rgfox

I suggest in the future performing some due diligence. Meet the person face-to-face, at least see their credentials and ask for references, at least 5.  And call those references.

Does anyone know how much one would be on the hook for at the current poverty level (which I think is 13,000 in 2022) if one signed AoS for an immigrating person? Since it is 125% of poverty level i assume it would be about 16K a year under current Fed guidelines. Is this assumption correct, in a worst case scenario where the immigrant decides he or she doesn't want to work and has no income?

My girlfriend from Lima and I have spent a lot of time together, in Lima and here in the states. Eventually we will probably get married according to the 90-day rule but we're not rushing it. She has a tourist visa which she got just a couple of months after we met. She already had an appointment scheduled for her tourist visa at the US Embassy. I also have a potentially fatal disease (the big C) that I am combatting right now and her being here is a great emotional and actual support to me. Her cooking is magnifico! My 9 yo son likes her. 

Ok. That's the general background.

She is worried about travelling back and forth to Lima too often. Supposedly "they" say that the INS doesn't like when tourists go back and forth "too often". I personally do not know. She says she is visiting juanita (her daughter) in Florida, or shopping, as the purpose of her trip. This is also not a lie. My question is, is my opinion correct or not. My opinion is that when asked the purpose of her visit on any forms or by any border officials, she should reply with the statement "I'm going to help take care of a sick friend" and give my address where she's staying. 

Thanks.

I just have to ask... When you married her, why did you also sign up to support her entire family? I really question the decisions you made. I mean, you're a working guy, an RN is a decent salary but never going to get rich. Like my job, decent but dinero is not falling from trees. Yet you sent loads of cash overseas. Very puzzling. 

Apologies if this question has already been addressed. My girlfriend is here on a tourist visa which she applied for before we met. Although she was granted the visa after we had already met if that matters. And no, she didn't lie to the consulate officer when interviewed, she wasn't even asked the question of a boyfriend actually.  I visited her in Peru in September, met her family, had a great time. So now she has visited a couple of times here in DC and we want to get married. I think we're eligible to file a K1 petition... do I have to file it while she is in Peru? Or can it be while she is here? Or does it matter?

Thanks in advance,

Richard

6 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

 

 

Or she can visit, spend some time with you, and marry.  

 

 

Interesting. So she can get her tourist visa in October (assuming they say yes), and we apply for a K-1 visa while her tourist visa is active? Or better to cancel the application for tourist visa and apply for K-1. 

Hi,

First, I realize this is a community of non-professionals and I should consult an immigration attorney. That being said, there is a lot of knowledge and experience here and so I want to throw this out to you all. My GF (call her Maria) and I met 6 months or so ago online. She had already applied for a tourist visa to visit the US. Her daughter is a US citizen and so is her daughter's husband. They just had a baby too.

Now I enter the picture. I have been to visit Maria last week, and we've had many zoom calls, and we dig eachother a lot. As I said, she applied for a tourist visa long before we met. Maria has an interview for that visa coming up in October at the US Embassy in her country. So it is not fraud for her to go to that interview and try to get the tourist visa. 

We do want to get married tho. Questions is, what is the best strategy? Cancel the tourist visa and apply for a K-1? Wait and if she gets the tourist visa, spend more time together getting to know eachother more and more, and get married after 90 days on the tourist visa and apply for a change of status?

I'm trying to obey the rules and still get the result, which is to be married and Maria live in the US with me.

Thanks, folks, appreciate your feedback.

PS I'm a US citizen, born and raised.

Thanks, everyone. We’ve got it. US citizen first for my wife, then the petition for her Dad to come over. Thanks for the quick responses and information.

I am a us native citizen, married to a permanent resident from Russia. We would like to bring her father here from Russia to live and work. He’s a senior electrician. I don’t see Information  about this on the USGIS website so not very hopeful. Has anyone done this or knows the policy? 

Thanks very much.

Richard and Alla 

novedsac, that was my conclusion too, that ideally in such a situation the father would agree to a shared living kind of arrangement, like school year in the US and summer in Russia. I have a cordial relationship with the guy. I lent him my Lexus when he and his wife visited the US to save him car rental charges, stuff like that. He has a general anti-American attitude which puts me off though. His favorite thing that he saw when he visited the US? In his words, seeing ghettos in DC and NYC, so that he could boast the the US is not the perfect country that everyone thinks it is. His was also the opinion that the bums in the US are not as classy as the bums in Europe. What!?

Thanks folks for your input.

Boiler, you can shove off with your snippy answer. I simply asked a sourcing question for their information which is perfectly reasonable.

No problem with my stepson's father. He stays involved with the child's life, as much as he can from 10,000 miles away anyway, and I agree that my stepson, or any child, should receive the benefit of a healthy relationship with bio dad or mom. I've never tried to stop that.

This was a theoretical question only, my wife is not sick or anything. We were just considering "what if".

Are either of you immigration attorneys? I am curious as to where you got your information.

I have a general question which may or may not be covered in this site. My wife and stepson are Russian citizens with US green cards. I also have a biological son with my wife. My stepson is not my adopted son. Hopefully this situation will never present itself, but if my wife was to die, what would be my options as stepfather to have my stepson (10 yo) remain in the US? We are pretty certain that his father would want him to return to Russia, and I would want him to remain with his brother (2 yo) and I in the U.S. Would I have any legal options to prevent being forced to return him to his biological father? Or any delay tactics?

Thanks,

Richard

Hi if this is addressed elsewhere please point me there. My wife and her son got their CR-1 almost two years ago. We have a 1 year old son and are very happily married.

What is out next step to make them permanent residents?

Thanks!

That seems crazy to me. Why can't she just change her name like anyone else? Just get the social security card under the new name (showing the marriage certificate), and file an I-90.

You know, I didn't think of that. Just like anyone else getting married- show them the marriage cert, and they will issue a new SS card, DL in that name... nice. We'll go to the Maryland MVA and try it with her Leaner's Permit. Don't see why they wouldn't accept the passport (old name) with a marriage cert in her new name, just as if we got married down the road in a church here.

Anyone getting a CR1 visa should have the wife change her name and passport prior to filing for said visa imo. It cuts out a lot of the headaches.

I disagree. The hassle is worth it to us, in exchange for living together sooner. We are happy with the decision. Maybe in your case your decision was the right one, but to make a blanket statement about "Anyone should" is, well, ignorant of the fact that peoples' priorities and circumstances differ.

1..5

6. With the new passport she can change her American documents.

Thanks Sofya! That is exactly what I was looking for. USCIS also informed me of a way to do it by obtaining a court order in the US and filing an I-90 with USCIS. This does not change her legal name as far as Russia is concerned, but it is changed legally here in the US. Then, we can change it on her Russian passport at our leisure by following your steps starting with ZAGS. I like the court order method because it enables us to get her US driver's license, green card, and all other US legal documents etc under her new married name, right away.

In spite of the name in her Russian passport, I would think she could change her name on her green card, It will cos a little bit, but can avoid the travel and long delay. If that won't work perhaps you can just live with it for three years until she can get her citizenship, and then she can change it without any issue.

In our case the name in the Russian passport had nothing to do with the name on the green card.

I'll call the NVC and ask them about this. Also we're investigating from the Russian side. I will keep this thread updated as we find out more. We are really stubborn - don't we all have to be to go through this immigrant visa process! - and we will find a way. It's important to us that her name be in my family line.

We didn't change hers for all the same hassle you state.

Leave it as is.

It is certainly tempting to do so, but we can't! We want her to be a Fox.

We need some advice. My wife and I were married in Russia. We decided when we applied for the marriage licence at ZAGS that we would not check the box to change her last name to mine on the marriage cert, as it would have meant a delay with filing her I-130 as her new Russian passport with the new name was processed. She is registered in Russia at the flat she owns there under her current last name, the last name of her ex-husband, Fedetova.

Now she is here in the US on a CR-1, and we want to change her name to mine asap. We already know from USCIS and NVC that the last name on her green card etc depends completely on her Russian passport, and in order to change her green card, her Russian passport must be updated to reflect my last name. We went to the Russian Consulate but they were not helpful. They told her she would have to go to Russia and do everything there, and had no idea how long it would take. They thought maybe one month. This is extremely inconvenient, not to mention expensive for us, as her - our - Kindergarten-attending son is here in ESOL and will be in summer school too and to pull him out for an unknown period of time to go to Russia (my Russian is basic and improving but not good enough to raise him by myself while she would be in Russia for any extended length of time) would disrupt his progress in school here. The Russian Consulate person indicated that the whole reason we can't change her name from here in DC is that she is registered in Russia at the flat she owns (now rented out), and that this registration prevents her from changing her name from the US. They also told us that there was some court document we could get in the US that would help, but this made no sense to me and I couldn't get a clear explanation of what they were talking about, if the root of the problem is her registration in Russia. She doesn't care about her registration in Russia and is ready to give it up.

We have an ally in Russia who can help us with paperwork there or act as power-of-attorney in this matter of the registration in her flat, her ex-husband; whom I have established a pretty good relationship with, and whom she is still friends with- as appropriate as they have a child together. He is trustworthy. By the way, we don't want to change my stepson's name, only my wife's.

Has anyone been through this or have knowledge of the Russian legal and bureaucratic process which would allow us to change her name from here? Does she have to go back to Russia to do it? Please help us navigate through this. Any information would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Richard

Hi,

My wife and young stepson are from Yaroslavl and she does know anyone in Moscow. Where can she stay that is with walking distance of the Consulate (within about a one kilometer radius) that is safe and doesn't cost a fortune? Her interview is at 8 AM so I guess she is first. She doesn't want to stay far away and have to deal with subways and all in rush hour with a young child. Your help is greatly appreciated!

R

Why did you pay $404? Are applicant's required to bring their own pre-paid DHL parcels for the delivery of the visa???

I paid the $808 for my wife and stepson in the US, to the NVC. So they do not have to pay anything at the Consulate. And the Pony Express passport delivery is included in that, like others confirmed. God forbid that they should ever update their content on the website. Better to confuse everyone!

I wonder if we need a separate bar-code delivery print-out for her young son... we added him as a dependent on her account on the consulate website that should be enough, right? When we subsequently tried to create a separate account for him it said he already existed under her account.. so I think there is no problem. But I wonder if the clerk at the embassy will ask for two separate delivery letters (barcodes).

Never mind, sorry, I know the answer. I actually read the whole instructions and answered my own question.

Good luck with interview.

Thanks! Did you also have to hand them (it says on top of the consulate-specific instructions at MOS) your IV Delivery Confirmation letter? I am not sure what that is! We have an IV Receipt Letter, but not a delivery confirmation letter. I am going to ask about this in general CR1 forum too. But what did you hand them for the IV Delivery Confirmation letter?

Hi,

Alla's interview is scheduled for March 20th. From what I have read in the NVC invitation email for the interview, and consulate instructions, these points seem clear. But I just want to verify with people who have actually been to their interview for K-1 or CR-1 in Moscow:

1. She must bring 2 pre-paid, pre-addressed DHL envelops for their passports to the interview: one for her, one for her small son.

2. Since I already paid the $404.00 Visa Fees to NVC (and we have the receipts) she does not have to pay a fee at the Consulate

Could someone who has actually been there confirm this?

спасибо большое!