BLC

If you’re only submitting a petition for your spouse, have you tried just select “next” on the third step? I would assume it will give you an option to add previous petition info for another person. Give it a try if not.

If you study the instructions really thoroughly and interpret them literally, you will always find all the answers right there for you. Try not to let yourself get frazzled.

You’re welcome! I actually think a job as a police officer would be considered pretty decent ties to the country —at least a really good starting point! My husband always comes prepared with proof of ties at the border, just in case —these are the things he brings (hoping this can help give you some more ideas): his lease application (he lives with his brother while we wait out this process, so wasn’t on the actual lease his last trip), birth certificate for his son who lives in UK with him, and a letter showing he receives a monetary government benefit. Not having a B visa yet will be a bit of an obstacle, but definitely not impossible! I have heard of people receiving their B while 130 is pending; lots get denied too, though. There are just so many variables with these processes lol

I would think they may scrutinize a bit since you have a trifecta going on: no travel history to the US, no ties to home country, and a pending 130. I would assume that Romania is not a high fraud country, though, but that’s a total assumption. Coming from a country that is not high fraud would be a plus. If I were you, I’d travel through an airport with pre-clearance, though —that way, if they deny you entry, you do not get hit with a removal, which would then require a waiver. Do you have your B visa already? My husband and I delayed our 130 for that reason — we wanted to make sure he established a good travel history to the US (just a few visits), and then submitted. I know that doesn’t help you now, but may be helpful idea for others. He has not had any problems entering with our pending 130 so far (we have had 2 trips here since, and have a third planned for next month, so hoping we still have good luck).

since the marriage was illegal and is not recognized under Texas law, you can also file a suit to void the marriage. I don’t believe there is a time limit on this. You can check the statue here: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm Some marriages are not valid under Texas law under any circumstances. Texas calls these marriages “void.” Void marriages include: Marriages between certain relatives; and Marriages in which a spouse is already married. An annulment is an optional way to end a voidable marriage. A suit to declare a marriage void applies to marriages that cannot be valid under Texas law.

Yes, you can file online married/separately without ITIN (if you are not sending in app for ITIN that is). Use the proper software, though, as some of them are not equipped to handle this input. I used Tax Act this year for mine. But the previous years I used OLT.

I can see right away in your first screenshot that you didn’t put the page number in for part 7- question 3A. So perhaps you have more of these missing bits of info that they need in order to process accurately. I can’t see the other screenshots.

Yeah I seem to only see that part down there explaining how to mail a check or cashier’s check. I suppose that is because the form is actually meant for mailing out, not to be emailed back due to some data breach lol edit: I found it! You saying that made me reread the application and there it was, right in front of my face! Page 17 for anyone else who may be wondering.

Hey can you tell me how you paid? We don’t want to mail, would rather email the form back and do it electronically. But it’s not clear how you’re supposed to send payment electronically for it (or maybe it is and we just totally missed that part). Thanks!

I think that’s a good idea. I would probably do the same in your situation. Best of luck and hoping for a speedy process for you!

If you aren’t a resident of the UK, you would both need a marriage visitor visa. The Home Office isn’t going to approve her for one since she’s overstayed. Plus, depending on where you are in the UK, there are some requirements for needing to live there for x-amount of days before marriage

You’re are really jumping the gun here. There’s no way to even guess when you will receive an approval from USCIS, let alone getting into NVC, DQ, book medical, book interview. It may not even be this year that you’re looking at (hopefully it will be though). There’s no way to accurately guess when you should buy you and your family plane tickets.

you will need to upload several PDF files because there’s a size limit for each. I uploaded one file as a cover letter, another as a table of contents, and then I uploaded all the evidence separately. For example: for my photo evidence I included 3-4 photos per page, but had to break that up into a few different files because of size limit. So the first upload would be something like Photos_page 1 of 3.pdf, and so on.

I haven’t heard of a UK solicitor being well-versed or trained in US immigration. But, you can get plenty of free consultations with US attorneys..and I am positive they’ll do it over Zoom since you’re not local.

Did you have direct experience with this working out ok? I was actually wondering this, too, because my husband’s mother’s name is also off by one letter on his birth certificate!

Thank you! This worked and was able to find out I did have a transfer. Do transfers show up in case status on my USCIS account? Or can you only find this out by chatting with an agent?

This is probably a stupid question, but how did you phrase that question to Emma? I’ve tried phrasing a couple ways, but she always just directs me to the case status area.

you haven’t received your receipt notice (noa1) and the check with the application wasn’t cashed yet? If you applied online, you would have received noa1 online almost instantly (and in the mail a few days later); with a paper submittal, I can’t image it taking longer than two weeks to have the check cashed and receive noa1. Something sounds wrong there. Have you checked your USCIS account to ensure it was actually received?

We are still awaiting approval of our petition, so still at USCIS stage (ugh!). The estimated processing time that USCIS is showing for our case is showing 4 weeks left -lol I take that with a grain of salt, though, but a very hopefully it’s true! I would love to be able to receive that good news with my husband next to me 😃 How far in are you guys?

It is always a tempting thought, but it’s not worth it. Unless it’s honest, and there’s a really big change in circumstance while you’re there (unplanned), it’s really not worth the risk of committing fraud. I don’t think you will try AOS route, but just in case you (or someone reading this) ever do get tempted at the thought of taking that route, because you’re hating that time apart and thinking of the expenses during the wait …just look at it this way—if you did try AOS and it was “planned”, you would have to overcome USCIS being extra suspicious of the reasoning behind it. And then you would be stressing over a possible denial. If you did get a denial, just imagine how long you’d be apart after that and how expensive it would be to maintain a marriage long distance (or in your situation, to try to convince a military spouse to move to a different country) 12-18 months of this is way better than a lifetime of it. Like you said, we all are in the same boat ..some of us with different circumstances. But it equally sucks for all of us- no one wants to be away from the person they chose to spend life with. But, it’s comforting to just remember that almost everyone here has been through it, or is going through it (and there’s a ton more that never even come on this site!)

We filed in July 2022. I have always heard that too, to stay out of the country 2x as long as your last visit; but we have done it before where he has visited for a month, and then returned one month later for an additional month, and we have been fine. I think if it happens every now and then, it’s probably not a big deal if someone does have a long history of following all the ESTA rules. I always remind my husband, just in case they are going to deny entry, to just politely ask to withdraw his request to enter the country so he doesn’t get a denial on his record (of course it’s all something that can still be worked out if that ever happens, but of course better to avoid it, if possible). Dublin is definitely a good choice! They’ve always been really nice there (JFK staff have been, too). It’s just such a piece of mind to be able to tell your spouse “we are all good!” before boarding that long haul; and then don’t have to have that worry in the back of your mind for that long flight.

My husband is a UK citizen, I am US citizen, and we have our ir1 petition in process (we are toward the end of the USCIS stage). He has visited 2x on his ESTA since and has had no issues thus far (he’s set to visit again tmrw). He has also renewed his ESTA during this processing time with no issue. He visits for one month at a time and CBP has not since even asked him about the visa petition or to see any proof of ties to the UK (he brings them each time, just in case, though) —they just asked him the same one or two normal questions like “why are you coming to the US” “how long is your visit”. He’s traveled through CBP at JFK airport and preclearance in Dublin. Hopefully I can report back with the same good news after he travels tomorrow.

Not too easy if you’re lower middle class, so it would be a valid concern. Covering a family on an employer sponsored health plan can easily wipe out someone’s entire paycheck. Most employers only partially cover the premiums for their employees, not their families, that comes at the employees expense.

So you are saying you want to expedite because you’re unemployed and have no one supporting you financially; and wondering if that alone is a valid reason?

Yes, of course you can use a typed document. You’re reading the word ‘written’ out of its context. Written is referring to the alphabet of the native language, not physically writing something onto a piece of paper. And the ‘text or word processing document’ part is just referring to file type, i.e make sure it’s in the proper format, specifically a pdf.