tim626

Thank you Nitas_man for the very helpful info!

30 minutes ago, NigeriaorBust said:

  The fact she has been declared a permanent resident of another country indicates that she is no longer a resident here.   It won't come up during her travel but will when she files for citizenship.    Giving it up may be too little too late ( BTW  I am known as one that brings up the negatives to get them on the table )

Fair point, but if she gives up the residency before the re-entry permit expires, it should be evidence that the foreign residency was intended for that period only. Any subsequent travel will be on tourist visas.

Just now, NuestraUnion said:

And the physical presence requirements?

 

https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-naturalization/continuous-residence-and-physical-presence-requirements-naturalization

 

Yes, she will be in the US for more than 18 months. She will be in the US for 22 months. 

1 minute ago, NuestraUnion said:

If she attempts to apply for citizenship with those dates you provided she will be denied. To be approved for citizenship a permanent residence must have resided IN the US for a duration of time in total. Since she is married to you, that equals 3 years. But if she has been out of the US for a total of 2 years, then she has to make up that time INSIDE the US.

I said she will have been inside the US for 22 out of 36 months. That's ~2 years in the US, ~1 year out.

16 minutes ago, geowrian said:

The continuous residence requirement may be an issue for naturalization. Having a reentry permit + foreign spouse + foreign residence visa + spending roughly half the time outside the US may be deemed as having broken continuous residence.

 

Note that this is separate from being re-admitted to the US. The CBP officer permitted her entry last time, but it's never a guarentee. The reentry permit only covers abandonment of residency purely based on the time spent abroad. If the officer thinks residency was abandoned due to other reasons (see above), then they can refer her to an immigration judge to revoke LPR status. Personally, I think this is pretty unlikely with only ~6 months out of the US per year and maintaining the US ties like you have stated, but it's not impossible.

It sounds like getting the residence visa might not have been a good idea.

Right now her schedule for 2018 looks something like this:

Early January: US to UAE

Late March: UAE to US

Early April: file application for removal of conditions

July: Re-entry permit expires and baby due

Late August/Early September: US to UAE with baby

Now I'm thinking maybe we can cancel her UAE residence visa when she goes back to the US in March (i.e. before the re-entry permit expires and before we apply for removal of conditions).

She can come to UAE on a 90-day tourist visa in August/September, then head back to the US after the 90 days are up (around November). Stay in US for ~2 months, then come back to UAE on another 90-day tourist visa from January-April 2019. Then back to US and apply for citizenship in July. With this schedule she will have been in the US for about ~22 out of 36 months since her first arrival in July 2016.

Granted it's a pretty hectic schedule, especially with a small infant. I'm just trying to brainstorm how to make this work.

As for buying the property in UAE...I'm not sure. Right now our US address is my father's house. Our long-term plan is to continue to live with my father, and ultimately purchase the house from him, which will help fund his retirement. Maybe we can do this sooner rather than later so the house will be in our name, and thus strengthen our ties further...

6 minutes ago, NigeriaorBust said:

  If your wife is a resident there she is not a resident in the US.  You reside in one place , the other you are visiting.   You may want to consider giving up the green card and  filing for a new one when you get done over there

Hmm. This is not the answer I was hoping for. Giving up the green card is not an option. If she gives up her UAE residency now, would it be too late?

I don't quite understand though, since she had no issues going through immigration when she returned to US last week. At first the officer questioned her after seeing her UAE residency, but as soon as she showed her re-entry permit he waved her through with no problem.

Hi, thanks in advance for any replies, I have received a lot of great advice on this forum in the past.

I am a US citizen and my wife is a conditional permanent resident (citizen of India). Right now I have a job in the United Arab Emirates and I am living there pretty much full time. I intend to spend the large majority of my time here in order to avail the tax benefits of working overseas (i.e. no federal income tax if I stay outside the US for more than 335 days in a 365-day consecutive period).

My current job is of a temporary nature - short-term contract work. Ultimately I intend to return to live in the US, but I'm not exactly sure when. So far I've been here 9 months. Originally I thought it would last for about a year, now it's looking like it could go another full year, possibly more. I don't intend to push it beyond 2-3 years.

Meanwhile, we are trying to juggle my wife's residency requirements, in order to 1) maintain her status, 2) remove her conditions in July 2018 and 3) qualify for and obtain naturalization (will be eligible July 2019).

We already got her a re-entry permit which is valid through July 2018.

Our strategy is for her to periodically travel back and forth for extended stays in each country. At the time of her first exit from US in July 2017, she had already accrued 12 full months in the US. She was here with me in UAE for just under 5 months, and last week she returned to the US with no problem at immigration.

If she continues to alternate between the two countries, (e.g. 4 months in UAE, 2 months in US, 3 months in UAE, 3 months in US, etc.) she will have accrued well over the required 18 months in the US by the time she is eligible for citizenship in 2019.

Meanwhile we still have many ties in the US, including a permanent address, bank accounts, joint tax returns, etc. We are also expecting our first child.

That is the background of the situation. I have 3 basic questions:

1) Are there any holes in this general strategy, or anything we should be mindful of that maybe we haven't considered?

2) I have a residence visa in UAE, and I also sponsored my wife for a UAE residence visa. This was the only practical option for her to be able to stay with me in UAE for any extended period of time. Could this be a problem?

3) We are considering purchasing an apartment in UAE, in order to save on rent while we're here, and as a long-term investment and future rental property after we eventually return to the US. Would this potentially be an issue? In order to purchase the property, I would have to open a bank account and take a mortgage in UAE. Right now my employer is paying me through my US bank, an arrangement I had specifically made to help strengthen my/our ties to the US. One thing I am considering is asking my employer to split up my salary - send some to my US bank and some to a UAE bank. 

Thank you to whoever takes the time to read and reply!

Cheers,

Tim

Ok, after looking over the I-131, I have a minor follow-up question if anyone cares to chime in (would greatly appreciate all input):

Under "purpose of trip", I will explain that my job is temporary and we plan on returning after one year. But we may also want to make a few tourist trips to neighboring countries while we are living over there. Is this an important thing to mention? There is a space for "list of countries you intend to visit", but I do not yet know which countries we may want to visit as tourists.

I-131

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/B5en.pdf

Thank you!

Yes. Visiting the US, but not living there for the majority of the time means that she'd risk losing her LPR status without a re-entry permit.

Understood, thank you. Sorry to trouble you further, but do you know the name/number of the re-entry permit? Just so I can Google it and figure out the process.

File for a re-entry permit before you leave.

Would this be necessary even if she makes it a point to return at least once every 6 months? Thanks for the reply.

Hi,

I am a US citizen. I brought my wife to the US on a CR1 spouse visa in July 2016. She has been here for nearly 6 months. I was recently offered a one-year contract for a job in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. If I accept, I will plan on bringing my wife with me. We will then return to the US after the contract is up. But I am wondering what would be necessary for her to keep her US permanent resident status during this time. Note that she a conditional permanent resident.

Based on my research, it seems she would need to return to the US at least once every 6 months to avoid difficulties. That would be no problem, but I just wanted to check and see if there is something I am overlooking. Are there any further steps that need to be taken?

Thanks in advance.

Tim

I'm petitioning for my wife. She is an Indian citizen but she also lived in Nepal from December 2009 to June 2012.

For her Nepal PCC, they are asking for an employment letter. She has an employment letter from her time in Nepal which states she was employed from March 2010 to July 2013.

The reason it doesn't match with her residence dates is because although she arrived in December, she didn't start the job until March. Then she left in June 2012 although she was still "officially" employed and still visited occasionally until July 2013.

If we submit this employment letter, the PCC will cover the dates as it is shown in the employment letter.

Will this be a problem? Will NVC care that the PCC doesn't cover the 3 months from December to March when she first arrived? And will they be wondering why it covers up until July 2013 even though she left in June 2012?

Hi,

I am petitioning for my wife's CR1 visa. We are at the stage where we are about to submit our documents to the NVC. I have received conflicting information from my lawyer regarding whether original documents are required at this stage.

As per the NVC website, we are to submit only copies of all civil documents at this stage. Then the originals will be needed at the time of the interview.

However, the lawyer is telling us to give them all the originals now. They say they don't need to submit them immediately, but they want to have them on hand for when the NVC asks for them.

My main question is, at what stage will the original documents be needed, and where do they need to be submitted? If they are needed at the interview stage, does my wife need to BRING them to the interview herself? Or do the documents simply need to be mailed to NVC at the time of the interview?

This is an important question due to logistics. Right now my wife and I, along with our documents, are located in UAE. This is where the interview will take place. At the end of this week, I am moving to the US, at which time I plan on handing in our necessary documents to the lawyer in person. I need to know whether to bring the originals with me. My concern is that if I do so, I may have to ship them back to UAE at some later point so that my wife can take them to the interview. This presents a problem, since it is notoriously difficult to ship items to UAE (my mother once tried to ship me a credit card and it was rejected by customs multiple times and never reached me).

Sorry if this was confusing. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi, I've posted a few other threads with specific questions about my case. I'm an American citizen petitioning for my wife, an Indian citizen currently residing in UAE. She also lived in Nepal from 2009-2012.

My question relates to obtaining her PCC from Nepal, as an Indian citizen.

I have been in touch with a Nepali lawyer regarding this question. This is the latest update I have received from her:

In answer to your question about the time tenure to obtain Character Certificate, the time is 15 to 25 days in general condition. Due to extenuating circumstances, the Indian Embassy is closed for the administrative work in relation to public, it is open only for the diplomats. So, because of this scenario we are not confirmed about the exact time. Unfortunately we are in the national crisis thus we are currently not able to proceed.

Also we have one month's long holiday for the national festivals and all the governmental and non-governmental offices shall be closed during the periods. Thus let's not pretend to complete the work within this period.

To inform you briefly we have planned the following steps for your pursuance.

1st apply at police headquarter, Character Verification Section along with the following documents.

a. An attested copy of passport with arrival stamp of Nepal Immigration office entering Nepal.

b. An attested copy of passport with departure stamp of Nepal Immigration office leaving Nepal (for stayed in Nepal)

c. Attested copies of the certified copies of the documents issued by the applicant's organization.

d. Passport size color photography - 3 copies

As you do not have the document as prescribed in "a" and "b" stated above, we shall submit application to concern Embassy i.e. Indian Embassy to issue letter with clear prescription of the name of foreigner, arrival date and departure date, and purpose to stay in Nepal.

Note that as we need the letter from the Indian Embassy thus we are stuck on this worse scenario as I describe above.

I have heard that in certain cases, the NVC accepts the fact that a PCC is unobtainable. If this "national crisis" and situation with the Indian embassy continues for a significant period of time, I wonder if this case would qualify? And what sort of proof would need to be submitted to NVC that we cannot obtain the PCC?

TIA

Hi, bumping this thread again. I've been in touch with a Nepali lawyer recommended by my lawyer in New York.

The lawyer is saying they will be able to get her PCC as an Indian citizen, overlooking the fact that she has Nepali citizenship. I'm not sure how they are going to do this. I suspect there might be some sort of bribery or other mischief happening behind the scenes, but they are keeping a legal facade over the whole thing. Either way it doesn't really matter to me as long as it gets done.

But I'm concerned about one aspect. I was always under the impression that the Nepal PCC was valid for only 3 months. But when I asked them about the validity, I received this reply:

To answer your question, in context of Nepal there is no limitation on validity, the issued character certificate do not contain the date of validity, it only confirms that whether applicant of the character certificate while residing in Nepal do or do not have any adverse record against her till her residence in Nepal. The validity of Character Certificate is either 6 months or more, it depend upon the Embassy whether to accept or not.

Can anyone vouch for or against this? It seems to go contrary to what I've heard elsewhere. TIA

Great, thanks to all for the info!

Ok. So basically all I have to do is submit the same financial paperwork for my joint sponsor that I'm also submitting for myself?

How can I find out more about using a joint sponsor? We've already submitted the I-130. Either of my parents would certainly be happy to act as a joint sponsor. Do I just have to mention them on the I-864, or is there other paperwork involved?

Hi,

I'm a US citizen applying for IR-1/CR-1 for my wife, who is from India.

I met my wife while we were both living and working in the UAE. We were married there, and we still live there now.

My current employer is based in the US. I was sent to UAE on a project, and I'm here 11 months out of the year. But my paychecks come from the US.

Now, however, my project is ending and my company is going through massive layoffs. I've been given notice of a little over a month; my termination date is October 29th.

I'm exploring options for finding work in UAE rather than return to the US, so I can continue to live with my wife until her visa is ready.

My concern is, if I earn income from a non-US based company, can I report it on the I-864 financial form when it comes time to fill out this document?

Are there other complications that need to be considered?

I'm just wondering what I need to be considering before I go through with this option.

Thanks in advance.

Nepal pcc comes from kathmandu not the local police station

Yes but apparently this guy is saying that since she is getting it as an Indian citizen, it's OK to get it from the local station (they are willing to overlook her Nepalese citizenship). I wonder if NVC would accept it?

Edit:

From travel.state.gov website:

Police Records

Generally available. All applicants from across the Nepal should apply at the two main police stations, the Maharajgunj Police and the Deputy Inspector General's office in Ratnapark, designated by the Police Headquarters in Kathmandu. Records are issued by the Police Headquarters after a check for adverse information has been conducted through the centrally maintained records at the Headquarters. Ther local police station or, if resident in a small village, the District Police Headquarters, may also issue a certificate, but those police offices only check for derogatory information available in their records, not a nationwide check. The Headquarters- issued records are generally reliable as the scope of the check includes all of Nepal. Political unrest in some districts may prevent applicants from obtaining certificates.

Not sure how to interpret this? It says they do issue from the local stations, but will the NVC accept it?

Hi all, OP here with a follow-up question.

My wife has a friend in Nepal who knows someone in the police at the locality where she stayed. He is saying they can get the police clearance from that locality directly.

But is it OK to get it from there? Or does she have to get it from Kathmandu?

Does anyone know? TIA

Hi Syhem LNK, thank you for sharing, this is very helpful information!

Anyone else?

Hello, hopefully this is the right forum for this.

I am a U.S. citizen applying for an IR-1/CR-1 spouse visa for my wife. Her I-130 was recently approved so we are now preparing to send her documents to NVC.

My wife was born in India and is a citizen of India. She holds an Indian passport.

However, from 2009 to 2012 she lived in Nepal. During this time, she obtained Nepalese citizenship. Neither Nepal nor India allows dual citizenship; however, she neglected to renounce her Indian citizenship, thus retaining both Nepalese and Indian citizenship. This is illegal in both countries, and if either country ever found out, her citizenship would be declared invalid.

The problem we are facing now has to do with obtaining her PCCs from the relevant countries. She should have no problem obtaining it from India, since she holds all the proper Indian documents. However, in order to get a PCC in Nepal, one has to furnish their Nepalese citizenship number (if they have one), and their passport. She cannot apply as an Indian citizen, since they would presumably discover she is already a Nepalese citizen. She also cannot apply as a Nepalese citizen, since she only has an Indian passport (they would presumably not accept the fact that she has a Nepalese citizenship number, but an Indian passport).

My proposed solution for this dilemma is for my wife to apply for a Nepalese passport. I think she would be able to obtain it without difficulty, since she is already a Nepalese citizen.

However, the main purpose of this thread is the following: if she does get a Nepalese passport in order to get her PCC from Nepal, presumably the PCC will reveal that she is a Nepalese citizen and possesses a Nepalese passport. So far, all paperwork related to her I-130 has only referenced her Indian passport. My question is, will this cause a problem with the NVC? Is there some procedure to report her Nepalese citizenship and passport separately? I know that it's illegal from the point of view of India and Nepal to possess both passports, but my guess would be that it's irrelevant to the U.S.? I just want to double check and get some advice before we go through with this plan. Are there any other potential complications that I haven't foreseen?

Note that we are separately researching the question of how to handle this situation with respect to India and Nepal. My main question for this thread is how the situation will be perceived by the NVC.

Thanks in advance.

no .. it should not be problem. For traveling between India and Nepal you dont need passport. She can show her voter card and state that she used the same to travel between India and Nepal as well as stay in Nepal.

Therefore passport issuance date has nothing to do. However i dont know how will you justify why she accepted Nepali citizenship while maintaining Indian too.

And i know this is not going to be easy. Being nepali and knowing how people work in nepal, i am telling you there is going to be lot of bribe.

Honestly for my birth certificate from my own Village Development Committee (VDC), i had to pay 500 Rs for tea and coffee because of my broken nepali. They suspected that i was not nepali even thou i had all documents proving i was nepali. That's shameful but that's how it is.

Sorry i dont know any lawyer out there in Nepal. Never had to deal with them as i handled my paper work on my own.

OK. Thanks again for the advice. I'm looking up Nepali lawyers and emailing them, hopefully will get a response. My wife is also in touch with some relatives in Kathmandu who can hopefully help.

Any further advice from others on this forum would be greatly appreciated as well.