Getting green card for second time

[Technicalglitch 3]

Hi all,

 

In 2014 I got married in the USA on a K-1 visa.  I got the 2-year green card after this, but in 2017 we relocated to Canada (where I am from) before I got the 10 year, so was unable to renew as we had taken up residence in Canada.

 

Now we would like to return to live in the USA.  We have filled out and submitted the I-130.

 

1) Is there any part of the process that is made easier or will be skipped as I was already thoroughly vetted the last time and previously held a green card?

 

2) Once the I-130 is approved, is that when I can take up residence and apply for the adjustment of status with the I-485?  Am I able to move to the USA before this and add my I-485 as a concurrent filing?  I'm confused by the fact that those that entered the country legally can file both concurrently, when we thought I needed permission through the I-130 to move there in the first place.  Are people just entering as visitors and then staying and applying?

 

Thanks for any help with these questions!  I still find these processes difficult to figure out and navigate, despite the fact that we did it successfully once before.

[Boiler 45,525]

Same as anybody else, you will interview in Canada and enter with an Immigrant visa and will be sent a 10 year GC.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Boiler

[Mike E 11,739]

54 minutes ago, Technicalglitch said:

so was unable to renew as we had taken up residence in Canada.

Did you file I-407?

[LucindaLou 43]

As a German I am currently going through the process the second time. As Mike E pointed out, you will need to file the I-407 before you are able to file the I-130. For me the I-130 seemed incredibly fast this time around, it took just about 4 months. This could be simple luck or because I our marriage had been deemed bona fide before. Aside from that is is essentially the same process as it was during our first go.

[Technicalglitch 3]

56 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Did you file I-407?

 

We tried to properly relinquish the card, although we didn't know about that form (this is the first I have heard of it).  We went to the US border folks at the airport in Canada and finally found and talked to a guy (we'd looked it up and it said we could surrender the green card this way, and my husband wanted to do everything by the book as we knew we'd probably return in the future).  The guy couldn't do it though (actually wouldn't, forget why, he seemed busy), and he told us to go to the check-in counter and go past the ticket desk and pick up a dedicated phone on the wall, and if anyone answered (he warned us that they often don't) then we could surrender it there if he answered.  He didn't tell us about a form.  He didn't seem too concerned about the situation at all.  We didn't go to the terminal to try the phone thing as we had already been there and the method seemed hopeless. The card was expiring imminently anyway, and eventually I got a letter from the US gov't acknowledging that and saying I didn't have PR status any more, which we already knew.  We don't live at a land border so we didn't make the drive to try it there.

 

Did we screw something up by not doing that form?  It was going to expire anyway.  It felt like we were the only people in the world to have ever left the US and were trying to relinquish the card like we knew we were supposed to, from the way he was talking, but we did try.

 

 

[Technicalglitch 3]

43 minutes ago, LucindaLou said:

As a German I am currently going through the process the second time. As Mike E pointed out, you will need to file the I-407 before you are able to file the I-130. For me the I-130 seemed incredibly fast this time around, it took just about 4 months. This could be simple luck or because I our marriage had been deemed bona fide before. Aside from that is is essentially the same process as it was during our first go.

So are you moving to the US now, does the approved I-130 give you that right, and then you do I-485 once you get there?  Sorry for being so clueless, I find the process very confusing, the bureaucratese on the USCIS site is hard to decipher, everything is so jargony and seems to have gaps in what I need to know.

 

Glad to hear the I-130 went that quickly for you!  I was hopeful about that, since the marriage is obviously real for those of us who had PR status before and are still with the same spouse.  Fingers crossed that it will be fast for us too, although we're in no particular rush really, we know it happens when it happens and we can't do much about it.

[Mike E 11,739]

2 minutes ago, Technicalglitch said:

Did we screw something up by not doing that form?  It was going to expire anyway.  It felt like we were the only people in the world to have ever left the US and were trying to relinquish the card like we knew we were supposed to, from the way he was talking, but we did try.

Technically the consulate should not issue immigration visas to people who are still LPRs, but then again we are talking about U.S. consulates in Canada, which are not stellar adherents to law and policy.

 

For good housekeeping, file I-407 by DHL or FexEx now.

[carmel34 3,633]

15 hours ago, Technicalglitch said:

1) Is there any part of the process that is made easier or will be skipped as I was already thoroughly vetted the last time and previously held a green card?

 

2) Once the I-130 is approved, is that when I can take up residence and apply for the adjustment of status with the I-485?  Am I able to move to the USA before this and add my I-485 as a concurrent filing?

No to both questions.  You're in Canada, so the I-485 is not an option for you, and it would be immigration fraud if you enter the US as a visitor and then try to stay and adjust status.  I-130 is the correct petition for the USC to submit to USCIS, and once that is approved, the case goes to NVC, a DS-260 is completed online with supporting documents, and then you wait for an interview in Montreal.  The process is taking 1-2 years right now.  You can submit an I-407 if you want to.  I (USC, dual citizen) filed for my Canadian spouse's I-130 a second time after returning to Canada, and she gave the officer the first green card at the visa interview for the second one without filing the I-407.  Pay close attention to US domicile for your USC spouse, and required US based income to sponsor you, Montreal is very strict on domicile.  If your USC spouse has a valid job offer in the US, ask the Montreal US Consulate if they will accept the I-130, DCF (direct consular filing), which is much faster than the regular process.  Good luck!

[Crazy Cat 41,888]

13 hours ago, Technicalglitch said:

So are you moving to the US now, does the approved I-130 give you that right, and then you do I-485 once you get there? 

No.  An approved I-130 does not confer a right to even enter the US.  You are outside the US.  Thus, an I-485 is not an option for you.  

[Technicalglitch 3]

1 hour ago, carmel34 said:

No to both questions.  You're in Canada, so the I-485 is not an option for you, and it would be immigration fraud if you enter the US as a visitor and then try to stay and adjust status.  I-130 is the correct petition for the USC to submit to USCIS, and once that is approved, the case goes to NVC, a DS-260 is completed online with supporting documents, and then you wait for an interview in Montreal.  The process is taking 1-2 years right now.  You can submit an I-407 if you want to.  I (USC, dual citizen) filed for my Canadian spouse's I-130 a second time after returning to Canada, and she gave the officer the first green card at the visa interview for the second one without filing the I-407.  Pay close attention to US domicile for your USC spouse, and required US based income to sponsor you, Montreal is very strict on domicile.  If your USC spouse has a valid job offer in the US, ask the Montreal US Consulate if they will accept the I-130, DCF (direct consular filing), which is much faster than the regular process.  Good luck!

 

Thanks for the informative reply.  I don't understand what it means when you say:  "Pay close attention to US domicile for your USC spouse, and required US based income to sponsor you, Montreal is very strict on domicile.  If your USC spouse has a valid job offer in the US, ask the Montreal US Consulate if they will accept the I-130, DCF (direct consular filing), which is much faster than the regular process."

 

My husband is self-employed and his business has always been US-based, currently in Nevada, so adequate US income with decades of history of earning it that way, so we should be OK with that.  What is Montreal very strict about about domicile, can you explain what they are strict about?  We live in Canada currently.  We are considering buying a property in the US, but we know we can't live there until I get my paperwork done, but would visit as a vacation property in the meantime.  Would that worry them?

 

I never had a problem visiting the US during my K-1 process, is there something I should be more concerned about with this process?

 

Also, I should mention that I am retired (I'm in my 50's) and not a job-seeker in the states (I never did work there, I kept doing contract work in Canada when I had my green card).  I'm assuming that will have no bearing on anything bureaucratically, but should be seen as less of a threat by border security (when I first started visiting in my 40's, they were a little more high-strung and worried that I was going to be job-seeking and stay, but they have lightened up considerably for the past decade, partially I think border security culture has just become less abusive, especially since the Covid years, they are much more reasonable.  I also have a long history now of never over-staying, and they would see that in their records)

 

Thanks again for the info, it really helps.

[Technicalglitch 3]

1 hour ago, Crazy Cat said:

No.  An approved I-130 does not confer a right to even enter the US.  You are outside the US.  Thus, an I-485 is not an option for you.  

 

I don't understand how some people do concurrent filing then.  What situation puts someone as living in the states legally but not having started the spousal paperwork yet?  Even the USCIS website seems to lean towards explaining the process for spouses as people who are already in the States.  I'm just curious as I try to wrap my brain around understanding the process.

[Boiler 45,525]

5 minutes ago, Technicalglitch said:

 

I don't understand how some people do concurrent filing then.  What situation puts someone as living in the states legally but not having started the spousal paperwork yet?  Even the USCIS website seems to lean towards explaining the process for spouses as people who are already in the States.  I'm just curious as I try to wrap my brain around understanding the process.

As an example they entered on a K1 visa and can now adjust their status. You are in Canada.

[Boiler 45,525]

11 minutes ago, Technicalglitch said:

 

Thanks for the informative reply.  I don't understand what it means when you say:  "Pay close attention to US domicile for your USC spouse, and required US based income to sponsor you, Montreal is very strict on domicile.  If your USC spouse has a valid job offer in the US, ask the Montreal US Consulate if they will accept the I-130, DCF (direct consular filing), which is much faster than the regular process."

 

My husband is self-employed and his business has always been US-based, currently in Nevada, so adequate US income with decades of history of earning it that way, so we should be OK with that.  What is Montreal very strict about about domicile, can you explain what they are strict about?  We live in Canada currently.  We are considering buying a property in the US, but we know we can't live there until I get my paperwork done, but would visit as a vacation property in the meantime.  Would that worry them?

 

I never had a problem visiting the US during my K-1 process, is there something I should be more concerned about with this process?

 

Also, I should mention that I am retired (I'm in my 50's) and not a job-seeker in the states (I never did work there, I kept doing contract work in Canada when I had my green card).  I'm assuming that will have no bearing on anything bureaucratically, but should be seen as less of a threat by border security (when I first started visiting in my 40's, they were a little more high-strung and worried that I was going to be job-seeking and stay, but they have lightened up considerably for the past decade, partially I think border security culture has just become less abusive, especially since the Covid years, they are much more reasonable.  I also have a long history now of never over-staying, and they would see that in their records)

 

Thanks again for the info, it really helps.

You are applying for a family reunification visa for you to be able to join your Spouse in the US.

 

Current US based work and have a US residence should meet those requirements.

[Crazy Cat 41,888]

27 minutes ago, Technicalglitch said:

Even the USCIS website seems to lean towards explaining the process for spouses as people who are already in the States. 

You are not.  As things are, your route to immigration through marriage is an IR-1 spousal visa. 

[Boiler 45,525]

Seems pretty obvious:

 

https://www.uscis.gov/family/bring-spouse-to-live-in-US

 

Outside the United States

File Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. When the Form I-130 is approved, it will be sent for consular processing and the consulate or embassy will provide notification and processing information. See form instructions for more information.