Best options to bring my wife

[ucmc2013 0]

Hi there,

I do have a permanent resident card valid for 10 years. I would like to sponsor my wife to come live with me (right now she is in Morocco). What are my best options:

1. Sponsor her for a green card now, and wait in lines till a visa is available for her, then upgrade my status once I get citizenship (I will apply for N-400 in March, 2014) to expedite the process?

2. Wait till I get my citizenship (sometime between March, 2014 and...whenever) then apply for her for a green card (or perhaps a fiance visa or wife visa)? just want to know which way is best, relatively faster (for her to join me) and less complicated ( I know everything could be complicated in one way or another) .

Thanks for insightful advices.

JR

[Penguin_ie 5,984]

*** Moving from CR-1 spousal visa to Bringing Family of LPRs as OP is not a citizen (yet) ****

The process is the same whether you are a citizen or a greencard holder, but greencard holders have to wait longer. You do not apply for a greencard for her- you petition her, then she applies for a visa, and will get a greencard once she arrives. Best to petition her now, it'll shave off some waiting time, and you can upgrade when you become a citizen.

You cannot get a fiance visa as you are married.

[ucmc2013 0]

*** Moving from CR-1 spousal visa to Bringing Family of LPRs as OP is not a citizen (yet) ****

The process is the same whether you are a citizen or a greencard holder, but greencard holders have to wait longer. You do not apply for a greencard for her- you petition her, then she applies for a visa, and will get a greencard once she arrives. Best to petition her now, it'll shave off some waiting time, and you can upgrade when you become a citizen.

You cannot get a fiance visa as you are married.

So what form should I send in the application, I am kinda confused??

[ucmc2013 0]

*** Moving from CR-1 spousal visa to Bringing Family of LPRs as OP is not a citizen (yet) ****

The process is the same whether you are a citizen or a greencard holder, but greencard holders have to wait longer. You do not apply for a greencard for her- you petition her, then she applies for a visa, and will get a greencard once she arrives. Best to petition her now, it'll shave off some waiting time, and you can upgrade when you become a citizen.

You cannot get a fiance visa as you are married.

Why it is best to petition her now, if it already takes at least 6 months (once I upgrade my status to citizen) for her to get approved?

[florida4life 29]

So what form should I send in the application, I am kinda confused??

I-130 form

[belinda63 2,981]

If you apply now all the preprocessing will be done. When you upgrade you will have about 5 months of time saved.

[ucmc2013 0]

Is it the only form I should send, or there is something else?

Could anyone please tell me the steps, like what after filing the I-130?

I-130 form

[Penguin_ie 5,984]

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

[ucmc2013 0]

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

Thank you a lot, but does that also apply to permanent residents in the US (cause all what I see in reference in that link is US citizens) who wish to petition an alien relative outside the US for a green card?

[Penguin_ie 5,984]

I refer you to my first post.

[ucmc2013 0]

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

Ho

I refer you to my first post.

I see, thanks for clarification. One more question please; how to show bonafides of marriage like shared bank accounts, lease or ownership?? I mean I live in the U.S. and by law I can't have a joint account as she doesn't physically live here. Plus, I couldn't have a joint account in Morocco (where she lives) as (per their policy, I am not a Moroccan citizen, nor I didn't stay when I visited her more than 1 month at any time.). In addition, I can't have joint ownership here for the same reason mentioned above.

However, I visited here 3 times (1 for engagement, 1 for marriage, and my family from Egypt has joined the wedding ceremony, and recently in June) and I do have the boarding passes and visas with entry stamps that prove that. Plus, I have tons of pictures with her, and both families together, plus the video for the ceremony, that I can provide as supportive documents.

Do you think it is enough?

[stevie b 141]

Ho

I see, thanks for clarification. One more question please; how to show bonafides of marriage like shared bank accounts, lease or ownership?? I mean I live in the U.S. and by law I can't have a joint account as she doesn't physically live here. Plus, I couldn't have a joint account in Morocco (where she lives) as (per their policy, I am not a Moroccan citizen, nor I didn't stay when I visited her more than 1 month at any time.). In addition, I can't have joint ownership here for the same reason mentioned above.

However, I visited here 3 times (1 for engagement, 1 for marriage, and my family from Egypt has joined the wedding ceremony, and recently in June) and I do have the boarding passes and visas with entry stamps that prove that. Plus, I have tons of pictures with her, and both families together, plus the video for the ceremony, that I can provide as supportive documents.

Do you think it is enough?

I recommend you spend some time using the search feature

bonafide is a good place to start

[dwheels76 5,459]

Ho

I see, thanks for clarification. One more question please; how to show bonafides of marriage like shared bank accounts, lease or ownership?? I mean I live in the U.S. and by law I can't have a joint account as she doesn't physically live here. Plus, I couldn't have a joint account in Morocco (where she lives) as (per their policy, I am not a Moroccan citizen, nor I didn't stay when I visited her more than 1 month at any time.). In addition, I can't have joint ownership here for the same reason mentioned above.

However, I visited here 3 times (1 for engagement, 1 for marriage, and my family from Egypt has joined the wedding ceremony, and recently in June) and I do have the boarding passes and visas with entry stamps that prove that. Plus, I have tons of pictures with her, and both families together, plus the video for the ceremony, that I can provide as supportive documents.

Do you think it is enough?

Showing bonafides like communications. letters, IM's, emails, chats, skypes. Pictures of visits with friends and family, stamps in passports of visits. Wedding ring receipts.

Also go to your countries forum and ask of your country people what they presented some embassy like your are not easy and there may be specific things to help. Also read your countries interview reviews to get a feel and see how people did.

Also you filing now saves you time. After my friends wife upgraded to citizen it took NVC 1 month to complete and they are awaiting interview next month. So why not get things done and through. Maybe by the time you get citizenship you may be done at USCIS and NVC and just waiting.

Read the guides and come back here for any followup questions.

[lubnajavid 20]

I too was a LPR for 3 yrs at the time that I initially filed for my wife; the advice above is correct - file your I-130 now, it will save you time later when you finally get your naturalization as I did - my NOA2 was already in place and as soon as I got my naturalization, the NVC kicked in and the interview was scheduled within 2 months.

Your proof of bonafide relationship seems OK - photos of your marriage should be sent with your I-130, along with the requisite requirements, i.e. marriage cert, passport copies from both of you...any previous marriages you had, should have the divorce paperwork copied and sent too.

Keep boarding passes and take pics each time you visit - print a sample of those each time and file them in a photo album, showing you together and with each others' family.

Any other trips you take together, collect those receipts... honeymoon receipts etc.

Keep all these in a separate file that your wife can take with the photo album to the interview.

As for bank accounts etc. - can you add her to your health insurance if you have it? I did...

Can you add her as a beneficiary to any life insurances? Any tax returns you will file as married.... Also I added my wife as a beneficiary to the bank accounts - youre correct they wont allow you to show her as joint account holder, but you can add her as a beneficiary without the SSN.

[ucmc2013 0]

I too was a LPR for 3 yrs at the time that I initially filed for my wife; the advice above is correct - file your I-130 now, it will save you time later when you finally get your naturalization as I did - my NOA2 was already in place and as soon as I got my naturalization, the NVC kicked in and the interview was scheduled within 2 months.

Your proof of bonafide relationship seems OK - photos of your marriage should be sent with your I-130, along with the requisite requirements, i.e. marriage cert, passport copies from both of you...any previous marriages you had, should have the divorce paperwork copied and sent too.

Keep boarding passes and take pics each time you visit - print a sample of those each time and file them in a photo album, showing you together and with each others' family.

Any other trips you take together, collect those receipts... honeymoon receipts etc.

Keep all these in a separate file that your wife can take with the photo album to the interview.

As for bank accounts etc. - can you add her to your health insurance if you have it? I did...

Can you add her as a beneficiary to any life insurances? Any tax returns you will file as married.... Also I added my wife as a beneficiary to the bank accounts - youre correct they wont allow you to show her as joint account holder, but you can add her as a beneficiary without the SSN.

How could you add her to health insurance without SSN, or beneficiary to a bank account? I mean what should I ask the banker? BTW, she is living out of the US.