4 questions regarding address, salary, and degrees. Appreciate your help! :)

[Nitas_man 3,100]

38 minutes ago, Alexsea said:

Okay thanks a lot! How come it was too much work to put the USCIS Online Account Number? Does it cause a hold-up in your application? 

Just lazy

 

33 minutes ago, Alexsea said:

I'm sorry, all of these responses just opened a can of worms, and now there are million different questions/topics within one thread... but to add: to joint sponsors fill out I-864, I-864A, or both? 

 

I thought it was just I-864A, but on the regular I-864, I see a box for "I am the only joint sponsor" and "I am the first/second of two joint sponsors."

 

My parents live together, and file their taxes jointly. Both of them qualify for the 125% rule on their own for a household of 4 (my mom, my dad, my husband the immigrant, and myself the sponsor)... should I just have ONE of them do it? Or should I do both? As stated, they file their taxes jointly so their tax transcripts are the same. 

 

Ugh what a mess! I'm considering getting a lawyer, because our situation doesn't seem to be very textbook. But in the meantime I appreciate all of the help!

@pushbrk advise if this is a shared household I864A or should one of the parents fill out an I-864 only for household size 3

 

My instinct is if you all intend to share a household each parent would file a separate I864A with their individual incomes and attach the joint tax transcript to each form however pushbrk can advise precisely what to do.

 

We did what you are doing on assets so that simplified our case a LOT

Edited April 25, 2020 by Nitas_man

[NikLR 13,227]

51 minutes ago, Alexsea said:

Are these duplicate topics? I didn't think so! One is about what form to use and the other is a out how to answer certain questions. 😊  Sorry about that! 

I meant that my parents, the joint sponsors, already have the i-864A filled out. And I will do the i-864! 😀

They do not use the I-864A. 

You will do the I-864.

One parent will do the I-864 as a joint sponsor

The other parent will do the I-864A as their household member.

Your parents are NOT your household members. 

[NikLR 13,227]

49 minutes ago, Alexsea said:

Also, this brings me to another question then... where it says COUNTRY OF DOMICILE on the i-864 form, should I put the country I currently live in in Europe, and provide all of my "evidence" documents of maintaining connections to the US/having the intention of returning??

 

Or should I put my country of domicile as the US from the start and use the documents I have gathered in oder to prove/defend that?

 

This is what I saw on an immigration services website:

If you live abroad but still claim a U.S. domicile, you will need to submit with your Form I-864 a written explanation and documentary evidence in support of your claim. Your claim will be successful only if you can prove either that are employed abroad by certain U.S.-related entities or that you are otherwise living abroad temporarily. 

 

Kind of leads me to believe I should write USA and then provide the evidence. Man I wish we were an open and shut case! 😖

You put the truth.  Where are you currently domiciled? If it's not the USA you don't put USA.  You'd then submit the evidence of intent to reestablish domicile. 

And as a note, you're asking questions about the I-864 in BOTH threads so they should stay together.  Any questions about your CASE normally should stay within the same thread. 

[Alexsea 45]

22 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

Just lazy

 

@pushbrk advise if this is a shared household I864A or should one of the parents fill out an I-864 only for household size 3

 

My instinct is if you all intend to share a household each parent would file a separate I864A with their individual incomes and attach the joint tax transcript to each form however pushbrk can advise precisely what to do.

 

We did what you are doing on assets so that simplified our case a LOT

Haha I understand the lazy comment!  Out of curiosity, were you living inside or outside the US as the sponsor when you went through this process? 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

10 minutes ago, Alexsea said:

Haha I understand the lazy comment!  Out of curiosity, were you living inside or outside the US as the sponsor when you went through this process? 

Outside the US.  Refer to the (corrected) address summary

 

On I-864:  My physical address was foreign, country of domicile was foreign, my mailing address was US

Edited April 25, 2020 by Nitas_man

[Alexsea 45]

29 minutes ago, NikLR said:

You put the truth.  Where are you currently domiciled? If it's not the USA you don't put USA.  You'd then submit the evidence of intent to reestablish domicile. 

And as a note, you're asking questions about the I-864 in BOTH threads so they should stay together.  Any questions about your CASE normally should stay within the same thread. 

This is a difficult question to answer. I have always considered the US my domicile (place I intend to return to). I consider my "address" here in Europe to be a temporary one. We have not bought property here (we don't intend to), I don't have a driver's license here, I do not intend on becoming a citizen... I still haven't even switched over to a cell phone plan after 6 years of living here (still on the pay-as-you-go temporary plan 😂). I even maintain my doctor and dentist visits when I go home (which is about 3 times a year), and haven't even found a consistent doctor/dentist here where I actually live. 

 

So what is the legal definition of domicile in the US? What does immigration consider it to be? Online, this is what I find: 

• Simply put, your domicile is your home—where you consider your permanent place of residence. If you aren't living there right now, then it's the place to which you intend to return and make your home indefinitely. You can have more than one residence, but only one domicile.
• While states differ somewhat in how they define the place of domicile, the general rule of thumb can be stated as follows: the domicile is the place a person regards as his or her true home, and where they maintain the most economic, social, political, and family ties. Strong indicators of domicile include wherever a person pays taxes, votes, has a driver’s license, and lives most the year.

Seems so subjective. By these definitions, I would consider Europe as my place of residence and US as my domicile. Most of the things in the second bullet apply to me (drivers license, voting, an active bank account, my whole family is there, etc.) with the exception of where I live most of the year, which is Europe (and the taxes - I do pay them here but I also file each year with the IRS). 

 

But if the definition is supposed to be where I spend most of my time, then no, my domicile is not the US. This is where my confusion is coming from. 😔

Edited April 25, 2020 by Alexsea

[Alexsea 45]

10 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

Outside the US.  Refer to the (corrected) address summary

 

On I-864:  My physical address was foreign, country of domicile was foreign, my mailing address was US

Ah yes, I see that now. So you did put your country of domicile as the foreign country! Interesting. And they accepted it, I am guessing? Did you use the last page of additional information on I-864 to give more details about your domicile? 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

2 minutes ago, Alexsea said:

This is a difficult question to answer. I have always considered the US my domicile (place I intend to return to). I consider my "address" here in Europe to be a temporary one. We have not bought property here (we don't intend to), I don't have a driver's license here, I do not intend on becoming a citizen... I still haven't even switched over to a cell phone plan after 6 years of living here (still on the pay-as-you-go temporary plan 😂). 

 

So what is the legal definition of domicile in the US? What does immigration consider it to be? Online, this is what I find: 

• Simply put, your domicile is your home—where you consider your permanent place of residence. If you aren't living there right now, then it's the place to which you intend to return and make your home indefinitely. You can have more than one residence, but only one domicile.
• While states differ somewhat in how they define the place of domicile, the general rule of thumb can be stated as follows: the domicile is the place a person regards as his or her true home, and where they maintain the most economic, social, political, and family ties. Strong indicators of domicile include wherever a person pays taxes, votes, has a driver’s license, and lives most the year.

Seems so subjective. By these definitions, I would consider Europe as my place of residence and US as my domicile. Most of the things in the second bullet apply to me (drivers license, voting, an active bank account, my whole family is there, etc.) with the exception of where I live most of the year, which is Europe (and the taxes - I do pay them here but I also file each year with the IRS). 

 

But if the definition is supposed to be where I spend most of my time, then no, my domicile is not the US. This is where my confusion is coming from. 😔

Yeah I just spent a few minutes thinking about it and since we lived overseas I told em I was domiciled overseas.  Didn't seem to matter one way or the other

[Alexsea 45]

2 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

Yeah I just spent a few minutes thinking about it and since we lived overseas I told em I was domiciled overseas.  Didn't seem to matter one way or the other

Maybe I'm overthinking it then! Been agonizing about it for like 2 weeks now. 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

12 minutes ago, Alexsea said:

Ah yes, I see that now. So you did put your country of domicile as the foreign country! Interesting. And they accepted it, I am guessing? Did you use the last page of additional information on I-864 to give more details about your domicile? 

Nah I just attend the interview.  We left and came back twice.  Once in 2011 and then in 2018.  Adding details is a lot of work.  Like looking up that number.

 

They spent more time talking to me than her.  Asking about our plans after entry etc.  I'm just upfront.  Told them that's my parents house but by the time we leave we'll likely be moving somewhere else.  Once the visa's in you have weeks and weeks to arrange a lease and set up for arrival and when it all shakes out you update your address at the airport when you enter anyway.  Interviewed with the same guy both times.  That was fun.  He must have had his notes because in 2011 he asked me if I knew her cell number and I said no Saudi numbers are too long and she's just "wifey" on my cell.  In 2017 when he interviewed us he asked me if I knew her number yet and I was like nope.  By then we had two kiddos running around the embassy and turned loose to be disruptive to hurry things along.

 

You guys are doing what we did minus the joint sponsor.  At the interview make it clear you live there together and you are returning to the US together.  Neither time we ended up living where all our stuff was addressed to when we got back.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Nitas_man

[NikLR 13,227]

1 hour ago, Alexsea said:

This is a difficult question to answer. I have always considered the US my domicile (place I intend to return to). I consider my "address" here in Europe to be a temporary one. We have not bought property here (we don't intend to), I don't have a driver's license here, I do not intend on becoming a citizen... I still haven't even switched over to a cell phone plan after 6 years of living here (still on the pay-as-you-go temporary plan 😂). I even maintain my doctor and dentist visits when I go home (which is about 3 times a year), and haven't even found a consistent doctor/dentist here where I actually live. 

 

So what is the legal definition of domicile in the US? What does immigration consider it to be? Online, this is what I find: 

• Simply put, your domicile is your home—where you consider your permanent place of residence. If you aren't living there right now, then it's the place to which you intend to return and make your home indefinitely. You can have more than one residence, but only one domicile.
• While states differ somewhat in how they define the place of domicile, the general rule of thumb can be stated as follows: the domicile is the place a person regards as his or her true home, and where they maintain the most economic, social, political, and family ties. Strong indicators of domicile include wherever a person pays taxes, votes, has a driver’s license, and lives most the year.

Seems so subjective. By these definitions, I would consider Europe as my place of residence and US as my domicile. Most of the things in the second bullet apply to me (drivers license, voting, an active bank account, my whole family is there, etc.) with the exception of where I live most of the year, which is Europe (and the taxes - I do pay them here but I also file each year with the IRS). 

 

But if the definition is supposed to be where I spend most of my time, then no, my domicile is not the US. This is where my confusion is coming from. 😔

Would the country you are living in consider you domiciled there? Do you have permanent residency? Could you use health care? Do you work there? Do you pay taxes as a resident or non-resident? Could you get a driver's license etc?  Was there actually a requirement of you doing so but you chose not to.  

 

For instance if you live in Colorado for 90 days you are now a resident of Colorado and have 30 days to change your license and vehicle registration over by law.  A law that's not enforced unless you're pulled over, but a law none-the-less. 

Also for example, you cannot use healthcare in Canada unless you're a resident of the province in which you seek medical services.  I can't use the health care without out of pocket costs and I am a Canadian citizen unless I was a resident of the province.  

As for taxes, it's a requirement of a USC to file taxes with the IRS regardless of living location.  MOST countries do not do this unless you own property.  I haven't filed a Canadian Tax return since I left since only those who work and/or live in Canada file tax returns in Canada. 

[NikLR 13,227]

Domicile really is only an issue for Canadians and people that have completely cut off their lives from the USA.  You haven't done that and providing evidence of your intent to domicile in the USA is more than sufficient for any location BUT Montreal.  Since you're not going there, you're more than fine. 

[Alexsea 45]

4 hours ago, NikLR said:

Would the country you are living in consider you domiciled there? Do you have permanent residency? Could you use health care? Do you work there? Do you pay taxes as a resident or non-resident? Could you get a driver's license etc?  Was there actually a requirement of you doing so but you chose not to.  

 

For instance if you live in Colorado for 90 days you are now a resident of Colorado and have 30 days to change your license and vehicle registration over by law.  A law that's not enforced unless you're pulled over, but a law none-the-less. 

Also for example, you cannot use healthcare in Canada unless you're a resident of the province in which you seek medical services.  I can't use the health care without out of pocket costs and I am a Canadian citizen unless I was a resident of the province.  

As for taxes, it's a requirement of a USC to file taxes with the IRS regardless of living location.  MOST countries do not do this unless you own property.  I haven't filed a Canadian Tax return since I left since only those who work and/or live in Canada file tax returns in Canada. 

Totally get your point! For me, living abroad has always been a temporary plan, which I think is evident from everything I've continued to do in the US since I left. Sure, I have access to things that residents (and non-residents, actually) generally have access to, whether they are here permanently or on a short-term assignment. But I don't know if residency = domicile, if that makes sense.  

 

But I think the answers have been clear so far, and it sounds like I shouldn't have a problem showing my intent to return to the US.  Thank you again for all the help, it's been really great to have the support of this forum!

[pushbrk 12,906]

6 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

 

@pushbrk advise if this is a shared household I864A or should one of the parents fill out an I-864 only for household size 3

 

My instinct is if you all intend to share a household each parent would file a separate I864A with their individual incomes and attach the joint tax transcript to each form however pushbrk can advise precisely what to do.

 

The trouble with instinct, in this context is that it's often wrong.  It makes sense, but still wrong. LOL

 

See NikLR post below for the correct answer.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 hour ago, pushbrk said:

The trouble with instinct, in this context is that it's often wrong.  It makes sense, but still wrong. LOL

 

See NikLR post below for the correct answer.

Lol

 

That’s why I bumped ya!