Timing and General Questions

[MMoreno28 0]

Hello

Just wanted to see if you could give me some peace of mind (and probably a good advice) regarding the whole process. To give you a little bit of info: I currently live in El Salvador married to a Permanent Resident that has been pretty much living here (he travels every 6 months, stays a week and then get back) which obviously is not exactly right. After almost 6 years of doing that and after talking A LOT about it, I manage to convince them that he should not lose his residency and if possible apply for the citizenship. He is going to leave in early April finally.

Now, why am I telling you this? His biggest concern was being apart from us (we have a 3 year old child) and basically that was his excuse to not go over there and fill a petition. Anyways, my biggest concern now (besides how long the whole process might take) is that if the fact that he has not been there for so long will be a problem during the process.

What do you guys think?

As well, do you know if he needs to be already working to start the process? I am currently employed by a US company but he will arrive there with no job at all.

Do you guys have any estimate on how long the process takes when you are a Permanent Resident?

[JFH 12,191]

The processs to get citizenship or the process to get you into the USA?

The processs for a permanent resident to bring a spouse takes about 2 years. It takes about one year for a citizen to bring a wife into the country. He can start the process as a permanent resident and switch to citizen if his citizenship is done before the processs to bring you into the country is complete. That will speed things up a little.

[dwheels76 5,469]

Hello

Just wanted to see if you could give me some peace of mind (and probably a good advice) regarding the whole process. To give you a little bit of info: I currently live in El Salvador married to a Permanent Resident that has been pretty much living here (he travels every 6 months, stays a week and then get back) which obviously is not exactly right. After almost 6 years of doing that and after talking A LOT about it, I manage to convince them that he should not lose his residency and if possible apply for the citizenship. He is going to leave in early April finally.

Now, why am I telling you this? His biggest concern was being apart from us (we have a 3 year old child) and basically that was his excuse to not go over there and fill a petition. Anyways, my biggest concern now (besides how long the whole process might take) is that if the fact that he has not been there for so long will be a problem during the process.

What do you guys think?

As well, do you know if he needs to be already working to start the process? I am currently employed by a US company but he will arrive there with no job at all.

Do you guys have any estimate on how long the process takes when you are a Permanent Resident?

1. How long has he been a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR)?
2. 2 weeks a year he spends in US? He is a far ways from acquiring US citizenship.
3. When was the last time he was in the US?
4. He will need to show he can sponsor you. But since you work for a US company you may be able to self-sponsor if your job continues when you come to US.

As stated above for a LPR it's about 2 years to get you and your child to US. He can start anytime. The sooner the better to get his petition in the system.

[Ryan H 3,834]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Bringing Family Members of Permanent Residents to America forum.

[MMoreno28 0]

1. How long has he been a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR)?
2. 2 weeks a year he spends in US? He is a far ways from acquiring US citizenship.
3. When was the last time he was in the US?
4. He will need to show he can sponsor you. But since you work for a US company you may be able to self-sponsor if your job continues when you come to US.

As stated above for a LPR it's about 2 years to get you and your child to US. He can start anytime. The sooner the better to get his petition in the system.

That is actually a great piece of information! If I could auto-sponsor myself, that will make things easier... As a matter of fact I am not only planning to keep that same job but I am getting a raise once that I get there so I should be making enough to not have to worry about the poverty limits. Anyways, I am not declaring taxes in US, nor in El Salvador (here, international transactions like wires and payments for services provided outside the country are tax exempt) so I am not quite sure which information I will need to provide them for that.

Answering your questions, he came back here in December 2010 and by that time he had already 2 years of being a permanent resident. After that he started doing that (traveling every 6 months, staying for a week, getting back) and he is supposed to fly out again by the end of March. He has been advised a couple of times to stop doing that before they send him to an attorney so finally, between the people there at the immigration stand and I bothering him with that, we manage to convince him to go and stay the rest of the year this time...

Do you know if he has to spend the whole time in the US while the petition is over? I was thinking (since he is hopefully going to spend the whole rest of the year there) to bring him back for Christmas - Baby's BD - New Year.

Edited February 5, 2016 by MMoreno28

[dwheels76 5,469]

Answering your questions, he came back here in December 2010 and by that time he had already 2 years of being a permanent resident. After that he started doing that (traveling every 6 months, staying for a week, getting back) and he is supposed to fly out again by the end of March. He has been advised a couple of times to stop doing that before they send him to an attorney so finally, between the people there at the immigration stand and I bothering him with that, we manage to convince him to go and stay the rest of the year this time...

That sentence in bold needs to be addressed. So he has been a permanent resident for 2 years.

1. Does he have a 2 year or 10 year green card?
2. How did he obtain his green card? This is important and will determine if he falls under the 3 year or 5 year rule for citizenship.
3. When was the last time he was in the US?

[arax 1]

Hi there,

dwheels76 is doing a great job clarifying your situation!

I want add something regarding this

Do you know if he has to spend the whole time in the US while the petition is over? I was thinking (since he is hopefully going to spend the whole rest of the year there) to bring him back for Christmas - Baby's BD - New Year.

Your husband don't have to stay in US waiting for the whole process to be completed. He just should maintain his permanent residency status. Actually, if you will sponsor yourself, he don't even have to stay a lot in US.

But since he was actually living abroad for a long time, I agree with you that he should stay mainly in US and visit you briefly.