When To Start The Visa Process?

[OrihimeandIchigo 216]

17 minutes ago, D2345 said:

The second sentence is confusing me. I need to show intent to establish domicile in the US when I already live and work there?

 

I'm at the start of the I-130 form and it's already asking for my mailing address and whether I live at my mailing address.

 

I would have assumed the answer to both of those questions is my US address, because that's my permanent address. Correct? My overseas address is just a small hotel we're staying in temporarily.

 

The section quoted earlier by OrihimeandIchigo says one example of showing intent to establish domicile in the US is accepting a job there. Uhh. I already have a job there. That whole instruction sounds irrelevant to my situation, no?

 

Thanks

If you live and work in the USA you only need to show domicile which would be like Birth certificate, W2s or driver's license. 

 

If you live overseas and file taxes while abroad you would need to show more evidence of domicile. But thats not your case so your fine. 

 

And yes if you live in the USA permanently and only visit for a short time overseas you should put down on the I-130 your USA address. Also you should make sure your back home in the states to gather any paperwork and notices USCIS sends you.

Edited June 23, 2020 by OrihimeandIchigo

[D2345 2]

Just now, OrihimeandIchigo said:

And yes if you live in the USA permanently and only visit for a short time overseas you should put down on the I-130 your USA address. Also you should make sure your back home in the states to gather any paperwork and notices USCIS sends you.

I'm not likely to be back in the USA for awhile if I can avoid it.

 

Aside from the current hassle involved in traveling anywhere due to the pandemic restrictions, I would really prefer to stay with my wife through the whole immigration process until it's finished -- unless there's some legal or technical issue with doing that.

 

But I do have relatives at my home address who can monitor any paperwork that may be sent to me there.

 

Also can't you opt to receive all of that by email now?

[pushbrk 13,063]

3 hours ago, OrihimeandIchigo said:

 

 acceptable proof of domicile according to USCIS: https://www.uscis.gov/i-864

"Item Number 5. Country of Domicile

Very short answer.  USCIS does NOT issue visas.  This is a question about a visa process and about the petitioner as the sponsor.

[pushbrk 13,063]

5 minutes ago, D2345 said:

I'm not likely to be back in the USA for awhile if I can avoid it.

 

Aside from the current hassle involved in traveling anywhere due to the pandemic restrictions, I would really prefer to stay with my wife through the whole immigration process until it's finished -- unless there's some legal or technical issue with doing that.

 

But I do have relatives at my home address who can monitor any paperwork that may be sent to me there.

 

Also can't you opt to receive all of that by email now?

So stay outside the US.  You are visiting Indonesia though.  You can stay as long as they will let you.  Your residence and domicile are the USA.  

 

Use the address your relatives can receive your mail, as your mailing address.  Unless you are authorized to actually live in Indonesia, you are just visiting and your physical address is in the US too.

 

You're going to need the paper mail for any requests from USCIS during the process.  No need for paper mail after petition approval until after US entry.  

[geowrian 22,338]

6 hours ago, D2345 said:

The second sentence is confusing me. I need to show intent to establish domicile in the US when I already live and work there?

I'm going off the information you have provided.

You said "I'm an expat staying overseas in Indonesia with my wife at the moment."

expat: "a person who lives outside their native country."

 

"I'm not likely to be back in the USA for awhile if I can avoid it."

 

So you say you are visiting, but also refer to living abroad. You have expressed a desire to remain abroad until at least Sept. 2021.

To me, this is living abroad. Per the FAM's definition (https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM010203.html), which is from on the INA definition:

Quote

Residence:  Defined in the INA 101(a)(33) (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(33)) as the place of general abode; the place of general abode of a person means his principal, actual dwelling place in fact, without regard to intent.

 

If my understanding is incorrect, that's fine. I do not know the specifics of your living arrangement and travel history. You do.

I will just refer to the definitions of these terms within an immigration context. Specific words have specific meanings here.  You will need to decide if they apply to your situation or not.

 

For instance, if you have only been abroad for a few months and living in temporary housings (i.e. hotels), that is materially different than somebody who has been working abroad for 2 years and residing in a spouse's house.

 

At the end of the day, I think all the domicile discussion is moot, though. As noted previously, I do not expect them to question your domicile or intent to establish domicile given the information presented in this thread. If you were petitioning somebody other than a spouse, the question would be more likely to arise IMO.

[D2345 2]

Just now, geowrian said:

I'm going off the information you have provided.

You said "I'm an expat staying overseas in Indonesia with my wife at the moment."

expat: "a person who lives outside their native country."

 

"I'm not likely to be back in the USA for awhile if I can avoid it."

 

So you say you are visiting, but also refer to living abroad. You have expressed a desire to remain abroad until at least Sept. 2021.

To me, this is living abroad. Per the FAM's definition (https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM010203.html), which is from on the INA definition:

 

If my understanding is incorrect, that's fine. I do not know the specifics of your living arrangement and travel history. You do.

I will just refer to the definitions of these terms within an immigration context. Specific words have specific meanings here.  You will need to decide if they apply to your situation or not.

 

For instance, if you have only been abroad for a few months and living in temporary housings (i.e. hotels), that is materially different than somebody who has been working abroad for 2 years and residing in a spouse's house.

 

At the end of the day, I think all the domicile discussion is moot, though. As noted previously, I do not expect them to question your domicile or intent to establish domicile given the information presented in this thread. If you were petitioning somebody other than a spouse, the question would be more likely to arise IMO.

I should have worded the OP better. Expat is not the right word.

 

Basically, I do a lot of overseas hobby travel but always on tourist visas, never working in any overseas country, and never staying in any country or address long term.

 

I have a permanent US address and US employment, US taxes, etc but none of these in any foreign country.

 

My wife and I have been traveling around Asia non-stop doing a lot of sightseeing since our marriage last year, so we visited a dozen or so countries together. Until the coronavirus pandemic hit, we didn't stay in any of these countries (including Indonesia) for more than a month at a time.

 

The only reason we're possibly stuck in Indonesia longer term is because I was granted an emergency visa (like all tourists in Indonesia during the pandemic) with an indefinite expiry date, and all of the neighboring countries' borders in Asia are closed so we can't continue our international travels like planned. It's a bit of an unusual situation.

 

But in any case, I don't have any work here or permanent address here in Indonesia. We will probably leave our hotel for another province next week. And we will start our international travels again when other countries in Asia allow it. So it's definitely a temporary arrangement and it seems logical to say I'm a very busy tourist who still has permanent domicile in the US.

[D2345 2]

On 6/23/2020 at 10:26 AM, geowrian said:

I'm going off the information you have provided.

You said "I'm an expat staying overseas in Indonesia with my wife at the moment."

expat: "a person who lives outside their native country."

 

"I'm not likely to be back in the USA for awhile if I can avoid it."

 

So you say you are visiting, but also refer to living abroad. You have expressed a desire to remain abroad until at least Sept. 2021.

To me, this is living abroad. Per the FAM's definition (https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM010203.html), which is from on the INA definition:

 

If my understanding is incorrect, that's fine. I do not know the specifics of your living arrangement and travel history. You do.

I will just refer to the definitions of these terms within an immigration context. Specific words have specific meanings here.  You will need to decide if they apply to your situation or not.

 

For instance, if you have only been abroad for a few months and living in temporary housings (i.e. hotels), that is materially different than somebody who has been working abroad for 2 years and residing in a spouse's house.

 

At the end of the day, I think all the domicile discussion is moot, though. As noted previously, I do not expect them to question your domicile or intent to establish domicile given the information presented in this thread. If you were petitioning somebody other than a spouse, the question would be more likely to arise IMO.

Hi,

 

Just to revisit this subject momentarily, let’s suppose I say in the Form I-130 that I live with my spouse at the hotel address in Indonesia. It’s more of a “homestay” type small hotel.

 

Like you said, in some sense that may be accurate because it’s been more than just a brief stay. And I could use the US address as my mailing address since I have relatives there to check mail.

 

In that case, will it cause any problems or raise any new issues for my application if I say we’re presently living together in Indonesia? The owner would be happy to help if we need legal verification/documentation of any kind. And my Indonesia visa is still valid.
 

Before the pandemic we were only staying at the hotel one month at a time, between visiting other countries. But now during the pandemic we’ve been stuck here for several months.

 

The problem with leaving the hotel out of my application is not just that it hurts our chances of approval, but also I’d be saying we’ve never lived together since marriage, which is not really truthful either. We’ve been together ever since marriage, for more than a year, although we did spend a lot of that time traveling in various countries together.

 

I could see this going either way. But I know I need to be clear in my Form I-130 that we HAVE lived and been together since marriage. So now I’m wondering if maybe my best bet is listing that we live together at the hotel.

 

Any thoughts on going that route?

Edited June 25, 2020 by D2345

[pushbrk 13,063]

1 hour ago, D2345 said:

Hi,

 

Just to revisit this subject momentarily, let’s suppose I say in the Form I-130 that I live with my spouse at the hotel address in Indonesia. It’s more of a “homestay” type small hotel.

 

Like you said, in some sense that may be accurate because it’s been more than just a brief stay. And I could use the US address as my mailing address since I have relatives there to check mail.

 

In that case, will it cause any problems or raise any new issues for my application if I say we’re presently living together in Indonesia? The owner would be happy to help if we need legal verification/documentation of any kind. And my Indonesia visa is still valid.
 

Before the pandemic we were only staying at the hotel one month at a time, between visiting other countries. But now during the pandemic we’ve been stuck here for several months.

 

The problem with leaving the hotel out of my application is not just that it hurts our chances of approval, but also I’d be saying we’ve never lived together since marriage, which is not really truthful either. We’ve been together ever since marriage, for more than a year, although we did spend a lot of that time traveling in various countries together.

 

I could see this going either way. But I know I need to be clear in my Form I-130 that we HAVE lived and been together since marriage. So now I’m wondering if maybe my best bet is listing that we live together at the hotel.

 

Any thoughts on going that route?

Actual information is very helpful.  Yes, I would use the homestay address as your physical address if that is where you ARE when you file the petition.  Otherwise, enter it as a past address.  You can also use a text field on the last page of the I-130 and/or a cover letter to explain this.