DCF Eligibility in London - Tier 2 General Visa

[Redledbetter 1]

Hello there,

Me and my wife are looking to begin filing for the I-130 and we're very eager to use the London Embassy and hence DCF to file for the form. I'm a UK citizen whilst my wife is a USC who has been living and working in the UK for last 22 months on a Tier 2 general visa. However, we seem to be reading conflicting information regarding her eligibility to act as the petitioner for DCF.

The official embassy website seems to say that a valid UK residency card is required (which she does not have as she is technically not a permanent resident with indefinite leave to remain), although the checklist says that she just needs to prove that she lives and works in the UK, with an entry stamp being accepted as proof of residence. In addition, the impression I've gotten from reading around various websites (including this one) is that they only really have a problem with tourist/visitor visas and that the previous requirement to have a UK residency card (and also to have lived in the UK for at least 6 months) was removed in 2014.

It would be extremely helpful if anyone could confirm whether or not we are eligible to use DCF and we would of course be very grateful to hear of any stories from people who have been in a similar situation. Note that I've emailed the embassy although I'm not too confident of a response as I hear they're quite tricky to get in touch with...

Thank you in advance!

Tom

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

It would be the USCIS office in London you need an answer from. They are not "the embassy". Just a small clarification and you may have emailed the right office already. The USCIS office deals with petitions and the Immigrant Visa Unit deals with visa questions after petition approval. One is under Homeland Security and the other is under the Department of State, so very separate parts of the U.S. Government you have to deal with in turn.

I think you qualify for sure. Several years ago the USCIS London page mentioned student visas as not qualified but there is no mention of that now. Just go by the checklist and show how she qualifies to live and work in the UK.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Nich-Nick

[Redledbetter 1]

Thanks for your speedy response! Sorry I should've clarified that I was in fact talking about the USCIS office in London and I did in fact receive a response from them yesterday. I did however find it a little bit vague or perhaps I'm thinking too hard about it?

If you spouse has a valid UK Entry Permit/Card, regardless of reason, she can file the I-130 with this office; we would just need a photocopy of the UK Residency Card.

Tier 2 visa recipients don't receive UK residency cards so we're unable to provide that. However, she does have an entry card/stamp in her passport from when she arrived in the UK on the Visa so I'm thinking that would be OK as the official checklist says either an official residency card or stamp?

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I actually can't comment on what kind of documentation (card, stamp, whatever) a US person gets in the UK. Never did that. But I know lots of people have done DCF with less than ILR.

Send a PM to: Lost_at_Sea

She's the London DCF whiz, but isn't around so much anymore. Maybe she will pop in.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

A long, long time ago, back when we did DCF in 2007, ILR was a requirement for DCF, and there was a lot of moaning about how unfair it was. Luckily I'd had it for over 10 years by the time I filed. But about a year or two after that LLR was permitted, and shortly thereafter student visas and Tier 2 came under the purview of DCF. In fact, here's confirmation from lost_at_sea about this:

Sorry. Yes, they confirmed that Tier 2 ICT is eligible.

Full thread here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/420708-dcf-london

You're fine.

[Redledbetter 1]

Thanks everyone. I emailed the London Field Office again asking them to confirm the following:

'So just to clarify, my wife can use a copy of her Tier 2 Visa Entry card/stamp in her passport as proof of her residency?'

To which they replied (rather curtly):

'Correct'

So everything seems to be good - I'll update the thread on how we get on.