I-130 petitioner is a USC, but has grown up abroad
Nov 20th 2002, 5:53 am
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Joined: Nov 2002
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I-130 petitioner is a USC, but has grown up abroad
Hi,
my wife and I have been thinking about starting to live in the U.S. for a while now, and currently we think it might be about time to get involved in the visa process and everything.
This is our background: She is a US citizen (actually, she is dual, German-American in order to be precise) and has grown up here in Germany. As a child, she once spent about a year in the U.S., but since then, she has only been there for vacation (read: three week-periods or less). I am a German, and we married back in 1999; since 2000, we have got a daughter. My mother-in-law (who is an American and has been a permanent resident in Germany for decades) had already figured out at that point that our daughter was not (and is not) eligible for US citizenship. We perfectly understand the relevant legislation (about parents having to reside in the U.S. for a minimum amount of time, etc.).
At the moment, my wife is a full-time university student, while I am a full-time research associate at the same university (not to mention that somehow we are full-time parents, but that's another story...). Our joint salary here is definitely above the notorious 125% of the poverty line in the U.S.
Our plans include to receive our academic degrees (a Master's in her case, a PhD in mine) within the foreseeable future, and we would be glad to move to the U.S. shortly after that point.
So, we are considering my wife's option to file an I-130 at the Frankfurt Consulate for our daughter and me. This leads us to the following questions:
1. Is my wife allowed to sponsor me regarding the affidavit of support (I-864)? We definitely cannot provide any US tax documents for the reasons described above, and our current income depends more or less on us residing in Germany. However, common sense may suggest we won't become a public charge. To what extent could we use (European) assets in order to overcome our lack of (US) income?
2. My wife's grandmother lives in California, so theoretically, she might become our co-sponsor, right? She is, however, retired, while the I-864 seems to suggest that you have to be employed in order to be a co-sponsor.
3. Provided we convince the Consulate that we are likely enough not to become a public charge and provided they will eventually issue a visa to my daughter and me, how difficult will it become to apply for advance parole? Trouble is we cannot predict exactly the time when we will receive our degrees. In the unfortunate case that this might take us longer than we anticipate, our plan would be to travel to the U.S. while the visa is valid, but only long enough until advance parole is granted. After receiving our degrees, we would move there permanently (or at least for some years). Would it make any sense to file an I-131 at the same time as the I-130?
4. I will probably have to register with Selective Service as I am male and too young to be exempt from this requirement. Is this possible with DCF, or will I only register when in the U.S.?
Thanks a lot for all your efforts to elucidate these things.
Ronald
my wife and I have been thinking about starting to live in the U.S. for a while now, and currently we think it might be about time to get involved in the visa process and everything.
This is our background: She is a US citizen (actually, she is dual, German-American in order to be precise) and has grown up here in Germany. As a child, she once spent about a year in the U.S., but since then, she has only been there for vacation (read: three week-periods or less). I am a German, and we married back in 1999; since 2000, we have got a daughter. My mother-in-law (who is an American and has been a permanent resident in Germany for decades) had already figured out at that point that our daughter was not (and is not) eligible for US citizenship. We perfectly understand the relevant legislation (about parents having to reside in the U.S. for a minimum amount of time, etc.).
At the moment, my wife is a full-time university student, while I am a full-time research associate at the same university (not to mention that somehow we are full-time parents, but that's another story...). Our joint salary here is definitely above the notorious 125% of the poverty line in the U.S.
Our plans include to receive our academic degrees (a Master's in her case, a PhD in mine) within the foreseeable future, and we would be glad to move to the U.S. shortly after that point.
So, we are considering my wife's option to file an I-130 at the Frankfurt Consulate for our daughter and me. This leads us to the following questions:
1. Is my wife allowed to sponsor me regarding the affidavit of support (I-864)? We definitely cannot provide any US tax documents for the reasons described above, and our current income depends more or less on us residing in Germany. However, common sense may suggest we won't become a public charge. To what extent could we use (European) assets in order to overcome our lack of (US) income?
2. My wife's grandmother lives in California, so theoretically, she might become our co-sponsor, right? She is, however, retired, while the I-864 seems to suggest that you have to be employed in order to be a co-sponsor.
3. Provided we convince the Consulate that we are likely enough not to become a public charge and provided they will eventually issue a visa to my daughter and me, how difficult will it become to apply for advance parole? Trouble is we cannot predict exactly the time when we will receive our degrees. In the unfortunate case that this might take us longer than we anticipate, our plan would be to travel to the U.S. while the visa is valid, but only long enough until advance parole is granted. After receiving our degrees, we would move there permanently (or at least for some years). Would it make any sense to file an I-131 at the same time as the I-130?
4. I will probably have to register with Selective Service as I am male and too young to be exempt from this requirement. Is this possible with DCF, or will I only register when in the U.S.?
Thanks a lot for all your efforts to elucidate these things.
Ronald
