Unique situation, your opinion is Valued. IR-1 Question

[onlineclicker 0]

Hi Guys,

Ok, so, I've read all the guidelines and checked everything but I have a few specific questions regarding preparing my IR-1 visa application for my wife:


1- I live in Costa Rica with my wife. We've been together for 9 years and we've been married since March of last year. I was born to expat parents, so I'm both a US citizen and a Costa Rican. I married my Costa Rican wife in Costa Rica under my Costa Rican citizenship of course.

Before I got married I went to the embassy and verified that the US gov will accept my marriedge as previously described, and that I don't have to get married as a US citizen to use the marriedge as evidence since the US government recognizes dual citizenship and my name is the same in both countries, so there should be no problem.

So in the packaeg I'm sending (I-130) I'm guessing I should include a letter detailing this, as well as providing both my Costa Rican and US citizenship documentation together with my US birth certificate.

Do you guys have a template standard for this type of letter? I mean, I should state name, DOB, address, place of birth and use very specific language, but... any other tips?

Has anyone had any experience with a unique situation such as this?

Before anyone asks, no, there is no Direct Consular filing in Costa Rica unless there are pressing circumstances which I do not seem to qualify for.


2- I live in Costa Rica, I've done so pretty much all my life (only lived briefly in the US). I have relatives in Arkansas and Florida that can allow me to stay when I get there, as well as help by providing an address that can be used for coordinating any documents that need to be sent. I say this because mail in Costa Rica... doesn't work.

So... my question is, what address from the forms do they use to send the documents to? In other words, do they use the petitioners address from the g-325? or how do they know what address to use? No where on the forms does it seem to say something clear, like: Put in an address where we should send stuff to...

They seem to just assume that whatever address they chose will automatically be available for document sending.


3- Regarding the affidavit of support. I have two sole proprietorships I started in Florida as part of online business income I've received. In 2013 and 2014 they were above the 125% line, but for 2012 they weren't. For 2015... I should easily make the cut off. All this can be verified through my tax returns.

My question is, the money came in to different sole proprietorships at different times (so one year one contributed 20%, the other 80%, another year one was a loss and the other was what made the income... you get the picture). Anyway, could this hurt? Or would this be a non-issue?

On top of my online income, I always maintained regular day jobs which put total household income for these year way above the poverty line, but I know that won't count since it won't continue when I move to the US (I'll be quitting since the boss doesn't want me to work remote)


4- This one should be a simple question (simple, I know, what a relief) - On the intending inmmigrants g 325 form, where it says Signature of Applicant, I assume they mean the intending immigrant signature, or do they want the signature of the applicant sponsor?


5- Another simple one: We have been maried for 13 months now. If I put in the papers in the next few days and we have our interview a year from now, which would mean we'd be married for 25 months by then, will we get the IR-1 or the CR-1 upon approval?

Thank you for your kind attention.

If anyone doesn't know the answer to these questions but knows where I can find the answers, I'd be most greatful to get pointed in the right direction. I'm willing to pay for help from an attorney who could answer these questions.

I'm not too confident in attorneys, I've had bad personal experiences with them, so I'd like to keep the process in my control, but I don't mind getting expert ADVICE (I just don't want to depend on $7/hour legal aid fresh out of college who doesn't care about me to handle the paperwork which to me represents my life)

[Morganalmonshid94 84]

1. You don't need to write a letter explaining anything your married legally in every country including the U.S all you need to do is prove your u.s citizenship ex. Birth certificate, all pages of your passport etc. that's all so don't have to stress over that .

2. They will use the petitioners address that you put on the forms as your permanent address so like you mentioned use someone you trust mom dad sibling whatever to receive your documents as your address since you are not residing in the U.S at the moment. Me for example im using my parents cause I'm overseas currently. You can always update your adress with uscis if it changes within this process real easy to do.

3. I am not 100% with this one but from what I know it should not be an issue with the 2012 year they mainly care about right now and if you meet the guidelines, if your always a little unsure there is the co sponsor route you can look into down the road when the affidavit of support stage gets closer.

4. You will sign your own g325 and your spouse will sign their own. (Attach a passport picture of you on yours and the spouses on theirs as well)

5. If you are pass the 2 year anniversary for your marriage by approval and Poe then yes it will switch to a ir-1 but through processing until then will read as a cr-1.

[onlineclicker 0]

Wow Morganalmonshid94, you are... more than awesome. I'd hug you if I could. You have earned good karma today by putting a worrying soul at ease.

I've been stressing out over the paperwork. I forgot to mention one last thing:

6- We had filed for a I-129F a few years ago. We did not follow through with the process even though we started it. The reason? My mother had cancer in Costa Rica and we staid here to help. We explained this in form I-130 part D, Section 2, by putting in the following info:
First Name Middle Name Last Name Costa Rica X/XX/XX -Process Not Complete Mother had cancer we staid to help

That was all that was allowed based on the space. Should I edit that and put something like: See Attachment and then in an attachment put the info as to why we didn't follow through.

[Done--Really 331]

Just a suggestion -- our original paperwork was bounced back from USCIS because we used the descriptive "addresses" that are common in Costa Rica rather than street numbers. The second time I added a letter explaining the situation using these exact words, and everything was OK the second time around -- obviously you should modify it based on you individual situation, but it should increase the odds that they accept the non-US addresses in CR first time around. Also,, the embassy will not attempt to send anything in the local mail, but will deal with you by cell phone and email, so no worries there.

This attachment is to specify the street addresses for my three children who live in Costa Rica. There are virtually no street names nor street numbers in Costa Rica. Rather, addresses are descriptive in nature, and are spelled out below for each of my children—first in Spanish which is the way the address would be used in Costa Rica, and then in English:

[onlineclicker 0]

Just a suggestion -- our original paperwork was bounced back from USCIS because we used the descriptive "addresses" that are common in Costa Rica rather than street numbers. The second time I added a letter explaining the situation using these exact words, and everything was OK the second time around -- obviously you should modify it based on you individual situation, but it should increase the odds that they accept the non-US addresses in CR first time around. Also,, the embassy will not attempt to send anything in the local mail, but will deal with you by cell phone and email, so no worries there.

This attachment is to specify the street addresses for my three children who live in Costa Rica. There are virtually no street names nor street numbers in Costa Rica. Rather, addresses are descriptive in nature, and are spelled out below for each of my children—first in Spanish which is the way the address would be used in Costa Rica, and then in English:

Thank you for the kind suggestion. Fortunately, I looked up our house on google maps and it stated the street and avenue names for my house (which no one here knows as such, fortunately Google seems to know all). So I managed to put in a 'normal' address of Street #, Av #, Apartment Name, Apartment #, Town, City, Province, Country.

[Morganalmonshid94 84]

Lol, no worries . I mean what you put is straight foward while the people at uscis can be dumb sometimes they can understand for a reason such as that staying behind . If you want to attach something you can go ahead it will never hurt but like I said that speaks for itself there is no reading between the lines we didn't finish the process because close family member had cancer that's as black and white as it gets so you will be fine just saying what you said .

[Morganalmonshid94 84]

Maybeee just maybe down the road at the interview it might get brought up and if u want to be safe like super safe just have any medical documents if there was treatment and such during the time or anything of that nature and have your spouse bring it to the interview just to be 100% sure it won't become a problem at any point .

[onlineclicker 0]

Thanks guys.

Also, I think I'll use my previous NO1 and NO2 as evidence of our relationship! What better evidence than the one provided by USCIS

Anyways, bit thanks to VisaJourney.

My previous visa filing was done through an attorney... that was hell (he made mistakes on my form, delayed stuff, took days to get a hold of... just a horrible experience)

Visa Journey and you guys are the best!

Maybeee just maybe down the road at the interview it might get brought up and if u want to be safe like super safe just have any medical documents if there was treatment and such during the time or anything of that nature and have your spouse bring it to the interview just to be 100% sure it won't become a problem at any point .

Thanks, I will do that.

[Morganalmonshid94 84]

Yeah handle it by yourself If your case is straightforward no need for a lawyer . Good luck .

[mallafri76 1,012]

The visa you'll be getting if married less than two years is a CR-1. It seems that usually, USC living abroad will get expedited so if I were you, I'd drag out the process a little and not move to the US until after your second marriage anniversary. That way you get an IR-1 visa and no need for your spouse to adjust status later.

[anamaral 4]

mallafri76 is right, take a look in this thread:

http://www.visajourn...-living-abroad/

Good luck!!

[Ryan H 3,790]

That way you get an IR-1 visa and no need for your spouse to adjust status later.

CR-1 visa holders don't adjust status, they remove conditions on residency.

[mallafri76 1,012]

CR-1 visa holders don't adjust status, they remove conditions on residency.

You're right Ryan, wrong wording, I meant remove conditions. Thanks for the clarification.