DS-260 review comment of proof of domicile

[Grasstuftus 0]

Hi,

 

I'm looking for some advice on proving US domicile for my wife who is American.

 

We have been married for 15 years and are living in the UK currently, but we are in the process of trying to move to the US. I submitted my immigration application last June, and my mother-in-law (who resides in the US) is acting as joint sponsor because my wife is currently unemployed. 

 

We're now at step 6, and my DS-260 application got a review comment back as follows:

 

"WIFE'S NAME might not have a principal residence or be domiciled in the United States. Please submit proof of domicile. For more information on domicile requirements, visit https://nvc.state.gov/fin."

 

Our immigration attorney wants to charge us another $1,500 for 5 hours of work getting together a strategy, which we think is excessive. So we called the NVC yesterday, and after about 2 hours on hold finally got some useful information.

 

What we are now trying to do is prove that my wife intends to move back to the US with me, by providing proof of the valuation on our house in the UK, contacting realtors in the US to find out about the housing market, and rental prices, correspondence with friends and family about moving back to the US and her voting record.

 

Can anyone advise (perhaps who has been in the same situation) if the above will be enough, or we should just bite the bullet and pay our immigration attorney the $1,500? Time is of the essence, as my wife has a family member who is ill.

 

Thanks in advance. 

 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

Once you please NVC enough to get passed on to London, they aren’t going to be too bothered about domicile. What you have mentioned about estate agents will be enough, if they even ask. 
 

Other ideas

if you have children, correspond by email with schools. ”We hope to be moving to your school district by summer. My children have only been schooled in England. What records should we prepare for the move?  Etc etc” 

Open a bank account (wife). 

 

 

[Grasstuftus 0]

39 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

Once you please NVC enough to get passed on to London, they aren’t going to be too bothered about domicile. What you have mentioned about estate agents will be enough, if they even ask. 
 

Other ideas

if you have children, correspond by email with schools. ”We hope to be moving to your school district by summer. My children have only been schooled in England. What records should we prepare for the move?  Etc etc” 

Open a bank account (wife). 

 

 

Thanks, that's good to know. We don't have kids but she's going to open a bank account.

[Chancy 6,241]

8 hours ago, Grasstuftus said:

Our immigration attorney wants to charge us another $1,500 for 5 hours of work getting together a strategy, which we think is excessive.

 

Wow, $1500 for info you can find on the DOS website?!  Just one documentary evidence from the list in the page below will be enough to address the NVC requirement for proof of domicile --

 

How can a financial petitioner establish a domicile?

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition/i-864-affidavit-faqs.html#aos23

 

[Grasstuftus 0]

14 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

Wow, $1500 for info you can find on the DOS website?!  Just one documentary evidence from the list in the page below will be enough to address the NVC requirement for proof of domicile --

 

How can a financial petitioner establish a domicile?

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition/i-864-affidavit-faqs.html#aos23

 

Thanks, it is rather ridiculous, all things considered.

 

Today I submitted 5 items in response including a letter from my wife to explain the situation, emails to and from our UK estate agent, valuation on our UK property, emails to and from our US realtor plus my wife's voting record (just to be sure).

 

I know that they respond in the order they receive questions, but I wonder how long it will take? That's about another 10+ days wasted, plus the response time, thanks to the long Easter weekend and our immigration attorney taking so long to respond.

[Chancy 6,241]

22 minutes ago, Grasstuftus said:

I know that they respond in the order they receive questions, but I wonder how long it will take? That's about another 10+ days wasted, plus the response time, thanks to the long Easter weekend and our immigration attorney taking so long to respond.

 

You uploaded the proof of domicile to the section for financial support documents, right?  Not attached to a question sent via the NVC public inquiry form, right?  Anyway, if you submitted the documents properly via CEAC portal, your case might go to the back of the line for review, like most re-submissions do.  That means another 3-month wait.  But some people get lucky and have their re-submissions reviewed much sooner.

 

Did you not upload any proof of domicile from your wife with your first submission?  If you had a lawyer advising you on what to submit the first time around, that would have been a major miss on their part.  It's listed explicitly in the I-864 instructions as a requirement for I-864 signatories whose address is not in the US.

 

[Grasstuftus 0]

47 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

You uploaded the proof of domicile to the section for financial support documents, right?  Not attached to a question sent via the NVC public inquiry form, right?  Anyway, if you submitted the documents properly via CEAC portal, your case might go to the back of the line for review, like most re-submissions do.  That means another 3-month wait.  But some people get lucky and have their re-submissions reviewed much sooner.

 

Did you not upload any proof of domicile from your wife with your first submission?  If you had a lawyer advising you on what to submit the first time around, that would have been a major miss on their part.  It's listed explicitly in the I-864 instructions as a requirement for I-864 signatories whose address is not in the US.

 

As you suspected, I uploaded the docs in the wrong place but have now corrected that mistake. Thank you so much. The lady we spoke to on the phone at the NVC said they deal with additional info in application order, so hopefully the additional info I submitted will be reviewed sooner rather than later.

 

Our immigration attorney did not request any proof of domicile docs from my wife, so you're right he definitely dropped the ball on that. He was insistent about specifying a US address for my wife, but did not say why. We resisted, as we won't know the address until right before we go. The review comment was the first I'd heard about proof of domicile. He's our 2nd immigration attorney and has been good until recently, if a little slow at times. The first one was dreadful and completely messed up our forms with information from me on my wife's form and vice versa plus a ton of spelling mistakes, so we wasted a month at the start before switching. Thankfully she hadn't taken payment, for some inexplicable reason, so it just cost us time rather than money too.