Being married to a US citizen does not guarantee obtaining the Green Card for residency in the United States. Even if the relationship is genuine, there are various reasons why the immigrant could be rejected to receive the document, also known as Permanent Resident Card.
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The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (Uscis) details that it is not enough to be married. The partners of citizens go through a selection process in which the foreigner’s application is carefully reviewed.
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The reasons for an immigrant’s rejection in obtaining a Green Card vary from administrative issues and errors to legal problems or criminal backgrounds.
Causes of rejection for the Green Card despite being married to a U.S. citizen
According to Boundless, one of the reasons why a Green Card application may be denied, even if you are married to a U.S. citizen, is if you fail to demonstrate that the marriage is legally valid.
A marriage can have authentication issues if one of the spouses did not have a final divorce from a previous partner, if the marriage is not legally recognized in the country where they got married, or if there is not enough evidence of authenticity with records of shared life, such as financial documents, service records, family photos, and others, that demonstrate their genuine marital life.
They can also reject it for the Green Card, if there are administrative errors. According to the aforementioned source, the most common errors are: not submitting certified translations of documents that are not in English, not answering all the questions on the forms, not attaching passport-type photos with the required characteristics, omitting signatures on the forms, not paying the corresponding fees.
Another reason why immigrants are often denied the Green Card is if the American spouse who is sponsoring them does not demonstrate having sufficient financial resources to support them as a spouse. USCIS requires that the sponsor earns at least 125% of the federal poverty level. To demonstrate that they have adequate resources, they can provide pay stubs or federal tax returns.
Immigrants with criminal records, a history of drug use, mental or contagious illnesses, who entered the United States illegally, who entered with a Crew Visa, or if lies are discovered in their immigration process will also not be eligible.
Others who are not eligible are those who entered on a fiancé visa with someone they did not marry, if they entered as a tourist and applied for residency within 60 days of arriving in the United States, or if they are in the process of deportation.