DCF in Australia - Reestablishing Domicile Requirements

[mariahswind 0]

A little over a week ago, we decided to move to the US after living in Australia for the first 11 yrs of our marriage. So we are now on our Visa Journey with our interview for me to file the 1-130 petition on 17 Dec in Sydney. All happening so fast. Fortunately we have time to get it all sorted. We won't be able to leave here until late Sept '10. My biggest concern is we will have my mother as joint sponsor for affidavit of support as there is no way I can meet the requirements until after getting there and obtaining a job. My other concern is showing I have maintained a domicile after living here for 11 years. I have returned for extended visits over the years and always maintained a bank account with my US address and up until Jul 09' I had a Missouri Drivers license. I am not sure how in my situation I can show that I will definitely be returning to the US. I mean it's just a fact that my husband wouldn't have need to go there without me, we are returning for compassionate reasons. My father passed away in May '09 and my mother needs me and her grandchildren to be close to her.

So since you have recently done the med exam and police clearance how much did these cost? We have a baby due in Feb so I thought we would get the petition done instead of waiting to get the ball rolling after the baby is here.

[amylp 0]

A little over a week ago, we decided to move to the US after living in Australia for the first 11 yrs of our marriage. So we are now on our Visa Journey with our interview for me to file the 1-130 petition on 17 Dec in Sydney. All happening so fast. Fortunately we have time to get it all sorted. We won't be able to leave here until late Sept '10. My biggest concern is we will have my mother as joint sponsor for affidavit of support as there is no way I can meet the requirements until after getting there and obtaining a job. My other concern is showing I have maintained a domicile after living here for 11 years. I have returned for extended visits over the years and always maintained a bank account with my US address and up until Jul 09' I had a Missouri Drivers license. I am not sure how in my situation I can show that I will definitely be returning to the US. I mean it's just a fact that my husband wouldn't have need to go there without me, we are returning for compassionate reasons. My father passed away in May '09 and my mother needs me and her grandchildren to be close to her.

So since you have recently done the med exam and police clearance how much did these cost? We have a baby due in Feb so I thought we would get the petition done instead of waiting to get the ball rolling after the baby is here.

Hi Mariahswind,

We'll both be filing petitions this Thursday, except mine will be done in Melbourne. Good luck!

I don't really have any advice regarding domicile since I haven't experienced how strict they are here first hand yet. Have you thought of renewing your Missouri Drivers License? Do you vote in US elections and have a voter reg card? Do you have plans to stay with family/friends when you move to the US? If so, perhaps you could write up a rental agreement.

The costs for the medical exam and police certificate are as follows:

$350 for the medical exam (or $510 if your husband has the shots done - my husband didn't want to wait for his Irish medical records to arrive in Oz)

$105 for the national police cert if the fingerprints are done in your local police station

Keep in mind that once the visa is approved your husband will only have 6 months to enter the US.

[kaffy 2]

Keep in mind that once the visa is approved your husband will only have 6 months to enter the US.

I was going to say the same thing - once the visa is approved and issued (usually happens within 2 months of filing), it is only valid for up to 6 months. You could delay it at the Packet 3 stage but you would probably still be cutting it pretty close

[mariahswind 0]

Yikes that med exam is more than I expected, thought it would be about $200. He doesn't have a clue about his vaccinations nor how to find out what he's had done, he will be 40 next year so it's been a long time since he's had any of them. I would think he could claim certain vaccinations on medicare.

I was thinking about how early we are doing this, but we have a big interruption coming with the baby due in Feb. Plus with the med exam and the police clearance to pay for it may take some time to get it all done. Even if we get packet 3 sorted in March and visa is approved may that means we have 6 mos from may to be in the states. Soon as I know he has his visa I will make the arrangements for late Sep as we only need a couple of months at the most to tie up the loose ends and move. Is there a time limit between DS-230 and packet 3?

thanks

mariahswind

[kaffy 2]

I would probably start tying up loose ends once you submit your I-130 because like I said earlier, the process moves fairly quickly.

Is there a reason why you can't leave until after September? If you have school age kids you may want to move back & get them settled before the new school year begins

[mariahswind 0]

Baby Bonus doesn't finish being paid for 6 mos now... It's the only reason we can afford this move. No School age kids. Older one will turn 4 in June. I'd love to get this all wrapped up and over there in June but I'd rather not miss out on the full BB.

Well I feel there isn't much I can do to make the move until we have an approved visa. Air fares and other travel arrangements must wait, I don't want to sell all my possessions until I know I won't be needing them, I am only packing a few boxes of things to have moved over. So I don't know what I can do but get the visa sorted. I suppose I could have waited til March to file the i-130. I suppose when the time comes and we have the visa we can decided that we don't want to wait around to leave and give up whatever remains on the BB payments.

[kaffy 2]

You should still be able to claim the entire baby bonus as long as you keep your bank account in Australia active (for accepting direct deposits). You already fulfill the residency requirements since you've lived there for so long and are having the baby there

And FYI, we filed DCF back in 2007 and my timeline was:

June 26 - File I-130

August 24 - Moved back to US

So yeah, Australia moves a lot quicker than other countries

Edited December 15, 2009 by kaffy

[mariahswind 0]

I should ring centrelink/family assistance to find out if they will pay it while I am out of the country. The info on the website says no. If I am temporarily gone I can continue to get all my payments for 3 mos. But if I am going without a definite return date what do I tell them??

[kaffy 2]

Give them a return date and if you don't return by that date and have to explain, simply tell them that circumstances have changed, etc

[mariahswind 0]

Wish I could do that but for me that would be lying... which is against my conscience. But I am willing to give up some of the BB if it means getting there sooner... it's only money and free money at that! I am just thankful to have been able to have my children without having to pay $10,000 per kid for delivery! I figure if we take our time on packet 3 which we need to anyhow as I don't have all the money for the med exam and police clearance(s) all up and must do each as I get the funds. Plus the baby coming will be an understandable delay, I don't want to be traveling to Sydney to close to the due date. I figure though I can send him to Sydney for the Med exam by himself if necessary. And then maybe if I send packet 3 early march we can combine his appointment with consular report of birth abroad for the bub. That would put most likely getting the visa mid to late march which is cutting it very close but also gets it all sorted and I am willing to go earlier and loose a little of the BB.

[amylp 0]

Just received my husband's Australian police cert from the AFP today. Didn't take too long at all - form mailed by express post on 3 December, and we've received it back 16 December!

I'm looking forward to filing the I-130 tomorrow and hopefully everything will fly by from there. The only things we're currently waiting on to send in once packet 3 is good to go are -

*Husband's new passport - his expires in Feb 2010, so Irish consulate has issued a temporary one for travel over the holidays (Ireland & New Zealand). When we return to Australia on 10 January, we'll mail that back to them and receive the new full passport pretty quickly (it's being processed right now).

*My tax returns from 2007 and 2006 - mailed last week from the US.

*Irish police cert - currently being processed.

I think that's it!

[mariahswind 0]

Good luck, you will have it in no time it looks like.

We aren't in any hurry, I could have probably waited until March to get things going but once I make a decision on something I have to act on it! Once we get the petition approved we will send in the DS-230 in. When I get the packet 3 we will then start on getting it all together. Most people need to get it done asap, where as we are the opposite. I do have my mother working on the joint affidavit of support stuff and a letter to show that we are intending to live with her and have a rent agreement, to show my intent to re-domicile myself.

Will let you know how we go tomorrow!

mariahswind

[kaffy 2]

It might be a good idea to ask them how long the I-130 approval is valid for and how long you have to gather the required documentation for Packet 3 (the I-130 approval and Packet 3 come at the same time)

[mariahswind 0]

All went well. First submitted all the documents required to a lady, then paid fee with cashier, then returned to lady with receipt , she had me sit down, then after a bit I was called by the Consular Officer who was very pleasant and asked why we had decided to move to the US after so many years, I explained that my dad had passed away in may and that my mother was alone and really needed us to come home. She said that was a very good reason. Then she just mentioned my need to have a statement why I haven't lodged a tax return lately and the need for the joint sponsor, which I knew and she was happy with all that and sent me on my way.

[amylp 0]

I showed up about half an hour early to the 1:30 appointment, so I ended up just waiting around in the lobby in Melbourne. I had tried to check in early, but was told to come back at 1:30. At 1:30 there were maybe 4 couples in addition to myself waiting to file I-130 petitions. It ended up that I was first to be called up to the window, and all seemed to be fine. I was told to go pay the cashier with the money order I had brought before returning to the first window. While at the cashier, I was called back over to the first window due to a problem.

The man then told me that as I'm not a permanent resident (here on a 4 year visa, and previously a 1 year visa), I would be unable to file my petition in Australia, and that it would need to be filed in the US. My heart just sank before I had a chance to respond and explain that I had contacted the Sydney office to make sure beforehand that I was eligible to file in Australia. Their response was that if I had been residing in Oz for at least 6 months then it would be fine (my husband and I have been here nearly 2 years). Apparently, in the past the Sydney office had rejected at least one petition in the past for someone who was not a permanent resident - I'm not sure what the circumstances were though.

At this point, an American man working at the consulate came over and told the man they could at least ring Sydney and check before completely turning me away. I sat back down and waited for what seemed like a really long time before being called back to the window. Turns out, the Sydney office said they would accept my petition, and he seemed a bit annoyed that he had been told previously non-permanent resident petitions were not be accepted. It was definitely a relief here that - I had already been trying to figure out how much a rejection would change our plans completely. I returned to the cashier window to pay the fee and then sat down again to wait for a final review of the papers. The final review was done by the American man, and he was friendly enough so that put me more at ease after almost being refused. He said due to the upcoming holidays, I may not hear back about packet 3 (to be emailed) for about a month.

I'm crossing my fingers nothing goes wrong at this point!