I have some (possibly simple) questions about things on the I-130 and I-485 that are not very clear.

[Samus Aran 0]

First off, is this the right sub-forum for our situation?  My wife has been here in the US as a student for 10 years, we got married a year ago and as her student status is going to be ending this Fall, we're trying to get her a green card.  Since she is already here it is just an "adjustment of status" right?

Most of my questions I feel like I PROBABLY know the right answer, but I want to make sure. The forms aren't always super clear and the instructions pdfs on the USCIS site don't always help either,.  We're planning on having a lawyer look over everything eventually but the more we get right from the start, the better.

One general question I have to start with is a lot of forms have questions that don't apply to our situation at all. Should we just write in "N/A" or skip these questions or what?

I-130 specific questions

Page 3 - Is "place of your current marriage" where the ceremony took place or where the certificate was filed?  Our ceremony took place in one of the Chicago suburbs but we filed the license in the city of Chicago.

Page 3 - It is asking for the city of residence for someone who is deceased, just add N/A or leave it blank I guess?

Page 4 - How exact do employment start / end dates need to be? I know the months but not the exact days, and some places I have worked don't exist anymore so I'm not sure how I would find that out.

Page 5 - It asks for the beneficiary’s (my wife) address outside of the US, but my wife hasn't lived outside of the US in many years, just leave it blank or put her last address outside of the US?

I-485 specific questions

Page 4 - What does this mean and how would we know if it applies to us?  “Are you applying for adjustment based on the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section 245(i)?”

Page 10 - It's not very clear on what all counts as a club.  What kind of stuff is necessary to list here?

Page 14 - Not totally sure what this means and how to know if it applies to us? "“If, when USCIS adjudicates your adjustment application, your Form I-914 is no longer pending a decision or you are no longer in valid T nonimmigrant status, you may have to submit a Form I-944 and Form I-864.”

Will probably have a bunch of questions about other forms as well but this seems like a good place to start.

 

[HSsweethearts4E 117]

4 hours ago, Samus Aran said:

Page 3 - Is "place of your current marriage" where the ceremony took place or where the certificate was filed?  Our ceremony took place in one of the Chicago suburbs but we filed the license in the city of Chicago.

where the ceremony took place

4 hours ago, Samus Aran said:

It is asking for the city of residence for someone who is deceased, just add N/A or leave it blank I guess?

I would write N/A

4 hours ago, Samus Aran said:

How exact do employment start / end dates need to be? I know the months but not the exact days, and some places I have worked don't exist anymore so I'm not sure how I would find that out.

when this happened with my husband's parents' petitions we just wrote the 1st of the month. There was just no way to know since they've been at their companies for 30+ years, I don't think it will be a big deal

4 hours ago, Samus Aran said:

It asks for the beneficiary’s (my wife) address outside of the US, but my wife hasn't lived outside of the US in many years, just leave it blank or put her last address outside of the US?

for her F-1 visa she would have listed an address abroad, right? My school always required me to list one right until the very end, and it was even considered my "permanent address". In any case that's the one I put

 

as for your other questions...I'm sorry they've changed the I-485 a lot since the last time I filed it...when I filled out mine I also had the INA question but since I had no idea what that was I just went with no...cause I figured if it applied to me I'd know what it meant 😋 sorry I couldn't be more help but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in and help you!

 

As for the skip or N/A question, honestly when in doubt just go N/A