3 questions for the IR1 / CR1 visa

[AlexDRavn92 37]

Hello VisaJourney.

 

I am currently about to start applying for a IR1 / CR1 visa. My wife is a US citizen and i am from Denmark and we have been living together for 2 years in Denmark and been married for 2,5 years. 

I am currently trying to gather all the documents ready and get an overview over the whole process.

 

1. First of all, i want to attach our lease contract to show that we have been living together, but this lease is 10 pages. Would i have to get all 10 pages translated into english, even though not all pages will be relevant?

 

2. I am going to apply the following documents for the evidence of bona fide marriage:

Marriage License

Joint bank accounts

Lease contract with both our names on

3 Affidavit from family that was at the wedding and a close friend that we know.

Pictures of us on trips and with family.

Would this be enough?

 

3. Furthermore, while i am trying to create an overview over the whole process i am stumbling upon The I-864 Affidavit of Support form.
Since we both live in Denmark, do we have too have someone support us from the US?

My Wife's dad would want to support us, but he lives in a different state than we attend to move to, would that work?

 

 

I hope you guys can help us.

 

Best Regards

[ms_bobdog 501]

12 minutes ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

Hello VisaJourney.

 

I am currently about to start applying for a IR1 / CR1 visa. My wife is a US citizen and i am from Denmark and we have been living together for 2 years in Denmark and been married for 2,5 years. 

I am currently trying to gather all the documents ready and get an overview over the whole process.

 

1. First of all, i want to attach our lease contract to show that we have been living together, but this lease is 10 pages. Would i have to get all 10 pages translated into english, even though not all pages will be relevant?

I would think just the page with both your names on it should be fine, but let's see what others did.

 

12 minutes ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

 

2. I am going to apply the following documents for the evidence of bona fide marriage:

Marriage License

Joint bank accounts

Lease contract with both our names on

3 Affidavit from family that was at the wedding and a close friend that we know.

Pictures of us on trips and with family.

Would this be enough?

Marriage license is proof that you got married. It has nothing to do with bonafide marriage.

Joint bank accounts and lease contract are good.

Skip the affidavit

Pictures are good

 

12 minutes ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

 

3. Furthermore, while i am trying to create an overview over the whole process i am stumbling upon The I-864 Affidavit of Support form.
Since we both live in Denmark, do we have too have someone support us from the US?

My Wife's dad would want to support us, but he lives in a different state than we attend to move to, would that work?

Your wife, the petitioner, will be the main sponsor. But if her income in Denmark will not continue when you move back to the US, and you don't meet the assets requirement, you will need a joint sponsor. No problem with being in a different state.

 

 

[AlexDRavn92 37]

Thank you ms_bobdog, really happy that you would like to help me.

 

If i may ask you a further question.

Do you think the evidence for the bona fide marriage is strong enough, or would you recommend us to add more?

 

And since my wife's income will not continue when we move, we will have her dad sponsor us - so that is very good.

[ms_bobdog 501]

Just now, AlexDRavn92 said:

Thank you ms_bobdog, really happy that you would like to help me.

 

If i may ask you a further question.

Do you think the evidence for the bona fide marriage is strong enough, or would you recommend us to add more?

 

And since my wife's income will not continue when we move, we will have her dad sponsor us - so that is very good.

Having lived together is the best evidence. I don't think you have an issue with your evidence for a bonafide marriage.

 

You still have many months before you get to the stage where you need to submit financial proof so plenty of time to study that part  

[AlexDRavn92 37]

Okay well that makes me a bit calm, thank you.

 

May i ask you one more time,  ms_bobdog, since it sounds like you have been through the same process, because i can't seem to get a clear overview.

 

1. So first my wife (she is the US citizen), will have to fill out the I-130 form. 

- Do we include the evidence of bona fide marriage, with this form? (Looks like different websites have different views on this)

 

2. When the I-130 is hopefully approved, next is The I-864 is the Affidavit of Support form?

 

3. Then last is the interview at the embassy?

 

[ms_bobdog 501]

1 minute ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

Okay well that makes me a bit calm, thank you.

 

May i ask you one more time,  ms_bobdog, since it sounds like you have been through the same process, because i can't seem to get a clear overview.

 

1. So first my wife (she is the US citizen), will have to fill out the I-130 form. 

Yes.

1 minute ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

- Do we include the evidence of bona fide marriage, with this form? (Looks like different websites have different views on this)

This is called 'front loading', and recommended to do so. I would say, do it.

 

1 minute ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

 

2. When the I-130 is hopefully approved, next is The I-864 is the Affidavit of Support form?

When the I-130 is approved, it is sent to the NVC (National Visa Centre). The I-864 is only part of this stage. There is a pinned thread on this forum that will explain this stage. You have about 6 months after your I-130 is received by USCIS to study this.

 

1 minute ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

3. Then last is the interview at the embassy?

 

There is medical examination to be done before the interview.

 

In short, it will go like this:

 

I-130 --> NVC (Pay fees, submit online forms, submit Affidavit of Support documents, submit Immigrant's civil documents) --> Medical exam --> Interview

 

Hope this helps. I will focus on studying the I-130 instructions for now, to make sure you don't get any RFEs, which will slow down your case. Also read what are the common RFEs for the petition to avoid getting them!

[EandH0904 1,184]

Two other things to consider, your wife must be up to date on her US tax obligations while living abroad, has she still been paying taxes each year? 

 

Second, she needs proof of domicile in the US. She must show the US has remained and will stay her residence. Examples would be, she's maintained property in the US, maintained a US bank account, etc. 

[AlexDRavn92 37]

Thank you EandH0904.

My wife got a temporary residents card in Denmark, which is basically the same as a green card for the US.

This gave her the right to also study for free in Denmark, so she has been studying the last two years.

We researched on this in the beginning and because her income is lower than what is demanded for being able to pay US tax'es, she has not ben paying taxes to the US since she moved. 

[pm_1234 18]

7 hours ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

3. Furthermore, while i am trying to create an overview over the whole process i am stumbling upon The I-864 Affidavit of Support form.
Since we both live in Denmark, do we have too have someone support us from the US?

My Wife's dad would want to support us, but he lives in a different state than we attend to move to, would that work?

You can use your wife's or your own income only if the source of income remains the same after you immigrate, which most likely is not the case for you. Otherwise, you can have a joint sponsor or you can use your assets without needing to have a financial sponsor. For that, you need to prove your assets are about 3 times of the poverty levels. Here are additional sources that you can refer to:

 

US Government Website:

https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/affidavit-support   (look under income requirements)

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/F3en.pdf

 

Poverty guidelines for 2018

https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines

Edited April 23, 2018 by Parisa_1234

[Qian 33]

As EandH0904 mentioned above, at NVC stage, proving "domicile" is crucial for petitioners who live abroad. 

Instructions of i-864, might be helpful. See the part of "Item Number 5. Country of Domicile."

It won't hurt if you upload this at 1-130 stage too.

[EandH0904 1,184]

6 hours ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

Thank you EandH0904.

My wife got a temporary residents card in Denmark, which is basically the same as a green card for the US.

This gave her the right to also study for free in Denmark, so she has been studying the last two years.

We researched on this in the beginning and because her income is lower than what is demanded for being able to pay US tax'es, she has not ben paying taxes to the US since she moved. 

OK, but as I said, she must prove that she has US domicile - what has she done to maintain her US residency?

[AlexDRavn92 37]

1 minute ago, EandH0904 said:

OK, but as I said, she must prove that she has US domicile - what has she done to maintain her US residency?

She has a US bank account and she has a permanent mailing address in the US.

As far as i can see they will accept those two? 

 

But we are currently trying to figure out how we prove that her permanent mailing address is in the US. 

Maybe if old tax papers or old letters with the US address. 

[JFH 12,190]

2 hours ago, EandH0904 said:

OK, but as I said, she must prove that she has US domicile - what has she done to maintain her US residency?

She doesn’t have to prove she has maintained domicile. USCs are permitted to live overseas and cut all ties with the USA (apart from the tax filing requirement). There have even been petitioners who have never lived in the US and ones who have lived overseas for 30 + years.

 

She needs to demonstrate her intent to re-establish domicile and that’s different. She doesn’t need to have maintained bank accounts or property but she must show she is taking concrete steps to making this a permanent move back to the US - looked for housing and employment, enquired about enrolling children in school, etc. 

[JFH 12,190]

2 hours ago, AlexDRavn92 said:

She has a US bank account and she has a permanent mailing address in the US.

As far as i can see they will accept those two? 

 

But we are currently trying to figure out how we prove that her permanent mailing address is in the US. 

Maybe if old tax papers or old letters with the US address. 

Has she applied for jobs or a university place? Where will you be living? If it’s with a friend get them to draw up a lease. If you’re looking for a place show this with email exchanges with agents or brokers. 

[AlexDRavn92 37]

5 minutes ago, JFH said:

Has she applied for jobs or a university place? Where will you be living? If it’s with a friend get them to draw up a lease. If you’re looking for a place show this with email exchanges with agents or brokers. 

She is currently in contact with different schools in the US, because she wants to do her PH.D in the states. Furthermore she is in contact with companies about doing some research/internship in the US as well. She also has texts with her parents, where they are talking about us moving to the US.

 

We are not sure about the living situation yet. We are considering staying the first weeks at my brothers apartment in San Diego until we find our own place. Should we include correspondence with my brother about the living situation?