Green Card Guide: Living Abroad and Married to a U.S. Green Card Holder

If you are a green card holder (U.S. permanent resident) married to a foreign national who lives outside the United States, this article is for both of you. We’ll go through each step toward getting your marriage green card.
This type of green card application process is also sometimes referred to as “Consular Processing.” If your circumstances are different, please choose one of our other Start-to-Finish guides, and take a look at our general guide to the marriage green card process.

The first step for couples in this scenario is filing Form I-130 (technically called the “Petition for Alien Relative”) with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The main purpose of this form is to establish the existence of a valid marriage.

The spouse filing this I-130 form is called the “sponsor” or “petitioner.” This is the spouse who is the current U.S. green card holder. The spouse who’s seeking a green card is called the “applicant” or “beneficiary.”

Once the I-130 petition is approved, USCIS transfers the case to the National Visa Center (NVC), which is run by the U.S. State Department. The NVC assigns a unique case number that’s then used to identify the case from that point onward. The next active step is to file a green card application package with the NVC.

But first, there’s a waiting period.

For spouses of U.S. green card holders (permanent residents), the NVC green card application package cannot be submitted until the State Department determines that a green card is available given various annual caps. The dates published in the State Department’s monthly visa bulletin will determine whether an NVC package can be filed or not.
The NVC accepts the green card application package and ultimately decides whether the spouse is ready for an interview at a U.S. Embassy or consulate abroad (called “consular processing”).