Turkey

Great to hear, thank you! Our case isn't super urgent at this stage, but seeing it get kicked back to 23 months was a bit painful, haha.

That's great news, thank for you for the quick reassurance. So just to double-check - I don't need to do anything about my wife's address changing until the I-130 is approved? Thank you again!

Hi All, I (US citizen) submitted an I-130 petition online with my wife (Turkish citizen) as the beneficiary in December 2024. At the time of filing, we were living together in Turkey. We moved to New Zealand earlier this year. A couple of days ago, I submitted a request to update my address in myUSCIS account to reflect our new address. Before this update, the myProgress tab estimated 12 months until a decision. I checked just now, and the address change has been processed, but the estimated wait time in myProgress has jumped to 23 months. I am extremely upset by this, as I had no idea that simply changing my own address would send the petition to the back of the queue. That said, what's done is done, and I'd like to move things along correctly going forward. My main question is: aside from the address change in myUSCIS, are there other steps I need to take to ensure the case is properly transferred from the US Embassy in Ankara to the Consulate in Auckland? I have updated my address, but is there some procedure for updating my wife's address? We live together, but my understanding is that USCIS does not assume this. I want to make sure the interview eventually gets scheduled in the right country. Pretty much all of the resources I found online were regarding the NVC stage, post I-130 approval. I'd like to know if there's anything we can do now, at this stage of the process, to ensure our correct address is reflected across all systems. Thank you all in advance!

Thank you all, I appreciate the great advice. I should also mention that she's considering applying for a B2 visa in the near future to accompany me on trips to visit friends and family in the US. In this case, I think it's essential to withdraw the immigrant visa application so that she can demonstrate nonimmigrant intent? My question now is, would the withdrawn I-130 stay on her "record" when applying for a B2 visa? I suppose there's nothing we can do about it if this is the case, but I'd like to know. Thanks again!

Hi all, U.S. citizen petitioner here. Spouse is a Turkish national. I-130 was filed online in December 2024. No approval of anything yet, no NVC case, no DS-260, and obviously no interview. Just the initial receipt notice. I'm considering withdrawing because we ended up moving to New Zealand together instead, and plan to live here for the foreseeable future. Will withdrawing now affect future US visa applications? Also, is it considered a " visa refusal" for immigration purposes? If anyone has firsthand experience with withdrawing before USCIS approval, would love to hear what your confirmation looked like and whether it affected later filings. Thank you in advance!

Hi All, I am preparing to file my I-130 for my wife within the next day or two. We are currently residing in Istanbul, Turkey, and were married online with a Utah County online marriage. However, the marriage certificate says the following: "I hereby certify that on the 22nd day of December in the year of two thousand twenty four in the city of Salt Lake City in said county of Salt Lake, I, the undersigned, a Reverend did join in matrimony according to the laws of the State of Utah [NAME] and [NAME]. The nature of the ceremony was according to Utah Law and was a present mutual agreement of marriage between parties." I believe this is because the reverend who performed the marriage lives in Salt Lake City. So, is it correct to write the location as Provo in Utah County, Salt Lake City where the officiant was, or Istanbul where we physically were at the time? Another question - I have made my wife the sole beneficiary on my brokerage and checking accounts at my bank in the United States. However, the only evidence I have of this is a screenshot, as unfortunately I don't have access to any formal documents stating this. Is this okay to submit? Overall, the amount of evidence of us being financially intertwined is quite low, for reasons I mentioned in my last post. All I have to prove this is the aforementioned screenshot. Does anyone know of any last-minute moves can I make to strengthen this? I have tried applying for instant life insurance but was rejected because I live outside of the US. My sincere thanks in advance for any responses!

Also - she is named as the sole beneficiary on my main bank account in the US. Is it worth buying life insurance and giving her power of attorney at this point as well? Will it look suspicious doing all of this two days before marriage and ~1 week before filing? Since posting this I realized that we have keycards to our apartment with our names, faces, and apartment number. Hopefully this is a strong piece of evidence that we're living together.

Hi All, My fiancée and I are planning getting married on this weekend (December 2024) via a Utah online marriage, which I previously made a post about. We are planning on applying for a CR1 visa ASAP after that is complete. I have been compiling evidence of our relationship and I am concerned that it might not be sufficient. Below is a summary of what I have found so far: Evidence Type Dates WhatsApp conversation logs Sep 2023 - Present Flight itinerary (USA to Turkey) November 2023 AirBnb reservation (Turkey, my name only) Nov 2023 - Jan 2024 Photos in Turkey (home, city, with her friends) Nov 2023 - Present Turkish residence permit (two years) Issued Mar 2024 Flight itinerary (to Serbia, both names) August 2024 AirBnb reservation (Serbia, both names) August 2024 Photos together in Serbia August 2024 Photos of us with her immediate and extended family in Turkey November 2024 Photos of us with my sister in Italy November 2024 Flight itinerary (to Czechia, both names) November 2024 Photos together Czechia and Italy November 2024 AirBnb reservation (Czechia and Italy, both names) November 2024 Some notes: The evidence from Serbia/Czechia/Italy is from vacations we took to those countries together. I am a US citizen and she is a Turkish citizen. We live together at the apartment I own in Turkey, but her name is not on the deed. We also have no joint financial accounts and she is not on any of the utility bills except the internet bill. This is because she is currently in university (I am 23 and she is 21) and as such she is not earning an income. I am concerned that not having obvious financial ties will weaken our case. We are able to get affidavits from friends and family if needed but I've read that these don't really hold water. I also have a lesson confirmation for Turkish lessons in December 2024, not sure if that matters. Does this evidence seem sufficient for a CR1 visa application? Are there any critical pieces of evidence we might have overlooked? I have tried to provide as much information as possible, but if there's anything else that would be helpful, please let me know. I am very new to all of this and am trying to move as quickly as possible. Thank you in advance for any replies!!!

Hi All, My fiancée (Turkish citizen) and I (US citizen) are living together in Turkey, and would like to get married and start our CR1 application ASAP. To get married in Turkey, I need a notarized Affidavit of Eligibility to Marry from the US Consulate here in Istanbul. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to secure an appointment until mid-January, which is later than I would like. There is also the issue of getting this document translated, getting the translation notarized, and then getting it approved by local officials. Given this, we are looking into getting married online in Utah. Because we are living together, I believe USCIS will view the marriage as consummated and legitimate. My main question is this - Will USCIS accept a "digitally certified" copy of our marriage certificate for our initial application? I have searched online and on VisaJourney but haven't been able to find a clear answer. It seems like they will, but I just want to make sure. For context, here is the Utah County Clerk's page explaining what this is: https://www.utahcounty.gov/dept/clerk/marriage/digitalvspapercertcopy.html We will also have the physical certificate mailed to us, but this will add an additional 3-4 weeks - which defeats the whole purpose of getting married online. I am totally new to the world of US immigration, apologies for any mistakes. Thanks in advance for any replies!