USC student marrying F-1 student

I

Ivan3749

Registered Users (C)
Hello everyone,

First of all, thank you so much in advance for all your help with our questions, we searched through the forum and found some answers but the particular scenarios were not quite the same so we figured we'd create our own post.

My fiancee and I are going over to South America for a religious ceremony. However, we have been wondering what is the scenario that would have the least amount of paperwork (and maybe cost), is it to get married legally in Peru or in the US?

Some of the questions that we have are:
  1. As stated above, is it easier/cheaper to get legally married inside the US or outside?
  2. Is his F-1 status affected in any way by us submitting an application for a GC?
  3. His F-1 visa is multiple entry valid until 2014 (PhD student), can he go in/out of the country while his application is being processed?
  4. I'm also currently a full-time master's student, thus I have no income. How does this affect my application? We have been living together for over 3 years now. We have a joint account and everything already. How much money do we need to have in our (do his count?) savings account to be eligible to apply for a GC?

Cheers!
 
1. If you get married in Peru, you'll need a marriage certificate in English to apply for the green card, or the Spanish certificate plus a certified English translation, in order for USCIS to recognize the marriage. But see point #2, there are other problems with getting married outside the US because of the F-1 visa.

2. Get married in the US. Once the marriage occurs, your spouse should remain in the US until the green card is approved (or at least until Advance Parole is issued during the green card process), because attempting to enter the US with an F-1 visa while married to a US citizen runs the risk of being refused entry for having immigrant intent.

3. Yes, he can travel abroad during the process once he has Advance Parole, which usually takes about 2-3 months to be approved.

4. To apply with zero income, either you will need somebody else as a joint sponsor to pledge their income for this purpose, or you'll need sufficient assets to offset the income requirement. See form I-864P for the income requirements based on household size. For a case based on marriage to a US citizen, every $3 of assets reduces the income requirement by $1. So with zero income for a household size of 2, you'll need combined assets of 3 times $18,912.
 
Jackolantern said:
2. Get married in the US. Once the marriage occurs, your spouse should remain in the US until the green card is approved (or at least until Advance Parole is issued during the green card process), because attempting to enter the US with an F-1 visa while married to a US citizen runs the risk of being refused entry for having immigrant intent.

3. Yes, he can travel abroad during the process once he has Advance Parole, which usually takes about 2-3 months to be approved.

4. To apply with zero income, either you will need somebody else as a joint sponsor to pledge their income for this purpose, or you'll need sufficient assets to offset the income requirement. See form I-864P for the income requirements based on household size. For a case based on marriage to a US citizen, every $3 of assets reduces the income requirement by $1. So with zero income for a household size of 2, you'll need combined assets of 3 times $18,912.
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Thank you so much for such a quick response, it's greatly appreciated. It looks like we will be getting married here in the US then.

For the assets part, as a PhD student, I earn about $17,000 per year as a Graduate Research Assistant. Does this mean that as long as we have over $6,000 funds in our accounts together, we should be able to be eligible, right?
 
Income as a research assistant might not be acceptable due to its temporary nature (it will end when you graduate or quit school). They want to see income that is expected to continue long term.
 
Aw, that's unfortunate, I still have at least 3 years left on my PhD so I could get a letter stating that I will get that money paid for 3 more years at least.

Additionally, can the value of my car be counted as an asset? What other assets can I use to offset the lack of income?
 
Aw, that's unfortunate, I still have at least 3 years left on my PhD so I could get a letter stating that I will get that money paid for 3 more years at least.
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That might work because of the 3 years, but you'll still need a backup plan in case they don't accept that.

You can only count a car if you have more than one; they are interested in assets that you can sell, and it's not believable that you would sell the car to support your spouse if you only have one car. And only the net value after subtracting the loan balance counts. Of course, if you actually sell the car before submitting the application, the resulting cash will be an acceptable asset.

Other acceptable non-liquid assets include jewelry, real estate*, a boat, artwork -- as long it has a credible appraisal and you have a positive net ownership stake after subtracting any loans tied to the asset.

*but if you're living in it, they're more restrictive about it
 
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Btw, I (the F-1 holder) is the one with the income, she's doing her masters so she doesn't have any income at all. This is funny because I'm the one supporting her.

Anyways, I have some investment accounts but they are not liquid as I've bought stock on them. I guess I could liquidate it within a few days notice. Will they check that I've that money in my account for a long time (instead of having it in investment accounts). Or should I just present the investment accounts statements as assets?

Once again, thanks for your advice!
 
Ivan3749 said:
Btw, I (the F-1 holder) is the one with the income, she's doing her masters so she doesn't have any income at all. This is funny because I'm the one supporting her.
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For a married couple what matters is combined income, so who is the USC and who is the immigrant doesn't matter (however, income from a non-US job is not counted).

Anyways, I have some investment accounts but they are not liquid as I've bought stock on them. I guess I could liquidate it within a few days notice. Will they check that I've that money in my account for a long time (instead of having it in investment accounts). Or should I just present the investment accounts statements as assets?
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No need to liquidate. Stocks and bonds and mutual funds are considered liquid assets, as long as there aren't any restrictions against selling them (for example, some companies give their employees restricted stock that cannot be sold before a certain date).
 
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