CR1/K1 visa while serving 2 year home residency requirement

[Princess_cloe 0]

Hi,

Thanks for this wonderful website! It's been so helpful so far in understanding our options. We have a few questions regarding the process of the visa applicant while serving out the 2 year home residency requirement (2HRR). Here's our story:

I am a Fulbright scholar on a J-1 with the 2HRR. My boyfriend is a US citizen, we met when we were both in school, we've been dating for two years and very much want to be together. I am planning on returning to my home country very soon to start serving the 2HRR.

As we see it, our options are:

1. Get married in the US before I leave, he will stay in the US and file for the I-130 (CR-1) while I am back home.

2. Get engaged, he will stay in the US file for the K-1 when I am back home, and we will get married in 2 years (a long time!).

Our questions are:

a. At what point do I have to prove that I fulfilled the 2HRR? Will our case be stuck at the NVC or will it reach the embassy? I see conflicting answers in the forum, so I would appreciate answers from people who have gone through this process.
Specifically, we understand that we can complete the USCIS process, but would our case get stuck at the NVC until I have fulfilled the 2HRR? Or would it go through NVC and get to the embassy, and I could just postpone my interview until my 2 years are complete?

b. Is it difficult to file an 'affidavit of support' if the USC is not in the US while filing? My boyfriend is thinking of joining me for a little while (1 year) at my home country. We are concerned on how that will affect his 'Affidavit of support' if he doesn't have a US job. We wouldn't be able to do DCF in my country.

Thanks for your help!!

[Hypnos 6,578]

a) You can file before the two years are up, you just can't be issued with the visa until the HRR has been served. For that reason it would be a good idea to just delay the interview until after you have been in your home country for two years, and it would then not be an issue.

b) Yes - he would have to show his permanent domicile is in the US, and if he is outside the US would need to show that it is his intention to resume his US domicile at the same time as you immigrate there or before. Domicile is a complicated subject, so you may wish to search "resuming domicile" or similar here and see what pops up; it is a subject that has been extensively discussed.

[Princess_cloe 0]

Thanks for your answer! Just to clarify - you believe that our case will go through NVC without requiring any proof that I have fulfilled my 2HRR? I am asking because a lawyer we spoke to said that she thinks our case will be denied by NVC if I submit my package (me = the foreign beneficiary) before my 2HRR is done.

Also, does anyone have experience delaying their interview at the embassy by a year (since that could be the case for our timeline)?

[Hypnos 6,578]

As I understand it the NVC doesn't check for things like that. They are mostly concerned with priority dates being current (if applicable), your documents (birth/marriage certificates) being in order, and things like that. Anything else is typically left for the embassy to sort out.

You can usually stall at the NVC stage for a year; plenty of people here have wound up doing that, for one reason or another. I don't think you will have any issue. Just ensure that your interview, whenever you finally get it set, falls after your HRR has been served.