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So, I checked our case status this morning for the family-based I-485 application for AOS. It showed a processing time of 3 months and I was excited because we are on step 3 (interview). An hour later, we got an email and upon reviewing the update I see we have an RFE. Evidently, USCIS says I cannot sponsor my wife because I do not make 125% of the poverty level for our family size. I make about double that (233%). The error likely comes from the fact that my IRS papers say $0 due to my income being non-taxable. I sent income verification letters from the VA and SSA as well as bank statements showing that I make about $70k a year in non-taxable income. Additionally, our attorney sent them a letter with the initial filing saying the same. He told us that we would dispute it but I will most likely need a co-sponsor. I do not have one as I have no family or friends and shouldn't need one simply because someone at USCIS is unable to read or comprehend the reality of the situation. I am beyond angry as this will substantially delay our case and we cannot afford the delay.

Dear Community, I have received a RFE on my i130. I’m in the US and my spouse is in Nigeria. I would like to know what you all suggest for submitting chat history. Our WhatsApp chat history dates all the way back to October 2017. How much should I submit? For example one conversation per month of the time period? One per quarter? I’m definitely not interested in doing one per week. Gosh this is such a task!!!! Please help. Thanks in advance.

We submitted the I-129F in December 2022 and just received an RFE. It says the submitted evidence do not establish each other's physical presence. It does say "as evidence to support the two year personal meeting requirement, you submitted booking details, text messages, boarding pass, pictures and intent to marry letters", yet it also says there is no evidence that we have met in the past 2 years....we did submit entry stamps from the passport but since they didn't mention them, I'm thinking they might have gotten lost or maybe we forgot to attach them. It also says "Your form I-129F is missing page 5, 6, 7 and 8. Complete all items on the form as per USCIS requirements and attached copy of the petition and include your signature and date. If any item does not apply, write "N/A" even though we did submit those pages. 1. What more could we submit as proof of meeting? We did describe our meetings but perhaps we need to be even more detailed? 2. Do we resubmit the whole application or do we just resubmit these missing pages and the requested evidence? Grateful for any kind of advice 🙏🏻

I have a question. I got an RFE for I-130 because "Form-I130 was not signed or copy that was submitted did not contain all pages of the form". My question is, do I have to resubmit everything, including all the accompanying documents (I-130A, passport sized photos, etc)? It does not say anything about accompanying documents on the letter.

Hello, We just got an update for one of our documents that it was rejected, I was wondering if you know the specific name for the document that we need to obtain. It says for Bosnia "Both the Policijsko Uvjerenje o nekaznjavanju and Opstinski Sud are required for immigrant visa purposes.", we submitted the Police Certificate "Policijsko Uvjerenje o nekaznjavanju" issued by the Ministry of Interior and that was accepted, but the other document that we also submitted under Police Certificate from the Minicipal Court (Opstinski Sud) was rejected. So I was wondering what second document you uploaded from the court if you know the name for it in Bosnian? Because apparently we did not receive the correct document from the Minicipal Court.

I had the additional documents with me and I showed them to the officer. The officer was happy about them but they asked me to upload them to CEAS and gave me 221g, I then uploaded the documents to CEAC on the spot. Along with the 221g they gave me a form with instructions, the last instruction is to send the original documents to the embassy via DX delivery. Which I did. My questions are: 1- Did I have to do this (send them to the embassy via DX)? since the officer already looked at the original documents in the interview, but they were only concerned that they weren't uploaded? 2- Also, I sent original documents, and I need them for the future, does the US embassy return those documents along with the passport? 3- And if so how long does the US embassy in London usually take to change the status for such scenario from Refused to Issued? Thanks in advance!

Hello, First time posting! I am seeking clarity on an RFE I received from USICS the other day. I received a message, and then letter, stating the following: “FORM I-130A REQUEST The Form I-130 Instructions indicate that the petitions filed on behalf of a spouse must be accompanied by a completed and signed Form I-130A, Supplemental Information for Spouse Beneficiary. Although you submitted the required Form I-130A, it is incomplete and is missing page 4, page 5, and page 6. Submit a fully completed and signed Form I-130A, Supplemental Information for Spouse Beneficiary, for XXXX. If your spouse is overseas, Form I-130A must still be completed, but your spouse does not have to sign Form I-130A.” I believe my mistake was, feeling that the last pages mostly didn’t apply to us, I merely left the fields blank and just stuck a post-it on the pages that read ‘N/A’, along with my signature. Obviously, now I realize that was a dumb move. So now, obviously, I just have my wife refill out the form, write ‘N/A’ in every box and put a ‘0’ for any numerical questions that do not apply to us? For boxes like ‘Interpreter’s Signature’, she just leaves that blank or should she write ‘N/A’ in that box as well? And lastly, for the coversheet that I must mail back on top of completed I-130A, where it says: “Please check the appropriate box regarding if there is a new Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative, additional fees, additional forms, etc. Please place the new Form G-28, additional fees, additional forms directly under this sheet.” Do I leave those boxes empty or do I check ‘additional forms’ or ‘other’? Thank you in advance so much for taking the time to read through all of this and answering my (most likely incredibly daft) questions!

I am a US citizen living and working abroad in Taiwan. My wife and I are seeking a CR1. I put $0 down on my i-864 since my current income will not continue once I move the U.S. I submitted last years tax transcipt and it was marked as accepted. All of the documents from our joint sponsor were also marked as accepted. Related to this we recieved 2 Case RE notes. First Case RE says that my income is not sufficient and that I could get a joint sponsor. An error on their end, should I just ignore it or reach out to NVC via the inquiry form to clarify? Obvious error but hate to just assume everything is ok. Second Case RE asks for me to submit MY evidence for income. Since I have a joint sponsor and my income is $0 from working overseas, I thought it would be irrelevant, so I only uploaded my tax transcript. What do you think they are looking for here? I can provide them my previous yearly official income summary. It is in both Chinese and English except for my address (hope I wouldn't need to deal with a translator for something so minor). I also have my monthly pay stubs but they are very unofficial (literally just a template from excel with numbers plugged in, looks fake if you didn't know any better). Or maybe they just want to know that my income will not continue once I move. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all.

So, I got a RFE in the mail? My husband is in the process of bringing his mom to the states. The RFE stated that my husbands birth certificate was registered 23 years after he was born. The reason for this is Ghana has changed their system and he didn't have his old birth certificate so he had to get a new one. But , the RFE stated we can also get a voluntary DNA test in addition to the primary support we will send as reason why he has this birth certificate. My actual question is; Is it worth it to get a DNA Test done?

Hello, My IR5 filing is on NVC stage. I just got an RFE. NVC is requiring for my w2/1099 for 2022. I don’t have any of those since I did not work for the whole year. i have my husband and sister-in-law to sponsor and i have submitted both tax transcript and w2s for them. All accepted. what should i submit? Do i download and submit wage and income transcript from IRS showing $0? Would that even be the right document for their request? HELP!!!!

Hello, My wife got an RFE on her CR-1, which I guess isn't all that uncommon. However, what seems odd is that there is no mention of anything missing, only the whole list of suggested items to show we share a married life together, exactly the same as for the I-751. We were very meticulous and included all of that and more in our original packet, submitted Sept. 2021. For this next round we wouldn't really be able to provide anything additional, except for: birth certificate for our baby born last fall, and then more recent copies of the same stuff again (tax returns, insurance policies, etc). If I didn't know any better I would think they just lost our first packet or never looked at it. I found it odd also that a couple months ago her temporary green card was extended another 2 years to fall 2025. Could it be that they are just so far behind that they are not even reviewing packets and asking for evidence all over again? Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks and best regards, Burt

We received an RFE for my wife's I-485. We are using the concurrent filing (adustment of status) to also change her name to her married name. We filled out all forms with her new married name and we included a copy of the marriage certificate in the online I-130 application. However, in wondering why we got the I-485 asking us to redo the form, I thought perhaps we should have included a copy of the marraige certificate ALSO with the snail mail I-485 submission. Should we have included a copy of the marriage certificate with the I-485 subsmission as part of the process of changing her name (in addition to including it with the online I-130)? If the answer is yes, shoud the copy be a certified copy? We can include it in the mailed I-485 RFE response if necessary.

Hi! I submitted my AOS sept 29,202, on march 23,2023 I was asked to submit my medical and mail it to NBC. I submitted it last week & my status changed on April 3 to “RFE RECEIVED” just wondering how long it takes after a medical RFE to make a decision?

Hey, Me and my husband are very confused at the moment. We are currently in the process of i-130 and i-485 and had a status of our Case being actively reviewed since October 2022. On 20th of Dec we've received RFE requesting Medical i-693 and any other additional evidence of our marriage (if applicable). We've send a package with Medical and other docs that we obtained since initial application on 12th of Jan (a week before the dead line). One of the things worth mentioning, is that this RFE came from the local office already and never appeared on my USCIS account as a status or in document section. We were waiting for their decision or any response (but were aware that it might take up to 2 months). BUT on 28th of Jan I've updated my USCIS status and under my i-485 it said that "Request for Initial Evidence Was Sent" as of 28th of Jan. When I looked into the document that appeared on 30th, it was 100% identical RFE (only with different dates of issue 20th of Dec vs 28th of Jan) that we received in December and responded to 2 weeks ago. But this time it does appear as a status on the website (but no physical RFE was received so far). We did call their customer support and they supposedly assigned a person to our case to double check and see what we have to do with it (we haven't heard back yet). So I was wondering if anyone else here faced this type of situation... and received 2 identical RFEs within 1 month pretty much? Since we are concerned if they lost our package with Medical (even though it was received based on the USPS status of the package) or it's some kind of glitch Our timeline: Applied (i-130, i-485 etc) - September Biometrics - October Medical RFE - 20th of Dec Response to Medical RFE - 12th of Jan (Deadline was 20th of Jan) Identical Medical RFE appeared on the USCIS website - 28th of Jan (no physical RFE received)

Hi All, I wanted to know if anyone is going through the same situation my wife and I are. We had our GC Interview in San Francisco on February 2nd. Were told everything was good to go, except for the medical exam, which had to be resubmitted. Since COVID delays, my wife's medical exam had been done more than a year before the interview, and we received a RFE to complete an I-693. I found a certified Civil Surgeon, she went ahead and went through the entire process, the surgeon signed off on it and after a few days, we sent the signed/sealed packet to the address listed. The RFE deadline is May 4th and USCIS has still not "received" or updated her case. I have sent a few e-requests, which were answered with a generic response, and have actually spoken to live reps 3 times, all of whom did not give any specific info. but said they can send an internal request. The last rep. stated that there is an extension for the request, but I am not sure how concrete this info. is since it's not listed anywhere. Has anyone gone through this situation or is currently going through it? If so, mind sharing your experience, results, and maybe what to expect? Many thanks in advance!

Hello! I had an interview for N400 at the beginning of July and officer asked to submit response to RFE that they issued that same day. As soon as I got home I submitted it and portal says “uscis has received the response“. is there any timeline I should expect next steps? It’s been >2 months now. I tried to submit e-request to uscis support but they say my case is within the timelines. Any ideas or recent experience with RFE for N400 in Seattle appreciated!

Hey everyone, hope you all are having a great evening. I just received an RFE on my wife's AOS case and had a couple questions in regards to it. Our PD date is March 2nd and the RFE for the I-864 was sent out on March 17th. I have not receive the letter in the mail, I just noticed it by signing into my wife's USCIS account. For the I-864 I submitted the correct and up to date filled out I-864, along with my 2021 IRS tax transcript, a letter from my employer stating how much I make, last 6 months of pay stubs, assets and proof of ownership, and finally a copy of my birth certificate. This is what the RFE states "Based on the documents submitted, we could not determine that the petitioning sponsor on Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, is qualified. In order to be a qualified sponsor, the petitioning sponsor's Form I-864 must be properly completed and signed, and the supporting documents must establish that the petitioning sponsor's income meets 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline for the sponsor’s household size. See Form I-864P for information on the Federal Poverty Guidelines. If the petitioning sponsor's income does not meet 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline for their household size, you must obtain a qualifying joint sponsor who demonstrates the ability to support you or submit evidence of assets. See Form I-864 Instructions for more information. If you decide to obtain a joint sponsor (or a different joint sponsor), you will need to: Submit a completed and signed Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, from the joint sponsor. All pages must be present and of the latest edition date. Provide the joint sponsor's Social Security Number on Form I-864. Provide a complete and correctly calculated household size on Form I-864. Submit a complete copy of the joint sponsor's Federal income tax return and all supporting tax U.S. Department of Homeland Security U.S. www.uscis.gov documents (W-2s, 1099s, Form 2555, and tax schedules) for the most recent tax year. Submit evidence of the joint sponsor's status as a United States citizen, United States National, or Lawful Permanent Resident. The "Total Income" line on IRS Form 1040 is used to determine qualifying income for a sponsor, not the "Gross Receipts" line from IRS Schedule C or C-EZ. If the petitioning sponsor or the joint sponsor is unable to meet the income requirements, they may qualify based on the cash value of their significant assets. Assets must equal the stated difference between the sponsor’s income and 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline for the sponsor’s household size. Assets must equal the difference for applicants filing as orphans. Assets must equal three times the difference for a spouse or child of a United States citizen. Assets must equal five times the difference for all others. Acceptable evidence of assets: Bank statements covering the last 12 months (statements will be averaged over a 12 month period) or a statement from an officer of the bank or other financial institution in which the sponsor has deposits, the account balance averaged over a 12 month period, and current balance; Evidence of ownership, value, and dates acquired of stocks, bonds, and certificates of deposit; Evidence of ownership, value/equity, and dates acquired of other personal property; Evidence of ownership, a recent licensed appraisal or county tax assessment, any mortgage/lien or lien release of any real estate, and dates acquired. For further instructions and the latest edition of Form I-864, visit the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov. See Specific Instructions and Specific Requirements listed in the Form I-864 instructions for complete information." Here are a couple of reasons on why I think I got a RFE and I was wondering if any one could confirm if these thoughts are true. My first thought is that I sent a copy of my 2021 IRS tax return transcripts and not my 2022 ones. I did not have these available to me when we submitted our AOS packet so I sent what I had. However, my 2022 IRS tax transcripts are now available. My second thought about why I received an RFE for my I-864 is that I did not make enough money to pass the poverty limits. My 2021 IRS tax transcripts show that I only made around $18,000. I was in school in 2021 and 2022 and landed my real job in August of 2022. However, I sent in a letter from my employer stating how much I make a year (70k) and my pay stubs from my last 6 months which showed that I made around 46k in the last 6 months. My 2022 IRS tax transcript has my total wages around 32k. I also submitted my assets (stocks and bank account) which along with my 18k on my 2021 IRS tax returns should have jumped me over the limit. I personally think we got an RFE for reason number 1 but would love your thoughts. Secondly, how do we respond to this RFE? Do we just mail in a new filled out I-864 to the office we received the RFE from? It mentions something about uploading the documents online if applicable via my wife's USCIS account, but I feel more comfortable mailing it in. Also, it is okay if we send it on before we get the physical copy of the RFE? And my third question is, is this a really fast RFE? They only got our case on March 2nd and the RFE was uploaded on March 17th. That seems really quick to me. Would love to hear all of your thoughts. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Have a wonderful start to your weekend.

I have a some questions regarding the affidavit of support (joint sponsor) for our case. The petitioner did not make enough income so we needed a join sponsor We uploaded a joint sponsor who is self employed with his three most tax returns, so NVC asked for W2 and 1099, we submitted schedules and a wage and income transcript along with a comment explaining that the join sponsor does not have a W2/1099. After the above was completed, we review 3 RFE’s from NVC respectively: Provide evidence of income for Petitioner Provide evidence of income for joint sponsor This case does not meet the minimum income requirement to sponsor the intending immigrants. To avoid delays, an additional Affidavit of Support Form I-864 from a joint sponsor may be submitted. The consular officer will make a decision regarding this requirement at the time of the interview. My first question: I have a new join sponsor with three most recent tax years: $2500 in 2020, $49,000 in 2021, $127,000 in 2022. Will this be a good sponsor, can I just upload him and ignore the rest of the messages? My second question: Or do I continue providing more proof of income for first join sponsor? I have bank statements, paystub, and Tax Return Transcript.

So my I-130 for my adopted daughter finally got a reply from the National Benefits Center. I got an RFE asking for additional evidence for my child. I came to Belarus from United States in 2013 to live while helping my parents there. I married and adopted my wife’s daughter. I’ve been her dad for the past 8.5 years. She’s 15 now. I sent in all the required information to USCIS that was asked of me. We left Belarus for Poland when Russia began the conflict with Ukraine. We cannot come back for the documents because of possible political prosecution of me and my wife. My father has the power of attorney in my name to get documents for me in Belarus. In the RFE, I’m requested to send in her original birth certificate which was issued upon her birth before she got her new birth certificate after her adoption by me in 2015. So basically the birth certificate with her original birth parents’ names. Unfortunately, in Belarus, they take away the original birth certificate upon adoption and replace it with a secondary birth certificate in my name and my wife’s. We do have a photocopy of the original birth certificate, but we're afraid to send it as evidence because it might be requested at the interview at NVC. So we'd rather go with getting an official letter from BY govt. Or would NVC accept such a copy?! In this case, the RFE states I can submit: I can get an official document for the 1st request. However for the 2nd one asking for secondary evidence, we might have issues finding a church record or schools records with both of her birth parents’ names. It would usually just be my wife’s name and daughter’s. She divorced 1.5 years after marriage and the father signed away his parental rights. We have a medical record book with both her birth parents names, but the whole book is handwritten with a bunch of ink stamps (this was typical in Soviet countries and still is). Does this count? Same goes for her baptismal records. It has a signature, name and stamp of the priest. Another item the RFE requests which has us worried is the they commonly ask for all sorts of affidavits. Could someone with experience or knowledge clarify what these can look like? From what I understand, I don’t need to have the notary public notarize these. Here’s an example of such a request from the letter: An affidavit detailing the exact dates and locations where you physically resided under the same roof with the adopted child outside the U.S. before or after the adoption, together with corresponding evidence. Can this be hand written or types? Do I just sign my name, address, etc.? -------------- Another interesting item in the RFE is that it mentions a bedsheet-long list of requests for evidence in case of the I-130 application going through as “Evidence that the child meets the definition of an Adopted Child under 101(b)(1)(E)”. However at the end of the letter they say the following: So it seems like if we don’t satisfy their request for the child going through as adopter, they can “easily” qualify her as a stepchild with just her original birth certificate or letter required?!?! Any useful information greatly appreciated!

Hello everyone, I hope this is the right section, if not my apologies! I am writing today regarding a RFE for my I-693. The note says: Submit a completed Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record. The medical that you submitted to the consulate was signed by the physician more then 1 year from when you submitted form I-485, therefore you must submit form I-693. A USCIS civil surgeon must complete and sign the form, and you must also sign the form. If the civil surgeon refers you to a specialist, the specialist must include his or her medical exam results and complete the proper sections of the Form I-693 before the civil surgeon may sign the form. Once everyone has signed, the civil surgeon will place the completed Form I-693 in a sealed envelope and give it to you. You must submit the sealed envelope containing the original Form I-693 that the civil surgeon signed and the medical exam results; we will NOT accept photocopied Form I-693 and medical exam results. Civil surgeons must use the current Edition of Form I-693. You can find the current edition of Form I-693 on USCIS’s website at www.uscis.gov. In addition, the civil surgeon must ensure that all parts of Form I-693 were properly completed. Please Note: All Forms I-693 signed by civil surgeons on or after October 5, 2022 must use the 07/19/2022 edition of Form I-693. USCIS will not accept the 09/13/2021 version (or any previous editions) if the civil surgeon signed the Form I-693 after October 4, 2022. Therefore, the civil surgeon administering your immigration medical examination must complete and sign the 07/19/2022 edition of the Form I-693. I was surprised to receive this note for the following reasons: 1. My physician signed the I-693 on 6/29/21 and I submitted form I-485 on 12/21/21, only 6 months after and not more than 1 year later as stated in the RFE 2. In addition, the USCIS website states that I-693 is valid for 2 years, from the website: We generally consider a completed Form I-693 to remain valid for two years after the date the civil surgeon signed Form I-693 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-693) 3. Moreover, the same website states: From Dec. 9, 2021 until Mar. 31, 2023, we are temporarily waiving the requirement that the civil surgeon’s signature be dated no more than 60 days before you file Form I-485. Should I still book another appointment for I-693 or talk to a lawyer? I feel overwhelmed by this never-ending process and would appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you.

Hello all, I applied for AOS in May 22 from OH and recently received an RFE. A couple weeks after I moved to GA and filed an AR-11 with the USCIS. Since the RFE notice was sent from Cleveland,OH, I am sending my response to RFE back to OH even though I am now in GA. My question is, even though I have already informed the USCIS of my change of address, would it be wise to include a copy of the AR-11 along with the documents I am sending out to reply to the RFE. I have often heard that sometimes departments within USCIS don't communicate such changes to the responsible officer and I don't want that to result in a denial of my application since my address now is different than the address I filed the AOS application with. Thanks

Hey all, I've been RFE'd two times now, the first for not handwriting a date on the I-864 (yeah, I know) and the second RFE due to not meeting the minimum income threshold, despite providing evidence in the form of tax returns and W-2s showing income above the income threshold. For the first RFE, our lawyer suggested we just resubmitted a new document with a hand written date, just to appease the NVC. However for second RFE we don't know what else we can provide. I understand that the officials are just doing a checkbox exercise, but what are they looking for specifically if not Tax returns and W-2's. It should be noted that my partner and I have been living abroad for 4 years and she's only returned to American employment in the last few months. We sat on our DS-260 until she had surpassed the income threshold, then provided to the NVC 3 years of tax returns, 3 W-2 slips (showing income in excess of minimum requirements), we attached a contract of employment from a state employer and as double-insurance, we provided a print-out of publicly available State Employee incomes. It's obvious to us and our immigration lawyers that we exceed the income threshold, but what else can we provide to the NVC as this is the second needless delay in an already slow ordeal.

I am married to my spouse who is a USC and filed for I-130 and I-485 in May 2022. When sending out my documents, I didnt send out the I-693 as I was still searching for vaccination documentation and planned on presenting it during the interview. I recently received two RFE's. 1. RFE for Birth certificate. - I have fixed the problem and I am getting ready to send that out. 2. RFE for I693. I wanted to know if I could only send the birth certificate to USCIS right now and wait until the interview to show I693. I am in doubt because the RFE letter states, if you send them incomplete documents, they will reject the case. Would not sending the I693 be considered sending incomplete documents or can I wait until I get an interview date to get I693 done. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I received an RFE from my I-485 asking me for my marriage certificate and my I-693. I sent everything through the mail with FEDEX (original with seal marriage certificate and I-693 sealed by the doctor) and it says it was received and signed for on 12/19/2022. But my status online hasn't changed. It still says "Request for Initial Evidence was Sent". I have tried the chat on the USCIS website and they won't confirm that they received my package and keep saying I have to wait 60 days after I sent the response to talk to them again. Has anyone experienced that? I am trying to stay calm and wait the 60 days, but I'm scared and can't think about anything else. My timeline: USCIS received I-485 - September 22nd, 2022 Scheduled Biometrics - September 30th, 2022 Biometrics Appointment - October 17th, 2022 (Case status changed to "Being actively reviewed" on this same day) RFE was sent - December 5th, 2022 (letter available online 2 days after that, then response was received according to FEDEX on December 19th, 2022). Thank you.

Hey, I just received and RFE from local FO saying "Submit evidence [my name] and [my wife's name] share a marital life together. It should cover the time period from [Marriage Date] to the present etc." But the thing is we have been married for over 2.5 years and also submitted bunch of evidence when we filed in December 2021, such as lease, credit card statement, bank account statement, renters insurance, photos, jointly filed tax return and such. So, I am not sure why would USCIS will need evidence from the day we got married rather than the day after we filed which was a year ago. Should I resubmit all the documents already sent again and just add updated bank statement and leases and stuff? Thanks for your help