eastender

Greetings BE-USA-types!

Allow me to preface this post by declaring I have performed my n00b duties quite studiously, searching previous threads and poured over the many informative wiki articles.

I married my USC wife about a year ago and brought her back to Blighty on a UK spousal visa.
This was the most logical move for us considering my career and firm roots.

However, as you all know visiting and living somewhere are two different things. OH has not settled in as well as I had hoped and misses home and family increasingly every week.
We have loosely agreed to give it another year before we firmly decide to put any US immigration gears into motion.

My question is this: we are and have been collecting paperwork, bank statements, payslips etc. Is there anything we should be collecting/doing right now that will make the process smoother in future should we decide to go down that path?
(Along the lines of Immunisations and CRB checks). Anything I could be missing?

Your ProTips are welcome!

Noorah101

Hi eastender,

Just keep collecting evidence of your joint life together, which you'll need to submit when you finally apply for an Immigrant Visa.

Don't bother with the vaccinations, medical, or police report just yet...wait until closer to the time you'll be applying for the visa.

If you want to, take a look at the I-864 Affidavit of Support. That is one of the biggest hurdles for someone applying for an Immigrant Visa via DCF (Direct Consular Filing), which I assume is what you will do. Also do some reasearch on here regarding "intent to domicile", another thing the USC must show. Also, make sure the USC is filing a US tax return each year she lives overseas...THAT will be very important when the time comes to apply for your visa.

Best Wishes,
Rene

Noorah101

I-864 and I-864P (poverty guidelings) can be found at www.uscis.gov, Immigration Forms.

Rene

meauxna

Hi there!
The two links in my siggy describe the 'how to' for filing from overseas.

eastender

Hmmmmn, yes this 'Intent to Domicile' business does come across a little complicated.
*strokes imaginary beard*

Surely it can't be that difficult proving one would want to move home for real?

eastender

Have definitely enjoyed perusing your links, Meauxna.

Thank you for laying the information out so clearly I've saved those pages for future reference.

meauxna

Print them, know them, love them..

The domicile thing isn't too big a deal, particularly for London petitioners. The official phrase I found helpful was 'temporarily resident abroad'. You can be that, and still be domiciled in the US.
For example, I owned my home in the US, so that made it significantly easier. I really did leave the US for 'only' three months (I liken it to the Gilligan's Island trip ) and so left my banking, voting, bills etc all in place. Investment accounts, driver's license.. all of these things showed that the US is my permanent home even while I am temporarily away.

The tax return(s) can be the big PITA; check the wiki for a great, current guide to filing from overseas if needed.

Send the Missus over to the forums at talk.uk-yankee.com and maybe she can get some perspective on how to enjoy her time there more in the meantime.

Obviously it's better for everyone if everyone settles, so move if it is right for both of you. We were just talking about this yesterday in Chez meauxna -- I asked DH if he had ever felt like "an immigrant". Bottom line is, he acted like a local from day one and has had a ball. He now thinks of himself as an American. I know that it isn't for everyone and that is a simplistic answer, but I've come to appreciate his direct, simple approach to things.
Like Yoda says, there is no try, there is do, or not do.

notacrime

My advice is to familiarize yourself with the likely timeline. It will take at a minimum 8 months to a year from the day you 'set the gears into motion' to the day you can move to the US to begin your life there. (It might be worth mentioning this to the other half. Or not.)

Some info that I found hard to uncover (though it is mentioned in the guide that meauxna links to) is that the immigrant visa (CR-1 or IR-1) is valid for 6 months from the day of your interview at the US consulate in London - ie. you have 6 months in which to use it.

Another trick that people have employed with regard to timing is making a trip to the US to immigrate (get their visa validated, which then acts just like a green card for work and travel) and then returning to the UK to finish their job, organize and execute the house move etc. It's generally OK to come back for up to 6 months, anything more than that and it gets complicated.

Using these two bits of information you can create a window of almost a year in which to actually move after the visa is approved. So it might be worth starting the application sooner rather than later if you are pretty sure you will be making the move.

That said, my own experience has taught me that it takes around 18 months in a new place (town, city, country, continent) before you start to really feel at home there and stop pining for the last place you lived. A year living somewhere is generally the point where the pull of 'home' is felt the strongest. So you may well find that in a year from now your other half has shed all ideas of moving back.

The only time I have ever felt like an immigrant is when I've had dealings with the freakin' USCIS. Nothing like being asked for your alien number or waiting for your infopass appointment to bring you right back down to earth.

Noorah101

Since the OP likely qualifies for DCF (filing the I-130 directly to the consulate in London), the time frame for Immigrant Visa process will probably be more like 4 - 6 months. That's current time frame, no telling what it will be like a year from now.

Rene