permanent Residence. A spouse of a US Citizen (USC) is a inmediate relative. A spouse of a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) is not an immediate relative. A spouse of an LPR is in the 2A family sponsored preference category. In order for you to Adjust Status in the US the priority date of your category must be current. The current August 2004 DOS Visa bulletin states that those that had their immigrant petition filed before April 15 2000 have current priority dates. Chances are you will have to Consular Process an Immigrant Visa. You can expect to wait four or more years to get your immigrant visa. This can be expedited by having your spouse naturalize to acquire USC. At that point you will have more options available. You can contact me if you want a through analysis of your immigration situation.