FlightRisk

I am sponsoring my wife and 2 stepkids for AOS. I've gotten good advice to have each petition "stand on it's own". I'm not sure how far to go with this.

The instructions say I need a picture of myself and my wife for her I-130, but it doesn't list that for the children. So am I correct to skip the those pictures and only include 2 of each child for the I-485?

Same with the g-325a, neither child needs one for their I-130, but any child 14 or over needs one for the I-485. Is that correct? And I don't have to include MY g-325a with the kid's, only with the I-130 for my wife? Thanks!

-fr

northspoon

my usc husband has just applied for me and my two children (his stepkids) via the I-130 and we did everything including pictures in triplicate

Folinskyinla

Hi:

The G-325A and picture requirement is for the spouse only. However, part D will have to disclose the other two petitions.

As for "standing on their own" -- that means showing the validity of the marriage in all three applications.

FlightRisk

Thanks, I think it is finally clear. It looks like

I-130's for everybody you are sponsoring

NO pictures except for your spouse's I-130

NO G-325a for the I-130 except for your spouse

I-485's for everybody

pictures for everybody on I-485

g-325 only for anyone 14 or older for the I-485

marriage/divorce/birth stuff for I-130 and I485 to show citizenship and the relationship

passport and other stuff as required for I-485

-fr

FlightRisk

Another interesting point is that the supporting document requirement is not exactly clear. According to the instructions, you would just provide birth, marriage and divorce certs for the I-130, then for the I-485 birth certs. and passport copies for the I-485's. It doesn't mention anything else. For some countries, the birth certificate just says someone has been born, and does not list any other people, like parents, on the birth certificate. Technically, without them looking up the ID number on these type of forms that shows a family tree, there is no way to prove who the parent's are.

I've wondered if that means just to be safe, you would put all the stuff from the I-130 and duplicate it again on the I-485 so that is had the USC birth cert, the spouse BC, the marriage certificate, the divorce stuff, blah, blah, even though it's not asked for and even though it is clipped to the I-130 for each person where that stuff is already attached and all of that is attached to the main I-130/485 for the USC and spouse that the children are a part of. In any case, I mailed everything with ony the kids BC's, passport copies, etc. and just added their mom's BC and our marriage cert. for the heck of it.

-fr