Hi everyone!

My question is can I visit the U.S. after filing Petition I-130 in Frankfurth (DCF)??? I think I heared that I have to stay ouside the U.S. during the visa process.
Who can help?

greetings from Berlin
Christoph

You may find the questions at entry a bit more difficult and you could be turnedback but it is not a requirement to remain outside.

I dont know where you heard that, the US citizen can and probbably should return home during DCF processing, especaily to re-establish domicile.

For the CR-1/IR-1 visa the US Citizen MUST have maintained Domicile, as well as file IRS returns, many run into this road block at interview time.

In order to provide the required I-864, the US citizen petitioner must have US domicile, and provide past year's IRS return.

I do not believe the OP is the USC

Thanks for your quick replies! Maybe I should add that we are married since 2years now. I just realy don't want to do anything that could delay the visa process. And I couln't find anything about this subject in the FAQ's (both living overseas and starting DCF in the country of residence).

Thanks for your help! I'll add our timeline soon...

Christoph

2 years is great, you will be getting IR-1 visa and will avoid having to lift conditions on a conditional green-card.

Keep in mind what I said about Domicile, and IRS Returns, these things hang people doing DCF filings.

For the USC you will not be visiting you are coming home...

For the alien spouse, an attempted visit with a turnback will be a hassle but not delay to your visa

Hi Cristoph,

No problem visiting the US, I did it while we were processing my visa and the process is the same as always. They ask you the purpose of your trip, how much time you are going to spend in the US and so on... I did not notice any different with previous times when I had visited the US.

Kitten

Hi,
we did file the I-130 in June07 - since then I had to visit the U.S. several times on business trips.
All you need to know, is that you may not enter unter any other visa (e.g. B1/2).
With the visa-waiver-program you are NOT entering on a visa - so that is no problem.
They never asked me questions concerning my visa process at immigration -
- so I guess they don't necessarily know about your petition there at all.
Good luck & lots of patience
Julia

Normally the process does not take very long. Unless there is an emergency, there shouldn't be any particular reason for *you* to have to travel to the US. Most petitions are approved in about 50-60 days and the rest of the process tends to go very fast after that. If you don't want to risk it don't. I know I wouldn't want to have wasted money if my husband got turned away at the border. That can always happen despite other's experiences. Up to you.

I just noticed how old this thread was.