USC petitioner living abroad

[pfroehlich2004 0]

I was concerned about proving US domicile as well as the potential for lost or delayed mail if sent to my address in Vietnam. Therefore, I arranged to have all mail from DHS sent to my US address. I did not receieve any sort of accelerated adjudication, nor had I ever heard of it until now.

1. Country USC resides in: Vietnam

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: February, 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 8 years

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes

6. What is the reason for your residence: work permit/student/tourist/other - Business

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? No. I listed my US address as my permanent address and my Vietnam address is my current address (for purposes of establishing domicile).

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? I sent it from Vietnam to my mother in the US, and had her re-send it for me so that the return address would be that of my US residence.

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? Yes. They were meant to be evidence of bona fide relationship, but they also proved the USC was residing in Vietnam.

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? Yes

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? No, it took 4 months and 7 days from NOA1 to RFE.

[furenchitoasto 0]

1. Country USC resides in: Japan

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: June 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 5 and a half years

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes

6. What is the reason for your residence: work

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes.

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? Yes

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? included both a self-translated english and japanese version of our rental agreement.

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? not really. in the application itself, it seemed evident that ive lived in japan for numerous years and that we've lived with each other for 2-3 years, but never went into detail.

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? Yes. 7 days. boom.

hope this helps!

[dreamwarrior 0]

1. Country USC resides in:Vietnam

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? Not really

3. When did you file the I-130:June 16, 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 3 years straight

5. Do you reside in the country legally? on a tourist visa, but not a perm/temp resident

6. What is the reason for your residence: my wife and child are here

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? no--whoops

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? yes. i hope this helps

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? no. i got a translation done but there was a mistake on the original rental contract and i decided not to get a new one at the 11th hour. though my visa stamps show that i've been here 3 years straight

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? No, did not bother with a cover letter.

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? hopefully, but we don't know yet.

[rosajo 1]

Alrighty, here's my update with a date for approval! Have been obsessingly checking our status several times a day, and when two weeks had passed, I sort of gave up hope our petition had been put on the fast track. Still I kept checking, just for the heck of it. My husband and I have had many, many talks about him coming back here, being alone with the kids has been much harder than I could have imagined:(. So Monday morning I checked as per usual and I could not believe my eyes. I think I cried for an hour afterwards.

Priority date was May 22, approval June 21. Perhaps we were not put on the fast track as per foreign address since he also has a temp one in the US, and it went fast anyways because I've had a green card before, or we were indeed on the auto-expedited track and it took slightly longer than for most people on here because they had to retrieve my old files from 1998. Who knows. I'm going with the latter explanation:), and just so relieved we've been spared several months.

Our case is slightly different since my USC husband is working in the US as of 4 months, but because he still maintains his permanent address here (we're keeping our options open and want his residence card to still be valid here should he decide to come back; lives with friends in the US) we did use his Swedish address on the I-130. On the G-325A we put both his temporary US and permanent Swedish address so we'll see what address they'll go by.

1. Country USC resides in: Sweden

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: May 22, 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 18 months

5. Do you reside in the country legally? yes

6. What is the reason for your residence: living with Swedish spouse and kids on permanent residence card

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? yes, listed Swedish permanent address on I-130 as well as on G-325A, but on the latter also listed temporary US address.

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? no

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? yes, a copy of permanent Swedish residence card, as proof of on ongoing marital relationship

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? No, did not include a cover letter.

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? Don't know yet! Sure hope it will. Received NOA1 email on May 25, petition was routed to California.

12. How long between NOA1 and NOA2? We shall see... UPDATE: one month between date received (May 22) and approval (June 21). No NOA2 email yet.

[bsd058 296]

Alrighty, here's my update with a date for approval! Have been obsessingly checking our status several times a day, and when two weeks had passed, I sort of gave up hope our petition had been put on the fast track. Still I kept checking, just for the heck of it. My husband and I have had many, many talks about him coming back here, being alone with the kids has been much harder than I could have imagined:(. So Monday morning I checked as per usual and I could not believe my eyes. I think I cried for an hour afterwards.

Priority date was May 22, approval June 21. Perhaps we were not put on the fast track as per foreign address since he also has a temp one in the US, and it went fast anyways because I've had a green card before, or we were indeed on the auto-expedited track and it took slightly longer than for most people on here because they had to retrieve my old files from 1998. Who knows. I'm going with the latter explanation:), and just so relieved we've been spared several months.

1. Country USC resides in: Sweden

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: May 22, 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 18 months

5. Do you reside in the country legally? yes

6. What is the reason for your residence: living with Swedish spouse and kids on permanent residence card

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? yes, listed Swedish permanent address on I-130 as well as on G-325A, but on the latter also listed temporary US address.

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? no

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? yes, a copy of permanent Swedish residence card, as proof of on ongoing marital relationship

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? No, did not include a cover letter.

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? Don't know yet! Sure hope it will. Received NOA1 email on May 25, petition was routed to California.

12. How long between NOA1 and NOA2? We shall see... UPDATE: one month between date received (May 22) and approval (June 21). No NOA2 email yet.

That's awesome! I was thinking of giving up looking, too; you've given me some hope!!

As you can tell by my ticker in my signature, I've been using the average approval date for VSC in the past 3 months. I hope I only have to wait another couple of weeks instead of 4 months!

Congrats either way, though!

[danzz 11]

Hi, it's my understanding from reading this topic that filling from abroad to the chicago lockbox without a contact address in the U.S. should get us in the fast line. Does it still work if we're including a US address but only for the place where we'll live once we move? (USC's parent's home.)

[izola 1]

1. Country USC resides in: Sweden

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: March 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 5 years this cycle

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes

6. What is the reason for your residence: work permit/student/tourist/other - Spousal, now a dual citizen

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? Yes

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? Yes, print outs from the Swedish taxoffice that shows adress, marriage and what not

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? No, I (the Swede) have previously had a greencard based on the same marriage. So we have proved our marriage and what not previously and included the paperwork where I legally resigned my former greencard.

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? Well it took 24 days from NOA1 to an RFE (forgot to include my divorce papers from previous marriage), it took me a long time to get the copies from the Swedish court system, so they finally received my RFE on the 26th of June so we have so far waited another 6 days from the point where they received it... hoping it wont take too long after the RFE. Will update

[hjones 1]

Hi, it's my understanding from reading this topic that filling from abroad to the chicago lockbox without a contact address in the U.S. should get us in the fast line. Does it still work if we're including a US address but only for the place where we'll live once we move? (USC's parent's home.)

From what I can gather, you only get into this 'fast queue' if you list the petitioner's foreign address on everything. We only gave my parents address in the US for question 18 (address where we intend to live) but other than that I only listed my foreign address.

[danzz 11]

From what I can gather, you only get into this 'fast queue' if you list the petitioner's foreign address on everything. We only gave my parents address in the US for question 18 (address where we intend to live) but other than that I only listed my foreign address.

Thanks that's what I was hoping for, we're putting USC's parent's address on question 18 and our foreign address everywhere else, so we should have a shot

[Miss M 54]

1. Country USC resides in: SOUTH AFRICA

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? YES

3. When did you file the I-130: JULY 2011

4. How long had you been living abroad: 5 YEARS

5. Do you reside in the country legally? YES

6. What is the reason for your residence: LIVING WITH SPOUSE

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? YES

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? YES

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? YES

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? NO

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? 2 DAYS

Edited July 4, 2012 by MNyarai

[bsd058 296]

1. Country USC resides in: CANADA

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? NO

3. When did you file the I-130: JUNE 7, 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 3 YEARS

5. Do you reside in the country legally? YES

6. What is the reason for your residence: LIVING WITH SPOUSE

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? YES

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? YES

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? YES

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? YES

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? NOPE. 29 DAYS AND COUNTING. I'M THINKING THEY DON'T AUTO-EXPEDITE CANADIANS AS AN EARLIER POSTER PUT.

Officially giving up on auto-expedite queue. Looks like I'll have to wait 4-5 months like most other Canadians.

Edited July 6, 2012 by bsd058

[BoogyPup 1]

hi Guys,

thanks for the updates on this topic..it really helps...though i still have a question!!! the petitioner living with the wife abroad..were u guys asked to prove the country of domicile???

[amzż 3]

Ha! If I had known about that route a week ago! At this point, I 130 sent, check cashed, no NOA1; can anything be done to speed things up?

I'm a dual citizen, still registered for permanent residence in Poland. I live and work in the US but have been going back to Poland every few months to see my husband.

I could have easily put our foreign address but didn't know I could do that. However, I had to come back to the US where I live, pay rent, work etc.

Has anybody gotten an expedited service by putting foreign address while still working in the US? My boss would be very mad if I left for 5 months

Any advice? Or I just have to get used to the fact that I have to wait about 9 months for my husband?

[izola 1]

Update - I130 approved yesterday, so totally 37 days on their behalf with RFE handling and what not. I'd say that's probably keeping it on the fast track. Since I assume it would have been approved at the time of the RFE if the papers hadnt been missing.

[Miss M 54]

hi Guys,

thanks for the updates on this topic..it really helps...though i still have a question!!! the petitioner living with the wife abroad..were u guys asked to prove the country of domicile???

Yes we were. We submitted proof of my husband (USC) being in South Africa legally, and then evidence that he maintained ties to the US. All his mail continued to go to his Mom's house in California - bank statements, credit card statements etc, while he was living in South Africa; and he continued to pay his US taxes.