Sponsored Spouse Move to the US alone and IR1 related questions

[SteveInBostonI130 3,489]

8 hours ago, LifeAbroad said:

 

Hello,

 

I have a few questions regardings the GC petition for my husband and would love to get some insight from you all:

 

Some backgrounds about us:

 

I am USC. My husband is German Citizen. We’ve been married for almost 5 years.  We have 1 kid and are expecting another one. We are currently living in Germany. My husband has been wanting to move to the US to work/live and I would like to stay in Germany for now. So here are my questions:

 

1. Is it possible for me to petition for my husband and he can move there, live and work by himself?

 

2. In case if there’s a joint sponsor - does my joint sponsor have to live in the same state that we/he intend(s) to move to?

 

3. When establishing domicile - I have a bank account that has been there since 2006, driver license, tax. I can get voting registration and records, lease agreement from a friend, his communication with recruiters or future job. Would this be sufficient? 

 

4. In case we are using our asset for petition since I am not working at the moment - can we use his German income to petition as well? He can continue working for his German company for a few months once he move to the US and then get a job. This is in case he can’t find a job before moving there.

 

5. Is total asset required to be 3 or 5 times the 125% Poverty Guidelines to petition for spouse?

 

6. How long before he has to move once the immigrant visa is approved? I’ve read and heard from 6, 4 to 2 months? Knowing this would help us plan ahead as well.

 

7. This might be a long shot but has anyone filed from Germany for your spouse? What does the timeline look like right now?

 

1.  No.  IR1/CR1 is a family reunification visa, as others have said.  You need to establish domicile in the US before or at the same time your husband travels to the US. 

 

2. Joint sponsor can reside anywhere.

 

3. You will need to establish domicile by getting whatever housing arrangement made and plans to actually live in the US.  This evidence is needed when submitting documents to NVC after the I-130 is approved.

 

4. You will be the primary supporter of your husband, even if you don't qualify with your own income.  You will be required to sign that you will support your husband for 40 quarters, he becomes a citizen, he abandons his permanent residency status, or he dies.  He can combine his income with yours on the I-864, as long as he can prove his income will continue when arriving in the US.

 

5. The minimum is 5 times.  And it is 5 time the difference between current income and the 125% poverty guide.  But it is at the discretion of the CO at the embassy.  He/she may require more, or different type of assets.  Or may ignore that altogether and require full current income.  It is his/her judgement call on how likely the immigrant will become a public charge, and they tend to be very conservative in this.  

 

6.  When his visa is approved by the US embassy, he has 6 months from the date of the medical exam he took prior to the interview.  This will be the expiration date in his visa.

 

7. Spouse visas was one of the only handful of visas processed last year by most embassies, unless the embassy was fully closed.  For some it has been 2 yr+, for others only about a year.  We were fortunate to get our visa completed in under a year, but ours were one the exceptions.  No expedite, just pure luck on getting our I-130 approved faster than normal and her embassy processing spouse visas all summer and fall.  I would say from 1 to 2 years, assuming your case is straight-forward (no complication, no criminal pasts).  

 

 

Please tell your husband to look for employment based visas if he wants to go to the US without you.  Or, for a longshot, he can apply for the diversity visa "lottery".

 

EDIT:  Removed mention of ROC.  Does not apply to the OP.

Edited April 15, 2021 by SteveInBostonI130

[laylalex 7,300]

4 minutes ago, CanadaDude said:

If he's dead set on moving out to the US then he should seek out employment in Germany that'll allow him to transfer over on an L-1 after a year's employment (think multinational corp), or try and gain a H-1B visa if eligible. When you're ready to move back it should be a simple matter of finalizing the IR-1 visa so he can obtain permanent status.

My husband came here on an L1B in 2017 because we wanted the flexibility of figuring out if we were really going to make a successful go of being in a committed, long-term relationship up close and personal before we tied the knot. It was an option for him that not everyone has, so we grabbed it. It's also a dual intent visa, so he was able to adjust directly. If the OP's husband can get an L1, he can later adjust if she moves back during the validity of his visa.

[Chancy 6,243]

35 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

2. Joint sponsor can reside anywhere.

 

Yes, but in the US.  Joint sponsor must also have proof of US domicile.

 

35 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

5. The minimum is 5 times.  And it is 5 time the difference between current income and the 125% poverty guide.

 

For a US citizen sponsoring their spouse, minimum is only 3x the difference.

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by Chancy
clarification

[SalishSea 18,179]

5 hours ago, LifeAbroad said:

Actually we didn't plan the second one, just sort of happen. And to be honest with you, Germany has a great support system when it comes to raising kids,  even if you have to do it alone. Part of the reasons why I have asked my husband to reconsider waiting for a few years since you get money for your kids and education here is free. Kindergarden in the US depends on which state but i was paying $1200 a month/kid. 

Oh, I get that.  The US can't hold a candle to most EU countries when it comes to early parent/child support and benefits.

But I have also been a single mom, and I can't imagine doing it solo with a new baby, even in a country with the best of services for young parents.  Nothing can replace your child's other  parent, as long as they want to parent that child.

 

I also totally get the idea of living separately.  I was single for years, and I'm an only child and an introvert.   Sometimes, I just look at my husband and think 'WTH,.'  We definitely get along better now that he's working full-time.  Lockdown was hard, LOL.  We haven't been apart since he got here three years ago, and if he went back to NZ alone, I'd be lost and lonely (after ~ 24 hours of mad introversion).

 

I would gently recommend looking very hard at what you both want, and what his motivation could possibly for wanting to move to the US solo.  Not only does that seem strange for a husband and father, from an immigration perspective, it does not make sense at all.

 

Take care, and please stick around here.  

 

\

 

[SalishSea 18,179]

5 hours ago, neca said:

Ireland is English speaking, he could go there and pretend like he's in New England or something. The accents are kind of sort of not really at all similar...

Tangential, but on the subject of Irish accents......   some of them sound almost American to me!  Nearly as close as Canadian.   Here in the PNW, our accents are pretty generically American.

 

 

[millefleur 5,047]

**One hijack posts removed. If you have your own question, please start your own thread.**

 

VJ Moderation

[LifeAbroad 8]

9 hours ago, neca said:

I think there are enough people who manage to work on businesses remotely (especially during these times). If you get successful enough, there's no reason why you can't adapt, transfer the business over, or find some other compromise. I'm not a business person though, so...

 

My spouse is the same way When he finally got a TV it seems like he only watched American shows. I wonder if the lived experience will measure up to the hype of the Simpsons and Judge Judy 😄

 

Feeling this.

I want to start my own food business and it's a tricky one to be left alone at the early stage. I want to stay here and start it up, get it going for a few years before pass it on someone who can manage it for me.

 

My husband keeps showing me these YT videos from the US and sing the national anthem to me and then scream I LOVE AMERICA. I am now triggered by the phrase MOVING TO AMERICA because it has become almost a nightmare to me. That's how he's been pressuring me.

[LifeAbroad 8]

8 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Has your husband followed this discussion?  I suggest you ask him to read it all.  The two of you would need to be ready to live together in the US, or his dream will have to wait.  It really IS that simple, unless he has the kind of job skills to get a US Company to sponsor his work visa.  That's not an easy route now either.

He's an IT guy but no where near Mark or Elon...He knows it's not easy to obtain working visa, hence I am his last resource to his dream. 

[LifeAbroad 8]

7 hours ago, millefleur said:

It sounds to me like this is the crux of the problem: he thinks this is some easy peasy, doable thing where he can just move over here without you and that's that. Just explain it to him that this is a fantasy and a misconception that many people have about immigration to the US. It's filled with bureaucracy, red tape, fees, medical checks, requirements and you're guilty until proven innocent, meaning you have to establish the bona fides your marriage, relationship, your intentions and plans to move here, etc. It's not just hop on a plane and now you're a citizen merely because you have a US spouse. If he needs to hear it straight from a pro and not just randos on the internet (although VJ is a great source in and of itself!), do a free consultation with am immigration lawyer and they will explain it all.

 

Sounds like he's being naive here. Yes, the US can have a lot of offer depending on what you're looking for but it also has drawbacks, especially when compared to a Western European country like Germany. For what it's worth, one my my American friends struggled for years to break into the tech industry here in the US (even on the West Coast where it's the tech hub) and he ended up finding his breakthrough job in tech in Germany. 😄 So, I personally know an American guy who moved to Germany with his American wife because Germany had better job opportunities. There may be opportunity right there in his own backyard (he's an EU citizen, can literally live/work anywhere in the EU) and he just isn't looking hard enough.

Yup, the immigration system here in Germany is quite easy compared to the US at the initial settlement stage. All i did when i migrated here was flying here on my American passport, registered at our apartment, went to the immigration office, gave them our  marriage certificate and our kid birth certificate and I got a residence permit for 3 years. Just like that, on the spot like they are issuing your driver license. Even if we are not married but my child is Germany citizen, I have the right to live in Germany until she's 18 and by that time, i could have obtain a Permanent Residence Status = 10 year GC in America. 

 

I am also a naturalized USC and have had my share with USCIS. i lived in America 15 years before finally naturalized. So for my husband, he really has no idea what's it like to deal with USCIS and US immigration. 

 

It's funny how you mentioned about your friend's case. My husband is a very experience IT guy, he has 10 years experience in Germany and is making very good money for his age. He didn't go to college and I was kinda afraid this would affect his job opportunity in America too. but it's IT so i guess experience is somewhat more important. And the reason he wants to move to US so bad is he wants to work in NYC, Silicon Valley and all that. I've explained to him, US is not all that it seems like the movies that you see when it comes to employment, working opportunities. But of course Grass is always greener on the other side. 

Edited April 15, 2021 by LifeAbroad

[pushbrk 13,143]

57 minutes ago, LifeAbroad said:

He's an IT guy but no where near Mark or Elon...He knows it's not easy to obtain working visa, hence I am his last resource to his dream. 

So you wait until you are in agreement.  Simple stuff.

[neca 166]

4 hours ago, LifeAbroad said:

My husband keeps showing me these YT videos from the US and sing the national anthem to me and then scream I LOVE AMERICA. I am now triggered by the phrase MOVING TO AMERICA because it has become almost a nightmare to me. That's how he's been pressuring me.

How many times has he been to the US? What's depicted favorably isn't always the reality, as I'm sure you know...

[Nitas_man 3,100]

18 hours ago, LifeAbroad said:

 

Hello,

 

I have a few questions regardings the GC petition for my husband and would love to get some insight from you all:

 

Some backgrounds about us:

 

I am USC. My husband is German Citizen. We’ve been married for almost 5 years.  We have 1 kid and are expecting another one. We are currently living in Germany. My husband has been wanting to move to the US to work/live and I would like to stay in Germany for now. So here are my questions:

 

1. Is it possible for me to petition for my husband and he can move there, live and work by himself?

 

• I have read on this forum that I must be in the US before or fly together with him otherwise he wouldn’t be able to enter at POE. If this is the case, can I fly there and then back to Germany once he is admitted?

 

• Would there be any issue with immigration for me to stay in Germany and he in USA? Would it affect his naturalization later on if the kids and I stay in Germany the whole time? Of course there will be visits in between.I I am still debating on moving together with my husband but there are some reasons why we want to do this. Also it is in case he is granted the visa while my kid is in middle of the school year and we can’t travel. 

 

2. In case if there’s a joint sponsor - does my joint sponsor have to live in the same state that we/he intend(s) to move to?

 

3. When establishing domicile - I have a bank account that has been there since 2006, driver license, tax. I can get voting registration and records, lease agreement from a friend, his communication with recruiters or future job. Would this be sufficient? 

 

 

4. In case we are using our asset for petition since I am not working at the moment - can we use his German income to petition as well? He can continue working for his German company for a few months once he move to the US and then get a job. This is in case he can’t find a job before moving there.

 

5. Is total asset required to be 3 or 5 times the 125% Poverty Guidelines to petition for spouse?

 

6. How long before he has to move once the immigrant visa is approved? I’ve read and heard from 6, 4 to 2 months? Knowing this would help us plan ahead as well.

 

7. This might be a long shot but has anyone filed from Germany for your spouse? What does the timeline look like right now?

 

Thank you all for your help! 

 

 

If you read the requirements - The requirement is that you permanently relocate prior to or accompany your spouse back to the US

 

Assets are minimum 3X household size for a spouse

 

Foreign income is considered (zero) for purposes of immigration, unless it continues uninterrupted (example if you work for a US company and are being transferred back to the US) 

 

What you are trying to do is not feasible, at least from the standpoint of spousal immigration.  

Edited April 15, 2021 by Nitas_man

[carmel34 3,657]

15 hours ago, LifeAbroad said:

He only wants to go to US, he think it's the number one country in the world. While i do love my country, Germany has it perks too when it comes to government support for children, healthcare and free education.

From your comments the real underlying issue you two need to figure out is where you want to live, either the US or Germany.  You, the USC, prefer to live in Germany, your husband, the German citizen, wants to live in the US.  Until you reconcile these conflicting goals somehow, and get on the same page as a married couple, immigration issues seem to be premature.  Good luck!

[Cathi 5,794]

16 hours ago, igoyougoduke said:

 

He can always apply for a work visa like H1b if he is a skilled employee. The lottery is open right now and if gets H1b visa approved he might be able to enter US in October if COVID allows those visa categories  to enter.

My sister in law won the lottery last year and she has not been allowed to enter the U.S. because of the backlog in all categories. Just as an FYI, she's been fully vaccinated for COVID. 

[Paul and Sopheap 91]

20 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

No one knows which service center their as yet unfiled petition will end up at.  It is not based on state of residence or anything.

Yep, and even after getting the receipt it can be hard to determine where the case actually is, lol.