Immigrant Visa Form Questions

[ao_cons 1]

Hi. My husband and I have begun filling out the forms for CR-1/IR-1. I am a Filipino citizen and he is American. We married and live in Thailand. I've heard we can file in just 6 months, but whenever we call the DHS in Bangkok they always say it's 1 year or at least husband must have a work permit. Has anybody here done DCF lately in Thailand?

We have questions about the I-130 and G-325a forms. My husband listed them as follows:

General Questions:

• Husband's Passport copy for I-130:
• Color or black and white?
• All pages from cover to cover?

Passport photos for I-130:

• 1 photo each, or two?
• Wife's Passport vitae for I-130 and G-325A:
• Should she have her passport amended to reflect her married name, or is it okay with her maiden name still in it?

Form I-130:

Section B:

• Questions 14 & 14b: N/A or leave blank? Does not apply to me, natural citizen

Section C:

• Question 2: Her address in Thailand? Or her home address in the Philippines? If in Thailand, would it not be redudant since it requests her address abroad in Question 19?
• Questions 9 & 10: N/A or None? Should be None?
• Question 14: N/A or leave blank?
• Question 21: Our place here in Thailand, how do we date from 14 April 2008 to present?
• Question 22: N/A or leave blank?
• Last question asking what the form is being submitted for: I'm filling this form out to bring my wife stateside so we can be together. What do I specify?

Form G-325 A (Husband):

• Father: city and country of residence is unknown. Do I put: UNKNOWN or leave blank?
• Full name and address of employer: I am a retired veteran. What do I put here?

Form G-325 A (Wife):

• Social Security number: I don't have one yet. What do I put here? (I have Social Security Number issued by the Philippine Government.)
• Address: My last address was my home address in the Philippines, and I lived there for more than five years. How do I fill this out? Total time in that house, or just back five years from the date I left for Thailand?
• I have no previous husbands. What do I put? N/A or None?
• Last question asking what the form is being submitted for: I'm immigrating to the US to be with my husband permanently. What do I specify?
• In the very first and very last boxes that ask for my name: Should I use my maiden name or my married name? Or does it matter?

Domicile Questions:

• We have been staying in Thailand as tourists since April 2008. Husband is a natural US citizen with US bank account, home, and postal address. The house we will be living in is not in husband's name, but it is a familial property that is owned and used by the whole family and has been for close to 70 years. Do we need to give specific proof of intention to reside permanently in the US once wife's immigrant visa is issued? If so, what kind of evidence is necessary?
• In the Cover Letter of our IR-1/CR-1 application, do we use our Bangkok address as return address, or must we use our US address?
• Is it of any consequence from where the application is mailed? Must it be sent from within the US or is it okay to send it from Thailand? We ask because we would like to do a DCF if possible. But people there (Embassy, DHS, and even here in different forums) give conflicting reports regarding how long we have to wait to file. Some say 6 months while others say 1 year. Which is it to file directly?

[Thai family 0]

To answer the first question: You cannot do a direct consular filing in Thailand if the petitioner is there on a tourist or student visa, regardless of how long you've been there. My son was on a student visa over there for over a two year uninterrupted period and still was unable to do a DCF.

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

My answers in red...

Hi. My husband and I have begun filling out the forms for CR-1/IR-1. I am a Filipino citizen and he is American. We married and live in Thailand. I've heard we can file in just 6 months, but whenever we call the DHS in Bangkok they always say it's 1 year or at least husband must have a work permit. Has anybody here done DCF lately in Thailand?

Sorry, wish I could help with that.

We have questions about the I-130 and G-325a forms. My husband listed them as follows:

General Questions:

• Husband's Passport copy for I-130:
• Color or black and white? B/W should be fine. Ours was.
• All pages from cover to cover? We only sent the biographic info page. I've heard of people sending all pages, but I can't see why all those pages would be necessary to establish citizenship! We were approved with just the front page.

Passport photos for I-130:

• 1 photo each, or two? Send two for each. Write the name on the back of each. You might put them into a plastic baggie and attach them to the front of the corresponding G-325a forms.
• Wife's Passport vitae for I-130 and G-325A:
• Should she have her passport amended to reflect her married name, or is it okay with her maiden name still in it?

Form I-130:

Section B:

• Questions 14 & 14b: N/A or leave blank? Does not apply to me, natural citizen. Don't leave ANYTHING blank. Always put "N/A" or "none"

Section C:

• Question 2: Her address in Thailand? Or her home address in the Philippines? If in Thailand, would it not be redudant since it requests her address abroad in Question 19? Put her current address, so that would be Thailand. The address abroad is generally for aliens in the US adjusting status, but just repeat it anyway.
• Questions 9 & 10: N/A or None? Should be None? Correct
• Question 14: N/A or leave blank? N/A
• Question 21: Our place here in Thailand, how do we date from 14 April 2008 to present? Correct.
• Question 22: N/A or leave blank? N/A
• Last question asking what the form is being submitted for: I'm filling this form out to bring my wife stateside so we can be together. What do I specify? I don't see that on the I-130. Yours must be different. Sorry I don't know.

Form G-325 A (Husband):

• Father: city and country of residence is unknown. Do I put: UNKNOWN or leave blank? Unknown
• Full name and address of employer: I am a retired veteran. What do I put here? you could put "none". Maybe someone else has a better suggestion.

Form G-325 A (Wife):

• Social Security number: I don't have one yet. What do I put here? (I have Social Security Number issued by the Philippine Government.) None
• Address: My last address was my home address in the Philippines, and I lived there for more than five years. How do I fill this out? Total time in that house, or just back five years from the date I left for Thailand? Put the total time at that address even if more than 5 yrs
• I have no previous husbands. What do I put? N/A or None? None
• Last question asking what the form is being submitted for: I'm immigrating to the US to be with my husband permanently. What do I specify? Check "other" and write "I-130 petition" on the line
• In the very first and very last boxes that ask for my name: Should I use my maiden name or my married name? Or does it matter? I would assume your married name, but hopefully someone else knows this...

Domicile Questions:

• We have been staying in Thailand as tourists since April 2008. Husband is a natural US citizen with US bank account, home, and postal address. The house we will be living in is not in husband's name, but it is a familial property that is owned and used by the whole family and has been for close to 70 years. Do we need to give specific proof of intention to reside permanently in the US once wife's immigrant visa is issued? If so, what kind of evidence is necessary? Not sure, sorry...
• In the Cover Letter of our IR-1/CR-1 application, do we use our Bangkok address as return address, or must we use our US address? I suggest the US address, but only if you have someone at that address that can inform you of the correspondence.
• Is it of any consequence from where the application is mailed? Must it be sent from within the US or is it okay to send it from Thailand? We ask because we would like to do a DCF if possible. But people there (Embassy, DHS, and even here in different forums) give conflicting reports regarding how long we have to wait to file. Some say 6 months while others say 1 year. Which is it to file directly? You might just go ahead and try DCF at 6 months. I've heard of consulates/embassies allowing DCF even after they've said they wouldn't. Generally I thought that the USC had to have residency (temporary or permanent) for 6 months in the country to do DCF. I haven't heard of it being possible on a tourist visa. Hopefully someone who knows about DCF can answer this.

Good luck!

Edited August 13, 2008 by guatetaliana

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

Oh also, even if you can't do DCF, you can still file the forms from Thailand using a currier service like DHL, UPS, FedEx, etc. Just make sure to send it to the address listed on the I-130 instructions for "non-USPS deliveries".

[N360 0]

I'll try to answer some of your questions.

General Questions:

• Husband's Passport copy for I-130:
• Color or black and white?
• All pages from cover to cover?

We submitted colored but its ok if its black & white too. You just need to copy the front of the passport where it shows the signature and all biographical inormation suchs as name, birth date, etc.

Passport photos for I-130:

• 1 photo each, or two?
• Wife's Passport vitae for I-130 and G-325A:
• Should she have her passport amended to reflect her married name, or is it okay with her maiden name still in it?

We submitted two passport photos. Your wife could use married or maiden name. It doesnt really matter which one you use as long as your consistent on all your forms.

In our case, we used my wife's married name on the I-130 application. Then she got a new Philippine passport with her new married name.

Form I-130:

Section B:

• Questions 14 & 14b: N/A or leave blank? Does not apply to me, natural citizen

Section C:

• Question 2: Her address in Thailand? Or her home address in the Philippines? If in Thailand, would it not be redudant since it requests her address abroad in Question 19?
• Questions 9 & 10: N/A or None? Should be None?
• Question 14: N/A or leave blank?
• Question 21: Our place here in Thailand, how do we date from 14 April 2008 to present?
• Question 22: N/A or leave blank?
• Last question asking what the form is being submitted for: I'm filling this form out to bring my wife stateside so we can be together. What do I specify?

Put N/A on 14 & 14b. DO NOT leave anything blank or you will get na RFE.

On 9 & 10, Im assuming this related to you. If it is the answers would be none and none.

On question 21... Yes. you'll need to write present IF that is the case.

Again, put N/A on 22. DO NOT leave anything blank.

[N360 0]

Form G-325 A (Husband):

• Father: city and country of residence is unknown. Do I put: UNKNOWN or leave blank?
• Full name and address of employer: I am a retired veteran. What do I put here?

I'd just write the last known city and coutry of residence for father. The form isnt rally being too specific. Just city and country.

I'd put RETIRED

Form G-325 A (Wife):

• Social Security number: I don't have one yet. What do I put here? (I have Social Security Number issued by the Philippine Government.)
• Address: My last address was my home address in the Philippines, and I lived there for more than five years. How do I fill this out? Total time in that house, or just back five years from the date I left for Thailand?
• I have no previous husbands. What do I put? N/A or None?
• Last question asking what the form is being submitted for: I'm immigrating to the US to be with my husband permanently. What do I specify?
• In the very first and very last boxes that ask for my name: Should I use my maiden name or my married name? Or does it matter?

Put "NONE" on social security.

You will have to put places that you've lived in the ;ast five years regardless of where it is.

Put "NONE" on the previous husband.

In the question about what the form is for... tyype "I-130 Petition"

It doesnt matter what name you use. maried or maiden is fine but you'll have to DECIDE NOW which name you want to use and be consistent throughout the whole process.

[ao_cons 1]

Thank you everyone! We were able to fill out the rest of the form fields thanks to your advice. I used my married name so I assume I must have my passport amended now, right?

About future forms and documents required. Do we start gathering these now or wait until we are asked? For intance, police records and "long" birth certificate. It's unclear to us which these refer to. Do we need to submit MY police record and full BC? I imagine so since the petitioner's citizenship was established at the application; the interview is for the petitioned spouse, right?

We'd like to go together for the interview, btw. I wonder if it'd be an issue if we live together here in Bangkok all this time? I'm concerned about this because right now we have no US domicile in our name. My husband's apartment lease ended just before he left for Thailand. All we have is family house I mentioned.

Has anyone ever used MailBoxesEtc. for shipping? It's what we're planning to use.