Hi,

I'm married to a USA citizen (9 months) and we are currently living in the UK.

We are considering moving to the USA in the near future. At the moment the plan would be for my wife to get accepted as a first year resident and for me to apply for a job once we are in the USA (difficult for me to apply for a job until we know where my wifes residency will be).

My questions are:

My wife has not maintained a residence in the USA and we will not be buying anything until we get there, can she still be my SPONSOR?

We will not have any USA tax returns etc... How will that affect the application (we will have savings that we will be taking to the USA)?

If any one has any answers to the above or has been through something similar, we would be very grateful for any responses.

Thanks in advance

Assuming your wife is legally resident in the UK, then you can process all of the visa paperwork through London. One of the criteria of filing in London, is that the US citien is resident in the UK and therefore it is not a problem that she doesn't have a residence in the US (it would be odd if she did).

Not sure how much you understand of the terminology - but there are two types of sponsoring that goes on: first, there is the US citizen who gets permission from the INS for your visa application to be considered. In your case, it is only your wife who can do this (she files an I-130 petition). Secondly, there is the US citizen(s) who promises to support you should you be unable to do so yourself. Your wife is you main sponsor - she completes an I-864 Affidavit of Support. If she is in a financially strong position, she can sponsor you herself. If not, she needs to find another US citizen who can do this.

If your wife was earning enough to file US tax returns in the past 3 years, then she should have done so despite living abroad. She needs to back file these before your visa interview.

To meet the I-864 criteria, her earnings need to be 125% of the federal poverty level for your household size. If you use savings/assets, you need 5x this number. Past 3 years earnings are only part of the evidence - they also consider future earnings. As your wife has very good earning potential, they may overlook lower earnings in the past (ie, they are fairly reasonable). If you are in any doubt, you should try to find a co-sponsor in the US.

Info about filing in London - http://www.ameriscot.com/i130/