garebear397

Did he submit something else to show his citizenship? Like a passport? I would submit his passport for sure, and maybe submit his birth certificate again with some letter highlighting the "county", and also state. What type of evidence did you submit for seeing each other? Good to include passport stamps, ticket vouchers, etc. Also is there something that might be causing them to question the relationship? Age gap? Religion difference? What country are you coming from?

Honestly I don't think that would be the issue. At the USCIS stage they aren't doing a full blown analysis of the case, more just checking that you have all the min requirements to advance -- both that you submitted all the necessary documents, and also things like you have been together in person, have some baseline evidence you are married, etc. And then at the consular stage they do a more detailed evaluation. Most of the time RFEs are because you missed something on the document side (didn't send in every form, missed a signature, filled in a box wrong, etc.). You will find out soon enough and often if you can get back the necessary document quickly they can actually approve your case pretty quickly as well (I think someone in this thread got back their approval pretty soon afterwards).

No I don't think so, plus we have been married 6 years and still are waiting.

same here! If it makes you feel any better we have PD of June 4th. So, you are not alone!

Anyone else waiting with PD the first week of June? Ours PD is June 4th, and in active review since September 12th.

What you need to confirm: Did your husband check the box "Married filing jointly" in his tax returns and include your name (see example below)? Did your husband include your children in his tax returns (also see example below, Dependents)? If he included you and/or your children, in the end he would pay less taxes assuming the same total household income (if he got a refund, the refund would be larger), because you pay taxes on income and that % of tax reduces the larger the family size. For example if you make $50K as a single person you will pay more taxes than if your total household is $50K as a family of 4. If he did not include you in his taxes, you should file deliquent tax return for every year there isn't a tax return with your name on it (regardless if you have worked or not). Now if you truly have not had any income, then you won't have to pay anything, but filing the taxes is the formal way you are declaring to the IRS that you did not earn income. Even if you did earn income, there is a good chance that Foreign Income Tax Credits or Exclusions would wipe out your "owed" taxes, so you still wouldn't have to pay anything. As others have mentioned, evading taxes is a pretty serious deal (and in the extreme cases can result in punishments), but if you haven't been earning income (or very little income) there is a pretty high chance you won't be penalized or owe any taxes. You should now make sure there has been a tax returned filed for you for every year of your adult life, and going forward to include your children on those tax returns (especially if they start earning money). This is the lifelong deal you have as a US citizen (and your children), does not matter where you live you always have to file taxes. EDIT: also, just contact an agency/accountant that works with US taxed filed from other countries. Show them what has been filed and what not. Myself being a US citizen living in another country have had very good experience with these agencies, and they should be able to clear up exactly what you need to file or not now.

Yeah I think you are getting slightly confused with the 2 year wedding anniversary, and the 2 year validity of your green card. The 2 year wedding anniversary (and when you enter the US) is important for determining if you get a CR1 or IR1 and the length of validity of your first green card (2 years or 10 years). After entering the country, your 2 year anniversary basically stops mattering. You could even enter the US being married 1 year and 11 months, and you would still get a 2 year valid green card and have to go removal of conditions -- which is why if you are close to that 2 year anniversary before you enter the US, its better to go ahead and wait until you complete 2 years.

Yeah those timelines absolutely mean almost nothing. Hopefully some june filers should be getting aproved here in june or july and then we can start expecting to see ours also approved.

Yeah it looks like they are processing it in June, so I think you are good expecting similar timelines as other June filers.

So I mean technically you would be a June filer, since you submitted in June and part of the wait time is waiting for the NOA1. But that is normally much quicker than 2-3 months...if mailed it is usually 2 weeks or so, and if done online it is the same day. Did you file online or by mail? And when you say they received the paperwork in June -- that is because your mailed application arrived in June? Or because on the NOA it says "Received Date" in June? Are all the dates at the top left of your NOA1 June or October dates? In the end, if your "Priority Date" is in October, you will be put in line with other people with that priority date, which means yes you will follow a timeline more closely to October filers.

There are dozens of us...dozens!

Great to hear! Congrats!

I obviously second most of what everyone has said here, B2 might be challenging. Though I will say my wife (years before we met and got married) overstayed a tourist visa by like a week or so by accident (she was like 16 and didn't understand the i-94 stamp), she later applied for a new B2 visa and she was granted a 10 year B2 visa. Now, that is not necessarily to "give you hope", just saying that the overstay may not be the biggest issue the consulate will be looking at or potentially rejecting you for. So if you go into a B2 interview, yes you will have to explain the 1 day overstay, but the long trips, boyfriend, lack of ties to your home country will be much more examined -- so you are prepared.

F1/M1 visas are not dual-intent, so there is a very low chance to get a visa because they will clearly know you have intent to move to the US. As long as you are honest I do not think applying would impact your I-130 visa. But the complication is probably not worth it....also I-130s you have to return to your home country for the interview and receiving the visa. I would just wait the year/1.5 years and start your education after entering as a green card holder.

Yeah looks like those with April submissions are starting to receive their approvals...so I wouldn't expect anything sooner than May. Looks like its taking right under or around a full 12 months.

No impact on his immigration. Idk if this is a question about travel? He is still a green card holder, even as he waits for ROC...he can travel to his home country to receive the inheritance etc.

If you have someone that can co-sponsor I think it will be much easier and straight-forward (parents, family member, friend). We are in the same boat, waiting on the I-130, but both living overseas. For proving domicile I don't think you have to have a job-offer but something to show that the US citizen has been applying for jobs. US bank accounts, driver's license, if you have kids starting registration or again contacting schools about registration, contacting places to rent or mortgage companies to buy. I do think the domicile issue is a bigger deal in some countries than others (Cananda you have to prove it very well), I am not sure how it is viewed in Australia...what they are trying to make sure is that you aren't just getting a green card to use for travel or long visits and not end up actually living in the US.

I mean....just get everyone passports. Renew your husband's passport (can do by mail before you go). You are an international family, everyone should always have up-to-date passports, you never know when you need to travel urgently. Your child should eventually get two passports (US and Canadian) -- it isn't super necessary for the trip right now but it doesn't hurt to have dual-citizenship and documentation.

100% agree with this, just have in mind it will be a year (for USCIS part) and if it arrives sooner, great! The "actively reviewing" status many get within the first few months....but it doesn't seem to actually mean anything of consequence. I submitted in June 2023 and got an active review in September...and no news since. And yeah...the USCIS time estimate is almost complete garbage. You will get to "6 weeks" before decision....and then it will go to "Your case is taking longer than expected to process". Which is also not something to worry about...that just seems to be how the notifications go for most people. Good luck with everything I am sure it will all go smoothly in the end!

You are going to know better your own culture of what people considered married or what looks like marriage, but any any any kind of marriage (cultural, religious, legal, etc.) counts as being married and will disqualify you from using the K-1. People in this forum often warn about having "engagement" ceremonies that look too much like marriage. If you are doing typical engagement party things that your country generally recognizes as engagement and not a marriage, you are usually fine. But if you do things that your cultural generally associate with marriage, and you just claim that it is for engagement, that is where there is trouble. For example, in the US if we did an "engagement party" but we exchanged rings, that would look like a marriage that was simply dressed up as an engagement party.

Didn't see a thread for June yet, so I will start one (though let me know if I missed it). We were married back in 2017, already went through the K-1 visa process and my wife got her green card, we lived in the US for 2 years and then for family reasons moved back to Chile. Now with two kids with us we are looking to move back state-side. Yay Round 2! Filed on June 4th online, recieved the Reciept Notice the same day and based on that document it looks like it will be processed in Virginia. I assume this is NOT the same as the official NOA1? I suppose that will come in the mail?