Advice On Filling In Marriage Papers & Residence

[Girino]

As some of you know, I am an Italian citizen and a Permanent Resident of the US - although physically I just spent only a few months in the US since becoming a resident (let's say 3 months over 2 years).
The reason for that is that my soon-to-be-husband is not a permanent resident there, and in order to be able to sponsor him in the US, we first need to get married. Also, since sponsoring the spouse of a permanent resident of the US requires more or less 2 years, we decided to spend these waiting years here in Argentina (they are currently processing the petitions filed on Jan 2013!)

Therefore, getting married as the double the purpose of sponsoring me for residency in Argentina (so that I can stay here during these two years) and of sponsoring him in the US, so that we will be able to move together to the US.

I am in process to fill in the Solicitud de Matrimonio papers and they ask for my residence. At the Registro Civil they said the data we state on the Solicitud would appear on our marriage license, so I suppose my address of residence would appear on it, as well.

To sponsor my future husband in the US, I must attach a copy of the marriage license, so inserting my address in the US would be the natural thing.
HOWEVER, with the marriage license I also have to go to Migraciones to apply for residency in Argentina, and putting my US address could mean they might require me to show FBI criminal records instead of my Italian criminal records.

Can anybody let me know the following:
1) Do your address of residence previously to marriage appear on your Argentinian Marriage Certificate?
2) Is that the address based upon which your immigration practice will be dealt?

Thanks, and sorry for the long post.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

As some of you know, I am an Italian citizen and a Permanent Resident of the US - although physically I just spent only a few months in the US since becoming a resident (let's say 3 months over 2 years).
The reason for that is that my soon-to-be-husband is not a permanent resident there, and in order to be able to sponsor him in the US, we first need to get married. Also, since sponsoring the spouse of a permanent resident of the US requires more or less 2 years, we decided to spend these waiting years here in Argentina (they are currently processing the petitions filed on Jan 2013!)

Therefore, getting married as the double the purpose of sponsoring me for residency in Argentina (so that I can stay here during these two years) and of sponsoring him in the US, so that we will be able to move together to the US.

I am in process to fill in the Solicitud de Matrimonio papers and they ask for my residence. At the Registro Civil they said the data we state on the Solicitud would appear on our marriage license, so I suppose my address of residence would appear on it, as well.

To sponsor my future husband in the US, I must attach a copy of the marriage license, so inserting my address in the US would be the natural thing.
HOWEVER, with the marriage license I also have to go to Migraciones to apply for residency in Argentina, and putting my US address could mean they might require me to show FBI criminal records instead of my Italian criminal records.

Can anybody let me know the following:
1) Do your address of residence previously to marriage appear on your Argentinian Marriage Certificate?
2) Is that the address based upon which your immigration practice will be dealt?

Thanks, and sorry for the long post.

I don't recall the details, but I believe that if you are gone from the US for longer than two years you can lose your residency there. I can't answer your other questions, but you certainly shouldn't overlook that issue.

 

[syngirl]

I may be getting it confused with the Canadian residency procedure, but I seem to recall you must provide criminal records for every country you have lived in the 5 yrs prior to filing for residency anyway. I believe it is for here because I seem to remember being relieved I had just passed long enough that I didn't have to get a criminal record from the UK on top of Canada.

So, read the forms, but if you've lived in the USA in the past 5 yrs I think you're going to have to get records for both there and Italy. And yes, do be careful, you could lose your residency in the USA, I'm pretty sure you have to fulfill a certain amount of days within the country borders. That's why most wait until they get citizenship before leaving....

 

[Girino]

Ajo, we have already discussed this on the forum. I got a re-entry permit and I should be covered on that side. Plus, I count on going back before those two years, although just temporarily.

I appreciate your concern, but my question was not "will I lose residency in the US?".

 

[syngirl]

http://www.immihelp.com/greencard/retain-greencard.html

You may be found to have abandoned your permanent resident status if you:
Move to another country intending to live there permanently.

Remain outside of the U.S. for more than one year without obtaining a re-entry permit or returning resident visa. However in determining whether your status has been abandoned, any length of absence from the U.S. may be considered, even if it is less than one year.

Remain outside of the U.S. for more than two years after issuance of a re-entry permit without obtaining a returning resident visa. However in determining whether your status has been abandoned any length of absence from the U.S. may be considered, even if it is less than one year.

Fail to file income tax returns while living outside of the U.S. for any period.

Declare yourself a "nonresident" on your tax returns.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Ajo, we have already discussed this on the forum. I got a re-entry permit and I should be covered on that side. Plus, I count on going back before those two years, although just temporarily.

I appreciate your concern, but my question was not "will I lose residency in the US?".

OK, fine, just trying to be helpful in case it hadn't occurred to you - I never saw the question discussed before. Best of luck to you both.

 

[Girino]

How I am supposed to stay in Argentina two years if not by asking residency here as well? Being a permatourist? So that if I have an emergency abroad I might be denied to come back here where my OH, my stuff and my life are?!
I know this might cost me my US residency, but - seriously - do you expect people to live separate for two years because your bureaucracy takes this long to process sponsorship papers?!

I spent 450 DOLLARS to ask for a re-entry permit in the US, PLUS about the same to get a Green Card and yes, I pay taxes there (paid $4000 for last year and about $2000 for this year so far) and I might even never move to the US at all. You should love me instead of copy-pasting USCIS pages here to scare me, dudes!

QUESTION OF THIS THREAD! >>>> Is my immigration process in Argentina bound by the residency address shown on my marriage license?! <<<< QUESTION OF THIS THREAD!

 

[ElQueso]

The quick answer to your last question is "No", as far as what Argentina wants. I know this because we were married in Paraguay while I was a perma-tourist here, with nominal residency (as a citizen) in the US. They didn't require me, for example, to get a criminal report from Paraguay. Unless they have changed the law related to this in the last 5 years, of course, but I doubt it.

However, I wasn't resident in Paraguay, and that was the reason I didn't need to get a criminal report there.

Thing is, you can get married anywhere it's allowed - you can even get married in the US without residency, at least to a US citizen or resident, with just a tourist visa (I'm sure you realize this, I'm just pointing it out as reference). I don't think it matters what address you have on your marriage license, considering that you can get married in a place you're not even a resident.

However, seems to me your real concern, not stated in the last post, but stated in the first is "if I put my residence as being in the US, will Argentina require that I provide an FBI report for the immigration process here." (my words, not quoting yours but rather paraphrasing) But the only issue I've understood is that it seems you are reluctant to get an FBI report? Is it just because of the time involved? I got my FBI report through my lawyer here in a couple of weeks, no big shakes. May be a bit more time-consuming to do it yourself, but I'd think it would be worth it to be on the up-and-up.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, you are supposed to provide criminal reports from all the countries in which you've lived (as a resident), I believe for the past 5 years. I don't see how the address on your Argentine marriage license affects whether or not you need to provide an FBI report from the US. If you didn't use your US address and wanted for some reason to hide the fact that you are a resident in the US from Argentine immigrations, I suppose that giving them your address here would work - I don't think they care if you're a perma-tourist for getting married or for going through the immigration process.

However, I could see how that might complicate things for going back to the US and sponsoring your new husband for residency there. They may see that you have listed yourself as a resident in Argentina when they look at your marriage license and they may give you problems because of your absence (I don't know - I do know my buddy has gotten a warning about he and his wife [Argentina with permanent residency via their marriage] not living in the US for at least 6 months out of every year and she is close to losing her permanent residency as a result), as a permanent resident bringing a potential resident in to get married and therefore get residency through yours. But I don't know if they would actually look at the marriage certificate in that manner.

Sorry if I'm being dense and didn't get what you're asking for exactly - it has been a long day that isn't even close to ending yet.

You never know what's going to come up during the process - we got married in Paraguay but when it came time to get residency here, my wife's DNI still showed her as "soltera". They wouldn't go beyond precaria stage for me until she got her DNI changed, which actually took some 7 months (things were a lot slower 6 or so years ago related to DNI stuff). Not to mention that I had a slight blemish on my FBI record from some 28 years before: college prank - stole a "Longhorn Blvd" street sign in Austin, got caught (freakin' taillight out on my car, cops found the sign in the back of my car, got arrested, went to court and got deferred adjudication which wiped my record in the State, but not the FBI. Immigrations here sees this and while they are supposed to only look at the last 5 years, my case ended up being held up in immigration court for ANOTHER year...my lawyer told me at the time that we may have to buy the judge a 1000 peso Falabella gift certificate, which at the time was a bit over 300 USD. He ended up fighting it and won.

You might be best off asking a lawyer for a consultation and making sure so you don't have any issues.

 

[Girino]

But the only issue I've understood is that it seems you are reluctant to get an FBI report? Is it just because of the time involved? I got my FBI report through my lawyer here in a couple of weeks, no big shakes. May be a bit more time-consuming to do it yourself, but I'd think it would be worth it to be on the up-and-up.

I guess the time and the money. On this forum everybody suggest to "have your FBI record sent to a relative and mail it to you", but I have no relative/friends in the US/Florida. Getting an attorney just to get the FBI record is MONEY.
I have no criminal history in the US nor in Italy, I just wanted to avoid to provide another paper saying "blank" especially for a country where I spent physically so little time and never got nor a single speed ticket.

I already asked for my criminal record in Italy before leaving, but today I was told (not by Migraciones, so I am not sure) that was valid for 90 days only. I thought that getting my CR in April and entering in Argentina in May would have made it valid for 6 months. There is no expiration date on the CR, but of course I couldn't have committed anything from May on in Italy, since I have been here in Bs As!

I will research on how to get a FBI record from here and without outside help.

An US immigration official can hold your GC at any time he suspects you've abandoned your intention to live and reside in the US. You can ask for a hearing before a judge and show proof or your "intention" (re-entry permit, tax returns, bank statements showing you have funds in the US, etc), but as a resident you have a privilege which is discretional.

I hope I will be able to live in the US one day, it has always been my dream, but by the time I got a Green Card I was already committed to this man and I could not leave him behind. He is not so fond of the idea of moving to the US, but he also recognizes that Argentina is unstable and Europe is facing a hard time.


It struck me that on another thread someone said that they wouldn't see themselves raising kinds in Argentina given the situation, but my post was along the lines "we couldn't afford a family in Italy so we moved to Argentina". So, I think I really have to get to know Argentina before deciding.
And if we get a kid here, I guess I'd have to sponsor him/her as well, and if this requires another 2 years I will be out of time, and I will have to say "adios!" to the US forever. Keeping my foot in that shoe is costing me a lot, not only money-wise!

 

[syngirl]

Losing your residency in the USA would suck though, so try to do a minimum time there if you can. Maybe you can use holidays to start taking your boyfriend so he can get to know the USA better and maybe you'll convince him? For me to convince my husband I will literally have to get him a job offer that is in the 100k range with all moving expenses paid and like a fricking apartment for the first few months -- in other words, pretty impossible. This is part of the reason I've put off having a second kid for so long, because it's basically the nail in the coffin as to ever moving back home. But maybe you'll have better luck, so if you have the funds start doing trips there and get him in the mindset of a move.