Greetings,

I am planning on sending out our I-130 package to USCIS next monday. After calling them several times it seems that no one knows for sure what is the complete checklist, and I usually get tranfered back and forth and still no one is 100% sure.

I have so far (including translations of all Polish documents):

photos of us
I-130
g325 for both
passports
birth certificates
marriage certificate
My residency card
International travelors check for 192 dollars

Is the DS-230 necessary?
Anything else??

Thank you all in advance.
Andrew

No DS-230 necessary.

All you need is:

photos of us (used to prove bona fide relationship)
I-130
g325 for both + 1 passport photo of you, and 1 of your spouse
your passport or birth certificate proving citizenship status
marriage certificate
plus, 190 dollars filing fee
if possible, also send out an affidavit by at least two people who can prove you, and your spouse have a relationship

Those are what you need to send out.

Thank you very much for the reply.

And this proving 6 months of legal residency? I am now a resident and not a student or turist. Must I prove it?

No. Residency is not mentioned on the instruction. It'll be excess, and disregarded by the USCIS official. You do need to have a valid US address so they can send you notices.

Again, thank you.

It seems that you have everything in order. Technically I was told you really only need to send in the applications passport pics of both and all of the stuff you said but just for the USC. I did however decide to go on the safe side and I sent in copies of my wife's info (passport, birth certificate, etc.)

As for the DS-230 . . . I didnt even know that existed until today. i just wrote Meredith at USCIS Vienna asking her about the DS-230 so hopefully I will have an answer from her tomorrow. My understanding is that she is one of the persons verifying the data so I would expect that she should know what she is talking about.

Also when you said you called USCIS Vienna are you sure that called them directly or did you call the American Embassy in Vienna, because the embassy itself will probably not know the exact stuff that we need to send in since they work on slightly different terms.

here are the phone numbers for USCIS Vienna

43-1-31339-7580 or 43-1-31339-7581

Its only the last 2 numbers that differ from the embassy's phone number.

fofire

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but this is the DCF posting and the new instructions posted yesterday stated for DCF filings is:

"To demonstrate residency in a consular district, American Citizen petitioners must be able to show that they have permission to reside in the consular district and that they have been doing so continuously for at least six months before filing the petition. Individuals who are in the country on a temporary status, such as student or tourist, would not be considered to meet the residency standard."

So proving residency IS A REQUIREMENT. If filing stateside USCIS, then not required, if filing at a consulate your petition, then you need proof.

Fofire,

Vienna has transferred me to USCIS frankfurt, so thats who Im referring to. Lots of optimism, not alot of knowledge or accountability.

Please let me know if you hear anything about the DS-230.

Andrew

My corrections, yes you need to show proof of residency!

Andrew, DS-230 is the immigrant visa application, it has 4 pages total. USCIS may know about it, or not. It is a State Department form (as indicated by the 'DS')

There are two parts to an immigrant visa process:
-The petition (I-130 with its required attachments)
-The visa application (DS-230 + required attachments incl "packet 3" documents like the medical, plice check etc)

Each Embassy/Consulate will want all of these papers, but in different orders and at different times. If you are starting out with a petition to an overseas USCIS office, send them only the petition package unless otherwise directed.

I-130 instructions now require evidence of your marriage. OP, I didn't see that on your list.

Meauxna,

when I talked to USCIS Vienna she was VERY adament not to send proof of relationship (other than the marriage certificate). she told me that that would all be handled by the embassy at the interview date.

Fofire

I agree with Meauxna, the form says to send. That is one consulate general employees oppinion. The form says you need to have, so send a copy. When we filed our petitions, 90% of the applicants with us at the petition and at the interview, were turned away because they did not supply all required documents properly. BRING AND SEND EVERYTHING (copies), let them discard what they dont want. Sonya's and I file is 2 inches thick and we demanded the woman take everything because it was on there list. And guess what, we were the only one at the embassy that day that did not get turned away. Its like the TAX requirement. New instructions say you only need to send one year, however, old instructions say 3 years. I brought 3 years, and the embassy asked for 3 years!! I could of argued, but it would of just upset the person who is taking our application, now why would I want to do that?

U.S. citizen petitioner and each family member beneficiary passports
U.S. citizen petitioner’s French titre de sejour as proof of six months of continuous, legal residence in France
Two passport-sized photos for the U.S. citizen petitioner and each beneficiary
Proof of relationship:
- Petition for spouse: marriage certificate or copie integrale de l’acte de marriage (Persons previously married must also provide a divorce judgment or death certificate as proof of termination of the previous relationship.)
- Petition for child: child’s birth certificate or copie integrale de l’acte de naissance
Completed forms I-130 Petition and G-325A for each beneficiary
Completed form G-325A for U.S. citizen petitioner (1 copy per petition to be filed.)
Completed form DS-230 for each beneficiary.
$190 petitioning fee. Payment may be made in cash or by credit card. No checks are accepted.
For faster service on the day of petitioning, please have your forms downloaded and completed before coming to the Embassy.

That's good info to know about Vienna! These cases are clearly going to be weird hybrids for awhile.



John and Sonya -- your post sounds like a submission from before all this started. The process is going to be different now, and the visa application docs are not necessarily going to go in with the petition documents.

I really encourage everyone to think of them as separate entities: Petition & Visa Application.

Yes, our petition was approved 11/06. But the new petition ( I-130 ) says you have to submit proof of bonifide relationship with application ( Section 7 of instructions ). When we filed, we had to show at when we first submitted our petition and its required at our final interview. None of our documents are mailed in when you do DCF. VISA application is different than Petition, but petition requires these documents as well now.

My advice is not go so much what consulates tell you, they all have their own oppinion, unless its ADDITIONAL info they want. To be safe, bring what they ask AND what is noted on thier websites and on the forms themselves. BE SAFE. We have seen so many applicants rejected because they did not bring everything.

I really have to agree with this advice. A lot of USCIS and consulate staff are not yet aware of the new I-130 requirements, and although Vienna was adamant about not sending proof to me as well, the form clearly states that you need to send SOME supporting evidence. They don't need the whole visa interview shebang (Vienna says that they aren't too worried about fraud in cases where the USC has been resident for over six months), but the staff person who actually does the adjudication will probably know about and want that new I-130 section 7 supporting evidence. As John says, it can't hurt to send it, and you may well save yourself an RFE delay.

As a side note, you may want to do a last-minute check with your embassy in Poland, Andrew. They may be taking your I-130 there now.

Just wanted to say that Vienna just approved my I-130 and has sent it on to Bucharest.

In all they didnt need the DS-230 Just so you know that part.

With regards to the Evidence of relationship do what you think is best/safest.

Fofire

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

Fofire, that's GREAT! And really fast, too!!! Congrats!