sentani

1. Country USC resides in: New Zealand
2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No
3. When did you file the I-130: July 2013
4. How long had you been living abroad: USC has lived in NZ for almost 4 years
5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes
6. What is the reason for your residence: work permit/student/tourist: Residency visa based on spousal relationship
7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes
8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? Yes
9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? YES
10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? No...we didn't include a cover letter because we didn't know we needed to
11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? N/A. Still waiting.

Whatever you do, don't let them force you to change your address to a US address. This happened to another member and it resulted in their case ending up in a black hole.

Thanks. Will keep that in mind!

P.S. Is there a hard copy of the change of address form I can fill out? I'm not sure where to find it (have been googling but don't know which form is the correct one!).

Hi all,

We filed our I-130 from New Zealand in early July. My husband (US citizen) has been living here with me for 4 years, so the mailing address we provided for USCIS is our NZ address. Anyway, now we will be moving to another house in NZ while we wait out the process, and we went online to try and change our address. However, the system only seems to recognize US change of addresses, not overseas ones. What do we do about this? Will it work if I do it over the phone, or will our address have to be a US one for that as well? We're finding this very frustrating!

Thanks for your time!

Hi all! I haven't posted before, but I have found reading the guides on this website really helpful as we prepare to start the immigration process. Im a New Zealander, and have been married to a US citizen for 2.5 years. We've been living in NZ, and he has his NZ residency. So we thought we could apply for my US residency, when the time came, directly through the consulate. Unfortunately, we were wrong, and the visa person at the embassy told us that no one does direct consular filing anymore (?!) so we will have to do it the long way. So right now we're feeling a bit overwhelmed and stressed because we originally planned to move to the States at the end of this year, but also to have a long holiday overseas at some point because, to be honest, Im burnt out at work and I need one! But now it looks like we're stuck in NZ just waiting for forms to be processed and an interview. However, I am going to apply to graduate programs in the States at the end of this year, for starting study in August 2014. We were wondering if we could still do the travelling we wanted, and not go through all this stress of waiting in New Zealand, if I just got a student visa when (if!) I get accepted into a program, and then adjust my status while I am living in the USA. Does that sound like a really stupid idea or is it worth thinking about?

My other question is: Does anyone know of a good immigration agent/ lawyer they could recommend? My dad is convinced we need one. I'm not sure, but I want to look into it.

Thanks!