The following provides basic information and qualifications necessary to obtaining a "green card" based on marriage.

1. To obtain a "green card" based on marriage, one of the two persons getting married should be a U.S. citizen, or should be very shortly becoming a U.S. citizen after the marriage.

If one of the persons in a marriage only has a green card, they may still file immigration paperwork to get their spouse a green card. However, if this is the case, this paperwork will take a few years longer than if U.S. citizenship was present.

2. The person who is attempting to get the green card needs to fall into one of the two following classifications at the time the immigration paperwork is filed.

- Be present in the United States on a valid, unexpired visa.

OR

- Entered the United States on a valid visa and the expiration date of the visa was within the last six months.

3. Since immigration is federal law, the law office of Matthew J. Peirce, Esq., is qualified to file immigration paperwork in any state of the United States.

4. Our office charges the amount of $750.00 in attorney's fees, plus the amount of $555.00 in filing fees, which amounts to a total of $1,305.00.

5. If you wish to proceed, you may download the "Instructions and fill-in forms" sheet which will allow our offices to get all necessary information to fill out the required immigration forms. The link will allow you to obtain this document in PDF format (requires Adobe Acrobat). Instructions for the paperwork are included in the download.

Once you open the "Instructions and fill-in forms" sheet, please save a copy on your hard drive. Please type in all the information requested and then print out a copy. Please send the printout, along with your payment, to our office address, which is listed on the fee payment sheet.

If you would rather have the GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS sheet faxed to you, please contact our office at (702) 366-9990. When you call, please request the "GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS" handout #14.

If you have any questions, you are more than welcome to call our offices at (702) 366-9990, 9:00 – 5:00, Pacific Standard Time. In addition, you may contact attorney Matthew J. Peirce, Esq., directly at immigrationlaw@mjplegal.com.