Residing vs legal resident?

[Peachii 0]

I'm a US citizen currently living in New Zealand under a Working Visa. I've been here since Jan 30th 2009 and my visa runs out Jan 30th 2010. I'm living with my Fiance. If you're on a working Visa does that still count to try the DCF?

You don't know how Happy I was to read about the DCF. I'm almost in doubt of it. I'm trying not to get too excited too quick but... I'm sure most of you know how it feels to be going through all this legal/paper #######.

If I call the consulate what sort of questions should I be asking or what should I be calling them about if we're not married yet. Or should we try DCF after we're married? And also what do they mean unoffical? Sorry if I'm being a bother. The year is ending pretty quick it seems. I am very greatful for this site.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

A working visa will be good enough for most consulates, but the thing with DCF is that the consulates have much more leeway to "do their own thing", so definitely do ring them and check before applying.

You can only file DCF for the CR-1/ IR-1 spousal visa, so you need to be married before you can apply. But you can certainly ring or email them now and ask about the residency thing, and maybe also get an idea of the timeline, ie how long it will take to get the visa this way; for example in Ireland it only took me 6 weeks, but I know in the UK it often takes 4 months. Another good question to ask is if they want you to come to the consulate and hand in the first part of the paperwork (the I-130) personaly, or mail it in.

"Unofficial" in what context?

[Peachii 0]

Unofficial as in "Direct Consular Filing (DCF) is the unofficial term for filing an I-130 petition via a Consulate overseas, rather than through the US Service Center." It could mean nothing, just the word kind of puts you off.

Thank you heaps. And about finding the consulate in New Zealand, What exactly should I be looking for? The US embassy in NZ?

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

Ah, "unofficial" in this context means it is a colloquial word, the embassy may not understand what you mean if you say it, just use "consular processing" instead,, like here:" http://newzealand.usembassy.gov/qualify.html . Think of it this way: most people say "green card holder", but the official term is "permanent legal resident". Often, only the US embassy in a country does DCF, but sometimes, consulates can do it too. I believe in New Zealand, you'll be looking for the US post in Aukland: http://newzealand.usembassy.gov/iv_faq.html