I'm trying to get my head on straight...

[Yvie_and_Brett 0]

Hi there,

My husband and I are getting ready to enter the scary and intimidating world of the DCF and I was hoping that a few of you would be able to help us prepare.

I’m the English wife and B is the American hubby. We’ve been living together since September 2007, we got married in Jamaica on the 2nd anniversary of our first date (March 1st 2009) and are currently waiting for our marriage certificate to arrive so we can start the immigration process.

He’s currently over here on what was supposed to be a 2-year contract, but he fell in love with a local (that would be me, yay!), had his contract extended and this month marks three years in the UK. He wants to move back to the States as soon as possible and I’m all for it. We’re planning the move for September/October this year, so speed is of the essence with our petition and this is where I’m hoping you guys can help us.

I’ve read quite a lot of stories on this forum where people have been asked for more evidence to prove their relationship is genuine and that they intend to move to the US, but any of those delays for us could mean living on different continents while I’m stuck here waiting for interviews and so on. What sort of information, documents, etc should we start collecting now in order to speed up the second part of our petition? I’ve tried looking for the DS-230-I and the DS-2001 (as mentioned here) to give me an idea of what I should be thinking about, but haven’t had much luck… maybe I’m looking in the wrong places?

Does anyone have any sort of list that I can start working my way through? Is it worth visiting my GP now to talk about jabs (I’m 31 so I understand I don’t need to have the HPV)? Any other advice on other things we should be looking at or putting in place? Ridiculously, until we visit the bank this weekend we don’t even have a joint account because he gets paid in $ and I get paid in £, but we’ve now decided to add each other anyway as it will look better in our application. This is the sort of stuff we need advice on.

We already have our petition I-130, G-325As and appropriate paperwork ready to go when the certificate gets here.

I’d be eternally grateful for any help and support that anyone could give me. I’ve done SO much reading this week that I’m starting to go cross-eyed!

Edit to fix URL

Edited March 25, 2009 by Yvie78

[LondonLad 0]

Collect financial details and Police clearance certificates from countries you have lived in. Do you have your long form birth certificate?

[Laura+Tom 2]

There are only a handful on here that have done DCF in London. But here is a link to the Visa forms http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/visa/.../visaforms.html

If you haven't already seen it, here's the link from the US Embassy on filing in London http://www.usembassy.org.uk/dhs/uscis/i130filing.html

I think one of the biggest issues is the USC proving domicle in the US.

There is also some info from the US Embassy page here on VJ.

'If you are interested in DCF in London, be aware that in VJers' experience, London only allows DCF for U.S. citizens with ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) status in the UK, rather than LLR (Limited Leave to Remain) status. This means that, generally, unless you've been resident in the UK for at least two years, you may not be eligible to file DCF'

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/inde...&cty=London

That's all I've got.

Edited March 25, 2009 by Laura+Tom

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

London DCFer here!

Best place to start is definitely the Embassy website, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because it is a total mess, but it has all the info you need. You will indeed need to start with the I-130, accompanied by one form G-325a for both you and your husband. London only wants the 1st page of the G-325a -- this is not the case for filing through the US but believe me, this is what they want. I was asked to prove the bona fides of my marriage before my I-130 was approved, and I did this by providing photocopies of bills/bank statements that proved we lived at the same address, a few pictures of us together and with our respective in-laws, affidavits from people who knew we were married and that it was a real marriage (we'd been together for about 18 months before we got married and were in fact living together, so this wasn't a problem) and a statement from me as to how we met. Note: we had NO joint anything -- no bank accounts, no bills, not even his name on the lease -- and we were still approved.

In the meantime, you can do things like making sure your jabs are up to date (at your age, that would be MMR and DTP), getting your police certificates for countries in which you have lived for more than 12 months (including your UK one), pulling together your supporting docs for the I-864 affidavit of support (and possibly lining up a co-sponsor) and your husband dealing with the domicile issue. This is usually a total doddle, even if the USC hasn't lived in the US for a while. I had lived in the UK for 12 years and had had no intention of ever moving back to the US so I had abandoned just about everything -- no bank account, no driver's licence (never drove in the US), no credit cards, nothing except my voter registration at my parents' house and that address on file with the Social Security Administration. What I did was open a bank account in the US, and then provide proof that I was taking steps to re-establish domicile -- the bank account, a recent letter from the SSA, a few emails I had from prospective employers in the US and a letter from me to the Immigrant Visa unit stating I was intending to move back to the US but that that decision was incumbent upon my husband's visa approval. If you keep on top of the filing and turn things around quickly, the whole London DCF process takes 4-6 months.

Also, just as an aside, London has been accepting LLR and long-term student visas to the UK as proof of residency for over 2 years now -- that VJ info needs to be corrected. The minimum length of residency is now 6 months.

Edited to add: London page fixed now.

Edited March 25, 2009 by elmcitymaven

[Yvie_and_Brett 0]

I was asked to prove the bona fides of my marriage before my I-130 was approved, and I did this by providing photocopies of bills/bank statements that proved we lived at the same address, a few pictures of us together and with our respective in-laws, affidavits from people who knew we were married and that it was a real marriage (we'd been together for about 18 months before we got married and were in fact living together, so this wasn't a problem) and a statement from me as to how we met. Note: we had NO joint anything -- no bank accounts, no bills, not even his name on the lease -- and we were still approved.

I'll pull a few of those together over the weekend, better to be safe than sorry! We've had a joint lease since Sept 07 with some of the bills in both names and letters from the council with both names, so that should be pretty easy. I was also at his sister's wedding last year and I'm in some of the photos from there, so that should be pretty good proof too!

In the meantime, you can do things like making sure your jabs are up to date (at your age, that would be MMR and DTP), getting your police certificates for countries in which you have lived for more than 12 months (including your UK one), pulling together your supporting docs for the I-864 affidavit of support (and possibly lining up a co-sponsor) and your husband dealing with the domicile issue.

My jabs aren't up to date, but this morning I made an appointment to have them done on Friday next week. I hate needles, so I'm not looking forward to it.

I'm getting my photos done for the G-325A and Police certificate this weekend and a friend of mine (a teacher) is going to sign the back of them for me on Monday.

Starting on the I-864 will be my next challenge - that's one scary looking form! I don't think we'll need a co-sponsor as B's salary alone is way over the threshold and as he works for a US company he can transfer to a US based position and avoid any term of unemployment/job-hunting if need be.

Domicile should be easy. He's over here on a fixed term contract so he still has his Colorado driving license and all of his bank, credit card statements, etc go to his folk's house. He's still filing tax returns too. Unless we've found a house by then, we'll be using his parents address - do you think that could cause any problems if they're in WY and we're moving to TX or AZ?

BTW, thank you for responding so quickly, I really appreciate such a full answer from someone who has done it. This whole process is pretty daunting!

[txladykat 1]

Nope, no problem. Using their address is perfectly fine! You are just using it to establish domicile. Where you move after returning to the US has no relevance.

BTW, this is the second reference I have seen to needing a photograph for the police certificate. Is this common for every embassy? They didn't ask for one when we got our police certificate. We got ours a week ago, and aren't scheduled to file our petition for another month, but the consulate said it was ok to get it ahead of time.