KhailTowers

I just sponsored my wife to come to the United States. (I am a US citizen) She is having her consular interview in a few days, and will likely arrive in the US with her green card next month. I'm wondering, how long is it actually taking nowadays for a spouse of a US citizen to become a US citizen? I know they are eligible to apply for citizenship at 2 years and 9 months, but are there any catches here? Anything I should know about? I've estimated her timeline to US citizenship to be exactly 5 years, does this sound correct? March 2023: Arrives in United States December 2024: Applies for 10 year green card (Lift condition of provisional green card) December 2025: Applies for citizenship December 2027: Receives citizenship (After oath/civic integration test/English test) Total Time: 4 years 9 months Are there any ways to make it faster or expedite the process?

This post is going to be embarrassing, but I figured I'd answer everyone's questions honestly here. We do not need to live in the US. We tried to live in a different overseas country (not where she is from), but there was a huge lack of stability there. She has a very weak passport, and I have a strong one (USA). I started having doubts in the third country about the long term sustainability and practicality of settling there. Job opportunities are harder to come by there versus the US, child care is extremely expensive, visas/residency are straight forward but that could change at any point, and the weather was awful, in addition to no community, homesickness, etc. What if she got sick and needed medical care in the West? What if we wanted our future children to study in a Western country (how will she get a visa?) What if I needed to go back to America for some time to take care of something? (She comes from a culture where separation from one's husband frequently or extended periods of time is seen as shameful) The other option would have been to move back to her home country where her family lives but that is even more challenging (high crime, poverty, even less opportunities, etc) I thought the most sustainable decision was to move her to the US, and get her citizenship, which would keep us together in the future no matter where we ended up. I did tell her before marriage that I move around for work to different countries, and she accepted this, but I did not mention of moving to the US (At the time, I had planned to leave the US indefinitely but discovered in the third country we moved to things that I did not expect) As much as a monster as I sound right now, I now just want to provide my wife stability. These last couple of months I've made mistakes and I want to make up for it by just sealing the deal and providing my spouse the stability she wants. On the concern around the I-864, my wife is a great person, but she comes from a country where people/families are very conniving and money hungry due to poverty and a third-world government. This leads to many of the general people doing anything for money (murdering their siblings, stealing inheritance/land, etc). I am not worried about my wife, I am worried about her family/siblings and immediate neighbors if things go wrong in the marriage. Her brothers would almost certainly encourage her to sue me for money if the law allows for that (I-864). I am not sure what to do at this point. In Australia, you are only legally obligated to take care of a spouse for 2 years. In Canada, 3 years. In the UK, or France, this doesn't even exist. In the US, if the spouse doesn't get their citizenship, it is indefinite. This is my concern. She does come from a country that allows dual citizenship, so it would be unlikely for her to come here and not get citizenship, but I don't know.

I just got married last year to a wonderful woman from my parents home country. She had no interest in coming to the US. However, now we need to move here, and I've had to convince her to move to the US with me and leave her family. She has accepted moving here, but after finding out about the I-864 Affidavit of Support, I am now terrified of signing it and sponsoring her to come here. Anything could happen with the marriage in the future, and I could be on the hook for a lifetime of financial support if we get divorced (It doesn't end after 10 years as most possible think). It seems this form also incentivizes sponsored immigrants to not work & not get their citizenship (As you'd have to keep supporting them financially) Has anybody also struggled with signing this form and ended up just moving to a different country with their spouse as a result of it?