Lived abroad on Green card, need help filing i-751

[simpsons 0]

Hi

I am preparing my I-751 packet for submission and needed some help.

I got married in India to my US citizen spouse. After marriage my husband took an internal transfer from his employer and moved to India to be with me. We applied for green card from India via DCF and it was approved in Dec 2009. After getting my conditional green card, my husband and I didnt move to the US immediately because his work. So, we were outside the US for 1.5 yrs after my green card was approved (with frequent trips to the US in between). Because of this, lot of our proof of cohabitation for 2010 are mostly documents from India. However, we have moved to the US few months back.

So my question is, in form i-751 is it ok to mention that we were living in India even after receiving the green card?

Do we need to give an explanation about our stay in India or is it sufficient to just submit the India documents?

Do we give explicit dates of our stay in India and in the US?

Thanks in advance!

Edited September 20, 2011 by simpsons

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Hi

I am preparing my I-751 packet for submission and needed some help.

I got married in India to my US citizen spouse. After marriage my husband took an internal transfer from his employer and moved to India to be with me. We applied for green card from India via DCF and it was approved in Dec 2009. After getting my conditional green card, my husband and I didnt move to the US immediately because his work. So, we were outside the US for 1.5 yrs after my green card was approved (with frequent trips to the US in between). Because of this, lot of our proof of cohabitation for 2010 are mostly documents from India. However, we have moved to the US few months back.

So my question is, in form i-751 is it ok to mention that we were living in India even after receiving the green card?

Do we need to give an explanation about our stay in India or is it sufficient to just submit the India documents?

Do we give explicit dates of our stay in India and in the US?

Thanks in advance!

Wow, a tough one. It sounds like you did not maintain residence in the US (traveling for a few weeks does not count). Have you filed US taxes during this time? Thats the biggest piece of evidence you can provide. You have a lease or morgage too right in the US?

You might be best off collecting US evidence, and then using a travel ticket or two from the past. (FYI most of my evidence was about 4/5 months old...not ideal but it worked.)

Edited September 20, 2011 by Sousuke

[simpsons 0]

Hi Sousuke, thanks for your reply. Yes, we have filed US taxes jointly in the last 3 years. I'll definitely add that to my packet. I also have a rent lease agreement in the US, joint account at a bank and joint car insurance but all these are only 4 months old. Do you think I should show some evidence of cohabitation prior to that? These documents will mostly be from India. We also have evidence (contract letter) showing that my husband (us-citizen) needed to stay in India for some work.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Hi Sousuke, thanks for your reply. Yes, we have filed US taxes jointly in the last 3 years. I'll definitely add that to my packet. I also have a rent lease agreement in the US, joint account at a bank and joint car insurance but all these are only 4 months old. Do you think I should show some evidence of cohabitation prior to that? These documents will mostly be from India. We also have evidence (contract letter) showing that my husband (us-citizen) needed to stay in India for some work.

I'd pick out a set of plane tickets and maybe something from there that was closer to the date of your DCF filing. The person handling your case may not care that you were basically a resident of India for 1.5 years (after all you are here now and you made it through inspection), but I would avoid highliting it.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Sousuke

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

On second thought, I may be being too cautious.