DartJ

Hello Everyone,

There is a petition on Whitehouse.gov which is about allowing American citizens to live abroad while sponsoring their spouse, i.e. getting rid of the domicile question on the application.

If it reaches 100,000 signatures, then it will be issued with a response from the government. If your like us, we are stuck abroad because of the domicile issue.

Please pass the voice around!

Here is the link:

http://wh.gov/lsR3S

Hey NickUSMC,

We were there for the interview 1 day before, and had a similiar experience with a really rude and cheeky lady -- she just laughed, and didn't give us any real explanation. We are on "hold" because of domicile issues as well and not sure how to re-schedule our interview.

Anyway, those people in Naples are really difficult to deal with, and also really rude -- they certainly don't follow the State Dept. guide to treating people well.

Let me know if you hear anything.

I found this article (and particularly the links) helpful when looking at domicile and filing from abroad.

http://www.usvisalawyers.co.uk/article19.htm

It's a big mess really trying to prove domicile - and I even got a response saying "it's a grey area open for interpretation".

Good luck.

This article might help you with your domicile question:

http://www.usvisalawyers.co.uk/article19.htm

Hi Nola,

I didn't mention that we applied via the NVC - perhaps that is the problem?

Hi Nola,

Thanks for confirming that. I by no means gave up anything in the US. The only catch might be that I don't own a home or have a car, but as I mentioned, I have bank accounts, vote, pay taxes, etc.

So I suppose my question now is: what to do now? How to prove to them that we will either 1.) travel there together or 2.) that I will go ahead before her. And how far ahead does it have to be?

So very very frustrating. The Naples consulate has to be one of the least professional.

Your correct that it is hard or non-existent to find, but we just got stopped at the interview for doing exactly what you propose to do (In Naples, Italy) we live abroad and filed in the US (when I was there for a few months) and then moved abroad to go through the process together. I was told by the consular office that I had to prove domicile in the US, or as she said "live and work in the US".

What this amounted to was her saying that we needed to be seperated for the duration of our process, over 1 year. By her account, this didn't matter, and people do it all the time.

I would take care in going about it in this way -- but as I've learned, there are exceptions, exceptions execptions everywhere. No one has exactly the same experience.

But like you I also can't find where it says that the petitioner has to be in the US. If anyone can or knows where to find this, please let us know!

Basically this is what happened:

In Naples last month for interview:

Medical -- OK

Paperwork-- Perfect

Fingerprints - Fine

Photographs - No problem.

The Interview:

Placed on hold because of my domicile (We live in the Uk at the moment because we both had jobs here, and didn't want to seperate, but are planning to move to the US as soon as her visa was approved)

Placed on hold now with no guidance on what to do next. Can we move the files to London to have another interview? Should we submit more paperwork to Naples? I have lived abroad for aroudn three years in Italy and the Uk and don't have a permenant job in the US, but still have paid taxes, voted, and retain bank accounts, etc. We have merely been waiting over 1 year now, for this process to conclude.

As of now, we don't know what to do and can't get anyone to respond to emails. My senator has also called and spoke with the visa chief, but we have not heard back from him. Any advice or thoughts are most appreciated.

We had a similiar situation in Naples except the passport wasn't stolen, we were placed on "hold" because of a domicile issue and we are trying to get our case transfered to London. But there is really no advice or thoughts on teh matter anywhere on the web. The only thing I did that got a reply or answer is to email the USCIS Rome Field office about the case and they forwarded my email to the IV Unit in Naples. But no response. Also, I think it could help to contact your senator or Congressman in the US (from wherever you were living before).

Let me know if you find out anything!! We are desperate!