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Steps to I-130 Petition for Spouse Abroad

Yesterday I went to visit the newborn baby boy of very dear friends of mine who also happen to be my immigration clients. The baby is perfect baby love, all warm, cuddly and with an amazing head of hair. His parents immigrated to the U.S. and are now both US Citizens. I like to think I played a small part in the creation of this beautiful family. You see, my friend was a Bachelor for many years living in the U.S. before he met and married his wife, and we helped him with the immigration part of this love story so she could join him here in the States. They now have three children.

Stories like this one are the reason I’m an immigration lawyer. The work, although at times very stressful, is also extremely rewarding. You just can’t beat the feel-good factor after jumping through USCIS and other governmental agency hoops and getting a great outcome for people and their families.

So how did we do it? This post will discuss the steps you can take if you’re petitioning for your spouse abroad.

Step 1: Prepare and file the Petition for Alien Relative, Form I-130. The fee for this form is currently $420, and which USCIS office you mail the form off to depends on where you live. Check out the I-130 form instructions to see where you should mail your form. Those instructions can be found at uscis.gov.

Once your petition is accepted for filing, USCIS will send you a receipt and you must then wait for USCIS to approve the petition. This can take anywhere from six to eight months.

Step 2: National Visa Center (NVC) processing – Once USCIS approves your I-130 Petition, you will receive an approval notice (this looks just like the receipt you received when you first mailed your petition to USCIS, but it is called the Approval Notice). Once approved, your case is then transferred to the National Visa Center for further processing.

Once transferred, within approximately 30-45 days, you will get notification from the NVC to pay your fee bills and a form to determine whether or not you want someone else to be your ‘agent’ or representative. If you hire an immigration lawyer, then your lawyer can complete this form and all correspondence will then go to your immigration lawyer.

The fee bill amount currently is $492 for a case like this one. This fee includes the Affidavit of Support processing fee as well as the visa processing fee.

At this stage, the NVC will send you information of what documents are required. At a minimum, the documents that need to be sent to the NVC include:

  • Complete Form I-864, The Affidavit of Support
  • Your three years’ personal tax returns, W2s and most recent paystub
  • Certified copy of your spouse’s birth certificate
  • Certified copy of your marriage certificate
  • Two 2×2 photos of your spouse
  • Certified copy of your spouse’s divorce decree if she has ever been married before
  • Form DS-230
  • Police Clearance Records

Once all of these documents are sent to the NVC and all requirements are met, NVC will forward your case to the appropriate U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the jurisdiction where your spouse resides.

Step 3: Interview – Your spouse will have to appear for an interview. The purpose of the interview is for the Immigration Officer to determine that the marriage is a bona fide one. This interview also is to make sure your spouse is admissible to the U.S. You should always make copies of all documents you send to USCIS and the NVC. And a set of these copies should go to your spouse abroad to take with him or her to the interview in the event that the Officer does not have a full set of complete documents (documents lost have been known to happen, trust me on that one, so make copies!).

Step 4: Success means a visa stamp in your spouse’s passport! Depending on the country, it can take a couple of days to a couple of weeks before your spouse is mailed his or her passport with an immigrant visa stamp in it.

I’ve always said that U.S. immigration is about families – existing families reuniting after long periods apart or couples coming together for the first time to start a family like my friends. I wish you the best of luck! And maybe if you have extra luck, you’ll petition for your spouse and have three kids too.

Tell me about your family’s immigration. When did your family immigrate to the U.S., from where or how? We love hearing stories about immigration.

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Well, hard to believe… job done! I’m frank to admit I had no idea that it would be so involved compared to 10 years ago when I did the renewal myself. Happily I was fortunate enough to find the best people to help get it done this time. When I was a working stiff it was mostly as a field guy in sales & marketing. High tech communication in those days was a pay phone in customers’ lobbies, so someone back in the office skilled in dealing w/problems was absolutely essential when I couldn’t be contacted. Most of those who supported me that way were good at what they did, some were outstanding. None were better than you!! This tedious & sometimes worrisome process would have been unbearable without your keeping it, & me, on track. So we want to extend our thanks to you and Radlyn. Hoping for Gardner & Mendoza to continue the good work for many years to come. - Anonymous
Gardner and Mendoza Law Firm is a great law firm no matter what kind of situation you may be in! For example I had court today, John Gardner, my attorney represented me today and got the charged dismissed totally the first time we both appeared in front of the judge in Virginia Beach Traffic Court. He uses every bit of knowledge he can to help you get the best results!! He also works very well with Latinos! They have a Spanish speaking person in their office at all times!! - Sebastian
My husband and I had a great experience with Mrs. Mendoza. She provided excellent information and a sense of urgency with every step of our immigration process. Her team was always supportive in getting us the information we needed throughout the whole process. This legal firm also treats their clients with the highest levels of respect. In all of Virginia I would say that the Gardener & Mendoza team is the best recommendation for same sex immigration cases and for immigration cases in general. It was a pleasure to work with them. - Anonymous
I Highly Recommend Radlyn Mendoza, An Excellent Immigration Lawyer. My wife and I were very worried about my wife’s immigration and legal status. We were quite impressed with Attorney Mendoza during our initial consultation. She proved to be a smart, knowledgeable, and very capable immigration attorney. She and her staff were very helpful and responsive to all of our requests. Kudos to her and staff, especially Leesa, for successfully handling our case. Thanks for a job well done. - Thomas and Cheong W.
My daughter received a reckless driving ticket going 60 in a 35 mph zone, so understandably, I was very concerned. In court, Mr. Gardner was able to get the reckless driving charge and ticket completely dismissed due to his knowledge of what the police officer had to present in court. Mr. Gardner was a familiar face to the judge and the clerks in the Virginia Beach courthouse. When we contacted John Gardner’s office at Gardner & Mendoza, he and his staff made us feel comfortable by explaining the whole process to us. His track record and the reviews online helped make the decision to choose Mr. Gardner over other attorneys easy. I highly recommend Mr. Gardner. He gave us peace of mind and won the case too! - Michelle

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