Green Card filling from Canada VS US?

[vermontorbust 0]

Hi Everyone,

My wife is a dual citizen and livied in NYC for several years.

While she was there I traveled back and forth to Canada, eventually we were married in NYC and had a child, born in NY.

We moved back to Canada to attend school and are winding up our studies in about a year and want to prepare to return.

I was wondering if anyone had any insight in regards to:

1. Is there any major differences in filing while we are both in Canada vs. the USA? (besides the forms relating to work and early parole)

2. Since we have a child, we plan on staying together until we move, so we will not have a domicile. Can we use a relatives address?

3. As students, we have not had income for a couple years, does my wife need to show support when we are both out of the country? If so, will her uncles co-sponsorship(meets $ requirements) be sufficient?

4. Finally, is there any legal way for me to enter, that is not fraud, where we could settle, find a home, my wife a job and adjust status asap?

Thank you for any input, really appreciated!

[SapphireDreams 71]

Answers below bolded. Probably not going to like some of them, but at least you have a year to prepare and get your ducks in a row. I would read the CR1 guide at the top of the page if you haven't already - it will help a lot. Welcome!

1. Is there any major differences in filing while we are both in Canada vs. the USA? (besides the forms relating to work and early parole). You cannot legally move to the US with intent to immigrate and then file. You'll need to file in Canada, or she can move back and file while you wait in Canada.

2. Since we have a child, we plan on staying together until we move, so we will not have a domicile. Can we use a relatives address? You can use a relatives address, but she'll still need to provide domicile beyond just an address... so things like a potential job offer, registration to vote, bank accounts etc. there is a pinned thread with all sorts of information. Take a read, this is definitely something that the US consulate in Montreal looks for from experience. Unfortunately having a child doesn't really make a difference to them and there have been plenty of families that have had to split up to wait out the rest of their visa journey so be prepared to create a strong domicile case (even if you don't really spend the entire time apart, she needs to at least create a case for herself)

3. As students, we have not had income for a couple years, does my wife need to show support when we are both out of the country? If so, will her uncles co-sponsorship(meets $ requirements) be sufficient? You can use her uncle as a sponsor as long as he meets the income requirements for the total number of people on his own family plus yours (whateever that is). She should also be prepared to show her last three years of US taxes. If she didn't file, she should work on that. (I'm pretty sure of this, but hopefully someone will correct me if i'm wrong.

4. Finally, is there any legal way for me to enter, that is not fraud, where we could settle, find a home, my wife a job and adjust status asap? Nope. You cannot move to the US with no visa or intent to immigrate as a visitor and then adjust status. Especially not if you are married.

[vermontorbust 0]

Hi

Thank you for the responses.

Can I ask you one more detailed question regarding the last response?

You said our financial sponsor would have to make enough to support all of us plus his family, wouldn't he just need to make wnough to sponsor me(and himself, he's single), as I would be the one seeking a visa?

Again, I appreciate it.

[SapphireDreams 71]

Hi

Thank you for the responses.

Can I ask you one more detailed question regarding the last response?

You said our financial sponsor would have to make enough to support all of us plus his family, wouldn't he just need to make wnough to sponsor me(and himself, he's single), as I would be the one seeking a visa?

Again, I appreciate it.

That's a good question, I'm not sure. Hopefully someone else will pop in and answer (and I'm sure others will verify my other answers as well).

[pocheros 101]

I think he'd have to prove he could support everyone who will be living in the household. It goes by the number of people living in a domicile. So it would be him, you, your wife, your child, and whoever else lives with your uncle (if he has a wife or children, for example). However the poverty guidelines are quite low- I'll locate them in a second.

Here are the poverty guidelines: http://www.westcentralca.org/Documents/FY%202012%20LIHEAP%20POVERTY%20GUIDELINES.pdf Note that you need to meet 125% of them, not 100%. Fortunately it lists 100% and 125%.

For 4 people at 125% it's $27,948 unless you live in Hawaii or Alaska.

Edit: Actually that's from 2011. 2012 probably hasn't changed much though: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml It's a little higher than last year.

Edited April 25, 2012 by pocheros

[Inky 1,110]

The co-sponsor/ joint sponsor only proves income for his family and the intending immigrants. They do not sponsor US citizens.... So if his family is him and that is it. The number would be 2 him and the immigrant - you.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Inky

[vermontorbust 0]

Great! Thank you for the advice. The uncle is a lawyer, lives alone, so I'm sure the income level is not an issue.

I was a bit intimidated by the process, but after talking it over with my wife I think it will be fairly straight forward.

Hope all is well.

[Inky 1,110]

Great! Thank you for the advice. The uncle is a lawyer, lives alone, so I'm sure the income level is not an issue.

I was a bit intimidated by the process, but after talking it over with my wife I think it will be fairly straight forward.

Hope all is well.

We found that printing out the step by step guide and crossing things off as we collected them / filled the forms out helped us break through the " oh my god there is so much stuff " feeling. In the end we were both like wow.. really wasn't as bad as it seemed at all.

[SapphireDreams 71]

Great! Thank you for the advice. The uncle is a lawyer, lives alone, so I'm sure the income level is not an issue.

I was a bit intimidated by the process, but after talking it over with my wife I think it will be fairly straight forward.

Hope all is well.

It's not so bad once you read up on it. It just required a lot of patience because there is a lot of waiting. The 9-12 months it takes to process feels like an eternity, but I have been in the US for almost 3 years now and now that I look back at it, those 10 months went by really fast!