Special consideration for a married couple with child?

[TeacherAbroad 0]

I am a USC living and working in Thailand. I met my wife here who is a Chinese citizen and we were married two years ago in Thailand. We had our first son shortly after also in Thailand. Our son has his US passport and US birth certificate. When I read the requirements to get my wife a visa it seems like I don't meet the requirements. I don't have a home in the US anymore and I have no way of showing a US income since I have been living and working in Thailand for the last 4 years.

Are there special considerations for us since we have a son together who is a US citizen? Is there a different process to go through to get my wife an immigrant visa? We hope to go back to America for the next school year so I can continue working in California where I am a licensed teacher. Any help would be greatly appreciated, it seems a bit daunting reading all the forms and instructions, I wish someone could just give it to me clearly

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

No special consideration.

You can show "intent to re-establish domicile".

In financial terms, you can either move before the rest of your family and get a job, or sponsor on assets, or find a US based co-sponsor to stand guarantoor for your wife.

[Karee 4,191]

I am a USC living and working in Thailand. I met my wife here who is a Chinese citizen and we were married two years ago in Thailand. We had our first son shortly after also in Thailand. Our son has his US passport and US birth certificate. When I read the requirements to get my wife a visa it seems like I don't meet the requirements. I don't have a home in the US anymore and I have no way of showing a US income since I have been living and working in Thailand for the last 4 years.

Are there special considerations for us since we have a son together who is a US citizen? Is there a different process to go through to get my wife an immigrant visa? We hope to go back to America for the next school year so I can continue working in California where I am a licensed teacher. Any help would be greatly appreciated, it seems a bit daunting reading all the forms and instructions, I wish someone could just give it to me clearly

To add to what Penguin correctly posted, you should look into DCF (Direct Consular Filing) I'm not sure how that would play out since your wife is not Thai, but I believe any nationality is eligible for DCF. See here:

Step 1: The Department of Homeland Security

The process of applying for all categories of immigrant visas begins with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In most cases, this consists of filing a petition with the USCIS office having jurisdiction over the petitioner's place of residence in the United States. The petitioner should contact the appropriate USCIS office using the Government Pages of the local telephone directory or by going to the USCIS website. If the petitioner resides in the United States, the processing time varies depending on the service center where the petition is pending. In a limited number of cases, if the petitioner can demonstrate current residence in Thailand for at least six months, the petition may be filed with the USCIS office in Bangkok. The general inquiry email box for USCIS Bangkok is BKKCIS.Inquiries@dhs.gov. To access USCIS forms, click here

Source:

http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/immigrant_visas/immigrant-visa-process.html

ETA: Oops, I see you posted this in the DCF forum, so I assume you already aware of the process.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Karee

[TeacherAbroad 0]

Does anyone have experience filing in Bangkok? What does the office accept for intent to re-establish domicile?

[LauraDP 10]

It is the same process with no special considerations. I have been married to my husband for 17 years - together 20 - and we have four sons together but we still had to go through the same admin rigmarole as everyone else. My husband had not lived in the US for 20 years at the point when we started this process so we had to work on building a dossier to demonstrate our intent to establish domicile. He left in his teens so he didn't even have a US bank account or even an expired US drivers license so it was all done from scratch. Intent to establish domicile is also about evidencing an intent to leave where you are now as well as forging links to the US. You have only been gone for four years and obviously left as an adult so you are probably in better circumstances with that than we were. What I would say is that when it came to the interview they were interested in the long period we had been together and never even looked at that dossier of evidence about my husband returning to the states but maybe that depends on the focus of the individual immigration officer.

In terms of evidence, off the top of my head we used the fact we had set up a US bank account, the job offer my husband had (though he did not have a signed contract in hand at that point), his US voter registration record, the paperwork showing our house in Scotland was on the market and a couple of other minor things I can't remember now even though it was only a few months ago.

Good luck!

Laura