USC petitioner living abroad

[oohpartiv 484]

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? No...56 days.

I would say 56 days is auto-expedited. It's less than two months!

[Roosha 51]

I would say 56 days is auto-expedited. It's less than two months!

lol i was just about to say the same thing

[LucienDavid 0]

Just sent out our I-130 yesterday!

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

Well let's consider this I-130 take one and a warning to those others new to this journey so they avoid the same mistake:

1. Country USC resides in: Denmark

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

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

4. How long had you been living abroad: Less than a year

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes, sorta

6. What is the reason for your residence: EU rights

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? No, at 105 days, it seems that my I-130 disappeared into the void and we'll be refiling

*Do not change the USC's address to America during the process no matter what anyone says to you. As a consequence, we were not auto-expedited at NBC and instead sent to a field office that rejected our petition because I was living abroad.

I wish someone had warned me!

Edited February 21, 2013 by Nola123

[gamm3 13]

I just wanted to say that I had someone on the phone also tell me that they did not accept Foreign Addresses. Luckily I had already received my NOA1 at my foreign address at that point (it took a month) so I didnt make any changes. I told them well actually they do accept foreign addresses and then they said well i guess you have to be transferred up to the next level to be able to change a foreign address (I had been calling because we were moving to a different foreign address). Someone needs to get these people informed because I can totally see how that would have freaked me out and I might have changed it.

Well let's consider this I-130 take one and a warning to those others new to this journey so they avoid the same mistake:

1. Country USC resides in: Denmark

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

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

4. How long had you been living abroad: Less than a year

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes, sorta

6. What is the reason for your residence: EU rights

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? No, at 105 days, it seems that my I-130 disappeared into the void and we'll be refiling

*Do not change the USC's address to America during the process no matter what anyone says to you. As a consequence, we were not auto-expedited at NBC and instead sent to a field office that rejected our petition because I was living abroad.

I wish someone had warned me!

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

I just wanted to say that I had someone on the phone also tell me that they did not accept Foreign Addresses. Luckily I had already received my NOA1 at my foreign address at that point (it took a month) so I didnt make any changes. I told them well actually they do accept foreign addresses and then they said well i guess you have to be transferred up to the next level to be able to change a foreign address (I had been calling because we were moving to a different foreign address). Someone needs to get these people informed because I can totally see how that would have freaked me out and I might have changed it.

We never ended up receiving NOA1, which is why I believed them. We'll I hope no one else makes that mistake.

I do think they need to train the staff a little better, especially since this change happened almost 2 years ago.

[Wingnutfish 18]

Sorry to hear that - the warning is very much appreciated!

[oohpartiv 484]

We never ended up receiving NOA1, which is why I believed them. We'll I hope no one else makes that mistake.

I do think they need to train the staff a little better, especially since this change happened almost 2 years ago.

I'm not going to disagree with you, because your outstanding (and horrible) list of USCIS mess ups proves otherwise, but I think it kind of depends. We put our foreign address on our I130 and never got any notification or anything - no NOA1, no RFE, nothing. This was before I'd found VJ and had no idea what procedure we were supposed to be following, so I did nothing and just waited, as a friend of mine had gone through the process and told me that it takes five months before you hear back from anyone after sending in the package (though I now know better). When I finally called in at the beginning of December to ask ####### was going on, they told me I had a pending RFE from SEPTEMBER whose response window had run out. I asked why I hadn't heard anything, and the lady told me that because I had listed my foreign address, they didn't send any notification out through snail mail (God knows where the logic is on that one), and since they didn't have my email address (though I KNOW I put it on the stupid forms) they had no way of contacting me. Basically she said if I wanted to know what the RFE was about, I had to give her a stateside address to send it to. I didn't really have a choice - and honestly, I don't know if any letters would have reached me even if they did send mail abroad (which I'm sure they do), because the mail system here is terrible at best. It's worked out for the best, since now any correspondance goes to my Dad's house and he just calls me if anything arrives, but I wouldn't warn EVERYONE against changing their addresses. I think in some cases your mail will arrive (like gamm3), and in others you just get unlucky (me and you). If I HADN'T changed my address, I probably STILL would be waiting for my RFE letter to arrive, and I almost wish I had just put my American address from the getgo - I could've been approved back in September! This whole foreign address nonsense easily added several months to my whole process. It's a luck of the draw kind of thing, I guess.

[Chris & Trinh 15]

Any updates or new surveys to post? I would like to see how the wait times are currently with this. Seems it has been a while since anyone updated.

[wisegeek 8]

Chris i was excited thinking someone posted another new post re: their expedition but it was your note

i also noticed this thread has not been having updates for some time. its very interesting though of the fact that overseas cases are expedited

i will be filing i 130 from abroad shortly in a week or so. will update later.

Edited March 4, 2013 by wisegeek

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

Well here is #2 I-130

1. Country USC resides in: Denmark

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No, but they can make an exception to the rules - we were able to do DCF this second time

3. When did you file the I-130: Feb 2013

4. How long had you been living abroad: Less than a year

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes, sorta

6. What is the reason for your residence: EU rights

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? I think it was 2 or 3 days (but that was after the original 112 days for I-130 #1)

[burnabrenna 19]

Hi everyone! I've read through this whole thread a couple times already, but I can't remember if anyone posted a sample of their cover letter or not. I'm just looking to see what people wrote on their cover letter about their living situations abroad. If anyone could post their cover letters I would greatly appreciate it!

[Roosha 51]

Hi everyone! I've read through this whole thread a couple times already, but I can't remember if anyone posted a sample of their cover letter or not. I'm just looking to see what people wrote on their cover letter about their living situations abroad. If anyone could post their cover letters I would greatly appreciate it!

You might get more replies by starting your own thread and/or messaging people privately I sent you mine in a message.

[Z & B 2]

Some have been saying that you will not recive a hardcopy NOA if you give an address outside of US. Well, yesterday I recieved a hardcopy NOA2 in the mail here in Ecuador.

[oohpartiv 484]

Some have been saying that you will not recive a hardcopy NOA if you give an address outside of US. Well, yesterday I recieved a hardcopy NOA2 in the mail here in Ecuador.

Do you live in Quito, Guayaquil, or Cuenca? Living in a big city like that, I wouldn't be surprised, but there is no chance it would get to a small town like the one I live in. When my Dad sents me stuff in the mail, I have to actively track it, call national offices, fax photocopies of my ID, and all other kinds of ridiculous ####### just to make sure it gets to where we are. We had our foreign address when we filed, and never got NOA1, or the RFE that was sent afterwards.