Just working through James' short cuts-getting ready- and I see that the AOS fee bill needs a $70.00 money order or cashier's check. As we are both resident in the UK, this is going to require some fancy footwork unless anyone can think how to obtain such a beast in the UK from presumably a US bank branch here.....

Then I wondered about the IV fee bill - is it $70.00 again ? and must it have the same cashier's cheque/money order ?

Wow just when I thought I understood the short cuts (version2), I suddenly noticed this beasty !

Alan

of course the IV bill is $380.00 ..
the Halifax plc do an 'international draft' for £15.00 drwan on bank of new york - do we reckon this is ok ?

alan

oops me again ! if the VJ folk reckon the Halifax PLC (UK) bank draft is ok so long as its drawn on the bank of new york, who should i have it made payable to ? I know it will say on the IV bill, but I have to do this well in advance here in the UK..

Is it $380.00 made payable to 'Department of State' like the AOS bill for $70.00 ???

James' short cuts don't have a specimen of the IV bill and I can't find one..

alan

It gets worse !

Found this at NVC >>>

How much are the fees for the National Visa Center’s Services?

The Affidavit of Support Fee is $70. The Immigrant Visa Fee is $335 and the Security Enhancement Fee is $45.

Should I arrange 2 cheques - one for $70 and one for $380.00 ? ie is the iv bill always for $380.00 at the moment and is there a chance it will increase in the next month or two ?

It will take a while to get such a check here in the UK but I need advice please from someone who has recently sent these in.....

many thanks alan

The AOS fee and the IV fee are two separate fees, sent in at two separate times with the two separate fee bills -- the AOS/I-864 fee bill (the first one, which is generated a couple of weeks after your case number is assigned along with the DS-3032 choice of agent form) and the IV fee bill. So you will need two separate checks -- one for $70 and one for $380.

Although USCIS (an agency of the Department of Homeland Security) is threatening to raise its fees as early as June 1, I have seen nothing indicating that the Department of State is raising its fees. And, yes, the IV fee check should be made out to the Department of State.

fantastic ! many thanks - i will order the two checks - they are £15 ($30) each from my bank but I will save that the first time I fill my gas tank in Florida ! I reckon they will be valid for 6 months so I might as well order them now then i am on the starting blocks - tested the barcodes etc and worked very well with 'paint' program to get rid of logo before copy/paste.. worried about keeping up to date with word forms for fee bills if they change so i will keep checking on James shortcuts version 2 - excellent - a real life saver - many thanks - alan

You're welcome! And don't count on saving too much on gas here in Florida because prices are at an incredible record high now and are still going up, though of course I suppose they are still relatively lower than the UK.

Also, although you aren't going to get to this point for almost a couple of months, note that the link to the DS-230 coversheet in version 2.0 of the shortcuts is to the old coversheet -- I just provided the link to the current coversheet in the post following version 2.0.

I knew I had seen you refer to a new coversheet somewhere - thats brill- I will keep my eye on the versions between now and when i need it...
most SUV's fill up here for $150 to $200 and my little GM banger costs $90 so I am hoping to transfer the difference to my beer budget on arrival... Just been to France - $5 for a really small coffee in a street cafe (all of them)
As long as they don't lose the file between USCIS and NVC (They lost my friend's file at that stage) then I will breath again...
I use 0844 861 21 21 to call nvc from uk - one penny per minute which is superb...
Thanks again James - you are really helping a lot of people to get through a really tough but so important process -Alan

Yes, both $70.00 (AOS Fee) and $380.00 (IV Fee) are payable to "Department of State." I believe, there is no shortcut for IV Fee Bill, so you have to wait to receive the IV fee Bill from NVC, then you can send $380.00.