Many questions concerning the IR-1/CR-1 process

[VisaHelpPlease 2]

Hello there! A bit of a back story:

I recently married my fiance in California. He is a US citizen and I am Canadian. We did not apply for a fiance visa prior, because we had intended to move to Canada shortly after our wedding. I returned home on my own and we have both decided that we would like to live in the US instead. I have been looking at the guide for the IR-1/CR-1 spouse and the forms and have many questions that are specific to our situation. My questions are as follows (with back story for each):

1. I noticed that in many of the forms, we are asked for an A-Number. What do we put in this location if we don't have one? Do we leave it blank? From what I have read, this number is only assigned once the petition is submitted.
2. Both my husband and I are recent university graduates. While he graduated in September 2013, he has not yet secured employment for personal reasons (taking care of his grandmother). I recently graduated from a nursing program in Canada and have worked in my field a bit since graduation in April 2014. Because he has been unemployed, he does not meet the 125% poverty line income needed for the affidavit of support. Because of this, my aunt (in another state) has offered to sponsor me as well, which is well over the 125% needed. My question for this point is if this is frowned upon when our application is being looked over - our being new grads and not having income at the present time. Are they happy so long as we have a sponsor? My husband is in the process of looking for employment and I will continue to work as a nurse here in Canada while this application is being processed. Is it a problem that my secondary sponsor is in another state?
3. Is this do-able without legal help? How often is the form sent back for being incomplete? What increases the likelihood of rejection?
4. Because my spouse and I met on an online video game and have been long distance our entire relationship, we have little evidence of joint finances (bank accounts, mortgages, etc). All evidence we really have of our relationship/marriage is our marriage certificate, plane tickets/itineraries from our numerous visits, photos, cards (from wedding/engagement) and will be able to get affidavits claiming our relationship is legit. My question here is if the financial aspect is highly looked down upon. We never opened bank accounts together because we assumed we would once we moved to Canada, which is now no longer the case. Additionally, how does one go about creating "Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bonafides of the marital relationship" documents - or how many are necessary (all our friends and family are aware of our relationship/marriage).
5. My husband has no recent IRS statements because of being a student in the past few years and thus not having any income. What do we do in this case? Do we just give a detailed explanation?
6. And lastly, how long does this process typically take (provided forms are not sent back for being incomplete)? Is there a typical time frame?

Sorry that this is a lot to read. We are fairly overwhelmed.

[ricnally 258]

1. if you don't have an A# then don't put anything there.

2. No problem being new grads and your joint sponsor sounds fine.

3. No you don't need legal help.

4. You won't be expected to have evidence of joint finances if you've never lived together in the same counrty. Probs just need a couple of affidavits along with your other stuff..

5. Sounds good.

6. I think it's currently taking about 8 months to 1 year altogether. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that.

[C and S 9]

1 – put NONE

2 – should not be an issue at the USCIS stage, the affidavit of Support is required only after the petition is approved.

3 – Yes it’s doable. We did ours on our own, approved at USCIS without RFE, hoping there won’t be checklist at NVC stage. Take time to read the guides and ask questions if you have doubts, people here are helpful.

4 – Me and my husband met online too. He is in the US while im here in UAE. Most people here met online and its usual that newlywed couple who are not living together don’t have joint finances. You can send itineraries, tickets and photos, chatlogs, etc, you will be fine. For us, we ddnt send any sworn affidavits.

5 – I read in few threads saying to send an explanation.

6 - Its case to case basis. Some says 1 year to 1 and half. Others can advise better.

Good luck on your visajourney.

[J&N071213 57]

1. if you don't have an A# then don't put anything there.

2. No problem being new grads and your joint sponsor sounds fine.

3. No you don't need legal help.

4. You won't be expected to have evidence of joint finances if you've never lived together in the same counrty. Probs just need a couple of affidavits along with your other stuff..

5. Sounds good.

6. I think it's currently taking about 8 months to 1 year altogether. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Agree! And yes for 5 your husband needs to write a letter explaining why he was not required to file taxes.

Good luck!

[Darnell 8,478]

remember, I-864 doc intake occurs after I-130 approval,

and financial stuff is NOT NEEDED to review for I-130 adjudication,

so there is time.

time to make money, time to get more stuff, lots of time !

don't forget that, when yer studying timeticks and planning yer calendar between USCIS, NVC, and IV casefile movement.

In the end, the I-864 is adjudicated on interview day at the IV Unit in Montreal - so keep that in mind, for your time, timing, calendar and logistics for showing financial things.

[NikLR 13,220]

You have plenty of time for the I-864 and visa application requirements etc... It takes 4-8 months for the petition to be approved in the first place so you have time to gather these items.

For now concentrate on the I-130 petition. Best evidence is proof of time spent together and regular communication. Don't worry too much about affidavits. They're low on the evidence scale. As a Canadian you don't need to worry about evidence as much (I'll admit I drove myself stir crazy over it.) But Canada is a low fraud country so don't worry too much. The only time I'd say for a Canadian to submit more evidence would be if they were born in a foreign country which is high fraud or they have close family (parents, grandparents, etc..) that are from a high fraud country.

[VisaHelpPlease 2]

Side question: I'm working on the G-235A. When we type in month abbreviations, is there an official list of the ones they want us to use? Google searches show that some months have more than one abbreviation.

[NikLR 13,220]

Why not use the number? 01-12?

[VisaHelpPlease 2]

Why not use the number? 01-12?

... Why didn't I think of that.

Thank you, haha.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

Somehow I think you're making this more complicated than it needs to be

Hello there! A bit of a back story:

I recently married my fiance in California. He is a US citizen and I am Canadian. We did not apply for a fiance visa prior, because we had intended to move to Canada shortly after our wedding. I returned home on my own and we have both decided that we would like to live in the US instead. I have been looking at the guide for the IR-1/CR-1 spouse and the forms and have many questions that are specific to our situation. My questions are as follows (with back story for each):

1. I noticed that in many of the forms, we are asked for an A-Number. What do we put in this location if we don't have one? Do we leave it blank? From what I have read, this number is only assigned once the petition is submitted.
   You put "None"
2. Both my husband and I are recent university graduates. While he graduated in September 2013, he has not yet secured employment for personal reasons (taking care of his grandmother). I recently graduated from a nursing program in Canada and have worked in my field a bit since graduation in April 2014. Because he has been unemployed, he does not meet the 125% poverty line income needed for the affidavit of support. Because of this, my aunt (in another state) has offered to sponsor me as well, which is well over the 125% needed. My question for this point is if this is frowned upon when our application is being looked over - our being new grads and not having income at the present time. Are they happy so long as we have a sponsor? My husband is in the process of looking for employment and I will continue to work as a nurse here in Canada while this application is being processed. Is it a problem that my secondary sponsor is in another state?
   This won't be a problem at all
3. Is this do-able without legal help? How often is the form sent back for being incomplete? What increases the likelihood of rejection?
   It's very doable. If you forgot something on the form (which you won't because they're easy questions and you'll check a thousand times before submitting it), they either reject it or send a Request for Evidence. They won't deny the petition from what I have seen.
4. Because my spouse and I met on an online video game and have been long distance our entire relationship, we have little evidence of joint finances (bank accounts, mortgages, etc). All evidence we really have of our relationship/marriage is our marriage certificate, plane tickets/itineraries from our numerous visits, photos, cards (from wedding/engagement) and will be able to get affidavits claiming our relationship is legit. My question here is if the financial aspect is highly looked down upon. We never opened bank accounts together because we assumed we would once we moved to Canada, which is now no longer the case. Additionally, how does one go about creating "Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bonafides of the marital relationship" documents - or how many are necessary (all our friends and family are aware of our relationship/marriage).
   I also met my husband online and we have no joint finances. The other things you have listed are fine. Don't bother with the affidavits.
5. My husband has no recent IRS statements because of being a student in the past few years and thus not having any income. What do we do in this case? Do we just give a detailed explanation?
   Yes. When the time comes for him to submit the Affidavit of Support (after the I-130 is approved and NVC ask for it), he will write $0.00 in the 1040 amounts section and then attach an accompanying statement explaining he was not legally required to file taxes because he was unemployed/a student and had no income.
6. And lastly, how long does this process typically take (provided forms are not sent back for being incomplete)? Is there a typical time frame?
   Everyone's case is different because of varying backlogs, personal mistakes made and other reasons. It's been over a year for me but I'm almost at the end. You can see my timeline in my signature if you click on the "spoiler" button.

Sorry that this is a lot to read. We are fairly overwhelmed.
The first stage of learning something is sometimes being overwhelmed split everything into USCIS/NVC/Consulate so you don't feel like you need to do a million things at once. Everything is in stages and you get plenty of time to prepare each one.

Edited October 19, 2014 by Ketsuban

[raven52 233]

As usual, members here really know what they are talking about, and do not waste your money on an attorney.

C and S is "spot on" for an amount of time for I-130. At least 12 to 18 months. One post I saw was 4-8 months.,.,.,.,.do not know where that came from, maybe from CSC if they do I-130, you might get it quicker, as they have been doing some K-1s', in 30-60 days!

But I think I-130 goes to VSC..,...,.,I am just guessing on this, I am sure a member will confirm that or say where I-130's are done.,.,,.

Good Luck!

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

I definitely would say don't depend on it being less than a year, with current processing times. I'm also Canadian, also married to a usc. We've been stalled out at USCIS for over five months. We still have to go through nvc and consulate and they're saying nvc currently takes five or more months after noa2 (uscis approval).