I thought I'd share what I did and maybe it'll help others

[supranatural 1]

Hi everyone, someone pm'd me off list and raised a question I thought about and perhaps telling others what I did may help a bit with avoiding RFE's. Mind you, I am not professing to be an expert or even knowledgeable, I'm simply ####### retentive when it comes to these things and perhaps that helped. So I think what I did may have helped:

I had intended the file right after my divorce decree but instead I took my time, redid things multiple times to make sure it was perfect (you don't know how many G325-A's I threw out cause I did not like the way one thing looked or another, or realized another spot where I could put "None" instead of leaving it blank). I ended up taking 1-1/2 weeks to do it the way I was satisfied with it, every time I thought it was right I'd look it over the night before mailing it and find another flaw. In the end I ended up making sure there were no blanks or unanswered questions.

One thing I think that helped was the primary evidence of our meeting that I included. I scanned (not copied) my airplane tickets but I did not print out the scans right away. Before printing them out I used photoshop to put text in there in bold print (18 point Arial font) on the bottom of each page to explain each page of tickets/boarding passes. Such as "Tickets for trip to Ukraine from 9-4-08 to 9-17-08, including boarding passes" or "Tickets to Ukraine from 11-5-08 to 11-15-08, return passes not included because they were lost." I made sure that I made things very easy for the adjudicator to understand and where necessary explained why I had tickets/boarding passes going into Ukraine but not coming out, or vice versa or any other missing information. So each page would have a set of boarding passes then neat typing on the bottom explaining them.

Other than that my application was probably pretty standard fare. Hope this helps some of you...

Edited March 11, 2008 by supranatural

[StoryAngel 4]

supranatural, I did something very similar with our application. I scanned the airline tickets and receipts etc. and added text before printing it out; I did the same for our photos. I have to say I was quite proud of how it looked when it was ready to go! B) I don't necessarily think that a beautifully put-together application will definitely be approved; obviously it depends on the information included in there. But as with the variety of evidence provided, it can help to create a positive overall impression. We didn't have a particularly complex case either and we won't ever know 100% if caring about the minuscule details to put together the I-129F application helped prevent an RFE, but I think nonetheless it's a good idea to do it. It's one thing that we can actually do; we spend so much time waiting for the authorities and their timing, so why not make the extra effort for something that is actually within our control...

[AnneLise+Mark 0]

Supranatural, that's so nice that you got the NOA2 approved so fast

I can't believe it.

We did the same as you for plane tickets, bording passes, added explanations and all that ... we filled a little before you VSC too, but still nothing for us.

were you able to see if your case was touched or anything special??

I miss my love so much, I really hate waiting, it's been two years now, that we spend all our time away, just summer and christmas together ...

Hope for a fast approval too

good luck for the next step

[mariapoe 0]

Congratulations on your super fast approval ! I'm sure that because you're so well-organized, your finacee's interview will be easy as well. Is it going to be in Kiev? They like it organized there, big time !!! Good luck!

Masha

[supranatural 1]

Hi AnneLisa+Mark, I did not get any touches at all on our packet. I was waiting and checking every day to see if it got touched and Monday morning I check my email and there is one from USCIS telling me we were approved, went online and it says we were approved March 08. My impression is that VSC seems to be going so fast now you may not even see a touch, you just get approved if all is in order.

Masha, yes the interview will be in Kiev so thanks for the advice about being organized.

Storyangel, I agree just looking nice won't get you approved if you don't meet the requirements and I agree if you are well organized I think it can only help - a person who used to work for the USCIS made some helpful posts and in one of them he said some adjudicators will dig around for the information if it is not readily apparent in the application information and others will simply fire off an RFE...so I have to believe that by making things easy for the adjudicator to find the information in the packet the less likely an RFE will be. I did not want our adjudicator to say, "hmm where is the return boarding pass for this trip? Okay, RFE time." Rather I wanted him to look at my packet and say, "hmmm no return boarding pass but it says right here they were lost on the trip...ok no sense in sending an RFE for something that they lost." That actually was one of the pages of my boarding pass since I cannot find the return boarding passes for one of my visits.

[*JG* 2]

I did pretty much the same thing only I copied everything and made neat notes in my own handwriting on each page. Went as smooth as possible. No RFE's at all.

I do believe neatly organized is always the way to go.

[*julez* 124]

I did pretty much the same thing only I copied everything and made neat notes in my own handwriting on each page. Went as smooth as possible. No RFE's at all.

I do believe neatly organized is always the way to go.

This is the same approach I took. The key is definitely to be well organized.