Hello. I have been in Sweden for 3.5 years on long-term assignment with my company. My company will move me back to the US at the end of June. My wife is Chinese, we married in Sweden, and we have a 7-month-old son. My son already has his CRBA and US passport. We have been approved for DCF with exceptional circumstances for job relocation. The I-130s have also been accepted.
In Sweden I am still employed by my home company in the US. I still get paid in the US with USD deposited in my US bank, and I will keep my same position when I return to the US. My only concern is domicile since I don’t have a house or apartment in the US, and I plan on returning to the US concurrently with my wife and son.
Our household goods will be shipped to the US by sea (arranged by my employer), which will take several weeks. What I would like to do is stay in an extended stay hotel on arrival, look for a house to rent or buy during that time, and move in after our household goods arrive. However, I’m afraid that this plan would be interpreted as an intent to establish domicile several weeks after arrival instead of “no later than the date of the intending immigrant’s admission”. However, some people do live in these hotels for years. In fact, I lived in one for a couple of months before moving to Sweden, and I have its address on my driver’s license. Maybe I did maintain this domicile while in Sweden since they are still in business?
Another option would be to remotely sign a short-term or month-to-month lease on an apartment. This seems like the safest option; however, it is not as flexible, and I would probably end up paying for months where I was not staying there.
And finally, it seems that the most common situation on this site is to move in with parents. However, my parents live in a different state an 11-hour drive from my employer. We could state that we will move in with them until we found a residence (I can work remote for a time), but would that short-term arrangement really be considered a domicile?