Cr1 visa

[Salome Joy 0]

Hi, i i am salome joy of Philippines, i would like to know if anybody has the same situation with me and my husband, and has succesfully made it to the U.S. I am married to an american, We are married for 1 year and a half now. He arrived October of 2014 here and since then he didn't go bact to his country because we plan on staying here in the Philippines for good. But late last year we both decided that it would be better if we will move to the U.S because life would be better out there. Now the problem is, we don't know how to start since our situation is different because we are both here and my husband won't go back to his country unless we can both leave together. Me and my husband I honestly feel hopeless of our situation, any advice on how we can star our cr1 visa? Thank you! 

Edited January 7, 2017 by Salome Joy

[geowrian 22,335]

You have 2 (major) options...

 

1) File for a normal CR-1/IR-1 visa. By the time it's approved you will have been married for over 2 years. As such, you would get a 10 year green card upon arrival in the US. Expect 12-18  months for processing.

 

2) Since you have been living together for at least 6 months in the Philippines, you should be eligible for DCF. This usually takes a few weeks to few months from what I've seen. Information on the process is here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/dcf

 

I think the choice is pretty clear.

[Ervie and Rob 34]

I am no expert on filing DCF but I believe you are eligible for that. The major issue is for your husband to prove his domicile in the US. Only choice is for him to go back and be separated for awhile and establish that. Does he have a home or maintained bank accounts back in the US?  or business perhaps or job in US that he still can do even if he is in the Philippines? if yes then maybe the officer will be convinced that you have US as domicile and no need for him to go back and be apart temporarily.

 

My friend husband did go back and look for a job there to prove domicile and send that as proof their petition was approved.

[JE57 239]

For DCF (Direct Consulate filing) your husband would have to deal with the Domicile issue.  However, that does not mean he has to travel to the USA before you.  There are other way to prove Domicile or intent to re-establish Domicile.  Depends much on the situation.  Being able to DCF also depends on him having legal residence in the Philippines which I'm sure he does.

  Best of luck to you have faith there are ways to make this work.

 

[Salome Joy 0]

Thank you for the response  i know i heard about Domicile, i was really hoping it is possible fo us to do this while he is here and just leave together.

[Salome Joy 0]

Thank you very much JE57. It means a lot!

[Ervie and Rob 34]

I can truly understand it, distance is terrible. Me and my husband is away for more than a year now waiting on this process. And its not easy but if you both agreed to go through it do discuss  possible things that may happen during the LDR. The process alone bring so much stress so its really needs patience and much understanding towards each other. If he really needs to go back to establish domicile, file all necessary documents for DCF before he would leave and bring tons of evidence for domicile during interview. At least you can shorten the separation time. God bless on your process!

[Salome Joy 0]

Thank you for the response  i know i heard about Domicile, i was really hoping it is possible fo us to do this while he is here and just leave together.

[Salome Joy 0]

Thank you Ervie and Rob, yes that's true distance is really hard i was really hopeful in the beginning that our case is not that hard, because at the moment my husband is no longer working in the u.s he is working here in the Philippines already as a medical sales associates, he has no investments nor assets in the u.s the only thing he has is his mother. I hope we can find a way thru this. Thank you very much guys!

[Salome Joy 0]

Thank you Geowrian!  if apply for a normal cr1 visa so you mean its still possible to process it while my husband is here? We actually had rapid Visa but after my husband posted a comment expressing his frustration about thekr service they backed out on un and now we are on our own. 

[Naji1789 16]

17 hours ago, Salome Joy said:

Thank you Geowrian!  if apply for a normal cr1 visa so you mean its still possible to process it while my husband is here? We actually had rapid Visa but after my husband posted a comment expressing his frustration about thekr service they backed out on un and now we are on our own. 

i think because your in the Philippines  the uscis has a field office in manilla and it would be much easier for you both to go there and file the I-130.... I'm in malaysia and was going thru the same i didn't want to back without my wife and they gave me the option to file in the philippine or via mail DHL to america... but in my case i was told i have to live in the philipines to be able to file there....so yea you will save yourself a lot of time and stress if you go to the uscis office there. or ask if theres direct consular filing . 

 

goooooooood luck   

[Salome Joy 0]

1 hour ago, Naji1789 said:

i think because your in the Philippines  the uscis has a field office in manilla and it would be much easier for you both to go there and file the I-130.... I'm in malaysia and was going thru the same i didn't want to back without my wife and they gave me the option to file in the philippine or via mail DHL to america... but in my case i was told i have to live in the philipines to be able to file there....so yea you will save yourself a lot of time and stress if you go to the uscis office there. or ask if theres direct consular filing . 

 

goooooooood luck   

R

 

1 hour ago, Naji1789 said:

i think because your in the Philippines  the uscis has a field office in manilla and it would be much easier for you both to go there and file the I-130.... I'm in malaysia and was going thru the same i didn't want to back without my wife and they gave me the option to file in the philippine or via mail DHL to america... but in my case i was told i have to live in the philipines to be able to file there....so yea you will save yourself a lot of time and stress if you go to the uscis office there. or ask if theres direct consular filing . 

 

goooooooood luck   

T

 

1 hour ago, Naji1789 said:

i think because your in the Philippines  the uscis has a field office in manilla and it would be much easier for you both to go there and file the I-130.... I'm in malaysia and was going thru the same i didn't want to back without my wife and they gave me the option to file in the philippine or via mail DHL to america... but in my case i was told i have to live in the philipines to be able to file there....so yea you will save yourself a lot of time and stress if you go to the uscis office there. or ask if theres direct consular filing . 

 

goooooooood luck   

Thank you!  but did you have to establich domicile? i gues our best option really is direct consular filling. Did you do it yourself or your hire an agent?