Getting married: Good or bad for your immigration health? (1)

For most immigration-challenged individuals in the United States, marriage is never about romance but more about getting a grip on the danger of losing the American dream

To some ladies and even a few gentlemen, walking down the aisle is no different from listening, with eyes closed, to Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” while lying unclothed on a fragrance-filled bed of roses with a jockstrap-clad 1990s version of Jon Bon Jovi by your side.

In other words, Je suis folle de joie! (I am crazy with joy!), as the French mademoiselles love to say.

And though the subject of weddings usually conveys images of euphoria over the symbolic fusion of two romantically smitten people, happiness can also be found beyond the boundaries of the goddess of love, Aphrodite’s fantasy realm.

A well-timed exchange of marital vows — especially that melded via a Sin City express wedding platform — can turn a romantic occasion into a prosaic event with pragmatic implications, such as fixing the issue of living in the shadows as an undocumented person or breathing new life into an impending visa doom.

Indeed, for most immigration-challenged individuals in the United States, marriage is never about romance but more about getting a grip on the danger of losing the American dream (honeymoon be damned).

And so, the question becomes, when is getting married good for your immigration health?

Obviously, one of the most common benefits of taking the plunge occurs whenever an undocumented Romeo or Juliet exchanges marital vows with someone holding US citizenship.

Indeed, except for a few specific violations that act as a bar against getting a green card in the US (such as entering the country without inspection or arriving under a crew member’s visa), most undocumented Romeos and Juliets can legalize their status and obtain a green card once they marry a US citizen regardless of the nature and duration of their previous overstaying violation.

Even if the spouse is a US permanent resident, there remains a pathway for legalizing a person’s status, albeit the process may take a bit longer depending on the visa quota backlog and the nature of the person’s prior immigration violations.

However, if the spouse is neither a US citizen nor a US permanent resident, the marriage will have no redeeming impact as far as an undocumented person’s immigration situation is concerned.

Another potential benefit of tying the knot can occur in a situation in which a person’s period of authorized stay in the US is nearing expiration, such as an F-1 student or an H-1B worker whose term of studies or employment is almost up or a B-2 tourist whose vacation limit is fast approaching.

In the above scenarios, exchanging “I dos” with a US citizen can neutralize the risk of becoming an overstaying alien.

Likewise, marrying someone with a longer and more durable non-immigrant status, such as another H-1B or F visa holder, or a G-4 international organization employee or an A diplomatic visa holder, can provide a crucial lifeline to one’s impending immigration status expiration.

Notably, the marriage benefit also extends to those residing outside of the US, including the Pinay Juliets waiting to be sponsored by their American fiancés or husbands.

In fact, even a premarriage, in-person meetup overseas can result in a fiancée visa, ultimately leading to a green card and potential US citizenship after the marriage.

To sum it up, getting hitched, especially with a US citizen, can open up a lot of positive, life-altering opportunities for the immigration-challenged Romeos and Juliets, both inside and outside of the US. That was the good. Unfortunately, the bad is, well, not good.