In this video, I'll explain in more detail how to immigrate a spouse into the United
States.
We'll talk about a spouse that is abroad, and a spouse that is in the United States
physically present.
So, stay tuned and I'll see you on the other side.
In this video, we'll talk about the process of immigrating a spouse from abroad to the
United States, both somebody who is physically present here and somebody who's currently
abroad.
But before that, I want to encourage you to subscribe to our channel.
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So, the first step, we assume that there is marriage otherwise there is no spouse.
There is a legal marriage in any country in the world.
With that marriage, the US citizen spouse is now holding a marriage certificate.
So, the first step would be to file what is called form I-130.
And this form is the marriage petition.
That form will establish the information about the foreign address, the address of the US
citizen spouse, you'll have some biographic information there about previous addresses.
It will disclose some information about biographic information, dates of marriage, and the actual
date if there were any kids involved or not.
So, it has all the data and has a lot of supporting documents as well, that comes with the I-130
petition.
The purpose of the I-130 is to establish the process that this foreign spouse is now intending
to come to the United States no matter where she is in the world and in the form, also
has an indication there in which embassy the final interview will take place.
Now, we have another video, and we can link it in the description here below, where we
actually go through the process of completing a complete form I-130 from A to Z.
So, I encourage you to watch the video as well if you want to learn how to complete
that form.
But once the petition is filed, and with the correct filing fee, that petition is filed
with the USCIS immigration office in the United States, depending on where the US citizen
spouse resides.
So, if they reside in a jurisdiction where California Service Center controls it, you'll
be filing in California, if they are residing under the jurisdiction, or the Texas Service
Center controls it, it will be filed in Texas.
It really depends on that.
And then once it's filed, it will take several months for this petition to be processed.
They may ask for further evidence.
For example, we had a case recently where a petition is filed and the birth certificates
are not… the names of the parents are not on the birth certificate.
It’s somehow wasn't issued in the county of the person from India.
And so they sent a request for evidence and we had to resubmit and get some more documents
from their country to be able to establish their paperwork.
But assuming there's no request for evidence, typical I-130s stake about 6, 7 months right
now.
It may vary, but that's how long it takes right now.
And so once the I-130 is approved, there will be an approval notice sent to the American
US citizen petitioner and a copy to their attorney if there's an attorney.
And what that means is that at that point, the case is ready to move to the second step,
to the State Department.
There's an agency called the National Visa Center, and at that point, they verify the
financial information of the petitioner.
So, we have to complete forms, I-864, which is a financial affidavit of support, there's
also form DS-260 that has a lot of biographic information about the foreign national, their
residency before, employment history, a very detailed questionnaire form that can become
submitted and completed online as well.
And all the additional supporting documents for the affidavit of support, including tax
returns, and proof of income of the US citizens spouse.
And recently, you heard about all these public charges changes and the injunction that was
filed with the courts.
So, the public charge currently is on hold.
But as far as the State Department that's not applicable to them at the moment.
So, we are still trying to figure out whether and how the State Department consular officers
are going to look at applicants who will come in the United States, trying to look at them
and see do they meet those requirements that that particular law specifies?
Are they likely to become a public charge?
Are they able to come to the United States and afford living here and all these other
things you know, like health insurance that was mentioned before, those may be applicable
at interviews at embassies and consulates worldwide.
And of course, we're going to keep monitoring it.
But that's what’s going to happen.
That's where we have to provide those financial documents, the additional forms, and all these
things that we need to be able to show that this particular person is able to move through
the process.
And again, a lot of the communication is happening online.
There's an account created, you can upload forms, you can send it to the National Visa
Center, also known as NVC.
And once they're happy with that information, they usually will send an email stating that
they got all the information, and just wait.
And then, probably 3, 4 months from there…. and again, right now things are a little bit
slow, but the average should be around 3, 4 months from there.
There should be another email stating that that case is now ready to be scheduled for
an interview.
And what the NVC will do, they'll send all their paperwork to the US Embassy designated
to issue the immigrant petition for the spouse.
And at that point, once the interview is scheduled, they have to bring additional documents like
some pictures, any other documents that may be needed for the interview to prove the bona
fides of the relationship.
And then the foreign spouse, not the US citizen, a US citizen is not required to go to that
final interview, will show up at the consulate, or go through a medical exam right there with
a designated civil surgeon before the interview, and if all goes well, answers the right questions,
there's no issues of concern about fraud or whatever.
Then at that point, the immigrant visa will be issued.
Now, remember, most people think that they get an actual green card at the US Embassy.
They don't.
What they do get is an immigrant visa.
And that immigrant visa, usually classified as an IR, either 1 or 6, that visa is typically
issued for 6 months to allow the foreign spouse to enter the US.
Now, once that foreign spouse enters the US, they give him a big package.
That package has all the documents.
Once they enter the US, the CBP officer will open that package, process them on the computer.
And then, once they enter the US, a green card will be mailed to the post office, to
the address listed on the forms.
So remember, this whole process started with this I-130 that was filed almost a year ago,
going through the National Visa Center, and then finally to the US Embassy in the home
country.
And then an immigrant visa is issued, not a green card, it's an immigrant visa on the
passport, allowing them to enter the US for 6 months, within 6 months to be able to…
and then once they enter at the port of entry, they get processed, and then they actually
get the green card in the mail.
Now, once the green card is issued, a person can go to the Social Security Office and get
their number, that number will allow them to start filing taxes, getting employment,
and all the good things they can do.
That's in a nutshell, the process once the spouse is overseas.
And why would you do it from overseas?
There are many reasons.
Sometimes, people cannot come here.
They have no visas to be able to move here.
Sometimes, it's just more convenient because you have to finish your affairs abroad and
do it.
And just sometimes, it’s the only way to do it.
And now, we're going to talk about the other way.
So imagine you met your spouse in the US, imagine you're a US citizen, and then you
met your spouse in a party and that spouse is a student on an f1 visa or the spouse is
here working on an H1B visa.
So, all legal statuses while in the US and you meet that person, you fall in love, and
you want to marry them.
As long as they're already in the US for more than three months on their status, you can
marry them at any time and then file what is called an adjustment of status.
What does it mean?
The Adjustment of Status means that you are actually getting married in the United States.
And you will be filing the paperwork before the USCIS office in the United States, which
means that you will file I-130, and the 45, which is the Adjustment of Status form, including
the 765 and the I-131, which is the work permit and the travel permit all in one package,
all these forms, including the I-64, which is the affidavit of support.
So essentially, you will compile all these forms with all the information, including
birth certificates and marriage certificates, divorce decrees, put them all in one package
and mail them out to the USCIS locally designated on the form, depending again where you live,
and let’s send out.
Now, once it's sent out, maybe within 30 or 60 days you will be called, the foreign national
will be called for a biometrics appointment.
Now, what that means?
That appointment entails a physical showing, you have to physically show up in a USCIS
office, get your fingerprints and picture taken.
And what they do is some sort of a background check before the interview just to make sure
that you have no criminal background or anything like that.
But that biometric appointment is really important to keep because if you miss it, the whole
process may be delayed or sometimes even canceled.
So, we file the case, we had our biometric appointment, about 30 to 60 days after the
filing, and then, right now, it takes about 6 months, maybe 6 months, sometimes even 7
months to actually get that work permit.
Before it took about three months.
Now, it's taking about 6 to 7 months to get that work permit.
And then around that same time, a final interview will be scheduled.
Now, that interview is when both the husband and wife will show up, if they have an attorney,
with their attorney, to the immigration office to explain and document that it's a real marriage
with all the paperwork, bills, pictures, and all that kind of stuff.
And we have a bunch of videos on that too.
And after the interview, if all goes well, and there's no background check and then everything
looks good, then within a couple of weeks, a green card will be mailed to the applicant
to their home address.
Now, that is in a nutshell, the process of doing it from inside the US.
Now, what if you just arrived in the United States as a tourist and you want to marry
your US citizen spouse, those can be a little bit tricky because if you marry too soon,
let's say within before the initial 3 months, they may assume that you've done this for
immigration purposes.
So, you got to be careful and really consult an attorney if you’re here on a tourist
visa and how and what strategy you want to use before you adjust your status.
So, hopefully, this video was beneficial, explaining how to immigrate a spouse from
overseas, and how to adjust your status if you marry inside the United States.
If you have any questions, make sure you post them in the comments below.
Share this video with somebody who just got married, or thinking about getting married,
or may need his information.
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And thank you for watching and we'll see you in our next video.