Hello,
I retired early left the US for Brazil and got Brazilian residency a couple months ago. I was planning on staying in Brazil (at least a year) for a while before going back to the US. However, my mother has fallen seriously ill and will need in home care. I was planning on marrying my Brazilian girlfriend soon. She works as a nurse aid in Brazil and is uniquely situated to take care of my mother at home as that is what she does in her work. She also would likely be able to get paid to take care of my mother under her long term care insurance. I was wondering if you think this situation would fall under OTHER exceptional circumstance as noted below. I am hesitant to contact the consulate being that we are not married yet. Is that an issue also? Also, would it be hard to establish US domicile since I no longer have a house in the US? I saw something about intent to establish domicile but not sure what that means or how it works? I use my mothers address for virtually everything (including US taxes) and do not have a permanent place to live in Brazil since I just gained residency. I have retirement income for the rest of my life coming from the US. Any thoughts? Thanks.
(4) (U) Exceptional Circumstances: The following are examples of the types of exceptional circumstances where consular officers may opt to accept Form I-130 immediate relative petitions:
(a) (U) U.S. Military emergencies: A U.S. service member, who is abroad but who does not fall under the blanket authorization for U.S. service members stationed abroad on military bases, becomes aware of a new deployment or transfer with little notice. This exception generally applies in cases where the U.S. service member is provided with exceptionally less notice than would normally be expected.
(b) (U) Medical emergencies: A petitioner or beneficiary is facing an urgent medical emergency that requires immediate travel.
(c) (U) Threats to personal safety: A petitioner or beneficiary is facing an imminent threat to personal safety. For example, a petitioner and beneficiary may have been forced to flee their country of residence due to civil strife or natural disaster and are in precarious circumstances in a different country outside of the United States.
(d) (U) Close to aging out: A beneficiary is within a few months of aging out of eligibility.
(e) (U) Petitioner has recently naturalized: A petitioner and family member(s) have traveled for the preference IV interview, but the petitioner has recently naturalized and the family member(s) require a new petition based on the petitioner's citizenship.
(f) (U) Adoption of a child: A petitioner has adopted a child abroad and has an imminent need to depart the country. This type of case should only be considered if the petitioner has a final adoption decree on behalf of the child and the adoptive parent(s) has had legal custody of and jointly resided with the child for at least two years.
(g) (U) Short notice of position relocation: A U.S. Citizen petitioner, living and working abroad, received a job offer in or reassignment to the United States with little notice for the required start date.
(h) (U) Other: The Consular Section may exercise its discretion to accept local Form I-130 filings for other emergency or exceptional circumstances of a non-routine nature, subject to the limitations set forth in 9 FAM 504.2-4(B)(1)(f) above. However, such filings must be truly urgent and limited to situations when filing with USCIS online or domestically with an expedite request would likely not be sufficient to address the exigent nature of the situation.