Unique situation

[Mohsinnaqvi 0]

Hello everyone,

 

my sister is in a unique situation. She’s a native born U.S. citizen but spent most of her life in UAE and married my brother in law in Pakistan and has been living in Saudi Arabia since 2015 till now. She wants to immigrate back to US now with my niece (also a native born U.S. citizen) along with my brother in law. However we aren’t sure about how to start the process for spousal visa and where should it start since he’s a Pakistani citizen currently living in Saudi Arabia. I live in US and know I would need to sponsor her family which isn’t an issue but not sure how to start this process. Thank you.

[D-R-J 192]

Your sister should file a I-130 petition for her husband.

 

Does she by chance have a job offer in the US? If so, she might qualify for DCF. This can speed up certain aspects of the process.

 

She also needs to work on re-establishing domicile in the US. Does she have US bank accounts, driver’s license, property? It may necessitate her moving back before her husband. This could potentially be a fair amount of time apart if he experiences long administrative processing.
 

Either way, she should work on getting  the petition filed. Administrative processing for Pakistani nationals can take a long time.

[JeanneAdil 6,492]

has she been filing US tax returns while living outside the US? if she worked outside the US  she still needs to file US taxes

if not,  she will need to get a letter from IRS stating no taxes

 

Use Form 4506-T to request tax return transcripts, tax account information, W-2 information, 1099 information, verification of non-filing, and record of account.

 

At 2nd state of the process,  she will fill out I 864 and either need US income or have a joint US sponsor who agrees to aid

Expect a long visa journey as many times a man from Pakistan goes thru long AP after the interview for additional security screening.

 

 

[OldUser 6,635]

This is not a unique situation.

Your sister and niece are US citizens, they do not immigrate, they just move back to the US. Only your brother in law is immigrating.

 

Your sister needs to have a good standing with IRS, probably have a joint sponsor for I-864. She'd need to reestablish life in the US before spouse can immigrate. She'd need to file I-130 for husband.

[Mohsinnaqvi 0]

2 hours ago, D-R-J said:

Your sister should file a I-130 petition for her husband.

 

Does she by chance have a job offer in the US? If so, she might qualify for DCF. This can speed up certain aspects of the process.

 

She also needs to work on re-establishing domicile in the US. Does she have US bank accounts, driver’s license, property? It may necessitate her moving back before her husband. This could potentially be a fair amount of time apart if he experiences long administrative processing.
 

Either way, she should work on getting  the petition filed. Administrative processing for Pakistani nationals can take a long time.

 

2 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

has she been filing US tax returns while living outside the US? if she worked outside the US  she still needs to file US taxes

if not,  she will need to get a letter from IRS stating no taxes

 

Use Form 4506-T to request tax return transcripts, tax account information, W-2 information, 1099 information, verification of non-filing, and record of account.

 

At 2nd state of the process,  she will fill out I 864 and either need US income or have a joint US sponsor who agrees to aid

Expect a long visa journey as many times a man from Pakistan goes thru long AP after the interview for additional security screening.

 

 

No she’s been a stay at home mom and never worked hence she never felt the need to file or report taxable income since my brother in law is the earner. Can she show my house as her domicile in US since that’s where they will be residing initially after arriving in US and even if she were to come back she would be living with us. Where does she need to apply for the petition though since they are living in Saudi Arabia but none of them are Saudi nationals and were married in Pakistan so do they need to go to Pakistan to petition or can they do it from Saudi Arabia?

[D-R-J 192]

The easiest way to submit the petition is online.
 

He can interview in his country of citizenship or legal residence. I would imagine that it would be faster and more convenient to interview in Saudi Arabia.

 

If she has no income, I think she can include a letter to that effect in lieu of tax transcripts.

She should provide as much evidence as possible about re-establishing domicile in the US. It’s possible she might not need to move ahead of time if the embassy is convinced by the evidence.

[Mohsinnaqvi 0]

1 hour ago, D-R-J said:

The easiest way to submit the petition is online.
 

He can interview in his country of citizenship or legal residence. I would imagine that it would be faster and more convenient to interview in Saudi Arabia.

 

If she has no income, I think she can include a letter to that effect in lieu of tax transcripts.

She should provide as much evidence as possible about re-establishing domicile in the US. It’s possible she might not need to move ahead of time if the embassy is convinced by the evidence.

Thank you for your guidance, I will let them know to proceed accordingly. Should I also hire an immigration lawyer here to file their petition to avoid any complications?

[JeanneAdil 6,492]

2 hours ago, Mohsinnaqvi said:

 

No she’s been a stay at home mom and never worked hence she never felt the need to file or report taxable income since my brother in law is the earner. Can she show my house as her domicile in US since that’s where they will be residing initially after arriving in US and even if she were to come back she would be living with us. Where does she need to apply for the petition though since they are living in Saudi Arabia but none of them are Saudi nationals and were married in Pakistan so do they need to go to Pakistan to petition or can they do it from Saudi Arabia?

she still has to file I 864 with 0 income and still need to get the IRS letter that states no return filed.

joint sponsor (i guess u) will file your own I 864 and if joint IRS returns a I 864a from spouse 

 

she  files online (not in foreign country unless doing special DFC Like USC has a US job offer).

u can do a affidavit to assist her saying they will reside in US at your address although it would be far better if she traveled ahead and got her US DL and a US income but all this is at 2nd stage of the process (in about a year)

1st read thru the guides above and file the petition.

 

IF husband is a legal resident ,  he can interview in Saudi but will be in long AP for the Pakistan security checks as Pakistan is poor at record keeping.

[D-R-J 192]

It can definitely be done without a lawyer. It depends on how well you can read through government forms and follow the directions.

 

The petitioner will have to do most of the leg work to provide the information to the lawyer. You also want to look over anything the lawyer is going to submit for mistakes.

 

Some member recommend visa services that are less expensive than lawyers generally. 

[Family 3,988]

3 hours ago, Mohsinnaqvi said:

 

No she’s been a stay at home mom and never worked hence she never felt the need to file or report taxable income since my brother in law is the earner. Can she show my house as her domicile in US since that’s where they will be residing initially after arriving in US and even if she were to come back she would be living with us. Where does she need to apply for the petition though since they are living in Saudi Arabia but none of them are Saudi nationals and were married in Pakistan so do they need to go to Pakistan to petition or can they do it from Saudi Arabia?

First step : She files I-130 …online easiest method for her.  With an online account she will ‘see’ notices and get alerts.

 

She can designate Riyadh , SA for processing if they are living there in legal status. 

‘Yes she can use your  US address as mailing address . She can also write up a letter Intent to Re Establish Domicile in the US. 

 

2 nd step: After approval by USCIS case will be assigned to NVC. Here she will upload civil docs and I-864.
She will do one I-864 as sponsor/petitioner ( it’s ok she is not earning or filed tax returns, just makes short statement that she had no income and thus no filing requirement) and you do an I-864 as joint sponsor . 
‘Here you also write up a letter that you are providing housing/lodging for their move to the US.
 

If she make a short visit to the US to establish some paper trail ( get a state id or dl, open a bank account , register to vote..etc) that would help…but it’s not required. 

 

[Family 3,988]

1 hour ago, JeanneAdil said:

she still has to file I 864 with 0 income and still need to get the IRS letter that states no return filed.

joint sponsor (i guess u) will file your own I 864 and if joint IRS returns a I 864a from spouse 

 

she  files online (not in foreign country unless doing special DFC Like USC has a US job offer).

u can do a affidavit to assist her saying they will reside in US at your address although it would be far better if she traveled ahead and got her US DL and a US income but all this is at 2nd stage of the process (in about a year)

1st read thru the guides above and file the petition.

 

IF husband is a legal resident ,  he can interview in Saudi but will be in long AP for the Pakistan security checks as Pakistan is poor at record keeping.

I missed your post …and just realized you already covered all points. 

[pushbrk 12,877]

I'll just add that there is no actual need for a letter from the IRS.  When the time comes, she can just check a box that says she hasn't filed because her income has been below the filing threshold.  Since the I-130 will show no employment history, this will come as no surprise, causing no confusion or questions at NVC or the Consulate.  Yes, really.  Yes, I'm sure.