Process and Place to file to immigration, to bring my Taiwanese wife to U.S.?

Question

I’m a U.S. Citizen, I live in Dallas, Texas, I got married at Taiwan, and I would like to bring my Taiwanese wife to U.S. ; We are Not register as husband and wife here in U.S. but we are legally married in Taiwan.
What is the process and place to file? Should I file it from Taiwan or should I file it from U.S. ? If filling from U.S what is the process? Where should I sent my document to? If I need to file from Taiwan, what is the process? Thank you

Answer 1

You HAVE to file the I-130 petition at the USCIS having jurisdiction over your place of residence. The filing of I-130 is no longer accepted at Consulates or Embassies. See http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/immigrants_3121.html

You do not have to be registered as husband and wife in the US. The US will recognize your marriage if it was a legal marriage in the country that it took place.

You will find a great guide on filing the I-130 petition including documentation etc required @ http://www.familybasedimmigration.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12 It is a great site/forum for information and support. Only a new site, but one to be watched as it is jam packed already with lots of information, examples, guides, etc and has a great knowledge base in its member base. The forum is laid out in an easy to follow way as you move along in the various process.

Congrats on your marriage and all the best to you.

Answer 2

Several people in the Yahoo Answers community have responded to this question with helpful advice and references. Their comments are certainly valuable.

According to what I have heard here in Taiwan however, and from what I have read in various internet forums, sometimes the process for bringing a Taiwanese wife to the USA can be time consuming, or there may be paperwork problems. If you do run into any difficulties with this procedure, you should be aware that there is a lawsuit now in Washington D.C. which is attempting to have Taiwanese people recognized as "US nationals" under US law.

If this case is resolved successfully, then your wife could obtain a "US national passport," which (although different from citizenship in the technical sense) would no doubt be easily upgraded to citizenship status since she is married to you (a US citizen) and intending to live long-term in the USA.

The details of the court case and other relevant information are given in the "sources" provided below.

Important to note is that some portions of the arguments being used in the court case involve technical matters of the "laws of war" and "military jurisdiction under the US Constitution," and hence may not be readily understandable even to civilian lawyers.

(So far, neither officials of the American Institute in Taiwan nor the State Dept. are commenting on the case.)

Answer 3

I would suggest you check out Visapro. It is an online community of people who have married people from other countries and who are waiting for their status to change and so on. Also go to www.usa.gov. It is a federal agency and they can help with what you need to do and so on. I figure though that you will have to file in Taiwan. All you have to do is get in contact with the US embassy in Taiwan. Good luck....

Answer 4

As others said, you don't have to register your marriage in the US. Here is the entire process:
http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1315.html

Answer 5

you can do it in texas. go to thier website and figure out what forms to print out and take to your local INS. here is the link to thier website:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis