What should we do?

[r000sa 0]

Long story short, me and my husband meet in Australia where we were both studying and working part time. He is a US citizen and have been living overseas on and off for the last 7 years.Well were shortly after we meet I found out that I was pregnant and we decided that we wanted to move from Australia because we wanted to get a grounding and our visas were just temporary in Australia. We decided to wait with filing the visa until after the baby was born which was only recently. We are currently in Sweden and we want to go to the US next month and stay over Christmas. Well first we don't know if we should apply for the K3 visa or the CR-1. We were thinking of the K3 first because I could be in the us while the visa is getting processed but then we found out that it takes about 8 months for that to happen and that's apparently the same time it takes for the CR-1? My other question is, can I come with him next month to the US and stay over Christmas if we file the application now? I can prove that I'am not going to stay as I have to return to Australia for another semester in school. And last question is that as my husband has been living overseas for the last 7 years, he cant submit any tax returns for the affidiative of support which apparently requires 3 years of tax return, how do we go about this?

Cheers

[barbara360 6]

if you can prove strong ties at home, you should not have a problem to visit after you filed for the visa but you are at the mercy of the agent working the point of entry. As for the taxes, you can always get a co-sponsor- we had to get one simply because I fell under $80 from what was required for income so my mom co-sponsored us.

Good luck on your journey!

[EmigratingSwede 16]

I believe your husband should really have filed is U.S. taxes every year even though he did not make any money in the U.S. since the U.S. taxes you on your world wide income. Unless he made over 92k/year his tax liability would be zero due to the amount of foreign income you can exclude.

I believe he could file his taxes for the last couple of years even now. Contact the IRS and ask about it. (Might be wise of him to keep his identity to himself until he knows if he is in trouble with the IRS)

[Donkey81 7]

Hi - you're in a very similar situation to us - minus the baby! But we are currently in Australia on work visas and my husband is the USC and I'm from the UK. My advice would be to get your I-130 app in as soon as possible and be prepared to sit and wait it out. Regarding the tax issues, my husband did the same, not filing since 2004! It was an oversight on our part as we didn't know that he had to file as we were paying tax in the UK at the time. Anyway when we started looking into this process we realised we needed to pay US taxes and he has been working with an accountant that has filed his US taxes for the last 3 years (through H&R block in the US), which means that we don't need a co-sponsor as we have enough savings for the minimum requirement. Anyway, maybe look into that if it's easier than getting a co-sponsor and you will have time if you haven't put your app in? It was an easy process for us as we had been paying more tax in the UK and Australia to cover any tax we would need to pay in the US.

I too need to go to the US, for a wedding next May, and it's unlikely our process will be finalised by then, so I am going to take everything I can to prove that I will be returning, even the invoice I'll get from our cat's boarding to prove that we have to pick her up from the airport on our return home! I tend to get stressed going through immigration in the States anyway but I think as long as you are calm and you have evidence to prove you will not be staying then you will be fine. But as some people have stated here, it depends who you get on the day. Some officers are so nice and some are just really nasty to deal with. We once got held aside because the officer asked us if we had any food with us and I said 'biscuits' and my husband said 'cookies' at the same time and he was like 'well which one is it? Biscuits or cookies?' we thought he was joking but he wasn't!! So we had to explain what we had and the difference between biscuits and cookies whilst there was a whole line of people behind us. He was a real jobsworth and it was so embarrassing but we laugh about it now! Anyway the best of luck with your application.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Donkey81

[Cathi 5,783]

K-3 is no longer an option, you option is I-130 for cr1

[r000sa 0]

Thanks for the responses!

Donkey81 how much do they tax you percentage wise? Kind of concerned as he has been working in both New zeeland and Australia on and off for 7 years. EmigratingSwede, he had no clue regarding paying tax even though he has been outside of the US, what kind of trouble could he be in? Cheers again! really appreciate the responses

[Donkey81 7]

Hey - he just had to file and didn't have to pay anything (other than the service from the accountant). We had paid taxes in the UK and Australia, so it was just a case of 'filing' and acknowledging that he had filed as he hadn't earned any money in the US during the time he lived overseas. We get taxed heavily here in Aus and were taxed heavily in the UK (compared to how much we would have been in the US) so he never owed anything. If you get in touch with an accountant in the US and ask them to look into this for you, they can give you an indication of whether and how much tax you will have to pay. He won't be in any trouble.

[r060106 109]

K-3 is no longer an option, you option is I-130 for cr1

Actually, a lot of people on the forum are saying the K-3 is now a viable option. I'd honestly lean towards the K-3 right now. CR-1s are taking forever.

[Blueberry Pancake 311]

Actually, a lot of people on the forum are saying the K-3 is now a viable option. I'd honestly lean towards the K-3 right now. CR-1s are taking forever.

It's always been an option.

The reason they weren't widely issued in the last few years was that I-130s were approved in a timely manner. (approved I-130 automatically cancels I-129f petition)

Which is currently not the case.

Ergo- K-3 might be a good idea.

[Ryan H 3,828]

The reason they weren't widely issued in the last few years was that I-130s were approved in a timely manner. (approved I-130 automatically cancels I-129f petition)

This is not exactly accurate. An approved I-130 never "automatically cancels" an I-129F petition. I-129F petitions are administratively closed by the State Department (NVC or Embassy/Consulate) if they have an approved I-130 on-station or learn that an approved I-130 is on-station at the same time they have an approved I-129F in their possession.

[Shiobhan 235]

Cant U file DCF, does the USC have a home address here with an acct,can prove domicile,

is still legal in the host country , then he could file spousal, R U from a vwp country? U could

travel with proofs U have to be back in host country for school & work.

[EmigratingSwede 16]

Unfortunately DCF is no longer an option from Sweden. That option disappeared the summer of 2011. I know because the announcement that they would no longer accept DCF accelerated our own plans to move to the U.S. We got our application in just a very short while before they stopped taking applications.