Submitting AOS Electronically

[CDN2US 10]

Hey,

Finally got invoiced for AOS, so I'm ready to submit it. I reviewed the NVC for Montreal Beneficiaries link, but I guess I want the forum's approval before I submit it.

I'm going to write an email to NVCelectronic with our case number in the subject line and our names and DOBs as the first lines in the body. Then I'm going to say, "Attention: This email contains the Affidavit of Support (I-864) and its supporting documents requested by NVC to complete Case # MTL2011730020."

Attached in PDF format will be the following:

I-864

1040 for 2010 with the W2 and 1099

Tax transcripts for 2010, 2009, and 2008

Employment verification letter

So...some questions...

I do not need to include the document cover sheet with barcode, correct? Should I write our case number on each page?

I would include pay stubs for six months, but that would be 12 additional pages since I get paid bi-weekly, so it seems like overkill.

Do you think I even need the employment letter? I know its optional, and I only want to include what they ask for, so I'm on the fence for it.

Thank you for any insight or additional tips.

[hikergirl 277]

I do not need to include the document cover sheet with barcode, correct? Should I write our case number on each page? .

I haven't filed ANY paperwork yet but I think that's a fantastic plan. If for some reason a sheet of paperwork got loose and was found later by a worker, it would be so much easier to marry it up with your file! Good thought. I am going to be sure to use that idea for myself.

[Saylin 1,605]

Hey,

Finally got invoiced for AOS, so I'm ready to submit it. I reviewed the NVC for Montreal Beneficiaries link, but I guess I want the forum's approval before I submit it.

I'm going to write an email to NVCelectronic with our case number in the subject line and our names and DOBs as the first lines in the body. Then I'm going to say, "Attention: This email contains the Affidavit of Support (I-864) and its supporting documents requested by NVC to complete Case # MTL2011730020."

Attached in PDF format will be the following:

I-864

1040 for 2010 with the W2 and 1099

Tax transcripts for 2010, 2009, and 2008

Employment verification letter

So...some questions...

I do not need to include the document cover sheet with barcode, correct? Should I write our case number on each page?

I would include pay stubs for six months, but that would be 12 additional pages since I get paid bi-weekly, so it seems like overkill.

Do you think I even need the employment letter? I know its optional, and I only want to include what they ask for, so I'm on the fence for it.

Thank you for any insight or additional tips.

Whether submitting packages by mail or by email, you STILL have to include the bar-coded cover sheet from the payment portal. This tells NVC that you paid the AOS bill and that it was approved.

And for EP, it's not that big of a deal writing the case number (I wouldn't think as they could re-access the file from the email), but I would still suggest doing it. I did to every page except the bar-coded cover sheet and my cover letter.

You don't have to include SIX months of pay stubs if you don't want to. Since pay stubs are optional in themselves, any number of months are optional. If you just want to send in 2 or 3, that's fine as well.

If you think the employment letter will help provide more proof of current income, then include it. It's up to you. For my AOS package, my husband had a couple months of pay stubs with an employment letter. The more proof, the better imo. It's up to you.

[CDN2US 10]

Thanks, Saylin, I was kind of hoping you'd respond. I just scanned everything and sent it off, following your advice to a tee.

[Saylin 1,605]

Thanks, Saylin, I was kind of hoping you'd respond. I just scanned everything and sent it off, following your advice to a tee.

Woot, grats!

[Palladin 18]

Thanks, Saylin, I was kind of hoping you'd respond. I just scanned everything and sent it off, following your advice to a tee.

If you scan every page it's going to be a very big file. Your email may not be able to handle it in one piece.

I would only scan pages that contain signatures. Every other page can be converted to PDF directly from their original electronic form. That would create files much smaller.

The NVC asks to submit only scanned PDF files. I guess what it actually means is the PDF files should look identical to the paper documents you have in hand. I don't think you have to follow literally to scan all pages if you have PDF for those pages already and they are identical to the paper printout. Am I right or wrong?

[Saylin 1,605]

If you scan every page it's going to be a very big file. Your email may not be able to handle it in one piece.

I would only scan pages that contain signatures. Every other page can be converted to PDF directly from their original electronic form. That would create files much smaller.

The NVC asks to submit only scanned PDF files. I guess what it actually means is the PDF files should look identical to the paper documents you have in hand. I don't think you have to follow literally to scan all pages if you have PDF for those pages already and they are identical to the paper printout. Am I right or wrong?

If I remember correctly, after scanning in every page and converting to PDF and combining them all, the final file was only about 20MB. With Adobe Acrobat, there's a button where you reduce the size. After doing this, it made our AOS package to 8MB, which is reasonable for email servers.

[Palladin 18]

If I remember correctly, after scanning in every page and converting to PDF and combining them all, the final file was only about 20MB. With Adobe Acrobat, there's a button where you reduce the size. After doing this, it made our AOS package to 8MB, which is reasonable for email servers.

My AOS package contains 35 pages and is only 1.54MB. I did NOT use Adobe file size optimization as doing so will make the document appearance very poor, not that I have a need to optimize file size anyway.

What I did is I retain the original PDF or directly convert from existing format to PDF where I can. I scanned 3 pages in color 300DPI mode: Cover letter; I-864EZ signature page; Employer letter. I scanned the 19 pages of IRS tax return transcripts in 300DPI monochrome black/white (that's the only color on the printed document). The rest of them: The I-864EZ filled out form, my W-2s and two months worth of pay stubs, are all original PDF files.

Not ready to submit the package yet as I am still waiting for the AOS fee invoice to be generated.

Hotmail can allow up to 10MB of email size. But because the attackments are send in MIME encoding, it really can only handle up to 7.5MB attachments.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Palladin

[Saylin 1,605]

My AOS package contains 35 pages and is only 1.54MB. I did NOT use Adobe file size optimization as doing so will make the document appearance very poor, not that I have a need to optimize file size anyway.

What I did is I retain the original PDF or directly convert from existing format to PDF where I can. I scanned 3 pages in color 300DPI mode: Cover letter; I-864EZ signature page; Employer letter. I scanned the 19 pages of IRS tax return transcripts in 300DPI monochrome black/white (that's the only color on the printed document). The rest of them: The I-864EZ filled out form, my W-2s and two months worth of pay stubs, are all original PDF files.

Not ready to submit the package yet as I am still waiting for the AOS fee invoice to be generated.

Hotmail can allow up to 10MB of email size. But because the attackments are send in MIME encoding, it really can only handle up to 7.5MB attachments.

Your way works too.

And remember, Hotmail isn't the only email client I used my Gmail to send out the optin and AOS and IV packages.

[CDN2US 10]

My AOS batch was 41 total pages, so my co-worker scanned it in order for me and was able to shrink it down to 2837 KB. Not too shabby.

[Saylin 1,605]

My AOS batch was 41 total pages, so my co-worker scanned it in order for me and was able to shrink it down to 2837 KB. Not too shabby.

Mine was 35 pages if I remember. Once it was shrunk, it was 8 MB. That's pretty low for 41 pages. Did you check to insure the PDF was still readable?

[CDN2US 10]

Yes, it looked fine. Here's hoping for some smooth sailing for a bit.