If you entered the United States with a visa and your spouse is a Cuban permanent resident - not a citizen - you have the right to apply for residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act, regardless of your nationality.
This was explained by the immigration attorney Liudmila Marcelo in an interview with Tania Costa for CiberCuba, where she clarified a benefit that many are unaware of and warned about the new controls that USCIS is applying to these couples.
"Remember that when you enter the country, regardless of which country it is, with a visa and your spouse is a Cuban resident, not a citizen of the United States, you can also apply for the Cuban Adjustment Act," Marcelo noted.
The requirement is to have one year and one day of physical presence in the U.S. The lawyer emphasized that the Cuban Adjustment Act does not require the first step of petition -the I-130 form-, but rather the process is direct through the I-485.
There is a fundamental distinction: if the Cuban spouse has already obtained U.S. citizenship, this route does not apply.
“If you are a citizen, the Adjustment Law no longer applies, but if you marry someone who is Cuban and still a resident of the United States, but not a citizen, you have the same right: with a Cuban, after a year and a day, you can apply under the Cuban Adjustment Act,” Marcelo clarified.
An important change that the lawyer points out is that USCIS has begun to interview and visit these couples, something that previously did not occur in Cuban Adjustment Act cases.
"They are also visiting couples of Cubans from other nationalities—Venezuelans, Colombians, Peruvians, from whichever country—and they are visiting that couple and asking them questions about marriage during the Cuban Adjustment Act, which was not done before," she warned.
This policy is part of the thorough review of marriage-based residencies that USCIS has intensified in 2026, which includes separate interviews for each spouse, surprise home visits at night, and inquiries to neighbors and employers.
The questions that the officials ask may surprise with their level of detail. Marcelo mentioned that they ask them, "how they met, through whom they met, who was there the day they met, who is the friend that introduced them."
They also inquire about the full name -including the second surname- of the mother-in-law. "It may seem silly, but who knows their mother-in-law's second surname?" the lawyer commented.
In the face of the fear of getting nervous during the interview, Marcelo offers a reassuring message for those with a genuine marriage. If there are deficiencies during the appointment, USCIS generally does not deny the petition immediately: "they send you a notice of intent to deny your petition, then they ask for a series of documents to address the deficiencies you had, and they schedule a second interview."
This Notice of Intent to Deny -known as NOID- opens an opportunity to rectify errors and submit additional evidence before a final decision is made.
The Cuban Adjustment Act is codified in the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 and can only be modified or repealed by the U.S. Congress, not by the president. Among its advantages, it grants a 10-year Green Card—not the two-year conditional card of the standard process—and does not require proving financial solvency through form I-864.
Marcelo was emphatic in summarizing his message for legitimate couples: "Those who are truly married, Tania, have nothing to fear; they should continue with their normal lives."
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