Establishment of Domecile Question

[yankeedave 1]

The USCIS has approved our K-1 visa application. Now we are focusing on the upcoming consular interview.

Just in case it is important, here is some peripheral information:
Since receiving my passport, and just before flying to the Philippines to physically meet my Fiance, I have changed my official address (by filing a change of address with the US Postal Service) from one Montana town, to another address in a nearby Montana town.

I visited my Fiance for the first time in late September, and I have been here ever since (4 months as of this writing). In my K-1 visa application, I declared my residence to be in Montana, and I forwarded my application package to my Sister there so that she could send it to the USCIS and thereby validate my claim to maintaining a US domicile (my understanding is that this is something I am required to do). My Fiance and I will be living at that residence when I return with her to the US, so this is true information.

Although my intention is to remain in the Philippines with my Fiance until I can return with her to the US, I did not give a Philippine address for myself in the visa application because I am only here temporarily, and I did not want a Philippine postmark or a Philippine address in my application to trigger an automatic rejection or even any unnecessary delays.

But as the time for my Fiance's consular interview approaches, I am having some concerns. I expect that the interviewing officer will know that I have been in the Philippines during the application process (an investigation of my passport history would reveal this). I am just hoping that my forwarding of my application package to my Sister is not perceived as an attempted deception. I can explain that it was a strategy to establish evidence of US domicile (there was someone at that address who was willing to forward the package, thus validating my claim to that address), but I feel vulnerable, even at that.

If anyone has any experience and/or insight into this matter, I would be happy to hear from you. I want to be a s prepared as possible as my Fiance and I move into this next phase of our Visa Journey.

 

[Ben&Zian 4,397]

You did not really "deceive" anyone. People file from abroad all the time. In those cases they put relatives addressed for US mail purposes.

 

Main question is, where are you going to be staying when you come back? If at your sisters (even temporarily) it's fine.

 

 

[ShanghaiSurfer 135]

10 hours ago, Ben&Zian said:

You did not really "deceive" anyone. People file from abroad all the time. In those cases they put relatives addressed for US mail purposes.

 

Main question is, where are you going to be staying when you come back? If at your sisters (even temporarily) it's fine.

 

 

I don't know if you need affidavit of support form for Philiphines. If you do the new version of the form asks for your physical address which I take to mean on the day you are signing the forms location which for him would be in Philiphines. I don't believe previous form asked location in this way. I remember the angry poster in Bangkok faced a similar situation as the OP and got not approved due to domicile. Obviously if OP has a new lease or other proof it would alleviate this doubt.

[Ben&Zian 4,397]

8 hours ago, ShanghaiSurfer said:

I don't know if you need affidavit of support form for Philiphines. If you do the new version of the form asks for your physical address which I take to mean on the day you are signing the forms location which for him would be in Philiphines. I don't believe previous form asked location in this way. I remember the angry poster in Bangkok faced a similar situation as the OP and got not approved due to domicile. Obviously if OP has a new lease or other proof it would alleviate this doubt.

 

Ah that is a good point.

 

Manila does not ask for the I-134 form of much of that it seems lately. They didn't ask us for anything; but perhaps there are several variables in to the decision not to, such as work history on the G325 form when they review it before the interview.

[yankeedave 1]

On 1/11/2017 at 1:53 PM, ShanghaiSurfer said:

I remember the angry poster in Bangkok faced a similar situation as the OP and got not approved due to domicile. Obviously if OP has a new lease or other proof it would alleviate this doubt.

I just did a search of "the angry poster", and it only brought me back to this thread. Can somebody give me a link to anything that will allow me to review the case that was not approved due to domicile?

As far as " a new lease or other proof it would alleviate this doubt", I do not have a lease on the property at the address I gave as my domicile. It is my Sister's house. But her willingness to forward documents from that address for me should at least provide evidence that she agrees with my claim to be living there.

After reading the responses to my OP, I reviewed my affidavit of support. In that document, I gave my place of employment as the same Montana address (my Sister's house) that I gave as my home address in other application documents. I did this because my official residence, as established by my most recent change of address form submission to the USPS declares this to be my current mailing address. The fact is, my place of employment is wherever I open my laptop (Online Marketing and Sales). 

Anyway, back to my original question: Can somebody give me a link to anything that will allow me to review the case that was not approved due to domicile?