Xiao Wang & Anjana Prasad
Even techies might agree that server rooms aren’t the most romantic places to fall in love — but it happens. And with foreign-born workers making up nearly three-quarters of Silicon Valley’s labor force alone, many tech-sector romances now come with a romcom-ready complication: What happens when one or both partners are immigrants?
The good news is there’s no reason to put your life on hold just because you’re on an employment-based visa. It’s perfectly possible to fall in love, get married, and — assuming you’ve picked Mr. or Mrs. Right — live happily ever after in America.
The bad news is the immigration system is growing more complicated, with longer delays and policies favoring perceived talent over family unification. If you’re planning to put a ring on it, move quickly because it’s only getting harder to secure a green card and citizenship for you and your partner.
Here are 10 less-than-romantic — but seriously important — immigration tips to consider when Cupid comes calling:
1. If you’re on OPT, get an upgrade
Many tech workers’ first U.S. job opportunity is the up-to-three-year professional training period, or Optional Practical Training (OPT), that comes with student visas.
That can be a great springboard into long-term employment, but it doesn’t offer much help for young lovers. Spouses of OPT holders can get F-2 dependent visas but won’t be able to work or study while in the U.S. And regardless of the purity of your love, you’ll both have to leave promptly when the training period ends.
The bottom line: If you’re on OPT, pull out all the stops and graduate to a less temporary immigration status — such as an H-1B work visa through your employer or a spousal green card if you’ve married a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
2. If you’re on an H-1B, get a green card
It’s relatively easy for H-1B skilled workers to sponsor their spouse for an H-4 dependent visa. But be warned: H-4 holders may soon be restricted from working freely in the U.S. Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed reverting the H-4 to an “involuntary housewife visa.” Should that plan go through, your spouse can expect to spend years without employment authorization, dinging both their self-esteem and your household finances.
The best solution? Convince your employer to sponsor you for a green card. You’d face a long wait, but it’s better to start running the clock down as soon as possible. Once you’re a permanent resident, you’ll be able to sponsor your significant other for a green card, too.
3. If you have a green card, get citizenship
As a U.S. permanent resident, you can sponsor your spouse for their own green card, rather than a temporary, restrictive dependent visa. But your spouse can spend more than three years waiting for their paperwork to come through. That’s about three times longer than for spouses of U.S. citizens.
If you’re eligible, naturalizing will help speed up your spouse’s green card. Even if you begin the process for a green card through marriage to a permanent resident, once you naturalize you’ll be able to switch to the faster track for spouses of U.S. citizens. Spouses of citizens currently wait between 10 and 17 months, while spouses of permanent residents face up to a 38-month wait — transitioning could shave months or years off your wait.
4. Don’t lose your work authorization
If you’re currently on an H-1B visa but have married a U.S. citizen, keep an eye on your H-1B status while waiting for your marriage green card. You won’t be able to extend your H-1B after submitting your green card application, and if your visa expires along the way, you’ll need to stop working immediately. To avoid a period of no employment, you can submit a work-permit request with your green card application. But be mindful of when your H-1B expires, as it can take up to seven months to approve your work permit.
5. Visit your spouse overseas — don’t meet them here
If you’ve fallen for someone while already living in the U.S., count your blessings — you’ll generally be allowed to remain here while awaiting your green card. But if you’re sponsoring your spouse overseas, they’ll have to stay in their home country for months or years while their papers are processed. That’s a long time apart.
Technically, your spouse can visit you in the U.S. on a tourist visa, but that option is generally discouraged. Immigration officials often consider this a “willful misrepresentation” of the traveler’s intentions for visiting the U.S., so don’t be surprised if immigration officials deny them entry upon learning of their pending green card application. If you have vacation time to burn, you’re less likely to encounter trouble if you visit your significant other abroad.
6. Be prepared for awkward questions
As an immigrant, you can expect serious scrutiny when you tie the knot. Immigration officials are on the lookout for marriages of convenience, so be ready to prove that your relationship is on the up-and-up. You’ll also get quizzed — both on your green card application and in your interview — about everything from birthdays and anniversaries to dietary habits and sleeping arrangements.
It helps to have hard evidence: everything from love letters to shared leases can help to prove your bona fides. And of course, the longer you’ve been in a relationship, the less chance your marriage will raise eyebrows.
7. Don’t expect a quick fix
Getting hitched used to be an easy way to wipe away virtually any immigration woes — even undocumented immigrants could obtain lawful status by marrying a U.S. citizen. That’s still theoretically the case, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) continuing to approve marriage green cards freely.
In some cases, though, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has sent agents to USCIS facilities and detained applicants with outstanding deportation orders. If one of you has serious immigration issues in your past, seek legal advice before applying for a marriage green card or attending the in-person interview.
8. Save your pennies
Money isn’t everything, but having deep pockets does make life easier. Getting a green card costs about $1,400 to $1,960, so start saving up. And if you aren’t making big-tech bucks, don’t count on using public benefits such as Medicaid or Food Stamps to make ends meet — the government is blocking pathways to permanent residence for people who’ve used such programs. Find other ways to cut costs, like, say, handling your case online.
9. Don’t fudge the details
Making mistakes with the paperwork can be twice as costly when there are two of you. The government has begun taking a zero-tolerance approach to immigration filings, issuing denials to applicants with incomplete paperwork and forcing them to start the process — and pay the government’s nonrefundable fees — all over again.
Be especially sure you understand precisely which visas you or your loved one needs in order to come to America with the intent of getting married — and whatever you do, don’t misrepresent your intentions to immigration officials. Any half-truths or hand waving could come back to haunt you down the line.
10. Don’t drag your heels
These tips boil down to one thing: You’ve got a long wait and a mountain of paperwork ahead of you. That’s why it’s vital to start now. The path of true love never did run smoothly — and unfortunately, immigrants can count on it running even less smoothly in the future. For many foreign-born tech workers, the best way to say “I love you” is to lock things down now, and file green card or naturalization paperwork — for yourself or your spouse-to-be — as soon as possible.
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