DCF in Johannesburg

[Prizm&Edrick 0]

Hey everyone! So after several years my wife and I have finally submitted our I-130 petition in Johannesburg. I haven't found a lot on the web about DCF in Jo-burg so I thought I would start a thread containing our own personal journey. Bare in mind I very rarely post but this site has been so helpful I really want to give back to the others going through the mental exhaustion that my wife and I have to help address questions and give heads up.

So here we go!!!!

February 20- Did a walk in to ask some questions. Everyone was very polite and the information was meaningful and detailed.

February 25- At our appointment at 10 we turned in the following:

Cover letter *not really needed but it made me feel better to do it anyway*

G-1145

I-130 *My wife took a voluntary departure back in 08 from the States. She was never our of status but her petition for asylum was denied and the judge granted her 90 days to leave which she did. So behind the I-130 we attached the IJ order and evidence showing that she left in the time agreed.*

G325A for both myself and her. Be sure when you get your passport taken that you measure and take the requirements with you. The people that took our photos said they knew what a us passport photo looked like, but when we received it it was not the 2x2. The embassy will turn you away if you don't have the correct format US passport.

Proof of residency for petitioner in South Africa

Proof of US citizenship for petitioner

Copy of bio page of beneficiary passport

Marriage Certificate *we turned in the abridged for this step in the process but the unabridged is required for the visa interview

Divorce Decree

Marriage register *Showing legal change of surname

Evidence *Letters from family, joint bank account, joint assets, lease agreements

We paid via credit card and as of today the cost is $420.

The man was very nice and asked my wife several questions about how we met and so on. He also asked about her voluntary departure. Afterwards he told us that it could take 4-6 weeks and that we will be hearing from them to start the visa leg of the journey.

So that's pretty much it up till now.

The waiting game begins...

Edited February 25, 2014 by Prizm&Edrick

[chainbreakr 3]

Thank you Prizm! Any updates?

We plan to file within the coming months....what did you submit for "petioner proof of residency"?

[Confusedtinybird 41]

Hi,

You have to submit proof that they have been in South Africa for 6 months or more. And tourist visas do not count.

What visa is the petitioner on?

I am completing this now if you have any questions you can ask on this thread or PM me.

[Prizm&Edrick 0]

Hey Chainbreakr,

Confusedtinybird is correct. The petitioner will need to be on a temporary residence permit in ZA in order to qualify for the DCF. My wife and I just landed in the states . The process was extremely quick once it hit the USCIS side of the house. It took a bit longer for our I-130 to get approved because they needed Florida to send my wife's file from where she spent six years in Florida and Florida couldn't find the file for almost 5 weeks.... However, the Johannesburg Field Office was EXCELLENT. Once that document was mailed to them we were contacted via email and thing went smooth and quick. The appts for interviews are about 3 weeks to 4 weeks after you complete your DS-230 and submit it and the ready for interview form. If you have any questions feel free too post. Confusedtinybird post quite a lot as well and has asked a lot of good questions that have been answered on VJ.

[Prizm&Edrick 0]

Oh and too more directly answer your question. I submitted a copy of my ZA Temporary Residence permit in my American Passport.

[chainbreakr 3]

Awesome, thank you and congrats!! We will definitely be in touch and I'll be harassing you with questions here if you don't mind.

First - What "Temporary Residence Permit" did you have? It's a bit of a grey area since even a spousal visa is Temporary Residence. I've been living here for 2 years now on a Volunteer TRP (listed as a visitor's visa TRP with conditions for long term volunteering). Our lawyer seems to be pretty confident that this will suffice as me "residing" here, just in a bit of a panic that they'll tell us "no" even though I've been living here permanently for nearly 2 years. We really don't want to go the spousal visa route because it means a trip back to the US and a filing at the S.A. Embassy there.....

Second - Did, at any point, you need to show your wife's birth certificate in the interview? We're having a major struggle obtaining an unabridged birth certificate due to her being born to South-West Africa parents (at the time) and her only being a permanent resident.

Third - Should we follow this application list to the T? Is this everything they requested you submit? It seems to be different per DCF office...I was going to call them tomorrow to get specifics.

Thanks!

[Confusedtinybird 41]

Hi Prizm and Edrick,

Did you attend the interview with your wife?

Did they ask anything about domicile in the USA? I've some Embassys you need to restablish domicile.

Congrats on being back in the USA

[Confusedtinybird 41]

Awesome, thank you and congrats!! We will definitely be in touch and I'll be harassing you with questions here if you don't mind.

First - What "Temporary Residence Permit" did you have? It's a bit of a grey area since even a spousal visa is Temporary Residence. I've been living here for 2 years now on a Volunteer TRP (listed as a visitor's visa TRP with conditions for long term volunteering). Our lawyer seems to be pretty confident that this will suffice as me "residing" here, just in a bit of a panic that they'll tell us "no" even though I've been living here permanently for nearly 2 years. We really don't want to go the spousal visa route because it means a trip back to the US and a filing at the S.A. Embassy there.....

Second - Did, at any point, you need to show your wife's birth certificate in the interview? We're having a major struggle obtaining an unabridged birth certificate due to her being born to South-West Africa parents (at the time) and her only being a permanent resident.

Third - Should we follow this application list to the T? Is this everything they requested you submit? It seems to be different per DCF office...I was going to call them tomorrow to get specifics.

Thanks!

I would call or e-mail USCIS (USCIS.Johannesburg@uscis.dhs.gov) just to be 100% sure. But I am almost certain a Volunteer Visa would count. Because you are not on a tourist visa which you receive on arrival at the airport, and you have been in South Africa for more than 6 months.

I haven't done the interview yet, but the unabridged birth certificate is on the list of things that IS required. So you will need to sort that out. There are several companies that assist with this for a fee. It might be worth looking into if you are having trouble.

Email this address USCIS.Johannesburg@uscis.dhs.gov

And they will send you a check list with all the required documents to file DCF

[chainbreakr 3]

Thanks for the confidence Mr/Ms Bird!

I just got the checklist back via email. How far along are you in the process and which visa type are you on?

Also - any legit companies that you'd recommend to help sort it? The reduction of stress alone may be worth the price.

[Confusedtinybird 41]

Your welcome I'm sure everything will go smoothly! It really is simple to do DCF just have all your documents in order!

Almost done just have our interview. I'm on a Life Partner Permit.

If you got married in South Africa you need the Unabridged Marriage Certificate

Also go ahead and start applying for your Police Clearance. It takes forever 8-10 weeks. http://www.saps.gov.za/

For Birth Certificates

http://www.bunnyhop.co.za/

www.dontq.co.za/

[chainbreakr 3]

Your welcome I'm sure everything will go smoothly! It really is simple to do DCF just have all your documents in order!

Almost done just have our interview. I'm on a Life Partner Permit.

If you got married in South Africa you need the Unabridged Marriage Certificate

Also go ahead and start applying for your Police Clearance. It takes forever 8-10 weeks. http://www.saps.gov.za/

For Birth Certificates

http://www.bunnyhop.co.za/

www.dontq.co.za/

Awesome, thanks! Keep us posted on how your interview goes.

How soon will you know if they accepted your DCF petition or not? Do they let you know on the spot or later in time?

Heading for Clearance on Monday. We already got her Namibian police clearance (which takes 5-8 MONTHS...ah, African bureaucracy)

Wife is from Namibia so we got married there - we have basically every piece of legislation possible that Namibia can issue.

[Confusedtinybird 41]

If you are close to Johannesburg you can go in and make an appt and drop off your application.

If you can get to Cape Town or Durban they will DHL your application to Johannesburg, but they won't tell you if all your papers are in order.

It was pretty fast I think about 10 days and it was approved.

Just curious is there is a reason you are using a lawyer? DCF is pretty simple don't know if it calls for one. Unless it makes you feel better.

[chainbreakr 3]

We're in Potchefstroom, so Jo'burg isn't an issue.

Sounds like they look through all your paperwork on the spot? If so, sounds like they may let me know about the volunteer status once we turn in?

We got a lawyer initially because she was denied a visitor's visa. We were living in Georgia (the country, they have a supposed denial rate of 70%) and she was denied there. Probably the biggest reason was that it wasn't her home country, but we wanted to make sure and ended up meeting with a lawyer since we (yet again) reside in a different country than her home country. Even though she's a resident of South Africa, we were advised by the embassy here to apply for her visitor's visa in Namibia where she ended up getting one. Either way, we chatted with the lawyer once more about DCF merely for advice and consultation more than anything else.

Edited July 7, 2014 by chainbreakr

[Confusedtinybird 41]

Hi,

I sent you a message, but yes if you are close to Jo'burg and make an appt then they can check it on the spot, and confirm if everything is good to go!

[PhilS1 0]

Hi! Does anyone know if a tourist visa for 2 years for research purposes count? best