Moving country during I-130 processing?

[joojiep 0]

Hi there, my German husband and I have lived in the UK for the last 3 years. We are planning to re-locate to the US in one year (March-April 2015), but will spend the period of September 2014-March 2015 in Germany. For me to legally stay that 7 month period in Germany, we will need to declare residency there.

So this begs the question: which consulate should we file our I-130, and when? Does anyone know if you can start the I-130 in your country of residence, and then move countries temporarily while it's in process? I.e. we would submit the forms in London before we move to Germany, and then my husband would come back to the UK for the interview. Is this allowed?

Becuase you have to wait to have lived in the foreign country for 6 months, I'm afraid that if we wait to file in Frankfurt in March 2015, we will have to push our move date to the US back 4-8 months, depending on processing timelines I've seen on this site for people who did the I-130 at Frankfurt. Employment-wise, this is simply not an option.

Any advice is much appreciated!

[bendinlar 16]

I would get the visa all done before going to Germany. Then before the visa expires, fly to the US to activate it. An extra couple weeks strategically timed in the us to maintain residency, so as to try and prevent issues with the reentry after 6 months gone issue, and in theory, you're all good.

Makes sense to me.

On edit:

Now I noticed the option to file the petition then move and go back for interview. To the best of my knowledge that would work too. Once the petition is accepted, the petitioner does not need to reside there anymore. Go with what works best for you. I'm sure there are others that can chime in with region specific intel..

Edited March 26, 2014 by bendinlar