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Posted

I'm hoping someone can help as I've been reading conflicting information and not finding a few consistent answers to a few questions.

 

I'm American and British and my husband is Portuguese.  We met abroad and after a long-distance relationship we both moved to the UK together (me from the US and him Portugal), then we married last year after living together for a few years.  We knew right away we wanted to move to the US and my husband, a doctor, began studying for and taking his USMLE exams (about 2.5 years ago) and is on to his final of 4 exams.  He has a well-paying job as a consultant/attending and I am a housewife, currently pregnant with our first child.  I have not made enough money over the past years living in the UK to be required to file US taxes and will be a stay-at-home-mom when we arrive in the US so will have and don't plan on having any personal income, therefore will not have W2s or tax documentation.  That said, my husband is currently corresponding with a hospital in the US and contingent upon his passing his final USMLE exam, he will receive a solid job offer and contract.  This offer will come only after we have our visa interview as they will need proof of his visa.  We were approved for the I-130 and have his medical and interview in about a month.  

 

Regarding the affidavit of support, will savings (cash) alone be sufficient?  We're fortunate enough to have well over the required amount to fulfill the requirement on the affidavit of support.  This money is in a US based savings account in my name (an account I've had for over 10 years).  My husband has been been transferring funds there from his EU and UK accounts in anticipation, but this is not all new money and much of it is mine from a trust and house sale.  He also has some personal cash in a UK account.  Reading up, I've found advice to get a letter from my bank manager stating when the account was opened, current balance and withdrawals/deposits for the past year and/or statements for the past year.  Will this suffice; I've read that this is not always easy going this route...

 

My next concern is proving US domicile intent.  We intend to travel together to the US POE (our baby will be a few weeks old at this point).  As we will be unable to do anything like sign a lease for a residence or purchase a flight before being approved for a visa, I'm concerned about proving this intent.  Will it be sufficient to show that I've made arrangements to ship our property overseas including creating an inventory of all of our items (although booking is cancelable), searched for apartments (have a list of saved properties), and also the fact that we've been sending our funds to the US?  I also have a storage unit there full of furniture that I've been paying for monthly in anticipation of this move.  Is there anything else that anyone can suggest that would prove domicile intent?  We do not know where we will live yet.  We have lots of friends in the city and I have family that resides in other states if I need to put an actual address.  I've had a PO Box since moving that scans/forwards my mail and planned on using that as the mailing address for his green card/social security card since it's the only US address we have at the moment.  

 

Lastly, another concern we have is my husband has one more exam to take and it must be done in the US, ideally before we move.  Situation is, if/when we are approved for his CR-1 Visa (which will be an IR-1 as we'll have been married 2 years by the time we enter), he will need to travel to the US BEFORE entering with me on our official move day and the day he turns over his packet/gets his visa stamped.  It will be a turnaround trip of 2 nights only and he'll then return to the UK (to his job) for another month before we officially move.  Is this ok or going to pose as an issue?  Should he do anything in anticipation of questions such as get a letter from his job (resignation letter with end date), lease end date being later, etc?  I don't want them to think he's trying to move there without me and they will obviously see his visa in his passport.

 

Thank you so much for any advice!  I'm so nervous about all these moving parts and pieces that need to fall into place.  Any personal experiences or professional advice would be greatly appreciated!

Posted
6 minutes ago, AmericaninLondon said:

Lastly, another concern we have is my husband has one more exam to take and it must be done in the US, ideally before we move.  Situation is, if/when we are approved for his CR-1 Visa (which will be an IR-1 as we'll have been married 2 years by the time we enter), he will need to travel to the US BEFORE entering with me on our official move day and the day he turns over his packet/gets his visa stamped.  It will be a turnaround trip of 2 nights only and he'll then return to the UK (to his job) for another month before we officially move.  Is this ok or going to pose as an issue?  Should he do anything in anticipation of questions such as get a letter from his job (resignation letter with end date), lease end date being later, etc?  I don't want them to think he's trying to move there without me and they will obviously see his visa in his passport.

You can ask the embassy to delay the issuance of the visa.  Once the CR1 is in his passport, he will most likely have to activate it (not for sure, it is at the discretion of the CBP officer - but who would want to risk being denied entry when on their way to take an exam...) - and to be allowed to enter on a CR1, the spouse must be entering at the same time, or already in the USA. 

Posted

Thank you for your response!  Problem is, we need the visa beforehand to get a job contract and be able to get a place to live.  Then he needs to do the final exam before we enter to finalize the contract so he can have a start date.  He couldn't activate the CR-1 (IR-1) because I wouldn't be with him and he wouldn't even bring his packet.  We were hoping he could just enter on his ESTA.  I can't seem to find any rules on this...

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Thought I'd post an update on the above.  The process at the London Embassy was simple and streamlined.  It's a bit confusing upon arrival as there were a few huge lines with no clear direction.  Thankfully, I'd researched enough online to know that these most likely weren't lines we needed to wait in (they are for tourist visas, etc).  My husband and I went to the front and were asked to stand to the side and wait for the names to be released to them.  We still arrived 30 minutes early and only got into the building about 10 minutes before our 10:30 appointment time after security.  

 

After we sat in the waiting room it took around 10 minutes for us to be called.  The very nice agent at the first desk went through our paperwork and removed some of what I mentioned I was going to provide in the original post.  Better safe than sorry!  I went to pay for the visa fee while this was handled with the agent and my husband.  We were asked to sit again and it took about 15 minutes for us for our number to be called again.

 

The next agent was just as nice and asked us a few questions - how we met (on holiday in Spain), how many days we spent together that trip (a few), when we saw each other again (a few months later in London, a few months after that in Paris, etc - we had a long distance for about a year).  Our situation is such that we've been together almost 6 years and married just under 2 years, and I'm not sure he noticed I'm 7 months pregnant, so I don't think he was too concerned about the legitimacy of our marriage. He asked about my re-establishing domicile and what I've done to do that.  I explained that I had kept a bank account for the duration, I have a storage unit there with furniture, I had a mailing address (he asked for more details on this and I explained it was "virtual" and mail is scanned and forwarded as necessary), we've been apartment hunting, have movers scheduled.  He went through the paperwork a bit and in less than 10 minutes we were approved.

 

We then asked him about the traveling that I mentioned above.  My husband has an exam he needs to take and would prefer to do so before we move together.  (To answer the gentleman's question above as to why I can't go with him: I will be 9 months pregnant when he would be going).  The agent was very clear that he could NOT travel beforehand without me and without activating the visa once it's issued.  We asked about "delaying the visa" as someone suggested above and the agent stated that he could deny the visa on the day, but not delay.  Then we'd have to start again.  No thank you.  Question answered.  He will need to take the exam after we move. 

 

I was mostly concerned about proving I was going to re-establish domicile and that wasn't an issue with the documents I provided.  I was also concerned as I don't have an income to support my husband and make sure he doesn't become a public charge in the US and we would be solely using our liquid assets.  My husband is the sole earner in my household and I'm a housewife and plan on continuing to be so upon arrival and we were honest about that.  I haven't filed US taxes as I wasn't required to do so because I don't have been under the income threshold so I had no returns to show; we've filed separately for obvious reasons.  A letter explaining this was sufficient as well as proving that we have assets (which were significantly over the requirement).  I proved this by having my bank send me a letter stating my current balances and 9-year relationship with the bank.  The letter format was created in conjunction with the consulate for this purpose and Citibank knew what was required when I asked them for it.  I also provided printouts of 12 months of statements.

 

Interestingly, a few days before the interview I read a review about a gentleman's experience where he stated that although the embassy's website states that a police report doesn't expire as long as that person has not resided there again, he was required to get a more recent one and wasn't issued his visa on that day because of it.  Having read this we did get an updated one to be on the safe side.  They made no mention of this at the interview, but did take both reports.  It's a shame that this happened to this man as it was very clearly stated on the checklist that this wasn't necessary.  

 

The whole experience was simple and much easier than expected.  My advice to all, read as much as you can beforehand on what paperwork to gather together, be very organized, be honest and forthcoming and if everything is legal and done within their guidelines, you should be approved, no problem.

 

Good luck all!

Edited by AmericaninLondon
Posted

Thanks for the update. I was going to say that most likely he would either need to move with you before taking Step 3, or he should have completed all of them before the interview. As you mentioned, they won't let you go in and out after your interview before "activating" your visa. 

 

Did you interview just today? My wife was there today. Her experience was very similar. The queues outside were confusing (and filled mostly with "freshers" as she put it, likely getting visas to do school trips) but once inside everyone was nice and it was quite quick. She also had a slight freak out because she found a small bottle of petroleum in her handbag before going it (it's a sort of "trophy" from a dig, she is a petroleum geologist) and was worried they would take it (It is irreplaceable, since it comes from the very beginning of a well). Luckily she had read through practically everything online and quickly found a place to get a lockbox nearby.

 

Anyway congrats! Where are you guys moving if I may ask? I'm a physician in the US (American trained). 

Posted
On 4/4/2017 at 1:47 PM, bcking said:

Thanks for the update. I was going to say that most likely he would either need to move with you before taking Step 3, or he should have completed all of them before the interview. As you mentioned, they won't let you go in and out after your interview before "activating" your visa. 

 

Did you interview just today? My wife was there today. Her experience was very similar. The queues outside were confusing (and filled mostly with "freshers" as she put it, likely getting visas to do school trips) but once inside everyone was nice and it was quite quick. She also had a slight freak out because she found a small bottle of petroleum in her handbag before going it (it's a sort of "trophy" from a dig, she is a petroleum geologist) and was worried they would take it (It is irreplaceable, since it comes from the very beginning of a well). Luckily she had read through practically everything online and quickly found a place to get a lockbox nearby.

 

Anyway congrats! Where are you guys moving if I may ask? I'm a physician in the US (American trained). 

Hi bcking,

 

Interview was on Monday and we just got word that his passport with visa will be delivered to us tomorrow; very quick turnaround!  Hope it's the same for you.

 

To answer your question, we are moving to Chicago, where I lived before moving to the UK.  My husband is excited to work in the US and VERY happy to be almost finished with his USMLEs.  It's been a long road, especially as he began studying for Step 1 eight years after finishing medical school and at the same time working as a consultant/attending :).

 

Thanks for the congratulations and I hope all goes smoothly with your wife's move :)

 
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