Immigration Site

Hi all,

I am a UK citizen married to a US citizen. One by birth. Thinking that it might be better for us to apply for a marriage based GC rather than a K3 VISA as its quicker and less expenisve - but I honestly have no idea where to start!!

From what I can gather its; file the I-130, including in the application marriage license, birth certificate, general information, and...what else? My father in law will have to be my sponsor as well as my husband because we dont have a lot of money anywhere....

If anyone has a timeline or a list of what they sent and when and where I would be ETERNALLY grateful. We live in the UK, btw, so I know that wed be applying to th embassy in London but other than that.....what....?

Thanks everyone, youre all stars.

CB x

Your USC husband lives in the UK? (please answer, as this affects your filing options)

Yes, he does. Sorry about not making that clear.

Normally they require the petitioner to be living in the US. However, some consulates allow Direct Consular Filing (DCF) if the petitioner is a legal resident in the country of citizenship the immigrant spouse. So if they allow that, he would file the I-130 and supporting documents directly with the consulate, instead of with an immigration service center in the US.

However, they dont allow income from non-US jobs to be used for the I-864 (Affidavit of Support), since the purpose of that form is to prove the ability to support the immigrant when living in the US. So your father in law or somebody else would have to be a joint sponsor, unless you or your husband have enough assets to eliminate the income requirement.

Normally, if you husband were in the US he would just file the I-130 right now, and then the I-864 and other papers would be filed after I-130 approval, but youll have to contact the consulate about their DCF procedures as it could be different.