Hi BlueB and welcome



Bad lawyer. I wouldn't take that advice AT ALL.



That's correct. We also wanted to do this because my (now husband) lived in Australia for 4 years with me. The DCF rules were changed about a month before we wanted to apply. It was a bummer.



I have no clever advice on how to make your Sept. 19 deadline, sorry. You can role the dice and see if your K-1 application can be approved. Not sure what the timelines are like for K-1s these days but here's ours:

We applied for K-1 in May 07.
Got approved in January '08. Though, we did get ONE RFE which probably didn't affect us too much due to the backlog anyway.

Mind you, there was a huge number of applications June '07 because of the new fees. Not sure if that has died down since. There are a few new K-1ers on the board who may be able to help you out with their timelines and experiences. I'm an old timer now

Is your wedding set in stone already? As in things are booked and paid for? My husband and I personally wanted to do a K-1 because, for us, it was the quickest way to be together. We didn't want to be separated right after we got married if we went through the K-3 route. That was a personal preference on our part and I'm sure other K-3ers will say also say that their process was ideal for them. It's up to you and your fiancee to figure out which suits you best. To be honest, if we had more time and my husband was able to stay in Australia with me while we were waiting for our K-3, we would have gotten married in Australia. But when you're on a time constraint, we made the best decision for US.

Good luck with it all and try to get your money back from that silly lawyer

On another note, had my AOS Biometrics in St. Louis today. Yay! Here's hoping for a speedy approval for my EAD - I'm busting to get out there and apply for work and to START work Being a Homemaker, apparently, is not quite my deal just yet.

That's one of the reasons that in every piece of literature I've read from USCIS it is clear about NOT booking tickets, setting wedding plans, etc until you have your visa in hand.

BUT...it is fine for your fiance to come to America for the two of you to get married, and you can use the VWP to do that, but then he has to return to Australia. Coming to America with a tourist visa with the intent to marry is not illegal as long as from day one he plans to (and has proof to show) return home. Then you can proceed with the visa to get him here permanatly (with him in Oz and you here).

Does that make sense?

eta: I would not lie about why he's coming here to immigration! that is just a desicion that could come back to bite you later. Be honest - make sure he has tons of proof of his return to Oz, and be honest with them. Lying at any point during the process is NEVER advisable!

Hello Land down under people :-)
For the last 6 years I have been living in this beautiful county on a 457 Business sponsorship visa with my long time US girlfriend of 7 years, but as you might be able to tell I am not an Aussie but a Englishman living in Sunny Sydney

Reading the forums and help from others it looks like I should go down the I-130 route as we want to move to the US at the end of the year, as I will need to work in the US and be able to travel the fastest way to do that seems to be I-130 route. What we are thinking is we can get married here and have our fairy tail wedding with our family and friends back in the US and make a home there.

but to be able to file a I-130 and do all the interviews and other bits and pieces will I able to do that here in Sydney / Australia I have been here more than 6 months but will they allow me as I am not a true Aussie

Does any one have any experience in this mater ?

I'm not sure that I'll be able to answer all of the questions but I do know that yes the US citizen needs to have lived in Australia for 6 months prior if you're going to go the DCF route. The waiting time is really up in the air - at one point the Vermont Service Center was turning them around quite fast and now they've slowed the pace. The California is even more of a nightmare for some. When we originally started this process I read up online and saw that the K1 (Fiance visa) was faster than the K3 (Marriage visa) but I'm not sure if that's still true. We were lucky enough to finish the process within 5 or so months.

Not sure if you already have, but post this in the K1 visa forum and get other's opinions on what's the best option. Sorry I couldn't help more.

Hey All!!

Thought I would pop in since I know a few of you and let you know......

WE ARE NOW DONE TILL CITIZENSHIP!! WAHOOO!!!!

And that is SO non stress its not funny. So basically done for another 10 years.

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

The last processing action taken on your case

Receipt Number: WAC

Application Type: CRI89 , PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS RECEIVED

Current Status: Card production ordered.

On May 30, 2008, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.

*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov under Case Status and Processing Dates.
*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.


Sincerely,


The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

MELLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats! That is so awesome! We're in the waiting process now!! VSC just happens to be in a huge slow down right now - so I'd say there's nothing but more waiting to come!

how is Scott? The girls? Everything going well? I'm not around too much anymore but I just saw you had posted!!!!

Hope all is well
C

LOL. I think I had that same lady, too! She was fairly decent with me, but she wasn't so nice to the others that had to see her. One couple I saw whilst waiting to be called up again almost had a fit. The woman had a police clearance that was only JUST expired or something, and the consulate emailed them saying it would be okay to use for the interview on that day... The Mean Lady didn't agree. Oh man, the woman was like "We flew all the way from MELBOURNE for this interview, and THIS CONSULATE gave us that information! They said it would be FINE!" etc, etc... I don't know what came out of that, but the couple were mad as hell.

Tracy, sorry that you had to go through all that awful drama - what a nightmare! But congrats on finally making it over here! I arrived on May 15th. LOL. The immigration officer I had said I was his 3rd K-1 - ever! And he was training a new guy. Another guy came over to watch the officer process my papers. They thought it was interesting. Haha.

thanks Vylex!!

still waiting on interview date for green card or green card itself and its dragging!!

does anyone know how long they take?

should i give them a call?

i filed in Feb and had my bio appt in March......

hi everyone!!!

Hi everyone


WE HAVE BEEN APPROVED OUR 10 YEAR GREEN CARD HAS BEEN ORDERED
IT WAS RATHER QUICK CALIFORNIA SEEM TO BE WORKING RATHER FAST
GOOD LUCK TO ALL THOSE WAITING FOR APPROVALS


ANGELA

Hi all!

It's been a while since I have posted-just waiting patiently for the NOA2 and planning something resembling a wedding ha ha!

I've been getting antsy lately, as I know most of us are. My fiance is going to have to fly 3 hours to Brisbane to get his medical, and then fly to Sydney for his interview on what I'm assuming is different days. If we were to get the vaccination worksheet from the certified doctor, could we schedule the medical NOW?

Also in regards to the police Certificate and the affadavit of support-if we were to get these now, does anyone know how long they are valid for? That way we can get them out of the way and have Packet 3 ready to send when it gets sent to us!

On a side note...51 days until I go to Australia and visit my fiance! We will be staying a few days in Townsville/Magnetic Island...anyone familiar with the area have any good places to stay/eat/tour? Much appreciated

Heather

Hi Angela,

Congrats on the 10 year card!!! Mine went to Vermont in February and I think it will be a very long waiting game going by timelines of others lodged with Vermont. I think when Kath does her removal of conditions she gets to lodge with California which is lucky because they seem to be approving very quickly.

Hi to everyone else........hope everyone is doing well.

Susan

Congrats to all of you getting approvals!!

I laugh at the stories about the mean lady at the consulate!! I think I had her too, mine was Maori if it is the same as your mean lady! She told me I was missing docs when I wasn't and said my visa would be denied. It wasn't but they still gave me the wrong type of visa, idiot's!

I'm still waiting for my appt for my green card lol ...

its been over 2 months since they got more information from me and its frustrating to wait.... i know i got pushed back in the line for it......

Hello all. Anyone else here doing DCF through Sydney at the moment?

^adding to the above post

Husband (USC) has his I-130 appointment in Sydney this Thursday. I will fly down with him we'll do some sightseeing while we are there. He's starting grad school in September - very last minute decision, believe me had I known we'd be moving back this August I would have started the DCF process months ago. I've booked his air ticket already for 22 August but I havent booked my ticket yet as I don't know how long my visa will take to process. I am hopeful though that if I am organised enough and the Consulate is kind to me that I can make it over there by early/mid-September. Am I being realistic or is it just wishful thinking?

Could someone give me a basic idea of the Affidavit checklist, so I can then tell my sponsor exactly what she needs to provide. I've read the guidelines, tips etc on this site but I know some things are different for each country and I don't want her to do anything that she doesn't need to do.

If anyone who's gone through the process could list the forms, letters etc that they needed, I'd be very grateful. Thanks!!

Here is what I supplied with my affadavit of support form:

copies of paystubs for 2007 (if you have direct deposit make sure to cross out the acct number)
copy of 2007 Federal tax return
copy of 2007 W2 (I had two from different employers)
letter from my employer stating employment length, salary, good standing, etc

I think that was it. I was a bit worried that they'd ask for a bank statement and whatnot but they were happy with what I turned in. As long as your well over the poverty line requirement then I don't think they have any problems.

Wow that's pretty simple. Thank you!

It's been a while since we did this but I am almost positive that we included a letter from my husbands local bank stating that he held a checking account with them. They also included what the balance was at the time of letter, the average balance over a period of time and how long he had been operating the account with them. We also included the usual things, tax returns, w2's and payslips which were spread over a period of time. Hope this helps.

Sharyna.....................HANG IN THERE!

hi ya all
how u all going? been ages since i have been in but keeping an eye on you lot through emails from this forum..been busy in the garden, working and just enjoying life with hubby..just finished building a deck out back and we are now maintaining a huge vegie patch...im sick of pulling out maple trees out of it ..lol...the maple tree sheds these werley things that are seeds they are all over the patch and the lawn...

congrats to all those visa approvals and to angela and susan on getting your 10 year greencards...i will be doing mine at the end of july...bet its a great feeling to not worry about USCIS for 10 years lol...

hi ya susan..not long before your off on that plane home mate..hope you have a great flight...will ring ya before you leave...

hi kaffy
not sure on what the dcf for sydney is doing now a days..you could always email the consulate to give you a rough idea of the waiting time...you will do fine im sure...

hang in there sharyna...we all know what your going through..the waiting is the hardest to do i reckon in this whole process from start to finish..

on the 25th i have been here 2 years gawd i dont know where those years have gone..i just spoke to my sister in law in oz and she said it only feels like you left last week lol..i have relatives coming over in late august so that will nice to talk to other aussies for a while lol .. its amazing how u miss the accent ...not a day goes by at work without one customer saying to me ..ohhhhhhhhh i love your accent...drives me nuts cos they just want to chat to me and i cant do that on the registers lol

well take care will make more time to drop in ...
kath

It's looking increasingly unlikely that my fiancee and I will be able to find a sponsor that is 125% over the poverty line, but we have a few options that are quite close. We're capable of making up the difference with money in savings account, but I'm not sure if this is a safe way to go about it.

I don't want to get to my interview and be denied because I didn't get a sponsor that is over the poverty line, so I'm trying to find out how likely it is that I'd be granted a visa by making up the difference with savings.

I'm not sure if you already have - but definitely post this in one of the main forums. I'm sure others have run into a similar problem and could offer input.

I spoke to them on Thursday and they said the standard processing time is 2-4 months.. so now we wait



I'm not sure if I saw the same lady as everyone else because the (American) lady who processed our paperwork for our I-130 was very nice to us. Anyway all my formal ID (passport, drivers license, etc) is in my maiden name and I havent been able to change it yet due to silly QLD residency requirements. I included a letter in my paperwork explaining this and she read through this quickly then offered to have them issue my green card in my married name, with a reference to my (official) maiden name. (And depending on how quickly my visa gets processed I will either change my name officially here before I go, or after I arrive there.)

Hey All,

It's been ages since I've been on VJ. Wow, still see a few familiar names around. Wishing everyone luck with there visa journeys and speedy processing. Hang in there it's worth the wait!

Hi Kath and Aussie Angel.....how are things with you guys. Kath I have also got a major vegie patch happening here in Colorado...so much to learn about the short growing season here, but it's all fun.

Hubby's been really sick with a staph infection for the past few months, in and out of hospital so we are just taking it easy and enjoying life whilst he recovers. Went to see the Doobie Brothers in Denver and also The Cure at Red Rocks, was awesome.

Take care everyone

Girlfrmoz

Just checking in with some good news! My I-130 petition has been approved which means it took them exactly a week to process the Adam Walsh check

Congrats Kaffy!

Been very quiet in here.................guess everyone is enjoying the summer. I'm heading back to Australia for a 3 week visit in August, so it will be back to winter for me. It will be a breeze heading to an Adelaide winter after the winters of upstate New York!

Hope everything is going well for all in here.

Kath i will speak to you before I leave. Glad to hear you are enjoying your veggie garden as we are. Have carrots, lettuce, beetroots and spinach so far...............nothing like home grown veggies!

Susan

Hi All,

Hope everyone is doing well.

I have an Australian tax question for my wife.

For you Aussies that moved here (past or present), how did (or do) you file your Aussie taxes while living overseas? This is the first year for us so what does she need to do?

Any help is appreciated!

Depends if she is still an Australian resident for tax purposes. Info here:
http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content....mp;st=&cy=1

I left Australia myself in 2005 and lived and worked overseas for 2 years. I did not file tax returns for the time I was away because I considered myself a non-resident (I was removed from electoral roll, I had no intention of returning)

I am considering the idea of not travelling in Sept to see hubby as I'm not sure I want to throw $2300 down the drain if I am turned back at POE - not to mention the heartache. I wanted to know if on a IR1/CR1 visa I could do the following:

Travel to the states for a 3 week vacation once I receive my Visa to take a load of luggage and to set things up before my kids come over on their IR1/CR1 visa. At least this way I won't be turned back. Here are my questions:

1. Even if my green card hasn't arrived once I get there, could I return home to Australia to finalise work matters and collect my kids with such a short stay in the U.S? Would I just need the visa in my passport to make another entry or would I need a different document to come back and return again with kids? (I know the visa is only valid for 6 months).

2. During my 3-week vacation (if it is possible), could I apply for a SSN even though I'm travelling back to Australia to collect the kids, to return in a couple of months?

Your input is much needed. Cheers

Good Morning Australia.

I am missing the weather. Yes even the winter in Melbourne. Because at least there were 4 distinctive seasons.

Thanks a lot for the info Kaffy! I think my wife requested she be removed from the electoral roll prior to her departure. I better doublecheck that too.

Hi Vylex,

I too was removed from the electoral roll when I left in Feb 2006. The first year I was here I lodged a tax return because I had been working in Australia for the tax year July 2005 to June 2006 but I was unsure of what to do last year, so I lodged a Notification of NON lodgement which I downloaded from the ATO website. This year I am doing nothing. I know Kath and I have talked about it before and don't quote me on this but I am almost positive she has not lodged one with the ATO since she has been here. Goodluck with everything.

Susan

I called the ATO about this a month ago and I think I have everything in order. There is a question within the Tax Return form which asks whether you'll be needing to lodge a tax return for the next financial year. Simply answer "NO" to this. I told her that I still had a Savings Account in Australia which is accumulating interest. I already told my bank to make me a non-resident and therefore tax me every month. So unless my savings account miraculously makes over $6K in the financial year, I don't need to lodge a tax return for it.

I haven't taken myself off the Electoral Roll - I keep forgetting to do that! Thanks for the reminder.

I think it's going to take me a year to figure out how to do our taxes for 2008 - I'm already apprehensive about it. He'll be paying AUS taxes July 2007 - June 2008 but what to do next year for July 2008 - June 2009?? He'll be moving to the US in October so he'll have to pay Australian taxes in 2009 on the remaining 4 months of salary earned there right? Any advice or tips from anyone would be extremely appreciated.

If he earns any money during the financial year he'll have to put in a tax claim. I guess the only exception is if all total earnings (including any savings that accrue interest) is UNDER $6,000.

To be assured, ring the ATO. They're very helpful. Whenever I call from the US I never get put on hold and they even ask for your US phone number so that they can call you back.

And share any info you find out, for future members

I definitely will. Thank you for the info!

Thanks Patricia, Susan and the rest for the feedback. You folks are the best!

VERY useful info! I read the ATO site that Kaffy linked to and it looks like we do file for 2007-2008 for part year since she was a resident prior to moving.

The banking part was what interested me the most. It looks like we'll be ok there too. We're not loaded to the point we'll gain big bucks in interest haha ( yet! ). My wife kept her acct open. She needs to inform them too.

Hope everyone is enjoying the journey!

Hi Aussies just checking in So far things are progressing along quickly with my DCF. I hope to receive my interview notice soon since husband is scheduled to fly to the States on Aug 10 (or 15 if a seat opens up) and I don't want to be apart from him for too long. Wish me luck!

How is everyone else doing?

In case anyone is interested, just wanted to share some info on taxes. It seems that my constantly overprepared fiance has rubbed off on me and I had to figure out how taxes would impact us on both sides of the world. A bit early I know but I'd rather have peace of mind. Disclosure first - if anything is incorrect, I apologize. This is what I've interpreted from my research the past few days. And keep in mind everyone's situation will be different.

First off, Liam will be filing an early return for 08-09 Australian taxes. The ATO web site has a section detailing lodging returns early. This will cover any taxes on income he earned July - October 08. On this return we'll check the box that says it's his final tax return. I am still trying to figure out if he will be classifed as resident or non resident of Australia. Also will look into the tax implications of leaving bank account opened there.

The Australian tax return was the easy part. Then I had to consider US taxes and whether or not we would choose to file married joint or married separately. It depends on each individual's situation - our case was a bit complicated as Liam sold shares in 2008 and earned just over the exclusion amount. If you file married joint you have to claim worldwide income and submit a statement saying you want your spouse to be considered a resident for tax purposes. You then choose to have a foreign tax credit or foreign income exclusion (not sure which is better).

I wanted to avoid extra paperwork and making things difficult at tax time (isn't it already hard enough!?). Despite the advantages of filing married joint - we are going to go the married filing separately route. I qualify to have Liam as an exemption on my return as he will have no US income in 2008, is no one else's dependent, and is not filing a return. I may end up calling the IRS to make sure he doesn't have to file any other forms. His additional exemption definately comes in handy so don't pass up the extra few thousand if you qualify to use it!

I hope this helps anyone who was wondering the same things. The IRS has a calculator online already for 2008 to help you determine what is best for your situation.

Thanks for sharing your info! Since US Taxes came first we applied as married filing jointly and also submitted the Foreign Income Exclusion form (real easy to fill out). Basically our reported combined worldwide income gets negated with my wife's Aussie income. The exclusion amount for an overseas salary was limited to something like USD$75,000. Since she made less than that we were able to exclude her entire income which basically helped our US tax situation greatly.

I hope filing with the ATO will be easier. We will probably do the online route since it seems to be the easiest. I hope it covers the leaving Australia permanently route.

Question on filing joint - since her income fell below the exclusion amount did you have to include any payments summaries or anything? Just curious, I considered figuring out what would happen if we filed joint but it seemed like a lot of hassle to estimate the income for the 4mo timeframe, convert it to dollars and then provide all of the necessary documentation.

Also, when estimating the exclusion amount - does it depend on time in the US?

Hey guys what time is the Consulate in Sydney open from?

I have a 9am appointment for my visa and want to arrive a little earlier

We had a 9am appointment for our K1 visa but went early. We got there at about 7:45 and they let us through. We actually did our interview long before our appointment even started. I think officially they open at 8am.

my cousin is doing my final tax return ... and filing it as such so the ATO wont be chasing me next year for my tax return lol ....

hi kath!! good to see your doing really well! i've got a number for USCIS to call them and find out what the heck is going on,.. tired of waiting - i'd rather have this all done before the birth of our first child .....

congrats to all who have their visas!

hey everyone! haven't posted in a while so i don't know if this has been discussed, so sorry if this is repetitive. my aussie and i are hoping to get our NOA2 soon and we'd like to get a jump on whatever we can start doing now, to reduce the wait time from this point forth. I have a rough idea of what's in packet 3, but i don't know if it's different for each country, so if anyone can tell me exactly what the embassy in sydney asks for and what we can start gathering now, that would be great. like, does he have to wait to get the police certificate, or can he get it now, or is it just a form he has to get filled out? and the AOS from me (from my employer, i'm assuming), can i get that now, or do i need to wait until he gets his instructions so that it's dated after our NOA2?

thanks guys!

Hi Poss

yeah its been asked before but dont worry on that stuff changes all the time...go to the embassey information at the top of this page and click on the Australian Embassey there is alot of information in there that will help you..also go to the below link to the Sydney Consulate website..on the left hand side there are listings of things you need to get for your interview...

Sydney Consulate information

the police check when i was doing it was valid for 1 year...this also went for the medical..someone who has done it recently might be able to correct me is this is wrong...also with his medical and police checks tell him to make copies of police check and ask the doctor to make a copy for his records ...also tell him to get his blood tests done by his local doctor to see what his ammunity is ..that way you dont get unneccessary vaccinations and get the results printed out you can get them put on medicare..these will help with costs at the medical..

The AOS is Adjustment Of Status...which is done within 90 days of arriving in the states and after you get married...I think you were thinking of the Affidavit of Support that you as the Sponsor has to fill out and send tax transcripts and employer letter and bank statements..

Evidence you can start collecting for him to show at the interview are photot's of you together...phone bills...letters...cards...boarding passes from trips to both of you...if you sent parcels to each other the cover...the list is endless really of what you can think of that will prove you have a relationship...engagement ring receipt...um any wedding plan receipts you might have...just to name a few...

hope your NOA2 is soon to arrive...good luck

well i have started getting my stuff together for my removal of conditions....damm that 2 years went fast...will be sending it off in a couple of weeks...
went down to kentucky for a week to see robert's aunty..didnt get good news though..was a shock to the system actually...we knew his uncle had been in hospital and his aunt is in the early stages of alhzimers....she had forgotten to ring us or anyone else around her that he died on june 2nd..we turned up at her home and the relatives and church memebers were sorting out all their belongings ...the family had put her into a retirement home ..the niece had her living with her but she kept wandering off and needed 24 hour care..so to walk into that was a big downer on the trip..we went to see her in the home she recognised my hubby but as the visit went on she was not remembering him..and she thought she had met me before which she hadn't...its about the saddest thing i have experienced over here...so now i am compiling a photo album for her to send down to her and a few other things for her...
so we didnt get the answers to roberts family tree that he was hoping to get...yesterday i discovered his father was adopted...then disappears from that family within 10 years...so the search continues..and to make things worse..the cemetery robert remembers his father being buried in told us they have no record of him being there...so we have to go over to michigan to find out for ourselves...
ok enough of the rambling of me
hope everyone is doing well..
hiya sharyna....gawd mate i still would do the info pass ...if it is close by that is..but i do hope they are able to help you with any questions you fire at them...
take care
kath
edited due to a condition they call forgetfullness lol forgot to put the link in lol

kath, thanks so much! i'll check out these links. i'm sorry to hear about your husband's aunt. alzheimer's is such a devastating illness for everyone involved.

Great thanks! I fly in at 7.30 so I might just head straight there from the airport

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to drop in and see how people were progressing. Kath, you are always very informative and so helpful to others. I hope everyone is well. Things are going good for Loke and I. He got a job at the local radio station which is really exciting! I am not sure how he did his taxes, but I know he submitted something to them earlier in the year and will probably do so again soon. I am just thankful that he understands it hahaha. Other than that, things are really well and life is moving.

We think about our visa journey friends a lot and hope you are all doing well.


xoxoxoxoxoxxoxox

Rings and Loke

Hey guys! It's been a long while since I've been here. How is everyone going? Life has been so busy since I got my visa and finally moved to the USA! My husband and I got married on June 28th, and everything has been wonderful since. Well, after weeks of constantly putting it off, we're finally getting our butts motivated to do the AOS. LOL. It looks fairly straight-forward, but I do have one question which I hope someone can help me with. On the I-485 (well, all forms actually), do I have to put down my maiden name, or my married name? (My original Social Security card had my maiden name on it, but I recently got it changed to my new married name - the new card arrived in the mail about three days ago.) I'm a little confused about that bit.


Thanks!