Applying for immigrant visa when US citizen is overseas

[Afsjesse 1]

 Hi everyone!

 

 My fiance and I have just been approved for the fiance visa and will be getting married later this year! Yay! 

 

 We are now forced to decide how to proceed with her permanent residency. Our original plan was for her to just stay stateside until she gets the green card while I work overseas here in Saudi Arabia as a US government contractor. Things have changed, however. We now have a child and don't really want to be apart. So, that's got us talking about doing an immigrant visa overseas, which we know would take longer. 

 

 After reading up on the process, I see that the US citizen spouse must be stateside in order to qualify for this to go through. The rules also say that some exceptions are made for US citizens who are overseas. 

 

 My question is how can we find out if we would qualify for such an exemption before we make our move? There aren't really any guidelines. I'm just assuming that since I work for a military contractor, that I would qualify, but I may be wrong. Does anyone have any advice on this? 

 

 Thanks for all of your help! 

 

 Cheers,

 

 Jesse

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

You would definitely qualify; you will simply need to prove that you either didn't abandon your US domicile (still have a home there, bills, furniture in storage etc), or that you intent to re-establish domicile at the same time as she moves to the USA.

[pushbrk 12,882]

6 hours ago, Afsjesse said:

 Hi everyone!

 

 My fiance and I have just been approved for the fiance visa and will be getting married later this year! Yay! 

 

 We are now forced to decide how to proceed with her permanent residency. Our original plan was for her to just stay stateside until she gets the green card while I work overseas here in Saudi Arabia as a US government contractor. Things have changed, however. We now have a child and don't really want to be apart. So, that's got us talking about doing an immigrant visa overseas, which we know would take longer. 

 

 After reading up on the process, I see that the US citizen spouse must be stateside in order to qualify for this to go through. The rules also say that some exceptions are made for US citizens who are overseas. 

 

 My question is how can we find out if we would qualify for such an exemption before we make our move? There aren't really any guidelines. I'm just assuming that since I work for a military contractor, that I would qualify, but I may be wrong. Does anyone have any advice on this? 

 

 Thanks for all of your help! 

 

 Cheers,

 

 Jesse

I take it you are now married.  If not, you will need to be for her to live with you in Saudi Arabia.  Just explain in your I-130 cover letter that you decided to live abroad together instead of adjusting status inside the US after marriage.