DCF: what if USC's foreign visa expires soon?

[Christi85 86]

Ok, so my husband (USC) and I are in the following situation:

As can be seen from my timeline, we filed DCF in London in early August and received a NOA1 a week later giving us a filing date of August 9th. Payment was also taken out on the same day as the NOA1. So far so good.

Now, for those who know, London is probably experiencing a backlog, as they're still processing DCF petitions filed 3 months ago, in June, when, by their normal timelines, they should be processing mid to late July at this point. Their timelines have also been moving particularly slowly lately, as in the past two months or so they've only moved from the 4th to the 20th of June (as of today!)

We don't actually mind a delay of a month or two, we can surely deal with that. What is of concern is that my husband's UK visa expires in early 2011. I'm concerned that, if I-130 processing gets very delayed, his eligibility to file DCF may be questioned, as his UK visa may be due to expire very shortly after they process our petition. If he wants to and needs to, he can renew his UK visa. However won't this get us into a situation where he'll have to prove his legal right to be in the UK to justify doing DCF, but then if he proves that by showing a recently renewed visa, his intention to re-establish US domicile may be seriously questioned?

Let me mention here that, because he doesn't have a permanent UK visa, he'd rather stay in the UK with me until my CR-1 comes through. In case there's any trouble and we get stuck into a situation where I'm stuck in the UK and he's in the US with no right to come back as a resident and be with me.

Any thoughts on this? Are my concerns irrational? Is eligibility for DCF only judged before NOA1 (according to which, our case has been accepted for DCF and is waiting for its turn to be processed), or do they check again prior to NOA2?

[gwenneh 7]

Once the paperwork has been filed and accepted for processing, no, there's no need to continue to be a foreign visa holder in order to complete DCF. I left the UK the day after the paperwork was filed, my visa subsequently expired, and we had no problems.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

Once the paperwork has been filed and accepted for processing, no, there's no need to continue to be a foreign visa holder in order to complete DCF. I left the UK the day after the paperwork was filed, my visa subsequently expired, and we had no problems.