Questions regarding I-130 petitioner's residence abroad

[isam 0]

Hi All,

I've been lurking for some time now but first time posting. I have some rather specific questions regarding residence issues as well as some more general questions. Here's some background:

The last place my fiancée and I lived together (legally) was Berlin, Germany. I'm a US citizen and my current residence is Germany. She's an Icelandic citizen which is part of the EEA so she never had to take formal residence in Berlin (other than registering her address). We returned to Iceland to marry (wedding is in 2 days!) and plan to file the I-130 shortly after. She plans to stay in Iceland after the wedding (work, family, etc) and I must return to Berlin to finish my work contract until the end of April. After that, and due to having my EU Blue Card, I can travel back to Iceland to remain with her until the completion of the application. We met three years ago in Paris while I lived there for a short time and then I returned to NY and she Iceland. We did a lot of back and forth seeing one another and then I moved to Berlin in June 2011 to live with her. I've always intended to keep my domicile in the US (US phone number, bank account, worked remotely in NYC from Berlin, filed and paid taxes [both state and fed] since leaving, etc). This works in my favor to be her sponsor later in the process. So, my questions regarding the I-130 are as follows:

1. What address do I use for myself? Her address here in Iceland (we do live together here, I'm just don't have an Icelandic residence)? Or, our old address in Berlin? Or even my address in the US?

2. Pending an answer to the above, from which country is it better to send the documents? Iceland, Germany or the US?

2a. I've heard something about an auto-expedited process for those couples living abroad... does this apply to us?

3. Iceland has no states or counties per se, for the State/Country box, do I simply write just Iceland?

4. Section C. #17 - do I also write her information here even though the petition is for her?

5. Section C. #20 - Since she has non-Roman accent marks in her name I must fill in this block. My question is in (Name) is it expected LAST, First or is First Last correct?

6. For dates and such that I can not type in the PDF "N/A" is it expected to hand-write this after printing or is leaving blank acceptable?

I think that about covers it for now. Thank you!

Edited March 3, 2013 by isam

[canadian_wife 1,831]

1. List your US address so you'll receive paper notifications for your records

2. Send them from whatever country will cause the least delays. I won't matter in the end where you send the petition from

2a It might, but if you are not living with your wife at the time of filing, since you will be in Berlin, I am not sure if it does, someone else will step up and answer

3. That question does not apply to you so put n/a

4. See example forms

5. See example forms

6. Never leave anything blank, hand write n/a

good luck

[isam 0]

Thanks for the speedy reply canadian_wife.

My question regarding #3 is that the box states "State/Country". There are no states but surely Country still applies no?

Also, #5 doesn't have an example in the example forms. It just says "[if none put none]".

Also, I'd like to add (since it adds to the confusion) is that there is still a USCIS office in Frankfurt where (I assume) I can do a DCF. Does that work even though my wife will be in Iceland for all correspondence? My understanding is DCF is by far the fastest solution.

Kind regards.

Edited March 3, 2013 by isam

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

Do not use the US address unless you want to be called in for an interview you can not attend. I have an email from the Field Office Directorate stating this can happen.

There is auto-expedite for petitions filed from abroad - use the address you currently reside at or hers. In order to change your address to another foreign address later, you'll need to send a letter/AR-11 and that can take a long time or be kind of iffy. If you are planning on moving in with her shortly, then I would just use her address.

[isam 0]

Thanks so much Nola123. Seeing as I'm only returning temporarily to Berlin and I can legally stay with her here in Iceland (and this Icelandic address wont be changing at all during the process) then perhaps that is the best option. I intend on returning to Iceland just after my contract ends on 30 April.

[isam 0]

Hi all,

I wanted to update my thread here. I contacted the Frankfurt USCIS and as it turns out, I qualify for making a DCF here in Germany. That's the good news. The bad news (or rather, the confusing news) is that the field officer left me hanging a bit in the email. They said that only in the 2nd part of the process is my wife's residence of importance. I'm not quite sure what that means though. The officer told me that the application can either be processed through Frankfurt completely or through Frankfurt for the I-130 and then through Iceland for the rest however that will take longer since they'll need to route the application through NVC in the US. So, I guess the thing I'm trying to figure out of what she means by "important". If it's simply that we have a German address which she can receive papers and then have the final interview in Frankfurt then it seems to me it doesn't matter where we decide to spend the summer so long and she can get everything in a timely fashion. However, if she needs to prove residence then we don't have proof other than our shared lease (since Iceland is EEA, she doesn't need to apply for residence in EU).

Also, I've read accounts of people who do a DFC in person sometimes are processed on the spot and start the second part of the process same day. This seems to be contrary to what it says on the consulate's website (60-90 average for I-130). Perhaps it's best that I start asking around over in the DCF specific forum for Frankfurt.

At any rate, I'm happy that at least the I-130 (should) go faster since no matter what I can process that directly through Frankfurt. Hopefully the rest is just as smooth. I'll start my timeline as well.

Thanks.