Electronic Filing for IR-1 (Montreal Consulate) - Question

[sierratango 0]

My wife and I opted for electronic processing with the Montreal Consulate. We submitted the DS-3032, and paid both the AOS and IV fee bills.

Once the fees were marked as paid, the cover sheet was available for printing. Those cover sheets basically indicated that we should go ahead and follow the instructions for the Affidavit of Support and Applicant processing. However, the NVC has not sent me any specific e-mails to indicate that I should submit them.

I jumped the gun and submitted my Affidavit of Support via PDF. However, I'm now hesitant to send out the DS-230 and supporting documents before I know for sure.

Related to that - does anyone know if you're required to scan a copy of the actual photos that will have to be submitted with the original documents? Our plan was to scan the following:

1) DS 230 (Part 1 completed, part 2 unsigned)

2) Data page of my wife's passport

3) Birth Certificate

4) Marriage Certificate

5) Police Certificate/Clearance

6) Photo(s)

Thoughts?

[lgg 2]

I could be wrong about this but I think the electronic processing is only for the DS3032 and the bill payments, no? You cannot scan anything for the NVC, they want true, original copies, signatures and the like. Please correct me if I'm wrong. My husband thought the same thing but I believe for the AOS and IV package you have to send in all original documents and signatures.

Do let us know what you find out, okay?

Best,

LGG

My wife and I opted for electronic processing with the Montreal Consulate. We submitted the DS-3032, and paid both the AOS and IV fee bills.

Once the fees were marked as paid, the cover sheet was available for printing. Those cover sheets basically indicated that we should go ahead and follow the instructions for the Affidavit of Support and Applicant processing. However, the NVC has not sent me any specific e-mails to indicate that I should submit them.

I jumped the gun and submitted my Affidavit of Support via PDF. However, I'm now hesitant to send out the DS-230 and supporting documents before I know for sure.

Related to that - does anyone know if you're required to scan a copy of the actual photos that will have to be submitted with the original documents? Our plan was to scan the following:

1) DS 230 (Part 1 completed, part 2 unsigned)

2) Data page of my wife's passport

3) Birth Certificate

4) Marriage Certificate

5) Police Certificate/Clearance

6) Photo(s)

Thoughts?

[sierratango 0]

I could be wrong about this but I think the electronic processing is only for the DS3032 and the bill payments, no? You cannot scan anything for the NVC, they want true, original copies, signatures and the like. Please correct me if I'm wrong. My husband thought the same thing but I believe for the AOS and IV package you have to send in all original documents and signatures.

Do let us know what you find out, okay?

Best,

LGG

My wife and I opted for electronic processing with the Montreal Consulate. We submitted the DS-3032, and paid both the AOS and IV fee bills.

Once the fees were marked as paid, the cover sheet was available for printing. Those cover sheets basically indicated that we should go ahead and follow the instructions for the Affidavit of Support and Applicant processing. However, the NVC has not sent me any specific e-mails to indicate that I should submit them.

I jumped the gun and submitted my Affidavit of Support via PDF. However, I'm now hesitant to send out the DS-230 and supporting documents before I know for sure.

Related to that - does anyone know if you're required to scan a copy of the actual photos that will have to be submitted with the original documents? Our plan was to scan the following:

1) DS 230 (Part 1 completed, part 2 unsigned)

2) Data page of my wife's passport

3) Birth Certificate

4) Marriage Certificate

5) Police Certificate/Clearance

6) Photo(s)

Thoughts?

Please refer to the following link and tell me what you think:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_4409.html

I think everything is submitted electronically....

[IT_1 0]

I think you need to send org AOS to NVC.

[lgg 2]

Hey, I think you're totally right about this, actually. Only MOntreal and the consulate in China are able to do this. When we got our NVC stuff, they gave us the option to do this but I though it was just for the bills and such. But I believe you are correct. It's a pilot project, be forewarned, so there could be glitches. Sounds good to me, let us know how it goes. My husband would have loved this as he scanned everything anyway -- I myself don't have a scanner at home.

It'll be interesting to see if your stuff gets processed faster.

You are correct about all this, I apologize for the wrong info, I am duly informed.

Best of luck to you.

LGG

I could be wrong about this but I think the electronic processing is only for the DS3032 and the bill payments, no? You cannot scan anything for the NVC, they want true, original copies, signatures and the like. Please correct me if I'm wrong. My husband thought the same thing but I believe for the AOS and IV package you have to send in all original documents and signatures.

Do let us know what you find out, okay?

Best,

LGG

My wife and I opted for electronic processing with the Montreal Consulate. We submitted the DS-3032, and paid both the AOS and IV fee bills.

Once the fees were marked as paid, the cover sheet was available for printing. Those cover sheets basically indicated that we should go ahead and follow the instructions for the Affidavit of Support and Applicant processing. However, the NVC has not sent me any specific e-mails to indicate that I should submit them.

I jumped the gun and submitted my Affidavit of Support via PDF. However, I'm now hesitant to send out the DS-230 and supporting documents before I know for sure.

Related to that - does anyone know if you're required to scan a copy of the actual photos that will have to be submitted with the original documents? Our plan was to scan the following:

1) DS 230 (Part 1 completed, part 2 unsigned)

2) Data page of my wife's passport

3) Birth Certificate

4) Marriage Certificate

5) Police Certificate/Clearance

6) Photo(s)

Thoughts?

Please refer to the following link and tell me what you think:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_4409.html

I think everything is submitted electronically....

Edited July 29, 2009 by lgg

[lgg 2]

To answer your specific question now, you don't need to wait to hear from the NVC, as soon as your payment has process and the bar coded sheet available, you can send in your respective packages.

If you've paid the AOS fee and it shows as paid, send in the AOS package and iF the DS3032 has been accepted and the IV bill paid and shows as paid, send your DS230.

As for photos? you mean the passport photos? I would go scan them and send them if I were you, send the package as they request if all scanned and via PDF...

Good luck. Do us a fave? Keep us posted and your timeline updated? It'll be interesting to see if this electronic filing thing is faster in the long run.

Best,

LGG

My wife and I opted for electronic processing with the Montreal Consulate. We submitted the DS-3032, and paid both the AOS and IV fee bills.

Once the fees were marked as paid, the cover sheet was available for printing. Those cover sheets basically indicated that we should go ahead and follow the instructions for the Affidavit of Support and Applicant processing. However, the NVC has not sent me any specific e-mails to indicate that I should submit them.

I jumped the gun and submitted my Affidavit of Support via PDF. However, I'm now hesitant to send out the DS-230 and supporting documents before I know for sure.

Related to that - does anyone know if you're required to scan a copy of the actual photos that will have to be submitted with the original documents? Our plan was to scan the following:

1) DS 230 (Part 1 completed, part 2 unsigned)

2) Data page of my wife's passport

3) Birth Certificate

4) Marriage Certificate

5) Police Certificate/Clearance

6) Photo(s)

Thoughts?

[sierratango 0]

To answer your specific question now, you don't need to wait to hear from the NVC, as soon as your payment has process and the bar coded sheet available, you can send in your respective packages.

If you've paid the AOS fee and it shows as paid, send in the AOS package and iF the DS3032 has been accepted and the IV bill paid and shows as paid, send your DS230.

As for photos? you mean the passport photos? I would go scan them and send them if I were you, send the package as they request if all scanned and via PDF...

Good luck. Do us a fave? Keep us posted and your timeline updated? It'll be interesting to see if this electronic filing thing is faster in the long run.

Best,

LGG

My wife and I opted for electronic processing with the Montreal Consulate. We submitted the DS-3032, and paid both the AOS and IV fee bills.

Once the fees were marked as paid, the cover sheet was available for printing. Those cover sheets basically indicated that we should go ahead and follow the instructions for the Affidavit of Support and Applicant processing. However, the NVC has not sent me any specific e-mails to indicate that I should submit them.

I jumped the gun and submitted my Affidavit of Support via PDF. However, I'm now hesitant to send out the DS-230 and supporting documents before I know for sure.

Related to that - does anyone know if you're required to scan a copy of the actual photos that will have to be submitted with the original documents? Our plan was to scan the following:

1) DS 230 (Part 1 completed, part 2 unsigned)

2) Data page of my wife's passport

3) Birth Certificate

4) Marriage Certificate

5) Police Certificate/Clearance

6) Photo(s)

Thoughts?

It seems like everything is being turned around fairly quickly (see my timeline). I only received the initial envelope from the NVC (with the AOS fee bill) this past Monday. Once I had the invoice number, I was able to proceed with everything else. However, now we'll see how long they take to process the AOS and the DS-230.

On one hand, I'm not very comfortable with the idea of submitting those documents (consider all the support docs that go with the DS-230) via PDF in a regular e-mail. Doesn't seem too secure to me. However, my anxiousness to get through this process has led me to bypass those thoughts...

[lgg 2]

I agree with you on that. When my husband and i were going over our forms, we password encrypted them. Can you do this? Maybe encrypt them using your NVC file # or something? It's the best way to submit PDFs with sensitive information.

Best,

LGG

To answer your specific question now, you don't need to wait to hear from the NVC, as soon as your payment has process and the bar coded sheet available, you can send in your respective packages.

If you've paid the AOS fee and it shows as paid, send in the AOS package and iF the DS3032 has been accepted and the IV bill paid and shows as paid, send your DS230.

As for photos? you mean the passport photos? I would go scan them and send them if I were you, send the package as they request if all scanned and via PDF...

Good luck. Do us a fave? Keep us posted and your timeline updated? It'll be interesting to see if this electronic filing thing is faster in the long run.

Best,

LGG

My wife and I opted for electronic processing with the Montreal Consulate. We submitted the DS-3032, and paid both the AOS and IV fee bills.

Once the fees were marked as paid, the cover sheet was available for printing. Those cover sheets basically indicated that we should go ahead and follow the instructions for the Affidavit of Support and Applicant processing. However, the NVC has not sent me any specific e-mails to indicate that I should submit them.

I jumped the gun and submitted my Affidavit of Support via PDF. However, I'm now hesitant to send out the DS-230 and supporting documents before I know for sure.

Related to that - does anyone know if you're required to scan a copy of the actual photos that will have to be submitted with the original documents? Our plan was to scan the following:

1) DS 230 (Part 1 completed, part 2 unsigned)

2) Data page of my wife's passport

3) Birth Certificate

4) Marriage Certificate

5) Police Certificate/Clearance

6) Photo(s)

Thoughts?

It seems like everything is being turned around fairly quickly (see my timeline). I only received the initial envelope from the NVC (with the AOS fee bill) this past Monday. Once I had the invoice number, I was able to proceed with everything else. However, now we'll see how long they take to process the AOS and the DS-230.

On one hand, I'm not very comfortable with the idea of submitting those documents (consider all the support docs that go with the DS-230) via PDF in a regular e-mail. Doesn't seem too secure to me. However, my anxiousness to get through this process has led me to bypass those thoughts...

[sierratango 0]

I did end up using encryption for subsequent PDF's. Although, it's still not very secure (there are programs that strip the encryption off PDF's pretty quickly).

It's been a few days since I submitted the AOS & DS-230 to NVC (via e-mail). Funny thing was, the IV bill became available in the Fee section about a day after I paid the AOS fee. However, they just sent me the IV fee invoice (via e-mail) yesterday...after I already paid it.

At this point, I think I've completed all of the steps required. Now, I just have to wait for them to acknowledge receipt of each set of paperwork. And then, await information regarding the interview. We'll just have to schedule a medical exam at one of the 4 locations in all of Canada. :-P