question about G235A employment record

[unknownusername]

First of all, I want to say thank you for this forum! I just came across it and it's invaluable. In fact, I wish I had known about it earlier.

 

My wife is non-Chinese, and we live in China. We have two young children. I'm employed in China, my wife is not. We have two young children so she's busy with that. On the G235A form, employment record, for the period we've been in China, we put "none", as technically she's not employed.

 

However, in addition to homeschooling our preschool son, this has evolved into a class of children of Chinese friends and neighbors who are the same age, who she teaches together. It's grown into an informal business of sorts that she wanted to turn into an actual registered business but could never get the legal paperwork sorted out to make that happen. Over the years, she's also privately taught classes to children of different friends off and on. She's never taught at a school or ESL center or anything like that (legally or otherwise), just privately with friends/friends-of-friends.

 

So on the one hand, she's not employed, but on the other hand, she's self-employed, depending on how "employment" is defined. So under "employer" we put "none" on the G325A, but now I'm thinking that's a mistake and we should have put "self (teacher)". What got me thinking about this was the DS260 it asks for Occupation, which is more clear that in her case it's teacher (she worked as a teacher before coming to China and was going to work at a school here, but got pregnant almost right after we got here and had 2 kids since, so somewhat ironically never worked as a teacher at a school in China). So on DS260 I think we should put "teacher" and "homemaker" as her 2 occupations, with "self" as the explanation under teacher, and say she's done private classes. But then the DS260 and the G325A wouldn't match up, so that's when I realized we should probably have put "self" on the G325A instead of "none".

 

(As an aside, in China, her teaching other children, even informally and privately, is technically illegal, or at least a legal grey area, much like doing any kind of freelance work in China, even if legally employed, is technically illegal or at least grey. At least that's my understanding. But I doubt if that's of any concern to the US CIS.

 

My main concern is that our application is truthful -- I wouldn't want her application to get denied for "false information". And in the interview she wants to be truthful as well, of course. I mean sure, these are private lessons, there are no legal records of any employment by anyone, etc., and yeah, she could just say she's a mom that homeschools her children (all true) and leave it at that. But if they ask for more details we don't want her to lie.

 

We just filed the I-130 (with the G-325A) last week, but I'm thinking we should correct it and submit a new one. My questions are:

 

- how to correct the G325A? Do I bring an updated version to the CIS office? Do I submit the corrected version with the DS160? Bring it to the interview?

- any advice on the correct answer to "employer" ("self" or "none")

- am I overthinking this?

Thanks in advance.

[Randy W]

You are definitely WAY overthinking here. They're not out to catch you in a "lie" and deny your application on that basis - they simply need to determine if your relationship is bona-fide. You have NOT mis-represented her career, nor is her work history especially relevant to the application.

 

What you need to be aware of, though, is that there is a NEW version of the I-130, dated Feb. 27, 2017, which is a MAJOR revision of the one you filed. This new version requires a new form - the I-130A - from the beneficiary, and has all of your G-325A information included on the I-130. That is, the G-325A is no longer filed with the I-130.

 

I doubt that there's any new information required, but it's an ENTIRELY different layout. The old version is accepted through April 28, so you got it in in time.

 

One of our members was told (incorrectly) that he needed to submit an I-130A with the old I-130.

 

Just something to be aware of if anyone mentions it to you. See http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/49030-advice-needed-on-i-130-new-form-i-130a/

Edited March 6, 2017 by Randy W (see edit history)

[unknownusername]

Thanks, Randy. Whew, I was really losing a lot of sleep over this ("denied" nightmares), so I'm glad I asked. As for "bonefide", we've been married for 5 years and have 2 kids (US citizens) so the relationship has definitely been "consummated" (I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw that listed as a requirement on the US site somewhere.)

 

We'll just leave the G-325A as is (rather than risk delaying by resubmitting it, if that's even possible), put "teacher" "self" on the DS-160 as a second occupation along with "homemaker", and if they ask about the diff with the G-325A we can explain and bring the updated G-325A at the time of the interview in case they want it.

 

Thanks for the heads up about the new form. I'm pretty sure we used the "old" I-130 because while we filed on March 1, I downloaded the form from the site 1-2 weeks before that. They accepted it without questions.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to respond not only to me, but all the others you've helped on this forum.