beeve

Hi all, I just wanted to share with you that my wife passed her interview! As you suggested, I asked my father to be a co-sponsor, which he agreed to. However, in the end, the VO told my wife (during the interview) that we did not need a co-sponsor. The interview was short and much easier than expected. Lesson learned: It's much better, for the interview and for your own peace of mind, to over-prepare for the interview date, but at the end of the day, the actual interview is really not that bad. Thank you all for sharing your wisdom throughout this process. We are looking forward to the next chapter in our lives! -Beeve

Thank you dnoblett and Beachey

Hi CFL, I filed the I-130 petition last month in Guangzhou (DCF), and my wife and I just received P-3. Here is the situation: I am living in China (have been for the past 7+ years) and am currently not working (I quit working with a local company earlier this year). My wife and I are planning on finishing the immigration visa process together from here in China and moving to the US together immediately afterwards. I'm working on the I-864 and have a couple of questions: My income for 2011 exceeded 125% of the HH poverty line, but for 2012, because I only worked for part of the year, my income falls short. First question (hopefully easy): To calculate my 2012 income, I'm using my actual, prorated salary (based on x months I worked this year). Is this correct, or can I use previous years (2011, 2010) as a benchmark? Although my actual 2012 income falls short, when I include my assets (bank accounts, etc), I come out over the 125% threshold [using their formula total assets needs to be greater than 5x the difference between 2012 income and the 2012 HH poverty line]. Second question: Should I sponsor my wife by myself, or does it look better to have a joint sponsor? e.g. Would it look better if my father was a joint sponsor, because I haven't lived in the US for 7+ years, I don't have a house in the US, and we are planning on initially living with him when we move back? Let me try and rephrase: Does having a joint sponsor help to reestablish domicile? Financially (income + assets), I meet the criteria for being the sole sponsor, but I am nervous that I may not fit their other criteria for reestablishing domicile. The things I do have in the US include: bank accounts, stocks, driver's licence, I've paid my taxes... but I don't have a job yet and I don't have my own house. Final question (this one is especially annoying me)! My address in the US (for driver's licence, bank statements, etc) is in NJ, where I grew up. However, my parents recently moved to Florida, and are trying to sell the NJ house. My US mailbox is still in NJ, but when my wife and I move to the US, we plan on initially living in Florida where my parents live (and I can change my addresses & driver's licence when I get back). My final question: Are my NJ bank statements, NJ driver's licence, everything NJ in my name... going to be a stumbling block for reestablishing domicile, especially if we say we are moving in with my parents in Florida? Right now, I have nothing in my name that says that my domicile will be in Florida (except for my parents). Would we be better off saying we'll move to the NJ address, or does it not really matter? The more I read these forums, I more I realize that these cases can get really complicated (or maybe I'm over-thinking?). I'm sorry for the mountain of questions... I just really hope that I'm doing this the right way. Thank you in advance!

Hi Randy, Just a quick update. I went to the USCIS office in Guangzhou today and my I-130 petition was accepted for DCF! It seems that my combination of a spouse visa + previous residence permits was enough for them to accept my petition. Thanks for your advice!

Thanks Randy, I think you're right in that I just need to ask the consulate. I've been trying to call and email, but have had no luck with a response (other than an automated email response). My original plan was to go to Guangzhou next week during the walk-in hours on Friday morning to try and file my paperwork. If they say "yes", then there are obvious next steps. You mentioned going through Chengdu. Is this process easier than going though Guangzhou? Do I also need to go to Chengdu in person? Is their acceptance rate higher? If the consulate says "no", you mentioned filing through the US. My only concern is that I've read online that filing through the US would require a ~10 month processing period as opposed to China's 3-4 month processing period. If I file through the US, how much time am I expected to live there in order to reestablish domicile, file my paperwork, etc? Ideally, I would like to minimize the time apart from my wife as much as possible. Thanks again for your advice! Apologies for all of the questions; I'm just trying to get a realistic picture of what my options are if I am or am not able to DCF. Steve

Hi everyone, This is my first post. I'm hoping that I can get a little clarity on my situation, since I've been pulling my hair out over it for the past month or so. I have been in China since the summer of 2005. My wife and I met in 2007 when I was living and working in Changsha (her hometown & hukou). We've been living together ever since and registered for marriage in July 2011. We had our official wedding ceremonies earlier this year (Yay!). We recently decided that we would like to move to the US to figure out if we should settle down there or in China (my wife, a Chinese national, has never lived in the US before). I'm currently working on the I-130 petition in Changsha, where we just moved so that we can be closer to her family during the visa process. While living here, I've lived in a lot of different cities/provinces/consular districts and have had a number of jobs, all of which have been legal and under a Z-visa+residence permits, until now. See below: 2005-2008: Changsha, Hunan (Z-visa, Residence Permit)2008-2011: Shanghai (Z-Visa, Residence Permit)2011-2012.07: Beijing (Z-Visa, Residence Permit - through my company in Shanghai)2012.07 - present: 6-month, multiple entry spouse visa (categorized as "L", issued by Changsha PSB: I was told that this visa is a prerequisite for the spouse residence permit, because I have never applied for this type of residence permit before)My question is: can I still file DCF? I have been living in Hunan now for less than a month, but I lived here for 3 years from 2005-2008. Does this help me qualify for the 6 month requirement for residency in the consular district of Guangzhou?How much do they look at work/non-work related visas, residence permits? If they don't accept my spouse visa, should I consider getting a job here in Changsha for the z-visa just so that I can file DCF?Also, neither the USCIS websites for Guangzhou nor Beijing claim Hunan province (or Chongqing). Do I file through Guangzhou? I've read from other posts that GZ has jurisdiction over Hunan, but I just want to make sure.I admittedly made the mistake of starting this paperwork late in the game. I should have started working on this while I still had a valid residence permit & Z visa. Unfortunately, here I am and I need some help. Any advice is very much appreciated!