Married to US Soldier in Germany, where do I start?

[RMEWife 0]

Hello All,

I've been married to an US soldier for 7 years now and we have lived in Germany since then. Next year his time will be up here and we have to move to the US, where he will go to his next duty station. I want to apply for my visa now. I was told that first he has to submit a 'petition for alien relative' I130. Has someone gone through this before? I welcome all tips and all the help I can get.

[krautlaus 7]

Hi and welcome!

I know it's a lot of input at first and can be rather frustrating but do go through some of the guides and general info pages. They really help making a choice and then, if you have questions, we're here to help! Generally - you may either file CR-1 or K3 - but I'm not an expert on those. Go through the options with your hubby, you'll find a way!

All the best!

http://www.visajourney.com/content/guides

[Otto 83]

You guys will very likely want to file what is called DCF (Direct Consular Filing) directly with the US Consulate in Frankfurt.

A brief overview can be found HERE. This lets you guys file while you're both in Germany.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

+1.

DCF is indeed the by far best option for you guys, bar none.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Moving from Finding Work to the DCF forum as the OP is eligible to file via DCF.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

He should be able to get legal advice & services on base. They'll know how to handle the situation as it's not uncommon for US Service Persons to marry locals while posted overseas.

[RMEWife 0]

Thank you guys, for your tips. Once my post was

up I realized I was in the wrong forum, so sorry for that. But again thanx a lot! On e we've started I'll post again. Tschuess!

[Welshcookie 17]

It should be a quick and easy process for you through DCF....also if you are command sponsored spouse keep all your cost receipts of your visa process for your husband to submit with his expenses when you arrive at your next place of duty.

Good luck

[rwalt25 0]

Hey RMEwife

I also applied at the Frankfurt consulate. I-130 recieved april 8th.. its been about 45 days now. I talked to one of the adjucitation officers, says it will take between 60-90 days.. Hopefully my wives I-171 will be done soon so we can get her SOFA stamp and she can join me here

[A&M-Forever 0]

Add me to the list of DCF'ers @ Frankfurt. rwalt25 has helped me a ton in getting everything ready and explaining how the process works.

I have an InfoPass appointment on Wednesday (30 Jun) to initially file my I-130 applications for my wife and stepdaughter (from the Philippines).

Hoping to have them both here in Germany sometime in mid September....October at the latest!

If you have any questions about Frankfurt DCF....just post them here....someone will chime in for sure.

Mike

[A&M-Forever 0]

Any other Frankfurt DCF'ers out there?

I filed about 2 1/2 weeks ago and I'm getting antsy! I want the approval letter!

[Be83 0]

Hey. We filed I-130 May 19th....Saturday we received an RFE, they needed a copy of my hubbies military ID card and his travel orders to Germany (gave them the ID card copy, totally forgot about the orders, nobody asked either )

German Postal Service delivered the letter this Monday....Husband is PCSing beginning of September and I'm totally getting antsy here...wish us luck that we will receive an interview appointment letter very very very soon and get approved, so we can leave at the same time...It will get super complicated for me to stay somewhere and such once he left

Other than that all I can say about DCF so far is the people at the embasssy (FRA) seem really nice and competent, even received a reply email asking about our case status within 1 hour.

All they have to do now is to make things work out for us in time and I won't have any complaints!

[A&M-Forever 0]

Hey there....

I'm pretty sure that they took a copy of my PCS orders to Germany when I filed...but perhaps not...can't even remember. I know I had a huge stack of everything I could think of...and they only allowed me to leave 5-6 documents. I am certain that they did not get a copy of my military ID (even though I had it there ready to give if they asked for it)....so now, I guess I'm awaiting the RFE as well (#######!).

I'm wondering now also if it would have been better to give my German address versus my APO (base) address.....perhaps I can email them and have them update it? Or should I leave it be with my APO address?

Did you have to personally bring them the PCS orders? Or were you able to email it back to them possibly? Or perhaps through the mail?

I'm at Ramstein....where are you guys located?

I have already emailed them (2 days ago) and got a response today. I just asked for an update as to whether our petition had been accepted and all I got back was an email with an attachment that basically said "Don't bother us unless it has been more than 90 days"

Good luck - hope everything turns out great for you guys.