Which visa for this situation?

[BritishGuy36 0]

Family name is the name you known by in everyday life, ie what is on your bank account etc

I know what format of name to put here, but what I am saying is that I don't know my father's name, and it is blank on my birth certificate, so I have nothing to put here. I wasn't sure if putting N/A was acceptable in this field.

Edited December 31, 2007 by BritishGuy36

[BritishGuy36 0]

I found out that it's the local Probate Court that has the relevant marriage records.

I beleive I have found the correct contact details online and I plan to call them tomorrow to see what info I can get out of them.

[Lansbury 19]

Family name is the name you known by in everyday life, ie what is on your bank account etc

I know what format of name to put here, but what I am saying is that I don't know my father's name, and it is blank on my birth certificate, so I have nothing to put here. I wasn't sure if putting N/A was acceptable in this field.

Sorry I thought it a strange question and wondered if I had understood correctly.

I would put not known for your fathers details as opposed to not applicable. At least that way you have given a definitive answer to the question maybe even put a photocopy of your birth certificate and a brief covering letter explaining in with the forms. That way they can see you cannot answer the question rather than not done so.

[BritishGuy36 0]

Excellent thanks.

I have contacted the relevant probate court in Ohio and they say that anyone can pick up a marriage certificate for me as it's a matter of public record (sounds strange that they would give them out to just anyone!). My father-in-law is going to go pick one up for me and get it sent over ASAP. It costs $3 lol.

[BritishGuy36 0]

Ok! We have the marriage certificate so I will be finalising the I-130 paperwork this weekend and getting it in the post Monday.

Time to start adding to that timeline.....

[BritishGuy36 0]

We have finally got things rolling!

I had to get the in-laws to mail over a copy of our court-certified marriage certificate, and get some other details together.

There were still a couple of things I wasn't too sure about, so decided to call the London USCIS helpline (it's a disgrace that they charge you £1.20 per minute for this!) to clear them up. The person at the other end didn't seem to clued up, a bit unsure about things, so I hope he gave me the correct answers!

Anyhow the I-130 went in the post today.

Thanks for all who helped me to get this far.

BG36

[Lansbury 19]

We have finally got things rolling!

I had to get the in-laws to mail over a copy of our court-certified marriage certificate, and get some other details together.

There were still a couple of things I wasn't too sure about, so decided to call the London USCIS helpline (it's a disgrace that they charge you £1.20 per minute for this!) to clear them up. The person at the other end didn't seem to clued up, a bit unsure about things, so I hope he gave me the correct answers!

Anyhow the I-130 went in the post today.

Thanks for all who helped me to get this far.

BG36

Good luck and welcome to the USCIS waiting game.

Do you know to check this page to see the file date of I-130s being processed http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/uscis/i130filing.html

[BritishGuy36 0]

Yeah thanks I had that link in my favourites already - I'm keeping an eye on it. It only appears to get updated about once a week though, although that's often enough to give you an idea of how long it will take. Currently it appears to be about 10 or 11 weeks.

Once your filing date appears on that page, about how long until they complete processing your I-130, do you think? About a week?

Edited January 31, 2008 by BritishGuy36

[Lansbury 19]

Yeah thanks I had that link in my favourites already - I'm keeping an eye on it. It only appears to get updated about once a week though, although that's often enough to give you an idea of how long it will take. Currently it appears to be about 10 or 11 weeks.

Once your filing date appears on that page, about how long until they complete processing your I-130, do you think? About a week?

I had the NOA2 which is the notice of approval within a week certainly, if memory servers me correctly it was around 4/5 days.

[BritishGuy36 0]

Right. Preparation for "stage 2".

The only thing I can currently point to as regards establishing "domicile" in the US is that we plan to live with my wife's parents and grandma at the same address that my wife grew up at.

I am figuring that we may need more than that to convince USCIS of our intentions to live there. My wife has never had a US bank account and I am told that it's very difficult (or even impossible, since the patriot act came in) to open a US bank account from abroad even if you are a US citizen and even harder if you are not a US citizen (i.e. myself).

Does anyone have any information as to whether there is anything I can do, short of my wife and I physically being in the US?

Or what else could I do to "prove" domicile without opening a bank account? Does anyone remember what other possible areas they are looking at? I can't find this info on any of the sample forms on this site, maybe I am looking in the wrong place.

Edited February 2, 2008 by BritishGuy36

[Lansbury 19]

The London Embassy is very easy going about these things. If you are going to live with your in-laws at an address you wife has lived at before I'd be very surprised if they don't accept that as being domiciled.

Does she have a US drivers licence, I think you said not, or voters registration or something semi-official on which she could change her address to your in-laws one. My wife had her Oregon driving licence with her sons address on. At the time we applied our US bank account at Wells Fargo had our London address on it.

I think you might be looking too deeply into this as I don't recall anyone posting on VJ that they had a problem proving domicile with the London Embassy.

[BritishGuy36 0]

The only drivers license she has is a "temporary instruction ID card" as she never passed her test. This does have the same address on it (the one we are going to live at) but it expired over 10 years ago!

She has never voted or had her own bank account before.

Can I ask if you opened the Wells Fargo account when you were already in the UK or was that account opened when you or your wife was in the US?

I know I may be worrying a bit too much but want to make sure this goes through first time, I don't want to risk not being able to convince them and risk getting refused first time around, making it harder to get a visa if I reapply.

I have used the online forms to email Wells Fargo and USBank to see if there is any way we could open an account without actually travelling to the US to do it - as that's a grand gone in air fares right there.

I am presuming that if I do have to visit the US during the IR-1 process than I am best to just not mention the IR-1 application at all and enter/exit using the visa waiver program as usual - otherwise they may think I intend to stay!

Edited February 2, 2008 by BritishGuy36

[Lansbury 19]

The only drivers license she has is a "temporary instruction ID card" as she never passed her test. This does have the same address on it (the one we are going to live at) but it expired over 10 years ago!

She has never voted or had her own bank account before.

Can I ask if you opened the Wells Fargo account when you were already in the UK or was that account opened when you or your wife was in the US?

I know I may be worrying a bit too much but want to make sure this goes through first time, I don't want to risk not being able to convince them and risk getting refused first time around, making it harder to get a visa if I reapply.

I have used the online forms to email Wells Fargo and USBank to see if there is any way we could open an account without actually travelling to the US to do it - as that's a grand gone in air fares right there.

I am presuming that if I do have to visit the US during the IR-1 process than I am best to just not mention the IR-1 application at all and enter/exit using the visa waiver program as usual - otherwise they may think I intend to stay!

I would think that her temporary instruction card would be good enough. It may have expired but it shows attachment to the address you are going to live at. When we did my visa we gave my step sons address as our domicile and we were never ask to provide any documents to support that claim.

We opened the Wells Fargo account during a trip over to the US. That was either 2004 or 2005. All it took was my wife's social security number, her US driving licence and my British passport.

You can travel to the States while your visa is being processed on the visa waiver scheme. Just take some proof you are intending to return to the UK in case asked. Mortgage documents, rent agreement, details of employment something along those lines. Again some get questioned most seem not to.

Just a thought I've seen Wachovia Bank mentioned in various places as being quite good and they an office in London, I wonder if you could open an account in once of their US branches that way.

Wachovia Bank

3 Bishopsgate

London EC2

Tel: 020-7621-1477

I think the lack of response to this thread from anyone who has had problems with domicile speaks volumes for it not being a problem. Quite a few on VJ who have done DFC via London have been in the position of ourselves where our spouses have been in the UK for some considerable years. My wife lived in the UK for 10 years.

Edited February 3, 2008 by Lansbury

[BritishGuy36 0]

Hmmm interesting stuff.

I am kicking myself really for not opening a bank account when we were over there last April - although at the time we weren't planning to emmigrate. I suppose you can't second guess yourself.

[BritishGuy36 0]

Ok, so prepwork for stage 2 consists of:

Arrange for a police report "suitable for an application for a Visa for the US"

Get the wife's US tax records filed and up to date (W2s)

If we can, open a US bank account

Get mortgage statement and valuers report ready in order to prove equity in property

Anything else?

Also what's this I hear about different addresses for police reports? I don't have to get a report for each address I have ever lived at, do I?