werdnum

Can you clear up whether or not she is your fiance as you state in the first sentence or your wife?

I wasn't engaged at the time I applied for an F1 but I was honest with them and told them I was going to live with my American boyfriend. They only asked if I planned to marry him and was told that if I wanted to come and live in America I needed an immigrant visa... I didn't really prove I was going back home apart from participating in a program that was only going to be for a year though I got a visa that was valid for 4 years.

I don't know how marrying a US citizen is going to effect her right for funding from Finland though, you might want to look into how that works. If she gets a Green Card I am pretty sure she won't get any money from Finland so just be aware of that before making any decisions.

If you are married I think it would be really hard to prove non-immigrant intent.

We're getting married in 3 weeks, so she's currently my fiancée, but since she hasn't even applied to any colleges, she would be my wife by the time of an interview.

If she gets a green card, then at least she would be able to get US federal student loans. So that's not the end of the world – provided she applied correctly.

The problem is basically that we don't know where we're going to go – it seems pretty clear that spending some time in the US makes the most sense for us right now, but it isn't at all clear that we'd want to "immigrate" there (I have not lived there since I was 2). I think that's a fairly clear case of "no current immigrant intent", but then again, I don't know if they'd see it that way – especially given that I'll be taking a job there.

You're getting the visa's mixed up. She is applying for a F1 visa not a J1 visa. The "funding" he is talking about is most likely money for her to go to school. If it's the same in Finland as it is in Sweden she can apply for money to use for studying that she doesn't have to pay back. It's not a scholarship or anything it's just what we have the right to get even if we study abroad though they have stricter rules about the funding for studying abroad.

Well, most of it she does have to pay back, but it's general "studying money" – she also had it in the Netherlands. You're right that it's not part of a J-1 program.

Hey folks,

My fiancée and I were thinking of moving to New York for a little while while she studies law. Obviously we would ideally just get her a green card, but time is of the essence if she is to continue her studies and have funding from the Finnish government.

I realise that for an F-1 you have to show non-immigrant intent – but apparently the US consulate will accept that students and young people typically don't have their life plan all worked out, and that provided your present intention is to leave the US when your program is finished, they will accept it and take 'foreign residence' a bit more metaphorically.

In practice, though, I'm concerned that the consulate will see that she's married to a USC and that will be that. Does anybody have any experience proving non-immigrant intent in these circumstances?

You mention wife and K1.

Good idea not to cause confusion.

Seems logical otherwise.

The plan right now is to get married in four weeks. So I suppose we could not sign the papers and get married in the US, but it's far from ideal.

I contacted USCIS in London yesterday regarding documentation. They replied very promptly and helpfully – asking me to send whatever document I had and saying he'd take a look at it and figure out if it worked or not.

However, once I told the official that I didn't live in the UK yet and was planning for a future filing, he soured quite quickly – his final email was, in its entirety: "ONLY a UK residency card is acceptable".

I'm not quite sure where this leaves us. I really don't fancy waiting 14 months for my wife's residency to come through – we're just finishing in Prague, so, apart from anything, we'd have to pick a country to sit and wait in. The UK residency card can take more than six months to issue (contrary to EU law), and I don't know about the other consulates (Vienna? Frankfurt? Rome? Athens?). We could always not actually get married, and file for a K-1, but that still puts her US visa back to the end of the year.

I think that's pretty much my conclusion as well, and it (unfortunately) won't work for us since we can't move to the UK for filing - at least not until after the summer and even then it would mean pulling our daughters out of school until the visa was issued which isn't really an option.

Perhaps London will take pity on us, but as someone who used to work in a (British) embassy and knows how the visa sections operate there I have little optimism.

I understand why the process takes time for immigration of spouses - the flaunting of this system just to get people into the country on a green card - but for bona fide relationships, especially where children are concerned, it creates stress (I haven't slept properly for over 2 weeks) and breaking up a family for any length of time is a terrible shame.

If I were you, I would try to get your situation recognised as an emergency situation. It really doesn't seem right to split up your family and you probably have a strong argument for expedited consular processing regardless of residence – could mention the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Note also that you could try filing in London – provided you don't actually *lie* in the application and certify that you live in the UK, the worst that can happen is that London says no. We won't go down that route because the alternative is not that bad, but in your case I can see how it would be justified.

Good luck!

This is from the London website:

Who can file Form I-130 with the London Field Office?

The USCIS Field Office London will only accept Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative) filed by United States citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents who are legally resident in the United Kingdom.

• US citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents whose principal residence is not in the United Kingdom and/or who entered the United Kingdom as a tourist or visitor must file the Form

  I-130 with the Chicago or Phoenix Lockbox.

• US citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents who reside in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, or Sweden) must also file the Form I-130 with either the Chicago or Phoenix Lockbox.

It seems pretty clear that the principal residence rule (I've underlined) is not met if you don't live in the UK, and they specifically mention Sweden as needing to file in Chicago. I'll see how they reply and maybe take it further, since if we went for a K3 visa that would have to be processed in London anyway owing to the 'country of marriage' rule.

Right. My conclusion was this:

• They don't routinely check if you actually live in the UK, just that you are allowed to.
• However, there are lots of ways that they could eventually find out that you had lied about living in the UK
• Therefore: you should be prepared to make a defensible claim that you lived in the UK at the time of filing. There's no set standard for how long or how seriously you live there, just that if a consular or immigration official asks you at any point in the process if you live in the UK, you should be able to say yes with a straight face.

You would be correct! I have no idea why it varies so much lol. I've seen "normal" timelines that were started in November and took 6 full months, and timelines that started in January and have already been issued. Average for February/March filers so far is leaning towards about 4-5 months.

Can't say I'm impressed by all the stories I'm hearing of documents getting lost in the mail! You can bet I'm going to be calling up to check on it.

I wrote the wiki guide.

I emailed them a few months ago about the old "6 month" rule and they said there's no minimum now, so really, I don't know what's going on there in terms of proof of residency. It almost sounds like they just don't care so long as both parties are legally able to live in the UK. London is a notoriously "easy"/straight-talking embassy in terms of DCF processing (they don't ask for relationship evidence, for example)/

The field office there is pretty good about replying to emails, so it might be worth dropping them a note to simply ask what residency requirements are needed if the person is an EU passport holder - do they also want to other evidence, like utility bills or house lease?

If you ask, please do report back so I can update the wiki guide appropriately. If it turns out they *really* don't need anything else, that's fantastic information for people to know.

I emailed them too, specifically about the residency requirement – they just referred me to the embassy website. I'm almost tempted to just apply now and give my sister's address to be honest, but I think we'll play it safe and actually move there bona fide.

EDIT: My question:

I would like to file an I-130 petition on behalf of my future wife in the near future, and would like to lodge it at the US Embassy in London. I have the right of residence in the United Kingdom by virtue of her Finnish nationality under EU law.

What documents will you accept to prove my right of residence in the UK, and, thus, my eligibility to file my I-130 petition directly with the US Embassy/USCIS field office in London?

Their response: In order to file the Petition for Alien Relative (Form I-130) with the London Field Office, go to http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/uscis; click on Filing I-130.

Be sure to utilize the attached “Checklist for Spouse”

Hey folks, what's the overall processing time these days? I'm seeing ranges between 3 and 6 months, and I'm sort of on the edge between filing DCF in two months (when we're actually married) versus filing I-129F now and deferring the wedding.

Hi Werdnum,

I've just started looking into this and could use some pointers too. I'm a British citizen and my fiance is a US/Spanish dual citizen. We want to get married here and follow the same process you're suggesting. Would you be able to point me in the right direction for information on how to begin this process?

For the others, my query is similar to Werdnum:

My fiance lives in the US, but we would get married in the UK with the intention of moving back to the US asap. Would his Spanish citizenship allow him to meet the residency requirement to do the DCF in London? Alternatively, could we do it in Spain?

Thanks!

All the research I've done tells me this: technically you must actually live in the UK; however, practically speaking they only check if you have the right to live there and provide them with a UK address on the application. Since last year there has been no requirement for length of residency.

We plan to move to the UK anyway to be safe.

For more information, Google "DCF London". There is a very comprehensive page on the VJ wiki.

Why London? If you're in Prague why not Frankfurt, Germany or Vienna Austria?

Both those US Consular Offices have USCIS Field Offices

http://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/international-immigration-offices

Vienna requires a residence permit and six months' residency (might as well just apply for the K-3). Frankfurt requires a residence permit (and thus proof of an address in Germany).

You do not need a family permit, you can visit visa free.

EEA Family Permit would allow you to get residency.

Right, also I can visit of my own accord as an Australian (and US) Citizen. My question is about the residency requirement to file DCF in London – would they accept an EEA Family Permit as evidence of residency?

Hi!

I'm US/AU dual, my gf is Finnish. We were planning to get married and apply for DCF in London, but I don't quite understand the residency requirement. It looks like it used to be that you had to live in the UK for six months, but now it *seems* to be that you just have to show evidence that you're *allowed* to live there. Since she's Finnish, once we're married I have that right automatically (and it can be evidenced with an EEA Family Permit).

We're living in Prague now, and we *could* move to London, but I'm wondering how the residency requirement is interpreted. Is it enough to get married, to get an EEA Family Permit, move temporarily, and show the permit with my I-130 petition. We could then move back to Prague and fly in for the appointments. I realise this is probably bending the rules, but is it breaking them? I see that I'm allowed to leave after the NOA1, but I guess I'm a little concerned that moving just for a week might be looked down on as "not bona fide". Otherwise I guess we'll just move to London, better than doing without DCF.