My VAF2, LLTR story and thoughts for DCF / I-551

Hi Everyone,

I just stumbled upon this site a couple of days ago and I have to say im impressed with the wealth of knowledge and information that being exchanged, its helped me a lot already..

Let me take the time to introduce to you my situation.

I met my wife on the internet in 2001 and we fell in love  , got engaged that year after meeting each other in the states (Pittsburgh PA) (it was a really happy time).

By the way she is the USC and I'm the UKC.
as she was still in uni, we decided to have an official engagement party in the states (with a kind of Hindu ceremony) in August 2002 which all went well as well.

then the wedding date we planned was for April 2004 in the UK.
The Hindu wedding was planned to be in the US whilst the actual registry would be in UK.
We planned for her to move here. (UK)

I did some research about the UK Fiance visa (Entry Clearance for marriage) and went to NY with my wife to present our VAF2 application.
This all went swimmingly well and we got the visa the same day.

I used this site for my primary info:

http://www.ljnelson.com/personal/musings/ustouk.htm [nofollow]

The site is dated, but very very handy indeed. especially the day of the visa experience.

After this, I went to the states in April with my mum and dad and loads of relatives for the huge hindu wedding (not official wedding) and went on honeymoon (nice carribbean cruise), back to PA, then back to england.
She came on her one way ticket with Entry Clearance in her passport.

Gatwick POE experience lasted less than a minute. He just took one look at the Entry Clearance stamp (we didn't have to say a word) and he said 'Thats all I need to see, thank you.' (I had some documents with me just in case but I didn't need them).

After about 7 days, we gave notice of marriage and got married at the end of May 2004 in a simple registry. (I booked this a year ago).

a week later, we went to Lunar house, Croydon to get her Limited Leave to Remain, the 2 year Resident permit that allows work and residence.)
This was a very stressful experience. It took the whole day.
They basically didn't call our ticket number. and when we tried to explain, the arrogant lady told us that we weren't paying attention and to just sit it out. In
the end, they never logged our number in the system, so they had to apologise in the end when we got the stamp and letter. I prebooked the appointment and

everything, But arrrgh  just thinking about it makes me angry. anyway <deep breaths> we got it in the end.

Now we are living quite happily in Wiltshire. My wife is a Senior Nursery Nurse (since June 2004) and I'm working as a software engineer (for past 3.5 years)

BUT...(drum-roll please)

Now we are deciding to move back to the States !

Having read the DCF experiences of Emmy, I've decided to try the DCF in the middle of June 2005 (Her Limited Leave to Remain was issued at the beginning of June 2004) She will have established a good residence here, and we'll send  copies of utility bills in her name as well as copy of NHS card and employment contract. along with the I-130 petition.

If the DCF gets rejected  , I'll just follow the US service Centre route. (Vermont for PA residents.)

a potential spanner in the works (that might actually work towards our advantage) is that we're booked to go on a family cruise (about 20 of us) sailing from Miami in December 2005.
I was aiming to get the visa perhaps before then, so I could get to Miami, get the I-551 stamp in my passport and fly back after two weeks.
(I would give the residence address of my in laws who live at PA) I would then sort a few things out back here and go back in March 2006.

Would this be an acceptable thing to do?

ie. would it seem like I am disrespecting my US residence by going back so soon and staying for as long as 3 months out of the US even though the stamp is valid

for 12 months.
I read on the uscis.gov:

http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/PermRes.htm [nofollow]

"...However in determining whether your status has been abandoned any length of absence from the US may be considered, even if it is less than one year."


Would this be acceptable even with respect to the statement above?


Anyway thanks so much for you time.
I'll definately keep you all posted on my experiences and progress.

If anyone wants to know what the VAF2 and LLTR application experience was like in further detail, please let me know and I'll give you advice.

Many thanks & take care.
Sanctifyer.

Hi, and thanks for that post! It is definitely an acceptable thing to do, assuming you've got your visa in hand. My husband and I did exactly this. We went to the embassy for our interview on September 1 and he got his visa. One month later we went to to the US for my brother's wedding. Upon entry in Chicago they did the little dance of us giving them the brown packet and them giving him his stamp - it was easy peasy. He claimed residence at my parents house as well, exactly like youa re planning on doing. We stayed in the US for 3 weeks and then returned to the UK for 2 months. Then we moved to the US for good.

People do this all the time, especially when a house is concerned. Flying to the US to claim their residency, but then going back to the UK for a short while to "sort things out". THey understand this. At our embassy interview we even told the guy this was what we were planning on doing, and he didn't care! Maybe we just had a nice interviewer?

If you don't have your visa sorted out yet though, leaving the country is a no-no. We found that out as well, as we had a holiday planned to the US while his paperwork was being processed, and I had to go to the US alone with my 3 month old because he'd be compromising his application by going. So assuming the DCF process goes well, you should be fine. 

Saying that, I'm pretty sure they are instituting a rule (or maybe have?) that you can only apply for DCF once the USC has permanent leave to reamain, which would be 2 years after your Croydon experience, which (if I'm right) would be June 2006. Let me go see if I can find that...

"The US Citizen must have indefinite leave to remain to do this now, which means they need to have lived in the UK, married to their spouse, for at least TWO years." I wrote this in the Comprehensive Timeline thread - lemme go look at the embassy's website now. For something a bit more official.

"U.S. Citizens whose principal residence is not in our jurisdiction, and/or who have entered the United Kingdom as a temporary visitor/ student/ or with limited leave to enter and remain in the United Kingdom, must file the petition with the appropriate USCIS Service Center in the United States. I'm not eligible to file in London, where do I file the petition?: If you are not eligible to file the petition with the Department of Homeland Security (Immigration), London, or you reside in the United States, you should file the petition on behalf of your relative with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office having jurisdiction over your place of residence or last residence in the United States."

Hi Marlespo,
Thanks for the info + help

Yes I saw that 2 year requirement thing on the Embassy website, and a few distressed responses regarding I-130 denials.

The denials I had read about (by Emmy for example) were due to that lack of 2 year residency but also because the petition was filed a little to soon after the LLTR was issued..

That's why I'll try send the I-130 (on behalf of my wife of course) in June 2005 (which will be just over a year since she got the LLTR. Reason for doing this is that:
1) its worth a shot  , (they should just send back the entire lot if its denied)
2) I've read posts where people have gotten through in february with only around a year of LLTR

If they do deny It, I'll just send it to the Vermont Service Center. If I do this do you think I'll get the Visa before December?

Thanks, take care
Sanctifyer

I'm not sure, as I have never gone through that process.  Asw far as the 2 eyar thing though, it is a really new regulation. I know that when a regulation like that changes they are flexible. It has happened to us on more than one occasion that we got to do things "the old way" because we were doing it within 2 or 3 weeks of the "new way". But as this regulation has been around for a while - and will have been in place for well over a year by the time you apply, I just don't think they'd have any flexibility about it. Just in my experience, anyway. You can always try, and I don't know how a "no" from them might affect your other application - perhaps when it gets closer to the time you might ask the embassy directly (they seem to be pretty helpful via email), or even consult a lawyer about it. The rules about these things are changing all the time, and it is difficult to keep on top of them, and by the time you go through this process is may be a new beast entirely!

hmm.. after considering all this, I'll think I'll just go for the sure fire way of sending it to the Vermont Service centre, maybe in a months time..I'll get the police certificate sorted first..
I'll keep you posted on how it goes,

Thanks, Sanc

Good luck in your process, and please do keep up informed!!