CR1 Spousal Visa

Next question comes from John. I met a girl in Columbia last year on vacation. We’ve been building a relationship over the last year and decided we want to tie the knot. How do I get her to the United States to live with me?

First question comes from Bob. “What benefits does the spousal visa have over the fiancé visa?”

Well, actually a spousal visa has quite a few benefits over a fiancé visa. First and foremost, it comes with a lawful permanent resident card, which is the Green Card. What that means is, once the alien beneficiary enters the United States, they’ll receive the Green Card within seven to 10 business days.

The short answer is that you need the long form. You’ll know whether it’s the long form or the short form depending on if it includes both parent’s names and information. But to be sure, you definitely need your birth certificate with both parent’s names on it. Some of those short forms do not include that information.

We have noticed that the USCIS as well as the National Visa Center has started scrutinizing affidavit of support documents that list a petitioner or the sponsor as being self-employed and so what they want to see is now at least 6 months of bank statements. They want to see at least three years of tax returns instead of one year of tax returns.

“The interview and physical, is it hard to pass?” The short answer is no. I went to the interview with my wife and the questions were pretty straightforward. They came right out of the petition itself. The consular officer took the petition, opened it up, flipped through it page by page and took the questions right out of there.

So next question is, should I file my spousal visa at the embassy or the United States? That's a complicated question. The reason being is because there is only 24 international USCIS offices at embassies around the world. So one, that's not very many and two, you must meet the requirements to file in that […]

“Is it easier for your partner to be home or abroad, to get approved? Or is it hard if they are aboard?” You know, what I can tell you from personal experience is that, I went to the … I attended the interview with my wife. And to me, based on all the interviews that I saw and listened too. It seemed like they were a lot easier with the questions with my spouse because, I was standing there.

By random chance, I lost my childhood immunization records. Should I go ahead and get these vaccines that are recommended for my age, 58 years old, now before my interview? Okay. Or before my medical exams?

One thing to know since you mentioned she’s Filipino. In the Philippines they do not accept a joint sponsor. A joint sponsor is your solution if your income is too low. A joint sponsor is like a cosponsor on a car, similar to use an analogy maybe people would get quickly. That’s where somebody else who does have adequate income would sign a document basically vouching for your fiance.

Okay, A. Hanes says, “I used RapidVisa, got an RFE. I thought this wasn’t supposed to happen. What should I do now?” Well, first, let me apologize for the RFE. I don’t know the details and why you got the RFE, but what I can tell you is that an RFE is a request for evidence. That means that they want a little more information.