fiftytwo05g

This post by Sukie is a good start. Writing up a lease was out of place for my family, but I had a family member who held the title to the intended residence (either a photo copy of the deed or trust to prove ownership) and write a similar letter to confirm our that we are going to reside there and assume financial responsibility for the costs. Recorded copies of the deed or trust should be free through the city hall and it's public information. You don't need to send the original. The letter was notarized by a notary public and you can add in a lease as evidence and write something similar to this: To whom it may concern, I, (family member’s name), (family relation/father/mother/sister/brother/etc) of the petitioner, (petitioner’s name), and home owner of (beneficiary’s name) intended residence in the US at (Intended Residence Address), offer residence to, (petitioner’s name), (beneficiary’s name) and their US citizen children (if you have any). They will be contributing to the payment of utilities and financial responsibilities of the home. Also living in the home is our (family or other resident’s names). A copy of the (deed/trust/title) and location of the residence from the (name of the county) county recorders office will be provided as evidence of ownership of our home. Regards, (family member’s name) (notarized signature) (date) (contact info)

I think your domicile concerns are too premature at this stage. Assuming you haven't filed the i130 form yet, there are more pressing issues such as providing evidence of a bona fide marriage, opening a petition, and the dreaded approval/denial wait times that can take YEARS especially from a high risk country like Mexico and the current political climate going on in the US. If you are still living with your wife in Mexico, file a petition, wait and live the years out with your wife until approval, then consider making a move to prove your domicile or your intent to reestablish domicile.

What stage of the visa process are you in at the moment? I would focus on getting your i130 approved first. If that's done already, in my experience, your financial ties to the US, such as a job or job offers, investments, home ownership/lease, utility bills on your name of intended residence, bank statements, us insurance policies, etc are strong forms of evidence. US based employment with w2s and state income tax returns are also very strong forms of evidence.

You would need to fill out the i864, and follow instructions to the T because it's quite a tricky and confusing form. If you are going to show your intent to reestablish domicile, you would need to provide evidence of it. There are a lot of resources on youtube and on this forum to guide you. They request this evidence at the NVC stage and the consular interview.

Thank you! Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but if you are sponsoring your spouse, you need to note your domicile for the US even though you live abroad. The i864 form instructions are clear that you either need to have already established your domicile or INTENT to establish your domicile. I tried the latter, and it was a bit more difficult (received 221g) if there are obvious financial challenges.

Update: My spouse was successfully issued the IR1 visa so I’m going to lay down a detailed update with a timeline and the kind of documents submitted. This was a very cumbersome process and took some time to get things aligned. In fact, I was told by an attorney that there have been a few policy shifts with consulates worldwide that are making backlogs and processes more difficult. I’m not sure how true this holds, but politics aside, here are the details: This is NOT legal advice and all cases are different! I am only documenting my experience so take this as educational reference only! Some details may be omitted or changed for privacy. Spouse receives 221g for proof of domicile via consulate interview. As mentioned earlier, only Driver’s license, bank statements, and taxes were submitted via NVC. Efforts and documents gathered attached to a cover letter with a table format as follows: Petitioner Name Petitioner Social Secuirty Number Beneficiary Name Case Number Contact Info “ I, XXXXX, petitioner of my husband/wife, XXXXX, have taken the necessary steps to re-establish my domicile in the United States. Below you will find the detailed efforts to establish and maintain my domicile in the US along with supporting documents. Efforts Supporting documents School enrollment for children Vaccine updates and confirmed pre-enrollemnt letter Letter from family home owner Copy of a deed and petitioner financial obligations Transfer of funds to US bank Transaction Receipts Car registration and Insurance Copy of registration/insurance one-way flight to US Boarding Pass Efforts in Job search Copy of emails of job application submissions and offers Voter’s ballot Ballot with petitioner’s name and address New Phone Line Receipt with phone number and address I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the statements in this letter and all accompanying evidence are true and correct. (Sign and Dated) " June 6 - Mailed in Proof of domicile package along with the front page cover letter to the embassy. June 12 – CEAC status still showed refused but date updated to June 12 (Probably shows someone received the package and opened the file) June 18 – CEAC status refused but date updated to June 18 June 19 – Embassy emails and asks for a driver’s license no older than 12 months. Strange because they already have a copy via NVC and shown during the interview. But I emailed it again anyway. CEAC date updated but still refused. June 23 – CEAC status changed to ready. June 24 – CEAC status changed to refused. Received an email asking about an alias that my spouse listed on the DS260. Asking if it was an official legal name or nick name. And requesting information about it’s use as well as requesting proof of name change. Since using alias for public services and banking was common in the country, I emailed them back explaining it uses. June 25 – CEAC status changed to Administrative Processing. Received an email requesting evidence or documentation of it’s use. Wrote a cover letter explaining where and why it was used and submitted translated bank statements and residence certificate recording both the alias and true legal name in PDF format. June 30 – CEAC status changed to refused. July 1 – CEAC status changed to administrative processing July 3 – CEAC status changed to issued July 9 – Received visa in the mail July 21 Entered into the United States Few takeaways I should have followed and some advice that was helpful: 1.) If your spouse’s English is not too proficient, request an interpreter! My spouse could not hardly understand the english spoken, and when the interpreter came to translate, he/she left the interview after 5 minutes. The consulate interview is NOT a great place to practice your English! Be firm on an interpreter being present to fully understand. 2.) According to some advice given, the strongest forms of proof of domicile are your financial ties to the US, such as job offers, US investments, taxes paid in the US in W2s, rental agreements/lease, home ownership, and school enrollments. Secondary evidence would be car registration/insurance, phone lines, voter registration, bank accounts, driver’s license, etc. 3.) Embassy decides your proof of domicile, not NVC. NVC would only DQ the bare minimum in my experience. 4.) Be prepared to explain any alias and submit any evidence. Don’t lie to them about it. 5.) Attach contact information on your cover letters, especially an email to have them contact you directly for any requests. Not doing so may delay until they can properly contact you. 6.) Be patient and truthful. The name of the game now for them is to find 1000 reasons to say NO, especially in these trying times. Just give them zero reasons to refuse you. Thanks to everyone in this community for the support. It has certainly been a long journey, and if there are any questions, I can also do my part to contribute.

A little update, so I sought a little legal advice on our situation and according to him, the consular officer has the final say on my proof of domicile despite the NVC approving the documents. And my domicile has to be crystal clear before the interview. All the advice given is great here and I will be gathering evidence to mail in. I made the conscious decision to move back to the states next week with the kids and leave the wife behind to await their decision. I'm quite uncomfortable with the situation, but I'm positive that we will get through this once everything is finished and mailed out. I will keep everyone updated if everything pans out.

Thank you for reaching out to help! I provided a bank account with a billing address and driver's license. I will be staying at a family home I grew up in till we get on our feet, but drawing up a lease or a tenant contract seems out of place for my family (or most families IMO). Wouldn't seem strange to the agent that I would draw out something in a short notice for the sake of paperwork? I've been browsing around here I noticed that school registration, utility bills, and insurance seem like strong evidence of my residence in the home. We also can obtain a translated document from the Japanese government certifying that I am revoking my Visa and Japanese residence. The interviewer was also asking if our co sponsor was living with us, but he's not, he is only a childhood friend.

My thoughts exactly, it looks like they want a more detailed plan on life there. We are considering adding more evidence such as school enrollment, health insurance, utility bills, and car registration, potential job offers but this looks like a work in progress. Seems like family separation for a few months might be in cards just to prove domicile.

Hello, Unfortunately my spouse's visa was refused based on lack of proof of domicile according to this letter. I submitted my proof of domicile via nvc showing my bank account, federal tax returns (but we used a joint sponsor), and my renewed driver's license. They asked my spouse during the interview if I had any work lined up back in the states, but told them that I was still searching. They took her passport and it seems like they would be awaiting mail from us. How would I respond and proceed with this? Would it be better to just take our kids back to the US and try to apply for school? Any other evidence I can provide them?

Yes, we've been digging around and luckily she has her old passport with her Japanese residence visa on it and arrival stamp. We may just proceed with the interview, and just point that out to the interviewer as milimelo advises. But we are crossing fingers here at this point.

US Embassy in Tokyo emailed a request for additional documents a week before the interview. This caught us off guard because they were requesting this specifically "Police Certificates from Japan (Unopenable) and China including English translation from the China’s Notarial Offices" We have the police certificate from Japan but we thought we didn't require one from China. She was a chinese national but naturalized japanese last year. They linked us to this criteria on the state dept website: "All applicants must obtain a police certificate if they are currently 16 years of age or older and have resided in their country of nationality for at least six months since birth and if they have resided in their current country of residence for at least six months. Police certificates are also required in any other country where the applicant has resided for at least 12 months and was 16 years of age or older at the time of residence." The NVC didn't require us to submit this prior to being DQ. It also states that the applicant requires a police certificate IF she resided in her county of nationality atleast 6 months since birth. But her nationality is Japanese NOT Chinese. She left China to reside in Japan at 15 years old. Does the applicant meet the criteria to just use the Japanese police certificate? Or does she still need both? We are caught off guard and surprised at this request as trying to get a police certificate in China is extraordinary difficult and time consuming. We are a bit worried about this interview at this point and might consider rescheduling months ahead just because of this. Any insights?

Yes, I believe some cases we're scheduled a few months after DQ, but the medical emergency is for our 5 year old son, he is suffering from severe mental illness and is on heavy antipsychotics because he is self harming and suicidal. Our doctors don't recommend family separation even for 1 month and health insurance doesn't cover most mental disorders in Japan.

I checked my case status and it's still marked "at nvc". They haven't scheduled me an interview date.

Not doing DCF. My i-130 was approved on January, received nvc letter and submitted all documents and paid fees via ceac. After I was DQ, i emailed a letter to NVCExpedite with a health certificate from the doctor stating our medical emergency. Here was the first response from the NVC "To Whom It May Concern: The National Visa Center (NVC) will send your request for expedited processing to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. Please note: Although only the U.S. Embassy or Consulate can approve or deny expedite requests, NVC will send you the result of your request when completed. You do not need to contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. However, if you do not receive a response from NVC within 30 days, please follow up by email to nvcexpedite@state.gov. IMPORTANT: Do not let more than one year pass without contacting the NVC concerning this visa petition. If a period of one year passes from the last date of contact (by telephone, mail, or e-mail) with the NVC, all submitted fees and documents expire. If this occurs, the fees must be paid again and documents must be resubmitted in order to continue the immigration process. " After 2 days, I received a response from the embassy, which is on the first post. It does seem like the embassy is confusing my case with a DCF.