Questions about I-130 form


I am new to this forum and have read all the relevant (and some not so relevant) guides and FAQ's but I am still left with questions unanswered.

Having just gotten married in Ecuador on April 28th we are anxious to start the immigration process. It is my understanding that regardless of which path (IR/CR or K3/K4) we will be starting with the I-130 form (and G-325a). Most of the I-130 form is pretty self explanatory and has decent instructions but I am left wondering about a couple questions.

Number 17: Lists Husband/wife and all children of your relative.

My wife has a 17 year old son who we wish to bring with her; on her I-130 form question 17 I have listed him as "Child" and myself as Husband. (As related to my wife the alien) That seems pretty straight forward.

On the Childs separate I-130 form question 17 I have myself listed as "Stepfather" and the mother listed as "mother". Is this correct or am I missing something?

Also, on the Childs I-130 form, where I am petitioning for him, there is no checkbox on question number one for "stepchild". Do they make any distinction here or am I to use "child".

I guess I am just paranoid about getting it right the first time. I have looked at the example I-130 forms but they don't have children listed on the form so they can't help me in this case.

I have a couple of other questions but I will wait and see how this goes first.

Also, I have tried calling the national service center number at 1-800-375-5283 but got bogged down in the menu system so I thought I would ask here first.

p.s. First post so be gentle. ;-)

You're pretty much on track. They don't distinguish child from stepchild. I did not list myself as husband in the list of family. I only listed the child. I don't see a problem either way but if you list yourself as husband, I would put (petitioner) next to your name somewhere. This form is used to bring family members, so I interpreted the question as a place to list the people intending to immigrate to the USA. I doubt its a problem either way.

For the child's I-130 question 17, you don't list anyone. The child has no husband or children. Right?

Yes, I agree with pushbrk.

Excellent points, sometimes it takes hearing someone state the obvious. ;-)

I think I am inclined to leave my name as Husband of the Alien since we are married and this is the way it is represented in the Example I-130 form. I will leave the Childs number 17 question blank as you make a valid point. (No husband or children....)

Ok, one small hurdle down...

Hope to file later this week once marriage license gets here from Ecuador. (Got translated this weekend, should be mailed soon)

While I am at it, maybe you can clear some things up on the G-325a form.

The ask for City and Country of birth for father and mother, both were born in Camden New Jersey. I am inclined to answer Camden New Jersey USA. Meaning, City, State, Country. There is more than one city named Camden in the USA. (Ok, maybe I am splitting hairs here; I can't imagine them having a problem with a bit extra info.) As opposed to only putting Camden USA

Also at the bottom of the form it says: "This form is submitted in connection with an application for:

Other (Specify) ???????????

Specify What in this case? I-130 Petition????

With so much riding on this I want it to go through smoothly the first time.

p.s. Right now we are thinking to go solely with the IR/CR and forego the K3/K4. We will have a few weeks to decide whether to file the I-129F while the I-130 awaits acknowledgment. Any suggestions either way? It seems that once things clear the NVC and get to Ecuador they seem to process it pretty quickly so the way we see it most of the wait time will be before it clears the NVC.

Thanks in advance.

Yes, you can write Camden, NJ, USA. And about I-130, click on "Other" and specify as "I-130 Petition," as you mentioned. If you decide to file I-129F (K-3/K-4), you should file it as soon as you receive your I-130 NOA-1 from USCIS.