Am I domicile?

[ellisteph 1]

I'm a USC and I've been living in Australia since March 2013. My move was solely based off being with my partner. I always intended to move back to the U.S. permanently once he finishes his school...

I graduated college in the U.S. in 2011 and was only ever working cash in hand babysitting jobs after graduation and prior to moving overseas. So technically I have never even filed taxes in America, because I never truly had a real career or job..(I didn't know what I wanted to do after graduation) My studies were my main focus for 4.5 years as I was a full time student... My only evidence of being a functioning adult in the U.S. is having attended a college and paying off student loans monthly...

I haven't attended any school or courses in australia. I have only worked casual hospitality jobs. I don't rent here or own a car. I do have an Australian tax file number, only because I was working and obviously "paying taxes."...However I was paid so little I barely paid any taxes or received any paybacks.

My fiancé and I applied for an Australian DeFacto visa last year before becoming in engaged recently. We applied for it so that I could stay in the country living with my partner. We did it for genuine reasons because we wanted to remain together and it was the only option for the time as my partner couldn't move to US yet. It has been over year since we applied for that and It is still pending. I applied so that we could be together here until we left to be together in America but now I'm worried that it may look like I was trying to get permanent residency here and that may look bad for my status as USC during the k1 process.

I have maintained ties to the U.S. by visiting my family as frequently as possible. Especially during major life events such as weddings and baptisms. I will reside with my parents as soon as I move back to the U.S.

But I am concerned about my status of domicile. I don't really understand the term and I'm worried that my time spent overseas and my "ties" here will hurt my application for my k-1 visa petition.

Can someone help explain if I have anything to worry about or what I may need to do?

[Penguin_ie 5,984]

You may be better off, instead of proving you are still domiciled in the USA, to prove you will be re-establishing domicile before or at the same time the beneficiary immigrates. This would mean having concrete plans to move- looking for a place to live, maybe contacting some recruiters about jobs, enrolling any kids in school etc.

[ellisteph 1]

Thank you!

[sgaldes 0]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a similar position and am worried that we may get an RFE with our I-129f petition because we listed my US citizen's fiance's address as the Australian one we currently reside and not an American one and didn't explain any intent to re-establish domicile or prove it, is this something that comes up in the K1 interview or should we be expecting an RFE?

My partner has been living with me in Aust for 2ish years, initially on a work and travel and then we moved to a partner visa to stay in Australia together but always with the intent to move to the US next year.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sarah