i-130 for Wife and Stepson in Germany; I-864 Now or Later? Stepsons Biological Parent

[Sean in Germany 0]

Apologies if this has already been covered.  It feels like this whole process is a moving target (it appears that Direct Consular Filing is a thing of the past as of 3 days ago).  I'll post my questions first and then background information.  Thanks in advance for anyone who can clarify this confusing process.  I'm including a few questions at once.

 

Questions: Do I need to include a financial co-sponsor at this stage (form I-864)?  Or does that come later?  I notice that I-130 asks for my employment history for 5 years.

Will I need to provide information about the biological father of my stepson? Will USCIS need to contact the biological father of my stepson?

 

Background: I am an USA citizen by birth and not in the military.  My wife is German.  We have been living in Germany for a couple of years.  We have a son together who has US citizenship and passport although he was born in Germany.  We also have a stepson who she gave birth to in South Africa (he is still a young child) who has German citizenship and a German passport.  We've been married for more than 2 years.  My wife is working and I'm the stay at home parent.  Due to unemployment I'll need to rely on my parents to be financial co-sponsors. We would like to get back to the United States so I can find a job as it is hard to find employment with insufficient German language skills here.   The biological father of my stepson is in South Africa and has not been in contact and does not contribute any child maintenance.  If USCIS needs to contact him he will certainly not reply and/or purposely make it difficult. 

[Boiler 45,557]

Well you could always go back first the issue seems to be the step son, in Germany? so Father allowed the child to emigrate?

[Sean in Germany 0]

6 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Well you could always go back first the issue seems to be the step son, in Germany? so Father allowed the child to emigrate?

The South African High Court allowed my wife to return to Germany with her son years ago.  The biological father has totally dropped off the radar since that time.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Sean in Germany

[Boiler 45,557]

High Court order should work.

[pushbrk 12,906]

On 2/3/2020 at 9:17 PM, Boiler said:

High Court order should work.

To be more clear, if the parent has court ordered full custody, the other parent is irrelevant to the process.

[Ontarkie 14,234]

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