Removal of Conditons - question about living separately

[papasmf 90]

Hi,

 

My wife and I have a unique situation and we’re looking for some helpful advice, please.  
 

I may be moving out of state for a new job at the end of January.  My wife is currently a pre-school teacher, a new job she started at the beginning of the school year.  So, we’ve been discussing the idea of her staying behind at our friend’s apartment here for the remainder of the school year (until June 18th or so) so she can fulfill her responsibility to the school, parents, and children.  

With the above in mind, her 2 year green card expires on June 19, so we would need to start the ROC process in the middle of all this (around March 19 or so).

 

So, we have a few questions:

 

 1.) How should we go about informing USCIS (or any other agencies?) with regards to updating our separate addresses during the move, and 5 months later when she joins me at the new location?

 

 2.) Is this even possible to do while temporarily living separately, do you think it might create any problems for us, and if so what, if anything special, should we do?

 

3.) How should we go about documenting this situation in preparation for the ROC interview

 

4.) Regarding sending/receiving mail during the process I’m assuming it would be best to have it all sent to my new address, is there anything I should get sent to her temp address instead?

 

 5.) is there anything else I may not be thinking of that we need to ask or consider?

 

Thank you so much for your replies, this community has helped us so much, we are very grateful for you all!

[Sukie 1,460]

There are many couples who need to live separately for a while for school or job - so your situation is not unique.

 

You will need to change your address with USCIS - but you need to think about this:  Will YOUR address be the one that will be the "permanent" address?  If so, use YOUR address.  Assuming the two of you are talking frequently, you can forward or open (with her permission) any mail that comes at your address.  You are only apart for 5 months - and SHE is the one with the "temporary" address.

 

When comes time for ROC, just write a cover letter explaining that your wife remained behind due to a previous job commitment. (Does she have a written contract with the school district?)  Make sure you have documented evidence that you spent time together (Will one of you fly to the other?  Keep boarding passes.  Drive?  Show mileage logs for your car and substantiate with gasoline receipts.)  Take pictures with friends.  Have the friend with whom your wife is staying write an affidavit describing the situation and that s/he was more than happy to accommodate your wife while she finished the school year.

 

Not sure how you will handle money, but if you are with a bank where you both can use one account, then keep doing so.

 

Most of all - don't be afraid of USCIS.  Just keep any documents that show you kept in touch, and that the separation was only temporary.

 

Good luck to you on your journey!

 

Sukie in NY

[papasmf 90]

Thanks Sukie, yeah I figured it would be, actually more normal than not to do something like this.  Good to have peace of mind about it before jumping the gun with our decisions.  Thank you again

[USAjune2016 101]

Most probably they'll either issue a Request for new evidence(RFE), by then you'll be  living together again make sure you have her name on the new lease and change her address on the driver license or If they invited you for an interview you can also bring all these evidence and explain it in person. Of course this will make things little more complicated but a good thing I learned about USCIS is that as long as you're honest there is nothing to worry about except that things might take little longer. The explanation you're going to write on your cover letter supported by evidence and affidavits is super important.Make sure your case strong and include  every possible evidence to prove that you were living together before the end of January. You need to prove that this is temporary and not a separation.