Back to US after nearly 2 years back in Europe

[ukstang 0]

I have a little bit of a different case than most of you here and was wondering if anybody had an answer to what the officer told us and what was meant by it. Trying to explain our situation best as possible below, we're not at all worried about the process that's not the point of this posting... so please bear with me

The background, K1 application etc.

My wife (US Citizen) and I (beneficiary) successfully applied for a K1 visa around 4 years ago, the whole process was trouble free. We've been married now over 3 years and in the begining both lived and worked in the US for about 18 months but decided we'd like to go back to Austria for a couple of years. Being as we left before I could renew my 2 year Permanent Residence Card I had to surrender it at the US Embassy in Vienna, this is mandatory if residing outside the US for more than one year.

The new application in Vienna I-130

We are now ready to go back to the US and filed our I-130 last Friday at the Vienna Embassy directly to the Homeland Security section, we were in and out within 30 minutes and we were greeted with smiles and everybody was very polite. I was told that they had never seen such a well organized application (thanks to VisaJourney's advice on preparing your application), the officer didn't even want to look at the evidence of a bona-fide marriage (bank statements, insurance cards, bank/credit cards from Austria and the US, payslips, contract from our apartment, photos and boarding passes of our many Euro trips) and handed that all back keeping just the I-130, G-325a, photos and the conformation letter of officially surrendering of the Permanent Residence Card.

What the officer told us, the question

The officer took all the paper work and told us that we should hear back within a week or two and then went on and explained that they will be pulling my old files from the K1 and AOS etc. which I have no problem with but could this possibly mean that this could simplify the process? After surrendering the Permanent Residence card does that cancel out the sponsor in the US? My wife and her parents were my sponsors, this would save so much trouble if we didn't have to go through all of the support documents again.

Hope this wasn't too confusing and am grateful to anybody who knows what happens in our situation.

[Penguin_ie 5,997]

It won't make the process easier, sorry. They just want to see if what you say now matches what you said in your old visa app.

You will need a whole new set of documents, including financial support docs (you can use the same co-sponsor if the parents are still willing, but they'll need to fill out the forms again and submit tax docs again) and a new medical.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I wonder why you didn't remove conditions (by flying back to the US one more time), then apply for a 2-year reentry permit, instead of surrendering your GC the first time. I have never heard of a law requiring to surrender a GC, so if there's one, I'd love to learn about it.

But that aside, you will now have a super-smooth, super quick process which will result in the 10-year GC. There is no problem, and the fact that you have been a GC holder before and are now married for 3 years to your petitioning spouse makes this a no brainer.