S2N

More likely they just don’t understand taxes than tax fraud (you’d be surprised the number of people who heard from a friend they could do XYZ with their taxes…) Regardless, if they’re trying to claim multiple people on their taxes while having a foreign spouse with a pending petition, they should seek out professional help if they think there might be something in the law they’re misunderstanding. Taxes are more complicated than the I-864 is and feed into it.

And based on what I’ve heard from friends in the consular world the assumption by most foreign service employees is that a significant percentage of K-1s that make it to them are fraudulent and that USCIS doesn’t do sufficient work there denying obvious fraud and spends too much time processing what they view as low-fraud risk I-130s. We’re all in a guessing game on what the new administration is going to do, but I wouldn’t want to be in a position where I had a future spouse applying for a visa that has a reputation for being extremely fraud-prone at the consular official level.

Yep, online filing. Received NOA1 on 1/1/25

We had everything ready to go and were just waiting on CBP to process the departure record for my husband to file (married in the U.S. over the December holidays.) New Years Day filer here. Can happily say it was one of the first things I did this year.

Starting the thread for those of us starting the New Year by filing an I-130. Looking forward to hopefully seeing a lot of updates in 2026 or earlier

We fly to Santiago within 24 hours. We’ll wait until he leaves and upload the boarding pass/passport stamps as proof of being outside the U.S. together when we land. Thanks @pushbrk, your advice has been helpful as a lurker and now when I’m asking directly.

I came across this while searching for something else. I’m fairly new to going through the immigration process myself, but pretty familiar with the process due to friends and family and professional reasons. The posters who more or less said your use of a completely legal method shouldn’t be allowed should keep to commenting on the actual question raised. Your case is actually a poster child for why Congress permits AOS from ESTA in certain circumstances — humanitarian reasons. Circumstances change and WT admission class is default 90 days. It would be inhumane for the government to require family members visiting and assisting with legitimate family needs to go back to their home country when there might be a family emergency, change of medical circumstances, change of economic circumstances, etc. If anything, in contrast to what was harshly said to you, your case highlights why Congress should act to streamline family reunification visas via consular processing, not why it should repeal good public policy. The caregiver point @EmilyW raised is debatable — if your mother is with you and helping you out without it raising to the level of a full time job, that’s arguably within the intent of B-2. Even if it wasn’t, B-1 permits domestic workers in limited circumstances (business people temporarily stationed in the U.S., different circumstances, but similar principles if you go through the FAM guidance — anticipated limited time working on entry, and motivation is that there’s humanitarian hardship telling a family they can’t bring in their foreign nanny for 2 months, etc.) FAM is limited to visa issuance but the point on permitting domestic workers of businessmen shows the guidance around what is/isn’t work on a B visa isn’t as clear cut as people think — it’s not simply 'could an American be paid for this.' From a purely practical perspective, I don’t think USCIS is going to come down hard on a British grandmother visiting her family and helping care for a grandchild. It’s an overly expansive reading of law/guidance without realizing that there is a grey area on what’s permissible under B visas that’s common in immigration internet sites. The practical reality is USCIS is aware that there’s multiple levels of hearings and appeals they’d have to go through after a denial for your mother to be forced to leave the country and that they’d likely lose at some point along the way. That has an impact on any decision. Finally, the advice that @OldUser gave on the process to follow at the beginning is the answer to your actual question. I’m so sorry your thread got derailed after someone gave you the correct answer. Advice on forums like this helped a lot of people I know and it’s why I’m here too, but its also worth remembering that based on both the TOS and the culture in a lot of online communities, people tend to take a stricter view of the law than the government does on some things. Helps when people are starting from scratch for them to avoid the grey areas, but once someone is already there, it only makes people more stressed out in an already stressful process.

DM’d

Related question on this: we got married and he’s in the U.S. with me for the holidays before heading back to Chile. Do we need to wait for him to leave the U.S. to file the I-130 for consular processing or can it be filed while he’s still here or does he need to exit the U.S. first? Can’t seem to find guidance.

If you’re fluent in English or your wife is fluent in Spanish, you should be able to translate the acta de matrimonio (or any other government records) on your own — the words on vital records aren’t particularly hard. If you or your wife is C1 on the CEFR scale (even if you haven’t passed the DELE or Cambridge exams in the other’s language) that’s more than enough. I can send you the template I’m using the certify my own translations. Copied and pasted it from the Justice Department’s translation certification template used in immigration courts.

They should be able to file for either AOS or IR-1 if they want, correct? There was not an intent to adjust when they entered so if they decide it’s the right option that’s an available option; as is the husband returning to a different country and waiting out IR-1. That’s my understanding at least.

We’re trying to gather all the documents we’ll need for the process ahead of time. My fiancé was saying that in Chile all documents from the Registro Civil are available in a certified digital format. As an example: certified birth certificates can be downloaded for free. Would uploading the certified PDF to CEAC be sufficient for the NVC/Consular part or would physical copies be needed at some point. Realize I’m asking early but we’re trying to have everything we can ready for the entire process when we file the I-130 so it’s a more seamless process.

Hi all, My fiance and I are planning on getting married in the U.S. on his ESTA over the holidays. We plan on going back to Chile together afterwards for about a month and filing the I-130 there before I’d return to the U.S. while he waits the processing out. If I start working on the draft online now so it’s ready to submit the second we land in Santiago, would that be something that flags for CBP when he’s entering? Don’t want to put his ESTA at risk or delay the marriage.