Living in Indonesia and petitioning Spouse

[Daniel Gomez]

Hello all,
I'm new to this, so please bare with me.

First off, thank you all for walking me through my KITAS. Big thanks to all the helpful tools and people.


I'm a US citizen and and live with my wife in Indonesia. I have my KITAS.

I just heard that it is possible to petition my wife as a permanent resident for the US without us living in the US.


Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated.


Best regards,
Daniel Gomez

 

[waarmstrong]

Yes, you can file an I-130 Petition for your spouse while both of you are living abroad. But keep in mind that you are applying for a visa for your spouse to become a permanent resident of the United States. Once the Petition is approved you, among other things, will have to prove you can support your spouse, which in turn requires that you are "domiciled" in the US. There are several exceptions, but the bottom line is the green card is for living with your alien spouse in the US. If that is not in your plans, then it will be difficult successfully apply for the visa.
Among others, NOLO has a pretty good explanation of the process, hurdles, and exceptions for filing from abroad (https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclop...rriage-based-visa-if-couple-lives-abroad.html). Educate yourself.

PS You are looking at a 6 to 12 month process and perhaps longer. Its not cheap, easy, fast, or certain. Especially now under the current xenophobic administration.

PPS Welcome to the Forum.

 

[Vanuatu]

Daniel, if you are not planning on moving to the US in the near future why don't you just apply for a US Visa for your wife. Normally good for 5 years for multiple visits. I don't see much upside to getting her permanent residency if you plan to stay in Indonesia for a long period of time as you will need to get her a US social security number with the green card and she will be subject to US taxation. I did this with my wife whilst living in Jakarta for 8 years. When I had a job opportunity to move back to the US I petitioned the US embassy in Jakarta to process her green card under an expatiated process (requires a job with a start date in the near future in the US) and received an exception to have the green card processed entirely in Jakarta so the entire process took 45 days from application to having the green card approved. This was under the Obama administration so I can't say if the process will be as smooth under Trump, but even if it takes a year you can bring her to the US with her visa and process it after your move if you decide to relocate to the states.

 

[Jaime C]

You usually have to prove you have a certain income to support your spouse, also. For 2 people ts probably about 20k per year, 26k for 3 people. You can get a sponsor to cover it, but obviously thst makes it more difficult.

 

[Daniel Gomez]

Thank you. Very useful. As of now we are simply processing her tourist visa. I was just weighing the pros and cons.

 

[Daniel Gomez]

Thank you all for your helpful input ?

 

[waarmstrong]

Please advise the board if you have any issues (or if you don't) in securing a tourist visa for your spouse. I am wondering if its any easier/faster obtaining a tourist visa for a spouse or other family member, or if family relationships are a complicating factor in getting a visa not stemming from the family relationship.