Undocumented Military Spouse-Help me help a friend!

[tomorrowsomewherenew]

I'm friends with a 24 year old woman who has been in the US for several years. She entered legally, but overstayed her visa. She attended and graduated from high school in Brazil. She currently lives in California and is undocumented. However, she recently got married to an Active Duty sailor (a US citizen, but not natural born). She would like to attend college locally in California. and I'm trying to help her figure out a way to make it work. She's not a native speaker of English, but has an advanced level of proficiency.

Perhaps someone reading works in admissions and can give me some tips/advice!

[Samuel]

Is the concern about being admitted to school or getting money to pay for school?

The former likely isn't a problem at all. I doubt a college (particularly in California) would ever ask about citizenship status.

Getting government backed student loans or scholarships likely will be a problem, though.

[tomorrowsomewherenew]

The concern is more about getting admitted to school. Because she attended school outside the US, and hasn't attended university in the US before, schools seem to force her onto the track of applying as an international student...which just isn't going to happen. (She'll be going through the citizenship process after the Biden administration takes over. Even then, it will still be years, and I very much doubt she is eligible for a student visa after overstaying the last visa she had).

[Adventine]

She will have to find a school that accepts students without asking for proof of legal permanent residency or a student visa.

If she can't, then the root cause has to be addressed first: she has to find a way to regularize her immigration status. She will need professional help from an immigration lawyer, if she hasn't already got one. I suppose that she does, since she mentioned plans to apply for citizenship.

A student visa is unfortunately not an option for her because one cannot apply for a US visa (whether student, spousal, etc) from within the US. She would have to leave the US and apply for a visa. However, since she has overstayed her original visa, she will have probably incurred a bar. If she leaves the US now, she could be barred from re-entry for as long as 10 years (source here). Even if she is now a spouse of a US citizen.

[Samuel]

This might helpful: https://collegecampaign.org/undoc-student-resources/