CR1KEY

Ok well, I-130 is on its way to USCIS! Let's hope they deem my income and our few savings as sufficient when we get to that point... Thanks for all the help so far

Well that's something of a relief, thanks. Another question... Say we wanted a backup plan, in case they don't like the fact I've only been working a short time, or if I don't find a job that pays over $19,300, or I have trouble finding any job... Her parents may be willing to lend us $60,000 or so to buy a house in my name, which would cover the requirement for assets ($19,300 * 3). We could then sell it again when the process is over. Would that be an avenue worth pursuing as a backup, and preferable to just a lump sum bank transfer that would show up on bank statements? Or is property not considered a valuable asset in these cases? (difficult to know what resale value would be, not considered very liquid, where would we live if we sold the house, etc...?) Thanks again!

Well, it's proving impossible to find a willing joint-sponsor... We'll be ready to send the first package with I-130 etc within the next couple of weeks. I'll be moving back to the US within the next 2 to 3 months to re-establish domicile and find work. Assuming I can find a job that pays 125% of the state's poverty guideline, is there any chance that come i-864 filing time 6 to 7 months down the line, they will deem my current employment as sufficient for me to be the only sponsor if I can provide a letter from my employer and pay stubs? (I may have only been working for three months or so by the time we need to send off the AOS...) Or would I regardless have to wait until I next have to file a tax return showing my new income? Or...? Any other ideas? Thanks in advance again for your helpful suggestions!

Hey, so we need your help again... We just got married a couple of days ago so the wheels are in motion! But we're finding it harder than we thought to get someone willing to be our joint sponsor for the affidavit of support so are pondering our options. For cashable assets, I believe we need three times the poverty guideline minus our income. Our income being zero, we would need close to $60,000 to cover the both of us. Is that correct? And is cash in the bank considered good enough an asset? Would it therefore be an option for either of our parents to transfer the required amount of money to one of our accounts now, that we could say was a wedding gift and leave untouched in the account until the process is over? Would they consider that sufficient come interview time? Thanks again for any input!

Ok cool thanks. This might be doable after all! Will update in due course and ask more questions as they arise...

Yea, we'll have a hard time matching that ourselves but I can think of a few people who should be willing to joint sponsor us...

Thanks for all the info! Yes, I have US passport and birth certificate. I don't think I've earned more than $10,000 in the last three years but I should go ahead and do my last three tax returns online anyway? It sounds like the easiest will be for her to fly back here to Australia so we can get married here, then she can go back to Beijing and I go to the US to look for work, get driving licence etc. while the process is underway. Will doing this make it difficult to show "evidence of a bonifide marriage" whch is one of the requirements when filing I130? http://www.visajourn...tent/i130guide1 We don't and won't have any jointly owned property, joint tenancy, joint bank accounts etc. by that time. Would affidavits from my parents and a few of our friends suffice? Would photos of the two of us together, emails, skype convos etc from over the past two years before the actual marriage be useful here? Thanks again.

Ok, so our situation is a bit complicated so I hope you guys can shed some light and reassure us that there is a way to do this... I'm American by birth, both parents are French so I have dual citizenship. I've never lived in the US except for six months a couple of years ago. I worked for three of those six months but didn't earn enough to pay any taxes and have never filed a US tax return. I have a SSN, a bank account (with hardly anything in it), and a friend's address in California that I used as my residential address when I was there. My girlfriend is from Beijing. We met two and a half years ago in Hong Kong where she was studying when I passed through on my travels. I lived with her there for a few months on a couple of consecutive tourist visas. We then went traveling, spent a year in New Zealand on working visas, then went to Australia where she could only get a tourist visa. Her visa expired a few weeks ago and she's now gone back to China and I'm still in Australia working. We'd like to move to the US together as soon as possible. Our first thought was for her to get a J1 aupair visa and get married once we're both over there, but having done some reading that seems like a more complicated/long/expensive way to do it. So we've started looking at the CR1 process and the idea of getting married somewhere beforehand but we're confused since our situation is relatively unique. Some questions...: Can we get married anywhere or does it have to be in China? After we get married, do we have to stay in the same place while the process is underway and while we wait for her interview? Could she potentially apply for a J1 aupair visa while we're waiting for the CR1 process to happen so we could be in the US together sooner? Will her interview have to take place in China regardless of where we get married and regardless of where she is/we are at the time, or can it be done in any USCIS anywhere in the world? If we have to get married in China, can I be there on a tourist visa? I read that I'd need to have been in China for over six months to file the I-130 by DCF. Is there another way to file the I-130 that doesn't have that requirement? I also saw that I need to file I-130 in the place that is considered my permanent residence. Having been traveling for the past 3 years or so, I'm confused as to where that would be. I grew up in the UK but haven't been back there for over five years and I only lived in France for a couple of years before heading off on my travels 3 years ago. So not sure whether my permanent residence is my current address here in Australia, my father's address in France, my friend's in California, or... Will the fact that I've never really lived in the US and the lack of tax returns be a problem? How would I show that I'm in the process of wanting to establish domicile there? How much money is required to show we can afford the move? We don't have much between us and no joint accounts. Is that ok as long as we can find co-sponsors? Assuming this is at all possible, what happens once we get to the US? Do we need a fixed address so they can check up on us periodically or are we free to do as we like until the 2 year interview as long as we can prove we've spent those two years together? (We're thinking of buying an RV and living on the road while working remotely so wouldn't have a fixed address...) We have plenty of photos together, lots of emails/sms/skype convos, can probably dig up flight booking emails and have met each other's mothers if that helps... A lot of questions I know. Hopefully some of you can enlighten us a bit. Thanks!