Petition for Alien Relative Outside of the U.S. - Both Sponsor and Dependant Residing Outside of the U.S.

[OldUser 6,999]

10 hours ago, WoodlandsFamily said:

Honest question, what if a sponsor is impossible to find? Can it be up to the Officer at the interview to accept cash assets? I am having a similar problem 😢 is it a case of no sponsor no Green Cards? 

Yes, pretty much. If USCIS does not accept the assets and there is no qualifying joint sponsor then there is no GC.

Edited September 9 by OldUser

[appleblossom 2,815]

10 hours ago, WoodlandsFamily said:

I thought it was 5 x the shortfall if both the USC and the beneficiary are outside the US and earnings are therefore $0 and using cash or assets to make up the difference?

 

3 x for spouse or child of a USC. 5 x for any other relative. 

[WoodlandsFamily 13]

13 hours ago, appleblossom said:

 

3 x for spouse or child of a USC. 5 x for any other relative. 

Thank you for your reply.

 

I thought assets that were outside of the US, that belong both to the spouse as well as the USC, could be used however would be 5 times the poverty guideline? 

[WoodlandsFamily 13]

13 hours ago, OldUser said:

Yes, pretty much. If USCIS does not accept the assets and there is no qualifying joint sponsor then there is no GC.

Thank you for your reply. I have to hope they accept the assets and keep my fingers crossed 🤞 because the joint sponsor is proving difficult to find 😒

[Crazy Cat 41,985]

**Hijack comment split to new topic***

[ArtUK 0]

On 9/6/2024 at 11:44 PM, powpow13 said:

Hey @ArtUK,

 

The issue is not that your wife receives income in the UK, it's that the Sponsor MUST be a full-time resident of the United States (even if qualifying with assets). You can see this on the USCIS website here, under "Sponsor for Affidavit of Support": the requirements are that the Sponsor must be at least 18 years old, a USC, and living in the United States. The only exception is "If you live abroad, you may still be eligible to be a sponsor if you can show that your residence abroad is temporary, and that you still have your domicile in the United States." In this case, it might be difficult for your wife to prove she's only in the UK temporarily as, from what I understand, you have been there since 2020/she might not have a domicile in the United States anymore.

 

The easiest option is to have a member of her family, someone who resides full-time in the United States and can prove that (with US tax documents, paystubs, driver's license, utility bills, anything that proves they have been residing in the United States for some time). Of course, they'll have to prove they're also a United States citizen, i.e. show a scan of their passport. Even if you transfer your assets to the US, your wife would have to prove her residence like this as well, which is why I think it might be easier for you both to ask another USC to be your sponsor. 

 

I hope your family members will be able to assist, and I'm wishing you both the best of luck!

Hi @powpow13,

 

Thanks a lot for your in detailed response! Apologies on the delayed reply we had actually just returned from the U.S. and have been very jet-lagged.

 

I guess my question is, what is required to prove that the U.K. was planned on being temporary - without boring you too much our desire when we first decided to end long-distance and reside together was for me to come to the U.S. on the fiancé visa however this was during COVID and processing times were extraordinary. Whereas in the U.K. they were weeks if you paid to expedite (which we did) and that is why my then fiancée came to the U.K. and we got married in the U.K. then throw in a pregnancy or two and it has been difficult to to up sticks and move to the U.S. as you can imagine.

 

I would say that my wife has maintained strong ties with her home country, she has been returning to the U.S. for roughly 2-3 months over the year, every year with our kids - mainly in summer and thanksgiving / xmas. She has also renewed her drivers license, maintained bank accounts, filed taxes in the US as well as voting in elections. 

 

If even with all this would it be tough to prove the UK is temporary? We are fortunate that a we have the offer of sponsorship from an immediate family member so if utilising said sponsor makes this process even slightly easier I am willing to do that I just wanted to understand if we could do this off of our two feet so to speak. 

 

Thanks! 

[Lil bear 4,261]

4 hours ago, ArtUK said:

Hi @powpow13,

 

Thanks a lot for your in detailed response! Apologies on the delayed reply we had actually just returned from the U.S. and have been very jet-lagged.

 

I guess my question is, what is required to prove that the U.K. was planned on being temporary - without boring you too much our desire when we first decided to end long-distance and reside together was for me to come to the U.S. on the fiancé visa however this was during COVID and processing times were extraordinary. Whereas in the U.K. they were weeks if you paid to expedite (which we did) and that is why my then fiancée came to the U.K. and we got married in the U.K. then throw in a pregnancy or two and it has been difficult to to up sticks and move to the U.S. as you can imagine.

 

I would say that my wife has maintained strong ties with her home country, she has been returning to the U.S. for roughly 2-3 months over the year, every year with our kids - mainly in summer and thanksgiving / xmas. She has also renewed her drivers license, maintained bank accounts, filed taxes in the US as well as voting in elections. 

 

If even with all this would it be tough to prove the UK is temporary? We are fortunate that a we have the offer of sponsorship from an immediate family member so if utilising said sponsor makes this process even slightly easier I am willing to do that I just wanted to understand if we could do this off of our two feet so to speak. 

 

Thanks! 

Its not so much showing that UK was temporary.. Its about demonstrating that living in the US is now going to be permanent. 
Your ongoing ties are helpful but you are likely to do better if you 

1. Have a job lined up if possible

2. have a place of residence lined up and documents to show this .. apartment lease or even a documented arrangement with family if you are staying there initially

3. evidence of leaving uk jobs, property on the market etc 

4. enrolment documents for school aged children

 

 Worst case is you get given the I 221g paper and told to send in documents when you have them that show the petitioner having relocated to the US and reestablished residency ready for the immigrants to reunite .. job, place of residence , insurance etc

 

Edited September 24 by Lil bear

[powpow13 4]

On 9/24/2024 at 5:05 AM, ArtUK said:

Hi @powpow13,

 

Thanks a lot for your in detailed response! Apologies on the delayed reply we had actually just returned from the U.S. and have been very jet-lagged.

 

I guess my question is, what is required to prove that the U.K. was planned on being temporary - without boring you too much our desire when we first decided to end long-distance and reside together was for me to come to the U.S. on the fiancé visa however this was during COVID and processing times were extraordinary. Whereas in the U.K. they were weeks if you paid to expedite (which we did) and that is why my then fiancée came to the U.K. and we got married in the U.K. then throw in a pregnancy or two and it has been difficult to to up sticks and move to the U.S. as you can imagine.

 

I would say that my wife has maintained strong ties with her home country, she has been returning to the U.S. for roughly 2-3 months over the year, every year with our kids - mainly in summer and thanksgiving / xmas. She has also renewed her drivers license, maintained bank accounts, filed taxes in the US as well as voting in elections. 

 

If even with all this would it be tough to prove the UK is temporary? We are fortunate that a we have the offer of sponsorship from an immediate family member so if utilising said sponsor makes this process even slightly easier I am willing to do that I just wanted to understand if we could do this off of our two feet so to speak. 

 

Thanks! 

Hey @ArtUK,

 

No worries--in fact, sorry it took me a bit to respond to you. I work as an immigration law paralegal and, as you can imagine, it's been a busy period! Hope you're all settled and no longer jet-lagged. 

 

I researched the issue online and it seems your wife can qualify, but it's going to be difficult. All of those documents you listed, such as her travel receipts, photographs of her in the United States, driver's license, bank accounts, tax returns, they're great evidence that she hasn't abandoned her domicile in the United States. If you can include evidence covering the entire period she lived overseas, that would be best. Even better if she owns property, perhaps has a storage unit, or a permanent mailing address in the U.S. Include also the docs Lil bear listed above, such as any future jobs, residence lined up, schools your kids are enrolled in for the future, anything at all that shows your wife is intent on living in the United States. I would also suggest a letter, written and signed by your wife, that explains the reasons why she lived in the UK for so long--family obligations, difficult & slow immigration process, perhaps even some health or family issues, etc.--but that she still considers the United States her primary domicile and she's working on living full-time in the States. 

 

Here are some resources I found about proving her domicile in the U.S., hopefully they will help:

https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/prove-domicile-form-i-864/

https://www.immigrationhelp.org/learning-center/proof-of-us-domicile

https://citizenpath.com/proof-of-domicile-i-864/

https://www.novacredit.com/resources/proof-of-domicile

 

The biggest factor in your case is that your wife has been living in the UK for the past four years, so you'll have to work hard at showing that she never intended to abandon her domicile and the plan was always to come back and live together in the U.S. My recommendation would be to have an extra I-864 ready from one of her family members, just in case; CEAC *sometimes* lets you know why a certain document has been rejected and, if they find issues with the affidavit, you have the opportunity to supplement it. (Plus, the joint sponsor doesn't have to show all the stuff your wife does; they can just show their tax return, passport, and driver's license, with maybe a few paystubs and utility bills if necessary). Be prepared, as the Department of State and USCIS has been particularly strict with affidavit of supports recently. 

 

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any issues with CEAC!

[Boiler 45,744]

London is pretty easy on domicile, you do not need much.