sluchie88

9 hours ago, geowrian said:

Congrats!

 

No, the Affidavit of Support is not reviewed for the petition. That's needed for the visa, which is the next step in the process.

9 hours ago, Jorge V said:

The process for DCF varies somewhat by country, but the Affidavit of Support is generally requested during the interview.

Alright, thank you both! Glad I checked before pulling the plug on getting the affidavit ready haha

I have an update on our situation. We got our approval notice from USCIS today, and my petition was approved. They did not request any additional information. Does this mean we do not need the Affidavit of Support?

Thank you!

Thank you! I few more questions to clarify, if you don't mind
 

Quote

1. Your effective income is $0 unless the income will continue from the same source upon return to the US (which doesn't sound like the case here).

So this means that even though I have income here in China, because I will move to the US, USCIS will consider my income to be $0, right?

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

No. Who to count or not count is laid out on the I-864 and its instructions. A joint sponsor's household size is independent from yours (although it is possible for an overlap of some people).

The household size is a big point of confusion for me. It's just my wife and I, no children or anything. So our household size is 2. For my mom, she lives alone so hers is 1. But because she's the joint sponsor, would that make her household size 2 because she's joint sponsoring my wife? Or even 3 to include me?

She's joint sponsoring 1 immigrant. On page 3, part 4, it asks for the number of immigrants being sponsored (1). Then on page 5, section 5, number 8, it auto-fills to a household size of 2 when we add my mom to the form. This is what's causing most of the confusion.

Hi all,

I submitted my packet to USCIS Guangzhou on September 14th for Direct Consular Filing. We have not heard anything back yet (they said wait 60 days before contacting them), but I fully expect to get a request for the I-864 Affidavit of Support. I'm trying to get a jump on it so it's ready to go when we get the request. My income here in China is above the poverty line for a household of 2 (it's a pretty low bar to clear, tbh). Despite that fact, I would like to have my mom joint sponsor because I am working in China, which means that to move to the US I'd have to look for work and will be unemployed for a little while. I'm having trouble finding guides and help for how to fill this in with a joint sponsor, so here are my main questions:

1. My mom and I both need to submit an I-864, right? I would would be the principal sponsor and she would be the joint sponsor.

2. Do I need to combine mine and my mother's income on the form, or keep them separate?

3. Do I need to count my mom as part of my household if she is a joint sponsor?

4. Does my wife need to fill in her assets on both forms?

5. Are there any forms that need to be filled in with the I-864?

Thanks!

Hi all,

For the last few weeks/months I've been gathering and organizing the proof of a bona fide marriage for my wife and I. I have an appointment made on Friday the 14th at the USCIS Field Office in Guangzhou. We're going to try for DCF since we both reside in China.

I feel like our evidence is strong and mostly speaks for itself. There are, however, a few things I am a little worried about and feel like I should explain clearly. My thought is to add a cover letter clarifying it. I have contacted USCIS about this, and their response was "do what you think is best."

I am wondering if anyone has done this. Am I just being neurotic? If I do add a letter, does it need to be a sworn statement?

Thanks for any help!

9 minutes ago, Jorge V said:

The main qualification for DCF is that the US petitioner has lived in a country with a USCIS field office (full list: https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/international-immigration-offices and yes, China is one), as a resident for at least 6 months. If you are living in China under a valid residency/work/study visa and have been doing so for more than 6 months then you qualify.

 

Be sure to check out USCIS Guangzhou's website: https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/international-offices/china-uscis-guangzhou-field-office . You'll find some relevant info under the I-130 section:

 

From the looks of it, if you have a "A Residence Permit for Foreigner in the People’s Republic of China" or a D, J1, Q1, S1, X1 or Z visa then you qualify. You can also find their contact information there. I've found that USCIS field offices are pretty responsive.

Excellent! Thanks so much! I did email the field office with a few other questions, so hopefully they'll respond fairly soon.

Is there a special form I need to apply for DCF? I can't find anything anywhere and I've been searching a lot

30 minutes ago, David & Zoila said:

I would imagine that you qualify for DCF.  Not sure what the procedure is but I just said a prayer for you and your wife.  Praying for her healing.  God Bless you both, david

Thank you! My wife is doing very well, just resting and recovering from the treatment

My wife and I are going to be applying for her green card in the next few weeks. We're still gathering evidence of a bona fide marriage. We will be submitting in Guagnzhou. Has anyone done DCF through Guangzhou?

Our situation: I'm an English teacher here in our city. My wife is too but she is Chinese and I'm American. We've been together for 2+ years, but married for 6 months. We both live abroad (obviously), but we'll go to the US next year, assuming she is approved for a green card. Another facet: back in October, 2017, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. She completed her treatment at the beginning of July, and is now taking prescription meds, which she will take for 5 to 10 years (most likely 10).

I know Guangzhou is able to do DCF. I've tried to read about it, but I can't tell if we qualify for DCF. I've read everything for being in the military, to both of us living abroad would qualify us for DCF, but most of the articles were three or more years old. Would anything about our situation qualify us for DCF? How do we apply for DCF? And how much faster is DCF than regular processing?

My wife and I are planning to file for her green card soon. We've only been married for 6 months, so we really don't have any co-mingling of our resources (aside from a small essay editing business we started together, but it doesn't amount to much).

We've gathered photos and I took screen shots of our communications over the years. The communications are really... difficult. I tried to pick out the best ones I could find, but I am looking for some feedback. We really don't want to delay the process.

Thanks for any help you are able to give!

Upload Comm.pdf

On 7/26/2018 at 5:21 PM, Sherry_c said:

Evidence: photos with you two, photos you two with each side families\ trip together plane tickets, train tikcets, gift receipts, transfer bank statement,  pick some important ones 

If you married in China, marriage certificate notary is the most important one evidence, We didn't do a written statement, didn't think that's necessary.

We put each kind of evidence together, like bank statement together\ gift receipts together\emails\ trip tickets... About the photos, we edited it in WORD file, put date and place for each place by time sequence and then printed on A4 paper . That works

I'm going to do the same as you and put our photos in a Word file. Under each photo, can I put a short description or caption? Like put date, place, and what we were doing?

On 7/31/2018 at 6:23 AM, C&AH said:

Hello. I read somewhere that you should send 20 or less. Not sure if that is accurate but I sent exactly 20 and made sure that some included family and friends and not limited to the two of us.  It was also a mix of wedding and other photos in different places. Hope this helps.

20 or less as in 20 pages of evidence, or 20 images of evidence?

I've never been able to find hard numbers, but I have read that they will get annoyed with you if you send in too much information. So I think I maybe need to dial it back and not flood them with stuff

Thanks so much for your replies!

Now my follow up question is, how much proof is too much?

For example, I went through our previous conversations and took screenshots on my phone (it was the easiest way). I ended up taking 200+ screenshots. I've sifted through them for what I think are quality proof and was left with 56 pictures. Is this too many? Will they just feel annoyed at having to look at all of them?

Hello all,

I'm still really new to this site, and I've posted once before about general confusion about filing my wife's I-130. I'm pretty clear now, thanks in no small part to this website. We're currently gathering documents to support our petition, and we have several questions or things we'd like clarified, if anyone is willing.

I already know the mantra: "Quality, not quantity. Quality, not quantity."

Evidence that we have

The easiest evidence we have is photos and chat history. We've gone on 2 to 3 trips a year since we met (2 and a half years ago now), and we talk constantly on our phones when we're at work. We've also got receipts for gifts and proof that we help each other financially. That stuff is no worry, it's more a matter of gathering the quality evidence from that.

Written Statements

In a previous post I asked about affidavits from family/friends as proof of a bona fide marriage. My mother in law lives with us, so I feel like getting an affidavit from her would be helpful to our case. The problem is that she does not speak English, only Chinese. So we would have to have her write the affidavit in Chinese, then sign it, then get it officially translated, then have her sign it again at a notary public. Would this be worth doing?

I read on this website (under Most Common Evidence, #1) that I, as the petitioner, can submit a written statement about our marriage. Given that my wife has cancer and we decided not to do a wedding ceremony, just a courthouse marriage, I feel like writing a statement would help. What the website does not say is whether or not this needs to be an affidavit. Can anyone clarify this?

Organization

The last thing we're not sure about is how to actually organize all the evidence. Should we go buy a big photo album and put all the evidence in there? Or do we need to submit in a three-ring binder?

Again, thanks for any help. You all are awesome!

So I've read through the guide and have a few follow-up questions, if anyone is willing to answer:

The I-130 Process 

If I am understanding the guide to the I-130 correctly, the process goes like this:

1. My wife and I submit the I-130 to the USCIS office in Beijing. We need to submit proof of a bona fide marriage with it.
2. We then wait to get the NOA and approval of the petition.
3. They will request Pre-Interview Documents, like the affidavit of support and any other necessary information.
4. After receiving and verifying the Pre-Interview Documents, they will set up an interview with my wife at the nearest US consulate in China.

Is this correct? The main confusion for me is stemming from the Pre-Interview Documents. Are we supposed to wait to submit those when they're requested, or submit them directly with the I-130?

I-130 Affidavit

My wife and I haven't been married long enough to have a joint bank account or own home together, the most we really have is pictures from travel, notes to each other, and gifts we've bought for each other.

I read on Citizenpath that we can have a third party sign an affidavit as proof of a bona fide marriage. The best person to do this would be her mother, who lives with us. However, her mom does not speak or write English, though. So we would have to have her write the letter in Chinese, then get an official translation, then have her sign it in front of a notary public. My question is, does that satisfy the requirements for an affidavit?

Thank you all! 

I was confused about the i485 because it's to adjust visa status. I thought it might apply to her since she has a B2 visa but I guess not. 

So, one question about domicile then. I still have bank accounts and have filed a federal tax return each year I've been abroad, I've been using my mom's address as my residence since I don't have a place of my own there anymore. Would those count as an established domicile? 

You said I have to go back to establish a domicile. Is there a time frame on doing that with regards to filing the I130? 

My wife and I are really confused about the green card process, and our situation is fairly unique. Thank you to anyone who is able to give us advice. I actually just posted this over on Reddit and got pointed here.

About us 

My wife is Chinese, I’m a US citizen. We’ve been together for 2 and a half years, but we got married here in China January 2018. We’ve been married for 6 months (yes, we know this means she’d get a conditional green card). My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2017. She has finished chemo, surgery, and, as of this writing, has a few days left with radiation. We are afraid this will make things more difficult for her to immigrate, even though she is through treatment already. Our goal is to have her green card completed and be in the US by summer 2019.

Our confusion 

So our main confusion stems from several things. 1) The I-130 and when/where to file. 2) The I-485 and if she’s eligible since she’s out of the country. Let’s talk about the I-130 first, since that’s the biggest question mark for us right now.

I did consult with a lawyer in August 2017 when I was visiting home, but she’s not representing us. At the time my wife and I were thinking 5 years down the line to immigrate. Our plan right now is that I come back to the US and find a job. When I come back depends several factors, but we're thinking I would go back Jan/Feb to look for work.

Regarding the I-130 (and affidavit of support) 

We are currently in China and I don’t have a job in the USA. I am supposed to file from wherever I am, so that would be through Beijing. However, I would need a family member to be a joint sponsor on the affidavit of support in order to prove she will be supported. Since my joint sponsor would be located in the US, can I send our paperwork and documents, have them sign the affidavit, and then submit to USCIS from within the USA? My thought process is: even if I file in Beijing, it will get sent to the US anyways, so why not skip the middle-man?

When I submit the petition, what other "official" documents do we need? We know we need to submit evidence regarding the authenticity of our marriage, but I mean other forms we may not be aware of. Like an I-485, or I-864, etc. I know this is broad, but there's a lot to sift through. Just want to make sure we're not missing something

Regarding the I-485 

My wife already holds a B2 tourist visa. When we submit the I-130, can we submit the I-485 to change the status of her visa so she can come to the US while her petition is processing? Or is this something we have to file anyways with the I-130?