Proving domicile when not living in the U.S.

[ThailandExpat 0]

I have read the first six pages of this thread and this domicile business has me scared. I have lived in Thailand for ten years and married for five. My wife and I have no children of our own or assets to brag about. I've voted in the past presidential elections and I have filed taxes every year that I have been in Thailand except for the current one. My CPA has always told me that there was no need for me to file taxes since my income was below the poverty line. Naturally, I have a joint sponsor who has provided me with all of his financial details. I plan on living with some relatives once I get back to the states and our feet on the ground. What more can I do to prove my intent of re-establishing my domicile?

[NikLR 13,229]

What each embassy requires is different. You'd be best to check in your regional forum or ask in the embassy discussion forum. Montreal is a stickler about domicile, because honestly, Canada is right next door. They expect that is it not difficult for the USC to go back home and prepare a place for the beneficiary to live. It's quite unlike moving across the globe.

[SarahBear 4]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents now that our interview is over and we were approved! (yay!) Our biggest issue at MTL wasn't really the financial stuff, it was proving domicile. I think we were approved by the skin of our teeth but an approval is an approval.

My husband thinks what threw us over the edge to approval was me bringing print out e-mail confirmations from phone interviews I did with US companies. So if you're in the process of looking for a job, this is another good way to prove you intent to re-establish domicile in the US. I guess it proves you're seriously hunting for a job there and therefore serious about moving back to the states.

[210045803 1]

Hello, we just got approved yesterday. The only issue they gave us trouble with was domicile. I had a letter from my employer stating that I would have work when I move (I transferred within the same company to work in Canada). Without this I don't think we would have been approved, so if you live abroad make sure you bring evidence of domicile!

[Draco 0]

Hello,

In October 29th 2013 we got denied for my IV in Bogota, Colombia. The CO handed me the 221g sheet with the necessary steps to send the passport back to the embassy and documentation regarding the issue.

Thanks to these forums we have a clear idea now of the steps we need to take to re-establish domicile, but we just realized there is another big problem that we aren't sure how to solve. In Bogota, the medical exams (specifically, the chest x-rays that are done to show you don`t have tuberculosis) expire in 6 months. So, when we turn in our new documents to prove that we are establishing domicile, when they approve us, the visa they give me will expire NOT in 6 months, but in however much time is left until the medical exams expire. So, for example, since I did my medical exams in the end of October, and if we get our domicile accepted in late January, then they would give me a visa that I had to use within 3 months since there would only be 3 months left until my medical exams expired (they will expire April 25).

This is a huge problem for us because my wife is pregnant and the baby will be born in April. We really need to be able to leave AFTER the baby is born and we are able to get his US passport through the Bogota embassy (when my daughter was born, this took a couple of months, plus my wife has to have a cesarian so she wont be able to travel for a few weeks).

Is there anything we can do? Is it possible to re-do the medical exams so that they give us the visa with a later expiration date? Is there anything we can turn in to show that for medical reasons my wife needs to stay here longer? We are afraid if we tell this information to the embassy they will just deny us again. We haven`t been able to really get any information from the embassy. When we call, the people that answer the phone don`t really know anything and when we send emails we get pre-prepared form type information sent back to us.

Any information you know would be really helpful. My wife and I are really worried and don`t know what to do. Thank you.

[Blissful_Beauty 4]

Would a valid drivers license prove domicile? I also have a valid certificate from college?

As a pharmacy technician

[Blissful_Beauty 4]

Wait is this a Canada only thread?

[Flames9_RN 358]

It pertains to Canadian/USA couples that are residing in Canada..........going through the visa process and having to provide evidence of domicile, so no real use to any one else, as each consulate/Embassy differs. Merry Xmas

[miller_msm 1]

Thank you to everyone who has posted on this thread. I've found reading it very helpful.

Quickly, my situation is that I am a US citizen living in Canada for the last 9 years with my wife (we've been married since 2004). I have kept a U.S. bank account and a U.S. credit card. I also have investment accounts and a PO Box in the U.S. However, it is pretty clear that I am domiciled currently in Canada. I have applied for my I-130 and I'm still waiting for approval. My USCIS receipt date is May 12, 2014.

My questions are:

1.) Do I need a co-sponsor if all of my income has been in Canada?

2.) At what point do I need to prove Domicile? Is it with the NVC via the affidavit of Support or is it at the interview when my wife goes to Montreal after NVC has set up an appointment. Or do both require proof.

3.) Since my parents own their own business, I was thinking of getting a signed job offer from them that is flexible on the start date, i.e. dependant on when my wife receives green card. Is this a good idea, or should I actually accept a job a few weeks before my wifes interview.

4.) I also plan on submitting: letter from parents saying that my family will live with them until we get established in the state; reference letters from other family members attesting to our strong intent to move there; moving cost estimates from U-Haul truck, credit card bills and investment accounts with U.S. billing address. Is this enough?

Best of luck to everyone going through similar processes.

[NikLR 13,229]

Thank you to everyone who has posted on this thread. I've found reading it very helpful.

Quickly, my situation is that I am a US citizen living in Canada for the last 9 years with my wife (we've been married since 2004). I have kept a U.S. bank account and a U.S. credit card. I also have investment accounts and a PO Box in the U.S. However, it is pretty clear that I am domiciled currently in Canada. I have applied for my I-130 and I'm still waiting for approval. My USCIS receipt date is May 12, 2014.

My questions are:

1.) Do I need a co-sponsor if all of my income has been in Canada? ~ Yes if you don't qualify under assets

2.) At what point do I need to prove Domicile? Is it with the NVC via the affidavit of Support or is it at the interview when my wife goes to Montreal after NVC has set up an appointment. Or do both require proof. ~ You can send with the AOS package to the NVC but the end decision comes at the interview. Montreal is rather strict in this aspect compared to an overseas consulate or embassy.

3.) Since my parents own their own business, I was thinking of getting a signed job offer from them that is flexible on the start date, i.e. dependant on when my wife receives green card. Is this a good idea, or should I actually accept a job a few weeks before my wifes interview. ~having a job set up already would be a good idea. You can make the start date for after when you expect to get the visa back. (Remember at this point she is getting a visa, not a green card until she enters the USA.)

4.) I also plan on submitting: letter from parents saying that my family will live with them until we get established in the state; reference letters from other family members attesting to our strong intent to move there; moving cost estimates from U-Haul truck, credit card bills and investment accounts with U.S. billing address. Is this enough? ~Sounds pretty good to me

Best of luck to everyone going through similar processes.

[miller_msm 1]

Thanks for the reply. I have two other questions: Part 4 of the AOS asks for mailing address, Residence address and country of Domicile.

1.) Should I put my current address and Residence in Canada or should I put the address where I will live and where I currently still get mail in the U.S.

2.) Should I put Domicile as: a.) Canada (which it is currently) or b.) USA (see my attachment showing proof of intent to reestablish domicile).

[miller_msm 1]

Sorry one more:

3.) Anyone know whether we need to translate civil documents in French. Our marriage certificate and my wife's birth certificate are both in French. I didn't translate anything on the I-130 when I sent everything. Now, I am wondering if I will get an ROE because of it. I would think because most words on the document are cognates, translations are unnecessary. e.g. date de marriage.... it doesn't take a multi-linguist to figure that one out. But now I am worried because it seems a lot of people are getting RFE and now, I have given them an excuse to send me one as well.

[ncglenn 22]

Hi all,

Reading about these domicile issues and many getting denials especially living far from Montreal has me real nervous. Here's our situation, we are retiring and moving in with my U.S. wife's parents, and of course they are not going to charge us rent or sign a lease as the house is paid for. We will help out with some bills though like paying the cable and internet as they don't have that yet, but that won't happen til we get there. Neither of us will be looking for a job right away as I'll be retiring after almost 29 years at a job in the educational sector with an indexed pension that will pay me more than a lot of people there make working. We've had a US bank account for about 5 years and have personalized checks with our names and U.S. address. We have no kids to register in U.S. schools, and my wife has already had a Social Security number since she was a teenager. So all we can really use to show domicile is maybe a notarized letter from her parents saying we'll be living there and a void personalized check from our U.S. bank account. Is there any hope? Anyone have any suggestions if needed? My wife's parents are getting older and they are so excited for us to get there and so is the rest of my wife's family. It would devastate them and us if we got a denial.

[mellybear 2]

Reading this thread has left me feeling extremely worried.

I am a USC who has been living in Canada since 2004 with my Canadian husband. We have a 2-yr old daughter who received her CRBA in February. Since having my daughter I've been feeling extremely homesick so my husband and I have been talking about moving to Connecticut so that we can be closer to my family. Of course living in Canada for so many years it is obvious that I don't have a "domicile" in the US. When I initially began looking into the whole visa process I wasn't very worried about not being able to satisfy "intent to re-establish a US domicile" to the consular official performing the visa interview, but after looking at everyone's experiences with their interviews at the Montreal consulate now I'm not so sure.

Our plan is it initially move in with my mother (who would also be acting as co/joint sponsor for my husband since I will not meet the financial requirement of the AOS alone) until we both find jobs and are able to afford an apartment of our own. I have maintained my US bank account and during our last visit I made sure that it was still considered to be an active account at my bank. I am behind on filing my US taxes, but I have downloaded/printed all of the forms that are needed to get back in to compliance and plan to do so before even submitting the I-130. I was also considering going back to school once we moved back so I can finish getting my Bachelors degree.

Given the age of our daughter, it would be extremely difficult for us if we had to be separated if me and my daughter - since she's also a USC and my husband would not be able to care for her on his own - had to move to the US in order to provide proof of domicile that would be accepted by the Montreal consulate. I would be willing to go to CT temporarily and apply for a driver's license and import/register my car and apply for car insurance but remaining there without my husband really isn't much of an option at this point in time. While there I would also apply for my daughter's SSN since we didn't do this at the same time we filed for the CRBA.

I don't work in a specialized field so the chances of finding an employer who would give me an offer of employment without a guaranteed date on when I could start is extremely unlikely. And I don't have any friends or relatives who own their own business who would be willing to hire me and provide a letter of offer of employment.

Since we haven't actually begun the process, right now I'm basically looking for advice on what types of documents are being accepted by the officers at the Montreal consulate as proof of or proof of intent to re-establish domicile. Any help all of you would be able to provide would be very much appreciated. I really really don't want my family to be separated.

[Christopher1384 12]

NLR,

Can you elaborate on what you mean by Montreal is strict? Example, I am leaving California next month to go stay with my wife in Montreal until this immigration non-sense is over (we are in the NVC stage now). So I will still have all of my american bank accounts/retirement accounts, a vehicle with insurance, and have my personal belongings in storage in California but I wont have an address because why pay rent when you are on a 4-6 month vacation. The only thing we wont have is a plane ticket because how are we supposed to know when they will approve us. Do they really expect people to know when they are going to get approved so they can buy a ticket home just to prove domicile? Thanks.