withinja

Hi everyone,

I'm a Canadian citizen, married to an American, been living in America for 5 months now.

We're are completing our Change of Status paper work and are stuck on the I-864, Affidavit of Support.

We've been teaching English in Asia for the past 4 years.

During that time, my wife was not filing taxes in America, so she has no recent IRS history.

She is presently employed, but not making very much.

We have been told to seek out a co-sponsor.

We approached her parents about it, but they are unwilling to do so, as they fear they would be financially responsible for us in the case of a medical emergency and they are unwilling to risk their life savings. At present, we have no medical insurance.

We have a couple of questions pertaining to our situation:

1) Would our co-sponsor be financially responsible for us in the event of accidental medical emergency?

2) Could the government clear out the account of our co-sponsor, if there was an accident?

3) Is there any way for my wife to qualify as my sponsor?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated,

thank you,

Hiya,

We're a couple of English teachers, a Canadian and American.

We've been bounding around Asia for the past 4 years, and feel it is finally time for us to be wed.

Our plan is to be married in America,

and then travel to Mexico to teach English and file our I-130 at the consulate office after 6 months of living/working.

Does anyone have any advice regarding:

1) Our entry into America: We're coming from Japan, will have no fiancee visa, no intention of staying, and proof of flights out of America.

2) The DCF process in Mexico. What all will we need? Does anyone have experience with the Mexican offices, and what to expect?

Thank for the help, much obliged!

Okay, I think this is the route for us.

I understand we'll have to be there for 6 months before we can file our DCF, we'll have to make sure we get into a good gig so as the time can fly.

I really appreciate all the advice and insight.

Thank you for your thoughts KDH and Darnell, it feels good to know this might just work.

I'm sure I'll have a million more questions as the process unfolds, I'm grateful I have somewhere to gather my thoughts.

Best of luck ALL!!

Hey everyone!

Thanks for the endless insight!

You really know your stuff and I like you so much more than the lawyers who charge $450 an hour!

So it checks out, you can no longer file for DFC in Japan

The nice thing about being an English teacher is that you can choose your next contract and country:

Perhaps a country that has an International Immigration Office, such as South Korea, China, Mexico or Peru. *Thanks for the list, hikergirl

Does anyone see a problem with this:

1) Find a job now in (for example) Peru that would begin in June-August. Get work contracts signed and plane tickets booked.

2) Enter the US in May on a tourist visa, with contracts and plain tickets to prove I have no intention to file for immigration in the US.

3) Get married and celebrate like these dancing fools here

4) Go to work my contract in (for example) Peru.

5) After living there for 6 month, file my DFC, get my visa

6) Finish contract, return to America and start a new life.

Have I missed something? Is there a fatal flaw to this plan?

My fiancee is already cranky that we can't just go to America now, so I don't want to head in this direction unless it could work out...

Otherwise, the best route sounds like KDH/hikergirl 's plan to get hitched in America on a tourist visa, with evidence of a new contract in Japan thereafter.

File I-130 for CR1 visa, work and live in Japan until the process is completed, then come into America with my visa.

How would I go about booking the interview in Tokyo, instead of Montreal?

Thanks again for all the assistance!

I appreciate it like you wouldn't believe!

Hi all!

Thanks for your thoughts on our situation.

I'm relieved to know I can make my mistakes on this message board, rather being banned from my fiancé's country.

Darnell - Japan doesn't do this anymore? Where did you find this info? From what I've read, they could process this request..

- Filing now, with an interview in Montreal would work. But I'm trying to avoid returning to Canada and waiting, away from my boo.

Kazulie - Bingo! I'd rather not start my immigration with fraud!

Thanks for the clarification of green card vs. citizenship. I'll be sure to use the right terms when I'm smiling and talking to the immigration officers.

hikergirl - Thanks for further clarifications, and for the handy guides. Nice to see the pros and cons, nice to see I have options.

Will be sure to have proof of intention to exit when I POE, great tip.

Good looking out, y'all. Big big thanks!

Now: We have our wedding planned for mid May, I have family flying a long way to be there. They've already bought tickets and all.

It would be fine if it wasn't so much a wedding as a celebration, we aren't planning to do it too traditionally anyways..

So what is the smartest, least damnable route to take?

A) Get married in Japan. Fly to America for a celebration, with documents proving I will be returning to Asia for another contract as an English teacher. File for DFC during this new contract.

B) Remain engaged, fly to America and throw a celebration without actually marrying. Return to Asia and then get married and file for DFC.

C) Get married ASAP, file for DFC now. Stay in Japan until we get our visa, cross our fingers that 11 weeks is enough time. I've read that it can take 2-12 weeks for the DFC process around here.

D) You tell me.. Any bright ideas, even if you have to PM them to me

All thoughts are welcomed, thanks for your words of wisdom!!

Hiya,

I'm a Canadian citizen, engaged to an American.

We've been living together in Asia for the past 4 years,

and we feel it's finally time to settle into a home and plant some seeds.

We wish to live in New Orleans, her hometown, and plan to be married there this May.

Looking over our visa options, it looks like I could:

A) Arrive on a tourist visa, get married in the US, then apply for citizenship in country.

B) Fly home to Canada, apply for the fiance visa, and fly down once that is approved.

C) Get married in Japan, arrive in the US, and apply for citizenship.

I'm aware that option B will take 4-8 months to be approved, so it won't make the May date...

My question is: Is it better to arrive in US and hope for a tourist visa entry* or should we get married here in Japan** and arrive in America with a marriage certificate but no visas?

*I've heard that it can be problematic to enter America on a tourist visa if you have intention to be married during that visit. Can anyone give me their thoughts about this?

**We won't have time to file for Direct Consular Filing in Japan.

Thanks for any and all advice,

Look forward to hearing from you