“Follow to join” visa to bring spouse of a permanent resident who got married before the GC got appr

kalrashi

Registered Users (C)
Hello Folks,

I would like to know your experiences if you were or know someone who were in a similar situation like mine and what would be your advice for me whether or not I should hire a lawyer or do the processing by myself.

Background:
My green card got approved under Employment Based, EB3 category on February 15th 2013. I got married in August 2009 and my I-485 was launched in 2007. My wife has been living with me in the USA on H-4 visa since then (I was on H1b).

We went to visit our family in December 2012 and also applied for our H1b and H4 visa stamps. I we got stamped several times before and never took more than a couple of weeks. This time we got stuck for more than 3 months and my green card got approved while we were waiting for the visa approval. Ironically, I learned that our visas got almost approved when I called the embassy to withdraw my H1b/H4 application.

Current Situation:
I came back to the USA with my green card (a friend of mine DHL-ed it to me) and my wife now got stuck outside the USA.

What’s now:
After researching a bit on this matter I learned that the fastest process to bring her back to the US would be to apply for the “follow to join” visa since we were married before the GC got approved. This way she will be able to avoid the wait that is caused by the I-130 F1A category.

So far I figured I need to do the following:
1) Apply for I-824 with the USCIS Center that processed my I-485 (Nebraska). Approximate wait time 8 months.
2) After I-824 is approved it needs to go to National Visa Center. Approximate wait time: 1 – 3 months.
3) NVC will send it to the overseas US Consulate where she will obtain the visa. 1 -3 months.

I seek your help on the following questions:

1) How complicated the whole process is? Should I hire a lawyer for this? I talked to two attorneys (one local and one from Murthy.com) and was quoted $2800 and $2500 respectively.

2) I found some resources about I-824. But could find the comprehensive list of documents that need to accompany my application. Only the following three from the USCIS website:
a. Copy of original petition
b. Copy of Form I-797
c. Copy of Form N-550 (not applicable for me)
Do I not need to send proof of my marriage, her passport copy etc at this stage? If not, which stage requires those document NVC or the Consulate?

3) I could hardly find any resource on the next step, i.e. NVC processing. What documents do they require, how much fee is needed for the NVC processing etc. If you can point me to any such resource that would be awesome.

4) Similar situation for Consulate processing. When NVC sends the application to consulate what happens? What documents does she need to bring to the embassy? When does she book an appointment etc. Again, if you can point me to any such resource that would be awesome.

5) Based on the timing above it will take approximately 10 - 14 months, does that sound about right?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I would really appreciate your response.
 
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You mentioned that you filed I-485 in 2007. Did your wife file I-485 after your marriage? What is your priority date?
 
You mentioned that you filed I-485 in 2007. Did your wife file I-485 after your marriage? What is your priority date?

1. No my wife did not file I-485. AFAIK, after one files his I-485 and gets married after that, the spouse can only file I-485 when the priority date becomes current.
2. My priority date was March 2007, which became current in February 1st, 2013. Unfortunately my wife was not physically in the US at that time (as mentioned in my initial post) and that's why we got into this situation.
 
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