Direct Consular Filing (New Delhi)

[Hirudin 21]

Hello Friends,

I am married to US Citizen last week and she is going to stay more in India (Total stay in India slightly > 3 months from the day of arrival). I have learned about DCF process at New Delhi for filing I130 but still I have following queries?

New Delhi consulate website states below for proof of Residence

Evidence of Residence

Proof of such residency will include a U.S. passport with an appropriate long-term, valid Indian visa and a Registration Report and Residential Permit issued by the Foreigner’s Regional Registration Office (FRRO) of the Government of India. Additional evidence should include, but is not limited to, on-going employment in India, taxes paid in India, rent/property receipts, and utility receipts in India.

Now my questions are

A] How long does it take for Registration at FRRO? and whether it is a must for DCF process or simply Indian visa will work as my fiance is not going to stay in India for >180 days?

B] There are no additional residence proof with us like ongoing jobs, income tax etc.

Is it a must for DCF application? Are there any cases where petition is accepted without these additional residency proofs?

Edited July 16, 2013 by hiren379

[mosstoss 7]

Hi Hiren379,

To apply for DCF, the US citizen should be residing in India. I am assuming your fiance is planning to be in India on a tourist visa, as you said he/she is not going to stay for longer than 180 days. If so, it is likely that the consulate will reject your application. The idea for DCF is only for US citizens who are residing in the country, and not for expediting the green card process.

So to answer your questions:

A: It is not a must if you have other documentation. If you have no other documentation, then even the FRRO registration may not be enough. They look for evidence of long-term residence in the country. i.e., you either are working or living in the country for an extended period of time. Proof of that could include a work-visa for example. In fact, if your spouse only has a tourist visa, they may not even issue the permit, as the permit is only required for a stay of > 180 days.

B: The proof is to establish that the US citizen is residing in India on a long-term basis. If you are unable to provide sufficient proof of that, it may be a problem.

In my case, I was living in India and working in a company. I had the FRRO documentation as well as letter of employment and housing rental agreements in my name. When I went in for the interview, there were a few folks ahead of me who were trying DCF while on a tourist visa. They were all rejected. They told us that the consulate was rejecting everyone, and I started panicking. However, when I went to the counter, the lady just said 'approved', and when I asked if there would be an interview she said 'no, yours is a genuine case'.

[Hirudin 21]

Hello friend,

Thanks for responding....well explained

My spouse is in India on Tourist visa. What I am planning is as follows. Please guide wherever you feel there are any flow or approach change is required.

1) Truely speaking my spouse is going to stay in India for 100 days but despite that I am planmning to get her FRRO registration done with reson of "joining the spouse" which is available in the FRRO form. This is to make one proof of her intention to stay in India for long time.

2) I can arrange for following

A] an appointment letter from an employee in her name that she can join work from dd/mm/yyyy (This date will be of after our visit to consulate). She will not start job. This will just be an appointment letter.

B] A letter from Swaminarayan temple saying that this girl is joining as volunteer at our temple from dd/mm/yyyy (This date will be of after our visit to consulate).

C] Internship letter for doing thesis from a Pharma company for some time.

D] Rent aggrement in her name of some random house

Please suggest if there are other easy ways to generate proof of residency

3) Another question is how much faster visa can be availed via DCF route rather than normal route from US?

4) I have heard that Delhi is not accepting files too often as before? is it true

5) From which place in US should I put my file for fastest way of visa?

I am actually confused whether should I go by DCF (need to artificially create proofs) or normal route???

Please Please help

Edited July 17, 2013 by hiren379

[mosstoss 7]

Hi,

From what I can understand your suggestions for proof are stuff that you can arrange (but is not actually valid). Is this correct? Options A/C/D seem to be essentially fake documents that you can make up. If so, its a risk that I would not take. I know of cases where the consulate called up the employer for verification in the case of showing employment proof. If they do realize that the document is fake, you could face a worse fate than just rejection. They could ban you from entering the US due to lying to the authorities.

For your other questions:

3) For us, the I-130 was approved on the spot, so we could have (if we wanted to) received the visa within a few months. However we were not in a hurry. I don't know current timing for DCF and CR1 options though, so you should check it out here on visajourney.

4) I don't know current state of DCF in Delhi.

5) The location for applying for CR1/IR1 is determined by your spouses current state of residence. You can't really decide which VSC to send the application to.

For your last question, my advice would be to be safe rather than sorry. With the USCIS, its better to take the safest possible approach, and not try to pull stunts with them. If given the options of "safe but slow" and "fast but risky", I would take "safe but slow" with USCIS anytime. Hope this helps.