Hello All-
I just wanted to put down my successful experience to help others out.
I am a US Citizen, and moved to New Delhi, India in 2008 for a job. After 6 months here, I met a lovely lady who became my wife. We have lived together in Delhi since June, 2009. I have an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card that allows me to work and live in India. I got this card because I was born in India when my parents were working abroad.
In 2011, we went to visit my family on a tourist visa. She had previously applied and been approved for a 10 year tourist visa, so that was no problem.
In February, 2012, we got married in Calcutta, India.
After our marriage we applied for marriage certificate through the "Special Marriage Act" at the courst in Saket, Delhi. as I am a US Citizen. This process was long and full of hassles (including a 45+ day waiting period, 3 witnesses in the middle of the day, countless hours waiting around, etc). Through with this hassle, we were finally able to begin the process to get my wife a permanent visa for the US. We chose to file through the Direct Consular Filing Method.
We filled out and submitted form I-130 to the US Embassy in New Delhi in July, 2012. We did not need an appointment, I simply had to show my US Passport when we showed up in the morning, and they let us in. We submitted the form along with a short cover letter simply stating the documents (Marriage certificate, birth certificate, MY proof of residence-this is important-you cannot file a DCF if you do not have residence in India, photos of our marriage, wedding invitation card ,etc, and a demand draft of about Rs 23,000+). We met with a nice lady who looked over all of our documents and asked us to come in the next day for the interview. We went in the next day and the same lady asked a few questions about how we met, where I work, and why we were planning to shift to the US. Then we met with some guy who asked a few more standard questions, and we were approved. All very easy, and quiet because it is in a different room than all the standard applicants. It is a smaller room, about 10-15 chairs, and has tons of magazines to read. Much nicer than the cold metal chairs in the super crowded main interview hall.
We were told to wait for 'Packet 2" in the mail, and it arrived about 2 weeks later (July 20th). This contained instructions for submitting a different set of documents and the application form for her CR-1 Visa (CR-1 not IR-1 because we have been married less than 2 years).
We filled out form DS-230 part 1 and submitted that directly to the embassy. I was told that our next contact would come from the embassy, and to "wait".
We had to prepare a few more documents to take to the interview:
This included the Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) (the biggest pain in the rear as all the cops in Delhi expect bribes for any amount of effort whatsoever. My wife told the a-hole that "we stand with Anna" (an anti-corruption activist in India), so getting the PCC took much longer than if we had shelled out the bribe. She booked an appointment online, and went to the Passport Office in Bhikaji Cama place to submit the form. After a month some cop came to our house to "verify", though all he was really doing was looking for a bribe. We didn't pay him either, and after another month received the PCC. If you are in a hurry, you will need to pay bribes.
The other documents we collected were
Wife's Birth Certificate (original and PC)
Our Marriage Certificate (original and PC)
Marriage/holiday/family Photos and wedding invite
2"x2" photos
Form I-864
This was probably the most complicated form. If you are filing through DCF, that likely means you are working in another country, and will therefore not have a continuing job when you shift to the US. Your spouse will not either. You need to show that you have an income that is 125% of the poverty level (~$18,000 for 2 people in 2013), or 4x that amount in Assets. If you have neither of these, you will need to get a joint sponsor (relative, friend, spouse, etc). You need to support this with 3 years of 1040 Tax forms and your W-2's. Because I am working in India, I don't have W-2's and will not have continuing employment once we shift to the US. However, I do have assets that meet the requirements. I still was worried about what the would say during the interview, so I asked my father to fill out a co-sponsor form in case it was needed. I collected my tax records as well as bank account statements, etc that showed my assets.
We were able to collect all of the documents fairly quickly (by September 2012), but didn't hear anything back from the Embassy or the VSF for months. I called, and sent some emails to the VSF helpline. They told me to "please wait, and we will contact you". We waited until January, and then I started getting frustrated. I called them again and they asked us to make a profile on http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ . We made this but were unable to schedule an appointment on the website, as they said it would be scheduled by the US Embassy itself.
Then, all of the sudden, in February we received "Packet 4" telling us our interview date was April 1st at 8am. The only new document they asked for was a medical report.
(It took 7 months after the I-130 approval to get our interview date)
My wife got the medical report done at Max Hospital in Saket. It cost maybe Rs 2,000 and took a few hours. She got the report one week later. We collected all out data and triple checked that we had everything.
On April 1st, we got to the Embassy at 7:40am and were met with a long line. I accompanied my wife and was let in because I had my passport. Most people were there for Non-immigrant visas, and there were about 18 people in the immigrant section (J-1, J-2, etc). We waited in the cold metal chairs for 20 minutes, then went to get her fingerprints done. Another 30 minutes of waiting and we spoke with a consular officer (CO) who collected our documents, made sure everything was there, looked at the original BC and MC, and had a 5 minute talk with me about our I-864 forms. As mentioned earlier, I wasn't sure if my assets without continuing income would be sufficient. He collected both my I 864 and my father's I 864 and told me the head CO would make the decision. We paid the visa fee of Rs 13,110, and went to sit down again for 20 more minutes. We were finally called over for the "interview" with the CO. She asked:
how we met, what my wife does, where our wedding was, who came for our wedding, how long we have known each other, what I do, where we will go in the US, what I will do, and said that my assets were sufficient, and my father's co-sponsor was not required. The interview took about 10 minutes, and she asked almost as many questions to me as to my wife. She did not look at our marriage photos or wedding invite. At the end, she said our Visa was Approved! She wished us luck and told us to go to the help desk to schedule the courier delivery. We paid Rs 300 to get it delivered to my office, and they told me it should arrive next Monday.
Success! We are very happy, and getting ready to move on to our next phase of life.
We will likely be moving to the US in June.
Good luck to everyone else.
1. You can get married either in India or US - does not matter.
2. Read about fiancee visas - it is single entry visa and requires adjustment of status immediately after marriage, can't leave US till AOS is completed or AP issued unless you like wasting money, additionally you both need to be free to marry. No clue what A-3 visa is - all you should need is a B2, if you do not plan to immigrate.
3. Yes
4. No - B2 should be sufficient
5. You can't go to US and apply for green card for your wife from there - it will be visa fraud. Right way to do it (especially taking your circumstances and timeframe) will be from India.
6. Read the guides at the top of the page - http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare
1. is correct with regard to where to marry. Married is married so you do not register a marriage in the USA if already married in India. A ceremony is no problem.
2. would be silly because they will first marry in India, so he won't have a fiancee. Also, she has a B visa already, so can visit. Fiancee visas are for people intending to immediately immigrate. She won't be immigrating for at least two years.
3. No. Based on your plan, you will embark on an IR1 spouse visa process about a year prior to her intended immigration time.
4. Her current visit is enough but she should enter through the foreigner line instead of with you and provide a truthful but generic "holiday" reason for her visit, leaving out mention of such specifics as a marriage ceremony or having a USC husband.
5. Once she enters with the IR1 spouse visa, the green card will just come in the mail.
6. There's only one path that fits your plans. The government fees are about $900 all together but the "costs" including travel are whatever they will be.
All the comments has a lot of weight...
Here is my 5 cents -
If possible, you can visit US Embassy and got "no objection certificate" from "American Citizen Services" for YOU to get married to your WIFE in India. Embassy know it and they can easily do it (You need to provide your and her information.
It will be a HUGE HELP in your immigration journey.
Good Luck.
that man got a reaction from Amit&Julie in DCF and CR-1 New Delhi