Marriage of alien to U.S. citizen after H1B declined

[allfiredup]

What is the name of your state? Georgia

I have two employees that met while attending the same college almost three years ago. She has been working for me for just over two years. He came to work for me after graduation in June 2006.

They have been dating for several years with the intention of getting married at some point in the future. She is a U.S. citizen (born here) and he came to the U.S. in 2002 to attend college. He was allowed to work one year after he graduated school. My company filed for an H1B for him and just received notice yesterday that he was not selected in the 'lottery'.

What if the two of them decided to get married now? Would he receive a green card?

I know people marry to stay in the country, often to people they don't know or have no romantic interest in. That's not the case here, these two intend to marry but it will be much more complicated if he has to leave the country.

For the record, he is from Pakistan and a Muslim. I'd hope that had no impact on the results of the 'lottery' but I'm sure we'll never know for sure.

Thank you.

 

[ImmigAttyLana]

Yes, once they are legally married, they could petition for his permanent residence (green card) on the basis of his marriage to a US citizen and within 90 days he would have employment authorization and within several more months they would be called in for an interview with the local USCIS office to assess the bona fides of their marriage and determine whether or not he is eligible for a green card. If they successfully pass the interview and if the security clearance checks are all completed, he will be granted permanent resident status.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or how I can be of further assistance to you in this matter.