Whether you can file from inside the U.S.
Spouses of citizens who were inspected and admitted can often file the petition and the adjustment application together. How you entered matters a great deal: entering without inspection usually prevents adjustment, with narrow exceptions. Spouses of permanent residents generally need to maintain lawful status while they wait for a visa number. For a citizen's spouse, a past overstay is often not a legal bar to adjusting here, though approval is discretionary and recent USCIS policy weighs immigration history more heavily; a prior removal order or a false claim to citizenship is a different matter. That question deserves an answer before anything is filed.
Evidence and the interview
Gather joint lease or deed records, bank statements, insurance policies, tax returns, photos over time, and statements from friends and family. Prior marriages must be shown to have ended. Couples who married recently or have few joint records can still document a genuine relationship through other kinds of evidence. The interview usually covers how you met and your life together, and some couples are interviewed separately. If you travel abroad while the application is pending, you may need advance permission first, or the application could be treated as abandoned. Work authorization can be requested while the case is pending.
Conditions and what comes next
If the marriage is recent when the green card is approved, it is conditional, and you must file later to remove the conditions, usually together. That later filing again asks for evidence of a shared life, this time covering the period since the green card was issued. If the marriage ends or there was abuse, waivers may be available. A divorce while the application is pending usually ends the marriage-based case, so tell counsel about any separation. Your entry history, both spouses' backgrounds, and the evidence you already have are where we begin. We explain whether filing inside the U.S. is realistic and what to expect. We do not promise approval or predict a decision.
