confused newbie question

[don_mar 18]

Hi all,

I'm a total newbie, we just started filling out the forms after reading all the guides here. I am a Canandian, my husband is Amercian, we got married 3 years agao in Canada and we have been living in Canada together since 2008. Now we want to move to U.S. My husband also has a property in Minnesota that we visit in the past 6 years regularly. We got little confused as we filled out the forms. I guess we should file for IR1, but we both live outside U.S. According to the guide, we should file for DCF, but that's not available in Canda. What shall we do? The forms all assume that the petitioner lives in U.S and spouse outside U.S. I am going to read more threads here, in the meantime, is anyone here in similiar situation that can share your experience? Thanks!!

[Rob & Monika 87]

Yes, you file for the IR-1. Your interview would be in Montreal. When the USC lives in Canada, the main concern is proving domicile (which there are a lot of topics about). If you guys already have a home there, then that is a great help. He will either need financial evidence that he can support you (a job lined up or one he can continue from the US, or a large amount of liquid assets), or have a USC relative cosponsor you.

[don_mar 18]

Thanks! That was quick. Yes I am just reading pinned thread, looks like this would apply to us. He does vote, filed income tax and has bank accounts etc.

B. You are living abroad temporarily. If you are not currently living in the United States, you must show that your trip abroad is temporary and that you have maintained your domicile in the United States. You can show this by providing proof of your voting record in the United States, proof of paying U.S. State or local taxes, proof of having property in the United States, proof of maintaining bank or investment accounts in the United States, or proof of having a permanent mailing address in the United States. Other proof could be evidence that you are a student studying abroad or that a foreign government has authorized a temporary stay.

[jillplusjohn 4]

Hey there,

My husband and I were in a similar situation when we filed the petition. He was a USC living here in Canada (he is a dual citizen), but he had been here in Canada for about 7 years with no property, income or ties to the US, except his citizenship. He accepted a job to work in the family business, and when we found out that the petitioner has to be a resident of the US, he quickly moved down, moved in to a house to establish residence, changed his driver's license, opened bank accounts etc. Only after that did we file the I-130 for the immigrant visa (CR-1).

Not to discourage you, because I sincerely hope everything goes much faster for you and your spouse, but we are 18 months and counting into the process and while we have had virtually no complications at all with our application, the process has been EXTREMELY SLOW. I don't expect to get my interview before year's end, which means that is almost 2 years since we petitioned and essentially 2 years since we have officially lived together as a married couple in the same country. Good luck, and like I said, I really hope it goes faster for you....but in my experience, this family visa thing is the pits! I know people all around me who got student and work visas faster and got to move down while I have to wait and have to live apart from my husband.

[NikLR 13,220]

Hey there,

My husband and I were in a similar situation when we filed the petition. He was a USC living here in Canada (he is a dual citizen), but he had been here in Canada for about 7 years with no property, income or ties to the US, except his citizenship. He accepted a job to work in the family business, and when we found out that the petitioner has to be a resident of the US, he quickly moved down, moved in to a house to establish residence, changed his driver's license, opened bank accounts etc. Only after that did we file the I-130 for the immigrant visa (CR-1).

Not to discourage you, because I sincerely hope everything goes much faster for you and your spouse, but we are 18 months and counting into the process and while we have had virtually no complications at all with our application, the process has been EXTREMELY SLOW. I don't expect to get my interview before year's end, which means that is almost 2 years since we petitioned and essentially 2 years since we have officially lived together as a married couple in the same country. Good luck, and like I said, I really hope it goes faster for you....but in my experience, this family visa thing is the pits! I know people all around me who got student and work visas faster and got to move down while I have to wait and have to live apart from my husband.

Your petition took an extraordinarily long time, even by regular standards. Right now most of the petitions where a both spouses are living abroad are sent to California Service Center who has an unofficial auto expedite for spouses living together abroad.

I'm really unsure why in your case why your bills were paid in March and April, but you didn't send any documentation for them until September? Was there an issue?

For the most part, a petition to interview takes 12-18 months total. Hopefully the NVC has caught up on the influx of petitions and is speeding up their process, which seems to be the case. My entire process was only 9 months from petition filing to receiving my green card after moving to the USA. But I consider that very fast and fortunate.