i've moved around so much! how to answer G-325A RESIDENCE last 5 years?

[lw.mamabird 0]

Hi all!

My partner and I are finally about to get our K1 VISA application in the mail, and I feel it should be very straightforward, since we have a very easily documented relationship going on 8 years now and 2 lovely kids between us.

My worry is how to answer the Applicant's residence last five years on the g325a!

I, the petitioner, have moved between Peru (my fiance's home country) and the USA every year at least once since 2008, holding different temporary jobs in agriculture (often on a stipend and not on payroll), generally spending 8 months in the USA working different jobs and 4 months a year in Peru. I have often had my mailing address listed as my mother's residence, but I have never physically lived there.

So i am worried about any incongruencies on my application, in the past 5 years I have lived in 2 different states and, at one point 13 consecutive months in Peru, but I had no legal residence in Peru and no state ID's from the states I was living in the past 5 years (except W2s from Maryland)

My question is, do I list the street addresses of the places I was physically living as my residence, even if i was never legally a resident of the state ?

i don't have a drivers license, only passport as photo ID, was thinking to copy out all the pages of my passport book and send them, but that might really confuse things! LOL

And do I list my 14months living in Peru (where I was self-employed teaching english) as a residence abroad, even though I didn't LEGALLY have a residence card in Peru?

I am about to leave back to Peru in the end of June and worried my crazy history with addresses is going to give me problems!

Thanks so much!

[Anitafeliz 1,133]

You can use extra paper just put see attached and on the attachement put the question number you only need to go back 5 years ?????

[soulstriker 274]

as said above , just use a sheet of paper and list everything from 5 years back , i did the same thing

[lw.mamabird 0]

Thanks for the replies!

Yes, I was thinking to attach an additional page, but I guess what's confusing me is

1. if, for example, in 2015 i worked at one place in maryland for 7 months and spent the other five months of that year in Peru, but was still receiving mail in Maryland, should I even bother with the specifics of being out of the country for 5 months of the year? (this is basically what all of the past five years looks like, working for most of the year in the USA and being on a tourist visa for many months in Peru) i mean people go for long vacations but still consider the address where they receive their mail their residence (just mine changed every year)

and

2. if at one point I was on a tourist visa in Peru for 14 months and making money teaching english privately, technically that is not totally legal since I did not have Peru residence card

do I list that in my employment history? and do I list that as a residence abroad, I mean I lived there over a year but technically was not considered a resident! or should i just consider that time as "tourism"?

3. If I google my name, other addresses that I never actually physically lived in that are my mother's pop up, so I don;t know how much of a background check is done, if that will cause a red flag if those addresses are not listed in my biographic information

Haha, sorry about the confusion!

Thanks so much!

[lacolinab13 86]

For time periods where you were just out of the country, temporarily visiting your fiance on vacation, then I would consider your US address still your place of residence during that time. A good rule of thumb for the US government is that temporarily would be six months max, anything beyond that and you would be considered to be a resident of that country, regardless of your work or visa status.

If you were working somewhere, had moved somewhere, had signed a lease somewhere - I would consider those a place of residence.

As you know, working without a valid working visa in Peru is not "not totally legal", it's completely illegal. However, I don't think USCIS cares at all about what kind of legal or illegal work you did in a foreign country. (For example, when married couples file DCF in Peru, I know that they don't care if the USC is on a tourist visa or resident visa). Anyway, regardless of the consequences, you have to be honest or you will be setting yourself up for more trouble down the line. If you were living and working there full time, you were a resident, not a tourist, whether legal or not. You should certainly put that as one of your addresses and declare it in your employment history - and if you did not file US taxes on that income, then you should file back taxes now. (Normally, you would not have to pay income on any tax under around 100,000 USD, claiming the foreign earned income exception, but since you obviously didn't pay any tax on that money in Peru, you might have to. Knowing what English teachers make in Peru, I doubt you have that much to declare though, and your tax bill shouldn't be too high).

I wouldn't worry about your mothers' addresses coming up on Google - lots of USCs living abroad get mail at a relative or friend's house.

Edited May 27, 2016 by lacolinab13

[lw.mamabird 0]

Thank you lacolinab13!

In the past 5 years, only 1 of my stays in Peru was over 5 months, so I think I will not add a supplemental sheet so as to keep things clear and simple, and not worry about the alternate mailing addresses I have had.

And will list the year in Peru then, as you say, as a residence abroad. When I was teaching english it was only a few hours a week and mostly to people I knew and very informal, so I thought that if I earned under a certain amount that was legal? I may be wrong about that then,

honestly I probably made $500 in that whole year! LOL, so I wasn't worried about declaring that.That was back in 2012

Thank you so much for taking the time to thoughtfully answer my questions!

[lacolinab13 86]

You don't have to file if you make under $4000 per year I think, so for US$ 500 you definitely don't need to. They only ask for tax returns in the past three years at any stage anyway, so doubt it will come up.

You're welcome! Not that many Peruvian-American couples on here that I've seen