Tourist visa and residency application-spouse

[TennMike7 8]

Hello all!

I guess I am really confused about the visa process. I am a U.S. citizen and have been living with my wife in Brazil where we were married (she is Brazilian).

She has never been abroad, and I plan to take her to the U.S. to meet my Mom in December. I plan to get her a tourist visa to do this and then we will stay for 2 or 3 weeks and come back to Brazil where we work.

This is complicated for me because now I would also like to begin the application for a greencard for her and then wait until she gets it and relocate to the U.S. I seem to think that the I-130 is the paperwork that I will have to send to the Chicago lockbox, but I have my doubts about what is best. One of the questions I have not been able to find info about is how long of an estimated wait will all of this take to get her greencard. If I knew more or less how long we have to wait, I would know how to plan our lives accordingly.

Thanks for any advice.

[Georgia16 2,858]

If they have DCF in Brazil then that would be the fastest for you to get her a GC it would take that long.

A normal CR-1/IR-1 takes about a year.

[TennMike7 8]

Hmmm,

I wrote the nearest consulate to ask if they have DCF. I guess I am still with a lot of doubts about if I need to file for a I-130 or an I129F or both???

[Harpa Timsah 13,259]

Check out the Guides section for a CR1. No I-129F.

There is no DCF in Brazil. The spouse visa will take about a year.

Edited May 5, 2016 by Harpa Timsah

[TennMike7 8]

Check out the Guides section for a CR1. No I-129F.

There is no DCF in Brazil. The spouse visa will take about a year.

Thanks for this reply! A year is not a bad wait for me. I was thinking that it would be 3 years. I can deal with a year. I will check out what you posted.

[JFH 12,192]

A year is certainly easy when you are together all the time. It's awful when you're apart for the process.

At some point you will have to demonstrate your intent to re-establish domicile in the USA. You might want yo start looking into the things you need for that because some of them take some time to put into place.

Regarding the tourist visa, no harm in her applying. What she has against her is her immigration intent because of the I-130 you will be filing and also an American husband. She will need to demonstrate that she is very firmly established in Brazil (job, property, commitments) and that she has every reason to come home and no reason to stay. Tricky, but not impossible. It'll cost her $160 to find out. The only way to know if you can get a visa is to apply for one and see what happens.

Edited May 5, 2016 by JFH

[TennMike7 8]

A year is certainly easy when you are together all the time. It's awful when you're apart for the process.

At some point you will have to demonstrate your intent to re-establish domicile in the USA. You might want yo start looking into the things you need for that because some of them take some time to put into place.

Regarding the tourist visa, no harm in her applying. What she has against her is her immigration intent because of the I-130 you will be filing and also an American husband. She will need to demonstrate that she is very firmly established in Brazil (job, property, commitments) and that she has every reason to come home and no reason to stay. Tricky, but not impossible. It'll cost her $160 to find out. The only way to know if you can get a visa is to apply for one and see what happens.

Thanks for this reply. We both have decent jobs here in Brazil and are pretty well established. At the moment, I am considering not going through with the tourist visa to visit, even though this would be a great experience for her...

About domicile in the US, would I need something like a lease with both of our names on it? How does this process work? I'm still gathering some documents and translations, and I really don't have a certain urgency to run off to the U.S. (I figure I am doing well saving up costs for the trip and to get established) in the meantime. I will continue to post here, though, throughout this process and share my experiences...

[Elf 146]

* Moving thread from What Visa Do I Need to IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures *

* OP is an expat USC who will be seeking an IR-1 visa for his wife *