Introduction

[LauraDP 10]

I have just registered with the site so thought it only polite to introduce myself and outline my situation before ploughing into the more specific discussions.

As my username indicates, my name is Laura. I am a UK citizen. My husband (to whom I have been married for 16 years)is a dual national UK / US citizen. He was born in the UK but has an American mother. As a dual national, he has not been able to pass his citizenship on to our four sons and so they too, like me, are UK nationals. My husband wishes to return to living in the US - where he grew up - and we are now seriously considering making the international move. I, therefore, need to get to grips with the process that the children and I will have to go through in order to be permitted to reside in the US and - in my case - work there.

If anyone else is in a similar situation and at a similar (ie very early) stage of the process then I would love to hear from you.

Best wishes

Laura

[Nick1980 11]

I have just registered with the site so thought it only polite to introduce myself and outline my situation before ploughing into the more specific discussions.

As my username indicates, my name is Laura. I am a UK citizen. My husband (to whom I have been married for 16 years)is a dual national UK / US citizen. He was born in the UK but has an American mother. As a dual national, he has not been able to pass his citizenship on to our four sons and so they too, like me, are UK nationals. My husband wishes to return to living in the US - where he grew up - and we are now seriously considering making the international move. I, therefore, need to get to grips with the process that the children and I will have to go through in order to be permitted to reside in the US and - in my case - work there.

If anyone else is in a similar situation and at a similar (ie very early) stage of the process then I would love to hear from you.

Best wishes

Hi Laura, I am also new to this forum, and it'sa great help for this process trust me. My situation is kinda similar Although I havent been married as long as you,I am a USC married in a foreign country and we want to move back to the USA. my thoughts to you is dont rush anything, this process requires you to look at everything you are doing, and three times over And please ask here any questions you have, thats what I do and it's very helpful to ease the confusion a bit.

Good luck,

[Nick1980 11]

I have just registered with the site so thought it only polite to introduce myself and outline my situation before ploughing into the more specific discussions.

As my username indicates, my name is Laura. I am a UK citizen. My husband (to whom I have been married for 16 years)is a dual national UK / US citizen. He was born in the UK but has an American mother. As a dual national, he has not been able to pass his citizenship on to our four sons and so they too, like me, are UK nationals. My husband wishes to return to living in the US - where he grew up - and we are now seriously considering making the international move. I, therefore, need to get to grips with the process that the children and I will have to go through in order to be permitted to reside in the US and - in my case - work there.

If anyone else is in a similar situation and at a similar (ie very early) stage of the process then I would love to hear from you.

Best wishes

Laura

sorry my post got messed up, but you get the idea

[Anh map 2,098]

Husband must establish a US domicile in order to petition for the family.

Has he been filing US tax returns? If not, he'll need to get that done for 2010, 2011, and 2012 (come January).

The I-864 FAQ link in my signature below can give you some good info.

Are you thinking to all move together, or have Dad go to the US first?

[LauraDP 10]

Thank you for the warm welcomes.

Nick1980 - We are at the very beginnings of this process and actually have a one to two year plan to emigrate to the US as there are a lot of factors we need to weigh up to decide if it is even a good idea for our family. I need, however, to investigate the whole legal issue of immigration for myself and our four children as part of that decision-making process.

Anh map - To answer your question, my husband does not file US tax returns as he is permanently domiciled in the UK and has been for his entire professional working life. He has been living back in the UK since 1992 so it has been a long time since he resided in the US. He does not, therefore, have a US address or a US bank account. These are all "issues" that I was hoping to gain some clarity on through some research and, I hope, being part of this forum.

So would Chris (husband) have to move to the US first and establish a domicile, have employment etc before the children and I can begin to immigration process? If that is the case then the idea of emigration becomes pretty much impossible as we could not afford to run two residencies let alone the logistics of splitting the family up.

The intention would be for us all to move at least roughly at the same time, though there may be some scope for Chris to relocate first but only for a short period before we joined him. Do you think that would be impossible?

Thanks again for the warm greetings.

Laura

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You should look into filing directly with the consulate in London. This process is very fast and reserved for people living abroad with their spouses. It is called Direct Consular Filing (DCF) and is available in London. You will get an immigrant visa (only choice for spouses) which, upon on entry to the US, will make you a permanent resident with the right to work, so that should put your mind at ease. From what I understand, a plan to reestablish domicile (renting an apartment, enrolling kids in school) can be accepted instead of actually reestablishing domicile, but there is a good UK DCF thread that should discuss what specifically London wants.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/240695-uk-dcf-the-ins-and-outs-and-ups-and-downs/

Edit for above post: A USC must file taxes no matter where in the world they live, so he will need to file back taxes. He probably won't have to pay taxes, but he needs to file and report his earnings.

Edited July 30, 2012 by Harpa Timsah

[Nick1980 11]

Thank you for the warm welcomes.

Nick1980 - We are at the very beginnings of this process and actually have a one to two year plan to emigrate to the US as there are a lot of factors we need to weigh up to decide if it is even a good idea for our family. I need, however, to investigate the whole legal issue of immigration for myself and our four children as part of that decision-making process.

Anh map - To answer your question, my husband does not file US tax returns as he is permanently domiciled in the UK and has been for his entire professional working life. He has been living back in the UK since 1992 so it has been a long time since he resided in the US. He does not, therefore, have a US address or a US bank account. These are all "issues" that I was hoping to gain some clarity on through some research and, I hope, being part of this forum.

So would Chris (husband) have to move to the US first and establish a domicile, have employment etc before the children and I can begin to immigration process? If that is the case then the idea of emigration becomes pretty much impossible as we could not afford to run two residencies let alone the logistics of splitting the family up.

The intention would be for us all to move at least roughly at the same time, though there may be some scope for Chris to relocate first but only for a short period before we joined him. Do you think that would be impossible?

Thanks again for the warm greetings.

Laura

Laura, from what I've learned thus far, and plz someone correct me if I am wrong. It looks though you would need a co-sponsor, which is someone who can sponsor you and your children. They would need to also file an I-864 form to show that they have the proper income to be able to financially support you all. Or your husband leave prior to you and your children and establish everything.

[JoannaV 174]

Do you have $116,136 in savings? If not your husband will either have to start working a job in the US before you get visas, or you will need someone in the US who is willing to sponsor you. Does your husband have any family in the US who would be willing to do this?

Start researching the I-864 sponsorship requirement before researching the rest of the immigration process :-)

He will need to backfile taxes for the past three years. If he earnt under a certain amount he won't have to actually pay anything.

He only has to prove that he intends to establish US domicile at the same time as you, so there are ways to do that without having current ties :-)

[LauraDP 10]

Thanks, everyone. You are all being incredibly helpful and generous with your knowledge. I feel like I have gained more insight from being on here than I have from wading through various official websites.

I think the process I would be going through is the CR-1 rather than K3 as it seems like there are fewer hurdles with the former and the smoother the process the better. My Consulate (Edinburgh, Scotland) does not do the DCF thing (indeed they don't deal with immigration at all) so I would have to go through the Embassy in London. That should not be logistically problematic. I need, however, to get to grips with this thing about evidencing intent to re-establish domicile - but that is for another thread.

The taxation thing is intriguing. I had not countenanced that being an issue at all. Chris pays tax in the UK as this is where his employment and residency is. Do I understand that he will still have to file with the US tax service or would they accept evidence of his being taxed here in the UK? It seems unfair that we have been paying taxation in one country just for another country to ask us to do likewise.

I believe that while I file the CR-1 for myself (is that correct?) Chris has to file the application (is it the I-130) for each of our four sons. Would all five of us be able to use the same co-sponsor? Chris does still have family in the US as his Aunt, Uncle and cousins and their families all live in California. We would be intending to settle in either Virginia or Maryland but I assume our sponsor being in a different state would not pose an issue. Does the co-sponsor have to provide evidence of their ability to support us to the sum quoted above?

I think perhaps this thread is becoming a bit too specific for an introduction so I shall go ahead and repost a couple of these queries in separate threads.

Thank you again for your responses.

Cheers

Laura

[Anh map 2,098]

If you folks are looking to move in a 12 - 24 month time frame that will give you ample time to learn what's needed, clean up any tax filing issues, and sort out establishing domicile, etc.

[LauraDP 10]

Thanks for your reply, Anh map. That is good to know that the tax thing could be clarified that rapidly as that was a whole issue I had been completely blindsided by and I don't actually know the way forward with that one. I think I might make my husband research the whole tax thing as it seems like a minefield to me.