Where to file I-130

[leenkath 7]

I'm a USC getting married in less than two weeks to my Ecuadorian fiance here in Quito. We want to file the I-130 fairly quickly following the wedding because I am moving back to the U.S. at the end of August to begin graduate school, and like everyone else, we want the separation to be as short as possible.

My question for today is regarding where to send the I-130 petition. DCF is not allowed in Ecuador, so we have to send our papers to a USCIS lockbox, I'm just not sure which one... I am not a legal resident of Ecuador but I have lived here for most of the last two years. Before moving here I lived for one year in Arizona, but I will be living in the Washington DC metro area (either DC proper or northern Virginia) when I move back to the U.S. in a few months.

So, when I file the I-130 I will live in Ecuador, and the instructions say for people living abroad to send the documents to the Chicago lockbox. But again, I'm only here a few more months. So the other option may be to base it on my last U.S. address (in Arizona), in which case I would send the forms to the Phoenix lockbox.

Thoughts on where I ought to send it? We want to get everything right the first time.

Thanks!

[amyjohans 4]

Even though you are not an Ecuadorian resident, still put your Ecuadorian address on the I-130 because it speeds up the process. US citizens who file from abroad are automatically expedited at USCIS and it only takes a couple of days as compared to 5+ months. You can find a thread on here about that. Send your papers to the Chicago Lockbox.