CR1 Visa application initial required documents (merged topics)

[joykid7 2]

Hello all,

I am a US citizen and my spouse is from Taiwan. We got married in Taiwan and she is in Taiwan now. I am currently in the middle of arranging paperwork for our first step of applying the CR1 (spouse) visa, which is include submitting the i-130 and i-130a. Besides those 2 forms, I understand that there might be other documents required. So we have prepared below documents. Can someone please kindly let us know if we need to submit all of the documents listed below along with i-130 and i-130a in our first step of submitting this application. Grateful if can please let me know which is not necessary and if there's any additional paperwork that should be included.

Also, to prove that I am US citizen, do I have to submit either one of : copy of US passport or birth certificate (or do I have to submit both?)

Also if my wife is outside US now, do we still need to include 2 passport photos of her?

 

The following documents accompany and support this petition:

 

1.      Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions, for the amount of $535.00 to cover the filing fee

2.      Form G-1145, Request for e-Notification

3.      Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative

4.      Form I-130A, Supplemental Information for Spouse Beneficiary, for the beneficiary

5.      Two (2) photos of the petitioner and two (2) photos of the beneficiary

6.      Petitioner’s U.S. passport

7.      Beneficiary’s passport

8.      Marriage certificate of petitioner and beneficiary (both Chinese and certified English translation)

9.      Evidence of bona fide marriage (photos, receipts, tickets, etc.)

10.  Beneficiary’s birth certificate (both Chinese and certified English translation)

11.  Household Registration certificate (both Chinese and certified English translation)

12.  Beneficiary’s proof of good citizen in Taiwan (police criminal record certificate issued by police department)

 

Thanks all in advance.

[payxibka 10,045]

I don't know what checklist you are using.

 

10,11,12 not required for petition 

 

5.   is required for petitionner only since she is not inside the USA 

Edited June 18, 2019 by payxibka

[givionte 138]

Your checklist is either slightly out of date, or from the wrong type of filing, perhaps that checklist you obtained was for direct filing in an embassy.  payxibka above is right, you definitely don't need to send 10, 11, 12, that is for the NVC/interview stage.

 

Best way to prove your citizenship is a birth certificate copy, and then just include a photocopy of your biographical page in your passport. If you can't get access to a copy of your birth certificate, a photocopy of all passport pages front to back will also suffice.

[payxibka 10,045]

3 minutes ago, givionte said:

 

 

Best way to prove your citizenship is a birth certificate copy, and then just include a photocopy of your biographical page in your passport. If you can't get access to a copy of your birth certificate, a photocopy of all passport pages front to back will also suffice.

ID page of passport is all that is needed.   All other pages front and back don't do anything for proof of citizenship 

[joykid7 2]

42 minutes ago, payxibka said:

I don't know what checklist you are using.

 

10,11,12 not required for petition 

 

5.   is required for petitionner only since she is not inside the USA 

 

14 minutes ago, givionte said:

Your checklist is either slightly out of date, or from the wrong type of filing, perhaps that checklist you obtained was for direct filing in an embassy.  payxibka above is right, you definitely don't need to send 10, 11, 12, that is for the NVC/interview stage.

 

Best way to prove your citizenship is a birth certificate copy, and then just include a photocopy of your biographical page in your passport. If you can't get access to a copy of your birth certificate, a photocopy of all passport pages front to back will also suffice.

 

9 minutes ago, payxibka said:

ID page of passport is all that is needed.   All other pages front and back don't do anything for proof of citizenship 

 

Thank you for all of the suggestion!! Will take off 10,11,12 and save them for the next stage later on. Also will only send my(petitioner) 2 passport photos only.

Will try to find my birth certificate and include it with ID page of my passport.

 

How about copy of my wife (beneficiary) passport? Is it necessary at this stage and if so, full copy of all pages or just the ID page of the passport?

[payxibka 10,045]

Just now, joykid7 said:

 

 

 

Thank you for all of the suggestion!! Will take off 10,11,12 and save them for the next stage later on. Also will only send my(petitioner) 2 passport photos only.

Will try to find my birth certificate and include it with ID page of my passport.

 

How about copy of my wife (beneficiary) passport? Is it necessary at this stage and if so, full copy of all pages or just the ID page of the passport?

Aliens passport not required 

 

Don't worry too much about finding your BC, the passport ID page will suffice 

[joykid7 2]

4 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Aliens passport not required 

 

Don't worry too much about finding your BC, the passport ID page will suffice 

Thank you, will take off #7 (beneficiary's passport) from my list then and just send the copy of my passport.

[Crazy Cat 41,291]

You might want to read this guide......https://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1/

AIT is pretty easy to work with....when you get to that interview step......and they were pretty fast when I contacted them.

Edited June 18, 2019 by missileman

[joykid7 2]

11 minutes ago, missileman said:

You might want to read this guide......https://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1/

AIT is pretty easy to work with....when you get to that interview step......and they were pretty fast when I contacted them.

Hi thanks for the link to the guide for CR1. I checked the list on that link out and actually got confused when it says to include passport photos of my wife because she is in Taiwan now. I saw another comment in the thread saying that it's not required as my wife is not in US now.

I saw that you also married to taiwanese. How was your application process? How long did it take from initial submission until get approved? Also for initial application we are not dealing with AIT yet because I have to submit this i-130 to the lockbox location.

Really appreciate your help. I'm super anxious now and keep double checking everything because I don't want to forget something that might delay the process. Being separated by long distance after marriage has been hard for us.

[givionte 138]

 

36 minutes ago, payxibka said:

ID page of passport is all that is needed.   All other pages front and back don't do anything for proof of citizenship 

OK, just based my answer off the Visa journey guide, which states differently.

[payxibka 10,045]

2 minutes ago, givionte said:

 

OK, just based my answer off the Visa journey guide, which states differently.

In the olden days, the USCIS instructions actually said all, but that was reference was  removed by the USCIS 2+ years ago

[portorusa 431]

If I were you, I’d include 2 passport photos of your wife, as well even if they are NOT required. There are several couples here that got RFE for that reason.

[Crazy Cat 41,291]

12 hours ago, joykid7 said:

I saw that you also married to taiwanese. How was your application process? How long did it take from initial submission until get approved? Also for initial application we are not dealing with AIT yet because I have to submit this i-130 to the lockbox location.

We were married in Taiwan in mid 2015, and we lived in Taipei until early 2016.  It took 13 months from filing to my wife's having her visa in hand. My wife entered the US via her CR-1 in June 2017.  The process was fairly smooth (other than receiving some poor information from our attorney).  Once we cleared the NVC stage, we received a very fast interview date......just be ready to get a lot of pictures......I think my wife needed 12 or 15 for the medical alone...LOL....but we were able to very easily obtain them in one of those picture booths.

[joykid7 2]

I am a US citizen and my wife is Taiwanese (she is in Taiwan now) and we are preparing the documents to apply for CR1 visa.

Regarding the proof of our bonafide marriage that we need to submit with our initial i-130 application, I did a research online beforehand and I know that most suggest something like below:

1.)    print-out/screenshots of chat history in Messenger/Whatsapp/email, etc.,

2.)    receipt of gift purchase (e.g, receipt of engagement /wedding rings)

3.)     Photos

 

What I am concerned about is about the photos, I know that photos showing me and my wife from dating, engagement, wedding, and honeymoon are good, also with families and friends from both sides as well. I have them and no issue with it. But how many are enough or the standard for the USCIS/NVC? 20 pcs? 30 pcs? I just don’t want to submit too much or too less.

 

Second is, do we have to write the date and description of the event on the back of the photos?

 

Thank you so much all for your help!

[Crazy Cat 41,291]

The best evidence you can provide is that of having spent time together, your marriage certificate, evidence of continued communication,  and any legal documents normally generated during a bona fide marriage.......you don't need a lot of photos......we also included 2 affidavits (although they don't carry much weight).