californian

Yes, please . . . and apologies for the long-winded rant of yesterday.

Good luck to you!

uk123

Crikey.... I didn't mean for people to fall out over this.

Everyone I've ever spoken to at border (well, port of entry) immigration has always been fair and reasonable, and I expect no more or less from the Embassy in London.

I'm obviously a bit nervous & apprehensive about their decision but as we're doing everything correctly then we shouldn't be too worried.

Like a lot of people here, I think it would be great if there was a fast-track service that could expedite the service a little.. but then that would just make the wait longer for anyone who couldn't afford to pay for it and not fair on them.

I'll keep you posted on any news that we get.

BritishGuy36

I hate to break this to you, but DCFing via London IS the fast-track service.....

uk123

Yeah, I know....... but you know what I mean... not the quickest processing of information you're likely to experience in your lifetime

californian

I wouldn't call them unfair. I would say that b/c there are no hard and fast rules about which petitions they must accept, they decide on an individual basis and thus sometimes people in similar situations receive differential treatment.

DCF may ask your wife to prove her ties to the UK and lack of ties to the US. She shouldn't, for example, be moving back to same address she left when she moved to the UK --- to DCF this may mean she has maintained a residence in the US, thereby in their eyes she won't be considered a true resident of the UK.

Alix

Yeah! I wish I had known that. I got in the this problem as my spouse used family address in US just to show that we have an address in US. London embassy rejected our I-130 on this basis.

BritishGuy36

It is the quickest processing of a US visa application you are likely to experience...but yes, I do know what you mean.

When I brought my wife back to the UK it took 6 hours for me to get her visa from start to finish, for me to go the other way is 5 months. Oh well!

ian-mstm

Sometimes, I think you just write whatever comes into your head without taking a moment to actually follow through on the (mis)logic of what you're saying.

Consider this situation... USC girl living with parents gets married to a UKC and then moves with her new husband to the UK. After a while, they decide to move back to the US, but they - not yet having a place to live in the US - decide to move back in with mom and dad for a while.

Do you see what I'm getting at? You write as though it's absolute without considering that for almost every situation, there is an exception. At the risk of writing something that simply isn't true, please consider what you're writing before you hit "submit".

Ian

californian

The situation you described above is exactly what happened to me. I was living with my Dad for a while after University. Then I moved to the UK, to live with the bf I had met studying abroad. Afterward, we got married and I tried to submit my I-130 to DCF in London. I listed the same address, as in deed, we planned to move back with Dad for a bit.

DCF cited this as a reason for not accepting my petition. They said it was *clear* I had maintained a residence in the US. I attempted to explain our situation both over the phone and by replying to their rejection letter. It did seem that the seed had already been planted and there wasn't much I could do.

With this in mind, I did in fact *think* about what I was saying before I *hit submit*. Maybe I should have explained the context of my comment, as others might not necessarily have the same problem if their situation were a bit different.

Songbird

Actually I agree 110% with this comment. Some of your comments are not only unqualified but also you cannot use your personal experience of the immigration process ( I'm not even clear as to what it actually is) to make generalised statements and then present them as almost absolutes. The process is FAR from uniform and what applies to one case may not necessarily apply to another. In that respect ANY advice given to others should acknowledge the diversities that MAY be possible and be tempered as such. When it comes to immigration incorrect, misleading or unqualified advice has the potential to be far more damaging than no advice. Just my 2 cents.

californian

I will definitely take Ian's and your comments on board, as I am new to this forum. It is important to explain the context of one's thoughts --- you are certainly right. In future, if I have something to contribute, I will do so in a way the acknowledges that there are other possibilities (i.e. in regards to my previous comment about DCF's acceptance of petitions --- my personal experience may be unique and should be taken as an absolute).

Marky Mark

This has me a little concerned.
My American girlfriend and I are just in the early stages of planning our application to move Stateside, and were thinking of staying with her parents whilst we get on our feet.
She's been here 22 years (and owns a house here), but it now sounds like moving in with her parents would be a bad idea!
Have I got that right?

Noorah101

No. If she's been in the UK for 22 years, she should most certainly qualify for DCF.

Has she been filing a US tax return each year?

Rene

Marky Mark

We've only recently realized that she whould have been doing this, so we're off to the Us Embassy on Say to talk to them about it. We're led to believe that she'll have to file every year (obviously) plus the last 3. Is that correct?

Noorah101

The last 3 years are the ones you'll need for your visa interview, so those are a priority.

She should also file back tax returns eventually for the previous years.

Rene