Questions on DCF with exceptional circumstances

[MyFrenchLife 0]

Hello,

My apologies if this is a bit confusing. I am an American citizen living in France with my French wife and 2 children (both dual citizenship). I am again in a situation here in France where my residence permit has expired and the prefecture is negligent and takes forever to issue the proper papers to allow me to work and travel; its insane. Well anyways I have a question which involves our idea to try and go to the US after the end of this school year. We have a house in New York state and I should be able to get a job offer there which should qualify for the DCF EC correct? One thing that I am wondering about though is that my wife had an I-129f approved back in 2020 but with COVID the NVC waited to send it to the Paris Embassy until the situation was over. So before the Paris Embassy had received our approval from the NVC, I had already moved to France to be with my pregnant wife (we had to get married in Utah on zoom in order for me to arrive in France; February 2021). We received notice that the NVC sent the approval to the Embassy on April 21 2021 and stated to wait for its arrival. We had our first child in June 2021. Then had a 2nd child in December 2022. So our plans to go to the US had vanished for the near future. Now in April of 2023 we received notice the Visa was finally available. But at this point we were established in France and not to mention already married which defeats the purpose of the K-1. Will the embassy reject our request to file the I-130 as DCF under exceptional circumstances because we had already previously requested a I-129f/K-1 VISA ? I thought I read this somewhere; or does that just apply if you have a recently submitted I-130 already with the USCIS? 

I am worried if we file directly with USCIS that it will take too long and I will be stuck in France without work and unable to attend to the maintenance on our home. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

James

 

 

[Crazy Cat 41,806]

1.  The previously filed I-129f is invalid as of the day you married.  It will have no effect on your spousal case.

2.  Your consulate has total discretion on whether to accept your I-130 and case.  You should contact them to ask if they will accept based on your circumstances.

3.  Your consulate cannot accept your case (DCF) if you have already submitted an I-130 through USCIS. 

Edited September 21 by Crazy Cat

[MyFrenchLife 0]

On 9/21/2024 at 3:46 PM, Crazy Cat said:

1.  The previously filed I-129f is invalid as of the day you married.  It will have no effect on your spousal case.

2.  Your consulate has total discretion on whether to accept your I-130 and case.  You should contact them to ask if they will accept based on your circumstances.

3.  Your consulate cannot accept your case (DCF) if you have already submitted an I-130 through USCIS. 

Thank you for your quick response. In regards to your reply no.2; Do you think it would it be best to contact the embassy now with our questions and plans or just prior a few months prior to when we will be hoping to relocate? Obviously if they reject our circumstance the latter option would set us back even further with requiring a USCIS lockbox filing. 

[Boiler 45,442]

The Consulate processes applications they do not really provide guidance.