Spouse immigtation: What is my path?

[Cenobite30 4]

Greetings all,

 

I am trying to start the immigration process for my foreign wife to come live in the US. But I don't really know where to begin. I'll provide some background, but I'm not sure which facts are relevant so please bear with me.

 

I am an American citizen by birth, living in the US. My wife is a Russian citizen living in Russia. We were married overseas in September, and then returned to our respective countries because of work obligations. She currently has a multiple entry tourist visa to come here. My research seems to be suggesting that the right way of doing it is to file an I-130 which would eventually get her some sort of spouse visa. But if I understand what I am reading correctly, she can also just come here on her tourist visa and we can file for some adjustment of status while she was here, thereby skipping the 6-12 month wait. Can anyone tell me what my options are? I will provide any relevant information necessary if I left anything out.

 

An additional complication is that she is my second wife from Russia. I imagine that raises all sorts of red flags with immigration people, so I am wondering what I can do to ease their concerns that I'm running some sort of wife importation business.

[Hypnos 6,576]

Since you're planning this without the beneficiary being in the US, your only path is to file an I-130 to eventually seek an IR-1/CR-1 spousal immigrant visa. Entering the US on a nonimmigrant visa with the preconceived intent to remain and adjust status is considered immigration fraud.

[geowrian 22,335]

15 minutes ago, Cenobite30 said:

My research seems to be suggesting that the right way of doing it is to file an I-130 which would eventually get her some sort of spouse visa.

Correct. ETA: ~12-14 months on average.

 

15 minutes ago, Cenobite30 said:

But if I understand what I am reading correctly, she can also just come here on her tourist visa and we can file for some adjustment of status while she was here, thereby skipping the 6-12 month wait.

No, this is clear immigration fraud. You cannot enter on a tourist visa with intent to stay / AOS.

[Cenobite30 4]

2 minutes ago, Hypnos said:

Since you're planning this without the beneficiary being in the US, your only path is to file an I-130 to eventually seek an IR-1/CR-1 spousal immigrant visa. Entering the US on a nonimmigrant visa with the preconceived intent to remain and adjust status is considered immigration fraud.

So if there was no preconceived intent then everything is fine? That seems strange, like they are either encouraging you to lie or rewarding you for not having a plan.

 

I suppose the burden of proof is on the petitioner to prove that it was not preconceived?

[geowrian 22,335]

17 minutes ago, Cenobite30 said:

So if there was no preconceived intent then everything is fine? That seems strange, like they are either encouraging you to lie or rewarding you for not having a plan.

Lying to anybody in immigration can result in a permanent bar due to misrepresentation. Do not do this.

Any further discussion may result in a moderator coming in as it is a violation of VJ's TOS to advise or condone fraudulent behavior.

[Cenobite30 4]

Just now, geowrian said:

Lying to anybody in immigration can result in a permanent bar due to misrepresentation. Do not do this.

Any further discussion may result in a moderator coming in as it is a violation of VJ's TOS to advise or condone fraudulent behavior.

Understood. It still seems very strange that the system as you described it seems to reward bad behavior. But There is probably some nuance in the system which I am not aware of.

 

So the I-130 is my only path. Can you speak to my concerns in my second question, about how having had a previous foreign wife might complicate the current wife's process?

 

And can you speak to the necessity/usefulness of having an attorney handle all of this? With my first wife, I got a fiancee visa and married her here, and it was all very easy (though the wait was quite long). I'm wondering if an attorney really adds any value to the process.

[geowrian 22,335]

17 minutes ago, Cenobite30 said:

So the I-130 is my only path. Can you speak to my concerns in my second question, about how having had a previous foreign wife might complicate the current wife's process?

 

And can you speak to the necessity/usefulness of having an attorney handle all of this? With my first wife, I got a fiancee visa and married her here, and it was all very easy (though the wait was quite long). I'm wondering if an attorney really adds any value to the process.

Correct. Having a previous foreign wife that you petitioned will be a consideration. But plenty of people have done this successfully as well (even a 3rd wife from the same country). It may raise scrutiny of your case, but that can be countered with sufficient evidence of a bona fide marriage. Be sure to frontload your I-130 with relationship/marriage evidence, and bring plenty to the interview. Your new wife should know about the former spouse since she may be asked about it. Other than that, it's all in your hands to show that it's real.

 

In the vast majority of cases, an attorney is not needed or particularly beneficial. The CR-1 process is different than a K-1 for sure, but it's still similar. If you did the past one yourself, this one should be possible as well. An attorney is mostly useful in complex cases, waiver cases, and if there's a refusal or NOID issued. I'm not explicitly saying don't get one, but I don't see a particular need for one here.

[Cenobite30 4]

1 minute ago, geowrian said:

Correct. Having a previous foreign wife that you petitioned will be a consideration. But plenty of people have done this successfully as well (even a 3rd wife from the same country). It may raise scrutiny of your case, but that can be countered with sufficient evidence of a bona fide marriage. Be sure to frontload your I-130 with relationship/marriage evidence, and bring plenty to the interview. Your new wife should know about the former spouse since she may be asked about it. Other than that, it's all in your hands to show that it's real.

 

In the vast majority of cases, an attorney is not needed or particularly beneficial. The CR-1 process is different than a K-1 for sure, but it's still similar. If you did the past one yourself, this one should be possible as well. An attorney is mostly useful in complex cases, waiver cases, and if there's a refusal or NOID issued. I'm not explicitly saying don't get one, but I don't see a particular need for one here.

Thank you. You are very helpful. I have just a few more questions for now, if you or anyone else could answer them.

 

At the moment, I am not sure how much evidence of a bona fide marriage I have. I have evidence of me having known my wife since 2009 (in the form of photos and messages exchanged back then), and evidence of an ongoing relationship for approximately the last 18 months (in the form of photos of us together in the US, an invitation letter I sent to help her get her tourist visa, daily written correspondence through a messaging app, receipts for plane tickets for her coming to the US twice at my expense). I have wedding photos, a marriage license, and receipts for everything related to that. I suppose I could get statements from my wedding planner and the witnesses, and I could list her as my beneficiary for my military benefits, life insurance, etc. Are any of these pieces of evidence particularly compelling? Are any of them completely irrelevant?

 

Another question: Is there any way to amend or add more documentation to a petition after it has been submitted. I ask because, she will be coming to the US again to spend Christmas with me and meet my family. I think that will allow for even more evidence of a real actual marriage in the form of photos of her with my family and opening of accounts together, but it is also a month and a half out from now. I don't want to further delay her immigration process by waiting even longer to submit my petition, but I also want to have all of my evidence fontloaded. Being able to add documentation to my petition would solve that problem.

[geowrian 22,335]

43 minutes ago, Cenobite30 said:

At the moment, I am not sure how much evidence of a bona fide marriage I have. I have evidence of me having known my wife since 2009 (in the form of photos and messages exchanged back then), and evidence of an ongoing relationship for approximately the last 18 months (in the form of photos of us together in the US, an invitation letter I sent to help her get her tourist visa, daily written correspondence through a messaging app, receipts for plane tickets for her coming to the US twice at my expense). I have wedding photos, a marriage license, and receipts for everything related to that. I suppose I could get statements from my wedding planner and the witnesses, and I could list her as my beneficiary for my military benefits, life insurance, etc. Are any of these pieces of evidence particularly compelling? Are any of them completely irrelevant?

That all sounds pretty typical to me. The invitation letter doesn't really do anything for you, but it doesn't hurt to include it either. All the other items showing your meetings, regular communication, photos, etc. are good to include. A couple wedding photos is all that is beneficial...the marriage license and receipts and statements/affidavits from others for the wedding won't do much. The marriage certificate is the only piece they really care about for the legal marriage aspect. Everything else is about the relationship & subsequent marriage.

 

If you can add her to your benefits, life insurance, etc., that is a good thing to include. They do like to see commingling of finances. Being abroad presents challenges to this (i.e. getting a joint bank account can be difficult without an SSN), but they also understand this difficulty for a spouse abroad so it's not something to sweat about if you don't have it.

 

Here's the VJ guide to use as a guideline: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

Also be sure to read through the instructions for each form...while the guide is good tool, the official instructions are ultimately what matters.

 

43 minutes ago, Cenobite30 said:

Another question: Is there any way to amend or add more documentation to a petition after it has been submitted. I ask because, she will be coming to the US again to spend Christmas with me and meet my family. I think that will allow for even more evidence of a real actual marriage in the form of photos of her with my family and opening of accounts together, but it is also a month and a half out from now. I don't want to further delay her immigration process by waiting even longer to submit my petition, but I also want to have all of my evidence fontloaded. Being able to add documentation to my petition would solve that problem.

Yes. The first step, the I-130, will take likely take 6-9+ months for approval. After that is approved, the petition is sent to NVC for the next step of processing. At this point, additional document will need to be sent in. You can include more relationship evidence at that point (aka "side loading"). there's no need to wait and send everything at once for an I-130. She can also provide more evidence (all past at the embassy interview. So you have at least 3 opportunities to get your evidence out there. And the evidence with your family is a good add.

[Cenobite30 4]

14 minutes ago, geowrian said:

That all sounds pretty typical to me. The invitation letter doesn't really do anything for you, but it doesn't hurt to include it either. All the other items showing your meetings, regular communication, photos, etc. are good to include. A couple wedding photos is all that is beneficial...the marriage license and receipts and statements/affidavits from others for the wedding won't do much. The marriage certificate is the only piece they really care about for the legal marriage aspect. Everything else is about the relationship & subsequent marriage.

 

If you can add her to your benefits, life insurance, etc., that is a good thing to include. They do like to see commingling of finances. Being abroad presents challenges to this (i.e. getting a joint bank account can be difficult without an SSN), but they also understand this difficulty for a spouse abroad so it's not something to sweat about if you don't have it.

 

Here's the VJ guide to use as a guideline: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

Also be sure to read through the instructions for each form...while the guide is good tool, the official instructions are ultimately what matters.

 

Yes. The first step, the I-130, will take likely take 6-9+ months for approval. After that is approved, the petition is sent to NVC for the next step of processing. At this point, additional document will need to be sent in. You can include more relationship evidence at that point (aka "side loading"). there's no need to wait and send everything at once for an I-130. She can also provide more evidence (all past at the embassy interview. So you have at least 3 opportunities to get your evidence out there. And the evidence with your family is a good add.

Thank you very much for your help. You have been extremely helpful. I'm not very bright, but I think this should be enough to get started.

[pushbrk 12,093]

11 hours ago, Cenobite30 said:

So if there was no preconceived intent then everything is fine? That seems strange, like they are either encouraging you to lie or rewarding you for not having a plan.

 

I suppose the burden of proof is on the petitioner to prove that it was not preconceived?

No, the burden of proof is on them, and they generally don't bother.  Whether that's right or OK is a matter of some debate.

[pushbrk 12,093]

7 hours ago, Cenobite30 said:

Thank you very much for your help. You have been extremely helpful. I'm not very bright, but I think this should be enough to get started.

It should be enough to point you to the I-130 instructions, so you can become an A-student of them before doing ANYTHING else. 

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

1st wife Russian?   depending on whether she passed away or divorce

if divorced. how many divorces ?   immigration does not like to see multiple divorces

i don't need the answers   / this is just for you to know

and if you have a CR1 in the process and she visits, they wil more than likely visiting with intent to stay

others are turrned away and although pushbrk says they have to prove it, they have been known to stop a person and POE and make then return home (no proof)

if you do not know the process, you need to learn it and check out the 125% income requirements / we can not assume you have the required income just because u made the trip to Russia / i know of a woman who traveled twice to Morocco and had no income

guidelines for CR1 (spouse visa) are here in VJ or USCIS. gov site (make sure it is the offical .gov as there are sites similar 

[Love To Teach 161]

9 hours ago, pushbrk said:

No, the burden of proof is on them, and they generally don't bother.  Whether that's right or OK is a matter of some debate.

I have to say I'm not so sure I agree with this. In our case, where is the burden of proof that our relationship is a fraud? Do divorces from 40 years ago count? Divorces are not illegal here. Bringing a K-1 over? This petitioner did the same thing. It seems they can say no without any "proof." It makes me sad that our lives are in one person's hands who hasn't a clue.

[geowrian 22,335]

3 minutes ago, Love To Teach said:

I have to say I'm not so sure I agree with this. In our case, where is the burden of proof that our relationship is a fraud? Do divorces from 40 years ago count? Divorces are not illegal here. Bringing a K-1 over? This petitioner did the same thing. It seems they can say no without any "proof." It makes me sad that our lives are in one person's hands who hasn't a clue.

The burden of proof to show preconceived intent would be on them. Unless there is some hard evidence of misrepresentation (i.e. confessing to lying about intent at the interview), intent no longer matters after POE.

The burden of proof to show a bona fide marriage is still on you.