US Immigration from Honduras

My wife entered the US on a K-1 visa in Dec 2024 and we were married in January 2025. She got her work authorization in May 2025 and her first US job in August. She received her green card in November 2025.

Since it's my first time filing jointly and having a foreign spouse is a special circumstance, I want to make sure I'm doing this correctly. I've walked through both federal and PA state taxes in H&R Block's software and to my understanding, there are only two points that I need to double-check:

1. Her tax filing status, since she was not a green card holder/permanent resident for the entirety of 2025
2. Any foreign assets she owns

For #1: I've seen conflicting information about what to do. Some sources say that she's considered a "Dual-Status" alien for 2025 because she started as a non-resident and then got her GC later in the year. In that case, we have to attach a statement to our return saying that we're choosing to treat her as a US resident for the whole year. Because H&R Block doesn't let you include this with an e-file, we'd have to print and mail the return if this is required, which I'd like to avoid. But I've seen other sources saying that because she had her GC at the end of the year, she can be treated as a GC holder for the entire year, and we don't need to include anything else. I'd appreciate some clarity on this.

For #2: My wife left her job in Honduras before she came to the US in Dec 2024. She didn't work for any Honduran company at any point in 2025. She does not have any assets there: no car, house, or investments. She has had some money put into their equivalent of Social Security, but this is akin to how it is for US citizens: they've taken your money and promise to provide something for you once you retire, but there's no account sitting there with your name on it that has the money ready to withdraw if you want.

She does still have a Honduran bank account with her name on it, but this has a very small amount just to keep the account open less than $10 USD. I've made sure to answer "Yes" to the question of foreign account ownership in H&R Block, so our Schedule B has that box checked. The account has well under $10,000, so FBAR and FATCA filing aren't an issue. She's going to check soon if the account earned any interest in 2025 so we can report that if needed; if so, I imagine it was only a few cents.

Otherwise, I can't think of anything that would affect our return, but please let me know if I'm wrong. In 2025 we paid off student loans she had in Honduras, but I confirmed those interest payments are not eligible for a deduction in the US because her university is not on this list of eligible international schools.

I'm considering contacting a tax expert who has experience with international couples, but don't want to spend the money if I don't need to. Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Hello!

My husband recieved his green card very quickly after entering the U.S. It has been more than 3 weeks since recieving his Green Card and no SSN card yet. He did check "yes" to automatically recieving a SSN on his DS260. He is climbing the walls ready to work Should we wait longer or go to the office?

Hi all,

My wife and I got married in January, filed our AOS packet at the end of March, and have our AOS interview scheduled for Nov 12. Our final AOS packet, as prepared by our lawyer, was nearly 300 pages (including all forms and evidence we submitted). We've had an interview prep session with our lawyer, as well as with another lawyer at the immigration law firm where my wife now works, and they've both stated that we should have an easy interview because we submitted so much proof with our initial case. Despite this, I still want to be very prepared, of course.

While I took all the steps I could think of to have proof with our initial filing (adding her as an authorized user to all my credit cards, screenshots of all accounts where she's a family member, lots of photos, etc.) we have plenty of additional proof from the last ~7 months. This includes new photos, WhatsApp communication, remittances to her family, utility bills, and pay stubs from both of us.

My current concern is the number of pages we'd be bringing to the interview with the recommended 6 months of financial statements for all institutions. I have five different credit cards (I use them for rewards and never carry a balance) and two bank accounts. Even with cutting out the extraneous informational pages from the statements, the last 6 months' of our primary bank statements alone are about 20 pages. If I print those statements for all credit cards and accounts, we're going to have over 100 pages just of statements. This seems excessive when our lawyer recommended 30-60 pages of new evidence.

I'm worried about not having something we need, but I also don't want to be overkill. I also don't want to struggle to quickly find a particular document or set of documents the officer may ask for during the interview. Would you recommend I print it all and do my best to keep it split up, or focus only on the accounts we use the most?

Also, does the 6 month recommended period also apply to utility bills? The only ones of those I can add a spouse to are our internet and electricity bills, and I was going to do two statements for each of them to cut down on paper.

Hi, I received my NVC case number today along with INV ID and Beneficiary ID. When I log in to CEAC website to pay the visa fee, I land on a summary information page stating that a DS160 needs to be filled out. I've already filled it out and I have the confirmation for it.

Is it possible that is not letting me pay because my case is at the NVC stage?

Hello Everyone!

I am preparing more evidance for Bona Fide Marriage for my husband's visa appointment in October. Should I inlcude the same photos we submitted for the I130? Or should I just include new evidance ie; photos, chat logs, and some wire transfers that have been made?

Thank you!