US Immigration from Philippines

I'm an expat in the Philippines and I've been living here with my wife of 7 years since 2018. I saw that people in my position typically have trouble proving intent to reestablish domicile. In order to prepare concrete evidence of intent to reestablish domicile, I am considering buying a condo in the US where we intend to settle and to also valuate our house here in the Philippines and post it for sale. The thing is, I am reluctant to spend a bunch of money on a condo (or fly out ahead of my wife and sign a long term lease) unless I feel like there's a really good shot at the IR1 being approved. We have joint sponsors so that won't be the issue, and I intend to do an affidavit outlining my plans to reestablish domicile for the NVC, but I read people say the offers in he Manila embassy want the American spouse to be IN America during the interview.

So my question is this: at what point can I consider that IR1 visa is a 99% sure thing? After I-130 approval? After DQ? Literally the only weak spot in our application is my domicile. We are super obviously a legitimately married couple for love and we meet the financial requirements.

I have a question which form should my mother use, is it i864a or i864?

the petitioner is my sister which she fill up i864 then her husband fill up i864a they filed their taxes jointly.

Which forms does my mother will use?

they live the same address and my mother has separate income and my sister didn't include them in their taxes as other dependent.

just confused with this.

Thank You Guys

I had an RFE from USCIS. They wanted proof of my 1st marriage ending. My wife died in DEC22 and I sent them an original from the Records Office. Somehow they lost it. I have copies of that record but I went back and purchased another official copy and sent it in. The $20 is not the problem. The problem is the lost time. There has already been a complete halt to USCIS processing since they fired the 400 people in APR/MAY this year. People who filed in APR and MAY received approvals in under 60 days. I am on day 150 and counting. This is ridiculous.

I am so happy that Trump has a Dept of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and I certainly hope they attack the USCIS and get them straight. It should not take this long to process these forms. I understand these are government employees and they work at a snail's pace. Maybe they should outsource this to a company that can be more efficient. I will have my approval soon after they review my RFER but hopefully others will benefit from Trump's new policies.

Wife has her US Citizenship. We bought land in the Philippines for retirement hopefully by next summer. She tried to get an appointment at an outreach center and I uploaded everything they asked for. However the issue is although we filed the ROM in 2019, they said that was just a certified receipt that they received it, but we need to get a "certificate" from the PSA in order to continue. She already has a US passport with her married name AND renewed her Ph passport in her married name. $20 per copy and DHL is over $100 for delivery. I just wanted to be sure they are not going to just send us a copy of the copy that is was received and filed. Anyone?

My spouse is currently in the United States on a J1 visa. We got married in the United States while she was on her J1. Her J1 does not have a 2-year home residency requirement. We are planning on concurrently filing i130 and i485 to adjust her status.

Filing the i485 allows her to stay in the United States while it's processing, but does it allow her to work once her J1 expires? Or does she need to apply for i765 as well?

Thanks for the time.