Apparently "too married" for K1....so I have a couple of questions.

[MichaelandCo 1]

Ok
So original plan was K1 visa to go to the US and get married there with my adult (early 20s) children present. I wanted them to meet her before we married as well as be there for the actual ceremony.

As I was asking questions about this I was told by MANY that I am too married for K1 and we need to do the Utah wedding online, and CR1 instead

Here is the basic situation
1.  Met her online over a year ago. She is Cambodian and has 2 daughters 9 and 12
2. In november I moved to Cambodia
3. Lived together unoffically until March when we had a traditional Cambodian Engagement Ceremony (essentially a wedding without paperwork)
4.  Living together officially since then
5.  Have a joint Bank account in Cambodia since Feb that we pay house payment and electric bills etc out of.
6.  I am 51 and she is 36
7.  Since the overwhelming majority of advice is because of the engagement ceremony (as well as other reasons CR1 is better than K1) we will do online wedding in the next couple of weeks

Questions.
1.  Overall.....even with the age gap....I think that the 9 months living together and having the joint bank account and traditional ceremony as well as online US wedding should make this an easy case we can do on our own.  Would you agree?

2.  Address.  I do not maintain or have a home in the US right now.  So the plan is shortly after our wedding, I will go to the USA and stay with my brother most likely and find work. I will start the application officially at that time.  The worry.  If I use my brothers address when I start the process...what happens if I get my own place sometime during that process (a year+ might be a long time to be roommates with my brother....haha).  Can I still use his address through the whole process or do I need to notify anyone about that?  My brother lives in Nebraska (although most likely my wife and kids will live in Oklahoma since that is where my adult children are living)

3.  Income.  The last few years I have been living on my VA disability and going back to school. That is about $2k a month.  Not enough for sponsorship (need $39k for family of 4) and not taxable, so not on my tax returns at all.  That said, I have been going back to school for Cyber Security and have some IT certifications already. So, once I get back in the US I plan to get a entry level IT job.  This will pay around the $35-40k range PLUS still get my $22k a year from the VA.  So long as I have a job with enough income prior to my application, and as long as I STILL have this job when doing interviews etc....is it an issue that I did not have high enough income in prior years for sponsorship?
 

[TBoneTX 45,199]

Note:  Background thread is here, FYI:

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/823629-can-i-really-do-this-on-my-ownand-a-couple-of-questions-i-am-worried-about/

 

[pushbrk 12,839]

2 hours ago, MichaelandCo said:

Ok
So original plan was K1 visa to go to the US and get married there with my adult (early 20s) children present. I wanted them to meet her before we married as well as be there for the actual ceremony.

As I was asking questions about this I was told by MANY that I am too married for K1 and we need to do the Utah wedding online, and CR1 instead

Here is the basic situation
1.  Met her online over a year ago. She is Cambodian and has 2 daughters 9 and 12
2. In november I moved to Cambodia
3. Lived together unoffically until March when we had a traditional Cambodian Engagement Ceremony (essentially a wedding without paperwork)
4.  Living together officially since then
5.  Have a joint Bank account in Cambodia since Feb that we pay house payment and electric bills etc out of.
6.  I am 51 and she is 36
7.  Since the overwhelming majority of advice is because of the engagement ceremony (as well as other reasons CR1 is better than K1) we will do online wedding in the next couple of weeks

Questions.
1.  Overall.....even with the age gap....I think that the 9 months living together and having the joint bank account and traditional ceremony as well as online US wedding should make this an easy case we can do on our own.  Would you agree?

2.  Address.  I do not maintain or have a home in the US right now.  So the plan is shortly after our wedding, I will go to the USA and stay with my brother most likely and find work. I will start the application officially at that time.  The worry.  If I use my brothers address when I start the process...what happens if I get my own place sometime during that process (a year+ might be a long time to be roommates with my brother....haha).  Can I still use his address through the whole process or do I need to notify anyone about that?  My brother lives in Nebraska (although most likely my wife and kids will live in Oklahoma since that is where my adult children are living)

3.  Income.  The last few years I have been living on my VA disability and going back to school. That is about $2k a month.  Not enough for sponsorship (need $39k for family of 4) and not taxable, so not on my tax returns at all.  That said, I have been going back to school for Cyber Security and have some IT certifications already. So, once I get back in the US I plan to get a entry level IT job.  This will pay around the $35-40k range PLUS still get my $22k a year from the VA.  So long as I have a job with enough income prior to my application, and as long as I STILL have this job when doing interviews etc....is it an issue that I did not have high enough income in prior years for sponsorship?
 

Sounds like a good plan.  An address change during the process is no problem as long as brother will still be able to receive any unlikely official mail from USCIS.

[apnzz 225]

1. Ultimately down to you to decide; the entire situation sounds complicated and I personally would have a consultation with a lawyer just to get the initial lay of the land; it's not necessary of course, but there seems to be a lot of things ( age gap, lack of finances) that personally I'd want to be more reassured and informed over. But, to each to their own. It isn't required or a necessity at all.

 

2. You can use that address, and if you moved, you can also change your address on your application or if you decide to keep that address that's fine too. Just a note, the spousal, the evidence element they do look at shared assets and they want to see evidence the marriage is real etc etc, so in addition to the age gap I'd make sure you have a lot of evidence.

 

3. I can't speak to specific income or the spousal visa process specifically, as I did k1.

 

I'm sure many more people will be able to give more specific advice in relation to the third question. Good luck!

Edited August 11 by apnzz

[MichaelandCo 1]

2 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Sounds like a good plan.  An address change during the process is no problem as long as brother will still be able to receive any unlikely official mail from USCIS.

Yes, he has lived at the same place for years....He's not going anywhere.  haha.

[carmel34 3,618]

7 hours ago, MichaelandCo said:

She is Cambodian and has 2 daughters 9 and 12

What are your plans for her two daughters?  Are you planning for them to immigrate to the USA with her, or will they stay in Cambodia?  I could not see any questions or your responses to this, and the issue is relevant to the process.  They will need their own I-130 petitions after you get married via Utah Zoom, as your step children.

Edited August 11 by carmel34

[MichaelandCo 1]

1 hour ago, carmel34 said:

What are your plans for her two daughters?  Are you planning for them to immigrate to the USA with her, or will they stay in Cambodia?  I could not see any questions or your responses to this, and the issue is relevant to the process.  They will need their own I-130 petitions after you get married via Utah Zoom, as your step children.

Yes, the plan is for all three of them to come at the same time. 
When looking at the K-1 application, it appeared that they just needed to be on the K-1 and would get a K-2 Visa. 

Is it a different process for CR1?

[Crazy Cat 41,731]

8 minutes ago, MichaelandCo said:

Is it a different process for CR1?

Absolutely.  Much different. Each immediate relative of a US citizen requires a separate I-130.  They are each separate cases. 

Spouse = CR-1/IR-1

Children = CR-1/IR-2

There are no derivatives for immediate relatives of US citizens.

Edited August 11 by Crazy Cat

[discoverusa 258]

Also, keep in mind the two daughters will need permission of non-custodial parent to leave Cambodia and to immigrate to the US. 

[hplusj 135]

By the way OP, I followed you from the previous thread and am so glad you took the members' advice to focus on a spousal visa.  As my fiance and I have done the K1 and are just about finished, we are nevertheless not looking forward to the additional costs/wait times of the AOS/green card.  It is what it is.  

 

I hope the process goes smoothly for you and that you have an amazing celebration stateside!  Remember, it's not the paperwork that makes the marriage, it's the love for one another.  You get that paperwork done as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, and you'll be able to truly enjoy bringing your family to the US.  Good luck to you!

 

And back to your regular programming... 😅

[MichaelandCo 1]

53 minutes ago, discoverusa said:

Also, keep in mind the two daughters will need permission of non-custodial parent to leave Cambodia and to immigrate to the US. 

We anticipated this and already had a lawyer draw up a document and have the ex husband sign etc.

 

[SalishSea 17,779]

You will also want to research the requirements for domicile.   Having a US address is generally not enough.

[pushbrk 12,839]

4 hours ago, SalishSea said:

You will also want to research the requirements for domicile.   Having a US address is generally not enough.

Part of his plan is to return to the USA and go to work.  Domicile doesn't come into play until the NVC stage.

[MichaelandCo 1]

7 hours ago, SalishSea said:

You will also want to research the requirements for domicile.   Having a US address is generally not enough.

Yes, I am not planning to JUST have an address.  I will be making a move back to the US before starting the process.
The question that I had about domicile is more this....
"Does MY domicile....HAVE to be the place we all live when they get here?  Or can I go, move into my brothers house, use that address to save money etc until it is much closer to time for them all to show up, and then I will rent a house that will be "ours" once they get here." 

 

[JD2 72]

20 hours ago, MichaelandCo said:

we need to do the Utah wedding online

Are you not able to get married in Cambodia?  I thought about it but people advised me that it's one more thing USCIS has to adjudicate (were y'all together after the online marriage).  In your case, since y'all will be together during the online ceremony, it should be easy to prove but they'll have to check nonetheless.