Marrying a spouse
to the USA

The spouse immigrant visa begins with the U.S. partner filing Form I-130, the Petition for Alien Relative, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Once that petition is approved the case moves to consular processing, the spouse in India attends an interview at a U.S. consulate, and on approval the spouse travels and is admitted to the United States as a permanent resident rather than as a visitor who must then apply for status.

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, Checklist of Required Initial Evidence; U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Immigrant Visa for a Spouse of a U.S. Citizen (IR1 or CR1). Jurisdiction: United States. Retrieved 6 September 2026.

Now the piece this page previously stated wrongly, and it is worth reading slowly because the correction changes what a family should expect. The two-year condition is measured at the moment the spouse ENTERS the United States, not at the moment the visa is approved. The Department of State puts it this way: if you have been married for less than two years when your foreign citizen spouse enters the United States on an immigrant visa, that permanent resident status is considered conditional, and the immigrant visa is a conditional resident visa rather than an immediate relative visa. Approval and entry are separate events and they can fall months apart. A couple who pass their second anniversary in the gap between the two are therefore in a different position from the one an approval-based reading would give them, which is precisely why the distinction is not a technicality.

Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Immigrant Visa for a Spouse of a U.S. Citizen (IR1 or CR1). Jurisdiction: United States. Retrieved 6 September 2026.

Where the residence is conditional, the couple has to apply to remove the conditions, and that deadline is anchored to entry as well. The Department of State states that the application goes to USCIS within the ninety days before the two-year anniversary of the spouse entering the United States on the immigrant visa, and that this anniversary is the expiry date printed on the green card. USCIS describes the same window as the 90-day period immediately before conditional residence expires, and states that conditional permanent resident status obtained through marriage can follow marriage to a U.S. citizen or to a lawful permanent resident. Form I-751 is the form. The safe habit is to diarise it from the date of entry on the day the spouse lands.

Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Immigrant Visa for a Spouse of a U.S. Citizen (IR1 or CR1); U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence. Jurisdiction: United States. Retrieved 6 September 2026.

On documents, keep to what the authority asks for rather than to a list from memory. The USCIS checklist of required initial evidence for Form I-130 asks a spouse petitioner for a copy of the marriage certificate, and states that any document submitted in a foreign language must come with a full English translation and a certification from the translator that the translation is complete and accurate. USCIS also notes that the checklist is an optional tool that does not replace the form instructions, so the form instructions are the thing to read. That is a narrower and more useful instruction than the general document list this page used to give.

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, Checklist of Required Initial Evidence. Jurisdiction: United States. Retrieved 6 September 2026.

Apostille deserves a correction of its own, because this page used to tell every family to get one. India is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention: the depositary records India acceding on 26 October 2004, with the Convention entering into force for India on 14 July 2005, so an Indian public document can be apostilled where a body asks for one. That is a different claim from saying USCIS requires an apostille for a spouse petition, and the USCIS checklist we read asks for a copy and a certified translation, not an apostille. If a particular office asks you for an apostille, get one for that office. Do not add the step on our word.

Source: Hague Conference on Private International Law, the depositary, Status table, Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Jurisdiction: International treaty status. Retrieved 6 September 2026.

The K-1 fiance visa is for the fiance of a U.S. citizen and not for a green-card holder. USCIS states that a U.S. citizen who wants to bring a foreign fiance to the United States in order to marry files Form I-129F, the Petition for Alien Fiance. The Department of State states that the visa permits the fiance to travel to the United States and marry that U.S. citizen sponsor within 90 days of arrival. USCIS states that a fiance who marries the sponsor within 90 days of being admitted as a K-1 nonimmigrant may then apply for lawful permanent resident status.

Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fianc(e)e (K-1); U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Visas for Fianc(e)es of U.S. Citizens. Jurisdiction: United States. Retrieved 6 September 2026.

What a K-1 arrival may do about working and about travelling outside the United States before permanent residence is granted is the question families ask most, and the Department of State does not answer it on its own K-1 page. It states instead that information for K-1 and K-2 visa holders about adjustment of status, permission to work in the United States, and travel outside of the United States is available on the USCIS website under Fiance(e) Visas. That is the official next step, and it is the page to read rather than any summary of it.

Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fianc(e)e (K-1). Jurisdiction: United States. Retrieved 6 September 2026.

This page used to state that a K-1 entrant generally cannot work or travel internationally until employment authorisation and advance parole are granted after filing to adjust status. We have withdrawn that sentence. We could not support it at that level of detail from a primary source, and the mechanism it described is not the only one that can apply.

Pending qualified review. The work and travel position for a K-1 holder turns on which permissions have been applied for and when, and getting it wrong can cost a person a pending application. An immigration adviser should confirm what applies to your own case before you plan around it.

So the honest comparison is about shape, not speed. On a spouse immigrant visa the person is admitted as a permanent resident. On a K-1 the fiance is admitted as a nonimmigrant, the couple marries within 90 days, and permanent residence is applied for from inside the country. Each has conditions attached at a different point, and which suits a family depends on the sponsor status, on where the case is processed and on what the queues are doing. That is a judgement about circumstances, and it is the kind of thing worth raising early, which is why we treat a partner immigration position as part of compatibility from the first conversation.

Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Immigrant Visa for a Spouse of a U.S. Citizen (IR1 or CR1); U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fianc(e)e (K-1). Jurisdiction: United States. Retrieved 6 September 2026.