2-year home-country physical presence requirement

[tassioliveira 0]

Hello to all,

 

I got back from US to my country after a period as a visiting scholar. Because of that, I have to be in my country for 2 years. I am married to a US citizen (recently married) though. I would like to know if we can start the CR-1/IR-1 processo before the 2 years, since it will take long anyway. 
 

[aceegreene 34]

Yes you can start the process. However, your eventual visa interview should take place once the two year requirement is over. Otherwise there may be an issue, depending on your consulate. 

 

also from what I’ve read on visajourney, certain consulates are quite strict about the two year requirement i.e. 730 days. So if you travel internationally during this two year period, those extra days won’t count as part of your two year requirement.

[tassioliveira 0]

14 minutes ago, aceegreene said:

Yes you can start the process. However, your eventual visa interview should take place once the two year requirement is over. Otherwise there may be an issue, depending on your consulate. 

 

also from what I’ve read on visajourney, certain consulates are quite strict about the two year requirement i.e. 730 days. So if you travel internationally during this two year period, those extra days won’t count as part of your two year requirement.

Oh, good you mentioned because that was another question I had. I did travel during this period of time, so I must add at the end, right? The way I see, the whole process until the interview takes around 1 year and a half, I should be fine if I start next year. I think. 

[aceegreene 34]

4 minutes ago, tassioliveira said:

Oh, good you mentioned because that was another question I had. I did travel during this period of time, so I must add at the end, right? The way I see, the whole process until the interview takes around 1 year and a half, I should be fine if I start next year. I think. 

Yup, so if the total travel time is 10 days the number goes from 730 to 740.

 

Yea it approximately one and half year. Though again it varies from consulate to consulate in terms of the wait for the interview. The experts here can weigh in more on that. 

[pushbrk 12,979]

File when ready.  You can always delay at the NVC stage, if you decide to.  Note that some 2 year requirements can be waived but it is up to YOUR country to do that.  Check it out.  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/study/exchange/waiver-of-the-exchange-visitor.html