The U.S. immigration system is a complete joke and I am living proof
I am a U.S. citizen. Born and raised. I run my own business. I travel consistently. I have every right to live in my own country whenever I want. Nobody can take that from me.
Yet somehow I am being put through hell just to bring my wife home.
Here is my situation:
My wife and I have a young child together. I have been living abroad temporarily to support my family while her IR-1 immigrant visa processes. I have no permanent residency in the country I am staying in.
My temporary status has an expiration date. By legal definition I cannot establish domicile here because domicile requires intent to remain permanently. I am here temporarily. Period.
So where is my domicile? The United States. The country I am a citizen of. The country I have an unconditional right to return to at any moment. The country we are literally applying to move to.
Now here is where it gets insulting...
We went through the entire NVC process correctly. Got documentarily qualified. Waited months for an interview date, showed up on the day ready, and I was not allowed into the interview.
The embassy's own published website explicitly states petitioners are allowed to accompany their spouse. I sat outside for four hours in the sun with no food or water while my wife went in alone.
NVC reviewed everything and issued a documentarily qualified determination. The interview is supposed to be about the beneficiary. So when the officer blindsided my wife with a domicile question, she was caught completely off guard by something that had nothing to do with her portion of the application and that had already been cleared upstream.
She was not given the opportunity to present documents she had in her hands. The officer said something along the lines of "if you don't know then you don't have it" and issued a 221(g) refusal for proof of domicile.
Edit: For clarity: They asked her for proof of domicile, when my wife was asking which documents would satisfy the requirement, that is when she was told the above statement. She knows the address that she's moving to.
Documents in her hands, but never reviewed.
I have multiple ways to demonstrate domicile and I am submitting them. That is not the point.
The point is what exactly does the U.S. government expect me to do here? Think about this seriously:
My wife's tourist visa was denied so she cannot visit the U.S. The immigrant visa pause has been in effect since January 21st for her nationality. The system schedules an interview anyway, refuses to let me in against their own stated rules, and then issues a 221(g) on grounds that were already cleared by NVC after a rushed interview where my wife was blindsided and given no opportunity to respond.
So what is the actual alternative they are presenting? That I abandon my wife and child abroad and go sit in America alone just to prove I live there? That I stop being an active father and present husband so a consular officer feels better about my domicile?
I am a U.S. citizen. I am successful. I run my own business. I fly back and forth consistently. I have done everything right throughout this entire process. And I am being penalized for the one thing I should be commended for: showing up for my family.
The pause makes this even more absurd. Even if the domicile question gets cleared, the pause holds issuance anyway. So this 221(g) is adding potential months of administrative processing delay on top of an already indefinite pause, triggered by a blindside question at a rushed interview I was not even allowed to attend.
This is not just delayed paperwork. This is a system that separates families and punishes the people who actually show up.
Has anyone else been hit with a domicile 221(g) as a petitioner living abroad temporarily? How long did AP review take after you submitted your response? I am fully aware that this is embassy specific.
TL;DR:
U.S. citizen petitioner living abroad temporarily to support wife and child during IR-1 process. Tourist visa denied so wife cannot visit.
Immigrant visa pause in effect. Interview scheduled anyway. Petitioner denied entry against published embassy policy.
Wife blindsided by a domicile question
221(g) issued without reviewing documents she had in her hands.
Now facing potential months of additional administrative processing on top of an already indefinite pause.
The system is punishing me for being a present husband and father.