Before sending application

[Frannyglass 10]

Hello!

I have been posting here about my case but will explain it again in this new topic as some things changed.

Here's my story:

I am a French native woman and met my now wife four years ago. She is a US citizen. When we met and started dating, there was absolutely no way for me to get a marriage based green card. It was not an option, and we never thought we would see that day until at least 10 more years. I applied for a student visa for two reasons: to be with my wife, and to further my education and learn a skill that was not offered in my country. Our plan was to move to France after I finish school (in 2016-2017) because that was the only option for us. However my wife is very close to her family (twin sister and parents) and she is disabled so it would be hard for her to move to France but she was willing to do it because we are madly in love and want to spend the rest of our life together, have a child, etc. Same sex marriage was not legal in France until this year, and getting married has always been important to us (we are traditional) so we got married in New York a year ago. Again, at the time, there was absolutely no way we could apply for my green card, it wasn't an option. After we got married, we sent our papers to the French consulate to get our marriage recognized in France too.

In June, DOMA (the defense of marriage act) was repealed, making it possible for us to apply for my green card. It was a historical day and we cried so much that day. It changed everything for us and our future together. We were ready to start the process as soon as the news came and gathered everything, but we were missing a joint sponsor (as my wife doesn't have an income except for her disability). It delayed everything until now. Also, I was off for the summer and supposed to register for the fall as a full time student by the end of September. I would like to only go part time because I can't afford to have my entire savings be drained by school. I still want to finish my education and get my degree but I need to work at the same time as things have been difficult for us with such a low income.

We saw an attorney two months ago who convinced us there was absolutely no way we could do this by ourselves. But after thinking about it we realized that we are very capable of doing it ourselves and that our case isn't that complicated. The important thing here is that when I applied for my student visa, I was already dating my wife and moved in with her. BUT like I said, there was absolutely no way for us to apply for the green card so there was no intent to immigrate at the time since it wasn't a possibility at all until 3 months ago. That is only then that we changed our entire plans for the better (because my career choice would get me a great career in the US, but not so great in France. But I love France too).

Now my questions:

- Should we make sure to send the application as soon as possible? I don't intend to register for the Fall at school until I get my status changed since I want to be a part time student only. But my school will drop me by the end of the month if I don't do anything. I do not want to be dropped, I just want to go part time (but can only as a permanent resident). Will it affect our case?

- Do we need IRS transcripts from our joint sponsor, or can we just send her tax returns for the past three years? It would delay it a couple of weeks if she has to order the IRS transcripts.

- Our application is well organized. As proof of bona fide marriage, here is what we included:

- joint bank account statements for past two months

- family plan phone bill (but it is under the name of my wife's mother as we live in the same house. My number is there, so is my wife's. Should I add a note stating that those two are our phone numbers?)

- affidavit from father in law and from a friend

- Cryobank invoice for the child we are planning to conceive (vials stored and paid for, for the next two years)

- some bills (vets for our cat, etc.)

- Life insurance policy with each other as beneficiary

- selection of emails and letters sent to each other

- receipts and boarding passes of trips taken together or to visit each other (they go as far as 3 years ago. I got my student visa two years ago)

- mail addressed to both of us

- selections of receipts from purchases made together

- selection of photographs of us together, and some with family, taken during the past three years

- Is it okay to staple some pages together (for example some emails) or better not to?

Thank you!