My wife applied for citizenship 10 years ago with her father as the sponsor. My wife is from Mexico. We married about 5 years ago, I am a US citizen, was born here. Recently her attorney called to tell us her priority date was near but we would have to refile with me as the sponsor since we are married. After 10 years of waiting and upward of $5000 in legal/application fees is it really necessary to refile?

Yes.. its also not guaranteed she will get it either. Marriage to an American is not a guarantee she will be approved... as many people find out the hard way.

She is not "applying for citizenship". Her father petitioned her for a green card. Is her father a U.S. citizen or permanent resident?

Assuming that her father is a citizen, by marrying, she will drop from the F1 category to F3. However, the priority dates for F1 and F3 for Mexico are pretty close (for September F1 is 08SEP93 whereas F3 is 15MAY93). So I don't think it made a lot of difference that she married. Of course, if you petition her, it will be in the immediate relative category and it immediately skips over all this priority date stuff and moves onto the next step.

Her attorney is right... as a married child of US citizen (probably over 21 years of age as well), it takes about 7-12 years, depending on what country. Mexico is one of the long waiting period.

Filing as spouse of US citizen is much faster.. it takes less than a year.

Her attorney is right... as a married child of US citizen (probably over 21 years of age as well), it takes about 7-12 years, depending on what country. Mexico is one of the long waiting period.

Filing as spouse of US citizen is much faster.. it takes less than a year.

But it sounds like they're saying that the priority date is coming up.