Pratik Patel

Hello,

I am currently in Florida. I came to USA on F-1, Student Visa.

Changed to H-1B in October 2005.

In November 2005, I met a girl thru family contacts and got married in
December 2006.

During that time, I used to travel to her place (by flight so I have
records of going to her place just in case) once in every 5-6 weeks to
visit her.

She would apply for Citizenship in 3 months.

We are planning to apply for family based immigration for myself once
she becomes Citizen.

Since Jan 2007-Jul 2007 we were living together in FL, we both are on
the apartment lease.

I added her to my bank accounts as a joint member. No creditcards are
shared for the sake of safety of credit history.

Also, added her to my auto and health insurance policy.

We filed joint tax return (federal) for year 2006 and same we would do
for 2007.

She used to work full-time before we got married. After that she quit
her full-time job and temporarily moved with me to FL.

As she was getting bored at home, She worked there temporarily for a
little less than 3 months in FL.

Now she is going back to the school to complete her studies in NJ
where she used to live before.

How would living in separate states affect my application for family-
based immigration?

Do I need change my permanent address to the same as hers? If yes, how
can I defend during interview that we are not living together and
still we have the same address?

What kind of documents I/she would require for this?

As she would not have sufficient income when we would apply. Although
I make enough for that sake. So what option of the following two I
should choose?

1. show my income to support sponsorship
OR
2. add another sponsor (someone from her family or her sister)

I really appreciate you reading this and all efforts made to reply.

Noorah101

When she becomes a USC, you will file what's called Adjustment of Status to Permanent Resident. You'll file forms I-130, I-485, I-864, I-765 (for work authorization if needed) and I-131 (for travel purposes if needed). You'll also get a full medical done and include that with the AOS paperwork.

Your income can be included on the I-864, you won't need a joint sponsor if you make enough combined income.

If you are still living apart by the time you are ready to file AOS, you will need to choose one of the locations as the permanent address, and your AOS interview will be held at that district office. USCIS understands that due to work and school, some couples temporarily live apart, and it should not be an issue. Make sure you have joint documents, such as your taxes, banking, insurance, credit cards, anything you can use which shows you have a joint life together.

Best Wishes,
Rene

Pratik Patel

Hello Rene,

Firstly, Thank you very much for the detailed reponse.

As you advised that We should choose one of the addresses as the
permanent address. So this could either be FL address where I
currently am or NJ address where she currently is.

If we choose to go with NJ address, do I put NJ address on the forms
for myself also?

If yes, Do my paystubs, tax return for 2007, credit cards should show
NJ address?

and If yes to the latter one, would not that raise a question that
paystub and other address does not match the one on the forms?

Thank you.

--Pratik Patel

Noorah101

Choose the address to use on the forms, where you will want to do your biometrics (fingerprinting) and have the AOS interview. That will probably be the address where you live, not where she lives, although you can certainly travel to where she is for those appointments, it just might be a hassle to do so.

If the difference in addresses raises a question, it won't be until the AOS interview, where you and your wife will both be in person to explain any discrepancies. It's best to have ONE address where those statements get sent, so it shows you have ONE joint mailing address, and the other address is temporary. But even if some joint statements get sent to different addresses, surely you will get some mail in both your names at the one permanent address, make sure to include that in your evidence.

Rene

Pratik Patel

Hello Rene,

Thank you for your response.

I live in FL and my wife is in NJ for studies.

We are planning to use NJ address for fingerprinting and AOS interview
as she studies there and I would be travelling quite often to meet her
there.

Statements for our joint accounts are sent as below. (mostly to FL
address)

Now, we have

Joint Tax Return for 2006 (with her address of NJ and mine as FL
because our employment was in respective states during 2006 and we got
married in mid Dec of 2006)
2 joint bank accounts ( I added her to my
accounts) Statements sent to FL
address
Joint Auto Insurance
Policy
Statements sent to FL address
Joint Renters Insurance
Policy
Statements sent to FL address
Family medical/dental/vision insurance from my
employer Employer has FL address
She was added to Apartment Lease during her stay in
FL FL

(+ marriage certificate + ceremony picture albums + ceremony video
dvds)

Do you think we can provide anymore evidences of marriage being Bona
Fide?

I really appreciate you response.

--Pratik Patel

Noorah101

Hi Pratik,

I'm not a lawyer, but just from reading your list of evidence, it would seem that your joint permanent address is actually in FL, not NJ. All your mail and joint statements come to the FL address, plus you yourself (the immigrant) is living in FL.

The district office which does your AOS interview should be the one where you live permanently. This seems to be FL from what you say. If I were an officer, I would wonder why all your evidence and proof, and you yourself live in FL, but you're having your AOS interview in NJ? All your evidence will show an address in FL.

Think of it this way, too. Which one is more temporary, your work or your wife's school? I would think school would be the more temporary one. If your work was the temporary one, then your permanent address for mailing would be in NJ, with some things coming to you in FL. But the way you have it, all your important documents are coming to the address in FL, so to me, it shows THAT is your permanent address, and it's the address that should be used for AOS. I know you say you travel more often to NJ, but it shouldn't be too hard for your wife to come over to FL just once for the AOS interview when it happens.

Just my opinion.

Rene

Pratik Patel

Hello Rene,

I appreciate your continued response and valuable suggestions.

I think I left out an important detail that I am not the one who is an
immigrant. I am on H1 B visa. My wife is an immigrant.

We chose her to study in NJ because what we thought was

If she starts her study in FL and during the course of her study if my
project/job changes ( my employer is a service based company), I will
have to go to the place where the my next assignment/project would be.
So she would be in FL, I would be somewhere else and her family (my in-
laws) would be in NJ. Rather than that, we took conservative approach
and chose NJ for her study.

Please let me know what is your opinion on this. Also, if we can
provide something more when applying.

Thank you.

--Pratik Patel

Noorah101

Hi Pratik,

I'm confused. In your first post, you wrote: "She would apply for Citizenship in 3 months. We are planning to apply for family based immigration for myself once she becomes Citizen."

So this means that YOU are the immigrant. When your wife becomes a USC, you will apply for AOS based on her citizenship. Is this not what you meant?

If your wife is up for citizenship in 3 months, then you don't need to do anything for her...she will file the N-400 and go from there. I thought the whole point was for YOU to gain PR status through her as your spouse.

I'm sorry, I'm not clearly understanding your goal here. You and your wife are both going through immigration....but first your wife will be obtaining citizenship, then you will apply for PR status (AOS) based on her being a USC and your spouse. So YOU are the one we are talking about filing for AOS, is that not true?

Rene

Pratik Patel

On Aug 23, 1:13 pm, Noorah101 <[email protected]>
wrote:
> > Hello Rene,
>
> > I appreciate your continued response and valuable suggestions.
>
> > I think I left out an important detail that I am not the one who is an
> > immigrant. I am on H1 B visa. My wife is an immigrant.
>
> > We chose her to study in NJ because what we thought was
>
> > If she starts her study in FL and during the course of her study if my
> > project/job changes ( my employer is a service based company), I will
> > have to go to the place where the my next assignment/project would be.
> > So she would be in FL, I would be somewhere else and her family (my
> > in-
> > laws) would be in NJ. Rather than that, we took conservative approach
> > and chose NJ for her study.
>
> > Please let me know what is your opinion on this. Also, if we can
> > provide something more when applying.
>
> > Thank you.
>
> > --Pratik Patel
>
> Hi Pratik,
>
> I'm confused. In your first post, you wrote: "She would apply for
> Citizenship in 3 months. We are planning to apply for family based
> immigration for myself once she becomes Citizen."
>
> So this means that YOU are the immigrant. When your wife becomes a
> USC, you will apply for AOS based on her citizenship. Is this not what
> you meant?
>
> If your wife is up for citizenship in 3 months, then you don't need to
> do anything for her...she will file the N-400 and go from there. I
> thought the whole point was for YOU to gain PR status through her as
> your spouse.
>
> I'm sorry, I'm not clearly understanding your goal here. You and your
> wife are both going through immigration....but first your wife will be
> obtaining citizenship, then you will apply for PR status (AOS) based on
> her being a USC and your spouse. So YOU are the one we are talking
> about filing for AOS, is that not true?
>
> Rene
>
> --
> Posted viahttp://britishexpats.com- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Hello Rene,

Sorry to have you confused. What you understood was correct. She is
going to be USC.

H1-B is non-immigrant visa (which I am currently holding).

Again, I am really sorry to have you confused.

Just for the reference I am pasting the situation from last post.

We chose her to study in NJ because what we thought was

If she starts her study in FL and during the course of her study if my
project/job changes ( my employer is a service based company), I will
have to go to the place where the my next assignment/project would be.

If that happens then she would be in FL, I would be somewhere else and
her family (my in-laws) would be in NJ. Rather than that, we took
conservative approach and chose NJ for her study. And this was well
thought so she has not changed her driving license and her residency
of NJ. She is still NJ resident.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think because she is NJ resident, we
would need to apply on basis of her residency, ie. From NJ

Please let me know what is your opinion on this.

Also, Do you think if we can provide more evidences of the Bona Fide
marriage?

Thank you.

Noorah101

OK. I understand why you chose NJ for her to study, not a problem. However, YOU are the person who is asking for an immigration benefit (not your wife...I'm talking about after she becomes a USC). You will be filing an I-485 and supporting documents, so that you may become a US PR. So the address you use on the forms will be the one where YOU live permanently. This address might very well be in NJ (your wife's address). Meaning, this is where you and your wife live or plan to live permanently (then it would mean your job situation is temporary in FL). But all your joint evidence shows a FL address, which would not make sense if you go to an interview in NJ.

Again I have to ask why you are so hesitant to use the FL address, and have the AOS interview in FL? That would definitely make the most sense here.

And yes, I think you have enough evidence.

Rene

Pratik Patel

Hello Rene,

About filing from FL, first of all she does not have FL driving
license.

We did not choose to change it as she was going to return to NJ and
and it was good as her school later also asked for to determine her NJ
residency.

Let me present two situations. (I have been in FL since before our
marrige.)

Situation 1:

The situation I presented to you. File it from NJ. Only thing adverse
there is that although we get all kind of joint statements in FL, why
we filed in NJ?

Explanation:
1. Due to the nature of my job, I might not be in FL when we get
notice for interview.
Also, in that case, I am not sure if we can request to change the
interview location and how it would affect application processing?

2. We would not know when exactly would be an interview and as she is
studying and if the interview is during the time when suppose she has
exams or something important already scheduled.

Situation 2:

I change all of our addresses to NJ address including address with my
company so that NJ address would appear on Pay stubs, W-2, heath
insurance policy, MY credit cards (we do not have any joint credit
card for the sake of safety of credit history e.g. if unfortunately
one of us become victim of id theft), our joint bank accounts, phone
family share plan.

But here the question is (During AOS interview), my job was in FL
since before our marriage and I am still in FL then why did I change
all of my addresses to NJ address? Why I do not have NJ DL if I have
all addresses of NJ?

Thank you.

--Pratik Patel

Noorah101

Your driving licenses don't matter. You each have a license to drive in the state where you each drive every day. That makes sense.

It's really up to you. You can file in NJ and go to the interview there. Bring all your evidence showing your FL address and just tell the officer that's the address you chose to use. See what she says.

All I can tell you is that one is *supposed* to have the AOS interview in the district office of the permanent address. I guess you're saying your permanent address is in NJ, even though all your mail comes to FL. If you can prove to the interviewing officer that your permanent address is in NJ, even though all your joint mail comes to FL, then you'll be OK.

Rene

Noorah101

You still have some time to think about this. Might be a good idea to go ahead and do a change of address for your joint mail to go to the NJ address, if that's where you plan to make your permanent home. Your wife won't be filing N-400 for 3 more months, right? Then it takes 6 months or so for her to get processed and take the oath ceremony. Then you'll be ready to file your AOS paperwork, so you might want to think about making it more clear that your permanent address is in NJ during the next 9 months.

Rene

ian-mstm

None of this matters. You file at the place that has jurisdiction where you *live*. Not where your spouse is. Not where your work is. Not where you want to end up. Not where you have a driver's licence. Where you *live*. This isn't a difficult concept.

Your questions have been answered several times by a very patient young lady - far more patient than me - but it seems that her answers aren't good enough for you... because you keep asking the same things over and over again as though you find it difficult to understand that you file at the place that has jurisdiction where you *live*.

Ian

Noorah101

Thank you Ian, nice to have another comment in here.

Rene