US Immigration from Brazil

Hello all,

I m hoping to get advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

I m a U.S. citizen and I married my wife who is from Brazil in after she entered the U.S. on a K-1 visa. She has a Social Security number, but we have not yet filed for Adjustment of Status.

I m now trying to file my 2025 taxes. From what I understand, she is still considered a nonresident alien for tax purposes unless we make the election to treat her as a resident and file Married Filing Jointly.

A few key points

• She did not work in the U.S of course since she does not have authorization.

• Before coming here, she worked in Brazil as a self-employed lawyer

• She does not have a formal tax return, W-2, wage statement, or anything like that from Brazil

• Her income was mostly from client payments/bank transfers, and some payments may have already had Brazilian taxes withheld

• TurboTax seems to allow the resident-spouse election path, but then says we cannot e-file and would have to mail the return

My questions are:

1. Has anyone here actually filed Married Filing Jointly in a case like this, with a K-1 spouse who had an SSN but was still a nonresident alien for tax purposes at year-end?

2. Did you make the election to treat your spouse as a U.S. resident for tax purposes?

3. How did you handle the spouse s small foreign self-employment income if there were no formal tax documents?

4. Did you use TurboTax or another software, or did you end up needing a CPA/EA?

5. For AOS purposes, did you feel MFJ was worth it, or did you file MFS the first year and then MFJ later?

I m trying to do this correctly, but I also want to keep things as clean as possible for our upcoming AOS filing.

Thanks in advance to anyone who has been through this.

I'm filing online under the 3years rule and we do not have ANY children. However, they require that you upload child and spousal support documents. Otherwise, I can't not proceed with filing. What do I do? Do I just upload a page saying we do not have any children. I'm confused but when I asked about children I put 0 in the field.

Hello, I am the US citizen petitioner marrying a Brazilian. I wanted to ask about the income requirements I might need to meet during the time frame after our marriage is completed. When we file for Adjustment of Status & EAD, will I still be required to have income earnings? I ask because I'm an Engineering student, working at a restaurant right now and only taking 2 classes per semester so I can meet the requirements for the i134. This is delaying my graduation date significantly. It would be a big advantage to us if I could resign my job as soon as we are married so I can take full time classes and accelerate my Bachelor's Degree, this way I can get a good job and we will be on our way to own a house. I could easily take a student loan & burn through my savings account during that timeframe so we will remain stable, housed, and well fed.

Can anyone comment on whether or not I need to make a certain amount of money per year during the AOS & EAD processes?

I want to file the n400 online but as soon I as click the form there is a requirements list before you begin that only mention stuff about the 5-year rule. No mention of 3 years rule (which is the one I'm going to file under). Is it still ok for me to file online still?
Also is this list of documents ok?

LPR Card (Green Card): A copy of your Permanent Resident Card (also known as a Green Card) (both sides)
Continuous Residence and physical presence documentation for the last 3 years:
1. Rent or mortgage statements,
2. Bank, credit card, or loan statements showing regular transactions; (Do I have to upload all of the statements for 3 years?)
3. Proof of car registration and insurance.
4. Your passport showing entry and exit stamps; (Do I have to upload all pages even the blank ones?)
A copy of your marriage certificate.
Evidence of U.S. citizenship for spouse for the last 3 years, generally a copy of your spouse s:
1. U.S. birth certificate.
Evidence of Commingling of Finances
1. Statement of Joint Bank Account
2. IRS tax transcripts
3. Copy of Joint utility bills - electricity
4. Copy of joint health insurance
5. Copy of joint auto insurance
6. Copy of life insurance beneficiary
Photographs (Is it necessary for n400? I didn't read anything about it on the official list of documents)

Am I missing anything? And about a letter requesting the combo interview with my pending I-751. Do I send it with the documents for the n400 or do I file it first and send it later?

Hi everybody!

My NOA1 is from May 25. When we sent our packet, we included the certified court records. On January 3rd, my fianc received the biometrics appointment notice, and about one week after he completed biometrics, we received an RFE. In the RFE, USCIS acknowledged that we submitted the court records for his charge. However, they stated that we did not submit the police records, nor a statement detailing the events that led to the arrest.

The RFE specifically states:

Please submit certified copies of all police arrest records, showing the charges and dispositions for every offense. The documents must provide information explaining the circumstances, places, dates, and outcomes for each incident of arrest, citation, charge, indictment, conviction, fine, or imprisonment. This is required even if your records were sealed, expunged, or otherwise cleared and regardless of whether anyone, including a judge, law enforcement officer, or attorney, told you that you no longer have a criminal record.

In addition to evidence establishing the court documents are not available, submit a notarized statement detailing the events that led to the arrest, the arresting agency, what charges were filed by the arresting agency, the final disposition (guilty, not guilty, etc.) of all of the charges with a list of the charges, the location of the court and any punishments.

We are having difficulty obtaining the arrest record. My fianc went to the Sheriff s Office and the Police Department, and they informed him that they do not provide this document. One employee was not even familiar with what this document was. Would submitting only a notarized statement along with the FBI Identity History Summary (rap sheet) be sufficient? If anyone has gone through a similar situation, we would truly appreciate any information or guidance you can share.