USC and UK spouse in UK - Filing questions for work offer in Qatar

[Surfrider 0]

So a bit of a conundrum. I am American Citizen, and my spouse is a UK citizen (married just over 4 years), 3yr old dual citizen son.

 

We've discussed moving from the UK to the US, but a bit of an offer fell on my lap today to take a contract with my US company for a US government contract in Qatar. Is there ANY visa route to get my wife an I-130 or N-400 here in the London Embassy? The plan is to do a year in Qatar on this contract, then move permanently to the US afterwards. I know you certain circumstance for USC working for the Gov can waive physical presence requirements for Naturalization, but it seems the UK spouse still needs to have LPR (lawful permanent resident) status? I assume that is I-130? I read Qatar doesn't offer a USCIS service?

 

So confused as to what route we should take for getting my wife her green card / citizenship, as the long route of waiting the backlog of 18-24mo is not really feasible with her self-employed producer / director work. That big of a gap would nuke her career / reputation.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated! It is 5am and I can't sleep with all of this running through my head.

[millefleur 5,037]

1 hour ago, Surfrider said:

The plan is to do a year in Qatar on this contract, then move permanently to the US afterwards.

The whole point of DCF exceptional circumstances is that there is urgency to bring the spouse back to the US with the USC who is moving there on short notice. Moving to Qatar for a year does not show any urgency on the USC's part to return to the US immediately, so I don't think it's likely this situation qualifies while you are in the UK.

 

Now if you were in Qatar and then had the short notice job relocation back to the US, then it's possible they might grant it. It appears there is a US Embassy in Qatar and their ustraveldocs websites mentions "exceptional filing" for such cases: https://www.ustraveldocs.com/qa/qa-iv-visaapplyinfo.asp

 

 

Edited January 11 by millefleur

[D-R-J 153]

Yep, get a job offer in the US as your time is winding down in Qatar. Then contact the US embassy there to do DCF.

 

You should have a back up plan in case they don’t accept. Would you be able to move back to the UK and establish residency? That embassy seems to accept a lot of petitions under that circumstance.

 

Edited January 13 by D-R-J