Proving domicile will be a problem for me...

[Laleh 2]

I have been living overseas with my husband for over 7 years. Actually, I've been living mostly outside the US for the last 10 years.

My driving license is expired

My bank account was closed (by the bank) several years ago because there was no money in it

My credit card expired (I never used it because I had no way of paying it off - since I had no US bank account)

No car or other property

I haven't paid state or local taxes, because we don't pay state taxes in Florida (I did pay federal taxes for 2014 and 2015 - in 2013 i was on maternity leave and had no income)

I am not applying for jobs because I will be a freelancer

I did vote. I am not sure how to find my voting records. I found some public records from the state of Florida (voters.findthedata.com). It shows my name and that I first registered in 2011, but it doesn't show that I voted in 2012 and 2016. Do I need something else?

My husband has applied for jobs in the US, but that doesn't prove that I'll be going with him, I guess. Although, obviously, why wouldn't I?

What else can I do?

We will be staying with my mom at first. Shall I ask her to write a letter saying so?

Thanks!

[Ash.1101 1,756]

In situations like this, the USC generally moves back to the states for a number of months to re-establish domicile, as you don't even have the MINIMUM that some people take to prove domicile.

A letter from your mom would just be supportive to all the other proof you're suppose to have, but having ONLY a letter from your mother stating that's where you will live isn't usually enough.

Your husband applying for jobs in the US won't help, as it's on YOU to have a place for HIM to go, not for HIM to secure a place in the US for HIMSELF to go.

They view it as YOUR job to take care of him, even if you can live with your mom, you have no bank account, no driver's license, your self employed with a job that can't financially support him so you're using a joint sponsor but have no intent of finding a job that can support him based off what you said.

That's a lot of red flags against you. Ideally, you would move back to the US without your husband and establish yourself, even if you live with your mom, you'd still need to get yourself a DL, a bank account, SOMETHING to show that he won't become a burden to the states and that you're setting him up to succeed in the US. Even if you stay self employed, you AT LEAST need to have those.

And yes, having to move back to the US before your spouse is a big heartbreak, but a lot of people have had to do it because of domicile reasons. It's better to eat those days and make sure your husbands application is 100% approved, then hope it will be only to be denied, or told to prove domicile which puts you right back in the US without your husband again.

Edited December 4, 2016 by Ash.1101

[Laleh 2]

Who says I'll be "self employed with a job that can't financially support him?" That's a pretty big assumption.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

If you do a forum search there are lists of evidence people have used. It sounds as though you are not in the "maintained domicile" category, so you must re-establish domicile. Whether you can do that or not from abroad is up to you. You are welcome to submit whatever evidence you come up with and see if they will accept it, but be prepared for them to come back at you and tell you it isn't enough.

So basically, you want to address pretty most if not all of the following as it pertains to your future life in America:

Housing

Financial (i.e. bank account, credit card)

Transportation: being on someone else's car insurance, like your mother, a letter from her stating she'll loan you the car, bus pass, whatever

Education/daycare for your kids - this could be homeschooling, but usually more proof if it isn't

Moving/shipping quotes

Voting (this is more a maintenance proof, but it will work too)

Up to you to figure out how to do it without a visit back first.

[laulholley 28]

I am in the same situation as you. You don't have to prove domicile in the US as you aren't domiciled in the US. You have to prove intent to reestablish domicile in conjunction with the intending immigrant.

This thread has some great info about how to do that.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/463192-nvc-filers-november-2013

I have a co-sponsor as my income was foreign and did not meet the requirement. As proof of intent to reestablish domicile I have quotes from moving companies/insurance companies, letter from the people we will be staying with in America, email from school regarding registering kids in school.

[Laleh 2]

Thanks!

I'll read that link.

Housing: My mom will have to write a letter saying we'll stay with her at first.

My dad is my co-sponsor

Transport: Well, I can have her say I can use the car too, but I'll have to get a new driving license first. I was actually planning to use the bus for awhile.

Education: I can write to preschools. Do you think I have to actually register her, or can I just email them for more information and use those emails? If we arrive in April or something, I probably wouldn't bother to put her in preschool for the rest of that year (but I can do it if that would help).

Maybe I can apply for a bank account from here. I thought I saw on another thread that someone did it. I'm not sure how that would work though.

Moving/shipping: Well, we were planning on pretty much selling most of what we have here. I have a lot of household stuff in storage in Florida (my mom's storage unit). We won't be shipping anything. The most we plan on doing is paying for an extra suitcase (mostly for my husband's books). On our last visit home, I took a bunch of our stuff and left it there.
I'll read the link in more detail and think of what else I can do. Before I left (about 8 years ago), I was registered in the local temp agency. I wonder if they still have me on record. I doubt it.

[M&Ms 8]

You can open a bank account online and renew your driver licenses as well in most states. As far as living with your mom the letter would help to show you're serious about moving back. You'd have to have someone file I-864 as Join Sponsor since you don't have any types of income and/or tax return (I'm assuming, not sure) but if you have a Join Sponsor and handle the rest online, you should be fine ... Good luck

[Laleh 2]

I have a tax return, but it's for foreign income. But my dad is our joint sponsor.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to renew my driving license online. I wanted to do it before our last visit (in 2014) but I couldn't prove residence (in my mom's housing edition, the post won't deliver mail that isn't addressed to her, so pretty much all I had was voter registration and it wasn't enough). But I will try to open a bank account.

Edited December 4, 2016 by Laleh

[laulholley 28]

Thanks!

I'll read that link.

Housing: My mom will have to write a letter saying we'll stay with her at first.

My dad is my co-sponsor

Transport: Well, I can have her say I can use the car too, but I'll have to get a new driving license first. I was actually planning to use the bus for awhile.

Education: I can write to preschools. Do you think I have to actually register her, or can I just email them for more information and use those emails? If we arrive in April or something, I probably wouldn't bother to put her in preschool for the rest of that year (but I can do it if that would help).

Maybe I can apply for a bank account from here. I thought I saw on another thread that someone did it. I'm not sure how that would work though.

Moving/shipping: Well, we were planning on pretty much selling most of what we have here. I have a lot of household stuff in storage in Florida (my mom's storage unit). We won't be shipping anything. The most we plan on doing is paying for an extra suitcase (mostly for my husband's books). On our last visit home, I took a bunch of our stuff and left it there.

I'll read the link in more detail and think of what else I can do. Before I left (about 8 years ago), I was registered in the local temp agency. I wonder if they still have me on record. I doubt it.

You don't actually have to ship stuff. You just need quotes from a moving company. I applied online. I also got a quote regarding shipping our motorcycle to the US. We haven't decided if we will ship it, but I got the quote anyways. You can't register children in schools/preschools if they aren't physically present in the US. So I have the correspondence form the school registrar stating that and also what documents are needed to register the children.

I forgot to mention that I also included a letter stating why I wasn't currently domiciled in the US (my husband and I have young children and we don't want to split up our family) and what documents I am including to prove my intent to reestablish domicile.

We are currently in NVC stage, so I don't know if my documentation will be enough. But from my research this is whats required to prove intent to reestablish domicile.

[Laleh 2]

Thanks so much!

[Ash.1101 1,756]

Who says I'll be "self employed with a job that can't financially support him?" That's a pretty big assumption.

Sorry, I assumed that you didn't make enough because you have a cosponsor. Having foreign income to USCIS is basically making 0 dollars and they will continue you to make 0 dollars. Make sure to explain that your job will continue, just within the US.

Check with your country forums as well, some countries won't even accept intent to re-establish as enough proof, they want 100% insurance. Every consulate is different, but some are pretty hard on the domicile portion of things. Check to see how hard your consulate is on this subject.

[mallafri76 1,012]

Who says I'll be "self employed with a job that can't financially support him?" That's a pretty big assumption.

Ash wrote you an extensive post on how to reestablish domicile and this is what you took from that?!?! Personally, I don't think Ash's assumption was that big, considering you're taking your husband of several years and moving in with your mother. Anyway, for immigration purposes, as you have no current history of US income, you do not have the financial means to support your husband and will have to have a joint sponsor to meet the financial requirements.

[Laleh 2]

Sorry, I assumed that you didn't make enough because you have a cosponsor. Having foreign income to USCIS is basically making 0 dollars and they will continue you to make 0 dollars. Make sure to explain that your job will continue, just within the US.

Check with your country forums as well, some countries won't even accept intent to re-establish as enough proof, they want 100% insurance. Every consulate is different, but some are pretty hard on the domicile portion of things. Check to see how hard your consulate is on this subject.

Got it, no problem.

Thanks for the info about the country forums; I will check them out.

[Laleh 2]

Ash wrote you an extensive post on how to reestablish domicile and this is what you took from that?!?! Personally, I don't think Ash's assumption was that big, considering you're taking your husband of several years and moving in with your mother. Anyway, for immigration purposes, as you have no current history of US income, you do not have the financial means to support your husband and will have to have a joint sponsor to meet the financial requirements.

Of course I'm moving in with my mother. How are we supposed to know where we want to live until he finds a job? How can we look for an apartment from overseas? It's temporary. And while I have to give up my current job when we move (obviously), the move won't affect my freelancing. I communicate with those clients online, but it's currently not enough income to support us. I will take on more freelance work after I give up my job (it's full-time, and I have a small child, so I can't do it all at once).

[NikLR 13,227]

Self employed income only counts at tax time. Whatever you claimed as your self employed income last year, is what the consulate will consider as your current self employed income. And so on and so forth. As your current full time income, not self employed income, will not be continuing, you cannot use it; I assume you know this since you have a joint sponsor.

I highly doubt your husband's embassy or consulate will be as strict as some (like Montreal, Canada) because you're overseas, but you will need to make an attempt to show you're re-establishing your domicile. If you do not do this to the satisfaction of the CO (Consular Officer) at the time of the interview, they will put your husband into AP until they are satisfied. That's just a fair warning, so take it or leave it as you wish.

In the NVC process wiki there is a list of items of that may help you give evidence that you are re-establishing your domicile in the USA. I suggest reading it over and trying to get as many as you can. Obviously the best would be to move back ahead of time, but I understand your reluctance to separate your family until your husband has obtained his visa.