What to do first? Domicile, Job search, Apply for Visa...

[Paul&Fi 0]

I'm wanting to move to the US with my Wife and son, and have read the wiki and forums, but havn't really worked out the order in which to do things.

Very briefly I'm dual national UK/US and my wife and son are UK citizens (didn't meet the minimum residency requirements for my son). We live in Germany, so I've worked out that I need to follow the DCF process, but there are two massive hurdles, namely the domicile and support requirements.

As although I am a USC, this was by birth in the US, and I lived there for the grand total of 4 weeks, and hence as my family is from the UK, I have no relatives there who can co-sponsor or any US address. Therefore I want to know what the best process is to follow to apply for my family.

For the support requirements, I imagine I would need a job offer, but I don't want to commit to job hunting until I know my family can join me, as to accept a US job and then quit my job here in Germany, if her visa gets denied not only am I in a different country to her, I'm also unemployed.

For the domicle requirements do I rent an empty appartment somewhere in the US (as I dont know yet which state I sould get a job in), and can I rent an appartment with no US bank account or credit history of any kind?

So as far as I can gather I should do the following order of things:

1) Get a job offer

2) get an appartment

3) get a bank account

4) apply for family visa via DCF

5) Leave family in Germany to start job

6) Hope all goes well and visa gets approved.

Or can I kick off the process with the "intent" to reestablish domicle? As I want to try and kick off the process sooner than later as to minimise the time that we'd have to live apart

[dwheels76 5,468]

I'm wanting to move to the US with my Wife and son, and have read the wiki and forums, but havn't really worked out the order in which to do things.

Very briefly I'm dual national UK/US and my wife and son are UK citizens (didn't meet the minimum residency requirements for my son). We live in Germany, so I've worked out that I need to follow the DCF process, but there are two massive hurdles, namely the domicile and support requirements.

As although I am a USC, this was by birth in the US, and I lived there for the grand total of 4 weeks, and hence as my family is from the UK, I have no relatives there who can co-sponsor or any US address. Therefore I want to know what the best process is to follow to apply for my family.

For the support requirements, I imagine I would need a job offer, but I don't want to commit to job hunting until I know my family can join me, as to accept a US job and then quit my job here in Germany, if her visa gets denied not only am I in a different country to her, I'm also unemployed.

For the domicle requirements do I rent an empty appartment somewhere in the US (as I dont know yet which state I sould get a job in), and can I rent an appartment with no US bank account or credit history of any kind?

So as far as I can gather I should do the following order of things:

1) Get a job offer

2) get an appartment

3) get a bank account

4) apply for family visa via DCF

5) Leave family in Germany to start job

6) Hope all goes well and visa gets approved.

Or can I kick off the process with the "intent" to reestablish domicle? As I want to try and kick off the process sooner than later as to minimise the time that we'd have to live apart

Just a job offer will not be good enough since you have really never lived here. You will need a co-sponsor. .

Have you been filing your US taxes at all? You will need to have filed last 3 years or show reason why not. Check the foreign taxes filing section of IRS about all that.

Also seeting up domicile here is the guide to help give you ideas

What if I (the petitioner) live with my spouse in their foreign country? Do I need to include anything in either package?

You'll need to provide proof of US domicile with the AOS package, as well as bring it with you to the interview. Please read the I-864 instructions (pages 3 and 4) for information about it. This is NOT needed if the petitioner is living in the US. Here is a sample cover letter to include in the package (it lists MANY possible documents, some may not be applicable of course, to prove that you have, or will re-establish, domicile in the US):

NAME

SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

FORM I-1864

No. 15 Country of Domicile

I, XXXX, am currently residing in FOREIGN COUNTRY with my spouse, SPOUSE'S NAME. Below you will find a list of attached documents to show that my principle residence is in the US and the steps that I have taken to return to the US with my family.

Steps I have taken to maintain US Domicile:

• Maintained my XXXX voter registration

• Maintained my XXXX credit card registered in the US with a US PO box

• Maintained my bank account at the XXXX Credit Union

• Maintained my bank account at XXXX Bank

• Maintained my XXXX drivers license

• Maintained my US retirement fund through XXXX

• Maintained my US investment account with XXXX

• Maintained my US PO box

• Maintained licensure by the XXXX

• Maintained membership in the XXXX

• Maintained my automobile in care of my parents

Supporting Documents for the above steps I have taken:

• Voter registration card showing permanent US address

• XXXX credit card statement showing US billing address

• XXXX Credit Union statement showing permanent US address

• XXXX Bank statement showing permanent US address

• XXXX drivers license showing permanent US address

• Retirement fund statement showing permanent US address

• Mutual fund statement showing permanent US address

• XXXX license currently up to date

• Renewal of XXXX membership

• County tax bill showing I still own a vehicle

Steps I have taken to return to the US to take up residence:

• Made arrangements for us to have a house to live in

• Contacted schools for requirements of things to bring to register my children in school

• Contacted my auto insurance company to find out about re-instating my insurance on my car

• Contacted shipping company for estimate of costs to ship belongings

Supporting documents for the above steps I have taken:

• Lease agreement for our house

• Email from schools regarding registration requirements

• Email from my former auto insurance company regarding my inquiry

• Email from XXXX with estimate and correspondence regarding shipping our belongings

I declare that I intend in good faith to re-establish my domicile in the United States no later than the date of spouse's admission into the US.

I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the statements in this letter and all accompanying evidence are true and correct.

Signature: ____________________________________________________ Date: ______________________

NAME

Thanks to VJ member lemayz for this suggestion!

[JoannaV 174]

Don't worry about the domicile thing right now, that will be fine if you deal with the other stuff...

1) Like the previous poster said, you need to check on filing taxes.

2) You also need to check into Selective Service registration. Did you ever register?
3) Assuming you get those things sorted, you then need to either have a LOT of savings, have a US-based person willing to sponsor your wife, or start a job in the US. This seems kind of hard. But, I don't know anything about you, so it's possible you have the kind of skill-set that would allow you to find a job whilst still living abroad, and not have to start it till after you'd initiated the visa process. But for most people jobs are harder to find and more time apart would be needed.

[Paul&Fi 0]

Thanks for the comments,

I have been filing my taxes, although I performed this under the IRS streamlined process for Dual citizens, so have filed 4 years of Tax returns and 7 yeas of FBARs all this year, which was fun. So hopefully that is sufficient. Regarding the selective service, I only just found out what that was about 10minutes ago because of your post, and as I'm over 26, doesnt look like an option now for me either.

Also looking at dwheels reply, under the heading "Steps taken to maintain US domicile". I haven't one item on that list. Essentially all I have is a Birth certiicate, Passport and SSN, and thats it. Also as I have no immidate family in the US, the likelyhood of any co-sponsor is zero.

Regarding the job though, I work as an Aerospace Engineer, so can apply from abroad, and also with these big companies the cogs turn very slowly, so I need to give at least 3 months notice to my current employer, so was hoping that this would give me a window of opportunity, in that I'd get the job offer and start date, then perform all the points of the steps taken to return to the US within that 3 month window, so that the time my family remain in germany would be as small as possible.

But as it sounds just having job isn't good enough, and as I have no possiblilty of a co-sponser, is it possible that I can borrow money from say my parents to meet the asset requirements?