I-130 F2A Bringing spouse to the US - Please help

[Long Ly 0]

Hi everyone, I'm a permanent resident living in Missouri, and I'm trying to bring my wife to the US.

 

Currently, my parents are living in Texas, where the processing time of the I-130 form for F2A is 3 months faster than the service center that I would be allocated to if I apply in Missouri.

 

Moreover, in Texas, there is a legal office that my parents used to bring me to the US some time ago, which earned our trust. However, there is also an office of a (reputable?) immigration lawyer right in front of my house in Missouri.

 

While some of my colleagues advised against using an immigration lawyer for such a simple document, I believed that it would be better to receive help from a professional since we don't have anything useful that we could use as proof of our marriage ( No joint bank account, house, etc. However, we have dated for 6 years and maybe we can use the pictures we took as evidence, I honestly don't know.)

 

Please let me know your opinions regarding whether if I should apply the I-130 form for my wife in Missouri or Texas. In addition, I would appreciate it if you could let me know how long we would have to wait for my wife to receive her Visa, given that everything goes smoothly.

I have also heard that it would be difficult for a person who is being sponsored to obtain a travel visa to the US, is that correct?

 

Thank you all very much, I really appreciate any advice that you can give me.

[sherydenise 66]

It doesn't really matter where you apply - it will likely be sent to California Service Center - they handle most F2A cases. You can use a lawyer if you want but its not necessary. If you could, please update your info like your wifes country etc so people can be of more assistance. 

[Long Ly 0]

Thank you for the response. I thought all 4 or 5 service centers accept F2A cases? I didn't know that all F2A cases are forwarded to California.

As for hiring the lawyer, i think havong a professional to look through our application before sending would be beneficial, especially since this application is too important for us to afford any mistake/delay.

We are Vietnamese by the way.

[sherydenise 66]

1 hour ago, Long Ly said:

Thank you for the response. I thought all 4 or 5 service centers accept F2A cases? I didn't know that all F2A cases are forwarded to California.

As for hiring the lawyer, i think havong a professional to look through our application before sending would be beneficial, especially since this application is too important for us to afford any mistake/delay.

We are Vietnamese by the way.

Its very rare that an F2A case will be sent anywhere other than California. My husband lived in NYC when we filed, the other service centers focus mainly on the other visa categories like Citizen spouses etc. So be prepared to wait for 2+ years until your wife can join you in the USA - minimum of 18 months before you are even approved by USCIS and another 6-8 months maybe from approval to interview (My PD is Feb 2017 and I'm expecting to be in the USA in May - 2 years and 3 months after filing). Lawyers are only really useful if you have a difficult case otherwise I've seen some say they regret using a lawyer as it made no difference except for costing a couple of thousand extra (or even that the lawyer forgot to send papers etc and delayed their process). But if it gives you peace of mind then go ahead and use one. 

 

Just be prepared for a long wait - it can be hard but its obviously worth it. Please update your timeline so its easier for fellow VJ members to assist in the future

[Long Ly 0]

7 hours ago, sherydenise said:

Its very rare that an F2A case will be sent anywhere other than California. My husband lived in NYC when we filed, the other service centers focus mainly on the other visa categories like Citizen spouses etc. So be prepared to wait for 2+ years until your wife can join you in the USA - minimum of 18 months before you are even approved by USCIS and another 6-8 months maybe from approval to interview (My PD is Feb 2017 and I'm expecting to be in the USA in May - 2 years and 3 months after filing). Lawyers are only really useful if you have a difficult case otherwise I've seen some say they regret using a lawyer as it made no difference except for costing a couple of thousand extra (or even that the lawyer forgot to send papers etc and delayed their process). But if it gives you peace of mind then go ahead and use one. 

 

Just be prepared for a long wait - it can be hard but its obviously worth it. Please update your timeline so its easier for fellow VJ members to assist in the future

Thank you for the information, even though it really crushes my heart knowing that we would have to wait for so long.

[saladboye 166]

On 3/4/2019 at 12:18 PM, Long Ly said:

Thank you for the response. I thought all 4 or 5 service centers accept F2A cases? I didn't know that all F2A cases are forwarded to California.

As for hiring the lawyer, i think having a professional to look through our application before sending would be beneficial, especially since this application is too important for us to afford any mistake/delay.

We are Vietnamese by the way.

 

 

You do not send the application to California, you send it to a lockbox and the lockbox facility sorts it from there. So technically all service centers may work on F2A, but the lockbox may choose to sort it one particular way based on the mandate they get.

 

As for the lawyer, it will atleast be USD 4000 at minimum, this does not include your application fees/ visa fees etc.

 

I was thinking the same but decided to file it on my own. its pretty much straight forward. The only advice I would give is to get a PDF editing software (1 month adobe subscription or pdf expert on Mac) to make it easy to edit the form and insert text when it cannot fit into the built in form provided space (address can be really long often times outside US).

 

Regards

 

Edited March 6, 2019 by saladboye