Spouse Visa Requirements

 To qualify for a spouse visa, you must meet the following requirements:

•  You must be a legally married;
• You must intend to reside permanently in the United States;
• The U.S. citizen spouse must be 18 years of age and maintain their primary domicile in the U.S., or intend to establish their primary domicile in the U.S.

 Definition of a Spouse Under U.S. Immigration Law

A “spouse”, as defined under U.S. immigration law, is a wife or husband who is legally married.

• Simply living together with your partner will not qualify as a valid marriage for purposes of a spouse visa to the U.S.;
• Foreign common-law marriages may be valid marriages for spouse visa purposes, so long as the marriage is recognized as valid in the foreign jurisdiction;
• Polygamous marriages are generally not recognized as valid marriages;
• A same-sex marriage, while recognized in several U.S. states, is not currently recognized under U.S. law as valid for immigration purposes.

Filing the Spouse Visa Petition

The initial step toward obtaining a spouse visa is for the U.S. spouse to file an immigrant spouse petition with the USCIS in the United States.

U.S. citizens residing abroad may qualify to file their spouse visa petition in their country of residence, if the USCIS has an international field office in that country, and the U.S. citizen spouse has been resident in that country for six months or more.

Minimum Age for the Affidavit of Support

There is not a minimum age requirement for the U.S. citizen spouse to qualify as a petitioner for purposes of the initial spouse visa petition.  However, for purposes of the affidavit of support, the age requirement is 18 and the sponsor must be domiciled in the United States. This affidavit of financial support is a requirement for the immigrant spouse visa.

Is a sponsor required to live in the United States?

Yes. For purposes of the sponsor’s affidavit of financial support, to be eligible, each sponsor must maintain their primary domicile within the United States, or plan to establish their primary domicile within the United States on or before the foreign national spouse immigrates.

Upgrading a Spouse Visa Petition

A spouse visa petitioner who naturalizes or otherwise obtains U.S. citizenship may upgrade the spouse visa beneficiary’s preference category by contacting the Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC) with proof of their newly obtained U.S. citizenship status. A separate petition may be required for any derivative children of the beneficiary if the preference category is upgraded to the immediate relative category (IR).

National Visa Center Processing

After the spouse visa petition is approved, the USCIS will forward the approved petition to the NVC. The NVC initiates the immigrant visa processing stage of the case and assigns each case unique case number. The NVC sends a fee invoice to both the spouse visa applicant and the petitioner along with instructions for submitting the proper fees. Once the immigrant visa and affidavit of support invoices are paid, the applicant and petitioner must submit all required forms and documents to the NVC, including the Immigrant Visa Application, affidavit of financial support, required civil documents, supporting financial documents, and any other required documents.

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