DCF London - any guidance on what qualifies as a "short notice" job offers is in weeks/months?

[chinchira 0]

Hi there - I have been lurking for a while and have seen a few similar posts, but none had the actual outcome of their DCF application. I am a USC living in England and married my EU citizen spouse ~3months ago. I worked for my current company in the US for a few years before being reassigned to a temporary contract-based project in the UK. I have been here for ~3years and my assignment ends next September (~10months from now). After the project ends, I will be reassigned back to our US-based company with guaranteed employment. I could technically seek out a new project and stay in the UK if any are available at that time, but this isn't guaranteed and we would really prefer to start our life in the US. The wording on what's considered as a "short notice" job offer/reassignment for DCF feels intentionally vague, and my worry is that our moving timelines would be too far in the future to be considered.

 

I see two options for us:

 

1. Start "normal" CR1-1/I-130 petition ASAP and pursue a new contract to stay in the UK. This would likely get us the visa eventually, but would require us to stay abroad longer than we planned. Moreso, my UK contract isn't 100% guaranteed to be renewed, and I could have to relocate back stateside without my spouse for many months.
2. Try our luck with filing through DCF with a "short notice" reassignment exceptional circumstance. This would allow us to relocate as planned when my contract ends, but if we are rejected, we would've wasted a lot of time that could've been put towards the I-130 route.

 

So, my question is... has anyone heard of success stories applying for DCF with job offer dates >6months in the future? It seems like most individuals who have qualified for DCF with "short notice" (understandably!) have relocation offers within a few weeks or <6months. Might we be better off waiting until springtime to apply for DCF? I'm conscious of this being a bit of a dishonest route since I know my end date well in advance, and don't want to waste precious months that could just be put towards the I-130 process. I know acceptance/rejection isn't guaranteed either way, but just curious if 10 months even constitutes "short notice".

 

Any insight is super appreciated. Thanks

[Ontarkie 14,263]

All you can do is try. Personally 10 months is not short notice, but I'm not the one making the decisions.