I-130 Simple question!!

[Irish2012 0]

Hi all my question is this, My fiancee and I have been dating for the past 7 years, she is an American citizen by birth born to Irish parents. She has been living in Ireland the past 18 years. I am a Irish citizen. We intend to get married in the next year and hopefully immigrate to the States. When we were reviewing the instructions for a CR1/IR1 we noticed that, she as a American citizen and she also be my sponsor/petitoner is required to reside or have a domicile in the US, as she has been living in Ireland since she was 4 is there any excemptions to this rule??

Thanks for any info.

[cerebus407 16]

As you noted, it is a requirement. It doesn't sound like it is a requirement that she meets either, given that she has resided in Ireland since she was 4 years old. Establishing domicile is not difficult though, she just needs to move there prior to, or concurrent with you. In a case like hers, it would probably be better if she went ahead first. Get an apartment, find a job, hook up some utilities and voila, domicile established. It would also be helpful if she has a history of filing and paying US taxes.

[Penguin_ie 5,574]

In your case, you should take the option to prove that she will re-establish domicile at the same time or before you, rather than that she never abandoned it. So she may want to show proof she's been looking for a job there, travel over for a couple of weeks and try to get registered as a voter, get a drivers license, look at and maybe buy a home/ sign a lease agreement etc.

Two other things to keep in mind in your situation:

- A US citizen, even if living abroad, is required to file taxes with the IRS. Has she? If not, back-file asap, at least for the last three years.

- She will need to financially sponsor you. Unless you two have fairly substantial assets ($60'000+) that are easily liquidated, you will need a USA citizen or greencard holder to co-sponsor.