Sponsorship Question

[RobertC]

Dear All,

 

I hope I can make this as coherent as possible. I am concerned that I will not be able to get my wife a green card, or into the US at all. I currently have been living with my wife for over a year in China and started the process for my wife's green card, however I found out that I need, or find someone, to sponsor her. Since I am unable to do this or have anyone that can. Does that mean my wife is unable to go to the US? We currently have a two and half month baby, but from everything I have read, researched, and found it seems a no go. I am 28 and my wife is 26. I currently work as an English Teacher but am worried now that my wife will never be able to visit the US, and I don't want to leave my wife. We have gotten the passport and SSN for the child already. I erroneously assumed that getting my wife into the US would be easy.

,

Your questions, comments, and/or feedback would be much appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Robert

[dnoblett]

Firstly the person filing an I-130 petitioner must be primary sponsor, that would be you, and if your income and/or assets after arrival in the states are not sufficient then you would need a joint sponsor for your spouse.

 

A second and equally important issue is domicile, you need to show that you have maintained or in process of reestablishing US domicile in order to sponsor your spouse.

 

What many in your situation do is file the petition at USCIS in Beijing or Guangzhou China, and once that has been done the US Citizen then returns to the USA and establishes domicile and gets a job so that they can then provide sponsorship for their spouse. You could also start looking for a job on line and contact a few potential employers before returning to the states.

 

Sponsorship does not come up when you file the petition only later at the visa interview.

 

I taged this topic so that more info can be found at the bottom of the page.

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/tags/forums/DCF/

http://candleforlove.com/forums/tags/forums/I-864/

http://candleforlove.com/forums/tags/forums/Domicile/

[warpedbored]

Your wife will be able to come to the USA but as Dan mentioned, if you don't have a co-sponsor or enough assets you will need to return to the states to establish yourself and secure a job with sufficient income to support her and your child at 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. $24412.50 for a family of 3.

[tsap seui]

Dear All,

 

I hope I can make this as coherent as possible. I am concerned that I will not be able to get my wife a green card, or into the US at all. I currently have been living with my wife for over a year in China and started the process for my wife's green card, however I found out that I need, or find someone, to sponsor her. Since I am unable to do this or have anyone that can. Does that mean my wife is unable to go to the US? We currently have a two and half month baby, but from everything I have read, researched, and found it seems a no go. I am 28 and my wife is 26. I currently work as an English Teacher but am worried now that my wife will never be able to visit the US, and I don't want to leave my wife. We have gotten the passport and SSN for the child already. I erroneously assumed that getting my wife into the US would be easy.

,

Your questions, comments, and/or feedback would be much appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Robert

Robert, when you say you have already started "the process for my wife's greecard", does this mean you have already sent in the form I-130 for her?

 

It's not easy, but you can do it by meeting basic standards, like with the financial support thresholds, and sending in a good initial application loaded with good solid evidence of your relationship. LIving in China with her for a time is good for 100 points right off the bat.

 

How long have you been married?

 

Carl and Dan gave excellent advice. You can do this.

 

tsap seui

[dnoblett]

I will add having a child together is the strongest relationship evidence so in this case they will not deny a visa based on bonafide relationship.

 

Worse thing they will demand a joint sponsor.

 

Anyone can be a joint sponsor need not be family, can be a friend.

 

Lastly I have yet to see a post where the government go after a sponsor for any means tested benifits that an immigrant may use. So the joint sponsor really has nothing to worry about.

[RobertC]

Thanks for everyone's reply. I have talked to my family about the sponsorship but they still believe that sponsoring will make them financially responsible for her. Like in the case of a medical accident. Money has been a bit of weird thing in my family, it's kind of like if you have any thing financially related it is your own problem (e.g., college). They have very set views that are hard to change, I have told them the limit of being a sponsor. Also I don't want to leave my wife as we have a child, because from what I know everything dnoblett said is what I know needs to be done (i.e., me going back to the States establishing domicile and having a job). For marriage, we are officially married on July 12th 2012. That is the date on the marriage certificate the wedding was before that (7/1/12) and we considered ourselves married before that, around December 2011 to be exact though we started living together at the beginning of February 2012.

 

I have sent in the I-130 form and have received the DS-230, I-864, etc. Though I am now sitting on them because of the lack of support. I contacted the embassy and they told me to contact them once a year to keep my file active and that it is currently postponed and to contact them when I want to continue the process. After I submitted the I-130 I got the forms from the embassy within two weeks. I was very surprised at the turn around.

[dnoblett]

Yes DCF is a very quick process as opposed to filing in the states.

 

Yes you can keep a case open that way and simply send DS-230 and OF-169 when ready to interview.

[Randy W]

Thanks for everyone's reply. I have talked to my family about the sponsorship but they still believe that sponsoring will make them financially responsible for her. Like in the case of a medical accident. Money has been a bit of weird thing in my family, it's kind of like if you have any thing financially related it is your own problem (e.g., college). They have very set views that are hard to change, I have told them the limit of being a sponsor. Also I don't want to leave my wife as we have a child, because from what I know everything dnoblett said is what I know needs to be done (i.e., me going back to the States establishing domicile and having a job). For marriage, we are officially married on July 12th 2012. That is the date on the marriage certificate the wedding was before that (7/1/12) and we considered ourselves married before that, around December 2011 to be exact though we started living together at the beginning of February 2012.

 

I have sent in the I-130 form and have received the DS-230, I-864, etc. Though I am now sitting on them because of the lack of support. I contacted the embassy and they told me to contact them once a year to keep my file active and that it is currently postponed and to contact them when I want to continue the process. After I submitted the I-130 I got the forms from the embassy within two weeks. I was very surprised at the turn around.

 

Ye - unfortunately, the I-864 is a little like borrowing money from someone - you know they don't need to worry about anything, but, well, it's still little like borrowing money from someone.

 

Do the best you can with the job search - even if you have to remain in china - it would be BIG plus to be able to line up any interview in your field.

[dnoblett]

Gonna point out another thing, heading to the states ahead of spouse to establish domicile and support is no different than most cases where a US Citizen who is not an EX-Pat visits China marries the lady they have had an online or long term relationship through many visits to China then returns home then files an I-130 for their spouse. They have to deal with the 9 to 12 month time waiting for I-130 to be approved by stateside USCIS and then processing through NVC.

 

Another example of long period separated are US Citizens in the military, in many cases the husband and wife and children have long periods of time apart, they always can communicate online when they can. My uncle raised a family while in the Navy, he would get deployed for 3 months at a time on carriers.

 

I worked as a long haul truck driver, and would be away from home for long periods at a time. Also in my case my wife an I had to deal with a long period apart (8 months) waiting for her petition to process through to a visa.

 

What I am saying is sometimes you need to deal with a separation to achieve the final goal.