help! living abroad during the process... confused

[kels1787 0]

Hi everyone,

I have been living in Chile with my fiance for almost a year now on a student visa, and it is now being changed to a temporary residence visa. We are starting to gather documents to send with the I-129F, hopefully at the beginning of March sometime. I'm confused about how I do this whole process being in Chile and not in the US. Is it considered DCF? From what I'm reading that's only for I-130 and not for I-129. Do I still send the I-129 packet to the Texas Lockbox address? And what USCIS service center will I use??

Any and all help is much appreciated. Thank you!!!

[payxibka 10,045]

Hi everyone,

I have been living in Chile with my fiance for almost a year now on a student visa, and it is now being changed to a temporary residence visa. We are starting to gather documents to send with the I-129F, hopefully at the beginning of March sometime. I'm confused about how I do this whole process being in Chile and not in the US. Is it considered DCF? From what I'm reading that's only for I-130 and not for I-129. Do I still send the I-129 packet to the Texas Lockbox address? And what USCIS service center will I use??

Any and all help is much appreciated. Thank you!!!

No, the only petition that can be filed for via DCF is an immigrant visa for an immediate relative such as a spouse, child, parent or sibling. If you want to DCF then get married in Chile and then petition for her directly to the Consulate in Santiago

[amykathleen2005 441]

DCF is for a spouse. Assuming you still want a fiance visa then just file it normally to the Texas box. They will assign it a service center for you.

[kels1787 0]

DCF is for a spouse. Assuming you still want a fiance visa then just file it normally to the Texas box. They will assign it a service center for you.

Thanks for the replies! Yes, we definitely want to do a fiance visa. So I follow all the steps the same, sending my I-129F packet to the Texas box and they automatically assign it to a service center? Is there anything I need to know ahead of time that might take longer or be different doing it all from Chile instead of the US? Like putting my address on things, I use my address here in Chile and that's ok?

[Tyeger87 10]

Thanks for the replies! Yes, we definitely want to do a fiance visa. So I follow all the steps the same, sending my I-129F packet to the Texas box and they automatically assign it to a service center? Is there anything I need to know ahead of time that might take longer or be different doing it all from Chile instead of the US? Like putting my address on things, I use my address here in Chile and that's ok?

i have been filing my fiance visa from abroad and to make it easier I would suggest putting down your chile address but also putting the address of a trusted family member in the US to make sure that all of your notices get delivered and u can get access to to them somehow. Being in Egypt the mail is really unreliable so I use my mom's address. There is really no difference between filing in the US and filing abroad outside of having to pay for international shipping for your documents.

and like everyone else said DCF is only for immigrant visas and also depending on the consulate you can't file on DCF on a student visa because its not a resident visa. And i dont know the case for Chile but in Egypt you have to prove residence for 6 months prior to filing in order to be considered for DCF

good luck with the whole process

[kels1787 0]

i have been filing my fiance visa from abroad and to make it easier I would suggest putting down your chile address but also putting the address of a trusted family member in the US to make sure that all of your notices get delivered and u can get access to to them somehow. Being in Egypt the mail is really unreliable so I use my mom's address. There is really no difference between filing in the US and filing abroad outside of having to pay for international shipping for your documents.

and like everyone else said DCF is only for immigrant visas and also depending on the consulate you can't file on DCF on a student visa because its not a resident visa. And i dont know the case for Chile but in Egypt you have to prove residence for 6 months prior to filing in order to be considered for DCF

good luck with the whole process

Good to hear from someone else who is filing the fiance visa from abroad and to know that it is indeed possible. So if you've been putting your Egypt address and a US address (like your parent's) where exactly do you use which address, so that the information doesn't look inconsistent? Like on which forms did you put the Egypt address and on which forms did you put a US address? I haven't seen space on the forms for two addresses.

[Tyeger87 10]

i put my US address on the forms and wrote the egypt address on the cover letter

they didnt use my egypt address probably because the mail system sucks there

[nikolacolada 21]

I'm living abroad in Mexico with my fiance while we go through the process. I used my parents address in the US, as that is where we will be living for awhile once we get to the US. I would never trust anything to get to me here in Mexico unless it was sent through Fedex, which obviously they aren't going to do

Do you have a financial sponsor? The one thing I was worried about was the financial aspect because one of the requirements is that you can financially support your fiance once they get to the US. Obviously I don't have a job in the US since I'm living in Mex. with him! But I've been told as long as you find a sponsor who makes enough to satisfy the requirements of the visa that you're fine.

[kuhio 1]

Thanks for the replies! Yes, we definitely want to do a fiance visa. So I follow all the steps the same, sending my I-129F packet to the Texas box and they automatically assign it to a service center? Is there anything I need to know ahead of time that might take longer or be different doing it all from Chile instead of the US? Like putting my address on things, I use my address here in Chile and that's ok?

Why would you want to do a fiance visa when you qualify for a DCF? Just curious. Can't you do a DCF CR-1 in like 3 months? Vs. over a year K1 to Green Card?

[Tyeger87 10]

I'm living abroad in Mexico with my fiance while we go through the process. I used my parents address in the US, as that is where we will be living for awhile once we get to the US. I would never trust anything to get to me here in Mexico unless it was sent through Fedex, which obviously they aren't going to do

Do you have a financial sponsor? The one thing I was worried about was the financial aspect because one of the requirements is that you can financially support your fiance once they get to the US. Obviously I don't have a job in the US since I'm living in Mex. with him! But I've been told as long as you find a sponsor who makes enough to satisfy the requirements of the visa that you're fine.

yes i have a co-sponsor because i am a Master's student in Egypt and loans dont count towards income. so a co-sponsor is the only way i could qualify