Post here if you are an American citizen but your FI is not

Hey girls, I know there are at LEAST 4 of us brides who are US Citizens but are marrying a FI who isnt a US citizen. It can be a confusing process with a lot of requirements and lots of paperwork. I thought it would be nice for us to lend each other some support and talk about the process, what you've done so far, where your FI is from, etc etc. The only other person I know in "real life" who went through this is a friend of my FI's and is now in the process of getting divorced, so I can't really ask her any questions...

 

Most of you know by now that my FI is from Mexico City and is a Mexican citizen with a job here in the states.

 

We haven't met with my FI's attorneys yet, but plan to later this month so we can get started on the paperwork. He's spoken with a partner at the firm and she says that it's relatively straightforward and easy. Although my main question right now is, what do you estimate your legal fees to be? I know our initial consultation with the partner is billable at $300/hour, and then we will hopefully have an associate prepare and submit all our paperwork to cut down on the cost. What are your plans?

Maura, you should PM Raeka, she and her Hubby had to go through all of this process for her.

Thanks, Christine! I didn't know that! I will definitely give her a shout as well.

My parents went through this but it was in the 70's and I'm sure lots has changed since then! Definitely ask Melissa (Raeka). Good luck!

I have a similar problem. My FI is a US citizen but I am not. I'm in the middle of the process for my citizenship so it gets really confusing. There is a good chance that by the time we get married the process will be complete and I will be a citizen. Otherwise, we are going to have to file all the fun paperwork you were talking about. I will be interestd in getting more info too, just in case.

you have to file all the paperwork to become a citizen regardless.

 

what have you done already to start your process?

Hi Maura, My FI is from New Zealand and I'm a US citizen. We haven't done much. His attorney said it's mainly afterwards all the work needs to get done. I have to touch base with him again over what we NEED to do... you are farther along than me for sure!

Hi... I'm in the same boat. I am a US citizen and my FI is from Canada.

 

Any help would be greatly appreacited... the process seems a bit overwhelming and we really want to try and do it ourselvse w/o lawyers (as we are 2 poor college students).

 

My FI is currently in the states on a student visa that will expire in May 09. Our Jamaica wedding will occur in Jan 09 but we are considering doing the legal part here in the states sooner than that.

 

This morning I just started looking at all the papework/requirements. It's my understanding that the easiest way to go about the citizenship process is file the paperwork (I-130 Petition for Alien Relative) AFTER we have our marriage license. Is that correct?

I have filed all the paperwork for citizenship already. I am basically just waiting on my interview. I should get it any time soon but I think they are really backed up....I hope to get it before wedding day.

hey becky, yes that's correct that you file the I-130 after the legal wedding. i know our attorney told my FI that it would expedite the process if we have a legal civil ceremony in the US first, as it is generally more difficult if you legally marry outside the country due to documents being in different languages/having different legal requirements etc etc. we are meeting with the lawyers early to prepare the work so that all we have to do is give them the civil ceremony certificate signed after we do it.

as long as you legally marry before his student visa runs out, he can adjust his visa status. my FI has an H1B professional work visa and all he has to do is get his status adjusted right after our attorneys file the papers after the wedding while we wait for the interviews.

here is one of the information circulars from the dept of homeland security that explains how to go about it.
http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/A1.pdf

i would really recommend hiring a lawyer to at least file your papers, because ive heard from others that it goes much more smoothly to have an attorney handle the filing.