Spouse Visa for my wife - advice needed.

[meekins67 0]

Hi all,

This is my first post on here, this site was recommended to me by a friend. Looking for some advice on the length of the process and cost for obtaining a spouse visa for my wife as I've heard conflicting stories and what I need to isn't 100% clear to me on the US Embassy site.

We've been married nearly 2 years, been together for 9. I am an American citizen who has lived in the UK since the age of 8 (now 30). However I now have an opportunity to move back to the US (New York) to start a career in coaching football, something I studied to do and something which just isn't happening here in Scotland.

I've been told I would need significant savings to prove I can support my wife while she's waiting on a SS# to allow her to work, is this the case?

What forms do we need start with to get the process going and can anyone offer a ballpark figure of what we will be looking to pay overall?

Ideally I was going to move in September this year, with my wife following me in December. As it stands I may have to push this back until April which would allow me to save more money, and give us more time to deal with her status.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks you!

[Anh map 2,098]

You need US based assets and/or a current and continuing income that would meet the income requirements. So if you have a job in the US that supplies enough income then you wouldn't need any savings.

Read the Guides section here on VJ to learn the process/forms/etc. Read in the UK regional forum for specfics about interviewing in London.

Something you may have to do on your end is file US income tax forms for the past few years if you have not already been doing so.

[NikLR 13,220]

I suggest DCF through the London Embassy.

[mallafri76 1,012]

Normally, the spousal visa takes about 10 to 12 months but since you're both living abroad, you can do direct consular filing, which I believe can cut the time down quite a bit. Or so I've understood from other posters doing DCF on VJ.

If you have no kids, that means you're a household size of two and you'll need an annual salary of roughly $20,000. If you want to use assets instead, then you need about $60,000 in assets or more. Some embassies allow assets outside the US, some embassies don't seem to accept assets at all. I think it's a bit of a lottery on the assets part, unfortunately. You also need to have establish domicile in the US.

As to the costs if you don't do DCF, count a minimum of $1,000. It's the petition filing fee, which I believe was around $465, then the AOS fee, the IV fee, medical examination for your foreign spouse, GC fee and all the photo copies, police certs etc. It's probably less if you do DCF so you should check in that forum.

Congratulations on having an opportunity to work with your passion.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

You definitely want to do Direct Consular Filing (DCF) at the USCIS office in London. This a a DCF London guide written by one of our UK people. Follow it. http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/DCF_London

The London embassy website changed up some of their pages since this was written so some links may not work properly. Reply back of you get stuck and I can help you find the proper page.

This is the traditional route fees. I am not sure of DCF differences I don't think you will pay $120 affidavit of Support review since you will be skipping NVC. And your visa fee will be paid to the embassy instead of NVC. But this will give you an idea of costs.

CR1 route = $1060 + £295

$420 (USCIS) I-130 petition

$325 (National Visa Center) Visa fee

$120 (National Visa Center) Affidavit of Support Review fee

£45 ACPO Police certificate https://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx

£250 (Knightsbridge Doctors) medical exam http://www.visamedicals.info/us.asp

$30 Courier fee if home delivery, $0 to pick up at a depot

$165.00 (USCIS) Immigrant Fee via the Department of State's website - https://ceac.state.gov/IV/Login.aspx

[meekins67 0]

Thank you all very much for your responses.

Been quite busy this week, so only now getting to see the responses and have a look at the links.

Things are definitely clearer with your advice.