IR-1 Complicated cases

[JIsecinbelen 0]

Greetings,

My wife and I are having a hard time trying to figure out what to do next. A brief introduction to our case; we have been married for four years, We met six years prior to getting married but never "formalized" our relationship until a year previous to getting married. I met my wife in Dominican Republic while she was on vacation through common friends, two years later I moved to the states to attend college, after graduating from college I applied for an extension of my J1 visa and it was denied due to some confusion in the paperwork and the not so friendly relationship btw the immigration officer at my university and I ( we used to work together) . At the time I was already married to my wife, we had plans and even tried to start a family, but I was so scared about being illegal in the U.S.A that two months after getting married I moved back home, my wife has been very supportive since day one and she understood what was going on, we were somehow used to being on a long distance relationship so it wasn't such a terrifying thing for us. As a previous J1 visa holder I returned back home to wait for the two year home residency requirement, however both my wife and I thought that I needed to fulfill the two years requirement before filing a petition, so we waited.

After fulfilling the two years home residency, my wife and I discussed filling the application for me and at the same time I was awarded a scholarship to attend grad school in England , so we submitted our application a few months after I moved to the U.K, my grad program was a year long so we thought that our process would take around that year or so, therefore we thought "why no getting a masters degree while waiting for the application to be processed?" however, I have already finished my program and our case still at the NVC stage and that's where the confusion have taken over us: Our case # starts with LND for london, so it is being treated as an UK case, I am not an UK citizen and after finishing my grad program I rejected a job in the UK because I thought that our case would have been over soon and I wouldn't had been able to commit for long, plus I needed to come back home to obtain my vaccination record and other documents needed for our case. I am still back home in the Dominican Republic ( my vaccination record has been a nightmare to obtain) and my interview is expected to take place in London. London is way more convenient, it is faster, and way more organized, however, I have been outside the U.K for almost a year. My wife thinks that just going back to the U.K on a tourist visa for my medical and interview would be better, however, I am thinking that it might be correct for us to change our case to Santo Domingo at the cost of adding at least 5 or more months to our case and more paperwork . I am concerned about our marriage, I am sensing desperation from her, while I am trying to "keep it cool" but dying inside. We are desperate and confused! Anyone out there with a similar experience? or any advice? I just want to get back together with my wife and start a family as soon as possible.

[Penguin_ie 6,002]

You need to legally reside in the country you interview in, so the UK is out; since your case is still at NVC, file a change of address with them.

[JIsecinbelen 0]

Thank you for your reply!

I am really considering changing embassies, but I feel that the additional time will hurt our marriage for sure. In the other hand, I had to travel to the U.K to amend some issues with my grad school diploma and I might have to re-take a course or part of it, hence reside in the U.K for a few more months , unless I get to take the course online, so yeah I have a lot of stuff going and don't want my marriage to suffer for it :S