Should we have changed address if we stayed temporarily for giving birth to baby? Worried about late or non-filing of AR-11

[madara_khan 0]

Disclaimer: I come from a culture where living in a joint family system is common. You might guess, yes, it's an Asian culture. Nothing wrong with living this way AFAIK, other than seeming weird to some folks. In my opinion it's not too bad if the house is big enough for a multi-generational family.

 

Anyways... I'm a USC and my wife has a CR1. We consider ourselves residents of place 'A'. We have a joint lease, joint taxes, joint bank account, joint health insurance at 'A'. I have a driver license for this state but she doesn't because she doesn't drive yet. I work remotely but my company has an office here and she's a stay at home wife.

 

Wife got pregnant and we wanted to have the baby at my parents house in a neighboring state (let's call it place 'B'). Since I can work remotely from anywhere in US, and the state of place 'A' lets me remain a domicile resident as long as I intend to return there, we essentially went and started living with parents at 'B', gave birth and it's been 3 months since then. I didn't realize I should change wife's address, because it was a temporary stay and we still have a lease/joint bank/insurance in place 'A' and go back there from time to time.

 

Question is, should I file a 6-month late AR-11 for wife? Or should I not file because we didn't 'officially' move to my parent's house in city B? We never intended to remain at B this long. AR-11 says you need to file even if its a temporary move, which I didn't realize initially... Should we not file it at all because we didn't intend to move to B? Or just be 'honest' and do a late filing? I'm now stressed about deportation, etc because they didn't use to pursue these issues, but now they might.
 

Additional info: During all this time, my parents and I closed on a house that I helped them purchase; it'll be in my parents name but we will rent from them. So next month, me, my wife + child and my parents are moving to a large permanent home, in the same state as 'A', but in a different city (let's call it place 'C'). At C, my wife and I will have everything together: Joint lease, utility bills, bank, health and car insurance, matching driver's licenses, etc. And we will never come back to 'B'.

We plan to file wife's I-751 at the end of Jan 2026.

[Boiler 47,981]

Not something I would worry about 

[OldUser 10,466]

For USCIS purposes, the official address is where you actually sleep at night, not where you pretend to live.

 

If you never update address with USCIS, and you live at address B or C, they can come knocking on door of address A and conclude you're playing games with them.

 

Always update your address as a sponsor within 30 days of moving (I-765). LPR spouse is also required by law to update address within 10 days of moving.

Better late than never. She may be asked about addresses at I-751 during interview. She will be asked about addresses in N-400, so no need to hide stuff. Just be honest and upfront about it through the process.

 

Any gains you make by misrepresenting your actual living arrangement for tax or other purposes will diminish if USCIS start suspecting issues with case / marriage.

Edited 4 hours ago by OldUser

[madara_khan 0]

@OldUser Yeah, wish we had finalized our permanent house much earlier... And no tax evasion here, just wanted to have the baby with parents and ended up staying longer than we expected. We have relatives at Address A who would've told us if anyone came knocking. But to be honest, baby's birth certificate is from Address B at parent's house (neighboring state), so USCIS could be skeptical about it. They'll think we can't have just stayed there at B for 2 weeks, it had to have been more, with the pregnancy recovery and whatnot.

 

I understand your point though; wish I had thought this thru earlier. Seems like I should just go ahead and fill a late AR-11 for Address B? Not sure if it will look weird to do another AR-11 for Address C in a few weeks. I know @Boiler said not to worry about it, but I guess it depends on what exactly they check. I at least have learned my lesson to just stay where you're supposed to stay.

Edited 3 hours ago by madara_khan

[OldUser 10,466]

33 minutes ago, madara_khan said:

@OldUser Yeah, wish we had finalized our permanent house much earlier... And no tax evasion here, just wanted to have the baby with parents and ended up staying longer than we expected. We have relatives at Address A who would've told us if anyone came knocking. But to be honest, baby's birth certificate is from Address B at parent's house (neighboring state), so USCIS could be skeptical about it. They'll think we can't have just stayed there at B for 2 weeks, it had to have been more, with the pregnancy recovery and whatnot.

 

I understand your point though; wish I had thought this thru earlier. Seems like I should just go ahead and fill a late AR-11 for Address B? Not sure if it will look weird to do another AR-11 for Address C in a few weeks. I know @Boiler said not to worry about it, but I guess it depends on what exactly they check. I at least have learned my lesson to just stay where you're supposed to stay.

There's no limit to number of AR-11 she can file and there is no minimum time between each filing. It takes less than 5 minutes to do online. Late filings typically do not have any negative effect. With such low burden to do it, I'm not sure why this is even a question. It takes more time to get replies on this forum than file AR-11. 

It's not an optional form.

Good luck!

Edited 3 hours ago by OldUser

[madara_khan 0]

Yeah I wasn't trying to avoid it, I just wasn't sure if this extended stay constituted a 'move' but now it seems that it probably does...

 

Reading about AR-11 now, I'm just worried about this: "Failure to report a change of address is punishable by fine or imprisonment and/or removal from the United States." 

 

Anyways, looks like I can't mention during the address change that it should've been for 6 months ago? Wish there was a way to do that. Also, for me I think it'd be I-865 instead of I-765.

 

 

[OldUser 10,466]

1 hour ago, madara_khan said:

Yeah I wasn't trying to avoid it, I just wasn't sure if this extended stay constituted a 'move' but now it seems that it probably does...

 

Reading about AR-11 now, I'm just worried about this: "Failure to report a change of address is punishable by fine or imprisonment and/or removal from the United States." 

 

Anyways, looks like I can't mention during the address change that it should've been for 6 months ago? Wish there was a way to do that. Also, for me I think it'd be I-865 instead of I-765.

 

 

It says failure, it doesn't say late report. So it's better to do it now than never

2 hours ago, madara_khan said:

Also, for me I think it'd be I-865 instead of I-765.

 

 

Yes you are right, sorry for wrong form name