Financial Challenges of Marrying a Foreign Spouse

My husband and I met in college. I was a United States citizen, and he was a student from Japan studying in the United States. After knowing one another for seven months, we started dating. After nine months of dating, we got engaged and were married ten months later. We’ve been married for over twenty years. However, marrying someone from a different country isn’t easy. We had many financial challenges, some specifically because we weren’t born in the same country.

4 Financial Challenges of Marrying a Foreign Spouse

There are four financial challenges of marrying a foreign spouse that we have experienced.

Lawyer Fees

Once we were married, my husband applied for a permanent resident card. Unfortunately, this required hiring an immigration lawyer, which cost us thousands of dollars throughout the three-and-a-half years it took for him to get permanent resident status.

You can try to apply for permanent residency without a lawyer, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The laws are too complex, and you don’t want to jeopardize your spouse’s application by making mistakes.

When the lawyer completed all the paperwork, we had to drive to an immigration office to have an interview. (This is done so the immigration officer can verify that your relationship is legit and not a fake marriage so someone can get a green card.) Depending on how far away the immigration office is, this trip is another expense.

Income Level

When you marry a foreigner, you must prove that you have enough income to support the individual. If you don’t, you can also use the income your potential spouse will make and any support he may receive from his family.

If you get divorced before ten years of marriage, you’ll be required to continue to support your foreign spouse until the ten years is up.

Renewal of a Passport

If your foreign spouse chooses not to become a United States citizen, you’ll face other expenses when it comes time to renew her passport.

For instance, when we lived in Arizona, the closest Japanese embassy was in Los Angeles. We had to drive six hours there and stay a few days in a hotel waiting for the new passport. That trip cost us several hundred dollars plus the cost of the passport.

Visiting Their Home Country

Financial Challenges of Marrying a Foreign Spouse

Finally, your spouse will want to visit their home country and family regularly, so you’ll need to budget for traveling abroad. Unfortunately, you may find that visiting your spouse’s home country takes most of your travel money, so you may not get to travel to other destinations as frequently as you would like.

Other Considerations

The expenses above are for someone marrying a foreign-born spouse already residing in the United States. If you want to marry someone living in another country, you’ll likely face more expenses and even more government rules and regulations.

Final Thoughts

There are many financial challenges of marrying a foreign spouse. However, if you have a strong relationship and want to commit to marriage, the economic difficulties are worth it.

Read More

Should You Stop Your Spouse from Giving Parents an Allowance?

5 Perfect Career Combinations for Couples

10 Unique Date Night Ideas for Married Couples

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her reading a good book, cooking, or traveling. She resides in New York where she loves the natural beauty of the area.


This entry was posted in Couples and tagged , , , by Melissa Batai. Bookmark the permalink.

 About Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her reading a good book, cooking, or traveling. She resides in New York where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

MANAGE YOUR MONEY TOGETHER

Here are some simple guidelines for DINKS to build wealth:

1) Collaborate: Meet regularly to talk about money, set goals together, track and monitor them.

2) Understand and respect your partner. Take time to understand your partners values about money.

3) Watch the numbers. Get a budget, monitor your spending and track your net worth.

4) Max your retirement. Maximize contributions to your tax deferred retirement accounts.

5) Invest in stock. Stocks perform better than bonds or cash.

6) Avoid high interest debt. Credit cards and title loans are financial cancer.

7) Diversify. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Couples Finance

Blogs You Should Read

Companies Supporting The DINKS

Please consider visiting our gracious supporters:

Get an education with the Online Certificate Programs at Washington Tech

7binaryoptions.com: Your one stop information source for trading binary options.

Get the Latest Coupon and Discount Codes at Freecouponcodes.net.

The best cheap web traffic that comes in handy for your website traffic needs.

Shop till you drop and discounted offers with Shopee promo codes.