An undocumented immigrant can marry a U.S. citizen in every state, and the marriage is fully valid the moment the license is signed. What the marriage does not do is grant legal status, a green card, or protection from deportation on its own. Whether the undocumented spouse can turn that marriage into permanent residency, and whether they can do it without leaving the country, depends almost entirely on how they entered the United States in the first place.
Getting the Marriage License
Marriage licensing is a state and county function, not a federal one. County clerks confirm that both applicants are old enough, mentally competent, and not already married to someone else. They do not check immigration databases and they do not report applicants to federal agencies. The Supreme Court has held that the right to marry is a fundamental liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, and that right belongs to every person physically present in the country regardless of citizenship.1Justia Law. Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
An undocumented applicant does not need U.S.-issued identification. A valid passport from any country is accepted in most jurisdictions, and some counties also accept consular ID cards or other foreign government photo ID. Requirements vary, so a call to the local clerk before the visit saves a wasted trip. If either person was previously married, the clerk needs proof it ended, typically a final divorce decree or a death certificate. Both applicants must generally be at least 18. Fees usually run between $35 and $100, and many counties impose a waiting period of 24 to 72 hours before the license becomes active.
Fill the application out carefully. Names, dates, and parental information should match the ID documents exactly, because the marriage certificate will become a piece of evidence in any later immigration filing.
Why the Marriage Alone Doesn’t Fix Status
A marriage certificate makes the couple legally married. It does not, by itself, change the undocumented spouse’s immigration status. To become a lawful permanent resident, the couple has to file a green card case with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and one threshold question controls almost everything about how that case proceeds: was the undocumented spouse “inspected and admitted” when they entered the country, or did they cross the border without inspection?
If the Spouse Entered on a Visa and Overstayed
Someone who came in on any valid visa, whether tourist, student, or work, was inspected and admitted at the port of entry. That initial inspection is what matters, even if the visa expired years ago. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, an applicant who was inspected and admitted can generally apply to adjust status to permanent resident without leaving the United States.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1255 – Adjustment of Status of Nonimmigrant to That of Person Admitted for Permanent Residence
Overstaying a visa and working without authorization would normally bar someone from adjusting status. The statute carves out an exception for “immediate relatives” of U.S. citizens, and spouses fall inside that category.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1151 – Worldwide Level of Immigration Because of that exception, a visa overstay who marries a U.S. citizen can file for a green card from inside the country and stay put while it is processed. This is the more straightforward path.
If the Spouse Crossed the Border Without Inspection
Someone who entered without going through a port of entry was never inspected and admitted, and cannot use the ordinary adjustment of status process. In most cases the noncitizen spouse must leave the U.S. and attend an immigrant visa interview at a U.S. consulate in their home country. This is called consular processing.
The trap is that leaving the country triggers the unlawful presence bars. More than 180 days but less than a year of unlawful presence before departure produces a three-year bar on re-entry. A year or more produces a ten-year bar.4USCIS. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility For someone who has been in the U.S. without status for years, departing for a consular interview can mean a decade of separation from their spouse.
The workaround is the Form I-601A provisional waiver, filed before departure. It asks USCIS to forgive the unlawful presence bar in advance, based on evidence that the U.S. citizen spouse or parent would suffer “extreme hardship” if the applicant were kept out.5Department of State. 9 FAM 302.11 – Ineligibility Based on Previous Removal and Unlawful Presence in the United States – INA 212(A)(9) Approval is not automatic. The extreme hardship standard is high, and ordinary disruption from a spouse’s absence typically will not meet it. If USCIS grants the waiver, the applicant can leave for the consular interview with reasonable confidence that the bar will not block their return.
One narrow carve-out helps military families. Undocumented spouses of active-duty service members, reservists, and certain veterans may qualify for a discretionary grant called Parole in Place. If approved, it treats the spouse as having been “paroled” into the country, which then opens the door to adjusting status inside the U.S. rather than going through consular processing.6USCIS. Immigration Options for Family of Certain Military Members and Veterans
Filing the Green Card Case
Both paths start with the same petition. The U.S. citizen spouse files Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, to establish the marital relationship.7U.S. Department of State. Submit a Petition If the noncitizen spouse is eligible to adjust status inside the country, they file Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence, at the same time.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 3 – Filing Filing them together, called concurrent filing, lets USCIS work both petitions in parallel.
The I-485 filing fee is $1,440 as of the most recent USCIS schedule. Fees change, so confirm the current amount on uscis.gov before writing a check. Along with the core forms, the couple submits:
- Form I-864, Affidavit of Support. The citizen spouse has to show household income of at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines. For 2026, that means at least $27,050 per year for a two-person household in the 48 contiguous states, $33,813 in Alaska, and $31,113 in Hawaii. A joint sponsor with adequate income can co-sign if the citizen spouse’s income falls short.9U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2026 Poverty Guidelines
- Evidence that the marriage is real. Joint bank statements, a shared lease or mortgage, utility bills in both names, insurance policies naming the spouse as beneficiary, photos across time, and mail addressed to both spouses at the same address all help build the file.
- Form I-693, medical examination. A USCIS-designated civil surgeon examines the noncitizen spouse and confirms they meet health-related admissibility rules, including required vaccinations. The exam runs several hundred dollars and is generally not covered by insurance.10Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccination Technical Instructions for Civil Surgeons
Small mistakes cause big delays. A misspelled name, a missing signature, or an outdated form edition can get a filing rejected before USCIS opens it. After acceptance, the noncitizen spouse is called in for biometrics, and both spouses are later interviewed together at a USCIS field office about how they met, how they live, and how they share their finances.
The Two-Year Conditional Green Card
If the marriage is less than two years old when USCIS approves permanent residence, the noncitizen spouse receives a conditional green card valid for two years instead of the usual ten.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 2 – Terms and Conditions of CPR Status To convert it to a full ten-year card, the couple jointly files Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, in the 90-day window before the conditional card expires.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. When to File Your Petition to Remove Conditions The filing needs fresh evidence that the marriage is still intact: updated joint finances, a renewed lease, birth certificates of any children born during those two years.
Missing the window can lead USCIS to terminate conditional status and place the spouse in removal proceedings. If the couple has divorced by the filing window, or the citizen spouse refuses to co-sign, the noncitizen spouse can file the I-751 alone by showing the marriage was entered in good faith, that they experienced domestic violence, or that removal would cause extreme hardship.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. When to File Your Petition to Remove Conditions
One Boundary: Marriage Fraud
None of this works if the marriage is a sham. Knowingly entering a marriage to evade immigration law is a federal crime under 8 U.S.C. ยง 1325(c), punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1325 – Improper Entry by Alien Both spouses can be prosecuted. A noncitizen convicted of marriage fraud will be deported and permanently barred from future immigration benefits.
Couples in a genuine relationship have no reason to worry about the fraud rule, but they should still take evidence seriously. A thin file with little proof of a shared life invites the kind of scrutiny that stretches the case out and makes the interview harder than it needs to be.