US Green Card for Thai Spouse

[GinBoy2]

43 minutes ago, bbko said:

Question about the 2nd portion of the process, what is needed to show financial suport?  How many of past years tax returns will I need to show?

Now it's been a while, but as I recall it was 3 or 4 years of tax transcripts, not copies of your 1040.

 

If you are using assets, you'll need to provide copies of home or car title documents and 401K statements, plus whatever else you are using to make the income requirements

 

 

[fusion58]

On 6/19/2023 at 8:51 AM, GinBoy2 said:

Now it's been a while, but as I recall it was 3 or 4 years of tax transcripts, not copies of your 1040.

 

If you are using assets, you'll need to provide copies of home or car title documents and 401K statements, plus whatever else you are using to make the income requirements

 

 

What if you haven't worked in ~10 years and have no tax documents to show?

 

Also, am I correct in understanding a sufficient bank balance counts as an asset?

[GinBoy2]

2 hours ago, fusion58 said:

What if you haven't worked in ~10 years and have no tax documents to show?

 

Also, am I correct in understanding a sufficient bank balance counts as an asset?

It doesn't matter if your transcript's are just all zero's, you just need to provide them.

 

Bank accounts, houses anything that can be liquidated can be used to pass the asset test

[fusion58]

Question for anyone who's been through the process:

 

Submitted the petition for alien spouse on wife's behalf here in Thailand.

 

What happens if my wife's application is approved and she's in the U.S. on a B-2 visa when the approval occurs? Would she have to make another round trip to Thailand just to take delivery of the sealed envelope and return through U.S. immigration with it?

[bunnydrops]

On 5/13/2022 at 6:32 PM, bbko said:

Thanks for all your info, very helpful.  As for the "single entry" mention.  I understand if my wife leaves the US for almost a year she can lose the green card, but is she not allowed to come back to Thailand for a short visit? Is there a multi entry visa option? Or will I have to file additional paperwork?

We applied in BKK. Every since, almost 13 yrs now, we lived in Thailand just under the 180 day limit. One time returning to the US, the officer counted the days, smile, and said I see you have done your homework. It is faster to apply in BKK. As someone had said, it took about 3 months, My wife got a 10 year, but passed citizen test in 3.

 

I see---Another old post

Edited September 18, 2023 by bunnydrops
addition

[khunjake]

4 hours ago, fusion58 said:

Question for anyone who's been through the process:

 

Submitted the petition for alien spouse on wife's behalf here in Thailand.

 

What happens if my wife's application is approved and she's in the U.S. on a B-2 visa when the approval occurs? Would she have to make another round trip to Thailand just to take delivery of the sealed envelope and return through U.S. immigration with it?

USCIS doesn't give packets upon arrival on the immigrant visa anymore. Its all done electronically now. The USCIS petition is only the first step. Once that is approved, the next step is dealing with State Department NVC. After that step, your wife will be instructed on getting a health exam (must be done in Thailand by embassy approved doctors/hospital) and an interview with the consular officer in the immigrant visa section of the embassy. All must be done in Thailand.

[Elkski]

Not sure why this popped up in my  notifications.  

Just to  update.  Our K1 visa path has been slow and still no green card, 2.8 years, after submitting our I-485 in July 21.   

Going the asset route

125% of poverty for household of 2 is 30,800$ 

https://www.uscis.gov/i-864p

 

Using assets its 5x the poverty level or about 150k in assets that can be liquid in less than a year. Fir some reason i thought yuur residence didnt count but maybe it does reading this. 

https://citizenpath.com/faq/use-assets-i-864/

It can be a combination of asset and income. 

 

Another item is after coming in on a K1 visa they can't leave without ending the K1 visa until they get an advanced parole.  That took us about 8-9 months to get in the form of a combo card.  That was a dual work permit and advanced parole.  They dont do dual card anymore.   Advanced parole?  Yes this whole process is full of confusing terms and government personel written crap, forms and instructions.    

Her combo card expired in 2 years and we just had to reapply for an extension.  You can apply for extension 6 months before expiry but must do before it expires or must pay new fees.  We are late with only 1 month before it expires . No travel planned for 7 months so should be ok. And she works in our company so i dont care if she has work permit like a big company would. Once they send notice of receipt of our extension application she gets an auto 180 extension.  

Not sure why processing times for her green card are over 2.5 years   its not uncommon and depends on which regional office your  told to be using. 

Overall its a broken system.  

Also they run on fees not aloocated funds so they just raised all fees starting april 1, 2024. Some by 70% 

The best advice is to get married first and do a CR1 visa.   But the US citizen must have a domicile and residency in the US. 

Edited February 22 by Elkski