Need Help on Understanding the Instructions for I-130 and I-485

[fjb1122 2]

Hello everyone. I would like to ask a few questions regarding my adjustment of status from tourist to green card or permanent resident status based on being a spouse of an American citizen. I have read the complete instructions for filing from this site but since this is new to me, I am confused a bit by the following instances:

1. In I-130, we are asked to provide photocopy of all the pages of the passport of the alien spouse, that being myself, I have two passports, the old one which contains my US visa, and since that expired already, I have a renewed passport which contains my entry stamp when I came here. Should I photocophy both passport, or only the latest passport? Take note that my US visa is in the old passport. But my I-94 and entry stamp are in the new one.

2. Next, I will have my medical exam on Friday, and the civil surgeon said I should present an identification card, in which case, he prefers the passport. Since, I was married already, the surname in the passport is different in my passport name. He says he will follow the name which is stated in my passport which is my maiden name. Will this affect my application? As much as I want to establish in my medical exam that I am married and want to use my new surname, I do not have any government-issued ID bearing my new name.

3. In number 22 item in the i-130 form, it says; "if your relative is not eligible for adjustment of status, he/she will apply for a visa abroad at the American Consular post in:"

Should I write anything there or should I just write N/A since I know I am eligible for adjustment of status.

4. In the affidavit of support, in my husband's w-2, for the two most recent years, he is labelled "single" because we only got married last January 11, 2011. In i-864, item 21; it asks for the person not sponsored in the affidavit. It says there, in letter c, if you are currently married, enter "1" for your spouse. I am confused because I, being the spouse is being sponsored in the affidavit and in letter a, I am the person referred to as the person being sponsored.

5. I want to get a third party affidavit affirming the validity of the marital union but the person is out of the country and is not an American citizen, is it still possible to ask him to send it to me but the notary public will be someone from that country, so the sworned affidavit is from someone not from the US and made outside the US. Is that possible?

So far, these are my questions but in general, perhaps anyone can express their thoughts beyond these questions about my application, since I am now out of status for 2-3 months; when I got here last May, and I was about to go home last Novemebr, I met my husband in October, we got along very well, something which is very rare for me considering my bad experiences in the past with my lovelife, love is truly magical, and we decided to get married as he doesn't want me to go back anymore, after being in a relationship for 3 months. Will you suggest that I get a lawyer given that I am out of status for 3 months already?

Thanks so much and God bless!

:)

[pixie77 2]

1. In I-130, we are asked to provide photocopy of all the pages of the passport of the alien spouse, that being myself, I have two passports, the old one which contains my US visa, and since that expired already, I have a renewed passport which contains my entry stamp when I came here. Should I photocophy both passport, or only the latest passport? Take note that my US visa is in the old passport. But my I-94 and entry stamp are in the new one.

Photo copy the new one. There is a part of I-485 where you need to send in a copy of your visa & part of I-765 where you need to send in a copy of your I-94.

2. Next, I will have my medical exam on Friday, and the civil surgeon said I should present an identification card, in which case, he prefers the passport. Since, I was married already, the surname in the passport is different in my passport name. He says he will follow the name which is stated in my passport which is my maiden name. Will this affect my application? As much as I want to establish in my medical exam that I am married and want to use my new surname, I do not have any government-issued ID bearing my new name.

Bring your marriage certificate, I brought mine and they used my married name.

3. In number 22 item in the i-130 form, it says; "if your relative is not eligible for adjustment of status, he/she will apply for a visa abroad at the American Consular post in:"

Should I write anything there or should I just write N/A since I know I am eligible for adjustment of status.

I typed N/A

4. In the affidavit of support, in my husband's w-2, for the two most recent years, he is labelled "single" because we only got married last January 11, 2011. In i-864, item 21; it asks for the person not sponsored in the affidavit. It says there, in letter c, if you are currently married, enter "1" for your spouse. I am confused because I, being the spouse is being sponsored in the affidavit and in letter a, I am the person referred to as the person being sponsored.

You are the spouse so you are the one who's going to use the I-864. We wrote 1 on 21.A and 1 on 21.B nothing on 21.c total is 2.

5. I want to get a third party affidavit affirming the validity of the marital union but the person is out of the country and is not an American citizen, is it still possible to ask him to send it to me but the notary public will be someone from that country, so the sworned affidavit is from someone not from the US and made outside the US. Is that possible?

I'm not sure of this. In our case, we got most affidavits from people in the US that witnessed our wedding regardless of whether they're USCs or not and notarized in the US. The one person who's from Dublin that submitted his affidavit, wrote his affidavit in Ireland but had it notarized in the US when he came here.

So far, these are my questions but in general, perhaps anyone can express their thoughts beyond these questions about my application, since I am now out of status for 2-3 months; when I got here last May, and I was about to go home last Novemebr, I met my husband in October, we got along very well, something which is very rare for me considering my bad experiences in the past with my lovelife, love is truly magical, and we decided to get married as he doesn't want me to go back anymore, after being in a relationship for 3 months. Will you suggest that I get a lawyer given that I am out of status for 3 months already?

I was out of status longer than you are, but we were married after almost 3 years together. The short relationship might be suspicious, but as long as you can prove that you are not out to circumvent immigration laws then you should be fine.

There are more experienced members of this forum that can give you a better idea how your short relationship will play out during your process.

Good Luck!!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I agree with Pixie, just want to add that affidavits do not need to be notarized.

[fjb1122 2]

Thank you so much for the immediate response. I really appreciate your replies, and I am hoping that in my future inquiries, you will still be generous to give your ideas since we probably have the same kind of application.

For others who have experienced the same thing, can you help me out with this please, which are left uncertain:

I told the civil surgeon that I will be bringing the marriage certificate but he insisted that he will write the name which is written on my passport. Will that affect my application in any way if my old name is written in my medical exam?

Also, if there people out here who experienced the same short bf-gf relationship that ended in marriage and adjustment of status could you please share your experience as to how I can strengthen my evidence that we indeed entered the marriage in good fate despite the shortness of period. Thanks so much.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

It won't be a problem if your medical is in your maiden name. Just fill out the immigration paperwork in your married name, and put maiden name in "other names used."

No advice on the last question.

[pixie77 2]

Harpa, had I known that, we would have sent in our application earlier..hehehehe

[fjb1122 2]

Hello again. My husband makes 25,000 dollars in a year, and will only have me as a spouse as his dependent. Is this enough to make him my sole sponsor? or do we need a joint sponsor, etc? Also, what do we need to attach to the affidavit of support? I saw his w-2 for 2010, 2009 and 2008, is that sufficient? Thanks so much.

I also referred to the guidelines in this site for the instructions is creating the i-130 and i-485 packet, are the infos there like the requirements updated,and the links in the different kinds of forms? I don't see the part where the copy of US visa is asked in either the i-130 or i-485. I only saw the requirement to show the i-94 copy in i-485. Many thanks again. :)

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I think you need to reread the instructions carefully. If you are missing these, you are probably missing a lot more. All of these forms come with detailed instructions from USCIS.

[fjb1122 2]

Thank you Btw, if I'm using personal check, I simply have to place the check as an attachment too on the application right? Thanks. How about my question about the affidavt of support written above? anyone has an idea? Thanks a lot.

[pixie77 2]

Hi

You can go to uscis.gov , all the forms and instructions for each form are there and downloadable as pdf files. You can also check for the 2011 USCIS Poverty Guidelines to know whether your husband's income qualifies to support you. Eevery information you need regarding filing your paper work is on the USCIS.gov website. You can always comeback here if the questions on the form confuses you. There are guidelines on VJ that you can use and a search function where you can look for specific topics.

Good luck...

[fjb1122 2]

Thanks Pixie. Just to be sure, how many passport photo of my spouse and myself should we have produced in the entire packet application?

[fjb1122 2]

btw Pixie, just curious why did you receive an RFE? What was lacking in your documentation at that time?