Can I apply for a green card with an expired passport and visa? 15 Answers as of October 28, 2011

Yes. Your visa or passport expiration has no relevance in this process. As long as your last entry was legal!

Yes, you can apply for permanent residence with the expired visa. You should apply for a new passport.

You must have a current passport to get a green card. You have a lot to clear up, with years of unlawful presence. Married to a US citizen, you can do it. You need to consult an experienced immigration lawyer.

Yes, you may apply. Be aware if you are a visa waiver, then you should hire an attorney. There might be some complications during the process.

If you entered the U.S. legally, then the law allows you to file for permanent residence based on marriage to a U.S. citizen even if you overstayed your visa and your passport has expired. You will want to consult with an immigration attorney to make sure that there are no other issues in the case, but overstaying the visa, alone, does not prevent you from pursuing permanent residence based on marriage to a U.S. citizen and you will be forgiven for overstaying through the residence process.

You can apply for a green card with an expired passport and visa. The fact that your passport and visa have expired have no bearing on your ability to file for a green card. However, you will need to renew your passport if you wish to travel after receiving your green card. The only issue that you may have is regarding your intent to remain in the United States. When you enter through the visa waiver or receive a non-immigrant visa without the intent to return to our country, you can be considered to have immigrant intent. This can cause a lot of problems with your green card as it may result in your initial entry being considered unlawful.

Yes. It is a little tricky with visa waiver entrants, but it is doable. You need to make sure that you have everything in order though, because you only get one chance. Individuals who enter with Visa Waiver are not eligible to go before the Immigration Court so if you are denied for any reason by USCIS, there is no review and the next step is deportation without any kind of real process. The expired passport can always be renewed.

Yes, you can. Marriage to a US Citizen is one of the exceptions that allows you to obtain a permanent residency status even though you may be out of status now.

Hi, Yes, you can adjust status in the U.S. since you initially entered the U.S. legally even though you subsequently overstayed.

Generally, a U.S. Citizen may apply for his wife to adjust status to become a Lawful Permanent Resident (to get a "Green Card") in the family-based Immediate Relative visa category, regardless of whether her visa expired and regardless of whether her passport has expired. It will be important to assure that the application process is handled correctly, especially because someone who has overstayed her visa is unlawfully present and subject to removal/deportation (and an adult who has been unlawfully present for more than a year may be subject to a 10-year bar to re-entering the U.S.). Some immigration law firms, including mine, offer legal services on a "flat fee" basis so that a client will know the total expense from the very beginning, and a few immigration law firms, including mine, offer an initial consultation free of charge.