sohosid

Hi all...

My wife is a US citizan due to birth, but has lived in the UK for many years (she still has a valid US passport). We are planning on moving to San Francisco in early 2006....

Question for anyone who has been through a similar process..

How long does it take to arrange a visa for me (I will need a work visa) from time of application...and how long do you have to use it before it expires? Is it worth starting the application now, or wait till late next year? Any major problems in doing so????

We've been married for 5 years, and are both in our early 30's, no kids.


Any advice would be very welcome!

Cheers

Mike.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

You may want to look up the London embassy website. Since she lives in the UK, she can file the "I-130" with the DHS office in the London Embassy [this is sometimes given the misnoemer of "DCF" or "direct consular filing" which really doesn't fit what happens in London].

You may have problems with the I-864 affidavit of support -- if your wife has been working in the UK for the last several years, she will have to produce the last three years of US income tax returns.

Rete

Timelines can change in the course of two years but at the present time your wife, if she has right to remain in the UK, can petition for your Immediate Relative Visa (I-130) through the US Consulate in London. At present it takes from 3 to 5 months to obtain. The only difficulty might come from the requirement of financial sponsorship via form I-864. I do hope that if she is working or has worked in the UK that she filed her US income taxes. Someone other than she can be your sponsor or if you have assets five times greater than your family size of 5, you and she can do it yourselves.

Rete

sohosid

Thanks for the advice guys....

We will have quite a large sum of assets, so that should be no problem, but she has never filed a US tax return, since she has lived in the UK since she was a child!!!! What sort of problem will this cause??

Mike

sohosid

Found the info on the US Embassy site...not too much of a problem, she has to retro-file the returns before we can proceed.

Thanks again for your responses.

Mike.

Ray

The London Embassy had just doubled the interview wait time from 6 to 12 weeks (its summer) ..but you could still be all done in 6 months..

Hypertweeky

That isn't bad at all!!, It took us 5 months for the K3 visa.. we are talking about landing as a permanent resident here.. aww!! I am jealous!!
Good Luck sohosid!!

jeffreyhy

sid,

Just because your wife is living in the UK doesn't mean that, as a US citizen, she doesn't need to file a US tax return. She may not owe any tax, but that also doesn't mean that she does not need to file returns.

Your wife may have a problem with US domicile, which she quite possibly does not have if she has been living in the UK since she was a child. A person needs to be domiciled in the US in order to file an affidavit of support for an immigrant. Establishing domicile shouldn't be too difficult or time consuming, but it does need to be done.

Regards, JEff

Folinskyinla

Hi:

My understanding is that the Embassy will consider the fact that the couple will be entering the US TOGEHTER to be establishing a domicile.

jeffreyhy

Mr.F,

That would be nice, and perhaps London will do this. I know of at least 1 consulate that does not make this consideration. (Bangkok).

Regards, JEff

Rete

I don't agree with your statement about domicile. The USC only has to show that they have initiated steps to make the US their place of residency. That can be done by showing US bank accounts, real estate searches, school information for the kiddies, etc. This has been the standard since 1998 and did not know that the US Consulate in London has changed what was always acceptable in the past.

As for the issue of taxes, the OP has responded that his wife is in the process of filing back taxes to met the requirement by the IRS.


Rete

Bluegrass Lass

If she's been living in the UK since she was a child, I wonder if she even has a SSN? But I suppose that doesn't matter as long as she has a copy of her birth certificate she can always apply for one. But I don't have a clue as to what one needs to show for 'proof of domicile.'

jeffreyhy

Rete,

What part of my statement do you disagree with?

Domicile is a requirement. What standards for domicile the consulate in London has I don't know, I was merely pointing out that it's something that may need to be addressed.

From what was posted we don't know whether or not the USC has yet done any of the things that you've listed.

Regards, JEff

sohosid

Hi all and thanks for all your replies.

As far as an SSN....she has been back since she was a child, and has worked over there as an adult, so that is taken care of.

As far as proving domicile, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but I would have thought it would be easy to prove, house sale, property search in the US etc.

The taxes are being taken care of, it seems the IRS do not penalise those who didnt' know that you had to file even if you were resident in another country, as long as there is no tax to pay (which there won't be).

Cheers

Mike. (not sid!)

Folinskyinla

Hi:

This idea derives from the long-standing rules on "cross-chargability" which are not seen in the citizen marriage arena.

Lets say a Filipino is the beneficiary of an "FB-4" filed in 1990. Since the classficiation is backlogged for the Philippines to 1982 -- he still has to wait. But then the Filipino marries a lady who had been born in, lets say, Abu Dhabi -- which is under the worldwide cut-off of 1992. The wife can "accompany" the husband for classification only. The husband can "accompnay" the wife for country chargability only. Since BOTH are needed, the visas will be issued on codition that BOTH enter TOGETHER.

My understanding is that since the I-864 only becomes operative on the date of admission of the alien beneficiary, the same logic can and is applied.