J S
Aug 22, 2023
Adjusting Status as Nigerian is Harder?
I have read online that trying to adjust status (i.e. concurrent I-485 and I-130 filings) is more difffult for people from certain countries, and Nigeria is one of these countries. Will our case have higher scrutiny than usual? My husband should be able to easily prove there was no immigration intent, as he prepaid a year’s worth of rent prior to coming to the US. We also didn’t even meet until essentially the end of his visa. But now I’m worried him being Nigerian coupled with how fast our relationship went (we both want to settle and have kids very soon and are from strong Christian backgrounds so you simply marry when you “know”) will hinder our application. We have TONS of proof of bona fide marriage but I’m trying to get everything right the first time and address any potential concerns before USCIS questions anything 😅
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Aymi NahAug 22, 2023
is Maldives on the list?
rise 06Aug 22, 2023
you gotta go hard on that evidence
w s 🇨🇦🇺🇸Aug 22, 2023
if you’re marrying a US citizen the country of origin doesn’t mean it takes longer necessarily because there’s no limit on the green cards for spouses.
you will want to show a lot of evidence. specifically joint assets (a home in both names, car in both names etc) or have a kid with his name on the birth certificate.
M EAug 22, 2023
it doesn't matter if he is from Nigeria or Somalia or any other country as long as he has no criminal conviction he is fine. gather enough proves eg joint bank account, joint taxes, lease, utilities bills, credit cards, pics, etc and you are good to go. you both should know about each others, like date of birth, place of birth, where you guys met, his parents name, your parents name, things about your household etc.
Ne NoAug 22, 2023
unofficially it does matter what country you come from. certain countries are known for higher fraud rate so USCIS look into the cases from those countries more. if I recall correctly Nigeria is one of them. just get as much solid evidence you can get and send it in.
Jackson UAug 23, 2023
Do not file yourself. Hire a lawyer
J SAug 23, 2023
@Aymi Nah From recollection, no. It was mostly African and Latin American countries (with a few other outliers).
J SAug 23, 2023
Thank you all! Luckily we combined our lives immediately, so we have plenty of different types of evidence (joint bank account that we pay cars/rent/insurance from, money transfer history since beginning of relationship, current and upcoming lease, joint insurance, beneficiary on each other’s accounts, authorized user on credit card, etc. & tons of softer evidence like proof of correspondence from very first convo ever, joint invitation to immediate relative’s wedding, affidavits from each side of family, photos of trips to each other’s family and honeymoon, etc.) but still a bit worried overall. I’ve gathered everything and fully assembled the package save for a couple outstanding items and still am a bit nervous…
A AAug 23, 2023
I will advice get a competent lawyer to help you put your documents together also if your husband has history of divorce then you guys need to buckle up. wish u best of luck
J SAug 23, 2023
@A A Yes, we are considering a lawyer, which is why we haven’t done any filing on our own yet. Luckily my husband has no prior marriages and no kids (I know Nigerian divorces can be a nightmare, I’ve seen many people I know in real life struggle with that). Thank you for the advice!!
A AAug 26, 2023
@J S wishing you all the best
