Captkanga

I’m a US citizen and my spouse (beneficiary) is from Argentina but is eligible for an Italian passport, which in theory would allow her to visit the US with only an ESTA (VWP country). My question is, would this present issues with the processing of the application? Would she need to prove intent to return to her country beyond having a return ticket even though it’s not a travel visa? The other concern is that she’d be traveling with our newborn baby who has my last name (different from hers), so she’ll need a letter of consent to travel with the baby which would presumably indicate that she’s traveling to the US to visit her US citizen spouse. The last thing we want is for them to be turned away at the airport in the US.

Thanks for the links!

My fiancé (Argentina citizen) and I (US citizen) are planning to marry in Mendoza, Argentina on Dec 1, 2023. We’re trying to understand all the requirements for the marriage to be official and legal to get the marriage certificate in Argentina. I saw on another website that I need to obtain a certificate of legal capacity to marry from the US embassy in Argentina. And that we need to file “banns of marriage”.. does this apply for Argentina? Are there any US citizens here who have gone through this process and can point me in the right direction as far as the local Argentina legal requirements? We have a date with the casa gobierno 30 days before the wedding. We’re also planning to hire a licensed translator for the ceremony. We just want to make sure we don’t miss anything or screw anything up. Our ultimate goal is to apply for a CR-1 visa once we have the marriage certificate.

Not sure what you mean about legitimation. If I go to Argentina, regardless of whether we’re married, my understanding is that if I can prove I’m the father, that it’s a simple matter of going to the US Embassy in Buenos Aires and registering the child as a US citizen (where I have to sign a letter that I will support them until their 18th birthday). And then they get a US passport.

Regarding the requirement of being present in the US for a period of 5 years, does that mean 5 continuous years prior to the birth of the baby (so birth date minus 5 years)? Or does it just mean that I need to have lived in the US for a continuous five years at some point in my adult life? I’m in my forties and have lived in the US basically my entire life. The issue is that I lived in Europe from 2018-2020, so I am not sure if that would make me ineligible for this child to become a U.S. citizen? That doesn’t make sense to me.

@Chancy thank you for the reply. I had no idea there was no limit. And especially if she remarries!

@Dashinka we have considered a CR-1 visa, the problem is that that would add that much more waiting time to the overall visa as I’d need to first travel to her country, get married, then submit the application which would make the clock start at that time, vs now. My understanding is that the wait times are close to the same for K1 to CR1. thanks for your response

Apologies if this has been discussed previously. I’m a California resident and am wondering what the household size requirements would be for the scenario where I would want to sponsor my fiancé and our (currently unborn) child. If they came here, would this indicate a household size of 3 for the purposes of financial support? I’m also wondering, if in addition to being financially responsible for my dependents for a period of 10 years, would that operate completely separately from alimony requirements in the event of a divorce? In other words, if we got divorced, would I be responsible for both the I-864 finances and also be open to her taking half of all my assets and income?