A U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident can sponsor a spouse for a green card. If the spouse is a U.S. citizen, this falls under the immediate relative category with no annual numerical limit; if the sponsor is a permanent resident, the case falls under the F2A preference category, which can carry a visa-bulletin wait. Where the spouse is already in the U.S. in a lawful status, the case is often handled through one combined filing covering the relationship petition, adjustment of status, and interim work and travel authorization.
Where eligible, we typically file the relationship petition (I-130), adjustment of status (I-485), and work authorization together as one package for spouses already in the U.S. in status. Travel authorization (advance parole) is currently taking longer than usual to process, so we assess on a case-by-case basis whether to include it in that initial filing or handle it separately, based on your travel needs and current government processing times. For spouses abroad, the case proceeds through the National Visa Center and consular processing after petition approval. If conditional residence results from a marriage under two years old at approval, we also handle the two-year follow-up filing (I-751) to remove those conditions.