Laura Brown

Greetings all,

I'm an American citizen and my husband is a Brit. We've been married nearly
six years now and have lived in London all that time. However, we recently
decided to try moving back to the US. We're at the very beginning of the
process and were just wondering if anyone else here had been through it, or
if anyone could recommend some good websites or forums dealing with this
topic. I'm particularly confused about how the I-864 will work in our case.
Thanks a lot!

--
Laura Brown

Chris and Laura's weblog:
http://faynights.blogspot.com/
'One grows absurdly attached to a potto.' -- Patrick O'Brian

meauxna

Laura, if you dig around the Immigrant Visa section of the US Consulate/London's website, you'll find several FAQs and examples for how to complete the I-864 when the USC is/has been resident in the UK.

To complete the I-864 you need a US domicile, a US based income OR sufficient assets to meet the threshold. Many of us have done this while living overseas & you'll find lots of discussion if you do some searched that include "DCF" or "Direct Consular Filing".

Have you filed the I-130 to London yet?

Ray

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/dhs/uscis/i130filing.html

www.visajourney.com

kimbalina44

Hi There,

My husband and I are in exactly the same situation. We married in the US in 2001 and have been living in London since then. I am USC and he is UKC. I have indefinite leave to remain in the UK and we have decided to move back to the states in April 2007. We have recently received confirmation that our I-130 has been approved and we have received the application pack with the DS-230 which we will be sending in shortly.

Our main concern is the I-864 since I have been living in the UK for the past 5 years and have no US income/savings/residence. I have gathered that as his petitioner I have to complete an I-864, but I don't really meet the criteria for it! I have found other threads referring to this, but haven't found out what has actually happened to the people involved! We will be submitting I-864's for my parents who we plan to live with for our first year in the US while we get settled.

How has your application gone?

If anyone else has any information, I would really appreciate it. We are visiting home in November to get all my parent's paperwork together... and then will submit the checklist when we return the first week of December.

Where exactly are the FAQ's on the London embassy site for people living in the UK. I have found a reference to these FAQ's but there is no link for them and no easy way to find them!! Any advice?? Thanks!

meauxna

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new...864_index.html


Also, check out the DCF Guide + forum at visajourney.com.

JAJ

Have you thought about becoming a British citizen before you leave?

kimbalina44

Because we had always planned to eventually move back to the US to live, I hadn't really thought about it as I didn't want to complicate things. Are there any special benefits to becoming a British citizen when it comes to things like this?

Thanks for the info on the FAQ's. I had a look at them but didn't really see much specifically for those already living in the UK other than the reference to 'showing intent' to re-establish a domicile in the US. It's a bit vague how you do this. We live with my in-laws in the UK, so there is no house to sell and we plan on living with my in-laws in the US, so there is no house to buy! I still have a bank account in the US that I use to pay my student loans and this has been open since I left and I pay into it regularly from the UK. We have no children to register in a US school. I could register with some agencies at home, but as we don't plan to move until April 2007 it's hard to apply for jobs that are available now. Has anyone else done anything else to prove that they are going to be domiciled in the US? My parents, who will also sponsor my husband, would be willing to write a letter to say that we have always had a room in their house and they are expecting us to move there in April, but because we won't officially be 'renting' from them, there is no official paperwork for this.

JAJ

It means you can return to the UK independently either to live or take extended vacations any time you like. What would you do in 20-30 years if one of your adult children decided to live in the UK, and your husband was deceased and no longer able to sponsor you for a new visa?

For information on naturalisation:
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/applying/nationality/

For U.S. dual citizenship information:
http://www.richw.org/dualcit/

Your choice in the end but the option won't stay open once you leave the UK. Quite a few people who have abandoned Britain without becoming citizens have later regretted it.

Rete

You can also use a joint/co sponsor for the I-864 if you and your husband do not meet the financial guidelines with US income and/or UK assets.

Rete

You need to give a US Address - perhaps you will be staying or can use your parent's home address for the petitions. Most returning expats do this while in the job/housing marketing.

This is not something you have to overly concern yourself with. I don't recall anyone being asked to show job search results or housing search results at the US Consulate. Since you have ILR in the UK, curious why you sent your I-130 to the US and didn't just file directly with the US Consulate in London and saved yourself a great deal of time.

kimbalina44

We have filed directly with the US Embassy in London. Whether they then sent it on to the US, I don't know. I have also submitted my last three year's tax returns with the IRS in London and got them to stamp my copies to present with my I-864.
Thanks for the advice on the job search/housing. We just want to make sure that we've got everything we could possibly need to present at the interview. So, if I complete the I-864, do I use my parent's address (where we will be living) as the mailing address or place of residence? Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question.

Noorah101

Yes, you would use your potential mailing address in the USA on the I-864.

Best Wishes,
Rene

kimbalina44

Thanks Rene, so I will use our London address as the 'Place of Residence' and my parent's US address as the 'Mailing Address'.

It's so wonderful that you are all so helpful, it's really confusing to wade through all the paperwork and I really appreciate it.

Thanks! Kimberley

meauxna

Not to mention, much of the European continent as well.

frrussre

2nd that.
Do it or you may regret it up the road. My USC wife married me in UK, she never got her UKC, we later moved to US. She now can't get her Citizenship with out living there. She regrets it. Of course when we did it there was not WEB or chat rooms for advice. Just do it.
Reg. Frank R.