S2N

Yeah, it’s definitely not the best rewards card but we were more concerned about getting an unsecured card in his name to build his credit while he was waiting on the CR-1 process. No annual fee and friendly to people with no credit history was high on the list… plus I got a referral bonus of 15,000 Amex points!

Yes, but as a prominent member here points out every time this comes up, plenty do since super-technically MFS requires an ITIN too and there are people who don’t feel like paper filing or going through the ITIN process. Why the computer requires a tax ID for people who aren’t eligible without MFJ is beyond me. It’s not materially different from MFS unless you live in a community property state, are eligible for certain anti-poverty credits, or make more than $120k. Your tax advisor isn’t allowed to use the word “materiality” with you until it’s on the third round with the IRS, but you’re allowed to consider it when making choices on your tax filings and the IRS does when taking enforcement action. That being said, I agree with you. It’s almost never beneficial in these cases to file MFS or single. The main reason is you don’t feel like paper filing, but you’ll eventually need to paper file to amend anyway, so that makes no sense to me either. Especially with the access to the U.S. banking and credit system that an ITIN brings. For most people it should be a no brainer, and I think we should talk more about those benefits.

Thanks; I think what got us approved was using my income as his. Amex is willing to take risks with no credit history if there’s sufficient income, so it worked in our favor. Like you said — it really helps with building the credit history which is the main reason we did it. I know the file jointly vs. file single debate is always difficult for people, so wanted to provide context for why filing jointly with an ITIN can help while you’re waiting. Obviously it’s not for everyone, but it provides a lot of non-tax benefits as well,

Are they or have they ever been a member of the Communist Party/youth league? Or association with someone who was? That would be the first thing that I’d think of that might complicate things from a communist country. It’s still an admissibility issue. Not assuming anything, just trying to think of things that might cause delay if USCIS became aware and there’s no issue on the petitioner end.

Got it; and best of luck. To be clear, no judgement on my part, but I think you’re unfortunately in a lot harder place than most others so collecting as much evidence as you can in preparation for the eventuality that you’ll file either K-1 or CR-1 would be best. As others have said, for K-1, it’ll eventually have to be on paper.

It’s also Adam Walsh Act, which means a lawyer absolutely should be involved. OP — the best advice you see going to get here is to find a competent lawyer with experience in these areas and do exactly what they say. Emphasis on competent. Your post history also suggests multiple partners from Ukraine within the last year (posted about a female partner there on 9/6/24 and then asked for matchmaking references later that month) so I second the suggestion to front load as much as possible. If it smells fishy to people on an immigration forum that are generally pro-immigrant, it’ll also probably smell fishy to USCIS.

I second Amex. We just got one for my husband who still lives in Chile when the IRS issued us an ITIN. They approved us no problem without needing a secured card and Chile is not one of the countries where they share credit history with. The issue is likely that there’s no credit history at all and the SSN isn’t in any of the SSN trace databases. Amex will request you upload a scan of the social security card and your passport and then they’ll manually review. They made us do that for ITIN and approved within 24 hours after the upload.

Also if you want to become a federal contractor or employee after naturalizing. In that case since they’re aware of the difference in SAVE, probably worth typing up a two sentence explanation on the SF-85P or SF-86. Won’t affect many but worth mentioning in case this impacts others.

Just wanted to provide this as a recent reference point: husband and I filed joint 2024 taxes making the 6013(g) election to treat him as a U.S. person for the limited purpose of filing a joint return (does not trigger FBAR when done under 6013(g).) Filed in-person: 4/26/2025 ITIN letter received: 7/3/2025 Applied for Amex Blue Cash Everyday: 7/3/2025 Additional documents requested: 7/3/2025 Amex approved: 7/4/2025 Our joke was that there’s was no better way to celebrate the Fourth than opening a credit card. Something worth noting: US law allows credit card applicants to treat their spouses income as theirs so long as they could reasonably access it to pay debts. We provided our joint income as his income, and used my address and phone number. Amex requested that we call after we submitted the application on the website, and the person on the phone told us we’d need to provide his passport, a copy of the ITIN letter, and a signed declaration about his U.S. military status. Did that same day and were approved around 24 hours after uploading. It was helpful he was visiting me in the US for this since he could talk directly with the customer service representative when we had to call. We clarified with them that he still lived in Chile and they confirmed that wasn’t an issue so long as he could provide a passport scan and ITIN. His approval was only in his name and was on a non-secured card. The reason we went for the Amex Blue Cash Everyday is that it has no annual fee and Amex has a practice where at 91 days they will provide a generous credit line increase (up to triple), which also helps building the credit score. They’re also pretty liberal with giving out unsecured credit cards to people with no credit history so long as income is high enough. I know not everyone filed taxes jointly while waiting, but wanted to provide this as a data point for one of the benefits getting an ITIN can provide for people who are waiting on consular processing.

Sounds like you got lucky. They did what you want them to do. Sometimes they make people file form I-824 and pay $590 in circumstances like yours.

Three reasons for that: 1) Cigarettes beyond the exemption limit are subject to both excise tax and customs duty and unlike alcohol where it’s harder for it to add up due to the weight of liquids and what most people are transporting, cigarettes you can get to material tax owed very easily. 2) A few decades ago smuggling cigarettes into the U.S. was a major funding source for Hezbollah and so CBP never really quite got over giving them extra scrutiny even if it hasn’t been an issue in a minute. 3) There’s complex regulations around re-importing US exported cigarettes and it isn’t permitted beyond a small quantity for tax reasons, so they want to verify those don’t apply. 1 and 3 are the bigger deals: CBP is a taxation agency as much as they are border police and they take the taxation bit very seriously.

Not to mention that when questions get asked, things get looked at, even if all they officially get is the same response you do.

That doesn’t answer what date she was DQ’d. My back of the napkin math is that you’re within normal processing times, but we don’t know enough right now to compare to norms.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/iv-wait-times.html You can check what DQ months they are scheduling currently at the URL above. Lima is April 2025, so like Appleblossom said, expect 6ish months.

Could you fill out your timeline, including country? Usually getting passed over during the normal processing times is either because it’s a complicated case or it’s from a more “complex” country where it’s more difficult to run even the basic checks on the beneficiary that USCIS handles. African countries tend to lag behind 3-5 months from anecdotal reports I’ve seen, as an example. An example of a complexity outside of the country would be a case with multiple divorces to foreign spouses, the petitioner having certain criminal convictions, or pretty much anything that could be considered a departure from the mean.