Tips for Brazilian Wife apply for U.S. visa/citizenship

09/06/24 Good morning, Andrew.  The first thing to understand is that the United States is MUCH less welcoming of permanent residents than Brazil is.  Unless you and your wife are actually planning on living full-time in the US, it probably doesn't make any sense to try; the US authorities are also extremely suspicious of recent marriages.  The wait times at every stage are long, and if you are successful and she gets her Green Card, one of the requirements will be that she has to spend at least six months of every year in the United States, or she'll lose it again, in spite of all the trouble of getting it in the first place. 

If you want to check out the process, this is where it starts:

https://br.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/

Does your wife have a Visitor Visa for the US?  If not, you probably should focus on that first.  A Vistor Visa CANNOT be upgraded to residency without going through the process above, but at least it will let her visit the US with you.  Even those have become increasingly more difficult to get; the Brazilian wife of one of our friends here finally just got one on her third try.

@Andrewsoluna I totally agree with what @abthree said. I will only say that immigration is a long and often challenging journey. There is no easy way. It took me well over a year to obtain my Brazilian Permanent Residency.  When it was my Brazilian wife of 24 years living in the United States before I moved to Brail, I think it took her 7 years to become a US. Citizen.

If you begin with a mindset that this will take time and often be challenging, you will be fine.  Good Luck

Roddie in Retirement

The wait times at every stage are long, and if you are successful and she gets her Green Card, one of the requirements will be that she has to spend at least six months of every year in the United States, or she'll lose it again, in spite of all the trouble of getting it in the first place.      -@abthree

Andrew, as @abthree has reported, you may want to get help from a legal professional here as what you are asking can be tricky.

Although in the US, a spouse is granted an automatic green card upon marriage with a citizen, there is an assumption that the union and subsequent living arrangement would be in the US.

I suspect that it would be ok if both of you spend more than 6 months in the US for the next 5 years or until she can apply for citizenship....  The issue here is that she will need to meet the residency requirement until then.  This would be the most logical / safe way to acquire citizenship.

Losing legal residency status in the US is not viewed favorably and the case tends to carry forward for future applications.

I am not sure but I believe that other members on the forum have first hand experience and can probably weigh in on the forum or by direct messaging.

Good luck.

@Andrewsoluna  @Andrewsoluna I totally agree with what @abthree said.

I will only say that immigration is a long and often challenging journey. There is no easy way. It took me well over a year to obtain my Brazilian Permanent Residency.  When it was my Brazilian wife of 24 years living in the United States before I moved to Brail, I think it took her 7 years to become a US. Citizen, living full time I the USA.

If you begin with a mindset that this will take time and often be challenging, you will be fine.  Good Luck

Roddie in Retirement

@Andrewsoluna

I married a Brazilian woman many years ago. We traveled to the US Consulate in Rio three times to get her green card. And I flew to the US for a required document.

Good luck.

09/06/24   Although in the US, a spouse is granted an automatic green card upon marriage with a citizen, there is an assumption that the union and subsequent living arrangement would be in the US.    -@Pablo888

I don't think that is correct.

A foreign spouse can apply for residency from abroad -- not from a location in the US -- and may be approved for a spousal visa. The intent must be to live permanently and full-time in the US. After arrival in the US on the visa,  the Green Card process may proceed, but there are no guarantees.  As far as I know, there's nothing automatic about it, and never has been.  Not following the very complex rules exactly and to the letter can lead to delays and rejection at any point in the process.

There's no US equivalent to the constitutional right that a Brazilian has to bring his/her spouse to Brazil and live together there.

@abthree

You are correct. I have a friend who married a USA citizen in October of 2023. She just had her biometric appointment last week(The first hurdle). The process has been very slow in recent years. Compare this to when my wife and I were married 16 years ago in the USA, she had her green card in about 9 months. Nothing is “automatic”.

Just checked the USICS Process times for I-130 (petition for spouse)

Processing time for Petition for Alien Relative (I-130) at All Service Centers

80% of cases are completed within

15.5

Months.

20% Are not 😣

   
09/06/24   Although in the US, a spouse is granted an automatic green card upon marriage with a citizen, there is an assumption that the union and subsequent living arrangement would be in the US.    -@Pablo888

I don't think that is correct.

A foreign spouse can apply for residency from abroad -- not from a location in the US -- and may be approved for a spousal visa. The intent must be to live permanently and full-time in the US. After arrival in the US on the visa,  the Green Card process may proceed, but there are no guarantees.  As far as I know, there's nothing automatic about it, and never has been.  Not following the very complex rules exactly and to the letter can lead to delays and rejection at any point in the process.

There's no US equivalent to the constitutional right that a Brazilian has to bring his/her spouse to Brazil and live together there.
   

    -@abthree

Thank you for correcting me.   I am deferring to you @abthree as I only know people who are resident of US.

My point here is that if it were me, I would definitely get competent legal advice as I often get things wrong as evidenced above......

        09/06/24   I would definitely get competent legal advice as I often get things wrong as evidenced above......        -@Pablo888

I absolutely agree:  competent legal advice is definitely the way to go.  That's easiest to get in the US, which is where a Visitor Visa for the Brazilian partner comes in handy.

I'm no lawyer, but I do have two data points:

1 Before we were married, my husband and I considered doing what the Andrew has in mind:  I would become a permanent resident of Brazil, then he would become a permanent resident of the US, and we would have the option of splitting our time without any concern about visas.  We did talk to a very experienced immigration lawyer in Chicago, and she set us straight with the information I provided above, which put the idea right out of our minds.  This would have been around 2015 or 2016 so the information isn't exactly current, but every indication is that the US immigration "system" has gotten worse, not better, since then.

2 A bi-national couple who are friends of ours (one Mexican, one American) went to hell and back and all the suburbs in between several times, to try to get the Mexican partner on the path to a Green Card.  They were married, but that didn't help much.  It took at least five years and many thousands of dollars in legal costs because he was already in the United States when they started, and it was touch and go up to the moment that the last judge made the last decision. 

@Andrewsoluna I'm no legal expert, but I think the chance of her getting a US citizenship without actually living here is very slim.

BEWARE of so called "immigration lawyers" who promise the moon, and all they manage to deliver is invoice after invoice.

I brought my wife to the US on a K1 Visa. We were married, and she got her green card without any issues.

We lived together for about 7 years (I think) before she decided to apply for her citizenship.

During that time we held joint bank accounts, filed taxes together, and lived at the same address.

So when she decided to apply, there was nothing suspicious about our situation.

To her credit she did everything herself, and we did not need a lawyer. Saved $$

We sailed through the first time with no issues.

So it is possible to do it yourself. BUT if anything looks suspicious, be prepared for an uphill battle.

At least that is what I have been told.

The huge red flag here is they were just married a few months ago. I am not judging the relationship, just stating the obvious. Maybe the poster should live in Porto Seguro with her for 5+ years and then they could apply.