Finding a sponsor for my French husband

[olivianoel]

Hello,

 

I am an American citizen (born in US), and I married a French citizen in France on October 14, 2015. Except for a brief stay (2 months) in the US in 2017, I have lived in France since January 2015 and work in France as well.

My husband and I would like to move to the US in August/September of 2018 and are at the beginning stages of paperwork.

 

Firstly, I would like to verify the process as I have understood it. My husband will need to apply for permanent resident status using the form I-130. As soon as this form is filed, he will apply for the K-3 visa that will allow him to accompany me to the US while waiting for his permanent resident status. Is this indeed the correct process/order of events? Furthermore, is it reasonable to plan to arrive in the US August/September 2018?

 

Secondly, I have questions concerning his "sponsor" -- the person who will file form I-130 on his behalf. I have come to understand that the sponsor needs to make a certain income, but I am not sure how much.

-Can I act as my husband's sponsor considering that I do not currently reside in the US and considering that I have made $0 in 2015-16 and made around $12,000 this year ($2,000 made in US and $10,000 earned in France)?

-If not, can my mother sponsor my husband considering that she is a US citizen, lives in the US, makes over $30,000 a year, but has significant federal taxt debt that is under negotiation?

-If not, can my brother who is a US citizen, lives in the US and makes over $12,000 a year sponsor my husband?

[pontevecchio]

You need to file an I-130 for your spouse and ask for consular processing. There are no quotas for the spouses of US Citizens and hence once the paperwork is dealt with, he should be able to get the Immigration Visa at the Embassy in Paris. You are the sponsor and you will file the I-130 for him. You are required to file an affidavit of financial responsibility, the I-864. You can include your spouses income. If you come up short over showing that the Income is above the poverty line for a family of two, you can have additional sponsors filing the form I864A , the idea being you have to show an income above the poverty line for your family size and you can have multiple sponsors for the I-864A.

The problem with the K3 visa is that you have to file an I-130 and the relevant form for the K3 visa separately and if the I-130 is approved first, the K3 application is invalid and you have to then get an Immigration visa in Paris. You have the time and hence if you are planning on next August, I would not bother with K3 visas.