Spousal Visa Forms: I-130, I-130A, Evidence, and Filing

To file Form I-130 for a spouse, a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident submits the petition to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) along with Form I-130A, proof of the petitioner’s status, a marriage certificate, evidence the marriage is genuine, and the filing fee. The approved petition doesn’t grant any immigration status on its own. It establishes that a qualifying marriage exists and opens the door for the spouse to apply for a green card, either through consular processing abroad or adjustment of status inside the United States.¹

Check Your Own Status Before You File

Your immigration status as the petitioner shapes how quickly your spouse can move forward. A U.S. citizen’s spouse is an “immediate relative,” a category with no annual cap on visa numbers. Once USCIS approves the I-130, the spouse can move directly to the green card application with no wait for a visa number.²

A green card holder’s spouse falls into the F2A preference category, which is capped. As of the September 2025 Visa Bulletin, final action dates for F2A sat at September 2022 for most countries and February 2022 for Mexico, meaning roughly a three-year wait before a visa number becomes available.³ If you’re a permanent resident who is already eligible for naturalization, becoming a citizen before filing eliminates that wait. Run the timing before you commit to a filing date.

What Form I-130 Asks For

The form collects biographical information for both the petitioner (the person filing) and the beneficiary (the spouse seeking the green card). Provide full legal names as they appear on government-issued identification, current and past addresses, dates of birth, and countries of citizenship. Every field needs a response. Blank fields are a common reason USCIS rejects a filing before it’s even reviewed on the merits.

Both spouses must disclose their complete marriage history. If either person was previously married, the form requires proof that every prior marriage ended through divorce, annulment, or death of the former spouse.¹ Tracking down decades-old divorce decrees from foreign courts takes longer than most people expect, so start gathering those documents early.

The petitioner signs the form under penalty of perjury. Misrepresenting facts can result in denial of the petition, a permanent bar on the beneficiary’s entry into the country, or criminal prosecution.

Form I-130A Goes With It

When you’re petitioning for a spouse, Form I-130A is mandatory and must be submitted alongside the I-130. There is no separate filing fee for it.⁴ Your spouse fills it out with their residential and employment history for the past five years. Every address and every employer, no gaps. Periods of unemployment or time living with family still need to be listed.

One detail that trips people up: if the beneficiary currently lives outside the United States, they still complete Form I-130A but do not need to sign it.⁴ The information must still be accurate and consistent with everything else in the filing.

Documents You’ll Need to Include

Two things have to be proven: that you’re eligible to sponsor, and that the marriage is valid.

To prove sponsorship eligibility, include one of the following. U.S. citizens can submit a birth certificate from a civil authority, a valid U.S. passport, a naturalization certificate, or a certificate of citizenship. Lawful permanent residents submit a copy of the green card.

To prove the marriage, include a government-issued marriage certificate from the jurisdiction where the ceremony took place.¹ If either spouse was previously married, include divorce decrees, annulment orders, or death certificates for all former spouses. Any document not in English must be accompanied by a certified English translation. The translator must sign a statement certifying they are competent to translate and that the translation is complete and accurate.⁵

Evidence Your Marriage Is Genuine

Beyond the marriage certificate, USCIS expects evidence of a real, ongoing shared life. Wedding photos alone won’t do it. Strong evidence tends to fall into a few buckets:

Financial ties: joint bank accounts, shared credit cards, jointly filed tax returns, or insurance policies naming each other as beneficiaries.
Shared housing: a lease or mortgage with both names, utility bills at the same address, or mail addressed to both spouses at one residence.
Relationship timeline: photos from different occasions over time, travel records showing trips together, and communication records.
Third-party statements: signed affidavits from friends or family who can describe the relationship from personal knowledge.

Officers are trained to spot red flags. Gaps in shared financial records, separate living arrangements without a convincing explanation, a very short courtship, or a marriage that happened right before or after an immigration deadline all invite extra scrutiny. If the petitioner previously sponsored a different spouse for a green card within the past five years, the agency requires “clear and convincing evidence” that the earlier marriage was genuine. Couples who married while the beneficiary was in removal proceedings face the same heightened standard.⁶

Filing, Fees, and Payment

You can file Form I-130 online through a USCIS account or by mailing a paper filing to the designated lockbox. Filing online gives you immediate receipt confirmation and lets you track the case in real time. The filing fee is $625 online and $675 on paper.¹

Payment method matters if you file by mail. USCIS no longer accepts personal checks, business checks, money orders, or cashier’s checks for paper filings unless you qualify for a specific exemption. The two options for paper filings are a credit, debit, or prepaid card payment through Form G-1450, or a direct bank account payment through Form G-1650 (an ACH transfer from a U.S. bank account).⁷ Exemptions for check payment exist only for applicants who lack access to banking or electronic payment systems. Online filers pay by card directly through the USCIS portal.

After USCIS receives and processes your filing, they issue Form I-797C, a Notice of Action that serves as your official receipt.⁸ Keep it safe. The receipt number on it is how you check case status and reference the case in any future communication.

What Happens After You File

Processing times vary by service center and shift throughout the year. As a rough benchmark, spousal petitions filed by U.S. citizens have recently taken 7 to 18 months depending on the service center, and requests for additional evidence can add several months. Current processing times for your service center are on the USCIS website.

For adjustment of status cases, where the spouse is already in the United States, USCIS generally requires both spouses to appear together for an in-person interview at a local field office.⁹ The officer will verify the information on the application, ask questions about the relationship, and assess whether the marriage is genuine. For consular processing, the interview takes place at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. Expect questions about how you met, your daily routines, your living arrangements, and basic facts about each other’s lives.

Before the green card is issued, the beneficiary must complete an immigration medical exam. For adjustment of status applicants, the exam is done by a USCIS-designated civil surgeon; for consular processing, by an embassy-approved physician. The results are documented on Form I-693. The exam covers medical history, a physical, and verification of required vaccinations for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, and other vaccine-preventable diseases recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices.¹⁰ A Form I-693 signed on or after November 1, 2023, is valid only while the application it was submitted with is pending, so don’t schedule the exam too far ahead of when you’ll use it.¹¹

The Affidavit of Support Comes Later

One thing that surprises first-time petitioners: the Affidavit of Support, Form I-864, isn’t filed with the I-130. It comes later, with the actual green card application (Form I-485 for adjustment of status, or with the consular interview packet). It’s still worth understanding now because it can stall an otherwise solid case.

The I-864 is a legally binding contract in which the petitioner promises the U.S. government that the sponsored spouse won’t need public benefits. If the spouse later receives means-tested government assistance, the agency that provided the benefits can sue the sponsor to recover the costs.¹²

The petitioner must show annual household income of at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines for their household size.¹³ Active-duty military sponsoring a spouse only need to meet 100%. If you can’t hit the threshold on your own, a joint sponsor — any U.S. citizen or permanent resident willing to accept legal responsibility — can file a separate I-864. Assets can also count, though they generally must equal at least three times the shortfall (five times if the sponsor is not a citizen). Start pulling tax returns and pay records together while the I-130 is pending.

Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing

Once USCIS approves the I-130, the next step depends on where your spouse is.

If the beneficiary is already in the United States and eligible, they file Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. For spouses of U.S. citizens, the I-485 can often be filed at the same time as the I-130, which is called concurrent filing and can compress the overall timeline.¹⁴ The whole process stays inside the U.S. and ends with an interview at a local USCIS office.

If the beneficiary lives outside the United States, the approved petition is forwarded to the National Visa Center and then to the U.S. embassy or consulate in the beneficiary’s country. The beneficiary interviews there, submits the medical exam results and supporting documents, and if approved, receives an immigrant visa to enter the U.S. as a permanent resident on arrival. Consular processing carries additional fees payable to the Department of State and its own set of forms and timelines separate from the USCIS side.

If Your Marriage Is Less Than Two Years Old

One boundary worth flagging up front: if the marriage is less than two years old when the green card is granted, the beneficiary receives conditional permanent resident status rather than a full green card. Conditional status carries the same rights to live and work in the U.S., lasts two years, and expires automatically unless you act to remove the conditions.⁶

Both spouses must jointly file Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, during the 90-day window immediately before the conditional residence expires. Filing too early can lead to rejection; missing the window entirely can cost the beneficiary their permanent resident status and trigger removal proceedings.¹⁵ Set a calendar reminder well in advance. If the marriage has ended by then, or if the beneficiary experienced domestic violence during the marriage, a waiver of the joint filing requirement may be available and the beneficiary can file alone at any time before the conditional status expires.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
2
U.S. Department of State. Family Immigration
3
U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin for September 2025
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Form I-130A – Supplemental Information for Spouse Beneficiary
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part A Chapter 4 – Documentation
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1186a – Conditional Permanent Resident Status for Certain Alien Spouses and Sons and Daughters
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797C, Notice of Action
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part A Chapter 5 – Interview Guidelines
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Vaccination Requirements
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Changes Validity Period for Any Form I-693 Signed on or After Nov 1, 2023
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-864P, HHS Poverty Guidelines for Affidavit of Support
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence