6 years outside the US, will this be a problem??

[Ahmed & Amy 291]

My husband and I got married on July-01-2009. We had a small wedding party at his mothers home. I have been living with him in Egypt now for 6 years. We share a 5 year old daughter together. The reason we did not try and file for immigration earlier was due to his university studies and his ill father. My husband was studying and taking care of his father at the same time. His father has since past 3 years ago and my husband completed his studies and graduated this May 2015. Our daughter has American citizenship too as well.

Will me being outside the US for so long hurt my husbands chances to immigrate? I have not worked the past 6 years and have not been able to afford a visit back to the US. My family is wanting to sponsor my husband. I am just confused. I have not yet filed the I-130 and required docs and fee. I do have everything filled and all the necessary documents.. I am just a little worried that my length of time outside the US will cause an issue. Any advice would be helpful.

[Hypnos 6,579]

You will need to demonstrate that you intend to re-domicile back in the US again when your husband has his visa.

[Ahmed & Amy 291]

You will need to demonstrate that you intend to re-domicile back in the US again when your husband has his visa.

How can I demonstrate that I intend to re-domicile back to the US when he receives his visa? I read that I can not sponsor him nor have a joint sponsor unless I have proof of domicile in the US or I re-domicile back to the US for sometime to prove that I have plans to live there. Or can I still have a joint sponsor to sponsor him anyways without me traveling back to the US prior to him receiving his visa? Our intention is to travel together.

[Hypnos 6,579]

If you have children of school age you can show copies of enrollment documents for them returning to an American school.

You can show that you have obtained a US residence; that you have obtained a driver's licence from the US. Things like that, which speak to resuming your life in the US.

[Ahmed & Amy 291]

If you have children of school age you can show copies of enrollment documents for them returning to an American school.

You can show that you have obtained a US residence; that you have obtained a driver's licence from the US. Things like that, which speak to resuming your life in the US.

So this means that I need to go back to the US and enroll my daughter into school, renew my drivers license, ect.... ? If I do this, is it ok to return back to Egypt and stay with my husband until his interview/visa approval?

[Hypnos 6,579]

You'll at least need to begin making some kind of preparations that indicate you're resuming your domicile in the US.

Search "resume domicile" on these forums and you'll find much better advice than I can offer you.

It's unlikely to be something the embassy will just take your word on, however.

[Ahmed & Amy 291]

You'll at least need to begin making some kind of preparations that indicate you're resuming your domicile in the US.

Search "resume domicile" on these forums and you'll find much better advice than I can offer you.

It's unlikely to be something the embassy will just take your word on, however.

Yes I understand. I have read the articles on resuming domicile. But I have just gotten confused about the whole situation. I just find it difficult to understand why I may need to prove that I have US domicile when I still have an open American bank account and a residence. I just got confused when reading about the sponsoring scenario - domicile.

Thanks though for helping me, I appreciate it.

[DJ6372 111]

The question that needs answering is 'do you intending moving back to the USA' If you don't then there is no point your hubby being given a visa sorry but that's how USCIS will see it

If you do intend moving then the domicle rule comes into play, its an utter pain in the backside to be honest!

My wife and I lived outside the USA, didn't file taxes etc etc so we had to do a lot of paperwork!

Eventually my wife moved back to the USA and we went that route

[Ahmed & Amy 291]

The question that needs answering is 'do you intending moving back to the USA' If you don't then there is no point your hubby being given a visa sorry but that's how USCIS will see it

If you do intend moving then the domicle rule comes into play, its an utter pain in the backside to be honest!

My wife and I lived outside the USA, didn't file taxes etc etc so we had to do a lot of paperwork!

Eventually my wife moved back to the USA and we went that route

Yes I do intend on moving back to the US. But I was hoping that I didn't have to go and reestablish domicile. I have a 5 years old and traveling back and forth is not easy nor cheap. Do you think that it's worth trying to get a visiting Visa for my husband while processing the I-130, that way we can all visit and I can reestablish domicile while visiting.. and then return to Egypt after our visit and wait out the immigration process with my husband. Is this ok.. or possible?

[ebe 6]

You don't necessarily need to go back to establish domicile.

I had been living in Chile for 2 years when I applied. It's not 6 years or anything, but I was also stressed out about this same thing. I didn't own property in the US or anything like that and I didn't want to go back before my husband did, so I was worried about it, too.

To prove my intent to re-establish domicile, I showed my application to a graduate program in the US, my US bank account, my US voter registration (which I had renewed online), my resignation letter to my Chilean employer, and a job offer for my husband and a bit of his correspondence with his future employer in the US. Don't know which of these things mattered or didn't matter, but in our situation it was enough and they didn't give us any problems about it along the way.

It's funny because you go to so much work filling out these forms, that seems like enough intention in and of itself!

[Boiler 47,536]

Varies by Consulate so you need to see what your one expects.

Worst case you move back first.