Free US immigration self-help guides, example forms, community discussion, case tracking & estimated approval dates!

Context: I am a US citizen, residing in the US. My wife and I married last month in the Philippines. She is a Filipina OFW who has lived in Singapore for the past 20 years, working in the tech industry. We both work remotely, and decided to pursue the IR-1/CR-1 path as it will enable her to keep her job upon relocation without having to go through the lengthy wait for a work permit. She currently holds a US B1/B2 visa.

We are currently awaiting the PSA version of the marriage certificate to complete processing so we can continue with the process. She wanted to change her last name to mine, so we are going through all of the things she needs to do for that right now... including changing her name on her passport. We have seen that it is OK to file with her maiden name and then change during the process, but she wants to have things as buttoned-down as possible when we apply.

We are both older, and have no plans for children. She has never been married and has no children of her own; I am widowed and have two grown sons from my late wife.

We met online and after a long time talking via chat and videocalls (multiple times daily), I began visiting her there for a few months at a time. I've been there a total of three times so far (I just returned from the third/marriage trip), and plan to go back later this year and return twice per year for a few months at a time until our processing completes. As I said we are both remote so we would travel together so we have several airline itineraries, AirBnB and hotel reservations, etc. from all of our previous trips. I've met her extended family. After my second trip, she returned with me to the US using her visitor's visa. We went straight to Florida, went to Disney, then flew back to Pennsylvania so she could experience life where I live. She was here for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, we were extremely busy trying to fit in all kinds of activities during those 2 weeks and although she met my entire family, we only have a photo of us with my sister. A big, missed opportunity.

As she is currently living in Singapore and we don't have much in the way of co-mingling of assets yet, we are looking for different ways that we can demonstrate proof of relationship as solidly as possible. We have all of our joint travel documented on the TripIt app as well as having various physical tickets/invoices/etc that we kept as souvenirs, photos of us together in the various places we've been. A very, very lengthy record of messaging/video calls. We had a very nice wedding at a large venue with all of her family there, and we have a ton of photos and videos from there that includes interviews with each of us regarding how we met, how we knew each other was the one, etc.

I plan to file my 2026 taxes as "married filing separately" since I don't want to have her income be involved with the IRS until necessary.

She does NOT like posting anything personal on social media and has no online presence of her own... just an Instagram account where she doom-scrolls and posts photos taken as a part of her subject photography hobby... but nothing of or about her at all. She is a private person. Though I did post general travel entries on my page, I respected her wishes and kept her out of the posts... but I did post our wedding video edits to my family/friends only.

I figure we will need to get a lot of affidavits from friends and family.

So, any ideas on more things we can do to more clearly illustrate proof of relationship? We may open up a joint bank account in the Philippines using our wedding gift funds during my next trip there later this year if useful; but is having an invested joint account enough or do we have to actively pull life expenses from it and use it as our primary account?

Also, after filing we are looking into the possibility of getting her processing done in Singapore. She isn't a bona-fide Singapore "resident" by status, but is there on a perpetual work visa and is only back in PH for maybe 2 weeks per year, or when I am visiting her (much cheaper for long stays than Singapore). We aren't sure what criteria they will use to determine whether she can have her processing done where she lives versus her country of citizenship... it will be a quite an annoyance and expense to have to go back and forth on 4 hour flights, rent accommodations, etc just to go to an interview, medical exam, or whatever else she will need to do for this process... plus the Philippines is very slow with processing. Is anyone aware of the current guidance in this area, will she likely be able to have much of her processing done in Singapore? We plan to send a letter requesting the transfer of the case to Singapore.

Any thoughts on our situation will be greatly appreciated, and we're looking forward to this journey together!

Hi, any other 02/25 I-130 filers out there?

We are going through consular processing with my USC husband, got our first NOA March 5th 2025 & now waiting and hoping for fast approval

Good luck everyone

Hi everyone,

I m outside of US now and seeking some advice regarding the timing of adding a newborn to an ongoing employment based case (via consular processing).

Current Stage: PD for FAD is current now. Documents including DS-260 are submitted to NVC; currently awaiting DQ status.

The Situation:
We are expecting a baby soon. Based on current timelines, the baby will likely be born after we receive DQ, but probably before we receive the Interview Letter.

Should I Notify NVC as soon as the birth certificate is ready via the Public Inquiry Form to unlock the case, pay the fee, and submit the DS-260? My concern is that this might trigger a re-review and delay our IL by several months.(Passport might take up to 45 days)

Or should I wait for the IL and notify the consulate: Keep the DQ status as is. Once the IL is received, contact the consulate in directly to add the newborn as a derivative beneficiary and handle the paperwork/fees during the interview stage.

Also another question which is unlikely, what if the baby is born beforn DQ?

I would appreciate any insights or similar experiences!

Many thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,
Our K-1 visa petition was approved on December 31, 2025 (NOA2).
Our case was sent to the Department of State on February 25, 2026, and we received our case number through a public inquiry on March 17, 2026.
The beneficiary s embassy is in Monrovia, Liberia.
Does anyone know how long it usually takes for a case to move from NVC to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia? Any recent timelines or experiences would be really helpful.
Thanks in advance!

Regarding updating evidence for I-864 and I-485

My wife filed her I-485 in the beginning of March 2026 and we filed the I-864 using the last 3 years of tax transcripts available (2024,23,22) before I filed my 2025 return.

Taxes and whether to file updated I-864:

We were married in 2025 so we are filing our 2025 return Married Filing Jointly for the first time.

Once my accountant completes our returns and files we want to upload the return.

I m thinking of waiting until the transcripts are available which supposedly takes 2-3 weeks after filing

Should I just upload the tax return/transcript or should I update form I-864 and upload that?

in the drop-down menu of USCIS for uploading evidence, there are several categories to choose for the uploads:

* I-864

* Income Tax Return

* I-864 Supporting Documents

* Bona Fides of Relationship

If I redo an updated 864 I would guess I should use the category I-864

but if I just upload 2025 tax transcript , should it be Income Tax Return category or I-864 supporting documents category?

Also since this is the first time we can file a Joint Tax Return (which is a document that proves Bonafide Marriage)

Should we upload the Joint tax return twice?

Once for the I-864 and also use under category Bona Fides of Relationship?

General question regarding uploading evidence;

How much other evidence and how often do you suggest uploading?

Bank statements, credit card statements, photos of relationship, utility bills etc