DCF London eligibility - they won't give me a straight answer...

[weliveyoung 0]

Maybe some of you could give me your opinion or experience on this.

I've been in the UK for two years consecutively, and am currently staying on my leave to remain spouse visa (good for two years but expires in 4 months). I had planned on filing DCF and the field office's website says I am eligible as long as I have permission to legally reside here and have been here longer than 6 months. Yet I've read other posts with people saying they've been denied because they didn't have indefinite leave to remain.

Contacting them has been useless, they just repeat what the webpage says.

Maybe someone here knows better than I do?

And if I do send it to them, would they wait until they got around to processing it to tell me I can't? and then take the payment anyway (that would be really mean)

Thanks everyone!

[Holly2234 66]

We have filed DCF and my husband (the USC) has limited leave to remain which is what i expect you also have. We have not got to NOA2 yet but we have not been told we cannot file DCF. I did a lot of research on this, i couldnt find anything solid but mostly people who were not eligible had their petitions returned to them straight away and did not receive NOA1.

Like you already know, it says:

"In order to meet the residency criteria to file with this office; the United States citizen must satisfy two requirements:

The United States citizen must show evidence (valid UK Entry Clearance) that he/she has permission from the UK Home Office to legally reside in the United Kingdom; and

The United States citizen must also show that he/she has resided in the United Kingdom for at least six months from the date of arrival following approval of the UK Entry Clearance"

.

What we did, was include a colour photocopy the page of his passport with his entry stamp and of his visa. That proves the two things they ask for there.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

I don't know enough about spouse visas to comment, but I wanted to say I've read several experiences where the USC lives in the UK and they filed to the Chicago Lockbox instead of DCF and got an auto-expedite. You might want to research that too. Here's an example...Coops i-130 approved in 12 days. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/377564-i-130-done-in-12-days-so-happy/

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

It used to be (pre-2008, I believe) that you had to have ILR in order to file DCF, but this was changed to allow those with LLR to file DCF. I don't know if this has changed in the past year or so. I recommend you try asking in the London DCF thread in the DCF forum for more info. http://www.visajourn...-ups-and-downs/

Just curious -- which threads said you couldn't file with LLR? Was it specifically LLR, or was it with another, limited status?

Edited: I remembered that when we filed in 2007, you still had to have ILR to file but this was changed later on in the year.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Honey Crumpet

[Holly2234 66]

I know you definitely cant to DCF on a student visa or as a visitor. But i think LLR is fine! I dont know for definite, but i hopefully will in a few weeks.

Like Nich-Nick says, when the petitioner files from abroad via the Chicago Lock Box, it often gets auto-expedited. Here is a thread which contains others experiences http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/357465-usc-petitioner-living-abroad/

[weliveyoung 0]

Thanks for the help everyone!

I was reading this post http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/357465-usc-petitioner-living-abroad/page__st__45 . hjones applied earlier this year

- had been here 5 years and on a temporary work visa - and the London embassy told them they weren't eligible.

Interesting to hear that it had been changed from ILR to LLR at one point, so that's probably good news. I'm going to send in my application this week and try for DCF. I've decided to take the embassies webpage at face value (they really should make it clearer) and post back when I find out what happens.

Good luck on yours Holly!

[Holly2234 66]

Thanks! I will be sure to report back about what happens to us to hopefully keep your mind at rest during your wait! Good luck.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Holly2234

[hjones 1]

Thanks for the help everyone!

I was reading this post http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/357465-usc-petitioner-living-abroad/page__st__45 . hjones applied earlier this year

- had been here 5 years and on a temporary work visa - and the London embassy told them they weren't eligible.

Interesting to hear that it had been changed from ILR to LLR at one point, so that's probably good news. I'm going to send in my application this week and try for DCF. I've decided to take the embassies webpage at face value (they really should make it clearer) and post back when I find out what happens.

Good luck on yours Holly!

Hi, just thought I would point out that I spoke with two different people at the London embassy, and neither one of them sounded like they really knew whether I could apply via DCF. I think they just decided to be on the safe side and tell me that I wasn't eligible so that it wouldn't come back and bite them!

Having gone through the process and learned so much about it, I imagine I could have done DCF. However, I think our process was actually quicker by filing at the Chicago Lockbox and being expedited through the I-130 process. We even took our time at the NVC stage a bit. But since this 'auto-expedite' queue for petitioners living abroad hasn't really been confirmed, it's probably just as well filing DCF.

Anyway, good luck with your application! I hope this makes sense and I haven't added to any confusion here!!

[Holly2234 66]

Well, i just got NOA2, so you CAN do DCF with LLR Did you decide to give it a go in the end or use the Chicago lock box?

[weliveyoung 0]

Congratulations on getting yours started Holly! I did end up filing DCF - last week we received the NOA1. So it does seem LLR is fine

[Holly2234 66]

Thanks They seem to be moving really quickly at the moment so hopefully wont be long at all until your NOA2