I wanted to be abroad for less than a year with my wife in our wait and wound up staying 20 months, which caused a domicile RFI, where we responded by paying for a US apartment(employer was in US remote). Its easy to say 1 year on paper, but as anything could happen, a letter from family as your domicile is one avenue in alternate to a rental contract, and associated fees. Employment offers are also valuable, though current employment may be better (by US employer.