Team_Healey

5 minutes ago, JoannaV said:

My husband was the only one on our mortgage/deed when we bought a house right after I moved here, so I can't comment on that specifically. Other than that I am sure that what you are trying to do is possible. Therefore, my advice would be to go in person to your loan officer and insist they get everything sorted out. That was what we had to do when something interfered with our closing. Even if your loan officer and underwriter are incompetent in some way there is going to be a bank employee somewhere in the nation who can sort it out, and if you are in the LO's office he will be motivated to find that person.

Thank you for your response, 

Our LO is actually in Texas and we are in Oklahoma. We found them on a website for USDA loans and were eventually filtered into FHA guidelines as a permanent resident.

We have been in contact with him almost daily on the phone, he has stated from today we may actually look for another lender if the underwriter does not accept his write up to clear up the confusion.

It just seems that our lender may have been confused at some point of the process. I will keep this topic updated as the process goes on for anyone with the same problem as future reference. 

Thank you for your advice, I will keep contacting my LO for more status updates.

On 4/1/2017 at 4:59 AM, Thesmiths2016 said:

So lovely to read your story. There are so many people who move to the USA and complain about everything, even though they made the choice to be there.  I personally am at the last part of NVC stage for my visa, and look forward to moving with a positive attitude like yours to absorb all the awesome things about our new adventure, not the negatives. 
I also plan to pack several jars of marmite ... the kiwi version ;-) 

Lots of luck to you! While living in NZ I was turned to eating Marmite every morning! Lucky for us, my mother-in-law sends us a box of goodies for Christmas filled with Cadbury and Marmite! 

I am happy for OP and his big easy living in New Orleans! Positive stories are always a good read, and indeed looking at my family after all the waiting, frustration and money is all worth it once everything comes through!

And as for the blood pudding, look into the local butchers and not the conventional grocery stores. We have been lucky to find such goodies after a while of looking!

Hello all! 

It has been a crazy ride once my husband and I moved to the USA!

We are in the process of buying a home, in fact stuck in the underwriting phase of the process for the passed 4 weeks, our closing has been moved up 3 times already. 

Here in lies the issue, our underwriter can not seem to understand my Husband's status as a conditional resident.

He has his green card valid for 2 years until we file our I-751 in June, a valid non-restricted social security card, and driver's license and has filed for Taxes in the USA. 

• The underwriter in the beginning of the process requested our EAD. Sent a LOE explaining we don't have one and do not need one as he is a conditional permanent resident. 

Waited for a week

• Requested his I-94 form, again sent a LOE explaining we do not have that form as we came into the country on a CR-1 Visa to get his Conditional Resident Green Card valid for 2 years. 

Waited another week! 

• Requested a stamp that we do not have at all yet, called the temp I-551 stamp that validates an expired green card for another year until you get your 10 year green card. Send an LOE explaining we are not yet at that part of our process as a conditional permanent resident as we must file 90 days before the expiry of our green card, which is not until June 10th. Explained this can not be done any earlier and the stamp can not be supplied by USCIS unless new green card never arrived in allotted time of 6 to 12 months after filing I-751 form. 

*much cursing, headaches and calls to our Loan Officer later...*

Find out Underwriter has stopped communications, won't give us an update and left us basically at the stage of where they asked for the stamp we can in no way get. 

Has anyone ever bought a home as a conditional resident before they filed their I-751 ROC form? I have searched the forum and have only found people buying a home while waiting on their new green card, and a few comments stating they bought a home on CR-1 without any problems. 

My husband is the only one on the loan application as a permanent resident for FHA guidelines, the Loan Officer said we had everything in order as far as documents went and we were approved with conditions until the underwriter suddenly kept adding more conditions that made no sense. We may end up losing about 2k (2 appraisal fees, earnest money, home inspection...) and worse yet losing the home because of this confusion. 

Any information or even those with the same experience is greatly appreciated! 

Hello,

My situation was a bit similar. I am the USC and my Husband a New Zealand citizen. I have been living with him in NZ 4 years where we now have a son. We have been approved already just need to POE interview etc. once in the States. All I can provide is what I have done to keep my domicile established.

I had my parents send me a signed and dated letter that they knew of me and my relationship as well as that their home was where I held domicile.

I had no bills or assets in the USA but I did have a US bank account I regularly checked. My bank info also held my parebts home as my address of contact. I printed that page for our interview.

I also did my US taxes yearly as I lived in NZ and ordered all those years tranacripts. This was one of the major things they wanted to see at the interview.

I also voted overseas which was a nightmare sometimes as mail gets lost here from NZ to US. I had my voters registration card with my domiciled address. This is free to update and get sent to maybe yoir wife's parents address to send to you.

I also kept my US license renewed as well as my ID. My state only sends by mail to overseas address and would not send it to my US domiciled address. Like I said before mail gets lost all the time here so it was a long process.

Sending some things overseas may help in showing you are trying to re-establish as well but I did not go that route.

Contacting a school or daycare by email can also be evidence when getting your child overseas.

Also CRBA for every child born to a US citizen abroad is always a good idea and shows long term planning to re-establish domicile.

All of these take time and some differ by your wife's state on how to get these items. These are just suggestions about what I have done while through my Husbands CR1 Visa. Hope this gives some help for your journey ahead!

**UPDATE**

Called DPS and the man working with me to solve this problem said all I could do was either wait or pick it up in person as he had sent it the maximum times for security reasons. I really did appreciate this man's help and patience after the long wait. On Wednesday, (May 13th for us) one of my cards had finally shown up, it happens to be the second license he had sent from overseas. All together, for mail from the USA to me in NZ it took from Feb.3rd-May 13th to get my card.

Any one might find this useful in regards to official documents being sent to them overseas! Keep calling and waiting, always let them know after at least 2 weeks of waiting that whatever you have ordered had not come in. In my case, to get my renewal, it took way too long but I am glad the second attempt went through! Good luck everyone!

Hello Karmalious and thank you for your reply!

I will stay tough and keep calling and waiting! Not sure how far I got this time as I was told no one can pick it up for me and it can not be sent to my domiciled address like I had requested in a letter with the order form. The man I spoke to said it would be illegal to do so since I am ordering from overseas it must go directly to me. My Skype call hung up and connection is pretty bad for overseas calls in New Zealand and it kept dropping. Thinking the man might think I hung up on him! Whoops. I am going to call this poor man up again and ask if at least I can set up a courier ticket to pick up and track to be sent to me overseas. I will update if anyone may be going through the same thing as I am! If it fails to get to me by the time an interview is on the way I will probably have to print out the correspondance via e-mail to at least prove I tried to renew my license and state I.D. cards. :c

Thank you again for your reply!

Hello!

I was wondering if there might be anyone who has experienced or may be experiencing the freakishly long wait for mail to arrive in from the USA? Preferably the USC Petitioner of your partner's visa while both living overseas. And maybe even some answers or ways around this kind of dilemma I am having or tips to get the gears moving?

My situation currently,

I had to renew both my License and State I.D. by the end of last year, and I am still waiting for both till this day! I could not believe the state DPS once I had called, they told me they do not allow tracking as an option even if they send overseas and offered to send again, which I took!

I can do nothing but wait, and it has been 2 months now calling back and forth and checking the mail box daily. Did the mail Gods devour my cards? Or someone in NZ have my embarrassing License picture to tote around? :S

Or maybe Customs has it and it may be a prohibited item? (I highly doubt it but my mind is going to all corners now).

It is very frustrating and I need these for a smooth landing once my Husband's (hopefully) soon to be CR-1 visa is given and I can start our lives back home with our child. State covered insurance, day care, signing up for a doctor, buying a car, etc. Not to mention proof of domicile while I am living with my Husband and Child overseas.

It is very hard to do things overseas but I wanted my Son to be with his Father as I knew the CR-1 process would be very long. I just feel helpless, any thoughts would help. I am currently awaiting till the 60 days review period after getting an RFE for putting $0 for my recent tax year as I do not make any US currency and it not matching my tax transcript. (Another annoying thing probably NZ and AUS residing petitioners have gone through).

Thank you for reading and more thanks for any response! I feel like I am able to do nothing at this phase but wait, not knowing if the cards will ever show up. Everyone, good luck on your journey!

Hello!

Not sure if any help but here's my personal experience:

My Husband and I had met online and first started thinking about the K-1 visa as a valid option as we dated online for 2 years. I decided to meet him in person first as it is a major step (in both deciding to get engaged and to meet physically to meet the requirements of the K-1). I went to him for 3 months on a visitor visa everything was perfect!

Now, this is where my situation differs as I decided to move Countries to be with him. At the time we were still going to do the K-1 Visa as we were engaged but life hit us as I became pregnant. I decided I really wanted to be a family and married in NZ and file for CR-1.

For you I would first check if you both have already physically met, gather all photo's and boarding tickets, e-mails, etc. that applies to your relationship if you intend to get engaged and apply for the K-1 Visa.

If you are still unsure about being engaged, do try and visit each other as often as you can first, visiting will less liken the probability of it flagging up as fraud if you both have spent the money to keep up this relationship. It might be easier later on to stay with either one of you in your relative countries to decide what to do as far as it goes to getting engaged. This may require either of you to support one another when visiting and staying as the traveler usually can not work while just on a visitor's visa.

Personally, I decided to visit first on New Zealand's Visa Waver for maximum of 3 months. I could not work with this option and both my Husband and I knew this. After the 3 months I returned to the U.S. and saved up for a ticket back to NZ and applied for a Working Holiday Visa for 12 months. After that I was allowed the minimum of a year Work Visa under Partnership.

These are the steps I have taken if you are looking into planning something similar.

In the end, if you do decide to go forward to getting engaged, do use the K-1 visa option as it is the quickest way to get your boyfriend to you, If I remember correctly you must marry within 90 days of his arrival in the U.S.

So in short, I recommend the K-1 Visa if you both are serious about becoming engaged and marrying within the 90 day window. I believe you can have your mother or someone else as a co-sponsor if it is asked of you. At least meet in person a few times to show evidence of a relationship as this really will help the process for you and the K-1 Visa. If you two are not interested in being engaged and marrying so soon, I would recommend looking into the types of Visa's to travel and stay with each other as much as possible first or keep having little holidays to see each other!

Hope some of my experience has helped in your decision. Good luck!

First off, congrats on the acceptance!

Second, I am so sorry for this kind of experience! Stuff like this gets my heart pumping!

The U.S. consulate in Auckland was about the same for my Husband and I when we had to get our son's CRBA. It is really inconvenient to have to travel in person to Auckland in the first place from where we lived as it is 7 hours drive away and our son was only 2 months at the time, we could not afford the insane price to fly there so I made sure to bring all paperwork with me to avoid leaving anything important behind!

When we arrived for our appointment we were the first one who busted through just after they opened for their next set of appointments.

I expected an interview for a CRBA as our appointment was at 1:30 but ended up behind a glass and handed our forms in with just my passport and my son's birth certificate and told to wait to be called. I guess I brought too much paperwork with me to prove my relationship to my Husband but they only handed it back ( Lady asked what all this was and shoved it back to us, haha). We waited a couple of hours while the waiting room filled with every other appointment until we were called and were just asked to check the forms over and sign.

This is the same place I expect to go to for the interview for my Husband, and for sure after reading your story I am definitely bringing as much relevant paperwork I can again regardless if it is overlooked. Before I read this and given my experience at our consulate, I was just going to bring the checklist recommended paperwork to avoid that whole awkward situation when getting the CRBA! I am hoping the interview goes better as I am sure maybe every process might be different in every other Country.

Thanks for sharing, it has really prepared me!

Hello! Don't feel bad!

I have tripped up twice already on my own taxes, yikes!! I also started to feel so down because they were dumb mistakes! It probably will end up pushing my wait a couple of months, haha. I am in the process of waiting for my amended return and received an email yesterday from NVC starting the next process for the affidavit of support! (What timing, now to wait on the IRS!)

Good luck on your journey.