I-130 Form - Can't Use International Phone #?

[ChrisG85 0]

I am currently living in Thailand with my wife, and want to start the process for getting her greencard when we plan to return next year.

 

I am filling out the I-130 Form on the USCIS website and am running into the following issue:

 

On the "About You" Section, the phone number fields will only accept US phone number format. I don't have a US phone number anymore. I can enter my mom's US phone #, but I am concerned this will cause problems later. 

 

Can anyone advise how I can fill this out properly given the constraints of the USCIS system? I have searched extensively on my own how to contact them, but it has proven to be difficult.

 

I greatly appreciate any advice or help anyone can offer.

 

 

[Mike E 11,741]

The paper form doesn’t have these constraints. So file the paper form or get a U.S. phone number (for example ask your mom to add a line to her mobile phone plan and FedEx you the phone or SIM card). 
 

You need to show US domicile at some point, so you might as well get a U.S. mobile telephone number now.  Hopefully your phone handles two SIM cards.   

[ChrisG85 0]

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

As far as procuring a US Phone number, could I use a virtual, internet connected one? Adding on to the family plan is likely to be pricey for something I won't use the next year or so.

[Mike E 11,741]

12 minutes ago, ChrisG85 said:

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

As far as procuring a US Phone number, could I use a virtual, internet connected one? Adding on to the family plan is likely to be pricey for something I won't use the next year or so.

You could try a virtual number.  It’####### or miss whether twilio (a company that sells services to large organizers to send SMS to customers) and others will correctly send SMS messages to virtual mobile numbers.  So I would not list a virtual number as a mobile number.  

[Redro 4,611]

We used a family member's home phone number for the petitioner's phone number on our I-130. 

It wasn't an issue. Perhaps inform your family member you are using their number. And if they do receive a call from USCIS they can pass on the message and you can call them? 

I would also recommend using a fixed (US) mailing address for the US petitioner. If you use your foreign address and move, it is a CHORE to change your mailing address while the I-130 is pending. 

I really wish we had used a US address as our mailing address. We received our NOA2 to an apartment we no longer lived in... and it was a mission getting our mail. 

I did appreciate filing online though because we received the physical mail a month or two after we were approved. 

[pushbrk 12,979]

9 hours ago, ChrisG85 said:

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

As far as procuring a US Phone number, could I use a virtual, internet connected one? Adding on to the family plan is likely to be pricey for something I won't use the next year or so.

Any US phone number will work, but you are not likely to get any phone calls.  The beneficiary's phone number is also asked for.  There are a number of similar data entry issues with the online form.  You can also solve this problem by filing on paper instead using DHL or FedEx etc.  Much less expensive than a mobile phone you won't actually use.  These are some of the reasons I still recommend filing on paper.

 

You may have some data entry issues on the PDF form too, but you can print the form and add data by hand before filing.

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by pushbrk