Filing in Australia- Temporary Resident

[mayome 0]

Hello,

My husband and I just visited the US 2 months ago, and are now looking to move there.

I am a temporary resident in Australia (US citizen), and he is an Australian citizen. I have been living in Australia the past 2 years.

I contacted the Melbourne consulate and was informed that the next available appointment is at the end of June.

I then contacted Sydney to find if there is a closer date, and was informed that I need to be a Permanent resident to apply in Australia.

Can I apply to the US from Australia, or how should I proceed? There was a footnote that if you can not go to the consulate in person, you may apply to the US?

Since we just got back from the US and I don't really want to separate with my husband for several months, how can I proceed without first returning to the US?

I have no idea when my status will become permanent... I applied last year in October and only became temporary two weeks prior to visiting the US.

Thanks for the help!

[Ryan H 3,821]

You will have to be a permanent resident of Australia for 6 months before you can DCF. Furthermore, you will have to establish that you have maintained a US domicile or are in the process of obtaining a US domicile.

[himher 634]

As long as you have a US address you can file the I130 in the US (from overseas to the applicable US service center) using your US address and then you can stay in Australia until your petition is approved. You do not have to be in the US to file a petition.

Here is the hurdle for US citizens who file petitions either with the service centers from overseas or at the embassies or consulates overseas:

You will be financially "sponsoring" your husband as the US citizen and will be eventually filing an affidavit of support with the state department. To do that you either need to have a US job with US income meeting the minimum income requirements OR you will need to be able to show that you have 3x the required income in easily convertable assets. Definition of easily convertable: Must be convertable to cash within (1) year without significant hardship to the US citizen sponsor. Example - they will not accept an automobile as an asset unless you have a (2nd) automobile as they feel (rightly so probably) that selling your primary automobile to sponsor your new immigrant would be a significant hardship.

The difficulty in filing the petition while living overseas is overcoming the sponsorship requirements. Most (expats, overseas residents, etc) get around that by having someone in the US co-sponsor their immigrant.

The petition is easy and the interview is easy for average couples (real marriages after all are pretty self-evident). It would be good however to pull and study the I864 sponsorship and income requirements from the USCIS website and determine up front how you will meet them. The rest is pretty painless.

AS to what they are looking for when you file DCF - I just had to swear I am going home and explained we were going right back to the address we left where our bank statements and current drivers licenses and credit statements currently go and are addressed to. The expats who file to go home just have to have a good, solid plan that demonstrates what they are going to do and where they are going and it is usually accepted.

Good luck!