NorthFlatworm495

Hello everyone! Hope this is the correct place to post in but have been looking for a straight forward answer on the questions I have after reviewing threads for the past few days here and on other sources. I am a U.S. citizen and my wife is a Canadian permanent resident (she is an Indian citizen) who currently works in Canada (no U.S. based income whatsoever). I currently have her I-130 filed with USCIS as of September of 2023. We got married in August of 2023 and this will be my first year filing taxes not being single. I’m confused on whether if I should file as MFS or MFJ really. I’m hoping to get some clarification on what are the benefits and options here. My income was around $60K USD and hers was around $50K CAD if that helps. I had read about foreign tax credits but not too well versed on what that meant. Thank you for the assistance!

Gotcha, all her jobs have been outside of the United States. She has had jobs in Canada, which is where she currently lives. Sorry, forgot to add that in.

Hello everyone, For Part 3. Information About Your Employment Outside the United States, it says to “provide your last occupation outside the United States if not shown above”. I provided her last 2 employers in the page prior and then also added all her employer information in the additional section page Part 7. What would I put here? Maybe her current job? Reason I’m confused is because it’s already stated above. Thank you!

Having my spouse in Canada fill out Form I-130A currently and have one question #1: In Part 1: Information About You (Spouse Beneficiary) Your Full Name 3.a. Family Name (Last Name) 3.b. Given Name (First Name) 3.c. Middle Name Assuming the name is Jane Doe of my spouse. On my spouse's Indian passport, her passport lists only a Given Name(s) which consists of her first and last name (Jane Doe). On her B1/B2 visa, it lists her Given Name as her first name (Jane) and Surname as last name (Doe). Not sure if there is any relevance of that information but for Form I-130A, what should I list for those 3 answers? Only Given Name? So, on 3.b., put Jane Doe and leave the other two fields blank or put anything there, like N/A? The same question is asked later for my spouse's parents in Information About Parent 1/2 sections 10.a., 10.b., and 10.c. and 17.a., 17.b., and 17.c. Her parents passports are the same way so I'm guessing the answer to the above will apply as well to her parents. Thank you.

Quick question, filing I-130 and I-130A for my Canadian spouse and noticed that it needs to be signed unless the spouse is overseas. Does Canada qualify as being “overseas” and does not require my spouse to sign the I-130A? I can get the signature, no problem but figured I could submit it now with everything as I’m ready without her signature. Thank you!

So, the time has finally come to begin filing the Form I-130 to bring my wife to the United States. I have a few questions and wanted to provide some background information regarding our situation which seems straight-forward and want to make sure I’m filling out the I-130 correctly. To begin, I (27M) born and raised U.S. Citizen just recently married my wife (26F) who is a Canadian Permanent Resident holder, originally born and raised in India and came to Canada in 2016. She currently resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She acquired her B1/B2 visa in March of this year and was able to visit me twice this year so far. We met in February of this year as well through shaadi.com (Indian matchmaking website) and we kicked it off. We decided to move forward and she’s so far, visited me twice in Texas and I’ve visited her twice in Toronto. I had asked a few questions on this website regarding the process and many suggested to get married in a courthouse to start the process so we did that, and got married August 4th, just a few days ago here in Texas. She flew back to Canada because she is currently working still but we plan to visit each other every other month going forward. Hopefully this is enough context for the purpose of these questions I will be asking and can add more if need be, thank you! #1) Is this whole process just able to be done online? I figured Form I-130 and every single item required needed to be mailed in like a packet. I followed the “IR1/CR1 Spouse Visa Step-by-Step Guide on Filing an I-130 for a US Spouse Visa” instructions on this website and it seems like it has to be done via paperwork but on the USCIS website, it drives as if everything can be done online, am I missing something? #2) I am filing for my spouse and was told that since I am petitioning for a spouse, I will need to upload the Supplemental Information for Spouse Beneficiary (I-130A) as part of evidence for this application. My spouse is in Canada so am I able to fill out the form in its entirety and she’s not required to sign since she’s in another country (overseas)? The document states “If you reside overseas, you must still complete Form I-130A, but you do not need to sign the form.” #3) My wife did visit the U.S. so we selected “Yes” to the question “Was the beneficiary EVER in the United States?” The questions they ask are “What is the beneficiary’s Passport number?” which her B1/B2 visa lists on her visa card. Then the next question is “What is the beneficiary’s Travel Document number?” Is that the same as the Passport number? #4) To continue from question #2, the next question is “What is the country of issuance for the beneficiary’s Passport or Travel Document?” I’m guessing this is the United States correct? Or would it be Canada? #5) We now get to “What was the beneficiary’s class of admission?” and there is a drop-down box that gives us all the visa options and she does have a B1/B2 visa so I’m guessing I’d click one of those, maybe B2 since it states “B2 - Temporary Visitor For Pleasure” but on the actual paper form for the Form I-130, it states that these questions will only be answered if the beneficiary is currently in the United States (items 46.a. - 46.d.). Maybe this doesn’t even get answered at all and we leave it blank? #6) The next questions are follow-ups to #4 and they ask about the beneficiary’s Form I-94 Arrival-Departure Record number, beneficiary’s date of arrival, and when does the beneficiary’s authorized stay expire? These questions fall into that same items 46.a. - 46.d. criteria on the paper form version of Form I-130. #7) The next question is about the Beneficiary’s Family and asks to “provide information about the beneficiary’s spouse and children in this section if they have any.” When I click “Add”, it asks for the beneficiary’s spouse or child’s full legal name. Would I essentially re-fill in the fields again of my own information as the spouse again? Seems redundant since I filled it out earlier but just wanted to make sure. #8) So I’m in the Texas, United States, she’s in Toronto, Canada. I’m guessing we’d go with the U.S. Embassy or Consulate location since she’s outside of the United States correct? If so, I googled embassies/consulates and I typed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for that section. #9) When uploading the 2” X 2” photos of me and my spouse, we essentially went and got passport style photos done at Walgreen’s and all we’ll need to do is just upload these? And I see we just write our names on the back and A-Number but we don’t have this so it applicable. #10) The biggest question of all, it is now asking to upload proof of marriage. So we don’t live together, don’t have any joint ownership of property, bank accounts/financial resources commingled, etc. Our marriage is legit, 100%. So in the case of uploading evidence, I was thinking uploading upwards of 25 pictures of us and my family, wedding pictures, call records from my mobile provider statement(s), cards we received from friends when we got married, we could maybe get affidavits of support, we visited each other in Canada and Texas so travel itineraries and receipts of things we did, and receipts of gifts we sent each other ( I sent her a necklace that has our names engraved on 2 hearts intertwined and she sent me a fossil watch as I’m a lover of watches) and I also added her as a beneficiary on all my brokerage accounts. Anything else or is this sufficient? Thank you so much! I’m hoping our case is straight forward as we have all the pertinent information readily available and no complexities whatsoever and this community has really helped a lot!

Also, I see a lot of mention of these Utah Online Marriages? Anyone have insight on that? Could me and my girlfriend essentially do that and avoid this 90-day rule thing? Again, I wanna do everything correct.

So I’m a 27 Male United States Citizen (Born and Raised) and my 26 Female girlfriend of 5 months is a Canadian P.R holder (as of April 2023) but originally born and raised in India. She came to Canada in 2016 for her studies and now is working for the government of Ontario. We met on a dating website for Desi’s (Heavily South Asian population) and we fell in love and decided to get married. We text and call constantly so no funny business going on here as we come from the same mother tongue, religion, and some of her family actually knows some of my family back in India. I guess the cross-roads here is where and how do I start? She has a B1/B2 visa for the United States (given in March of 2023). I visited her in Canada in April, took many photos and kept all my receipts. She came and visited in May to meet my family, again more photos and receipts. Then I came and visited her again in June, more photos and receipts. Now it’s July and we figured she could come to the United States, we get married and then I file her documentation (I-130 I believe?) with USCIS but I feel like that won’t work because of this 90-Day rule? I had a previous thread where some users were suggesting we get married ASAP in a courthouse as it’s allowed on a B1/B2 visa but I’m reading all over the internet about it may violate the 90-day rule? We want to do everything right but I’m just so confused. Me and my whole family are visiting her family in Canada in September of this year so maybe we could get married in Canada, obtain a marriage certificate and then apply for the CR1 visa? I’m really just bummed out about the whole 90-day rule because we don’t wanna be in violation and then everything just gets worse. The original plan was to get engaged in September of 2023 and then married in India in January of 2024 which is feasible but we figured we could start this process early. We don’t have any bank accounts or anything together because we live separate so the only evidence we have is our time spent together when I flew to her (travel itinerary, photos, receipts of places we visited, hotel) but I don’t know if that matters in my case. Just need some guidance here because I am at such a cross-roads. Thanks in advance and if there’s anything I need to clarify, please let me know!

Okay, so we're able to kickstart the 1-130 right away after we're married. What other form would we be needing to fill out along with it? Or is the I-130 needed to be processed and approved and then we file another form? Or is it all one go?

Okay, so that is able to be done, we can get married ASAP in the U.S. as she has the tourist visa, she can come and we have our court marriage and then she would go back to Canada promptly. The engagement, yes, it is kind of a religious event. It will be in Canada. The “wedding” will be in India, in January of 2024.

Set in stone 100%. Why?

Hello everyone, wanted to reach out and see what path(s) are applicable for me and my soon-to-be fiancé on coming to the United States. I hope I am in the right topic listed in the website and apologize if not. I’ll give some details: I am born and raised in the United States, residing in Texas. My girlfriend is a currently living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and has been there since 2016. She was born and raised in India. She received her P.R. in Canada this year and she also was given her U.S. travel visa (B1/B2) in April of 2023. Our engagement is set for September 9th, 2023 and our wedding in January of 2024. I’m wondering what is the most efficient way to maneuver this toward her coming to the United States and living with me? When should I start the process: after engagement, after marriage? I’ve been doing extensive research and may even reach out to an immigration attorney to assist but wanted to do some due diligence before going that route. The research I’ve gathered is that I would have to file I-130 here. This is pretty much saying “Hey, I’m a U.S. citizen, this is my spouse, I’d like for them to immigrate to the U.S.” Since my wife is living abroad, we should plan to go through consular processing, which takes place entirely abroad and this link here explains it: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition.html Thank you so much and happy to have a community here to offer guidance!