Think of Sponsoring U.S. Immigration Through Marriage? Don’t Miss These 7 Crucial Facts

What papers and documents do you need to prepare to sponsor U.S. immigration for marriage, what are the necessary and sufficient conditions, what is the interview process, and how long does it take for your partner to have a green card? All will be revealed by ImmiPath in the following article.

Sponsoring U.S. immigration based on marriage is of interest to many people. This is one of the fastest visas to travel to the U.S. and the U.S. government provides an unlimited number of visas each year so that U.S. citizens or permanent residents can bring their spouses to the United States to live permanently.

If you are also preparing to open a spousal sponsorship application to the U.S. but do not know the conditions, application process, how to arrange evidence as well as what the Consular Officer will ask during the interview. In the following article, ImmiPath will help you answer those questions and more, so that the couple can reunite soon in America. See it now!

1. What is US Immigration Sponsorship based on Marriage?

Sponsoring U.S. immigration based on marriage, also known as U.S. immigration based on spouses. This is a form of sponsoring the spouse (married/married) of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to come to the U.S. to live and settle.

If you sponsor a spouse to go to the U.S., the spouse will receive a 2-year green card or a 10-year green card when settling in the U.S.

This is considered one of the U.S. immigration categories with the fastest processing time, not as long as other categories, and the number of visas is not limited each year.

However, this is the reason why many people take advantage of the marriage route to get to America as quickly as possible by getting into a fake marriage that does not come from true love.

This causes the U.S. Consulate to become more and more strict in reviewing documents.

2. Conditions for Sponsoring Spouses to Go to the U.S under Marriage Status

Currently, sponsorship to go to the U.S. for marriage is divided into two cases: for U.S. citizens who already have citizenship (CR1, IR1 categories) and for U.S. permanent residents who own green cards (F2A category). To sponsor your spouse to come to the U.S., you must meet the following conditions: 

• The sponsor must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident with a green card. The couple must be legally married and provide a valid marriage certificate, both must be 18 years of age or older
• The authenticity of the marriage must be proven by evidence, such as photographs, wedding photos, flight itineraries, trips together, letters from family and friends confirming the relationship, emails, or text messages between the two of you…
• The financial condition to sponsor a spouse to the U.S. is that the sponsor must commit to financially sponsoring his/her spouse and submit an affidavit. The sponsor also needs to have the means to support his or her household at 125% of the federal poverty level. If the sponsor does not meet the income requirements, a joint sponsor may be used
• The sponsor must be domiciled in the U.S., meaning they must live in the U.S. or must demonstrate a plan to return to the U.S. with their foreign spouse.
• The sponsor is allowed to sponsor the couple’s common child or the applicant’s stepchild on the condition that the sponsor and the applicant register their marriage at the time the child is under 18 years old.
• The couple’s marriage did not contain any elements of fraud or settlement purposes

3. What Steps Does the U.S. Immigration Sponsorship Process for Marriage Include?

Although the U.S. government has worked hard to streamline interview schedules, the immigration process still involves many forms and stages. The secret for couples when opening a marriage sponsorship application to settle in the U.S. is to be patient and follow the instructions exactly.

Hiring an experienced immigration professional like ImmiPath will help ensure your couple’s case proceeds as smoothly and quickly as possible.

The sponsorship procedure to go to the U.S. as a couple will vary in time and processing speed depending on whether the sponsor is a U.S. citizen (U.S. nationality – IR1/CR1) category or permanent resident (Green card – F2A category) but basically needs to follow the following 5-step process:

Step 1: Complete Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative – the sponsor will complete this form) and Form I-130A (Additional information for the sponsor – spouse of the sponsor will complete this form) and send the forms along with supporting documentation and payment of application fees to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Once the petition is approved, your spouse will be placed on the immigrant visa waiting list. The original filing date of the petition becomes the visa priority date. The visa application cannot be submitted until the priority date becomes current. (The U.S. Department of State’s visa bulletin is issued monthly and displays the current priority dates for that month.)

Step 2: Once you have your priority date, the next step is to submit your visa application to the National Visa Center (NVC). At this stage, both the guarantor and the guaranteed need to prepare the following documents:

The sponsor in the U.S. needs to submit the following documents:

• Financial Sponsorship Form I-864
• The single-status certificate
• Federal income tax return
• Proof of accommodation
• Proof of U.S. citizenship or green card
• Proof of current employment
• Proof of marriage

On the part of the sponsored person in Vietnam, the following civil documents need to be submitted:

• Electronic visa application for immigrant visa DS-260, filled out online
• Passport image
• Passport
• Birth certificate
• Registration of marriage
• Judicial record number 2 or police certificate for all countries where you have lived for more than 6 months
• Divorce documents (if any)

Then, send all documents to the NVC National Visa Center for approval. NVC will process and transfer your application to the Embassy or Consulate closest to your spouse, which will schedule an interview for the sponsored person.

The current NVC approval time is 12 weeks. If you receive an email informing you that your application is complete, wait 1 – 4 months to receive an interview letter.

Step 3: Before participating in the interview, you need to complete health examination and vaccination procedures at hospitals and health agencies specified by the U.S. Consulate. This is a mandatory procedure that the sponsored person must complete to qualify for a U.S. immigration visa.

Health examinations and vaccinations can be done after the interview. In this case, if you pass the visa, the U.S. consulate will issue a green paper with an additional health check by mail.

In addition, before going to the interview, the sponsored person needs to register the visa receiving address and print an address confirmation slip.

The purpose of registering an address is for the Consulate to exchange documents and send visas. Address registration is done at the website ustraveldocs.com. 

Step 4: On the appointment date, the spouse of the sponsored person goes to the U.S. Consulate for an interview. The purpose of the interview is to check whether the marital relationship is honest or not.

Most interviews to sponsor spouses from Vietnam to the U.S. will take place in the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. The applicant will attend an interview with an American official.

At the interview, your spouse answers questions and provides documentary evidence to verify the marriage is real such as messages, calls, plane tickets, photos of outings, travel, wedding photos, receipts for sending money, and gifts back to Vietnam… for Consular Officers to review. If approved, the Embassy or Consulate grants the sponsored person a U.S. immigration visa.

Step 5: After receiving the U.S. immigrant visa, your spouse has 6 months to come to the United States. Upon arrival, the sponsored spouse needs to present documents and visa at the port of entry and can enter the United States to live with his or her partner.

Your spouse’s green card will be mailed a few weeks later.

If you have been married less than 2 years, your spouse’s green card is conditional and will expire after 2 years.

The sponsoring spouse will have to apply for a permanent green card within 90 days before the conditional green card expires.

4. How Much Does It Cost to Sponsor a Spouse to the U.S.?

Many couples who come to ImmiPath for advice on procedures for opening a spousal sponsorship application to the U.S. always have a question about how much it costs to sponsor a spousal couple to the U.S.

To help customers with their questions, ImmiPath summarizes the cost of sponsoring spouses to go to the U.S. through the following table:

Category	Cost
Application fee to USCIS	535 USD/application
The cost of reviewing financial sponsorship applications submitted to NVC	120 USD/application
The cost of reviewing civil documents submitted to NVC	325 USD/person
Health examination cost at Cho Ray Hospital, IOM	Adults: 275 USD Children: 2-14 years old: 240 USD Children < 2 years old: 165 USD
Immigration fee (USCIS immigrant fee) paid to USCIS	220 USD/person
Cost of making judicial record No. 2 (submitted to the Department of Justice of the province where permanent residence is located)	200,000 VND/person
Document translation costs	Depending on the collection location and the number of sheets that need to be translated
Visa delivery cost	140,000 VND
Incurred costs	In addition, you need to pay other additional fees such as fees for lawyers, immigration companies if you and your spouse ask to open a sponsorship application, travel and accommodation costs to attend interviews, and tickets. plane to the U.S. if visa approved…

5. How Long does It take to Immigrate to the U.S. to Get Married?

After completing the steps to open a spousal sponsorship application to the U.S. and paying all fees, many couples still wonder how long it takes to sponsor a spousal spouse in the U.S.

Depending on whether the sponsor is a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident, the waiting time to get a visa for the couple to settle in the U.S. will be different. Normally, a U.S. citizen’s application to sponsor his wife to come to the U.S. will be reviewed faster by the Consulate than a sponsor with a green card.

If the spouse is a U.S. citizen, the approximate waiting time for a spouse visa as of August 2022 ranges from approximately 11 months to more than 2 years, regardless of whether you are currently living in the US or abroad.

If the spouse is a U.S. green card holder, the waiting period is longer, from about 20 months to about 3 years or longer.

6. Some Ways to Apply for a Green Card after Marrying a U.S. Citizen

Once married to a U.S. citizen, there are several ways in which you can apply for a green card depending on where you got married and where you currently reside, abroad or already in the U.S. ImmiPath is divided into the following 3 cases:

6.1 Married and still living abroad

You can choose to obtain a K-3 nonimmigrant visa to enter the United States or apply to adjust your status to become a legal permanent resident while you are there or open a petition for permanent residence. American residents must apply for a CR-1 to enter the United States as a legal permanent resident.

The K-3 marriage visa will only allow you to stay in the United States for a limited period of time. However, with a K-3 visa, you can remain in the United States while waiting for a decision on your petition.

In other words, by allowing you to receive a temporary visa to come to the United States while your nonimmigrant application is being processed, you can begin your married life with the sponsor, who is your husband/wife in America.

In most cases, a K-3 visa will not be necessary because USCIS will typically approve applications for CR-1 immigrant visas as quickly as K-3 visas.

The CR-1 spousal visa is an immigrant visa that allows the spouse of a U.S. citizen to enter the United States as a conditional permanent resident. The acronym “CR” stands for “Conditional Residency” and is applicable to marriages of less than 2 years. The sponsored person will receive a 2-year green card.

6.2 Married and living in America

If you have resided in the United States but initially entered the country for a reason other than marriage, such as as a student or worker, you can apply to adjust your status from your current visa. 

Generally, you can apply to change your nonimmigrant status in the following cases:

• You have been legally admitted to the United States on a nonimmigrant visa that is still valid
• During this period, you have not breached the conditions of your visa status and you do not have any criminal record
• You also need to demonstrate that you do not plan to get married after entering the United States on a nonimmigrant visa. Because if you misuse your visa, you can be considered a fraud and are at risk of being deported and even permanently banned from returning to the United States, not to mention criminal prosecution.

6.3 Plan to get married and stay in America

If you are the fiance or fiancee of a U.S. citizen and you plan to get married in the United States but your spouse is still abroad, your spouse will need to apply for a K-1 visa. 

The fiance visa (K-1) is a 90-day temporary visa to enter the United States to get married and will then allow you, as the new spouse of a U.S. citizen, to apply to adjust your status to that of legal marriage, a permanent resident. In other words, you can apply for a green card after getting legally married.

A K-1 visa is not appropriate if you are married or intend to get married outside the United States or if you already reside legally in the United States.

The K-1 visa will expire if your wedding is delayed more than 90 days. You cannot apply to extend your K-1 visa. If you get married after 90 days, you will have to apply for your green card late.

If you decide not to marry a U.S. citizen K-1 sponsor, in most cases you will need to leave the United States and you cannot change to other visa types within the United States from K-1 visa.

7. Penalty for Fake Marriage to Get a Green Card to Settle in the U.S.

The U.S. government imposes no restrictions on who American citizens or green card permanent residents can marry. If the application is processed in the correct order, including background and medical checks, the foreign spouse will be issued a green card to live and work permanently in the United States.

However, some couples use marriage to get around the U.S. immigration system and get green cards through fake marriages. This is considered a federal crime.

Any marriage that takes place solely so that an immigrant can receive a green card and enter the United States is considered fraudulent.

This is also known as sham marriage and is a federal crime with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with serious consequences for immigrants, U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and other convicted persons.

Marriage fraud investigations conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have jointly uncovered many types of fraud. Marriage is only to go to the U.S. to get a green card like:

• A U.S. citizen is paid or charged to marry a foreign national and obtain a green card for that person
• Marriages are arranged through mail-order bride agencies, which both foreigners and citizens know to be a scam
• A foreign national deceives an American citizen into believing that the marriage is legal, when it is not. In this case, this would be called “marriage fraud” and not “sham marriage.”

In other words, fake marriage to go to America is when your marriage is not legally valid. For example, you are married to someone and are not yet divorced. 

In this case, if you get married a second time, the new marriage will be considered invalid. But these cases are unlikely to amount to marriage fraud because U.S. Immigration authorities will learn about your first marriage and deny your application immediately.

If detected, both U.S. citizens and immigrants will be prosecuted, subject to the following penalties:

7.1 For people sponsored from outside the United States

Immigrants face serious charges when convicted of marriage fraud or sham marriage. INA 275(c), which provides that any person who enters into marriage knowingly and willfully to circumvent any provision of the immigration laws shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 5 years and a fine not more than 250,000 USD or both.

Therefore, if convicted, the foreign spouse will be required to pay a fine or serve jail time or both. Furthermore, their visas will be revoked immediately. Once released, they will be deported to their home country.

Additionally, restrictions will be imposed on their subsequent eligibility for a U.S. visa or green card.

If citizenship had already been granted at the time the fraud occurred, authorities will consider whether to revoke that citizenship.

7.2 For U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents

Depending on the level of citizen participation, they will face either fines or prison sentences or both. If they are willing to marry for money or favors, they may face serious charges.

The most serious charges brought against citizens or permanent residents who systematically arranged fraudulent marriages on a large scale for cash or other benefits are:

• If the spouse is a Lawful Permanent Resident and not yet a citizen, officials will consider deporting them as well 
• Both the foreign spouse and the U.S. spouse will face additional charges such as: visa fraud, providing false statements, criminal conspiracy

Therefore, the couple should try their best not to do anything suspicious, even if the marriage is truly legal.

8. Top 100 Frequently Asked Questions about U.S. Immigration Interviews for Spouses

Many people who sponsor their spouses from Vietnam to the U.S. are still very worried when the interview day comes, not knowing what the Consulate Officer will ask so they can prepare well and answer accurately.

There have been cases where all procedures, documents, and fees have been fully paid, but when answering the interview, the sponsor’s spouse still has a green paper (a request for additional documents and evidence). 

After many couples came to ImmiPath for advice and support with documents and evidence, many customers received U.S. immigration visas to fly to the United States to reunite with their spouses.

To help couples prepare in a good mood for the U.S. marriage visa interview, ImmiPath compiled 100 questions that U.S. Consulate Officers often ask sponsoring couples to come to America. If you prepare well and the couple’s love is real, the visa issuance rate is up to 99.99%.

1. Where and when did you first meet your husband (wife)?
2. Why did you two meet? 
3. How old is your husband (wife)? What day is your birthday? 
4. What does the husband (wife) do for a living? 
5. Where does your husband (wife) go to school? 
6. What degrees or certificates does your husband (wife) have? 
7. Under what category did your husband (wife) settle in the US? 
8. Where is your husband (wife) working? 
9. Does your husband work full-time or part-time? 
10. What does that job require? 
11. Besides that job, does your husband do anything else? 
12. How much is your husband’s (wife’s) salary? 
13. Does your husband (wife) know how to cook? What is his/her favorite food? 
14. Who is your husband/wife living with? 
15. Before going to America, where did your husband live in Vietnam? 
16. In which state or city in the US does your husband live? Do you know the street name? 
17. Do you know the name of your husband’s boss or colleagues in his company? 
18. What is your husband’s (wife’s) religion? 
19. What do you usually do when you’re on a date? 
20. What interests do you have? Please list out 
21. What hobbies does your husband (wife) have? Please list out 
22. What kind of music do you like? 
23. What kind of music does your husband (wife) like? 
24. What genre of movies do you like? 
25. What kind of movies does your husband (wife) like?
26. What kind of book do you like?
27. What kind of books does your husband (wife) like to read?
28. Do you and your husband/wife exchange gifts?
29. When and where did the proposal take place?
30. Do you know the full names of your husband’s family members?
31. Have you ever met anyone from your husband’s family?
32. Are you having an engagement ceremony?
33. Where is your engagement ceremony held? When?
34. If your husband crossed the border to the US, which refugee camp would he have been in? On which island? How long before going to America?
35. Does your husband live in a bought house or a rented house? Has the house been paid off yet? What color should the house be painted? How many rooms are there?
36. Will your wedding or ceremony be held according to your religion or beliefs? Please explain clearly.
37. When did you and your husband(wife) get married? Where?
38. What topics do you two usually talk about when talking on the phone?
39. How many times has your husband returned to Vietnam to visit you?
40. Are there any family members attending your wedding?
41. After getting married, will he send you money every month to support you?
42. Did you two live together before getting married?
43. Where did you two travel before getting married?
44. What brand of clothes does your husband like to wear? What color?
45. Who in your family attended the wedding?
46. Who in your husband’s (wife’s) family attended the wedding?
47. Are there any friends attending the wedding?
48. How many brothers and sisters does your husband (wife) have?
49. Did your parents attend your wedding? If not, explain clearly why?
50. Do you two plan to hold a wedding party again in America?
51. How does your husband go to work?
52. Do you know the names of any of your husband’s close friends in America?
53. Where is the wedding held? How many guests to invite?
54. What job do you plan to go to America to do?
55. Did you receive a wedding gift? Please describe those gifts.
56. Are you going on your honeymoon? Where did you go and for how long?
57. Can you show pictures and receipts from the honeymoon, wedding and reception?
58. Has your husband (wife) ever been married before?
59. Why did their previous marriage break up?
60. Does your husband (wife) have children of their own?
61. How many children? How old are they?
62. Are your husband’s parents alive or deceased? If lost, why?
63. Since coming to America, what jobs has your husband done?
64. Has your husband ever sponsored anyone to go to America? Who is that? Full name, occupation?
65. Is your husband currently in the US living alone or with someone? Full names and occupations of those people?
66. Do you have relatives or relatives in the US?
67. What are their name? Where?
68. Does your husband have American citizenship? If stateless, what year?
69. Has your husband (wife) ever met your relatives or friends? Who to meet and when?
70. Have you ever met your husband’s (wife’s) relatives or friends? Who to meet and when?
71. When in Vietnam, what school did your husband attend?
72. What do you plan to do after coming to America?
73. Why did you marry your husband (wife)?
74. After getting married, how many times did your husband return to Vietnam?
75. Do your family members (parents, siblings) want to settle in the US?
76. Are you marrying your husband (wife) so that you can sponsor your parents to settle in the US?
77. What qualities are compatible with your husband/wife?
78. How do you two communicate?
79. Do you have phone bills, e-mails, cards and I can see them?
80. What are your husband’s living hours like in the US? What time do you go to work and what time do you return?
81. When did he propose to you?
82. Does your husband (wife) support you financially?
83. What is your husband’s neighbor’s name? Do you know the names of some of your husband’s neighbors?
84. If I refuse your sponsorship application, what will you do?
85. What year did you two meet?
86. Has your husband (wife) ever been married? If so, when did you get married?
87. When did they divorce, and why did they divorce?
88. Does your husband have children of his own? If yes, how many children, what are their names, how old are they?
89. If your stepchild is living with your ex-wife, how will your husband visit the child? How many times in a week? What day of the week is it usually?
90. Before getting married, did you often return to Vietnam? How many times?
91. Is the state/city your husband lives in particularly famous? What is that?
92. What are your husband’s parents’ full names?
93. How long did it take him to propose?
94. If he lives in a rented house, do you know the landlord’s name? How much does it cost to rent a month? How long has he been hired?
95. When was the first time your husband returned to Vietnam?
96. When was the last time your husband returned to Vietnam?
97. Do you two have children together?
98. What brand of car is he driving? What color?
99. Do you know his home address in America?
100. Do you know his contact phone number in the US?

With the information shared above about U.S. marriage immigration sponsorship, ImmiPath hopes it will be useful for those who are married to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, or if you are not married and are planning to start a family and start a new life in the United States with your spouse, you need to understand and choose the most suitable form of immigration for you.

Whether sponsoring a husband and wife to come to the U.S. under IR-1/CR-1 or F2-A, ImmiPath hopes that when couples open a petition to sponsor their husband and wife to come to the U.S., they need to start from true love and a valuable marriage in legal status and desire to build a family together, spending time with their spouse in America.

If you have any questions about the paperwork to sponsor a spouse to the U.S., please comment right below the article, ImmiPath’s team of consultants will support and advise with all our experience and heart, helping you and your spouse will soon be reunited in the United States of America.