Can we reside abroad and travel for the interviews?

[lsp 0]

Hi,

Does anyone know if there are requirements for where I (the USC) have to be living at the time of sending the paperwork for the I-130?

(My husband is from South Africa but we don't currently live in South Africa. South Africa still has DCF but if we do the paperwork from SA we'd have to move back there and wait for me to become a resident and live there for 6 months. Currently we're living in another country (not US or SA) and are on tourist visas. We can't apply from there because we don't have 'legal residency.')

Can I submit the paperwork now and wait it out abroad. Can we arrive in South Africa before the interviews?

We appreciate any help we can get! All of this seems so complicated!

[Ryan H 3,812]

You can submit the paperwork to the lockbox in Chicago from anywhere abroad, just list your husband's South Africa address on all forms that ask for it.

For you the USC, there is no requirement where you have to be living at the time the I-130 is filed. When the time comes for you to submit the Affidavit of Support (AOS), you must show that you have maintained or show that you are in the process of re-establishing a US domicile.

[Miss M 54]

My husband (USC) had to prove that he was resident in South Africa before we could use DCF, and they were pretty particular about it. Fortunately, we had been living there for 5 years. He was asked to produce stuff like lease agreements and copies of his visas as evidence of this. We also went ahead and added other stuff (vehicle registration, joint banking etc) just to be sure.

So to answer your question - I DO think you may have to move to SA if your intention is to use DCF. If you can, contact USCIS in Johannesburg. I found them particularly helpful and they always responded to my many e mail enquiries.

if you DON'T want to use DCF, then what Ryan has said above holds true.

[grrrrreat 109]

Hi,

Does anyone know if there are requirements for where I (the USC) have to be living at the time of sending the paperwork for the I-130?

(My husband is from South Africa but we don't currently live in South Africa. South Africa still has DCF but if we do the paperwork from SA we'd have to move back there and wait for me to become a resident and live there for 6 months. Currently we're living in another country (not US or SA) and are on tourist visas. We can't apply from there because we don't have 'legal residency.')

Can I submit the paperwork now and wait it out abroad. Can we arrive in South Africa before the interviews?

We appreciate any help we can get! All of this seems so complicated!

You can send the applications from anywhere in the world, and you just need to list a mailing address where you can receive notifications. You can designated SA as the place where you want the visa to be processed. If you don't want to travel back to SA, you'll have to check with the local embassy to see if they will accept the approved I-130 and visa application once it's processed in the states. Note that this would be different than the requirements for using DCF in a particular country; you just want them to take the visa application once it's ready. You can designate a consulate on the I-130, but it doesn't mean that they will do it for you.