Can my girlfriend have two pending petitions for permanent residency?

You can do that. The fact is that if one of the green applications is eventually approved, the other one must simply be withdrawn or the USCIS will deny the other one. This is because one is entitled to just one green card status and certainly not simultaneously holding two green cards.

The process begins with the filing of Form I-130 on your girlfriend&#39s behalf. Her mother already filed her I-130. You would need to be married to her in order to qualify to file your I-130. Her filing for the actual green card depends on several things, including which filing would first reach a priority date. Perhaps her mother&#39s since this I-130 filing is already in the works.

Definitely file F-2A based I-130 once you get married.

Yes, she may have multiple petitions pending for her, so go ahead and file once you marry. This is likely to be faster.

Yes. You should definitely file for her once you get married. Most likely, it will be significantly faster.

You can have several I-140, I-526 and I-130 petitions pending, but once one is approved and you file the I-485, that&#39s the only I-485 that can go. That said, you can transfer a pending I-485 to another approved petition, as long as the priority date is current.

Yes, your girlfriend can have multiple petitions pending for the purpose of qualifying for lawful permanent residency. In fact, that&#39s normally a good idea, given the fact that there&#39s always a certain amount of uncertainty about which petition may go faster or be approved. Once you&#39re married, it&#39s particularly important that you petition, because your mother-in-law&#39s petition under the family-based second preference for unmarried sons and daughters is no longer valid. So clearly, you should petition for your spouse, given the fact that there&#39s currently no backlog for spouses for permanent residence. If she&#39s in the U.S. in valid status, she would also be eligible to file an adjustment of status.

Yes, she can be processed through you (after being married). Also note, as a child of a lawful permanent resident, once she get married, she will no longer be eligible to adjust to a lawful permanent resident through her mother&#39s immigrant petition since it only applies to children over 21 who are unmarried.

As soon as you get married, the F-2B petition filed for your fiancé is terminated unless mom becomes a naturalized citizen before you get married. If she is under 21, the F-2A category becomes current in July 2019 and provides a rare opportunity to adjust status in the U.S., if she is here lawfully. If you get married in July and file to adjust her status, she can also benefit as an F-2A spouse. The bottom line is unless she is under 21, she will greatly benefit by the window of opportunity presented by the F-2A spousal category and the under-21 child of a permanent resident category.

You can file a new petition based on your marriage. However, you need to be aware of the priority date for both categories. In all events, if her visa through her mother becomes available, her visa through marriage will be withdrawn. If her visa through marriage to an LPR is available, then the pending visa application through her mother will be withdrawn upon approval.

Yes. Your lawyer will explain the process.

You can have more than one petition pending at the same time. Go for it and see which one wins the race!

Nothing prevents your girlfriend (and soon to be wife) from having multiple green card petitions pending. Doesn&#39t hurt to hedge, especially because F-2A is current (spouses of LPR).