I-130 and I-130a questions

[AlexSH 5]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm a USC and I'm currently filling out the spousal forms I-130 and I-130a on behalf of my wife. My wife is living in Canada but will eventually move back to Vietnam, her home country, when it's time for the interview. We've indicated the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as our preferred choice in question 62a-c of the I-130 form. She can't have the interview in Canada as she doesn't have legal status there.

There are a couple of items in the forms, mostly related to her address history, that I'm unsure about.

I ask a lot, so please bear with me 🙂. Any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

Here's a list of her address history in the last 5 years:

• 9/2018 - 1/2021: Canada address 1
• 2/2021 - 12/2021: Vietnam
• 12/2021 - 3/2022: Canada address 1
• 4/2022 - 9/2022: Canada address 2
• 10/2022 - 3/2023: Canada address 3
• 4/2023 - now: Canada address 4

All the Canadian addresses are in the Greater Toronto Area.

Questions:

1. I understand the importance of accuracy in filling out the forms, but I'm wondering if I can simply combine her last 4 Canadian addresses into the current one (from 12/2021 to present) for simplicity. Another reason for this is because of the question below. If I don't combine them, the answer will be the oldest address from 2 years ago.

2. Should I put:

a. Her current Canada address for question 11 and her Vietnam address for question 13, or

b. Her Vietnam address for both since we want to emphasize her main residence is in Vietnam, not Canada.

3. I filled 'Never lived together' for this question. I've been flying to Toronto very frequent to visit her. All of them happens on the weekends and I only stay for a couple of days. I believe these visits fall under the category of traveling/visiting and not actual 'living together'. We do have a plan which I'll stay for 2 weeks for the upcoming Christmas. Even that one is still visiting, correct?

 

4. Regarding her employment history, I've entered her current job starting from 2022. For the period 2018-2021, I put 'Unemployed' in the 'Name of Employer/Company' field and 'Student' in the 'Your Occupation' field. Is this correct? Or should I remove the 'Student' entry entirely, even if it results in an unexplained gap in her employment history?

5. I'm filling out the form electronically on the computer. However, fields 1a-c are not fillable. Can I skip these since I'm filing electronically? And no need to sign and date the sheet also?

 

6. I'm considering including a letter to emphasize her residence in Vietnam together with the application. What are your thoughts on this? 

 

 

[BLC 112]

1. Put them all. Add them in the section at the end if you can’t fit

2. You choose the consulate on I-130, so fill out accurately. 

3. Visits do not mean you ever lived together 

4. I don’t remember the wording for this question. But if it doesn’t say put ‘student’ as occupation, then don’t. You can put unemployed and then in the ‘additional info’ section, you can mention she’s a student, if it makes you more comfortable 

5. I put ‘not applicable’ 

6. again, you choose the consulate on 130, so I don’t think there is any need to emphasize this. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by BLC
Typo

[pushbrk 12,868]

Stick with this concept.  For instructions and questions, read carefully, interpret literally, and answer accurately.  That concept would have answered most of your questions.