US Immigration from Italy

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share something we re currently navigating in our CR-1 visa journey.

I m a U.S. citizen and italian citizen planning to move back in Italy, and my husband (the beneficiary) is an Italian citizen currently living in Dubai. As we prepare to file our I-130, we re looking into the possibility of selecting the U.S. Consulate in Naples, Italy, rather than the default assignment of Abu Dhabi, which currently has an interview wait time of over 2 years and 8 months - something we simply can t manage emotionally or logistically.

What I found:

According to the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM)

9 FAM 504.4-8(C)(d):
It would be preferable for the couple to apply where the principal applicant resides.

9 FAM 504.4-8(C)(e):
However, if that is inconvenient, the couple could select the consulate where the derivative spouse resides.

Question for the community>

• Has anyone here successfully indicated a consulate different from where the beneficiary resides such as listing the petitioner's consulate instead?

• Any tips on how to present the request persuasively to NVC or the consulate?

• Has Naples been responsive to these kinds of requests?

CONTEXT: Not applied yet. I plan to be in Italy next Sunday with a one-way ticket (planned time ago) - Might have opportunity to request a DCF as I've been interviewing (please note that I'm in tech ans often interview can last over 5 months)

Thank you

Can anyone tell me what I should take with me and my husband? He has his permanent residence interview on 30 May has been one year to the day. We finally got a notification today wanting to know what the interview may be like anything extra than I should take with me all the help would be truly appreciated

Hi everyone,

I know similar questions have been asked before, but I m hoping to hear from anyone with recent experience given the current climate.

My wife is an Italian citizen living in Italy. We submitted the I-130 petition in October 2024, and it s still pending. She s planning to visit me in the U.S. soon using her ESTA. She has strong ties to Italy a full-time job, an active mortgage, a return flight booked, and no intention of staying in the U.S. permanently during this visit.

We re aware that having a pending I-130 can raise flags at the port of entry, so we re trying to be cautious. She does have the ability to work remotely, though again, her job is based in Italy and she fully plans to return home after the visit.

My question is:

Should we be worried about the ESTA entry given the pending petition? Has anyone gone through this recently? And if she s asked whether she can work remotely, should we be concerned about how that might be interpreted?

For her, this visit is purely a vacation there are no plans or expectations from her employer for her to work remotely while in the U.S. She typically travels with her work computer, and in the past, she s entered with it without any issues or second thoughts.

I m prompted to ask now because of the heightened focus on immigration enforcement in the news. It s easy to start overthinking things. I recently came across a post about someone bringing a work laptop into the U.S., and although their situation was quite different from ours, it reminded me that there may be considerations we haven t thought through yet.

Thanks in advance for any advice or stories you re willing to share.

Six years after beginning my immigration journey, I officially became a US citizen today. I want to thank this community for all the support I received throughout this process. To everyone still going through this journey, I wish you the best of luck - your time will come!

Hello, I have a question but haven't found an answer yet. Can I extend the Noa2 but the reason is not because there is not a date available for the interview but because I have exams at university I want to finish before moving to the USA. So I would book my interview after my dateline? Is that possible?