frank09

Hi,

I am new to this site and to the process! I'm 32, a USC (born in the UK to a USC dad) and married for 9 years , my wife is British. We have lived in the UK for our 9 years of marriage, I lived in the US for 7 years before that. We now want to move to the States.

Having checked the London US embassy website, right now what I need to do is submit the I-130 and 2 copies of the G-325a form. On the checklist for what I need to send I am told to send different things to what the forum guide here tell me to send so if I could please go through some of my questions one at a time. I have been researchin this the past 5 or so hours and the following questions are where i get stuck!

1) On the I-130 form. Do we put England, UK , GB, or Britain as country?

2) on the I-130 form. Q13 asks about how I gained my US citizenship. I got it through my parent, what does it mean when it asks if I obtained a certificate of citizenship in my own name? Passport?

3) on the i-130 form: Q15 - Who'se employer? Mine or my wifes??

4) on the i-130 - for every box that I dont need to fill in info should i put NA?

5) for the G-325a- it asks for a file number beginiing with an A, what do i put in that box on both forms??

6) for the G-325a - just to clarify - "applicant" refers to me on the form that I fill in and my wife on her form (as opposed to her being the "applicant" on both forms)

7) for the G-325a - again on the bottom it asks for an alien registration number, for the form I would submit I dont need one, and my wofe doesnt have one. ??

8) for the DCF those are the two forms I need to submit: one I-130, 2 G-325a's (it clearly says we should send just ONE copy of each but the guide on this site says I should send 4?!), a credit card payment form, the checklist, my proof os US citizenship (just the photo page of my passport, the guide on this site says I should copy every page??) , marriage certificate (the checklist asks for the original as a copy isnt acceptable but at the same time in another place the checklist says don't send any originals!, the guide on this site says i should send a copy)

9) Nowhere at this stage of the process have we been asked to send a copy of my wife's birth certificate or her passport, or am i missing something?

So, once I know the answers to the above are we ready to get this process started? I know there is a LOAD more stuff for the next stage but I just need to get this stage sorted.

I really apologise for such a long post but I have tried researching the answers and have really struggled. Hope someone can help!

Thanks

Noorah101

Hi and Welcome to BE. I moved your post to the Marriage Based forum so you can get better answers.

UK is fine.

Since you became a USC at birth, you do not have a certificate of citizenship. You can just say "birth".

Sorry, I don't have an I-130 in front of me to see what the question specifically asks....

Only if that quesiton does not apply to you. Sometimes "none" is a better answer. Just depends on the question.

Draw a line through that area on both G-325A's, unless your wife has an A number. But I assume since she doesn't know what that is, that she doesn't already have one. You will never have one since you're a USC by birth. She would only have one if she was ever in the USA before on certain types of visas.

Correct. You fill in and sign your own G-325A with your name. You wife fills in and signs her own G-325A with her name.

See answer to number 5.

Make sure you're reading only the guides to DCF. The process is different when the I-130 is filed in the USA. For DCF you only need to send ONE page of each of the G-325A's (not 4). I would say just sending the photo page of your passport would be enough, but if you want to be on the safe side, send all pages. Send a photocopy of the marriage certificate. Your wife will bring the original to the visa interview.

You are correct.

Also, you might need to send proof your joint life together (I don't know if this a requirement for DCF or for filing in the USA, or both...but someone will come along to clarify).

I assume you have the issue of intent to domicile in the USA covered, as well as how to complete the I-864 affidavit of support?

Best Wishes,
Rene

BritishGuy36

To fill in the blanks:

3) Yours. The I-130 form is to be filled in from the point of view of the USC. Hence, the questions are directed at YOU, unless otherwise stated.

4) I put N/A on things that were not applicable like apartment number, but put None for things like names of prior spouses, SSN, Alien Reg Number.

5) We put 'None' on both forms.

8) Photo page only is fine for the passport. Send a copy of the marriage cert with the application. Your wife should take both your passport and the original marriage cert to her interview at the London Embassy.

After 9 years of marriage they won't bat an eye as to whether your marriage is legit or not. If you are worried about it just take a few random bank statements of your joint account. I took three statements, one recent and two others from previous years.

Anything else just ask away, plenty of us on here have done it.

There's more info linked in my signature if you haven't come across those threads already.

Are you up to date with filing your IS taxes with the IRS? How will you satisfy the financial requirement of the I-864?

frank09

thanks both of you for the replies.

When you ask about me filing the tax returns for the I-864, is that submitted now? Or at a later date?

I was up till about 4am looking through various info on this site and our situation is quite similar to others. I havent filed any taxes in UK or USA for the last 5 years as I have been studying for my doctorate. My parents, (well, father) will act as co sponsor. It is my understanding that I would fill in the I-864 and my father would fill one in too. On my one I will state that I haven't filed taxes as I was a student and had no income. They will then look at my fathers. I do have a few questions about my fathers I-864 but wanted to cross that bridge when I get to it, or at least to get this first part of sending off the I-130 to the embassy and get the process going.

A quick point to ask. My wife and I will be going to the States this coming week (the 24th Sep) for 10 days and again on the 15th Dec for 10 days. I was hoping to send off the I-130 before we go away next week. This will depend on whether or not I need to send in the I-864's now or later! Is that OK? If the embassy is super fast getting back to us and respond before the December trip can we just hold off doing her medical until January?

Thank you again for the help.

frank09

One extra question. On the Checklist For Petition for Alien Spouse, on the I-130 instructions it says that I should put my email address on the bottom of of page 1, can you advise me where exactly to put it on the bottom of page 1?

frank09

Quote:
2) on the I-130 form. Q13 asks about how I gained my US citizenship. I got it through my parent, what does it mean when it asks if I obtained a certificate of citizenship in my own name? Passport?

Since you became a USC at birth, you do not have a certificate of citizenship. You can just say "birth".

LOoking at the form the options i am given for Q13 are:
If you are a US citizen , comlete the following
My citizenship was acquired through
Birth in the US
Naturalization
Parents. Have yiou obtained a certificate of citizenship in your own name

Now, I am a USC from borth buit not from "Birth in the US", so which box to check?

avanutria

Hi Frank, I am currently filing DCF here in London. We've just submitted the DS-230 and DS-2001 so I'm a bit farther than you but not done yet.

The I-864 and tax returns are handed over at the interview. It may be a good idea to file your back taxes even if you didn't have to pay anything, as it's a paper trail that they like to see. You've got the time to do it.

Regarding travel to the US, we avoided having my DH go to America after filing the I-130 but I have heard of other people being able to do it. I don't have details about that but it's on this site somewhere, or maybe on visajourney.com.

I wrote my email address on the bottom of the I-130, in the margin, not on any particular line. They found it, as they did email me to confirm receipt of the form.

Here's one way to get a certificate of citizenship: http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/...rtificate.html - note that that is just off of a google search, I don't know if it's a reputable company or not. It's NOT a US government site.

But if you already have a US passport you may not need one, I don't know.

Noorah101

Oh, I see. I would check "parents" and if you have a certificate of birth abroad (I think that's what it's called), provide a copy of that. Or perhaps you can say "no" to whether you have obtained a certificate of citizenship in your own name, if you don't have one...it seems to be a yes/no question.

Rene

Noorah101

The I-864 is not due until your wife goes for the visa interview.

Rene

frank09

Rene - are we safe to post the I-130 on Monday and then go to the States on the Thursday and again in December? From some of the timelines I've seen it can be quite a while to hear anything once the I-130 is posted..

Noorah101

I don't see any harm in doing the September trip. You'll only be gone 10 days, so even if something comes to you in the mail, you'll get it when you get back.

You might want to hold off on the December trip until you see how fast your own case is going. It's possible she could have her visa interview by that time, if your case goes extra fast.

Rene

BritishGuy36

a) Don't just think you can dismiss your reporting of taxes, because you didn't earn anything. You need to have dome something to show this. Most at the minimum write to the IRS, stating that they didn't earn enough to report during that time. Some actually file the forms with zero income reported. There's no hard in doing that either. Up to you.

b) The first trip should be ok because you won't be 'in the system' yet. Having said that, it's possible (although unlikely) that you might be asked a question by the officer at the POE that, if you answer truthfully (and you should!), might make you seem like there's a risk you won't leave. After all, you are planning to move to the US within the next year or so. Personally I would take proof of your wife's intent to leave the US again on both trips (letter from employer stating date due back at work etc), and DEFINITELY on the second one.

Yeah there isn't anywhere for that...some of the forms don't jive with the instructions. Like they aren't making it hard enough, huh?! I didn't bother putting her email address on.

jeffreyhy

BG,

Wrong.

Look at I-130 again, carefully. (You too, f09) The form does clearly indicate whose employment is being asked about.

Regards, JEff

frank09

Yikes Jeff - I see it now, Column C is about my wife not me! So my questions end at 14b and hers go on to 16... Thanks!

jeffreyhy

No, because the full text of the item is "Birth in the US"

f09 is correct that "Parents" is the correct answer.