Married in US to a Guatemalan? Report your marriage to the Consulate before Guatemalan spouse applies for DPI!

[Eternal Spring 10]

Hi, VJ-ers. I just wanted to share some advice with you that I've just learned the hard way.

If you live in the US and you marry a Guatemalan citizen here in the US, you *MUST* report the marriage to the nearest Guatemalan consulate (or mobile consulate, if you live in an area that doesn't have a consulate nearby).

This is really important, because your Guatemalan citizen spouse needs to update his/her marital status on the DPI. Currently, Mr. Eternal Spring is in Los Angeles because he had to travel there in order to apply for his DPI at the Guatemalan Consulate. While he was there, one of the consulate employees told him that his marital status needs to be updated, because as it stands, it's going to be printed out with the marital status as single. The employee said the only way for us to fix this is for my husband and I to go together in person to the nearest Guatemalan consulate or mobile consulate, to register our US marriage. We have to bring our birth certificates (US for me, the newest Guatemalan RENAP birth certificate for him) and our certificate of marriage. Once that's done, Mr. Eternal Spring will need to obtain a *new* DPI showing the status as married.

Why does this matter? Because Mr. Eternal Spring and I are doing the I-601A, extreme hardship waiver, which requires Mr. Eternal Spring to interview at the American Embassy in Guatemala. He has to have a DPI in order to go to the interview, and it probably won't look good to the embassy staff if Mr. Eternal Spring's DPI says "single" when he's actually married.

Also, the current processing time for DPIs in Los Angeles is 1-5 months. They don't call you when the DPI is ready for pick-up, you have to call them periodically to check on its status. Meanwhile, although they'll mail you your DPI if you bring a pre-addressed certified mail envelope (value of either $6.45 if you ask at the Post Office, or $6.77 if you ask the consulate--I trust the Post Office more on this one), they will not be responsible for any DPIs that get lost in the mail--if your DPI gets lost en route to you in the mail, the only way to obtain another DPI is by going to Guatemala to get it.

The other option is to get a letter notarized by a notary in the US who is a Guatemalan, giving permission for your friend or relative to pick up your DPI at the consulate when it's ready.

So don't believe your Guatemalan spouse if they tell you it's not necessary to report their status as "married" to their nearest consulate or mobile consulate, and save yourself the extra trips and expenses involved.

Meanwhile, once Mr. Eternal Spring receives his DPI, he will have to get a new one in order to have it say "married", before his interview in Guatemala.

(SIGH)

[Anitafeliz 1,133]

What is this about???

[3rd 84]

What visa did he come to the USA on?

[Eternal Spring 10]

What is this about???

The DPI is a new national identity document specific to Guatemala, required for all Guatemalan citizens.

What visa did he come to the USA on?

I'm sorry, I thought the I-601A would make it clear. He's an EWI (entered without inspection), so no visa.

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

So he came here illegally? That whole Mr. Eternal Spring thing kinda freaked me out sorry.

[Anitafeliz 1,133]

Is he gonna return for the interview to Guatemala? Does that 601 waive his illegal entry?

[Eternal Spring 10]

So he came here illegally? That whole Mr. Eternal Spring thing kinda freaked me out sorry.

I'm not sure why this would freak you out. My user name is Eternal Spring, so I was just referring to my husband as "Mr. Eternal Spring." His country, Guatemala, is known as "the country of eternal spring", because of its climate, lush vegetation, and beautiful flowers.

Yes, entered without inspection (EWI) and no visa both mean that he entered this country illegally.

[Eternal Spring 10]

Is he gonna return for the interview to Guatemala? Does that 601 waive his illegal entry?

Yes, that's correct. Everyone who enters this country without any legal status typically will have to use the I-601A provisional hardship waiver if they qualify, and then go back to their native country to be interviewed at the American embassy there. The I-601A is used in situations where it would be an extreme hardship for the US citizen to either go live in their undocumented relative's country, or to be separated from their undocumented relative. For people who have been here illegally beyond a certain time, if they don't qualify for the I-601A, they would have to leave the US and wait a certain amount of years outside the US to be able to apply to return legally. In my husband's case, if our I-601A gets rejected, he would have to live outside the US for ten years before he could try to apply to come back legally.

Because I have a chronic, genetic disease, I listed my illness and limited financial situation as some of the extreme hardships on our I-601A.