CR-1/IR-1 Visa timeline & re establishing domicile

[KJSinUAE 3]

Details:     Myself, American born and raised.

                  Moved to UAE in 2012 to get married, stayed here for 6 years without going back home (husband denied B2 visa for no ties to UAE).

                  No work history here, no tax records, virtually no maintenance of traditional U.S domicile but I didn't have UAE domicile either, temporary residence visa.

                  1 child born in 2015 in Dubai and given American citizenship at birth and received American Passport.

 

                  Husband, Palestinian Refugee born and raised in Syria Damascus. 

                  Living and working in UAE for 10 years, has not visited Syria since 2011 (before the war).

                  Palestinian Passport

 

Issues:      Lack of Domicile

                   Travel Ban

 

Resolves: I ended up gathering a decent amount of domicile worthy evidence but they didn't look at most of our paperwork for the interview.

                 Travel Ban didn't apply to Palestinians born and raised in Syria after all.

 

Questions asked at interview:  Who is petitioning you?                                                                     : My Wife

                                                       Does your wife work?                                                                        : No

                                                       What do you do for work? What is that?                                        : Group Management (goes into detail... * they're impressed)

                                                       When was the last time you went to Syria?                                   : 2011

                                                       How long were you in the Army and what did you do there?      : 1 year 8 months, I was an accountant

                                                       How many years have you been here?                                           : 10 years

                                                       Have you lived in another country?                                                 : Syria 

                                                       Have you gone to Israel?                                                                  : No

                                                       Has your wife gone home?                                                              : No

                                                       Where did your wife live before she moved to UAE?                   : Los Angeles

                                                       What do you have for domicile?                                                     : Child's School enrollment

                                                                                                                                                                      Rent contract

                                                                                                                                                                      and Plane Tickets  for wife, child ,and myself hopefully

 

 CO then proceeds to ask for my husband's passport and tells him he will receive it in 2-3 days and my husband had to ask 3 times to make sure of what she said, he was handed a white slip and left. CEAC website changed from Processing to ISSUED today.

 

 * I think a huge factor in our case was that both of us lived away from our friends and families and didn't establish domicile in each other's county. Our main concern was my lack of domicile and they ended up not looking at 1 form or my declaration of intent to re establish domicile.

 

Documents they looked at: Army Certificate

                                                 Police Certificate

                                                 Birth Certificate

                                                 Marriage Certificate

 

Duration of arrivial to departure: 2 hours 30 minutes

 

                

November 29, 2017 - Hired a lawyer and started Petition.

        January 24, 2018 - Petition mailed to USCIS.

        January 26, 2018 - I-130 Received by USCIS.

       February 15, 2018 - Homeland Security check cashed.

              May  22, 2018 - Petition Approved by USCIS.

              June 26, 2018 - NVC - Request for documentation (needed different form of id) and payment.

                July 18, 2018 - NVC - Payment made.

             August 2, 2018 - NVC - Submit Documentation (website down 2 weeks).

           August 27, 2018 - NVC - Accepts all fees & forms, interview date pending.

    September 14, 2018 - NVC - Interview scheduled for October 28, 2018

          October 28, 2018 - Abu Dhabi Embassy Immigration interview, CR-1 VISA APPROVED!

 

                  

 

                  

 

        

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by KJSinUAE

[KSK 3]

Congrates ,

                   You are the one of lucky person , as well I have been waiting in Administrative Processing since one and half year ( K1 Visa ) , I don't know how long i will wait more .

[KJSinUAE 3]

16 hours ago, KSK said:

Congrates ,

                   You are the one of lucky person , as well I have been waiting in Administrative Processing since one and half year ( K1 Visa ) , I don't know how long i will wait more .

I'm sorry to hear that! I'm just as surprised it was approved, 99% I expected administrative processing and 1% denial. I had plans to contact my congressman or senator as well because our case was legitimate, have you tried reaching out to them? I think because you've been in AP for over 1 year you have a right to know the status now.

 

[simplykay 12]

@salhasl