Rejection of proof of petitioner domicile for one but not another applicant

[Tony MoreYork 1]

My wife is a US citizen and I live with her and my two daughters in the UK.  My youngest daughter is not yet 18 and her application was expedited in August 2021.  She has since had her interview and medical and The Embassy has her passport for visa issuance.  They've had for a while now.  My eldest daughter, who is now 20, had my wife's domicile flagged as an issue requiring supporting proof in June 2021.  We provided a statement that my wife had the honest intention to live in the USA near her elderly and not altogether healthy parents.  That was rejected on both my application and my elder daughters in September 2021.  We therefore submitted bank statements that my wife has for a US account she has had for many years as this was listed as supporting proof of domicile.  This led to my daughters application being dcomentarily approved and she now awaits an interview date.  Oddly, the same document has been rejected on my application and I now require to add more proof.  Has anyone got any experience of this sort of inconsistency and any advice on how to move forward would be much appreciated.  Many thanks.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

Maybe evidence of job search/apartment search?

Do you have a joint sponsor or will your wife's income continue after your move to the US?

The reason is not that important, in this case you just basically need to give them what they are asking for, I think.

[Tony MoreYork 1]

9 minutes ago, EM_Vandaveer said:

Maybe evidence of job search/apartment search?

Do you have a joint sponsor or will your wife's income continue after your move to the US?

The reason is not that important, in this case you just basically need to give them what they are asking for, I think.

Yeah, I guess I can upgrade the proof to property ownership, which I think can be arranged.

We have a joint sponsor - my wife's father.

Problem is the domicile proof required is not specified (and strangely already approved for two of the three applications we have in......

 

Thanks for your suggestions!

[pushbrk 12,893]

8 hours ago, Tony MoreYork said:

Yeah, I guess I can upgrade the proof to property ownership, which I think can be arranged.

We have a joint sponsor - my wife's father.

Problem is the domicile proof required is not specified (and strangely already approved for two of the three applications we have in......

 

Thanks for your suggestions!

You can only show property ownership if she owns property.  If she does, I would think you would have used that already.  Where do you plan to live when you first arrive?  Document that.

[Tony MoreYork 1]

On 1/7/2022 at 12:18 AM, pushbrk said:

You can only show property ownership if she owns property.  If she does, I would think you would have used that already.  Where do you plan to live when you first arrive?  Document that.

Many thanks for the response.  We have documented that we intend to initially live with my wife's parents in their home.  My wife's parents intend to move to residential care.  Maybe this was a problem?  My wife now has secured property nearby, which is deeded in her name and she has now been sent a tax bill.  I hope that will be sufficient to convince NVC that she/we intend to domicile in the US.  What do you think?

[pushbrk 12,893]

12 hours ago, Tony MoreYork said:

Many thanks for the response.  We have documented that we intend to initially live with my wife's parents in their home.  My wife's parents intend to move to residential care.  Maybe this was a problem?  My wife now has secured property nearby, which is deeded in her name and she has now been sent a tax bill.  I hope that will be sufficient to convince NVC that she/we intend to domicile in the US.  What do you think?

Depends on what you mean be "secured property".  If it's a title transfer from a family member, then it could looked contrived.  If she directly purchased a house and land from it's previous owner, it's golden.  Other possible scenarios could be either good or bad.  If you want good information, be more specific.  Vague details will not produce reliable adivce.

[EKT 117]

Did she submit a signed letter declaring her intent to reestablish domicile? I ended up using the declaration (below) as cover letter for all of my domicile evidence and uploaded the actual evidence separately. She can also show that she is cutting ties with the UK by closing bank accounts, selling property, etc.  We have been living overseas for over 10 years and I have no property in the US. My husband's visa was approved at his interview this morning.

 

But I agree that it's odd it was accepted for your children and not for you. It might be with calling NVC and just pointing that out to see a supervisor can review and override the rejection. Good luck!

 

 

 

[EKT 117]

Oh, I also included detailed shipping quotes for our belongings and dog in the final version of the letter. But again, I have no concrete ties to the US (such a job offer/employment, real estate or leased property or even a current driver's licence). They just need to be convinced that she intends to move back permanently.

[Tony MoreYork 1]

10 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Depends on what you mean be "secured property".  If it's a title transfer from a family member, then it could looked contrived.  If she directly purchased a house and land from it's previous owner, it's golden.  Other possible scenarios could be either good or bad.  If you want good information, be more specific.  Vague details will not produce reliable adivce.

Many thanks again fro the advice. And, also thanks to EKT.  Here are some details, taking on board what both of you have advised/written. Note these are actions we took or documents we provided after my younger daughter, aged 17, was documetarily approved.

 

1. In response to the NVC's note that my wife may not be domicile, my wife made the declaration much like the first paragraph provided by EKT in a signed letter.  The letter was also specific about our intention to live in the house my wife's parents occupied as they are intending to move to residential care.

2. This was not sufficient, so in addition, at a subsequent stage my wife submitted evidence of her bank account held at a bank in the same city as where her parents life (and indeed where she used to live in the early 80s).

3. The NVC approved my elder daughters documents on this basis and she awaits an interview.

4. On he same date the same documents were rejected on my application.

5. Since then (and since first posting here) I used the online form to communicate with the NVC to expedite a reconsideration of my application, noting that the documents had been approved for my elder daughter and that unless we are able to travel (with approved visas) to the US before my younger daughter's 18 birthday (June 1st), she will not longer have the opportunity to take up her right to US citizenship.

6. I received yesterday a confirmation that my request to expedite was being considered - apparently it is the Embassy that does the considering.  This is as close as I could get to making a call to the NVC and having a supervisor look things over as EKT suggested.

 

So, I have a bit of a pause now, while I wait for the response to the request to expedite.  In that pause, I think is would be best to assemble the best case to demonstrate that my wife is intending to live in the US permanently.  The thing we have done so far is, as you suspected, transfer a property into my wife's ownership from that of her family members.  As a result she will get a tax bill.  As you say, this could be perceived as contrived.  Taking that together with advice from EKT, it seems to me that the evidence my wife needs to assemble is of the sort that SHE is being proactive about the move, rather than the move being made straightforward for her (and us as a family) by those family members already living in the US.  Here's what I think would be a good thing to do:

 

1. Show that we do have a place to live immediately on arrival and that it is a place that my wife now owns (being upfront about it being transferred etc).  Not the strongest evidence in its own right, but hey.

2. Get quotes for moving our household from the UK to the US.

3. Get a sale valuation on our home in the UK.

4. We have already researched how to get to the US with our dogs.  Our favoured option is to take the Queen Mary liner from the UK to New York because it has kennels on board.  But how we evidence this, I don't know.  Get a quote I guess.

6. As an option we could also show that my wife owned stocks in the US until a few years ago at which point she sold them off to have cash to help with setting us up in the US.

 

I now this is a big ask, but what do you think about those options?  I am also conscious that the NVC says don't do anything like sell or buy stuff based on the assumption that the visas will be approved, so there are limits of the extent to which evidence can be provided.

 

Thanks once again for you valuable advice to date!

 

 

 

[Tony MoreYork 1]

6 hours ago, EKT said:

Oh, I also included detailed shipping quotes for our belongings and dog in the final version of the letter. But again, I have no concrete ties to the US (such a job offer/employment, real estate or leased property or even a current driver's licence). They just need to be convinced that she intends to move back permanently.

Many thank EKT! I've responded in a message above to integrate both your and pushbrk's comments.

[pushbrk 12,893]

4 hours ago, Tony MoreYork said:

Many thanks again fro the advice. And, also thanks to EKT.  Here are some details, taking on board what both of you have advised/written. Note these are actions we took or documents we provided after my younger daughter, aged 17, was documetarily approved.

 

1. In response to the NVC's note that my wife may not be domicile, my wife made the declaration much like the first paragraph provided by EKT in a signed letter.  The letter was also specific about our intention to live in the house my wife's parents occupied as they are intending to move to residential care.

2. This was not sufficient, so in addition, at a subsequent stage my wife submitted evidence of her bank account held at a bank in the same city as where her parents life (and indeed where she used to live in the early 80s).

3. The NVC approved my elder daughters documents on this basis and she awaits an interview.

4. On he same date the same documents were rejected on my application.

5. Since then (and since first posting here) I used the online form to communicate with the NVC to expedite a reconsideration of my application, noting that the documents had been approved for my elder daughter and that unless we are able to travel (with approved visas) to the US before my younger daughter's 18 birthday (June 1st), she will not longer have the opportunity to take up her right to US citizenship.

6. I received yesterday a confirmation that my request to expedite was being considered - apparently it is the Embassy that does the considering.  This is as close as I could get to making a call to the NVC and having a supervisor look things over as EKT suggested.

 

So, I have a bit of a pause now, while I wait for the response to the request to expedite.  In that pause, I think is would be best to assemble the best case to demonstrate that my wife is intending to live in the US permanently.  The thing we have done so far is, as you suspected, transfer a property into my wife's ownership from that of her family members.  As a result she will get a tax bill.  As you say, this could be perceived as contrived.  Taking that together with advice from EKT, it seems to me that the evidence my wife needs to assemble is of the sort that SHE is being proactive about the move, rather than the move being made straightforward for her (and us as a family) by those family members already living in the US.  Here's what I think would be a good thing to do:

 

1. Show that we do have a place to live immediately on arrival and that it is a place that my wife now owns (being upfront about it being transferred etc).  Not the strongest evidence in its own right, but hey.

2. Get quotes for moving our household from the UK to the US.

3. Get a sale valuation on our home in the UK.

4. We have already researched how to get to the US with our dogs.  Our favoured option is to take the Queen Mary liner from the UK to New York because it has kennels on board.  But how we evidence this, I don't know.  Get a quote I guess.

6. As an option we could also show that my wife owned stocks in the US until a few years ago at which point she sold them off to have cash to help with setting us up in the US.

 

I now this is a big ask, but what do you think about those options?  I am also conscious that the NVC says don't do anything like sell or buy stuff based on the assumption that the visas will be approved, so there are limits of the extent to which evidence can be provided.

 

Thanks once again for you valuable advice to date!

 

 

 

Still looks and feels contrived to me. You want to look serious.  List your UK house for sale.  

[EKT 117]

13 hours ago, Tony MoreYork said:

Many thanks again fro the advice. And, also thanks to EKT.  Here are some details, taking on board what both of you have advised/written. Note these are actions we took or documents we provided after my younger daughter, aged 17, was documetarily approved.

 

1. In response to the NVC's note that my wife may not be domicile, my wife made the declaration much like the first paragraph provided by EKT in a signed letter.  The letter was also specific about our intention to live in the house my wife's parents occupied as they are intending to move to residential care.

2. This was not sufficient, so in addition, at a subsequent stage my wife submitted evidence of her bank account held at a bank in the same city as where her parents life (and indeed where she used to live in the early 80s).

3. The NVC approved my elder daughters documents on this basis and she awaits an interview.

4. On he same date the same documents were rejected on my application.

5. Since then (and since first posting here) I used the online form to communicate with the NVC to expedite a reconsideration of my application, noting that the documents had been approved for my elder daughter and that unless we are able to travel (with approved visas) to the US before my younger daughter's 18 birthday (June 1st), she will not longer have the opportunity to take up her right to US citizenship.

6. I received yesterday a confirmation that my request to expedite was being considered - apparently it is the Embassy that does the considering.  This is as close as I could get to making a call to the NVC and having a supervisor look things over as EKT suggested.

 

So, I have a bit of a pause now, while I wait for the response to the request to expedite.  In that pause, I think is would be best to assemble the best case to demonstrate that my wife is intending to live in the US permanently.  The thing we have done so far is, as you suspected, transfer a property into my wife's ownership from that of her family members.  As a result she will get a tax bill.  As you say, this could be perceived as contrived.  Taking that together with advice from EKT, it seems to me that the evidence my wife needs to assemble is of the sort that SHE is being proactive about the move, rather than the move being made straightforward for her (and us as a family) by those family members already living in the US.  Here's what I think would be a good thing to do:

 

1. Show that we do have a place to live immediately on arrival and that it is a place that my wife now owns (being upfront about it being transferred etc).  Not the strongest evidence in its own right, but hey.

2. Get quotes for moving our household from the UK to the US.

3. Get a sale valuation on our home in the UK.

4. We have already researched how to get to the US with our dogs.  Our favoured option is to take the Queen Mary liner from the UK to New York because it has kennels on board.  But how we evidence this, I don't know.  Get a quote I guess.

6. As an option we could also show that my wife owned stocks in the US until a few years ago at which point she sold them off to have cash to help with setting us up in the US.

 

I now this is a big ask, but what do you think about those options?  I am also conscious that the NVC says don't do anything like sell or buy stuff based on the assumption that the visas will be approved, so there are limits of the extent to which evidence can be provided.

 

Thanks once again for you valuable advice to date!

 

 

 

I think this would be enough based on our experience. You could check in the UK regional page to see if there are any posts about domicile that are specific to your consulate. Hope you get everything resolved soon!