rbusch wrote: ↑Mon, 11 Nov 2024 9:57 am
I'm an American citizen (currently permanent resident here in sg), my wife is Singaporean. We're planning to migrate to USA.
We will be going the i-130 -> ds-260 route.
Looking for any insights re: current processing time for i-130 when conducted here in Singapore?
If you (or a friend you know) has gone through this process in the last 1-2 years, would appreciate hearing about the experience and timeline. Thanks
First, I’m assuming you do not qualify for expedited processing directly at the U.S. embassy (only for cases where your U.S. employer is transferring you back to the U.S. imminently).
Whether IR1 (immediate) or CR1 (conditional, married less than 2 years) makes almost no difference in processing times. Expect to wait
around one year for I-130 petition to be approved. The petition is basically “permission” for your spouse to apply for a green card.
After that, DS-260 is the green card (immigrant visa) application and processing time is even more varied, depending on location. For Singapore, my current guess is
around 6 months, but it could range anywhere from 3 to 12 months.
That means total time could be up to two years, but this is always changing.
I recommend Visajourney. They collect timelines from users in their forum and crunch the numbers for you.
https://www.visajourney.com/times/ir1-s ... istorical/
There’s a bunch of charts and it’s confusing, but that’s because the process can take many paths. For example, your I-130 can be sent to one of several processing centers around the country, you won’t know which one until after you get your NOA1, which can be pretty quick if you file online like I did. This takes a couple of hours, even if you’ve got all the information ready to enter and upload, and you’ve got to pay the fee. Once approved, the petition is good for one year, but you can extend it by one year each time you log in and/or contact the NVC (which is where your approved petition goes). Once the DS-260 is approved, your spouse has just 6 months to enter the U.S. (any location, even Guam) and activate their legal permanent residence.
Note that the calendar year that your spouse does this is also the year your spouse becomes a resident alien for tax purposes (even on Dec 31). Be sure they realize any capital gains the year prior (but sit on any losses). Wash sale rules don’t apply to gains, so you can immediately repurchase after selling (reset the basis). It might also be possible for you to gift them your appreciated assets (up to foreign spouse annual limits) to reset your basis tax free. Also, have your spouse do an account and asset scrub to avoid foreign tax and reporting complications after they become U.S. taxable. At the very least, get rid of any PFICs.
