vanessalga

This post is unnecessarily judgmental without knowing the circumstances. 

This post is unnecessarily judgmental without knowing the circumstances. 

F-2A was current from 2019 to 2023 …so when OP filed she was okay . The I-290 B will preserve her adjustment , work permit and advance parole…as she will await in authorized stay for F-2A to become current again. ..no matter how long. 
 
If marriage is real and they live together as a couple …all is good. 
‘PLUS, there will NOT be a need to refile ANYTHING when spouse naturalizes. The I-130 will automatically UPGRADE to IR and end her wait in que for F-2A

The USC spouse needs to ask a tax professional whether she is eligible to file as HOH.  My guess:  no.

I have great news about my sister case.
I was waiting the result to post over here.
A couple of weeks ago we found my mother passport with the date of return to Brazil, including my sister's name.
Along with the passport we found a vaccination card from my sister, when she was a little over a year old.
With some additional documents attached, it was enough proof to the my sister's children acquire their mother's nationality.
They just received the "Consular Report of Birth abroad" and the passports at home.
And I want to thank those who helped us on this forum, it was of great help to us.

In answer to your question, do not file 6 months prior - your application will be returned. Click on to this link:https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/dateCalculator.html
to find out the official date you can start filing! good luck.
P.S WRITE IN CAPS ALL YOU WANT... THIS IS THE LAND OF THE FREE AFTER ALL....

OK, if anyone can make a positive contribution to this thread and let me know how to proceed I would certainly appreciate any input. Thanks in advance.

Everybody gets AP.
Takes a longer time in some countries for obvious reasons.
Not sure that Women will process quicker than men after recent events.

I have worked on such cases. Apart from being a VJ member having done K1 and AOS for my hubby I am a law graduate and an immigration paralegal (lawyer's in basic terms haha). Here is the deal: Parent comes on visitor visa, prior to the visa expiring you file I-130 and AOS paperwork and you wait. I-130 approval usually comes in about 3-4 months, and then USCIS begins working on the AOS.
It helps to file the two together AND I have seen that affidavits are key. Literally you attach a letter to USCIS which will be notarized where you explain that parents and wife have a very close relationship, that they are elderly and their daughter needs their help here, ie someone here has a health condition or children have never met their grandparents, etc etc. THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE PAYING THE LAWYER FOR, it is their job to explain to you the requirements. You were not scammed by being told that they can adjust, it is correct but AOS has to be filed WITH and at the same time as I130 and affidavits need to be attached.
Think of USCIS like a whiny baby to whom you must spoon-feed and explain every detail, this is what the lawyer is for.

Hahaha 'colour' IS English! Or are you telling us to use American which according to some Americans is a language?

It's a pity really. The poster you are referring to probably has a lot of sound useful information. Trouble is, a lot of the good in it is lost in the delivery.

Hello Sir/Madam,
I'm well aware of everything and yeah I'm well informed by your post that I won't be accepted in to the US under a student visa, which I do thank you for being completely honest although:
You don't have to act so rude and forthright. I don't want to be Australia's "Economic minister", your cynicism is blatant and completely unnecessary.
I get you've heard these bad and stupid excuses every single day and yeah you're completely sick and tired of people taking advantage of that but I'd appreciate a more friendly response in telling me "You have absolutely no chance, it's stupid and crappy" but this was my first time considering that it wasn't the best choice and now i know it's not a viable option.
I'm a 19 year old teenager, I'm young, immature, still living a stupid dream world. It's young love. We're kids and we make mistakes, we have dreams that we want to live and can't always fulfil. This being one of them. I'm only 19 Mr/Ms. HFM181818, this is a mistake that I have made in thinking that I can be happy studying while being with my girlfriend because legally it's not right.
Please know that not everybody has had life experience like you have had so far throughout your years, as another poster mentioned you were a CO and I imagine you've lived through a lot of things. Despite this, I'm sure you've made mistakes when you were young and had dreams that were never going to work You can't ever tell me you've made no mistakes and if you can then you'll be lying more than you say I am.
I'm sorry for this emotionally based response, I guess I'm young and immature still and don't get how the world works. This has just brought my world crashing down, I just guess i'm a bit upset and bummed that I won't be able to live this dream out and that I'm going to have to find another way to make it come true.
In addition, I just wanted to note that my girlfriend will be leaving to bootcamp and AIT for the national guard when I get there so we wouldn't even have a chance to marry anyway! I'm 19 and there's no way I want to get married this early so that wasn't even an option. I have contacted no lawyers or anything about this. I'm more traditional despite being a lesbian (not very traditional) that marrying someone should only be done after a long period of getting to know them and I've only known my girl for a year and met her once for a week. Not my style.
Thank you for your correspondence throughout this thread.
It's been valuable but very upsetting.
Regards,
aengelhardt101

Aaron. somehow you like to take exception to anything and everything that I might post on whatever forum and that is ok, I can handle it.. Actually Marie will put him in touch with a US and UK tax professional..Someone who is versed in the nuances of both countries and who is licensed in the appropriate venue able to give a qualified opinion.... FYI the UK does tax foreign earned income and can lump in your spouses income so it should be done properly and by a professional not someone "unqualified" like me and I daresay yourself....https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/overview
I have lived in Europe for 10 years and do business there still spending about 2 months a year abroad working especially in high end real estate and with an international charity that I am part of and am fairly versed ( in a general sense) in corporate and personal taxes having also been married to a woman from the EU..Previously as well that I brought her on a GC. Many of my clients are wealthy people who have property here and there and who live here part to full time or are married to USC's and to whom taxes are a major issue each year. Th is is compounded by the difference in dates i.e. paper filings for the UK are and must be filed in October and you might need some records from one country or other that may not be readily available without forethought and planning.
I don't give tax advice when I have no knowledge or basis for an opinion I refer people to a professional. I also don't pick fights when there is not point.. It just happened that I was at Richard and Marie's for dinner and they brought up the nightmare they had trying to find a good professional that was versed in US and UK tax law.. I am sure that if you are a W2 employee or have no assets or little income it is much easier.
My offer stands... Cheers

I am happy to report success today at least in part.. The service (GetHuman) was commendable and had great follow up and follow through with me. The NVC has not yet given our application a case number and my guy was told "it could take up to 42 days" but to call back in a couple days as the date of receipt was the 8th of January and typically K-1's are faster..
I did attempt almost 50 calls unsuccessfully prior to going this route and thanks to GetHuman I got a better number for when a call back is attempted should I try and do it myself. For non-immigrant visas such as a K-1 then 603-334-0888 was recommended for whatever it's worth I will try that number the next time I call as the 0700 number was ineffectual (for me).
When posting this as the OP I stated "SO I am curious as to whether anyone else has tried this?".. I learned what I have learned before...
First, hardly anyone that responded with an opinion had tried this service (1 I think).
Second that most of the posts were attacking my choice, thought process, status etc. with no rationale that was logical other than feelings except for one person that said they "might" place a hold on it if someone other than myself or my fiance called (that was the best argument against IMO).
Third, that class warfare exists..Even on VJ.. I am either"busier than the president" or lazy for not wanting to spend hours calling, or for paying $9 for someone else to call, or choosing another way to contact the NVC.. Or if I explain that I am busy (after the president comment) as a by product of being moderately successful and very hard working ( no Trump of course) Then I am a poser, making claims that are unsubstantiated etc. Success always threatens small minds and those who "feel" they are less successful by whatever measure they use. Crabs in a pot comes to mind.. For me success is a man who comes home to a wife that loves him and who's children grab him around the knees crying "daddy" when he gets home ( whether it is a tent or a palace). When I see a successful man like that I ask him how he does it and what I can do to copy him
Fourth, ( and maybe most importantly) none of those opinions matter to me (other than the one qualified one from a man that had actually used the service and the other person stating the NVC "might" place a hold on my file as they had his for 8 months seemed logical to me) I lead/act from the front and not by consensus or from the rear of the crowd. Don't mind being first to do or to try something..Never had a problem with making a mistake or being wrong (have gone from big bucks to starting over again more than once) I have never worried about what others thought when it comes to decision making. I evaluate available information and make up my own mind..
Thanks to all those serene people who avoided making judgment and who allowed me to have an opinion that differed from theirs and that might have been a different way than they would do it.
I wish all of you speedy resolution by whatever means you choose and now maybe a moderator will now shut this thread down as it serves no further purpose

If you kept reading you would've seen that I have already admitted that I was not 100% correct in my reply. Since this is a self help forum and I thought I knew what I was stating I stated it. If I said something wrong someone would come and correct me, which they did. No need to jump in weekend warrior style and attack me directly. Next time read the whole line of replies and see that I already realized I was wrong and stop adding to the clutter by trying to put me down.
haha I ended up not even being able to help with the actual question that OP had. Maybe I should get back to focusing on my job.
Im glad the others were able to answer OP's question even beside our pointless discussion on the side.

If you file jointly, you must include worldwide income...Canada and UK and US. Both spouses.
You will be eligible to exclude the Canadian income you report using Form 2555 or 2555EZ. (More on that later) the exclusion is only for "earned" income...working. People tend to say you can excluded everything up to $100k. That is only true if you spent the entire year in Canada because that's the maximum exclusion. It is prorated by the percentage of the year you were in Canada. Jan to April is about 1/3 of a year so you would only be eligible to exclude 1/3 of the maximum or about $33k. The form has you count days there divided by 365 and figure your percent. If you earned less than that then all will be excluded. Just a fine point I wanted to clarify.
The UK interest and dividends are "unearned income" and are reportable and taxable just like if you were paid by a US Financial account. No exclusion. And possibly you pay taxes on the capital gain you earned when you sold your shares for a profit since you are filing as an American for all of 2015. Profits earned are considered income in the year you sold. Worldwide income again. Your total family income before any foreign exclusion figures into Schedule D.
Self employment is done on a Schedule C. I'm thinking If you file a US return as a joint filer, then you follow the US rules. Schedule C: You basically put you gross sales/income and deduct your eligible expenses like film(?), printing, batteries, advertising, office supplies...whatever running that business cost you. The IRS instructions are pretty detailed with what counts and what doesn't. So your income minus expenses is your net profit or loss for that business. That is your income and what is eligible for foreign income exclusion. But wait, there's more.....
In the US, employed people pay into Social Security and Medicare as a percentage of their earnings. When you have an employer, he pays half and you pay half. It's held out of each paycheck. When you are self-employed, you still have to pay your share of Medicare and Social Security and you pay the full amount employer/employee share (both). Your share is based on your profit figured on Schedule C. There is Schedule SE to fill out to calculate the amount. It is call Self-Employment Tax, but is basically your contribution to Medicare and Social Security. You do get a break later on the tax return where you get to subtract out part of it as a deduction on Line 27. You do not get to use your Foreign Income Exclusion to get out of Schedule SE or the tax on your net earnings. Straight from the IRS:
Who Must Pay Self-Employment Tax?
If you are a self-employed U.S. citizen or resident, the rules for paying self-employment tax are generally the same whether you are living in the United States or abroad.
The self-employment tax is a social security and Medicare tax on net earnings from self-
employment. You must pay self-employment tax if your net earnings from self-employment are at least $400.
Effect of Exclusion
You must take all of your self-employment income into account in figuring your net earnings from self-employment, even income that is exempt from income tax because of the foreign earned income exclusion.
Example.
You are in business abroad as a consultant and qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion. Your foreign earned income is $95,000, your business deductions total $27,000, and your net profit is $68,000. You must pay self-employment tax on all of your net profit, including the amount you can exclude from income.
If you don't want to bother with all that, your husband can file Married Filing Separately and you file nothing. By the time you pay somebody to do a complicated return like that, and the tax on your investments and self employment, the cost might be more than any benefit of filing jointly. By putting your name on the return as a joint filer, you follow all the requirements and report worldwide income and investment interest.
I'm just a Mom. I do not have an advanced accounting degree, but this is my understanding of how it works for your situation. Hopefully Maria will come along and give her opinion. She's good.

People have reported getting denial for fiancée and spousal visas for dmitting using MJ many years in the past with no current usage. Usually, a 1 year ban with drug testing.
Since you are in the US, you may want to just get marry and adjust status. They can't ban you if you're already here.

She's all over the place. She has no clue as to what is going on.She stayed in the US legally for 9 months on a visitor visa with an extension. (No idea if her kids were in the US or in her home country. She left the US for "home" and try to reenter the US. She was denied entry. Most likely for abusing her visitor privileges to de facto live here with a brief visit to her home country.
She doesn't get what she did was wrong and a violation of US laws. She thinks she it was just bad luck.
This is different from your situation.

Bangkok DCF's are under 60 days to IR1 VISA if you (U.S. citizen sponsor) maintain 6+ months residence in Thailand on an appropriate
visa type. (Tourist visa-run scenario does not work).
So were you on a long-stay Retirement Visa or Business/Marriage Non-O / Non-B 1-year extension of stays or similar in Thailand?
If so, just walk the filing over to the USCIS Bangkok office in person. Some had I-130's approved in 48 hours there. I've seen a 28 day end to end but 45-60 days seems more the normal for Bangkok DCF filing.
If you can't DCF, then yes, you'll be waiting much much longer.
Your long U.S. medical trip could interfere with your ability to DCF, so think about that! Perhaps short term medical treatment and then return to DCF your petition.
Also think about Domicile: DCFing you'll need to prove intent to establish domicile, so begin some domiciliary steps while stateside, Lease/Buy Property, Buy a Car, Get Insurance on it, Mobile phone contract, Job, moving quotes, etc. Evidence that you intend to change domicile back or already have changed domicile back stateside. If you AOS stateside instead, most USCIS interviews will be 4 - 9 months out by which time your physical presence in the United States that long becomes de facto domicile and I wouldn't expect domicile questions stateside.. whereas consular DCF interview would.
As for AOS Thinking:
Canvas 2 or 3 immigration lawyers stateside about what happened. Did they Parole her In for Deferred Inspection or admit against the B2 ???
Was the visa revoked? voluntarily rescinded? did you sign anything? notes with INA references in passport?
Matter of Cavazos, 17 I&N Dec. 215 (BIA, 1980). In the absence of other adverse factors, an application for adjustment by an immediate relative should generally be granted in the exercise of discretion notwithstanding the fact that the applicant entered as a nonimmigrant with a preconceived intention to remain. Bear in mind that case precedent for Immediate Relative supports the Strength of Family Unity above any PreConceived Intent IF AND ONLY IF that Pre Conceived Intent is the ONLY MITIGATING FACTOR in the filing.... so is it the only mitigating factor?
I-864 DILEMMA ---
You can meet this with Assets or Income that Remains Available to you in the U.S. (Even if its a foreign employer as long as it continues stateside).
For many without the assets, its easier to find work to meet the FPL standard while stateside versus overseas. Consider this.
Otherwise, you can always rely of family stateside as Joint Sponsor as a backup.
CONCLUSION
Many people on this board resent the AOS process when they went through Consular filings and are personally biased against it.... Still since '65 its never been removed from the INA.
That being said, yours is a tricky situation. Case precedent remains on your side but it sounds as though you had PCI and discussed the PCI with the CBP officer at the Point of Entry if I understand you correctly. Even if you are granted discretion (AOS), when you naturalize her, the PCI might come up again (i doubt it though). The bigger issue --- I think you will find yourself very very very stressed during your medical issues over whether it will work out or not.
Thus, I suggest getting a few consults from immigration lawyers, but in your case.... I think you should consider returning to Thailand for a quick- DCF process immediately if you can postpone your procedures and then return 2 - 3 months later with her IR1 VISA.
If you can't DCF in Thailand (due to your visa type), then it would be a much more difficult situation to think about.
Read the Adjudicators Field Manual on USCIS website. You can see the guidelines.

I've been here for almost 12 years.

Still don't get:

1) Celebrities... they are treated like royalty. If there are two items on the news like nuclear weapons in another country and Kim Kardashian's fingernails... the fingernails will cover 75% of the news.

2) Dinner time. It's so early. I am 'Americanized' about that now and confess that I now eat dinner at 6:30 pm... but I still don't get it.

3) FDA... FDA approved this, FDA approved that... Food here is genetically modified to make it bigger and has preservatives to make it last longer... how come THAT is FDA approved? We don't have FDA in other countries and there are less cases of diseases spread by food contaminants and less cancer, and less obesity ¿?

4) Soccer / Football....Why is it that Americans insist on calling the sport "soccer," while the rest of the world calls it "football"?... And why don't Americans care about Soccer??? Sad.

5) The metric system... oh boy!

Meanwhile people adjust status from expired tourist visas without problems, the great paradoxes of the US immigration system...really really sorry this has happened to you. I hope It will be all straighten out by the Consulate. All the best

There are good waiver Lawyers out there, obviously cases like this are where Lawyers make their money.
I would at least have a consultation with a competent lawyer so you know what you are up against, make sure you have a detailed timeline of what happened and when to get the best value and make notes. Often the devil is in the details.

I am appalled by the comments posted here. Many people here blaming the OP for his wife abusive behavior.To excuse the abusive behavior of someone is unacceptable. It's not because someone is bipolar or very jealous that the person is abusive or that the victims have to accept the abuse. Abuse is a choice made by the abuser. The victims should not be blamed, never, ever!. Everyone has a unique story, and no matter what level the abuse inflicted, it is still considered abuse. Clearly all things that the OP said here show that he is a victim physical abuse and extreme cruelty (mental abuse).

A victim reaches out not to be judge, but to ask for help, to obtain some advice, to vent etc., but to attribute any responsibility/fault to the victim regarding the abusive behavior of the spouse is unacceptable as well. I am an advocate for victims of domestic violence for over 25 years, besides being an attorney. I am often invited to give conferences for mental health professionals and shelters around the Country and I want to share something with each one of you here.

-When a victim tells you that she/he is suffering abuse,please DO NOT TELL the victim " talk to your Priest/Pastor/Iman" or " you should start therapy " or " seat and talk to her/him", "do not push her buttons", the right advice is "SEEK A SAFE PLACE TO LIVE!", any other advice please offer when the person is not in danger anymore.

-You do not have to hear the other side of the story to offer help, to give some advice, because when a victim calls the Violence Hotline they do not say " hey I have to hear your spouse side of the story", they say "seek a safe place to stay!.

-When someone calls a shelter seeking help, the shelter does not say " I have to hear what your spouse has to say then I might help you", but they try to accommodate the person looking for a place to stay.

There is a HUGE difference between marital conflicts and abuse, everything the OP described here is considered abuse. Most of the posts here were just bashing the OP and defending his wife. I urge everyone here not to doubt a victim's account EVER and please NEVER MORE say "there are two sides to every story", because when you wait the whole story come out someone can die. The scars from mental cruelty can be as deep and long-lasting as physical abuse. His wife verbal explosions, control, humiliation, threats, isolation, degradation are considered extreme cruelty by USCIS. Sadly, many people may adopt a negative attitude toward a victim based on their own shortcomings, but we have to understand that this is not a helpful or healthy reaction. People have to set up healthy boundaries and not to live pretending that toxic behavior is okay because it's not ok! Society must understand that victim-blaming attitudes is dangerous.

Remember abuse is a conscious choice made by the abuser!

Get married and AOS, you will be fine. She didn't have pre conceived intent when she entered. You are not doing anything illegal. Save the money and the time. When she has EAD/advanced parole she can go home and sort anything she still might have pending.

We get it. You don't.
You made a mistake and as a result you deal with the consequences for not researching this.
Your attitude stinks toward the people trying to help you here.
Option 1= He misses his sister's wedding and comes sooner.
Option 2= You lose the money paid for the trip.
Option 3= start over with another petition.
EAD can take over 100 days, ours was 102, the 60-90 is an estimate.