How to File Form I-130 Online: Step-by-Step Guide for 2026

A petitioner — a U.S. citizen or green card holder — files Form I-130 online through their own USCIS account, working through sections about themselves, the beneficiary, the marriage, and supporting evidence before paying the fee and receiving a case number.

In short

• Only the petitioner — a U.S. citizen or green card holder — can file Form I-130; the beneficiary cannot file it on their own behalf
• Middle name is not a patronymic: the field is left blank if the passport lists only one first name
• Choosing between Adjustment of Status and consular processing is a key fork in the road — fixing a wrong choice through Form I-824 takes time and money
• The marriage evidence package is the most important part of the petition — the officer judges the relationship solely from the documents
• The petition doesn’t have to be submitted right after filling it out — unfinished forms are saved under drafts

Creating a USCIS Account and Choosing the Right Profile Type

Filing Form I-130 requires a USCIS online account — either a new one or an existing one. If there’s no account yet, the registration page has a Create an Account button; entering an email address triggers a confirmation message.

Once the email is confirmed, the system asks for a password: it must be at least eight characters long and include at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one special character. The email has to be re-entered to confirm it, after which the system asks for a sign-in verification method — an authenticator app, SMS to a phone number, or email. Choosing email means a one-time code will be sent at every login.

The system also generates a backup code — it’s worth saving or printing it to restore access if it’s ever lost. Five security questions follow, and saving those answers is a good idea too.

Which Account Type to Choose

At the profile-type step, it’s essential to check which account is being used. Only the petitioner — a U.S. citizen or green card holder — can file Form I-130. A beneficiary waiting abroad for a visa cannot file this form on their own behalf.

Mixing up accounts at this step gets the filed case rejected. Profile types are split by role:

Mixing up accounts at this step gets the filed case rejected.

• applicant or petitioner — the first option, an individual account;
• legal representative, attorney, or accredited representative — the corresponding option for representatives;
• organization, company, or agent — the third option.

To file a petition on the petitioner’s behalf, the first option is the one to choose.

Selecting Form I-130 and the Relative Category

Once the account is created, the USCIS site shows a list of available forms — Petition I-130 is selected from there, followed by Continue. The system offers two filing formats: online or PDF. PDF filing isn’t accepted everywhere; before choosing it, the applicable filing rules should be checked — paper filing isn’t allowed for every petitioner or in every situation.

The next screen explains who’s eligible to file and which relative categories the petition covers. Form I-130 covers a husband or wife, unmarried children under 21, unmarried children 21 and older, children in other categories, siblings, and parents. The same screen lists the expected documents and fee, after which Next and then Start move the process into the petition itself.

Petitioner’s Details: Name, Middle Name, Addresses, and Employment

The section opens with a question about whether anyone is helping prepare the petition: if so, Yes is selected and that person’s details are entered; if not, it’s No.

Next come the petitioner’s first name, last name, and middle name. Middle name is not a patronymic, and this is exactly where filers from post-Soviet countries most often get it wrong: a patronymic and an American middle name are different concepts that shouldn’t be confused. If the passport’s First name field shows only one name, the middle name field is left completely blank — there’s no need to translate a patronymic into it, since U.S. systems don’t recognize it. If the passport’s First name field lists two names, the second one goes into the middle name field.

The next question asks whether the petitioner has used any other names since birth. If so, Yes is selected and the names are listed; if not, No. A contact phone number comes next: the same one used during registration can be kept, or a different one entered. The email is usually pulled automatically from the account used to register the profile, but it can be changed.

The home address is entered in parts: house number and street name, apartment number if applicable, then city, state, and ZIP code. If a mailing address differs from the home address, it’s entered as a separate step; if not, the answer is No.

A separate block covers every address the petitioner has lived at over the last 5 years: for each one, street number and name, city, state, ZIP code, and the dates lived there — month, day, and year. If there was more than one previous address during that period, each one is added.

After the addresses, the system asks for sex, ethnicity, race, height, weight, eye color, and hair color.

Employment history for the last 5 years follows: company, country, street, city, state, ZIP code, job title, and employment dates. If the petitioner is still working at the company at the time of filing, that’s marked. Any additional employers during the same period are added through Add Employment. If there was no employment during part of that period, it’s marked as Unemployed, with the gap entered separately along with start and end dates — with no time left unaccounted for.

Petitioner’s Status, Citizenship, and Marital History

Next comes the petitioner’s status in the U.S. — citizen or green card holder. This is followed by a question about whether resident status was obtained through adoption; it only appears for those who selected green card holder, while citizen petitioners answer No.

If the petitioner is a green card holder, the A-number (alien registration number) is required — it’s printed on the green card itself. A citizen doesn’t have this number, so No is selected there. The next field is the USCIS online account number: it can be entered if one already exists, or No can be selected — the system will pull the number automatically after the petition is filed, since it’s only generated once the form is submitted from that profile.

The Social Security Number, date of birth, and country and city of birth come next. A separate question asks how citizenship was obtained: by birth, through naturalization, or through parents. For naturalization, Yes is selected along with the certificate number, place, and date of issuance; if citizenship was obtained by birth, this block is skipped with a No.

In the marital status section, Married is selected along with the number of marriages — 1 for a first and only marriage, or the actual count if there were previous marriages. Next come the spouse’s last and first name, and the date and place the marriage took place. If the marriage has ended, the end date is entered; for a current marriage, that field is left blank.

If there were previous marriages, each one requires the former spouse’s last and first name and the date the marriage ended. After that come the petitioner’s parents’ details: last name, first name, and middle name if applicable, date of birth, sex, country of birth, and current city and country of residence — first for one parent, then the other.

Beneficiary’s Details: Category, Addresses, and Trips to the U.S.

The beneficiary is the relative the petition is filed for: a spouse, parent, sibling, or child. If spouse is selected, the system requires Form I-130A to be filled out as well — it’s downloaded as a PDF from the USCIS site and completed separately. There’s also a question about whether anyone else has previously filed a petition for the petitioner — Yes, No, or Don’t know.

For the beneficiary, the form asks whether they’ve used any other names since birth — for example, a maiden name from a previous marriage. Contact details follow: a phone number (and a second one if available), or, if there’s no second number, an email address.

The Beneficiary’s Addresses

The form asks for several different addresses in sequence, and they’re easy to mix up:

• current address — house number, street, apartment (if any), city, state or province;
• the address where the beneficiary will live in the U.S. — if they’re already in the U.S., the first line is marked “same”; if they’re abroad, the future address is entered;
• last address outside the U.S. — this can be the same as the current address if the beneficiary has remained abroad the whole time;
• address shared with the petitioner — the last place they lived together, with the dates of that cohabitation; if there was no shared address, the form indicates that directly.

Next comes the A-number (alien registration number) — held, for instance, by those previously in the U.S. under the U4U program; the beneficiary’s own USCIS account number, if one exists; date of birth, country of birth, city, and sex.

Trips to the U.S. and Form I-94

A separate question asks whether the beneficiary has previously been in the U.S. If so, Yes is selected along with the passport number used for that travel; a Travel Document number isn’t needed in this field if a passport exists — only the passport number, country of issuance, and expiration date are entered. There’s also a separate question about whether the beneficiary has ever been part of any immigration proceeding.

Details about the actual U.S. trip come from Form I-94: first, the Class of Admission is selected — the category under which entry was allowed (for example, a tourist visa) — then the I-94 number, date of entry, and authorized departure date are entered, all taken directly from Form I-94 itself.

Employment information for the beneficiary follows — company name, address (country, street, city, state, ZIP code), and start date — along with marital history: number of marriages, current spouse’s details and marriage date, and the country, city, and state where the marriage took place. If there was more than one marriage, the previous spouse’s name and the end date of that marriage are entered separately.

In the beneficiary’s family section, spouse details are entered — name, relationship (spouse), date and country of birth — along with children’s details — relationship (child), date and country of birth for each one.

Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing: Choosing the Office

The form then requires a key decision: will the relative adjust status while already in the U.S. (Adjustment of Status), or will they wait for approval abroad and go through a consulate? This is the main fork in the entire petition, and getting it wrong is costly — the case gets sent to the wrong office.

This is the main fork in the entire petition, and getting it wrong is costly — the case gets sent to the wrong office.

If the beneficiary is already in the U.S. and filing to adjust status domestically, the city and state of the USCIS office where they plan to file is entered. If the beneficiary is outside the U.S., instead of a USCIS office, the consulate or embassy where they’ll interview and receive the visa is entered.

Picking the wrong office or embassy isn’t a typo that’s easy to fix. Correcting it through a separate Form I-824 can take a long time and comes with additional costs. This field is worth double-checking before submission.

After choosing the office, the form asks whether any petitions have previously been filed for this beneficiary or for another foreign national — Yes or No depending on the situation. If another petition for a different relative is being filed at the same time, that has to be noted in this section as well.

Which Documents to Attach: Marriage and Identity Evidence

Document upload starts with proof of U.S. citizenship — for example, a U.S. passport — followed by the marriage certificate. If either the petitioner or the beneficiary had a previous marriage, separate evidence that it ended has to be uploaded: a divorce decree, annulment decree, spouse’s death certificate, or a court divorce judgment if the divorce went through court. These are uploaded separately — the petitioner’s proof of divorce first, then the beneficiary’s. Any document not in English must be accompanied by an English translation.

Before document upload, the system separately asks for the beneficiary’s name and address written in their native language — for Ukraine, that’s Ukrainian. This information is written on a separate sheet and uploaded as a file in an accepted format and within the stated maximum size.

The rest of the package includes:

• 2x2 photos — one for the petitioner, one for the beneficiary;
• additional proof of the marriage: joint lease agreements, shared property ownership, documents showing a shared address;
• information about children the couple had together, if the spouses lived together at any point;
• affidavits — letters from parents, friends, siblings, and other close relations describing how the couple met and how the relationship developed;
• any other evidence of the relationship: photos together, trips, tickets, hotel bookings.

This section is considered the most important part of a spousal petition: the USCIS officer doesn’t know the couple personally and judges the relationship solely from the documents, so the officer’s job is to confirm the marriage is genuine and not entered into for immigration purposes. It’s worth including everything available: joint leases, bills, trip tickets, letters from friends. In a complex case — the couple lived together only briefly, or there are no shared children — the document package is worth showing to an immigration attorney before submission.

If the beneficiary’s or petitioner’s last name has changed, a document confirming that change is required — a separate name-change certificate, or the same marriage certificate if the name changed after the wedding.

The completed Form I-130A is uploaded separately — it’s downloaded via a link, filled out, and uploaded back once completed. From the remaining list of documents, only what applies to the specific case is included. If the applicants have DNA test results confirming the relationship, those can be attached too. But a DNA test isn’t always required: if the petitioner and beneficiary aren’t blood relatives (for example, spouses), a simple statement explaining that a DNA test isn’t required for that reason is enough, and that statement is uploaded the same way. At the end of the section, there’s a field for any additional information the filer wants to add.

Documents for a Spousal Petition Package

• Proof of the petitioner’s U.S. citizenshiprequiredfor example, a U.S. passport
• Marriage certificaterequired
• Proof the previous marriage endeddivorce decree, annulment, spouse’s death certificate, or court judgment
• Translation of any non-English documents
• Beneficiary’s name and address in their native languagerequiredfor Ukraine — in Ukrainian
• 2x2 photosrequiredone for the petitioner, one for the beneficiary
• Proof of cohabitation and marriagelease agreements, shared property, common address
• Information about shared childrenif the spouses lived together
• Affidavits from relatives and friendsletters describing how the couple met and their relationship
• Other evidence of the relationshipphotos, tickets, hotel bookings
• Name-change documentif the beneficiary’s or petitioner’s last name has changed
• Completed Form I-130Arequireddownloaded, filled out, and uploaded back

Reviewing, Paying, and Submitting the I-130 Petition

Once every section is complete, the system shows the fee due for filing — but the entered data should be reviewed first. A draft can be downloaded as a PDF or sent to Print: it generates the document exactly as it will be filed. That same draft is worth scrolling through on screen — going over every question again and cross-checking it against the uploaded documents.

If everything checks out, Next confirms that the information has been read, understood, and entered correctly. The confirmation text is then reviewed, the document is signed, and the petitioner’s last and first name are entered. After signing, the system shows the fee amount again.

Payment is made by card. Cardholder details come first — last name, first name, address, city, country, state, and ZIP code — followed by the card number, expiration date, and security code. A case number is assigned immediately after payment, and it’s used to track the petition’s status going forward.

A completed but unpaid form doesn’t need to be submitted right away: it’s possible to log out and come back later. Unfinished petitions are stored under drafts, where the I-130 petition will show a Continue button. Clicking it reopens the saved information, which can be reviewed again, stepped through once more, and then paid for.

Before Submitting

Before hitting submit, it’s worth going through the whole application one more time and checking every letter in the names, along with the dates and addresses. A single typo can delay the petition’s review by months.

A single typo can delay the petition’s review by months.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to process an I-130 petition after filing?

The exact processing time isn’t specified — after payment, a case number is assigned that can be used to track status. What’s known is that a data error, such as picking the wrong office, can delay review by months and require filing a separate Form I-824 to correct it.

Is a DNA test required to prove a relationship when filing a petition?

A DNA test isn’t always required: if a test result already exists, it can be attached to the document package. But if the petitioner and beneficiary aren’t blood relatives — spouses, for example — a simple statement explaining that a test isn’t required for that reason is enough instead.