I wish we had done this better however it got sloppy and now I'm worried my wife won't be allowed to stay in the US.
We started about 2 years ago; She lived in Thailand, I visited her often and she decided to join an culture exchange program called Au Pair. It sounded great at first. Once she was done with training they sent her to the states. Our plan had been that her in the program would give us a chance to get used to living in the same country and seeing each other everyday, if she likes it here, and to have a year to decide if married is what we really wanted.
But the program quickly turned out to be a complete nightmare. They should be shut down by the Government for human trafficking. The first "family" she was sent to was a single man with a boy. He tried to force himself on her and she quickly left, saying, "My son wants you to be his mommy." We found out the last nanny was 18, spoke very little english, and he also tried to very aggressively "date' her too.
The second family seemed much better, "a thai woman, white guy, and two kids." But yet again he had more in mind than her just being a nanny, the last nanny left after only 3 days. When he found out she was engaged he became enraged; ate all of her food (she made only $200 a month), searched through her room when she was gone, didn't pay for her college which was apart of the contract, and when she became seriously ill he refused to take her to the hospital. She was sick with a fever with over a month, coughing day and night like somebody dieing of lung cancer.
We got married shortly after, when he kicked her to the street suddenly because she wouldn't refuse to break off our engagement, and "spend the evenings with his family instead of going out with her friends.", in other words meaning to work 14 hours a day.
She was alone in that state with no one to go turn too. I received the call from her right as I was on my way to a business trip two states away. We were legally married within a couple of days. But losing that contract with my employer set us back severely as far as finances go, so we put off the green card until we were ready but her passport expired within that time, not to mention the Visa.
On the green card papers it says, "You must show tax returns worth of 3 years beyond the poverty level based on family size."
Up until recently however, I was living in Japan as apart of a teacher volunteer program, and when I went back to the US I returned to College full time, living with a friend, again bringing in very little income while i completed my education.
Last year I made enough to be beyond that line with a family size of two, and this year I'm doing excellent. $4-7,000 a month. I can show them our bank account to prove it. We are financial stable, neither of us have a criminal background or even driving tickets. She has a family who has agreed to give her 2k/month as a nanny while she also goes back to school for a MA once she has her green card.
She has lots of people who can be used as personal references. But I'm worried about the previous income that I made, and us being so late to complete the green card process, now that her passport has expired.
It also was never our intention to turn a bushiness visa just so we could get married as soon as she got here then leave the job and I know that's going to look bad.
Can you give any advice on what we should expect, or how do we begin this process?
Thank you for your input. Working through government processes always seems overly confusing and vague.
We started about 2 years ago; She lived in Thailand, I visited her often and she decided to join an culture exchange program called Au Pair. It sounded great at first. Once she was done with training they sent her to the states. Our plan had been that her in the program would give us a chance to get used to living in the same country and seeing each other everyday, if she likes it here, and to have a year to decide if married is what we really wanted.
But the program quickly turned out to be a complete nightmare. They should be shut down by the Government for human trafficking. The first "family" she was sent to was a single man with a boy. He tried to force himself on her and she quickly left, saying, "My son wants you to be his mommy." We found out the last nanny was 18, spoke very little english, and he also tried to very aggressively "date' her too.
The second family seemed much better, "a thai woman, white guy, and two kids." But yet again he had more in mind than her just being a nanny, the last nanny left after only 3 days. When he found out she was engaged he became enraged; ate all of her food (she made only $200 a month), searched through her room when she was gone, didn't pay for her college which was apart of the contract, and when she became seriously ill he refused to take her to the hospital. She was sick with a fever with over a month, coughing day and night like somebody dieing of lung cancer.
We got married shortly after, when he kicked her to the street suddenly because she wouldn't refuse to break off our engagement, and "spend the evenings with his family instead of going out with her friends.", in other words meaning to work 14 hours a day.
She was alone in that state with no one to go turn too. I received the call from her right as I was on my way to a business trip two states away. We were legally married within a couple of days. But losing that contract with my employer set us back severely as far as finances go, so we put off the green card until we were ready but her passport expired within that time, not to mention the Visa.
On the green card papers it says, "You must show tax returns worth of 3 years beyond the poverty level based on family size."
Up until recently however, I was living in Japan as apart of a teacher volunteer program, and when I went back to the US I returned to College full time, living with a friend, again bringing in very little income while i completed my education.
Last year I made enough to be beyond that line with a family size of two, and this year I'm doing excellent. $4-7,000 a month. I can show them our bank account to prove it. We are financial stable, neither of us have a criminal background or even driving tickets. She has a family who has agreed to give her 2k/month as a nanny while she also goes back to school for a MA once she has her green card.
She has lots of people who can be used as personal references. But I'm worried about the previous income that I made, and us being so late to complete the green card process, now that her passport has expired.
It also was never our intention to turn a bushiness visa just so we could get married as soon as she got here then leave the job and I know that's going to look bad.
Can you give any advice on what we should expect, or how do we begin this process?
Thank you for your input. Working through government processes always seems overly confusing and vague.
They are as spicy as the food.