Original copies

[birdnest 0]

Hello everyone in VJ Land. I have recently discovered this great VisaJourney site. I wish I would have found it a long time ago. I am totally green about the visa process. I made a couple trips to Kiev without taking photos or saving my boarding passes. I did not realize getting a green card was so involved, heck, I did not even know what a green card was, until a couple months ago. I married a wonderful woman, and want to be with her as soon as possible. (Yea, like I am the first one to say that on this site.)

I made the mistake of hiring a nearly worthless lawyer, he was good about asking for cash though. He did some things I wish he would not have done, like had me send in a I-129F, which I now regret. He also gave me the wrong box number to send my I-130 to, I sent to Chicago, but not the box number for the wonderful state of North Dakota. I guess he never has done a case for a North Dakota resident. But the USCIS did accept it, makes me wonder if I would have sent it to the proper box number, if I would have been assigned to the Vermont Service Center rather than the California service center? He also had me send in a lot of documents that do not need to be sent yet, like the I-864 and DS-230, and I did not include any cover letters in our I-130 or I-129F. He also said my wife will be with me for Thanksgiving, which I now know is a likely not going to happen. Needless to say, I will not be using a lawyer any longer.

I debated whether I should sign up on visa journey, then decided it is great resource, so here I am. I figured I may need some assistance in the future and I want to get to know the ropes here, so when I need help, I am up to speed on how to ask for help. One comment I do have, is I wish people would not use so many acronyms, It makes it tough for us newbie’s, I finally did find the Abbreviations Appendix. But I still have not figured out what SIF stands for?

Questions:

Along with our I-130 petition, I sent in our original birth certificates, marriage certificate, divorce decree and passport-type photos. Will I get them back before our interview? Or will they get forwarded to the Embassy in Kiev?

What does SIF stand for?

Exactly when will we get our I-130 NOA2? (just kidding)

Thanks in advance for giving me a hand in this loooooong process.

birdnest

[BigSigh 12]

Along with our I-130 petition, I sent in our original birth certificates, marriage certificate, divorce decree and passport-type photos. Will I get them back before our interview? Or will they get forwarded to the Embassy in Kiev?

You weren't supposed to send originals to USCIS. They should (this is a key word) get sent from USCIS to NVC and then from NVC to the Embassy. The originals are asked for during the NVC stage (as well as a copy of the original). When you eventually get a case number from NVC (about 7-14 days from when you get your NOA2), you could talk to an operator and see if they still have your originals from the I-130 package. If not, they will be requested again.

What does SIF stand for?

SIF stands for Sign In Fail. This comes at the NVC stage when they are all done with processing your case. Then you should call their number and make sure that the "voice" gives you a Case Complete. This is a good thing! .

[Married2009 32]

Welcome to VJ! Did you let the lawyer go? If so, you should probably send something to that effect to the USCIS. Someone will chime in and let you know exactly what you need to send. GL on your journey!

[TOM&Riz 4]

Questions:

Along with our I-130 petition, I sent in our original birth certificates, marriage certificate, divorce decree and passport-type photos. Will I get them back before our interview? Or will they get forwarded to the Embassy in Kiev?

birdnest

General Instructions

Step 1. Fill Out Form I-130

Copies. If these instructions state that a copy of a document may be filed with this petition, submit a copy. If you choose to send the original, USCIS may keep that original for our records. If USCIS requires the original, it will be requested

Source: Instructions for I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

[OBX 51]

Welcome to VJ and best of luck on your journey.

These links may help explain the NVC process. Good luck!

NVC SHORTCUTS

NVC INFO

[birdnest 0]

Welcome to VJ! Did you let the lawyer go? If so, you should probably send something to that effect to the USCIS. Someone will chime in and let you know exactly what you need to send. GL on your journey!

This Lawyer helped me prepare my petitions, then I sent them in, he did not sign them, so the USCIS is unaware that I used a lawyer. It was not until after I sent in our petitions, taht I discoverd this site and learned the proper way to do things from reading the forums hare at VJ.

Birdnest

[Darnell 8,478]

DS-230 - http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3190.html

I-864 - http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3730.html

General NVC stuff - http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_1335.html

in general, all 'documents' submitted with I-130 are to be PHOTOCOPIES,

and then ORIGINALS or CERTIFIED COPIES (certified by issuing authority, never a notary) submitted to NVC, for the DS-230.

So - some of those originals were to be submitted into NVC with the DS-230 Visa Application form. Yours got sent in with the I-130 petition submittal. You'll have some issues, but when the casefile is at NVC, ask the Tele-Operator to have a supervisor request an 'eyeball review' of documents in the I-130 casefile, pull out the birth certificate and marriage certificate, bring forward to the DS-230 file.

Good Luck, and welcome aboard !

[birdnest 0]

DS-230 - http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3190.html

I-864 - http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3730.html

General NVC stuff - http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_1335.html

in general, all 'documents' submitted with I-130 are to be PHOTOCOPIES,

and then ORIGINALS or CERTIFIED COPIES (certified by issuing authority, never a notary) submitted to NVC, for the DS-230.

So - some of those originals were to be submitted into NVC with the DS-230 Visa Application form. Yours got sent in with the I-130 petition submittal. You'll have some issues, but when the casefile is at NVC, ask the Tele-Operator to have a supervisor request an 'eyeball review' of documents in the I-130 casefile, pull out the birth certificate and marriage certificate, bring forward to the DS-230 file.

Good Luck, and welcome aboard !

Thanks Darnell for the help. This Lawyer had me submit the I-864 and DS-230 with our I-130. I do not know why he did that. This Lawyer is located right by the Embassy in Kyiv, so I figured he must know what he is doing. Now that I am reading and getting this all figured out, I am pretty sure I know more about this visa process than he does. Now I need to figure out how to get his mess straightened out. I am hoping this can be done without any RFE's. Maybe I supplied more information than is required, so maybe this would not prompt a RFE? This process is complicated enough with having things all messed up, I was hoping for this process to go smooth because my wife and I just want to be together as soon as possible. Am I correct to assume that our original documents could end up where they need to go and all could be fine? I have had my wife send me a completed and signed copy of the DS-3032. Is there anything I can do now, or just wait for our I-130 NOA2. Should I be working on acquiring new original documents?

Birdnest

[Darnell 8,478]

I suggest you wait on NOA-2.

Usually, people start collecting the 'original documents' for the DS-230 WHEN the NOA-2 arrives in the mail. That's a nice timetick, btw.