How to pay for 1-130 overseas?

[AnyaGuillaume 0]

Hello all,

Can you explain to me how I pay for my petition for my husband? We both live in France together. We don't have a US bank account.

Do you pay in the same exact time that you send in the petition? Or after when you hear from the National Visa Center?

We do have a joint sponsor and I think we can wire him money, but he would not pay in the same time as with our petition, so how does that work?

We are really confused. Do you write a french check and send it in the mail with your petition? Or can your sponsor send a check after you get your case number to the Homeland Security? Or does he pay online with credit card as third party agent???

Please help!! Thank you!

[dwheels76 5,468]

Hello all,

Can you explain to me how I pay for my petition for my husband? We both live in France together. We don't have a US bank account.

Do you pay in the same exact time that you send in the petition? Or after when you hear from the National Visa Center?

We do have a joint sponsor and I think we can wire him money, but he would not pay in the same time as with our petition, so how does that work?

We are really confused. Do you write a french check and send it in the mail with your petition? Or can your sponsor send a check after you get your case number to the Homeland Security? Or does he pay online with credit card as third party agent???

Please help!! Thank you!

At NVC it is paid online. It can be paid by anyone that has a US Bank checking account. So you could use your joint sponsor.

here is the NVC process wiki to read what is going to happen.

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_Process

[AnyaGuillaume 0]

Ok great, thanks, I saw this site too. That's why I was confused because on the instructions form for the form i-130 it asks if you included your payment fee with all your other documents.

So it would be ok to pay AFTER we hear from the NVC?

[Ryan H 3,826]

Ok great, thanks, I saw this site too. That's why I was confused because on the instructions form for the form i-130 it asks if you included your payment fee with all your other documents.

So it would be ok to pay AFTER we hear from the NVC?

Can you clarify where you are at in the process?

If you have not yet sent the I-130 and accompanying documentation but intend to do so soon, then the filing fee must accompany the file or the file will be rejected for no payment.

If you have someone in the US that you trust to send the file to, then send them the file and have them included the filing fee (they will in turn send the file with the fee included to the lockbox in Chicago). You can reimburse that person for the fee at a later date.

[AnyaGuillaume 0]

No we haven't sent the forms yet; we are waiting for translations and finding a cheaper translator. It's crazy expensive here in France.

Oh ok, that makes more sense. Thank you for your help. I will send it to my joint sponsor and he will put a check in it and resend it to chicago. Thanks, that is very helpful, I didn't even think about this.

[awaywego 28]

No we haven't sent the forms yet; we are waiting for translations and finding a cheaper translator. It's crazy expensive here in France.

Oh ok, that makes more sense. Thank you for your help. I will send it to my joint sponsor and he will put a check in it and resend it to chicago. Thanks, that is very helpful, I didn't even think about this.

Regarding the bold: If you, your spouse, or a friend or family member is proficient in both the document language and English, that person can translate the document(s) at the USCIS stage. See this VJ page and this USCIS FAQ for more info. Another option.

[AnyaGuillaume 0]

Thank you, that's helpful.

We also found out that France offers mulitilingual forms that DON'T need to be translated! That is even easier! We saved like 200 euros, that's wonderful.

Anyway, I am still confused. As we see here from the travel.state.gov website, you can pay online, but you need a NVC case number and invoice id number from the welcome letter. But we can't have the welcome letter until they recieve our application...how does this make sense???? And they don't accept personal checks? How did people pay for their application? I'm lost again..

Pay online

After you choose your agent, you need to pay your processing fees. There are two processing fees:

• Immigrant Visa Application Processing Fee
• Affidavit of Support Fee

To pay your fees online, you need a bank routing number and a checking or savings account number from a U.S. bank. The image below shows the routing number, account number, and check number on a personal check. The order of these numbers may differ on your check and may include some special symbols different from those shown. You can contact your financial institution for specific details.

You will also need your NVC Case Number and Invoice ID Number (located on the NVC Welcome Letter you received from us). Once you obtain this information, log into the Immigrant Visa Invoice Payment Center and pay your fees.

Pay by mail

If you are unable to pay your fees online, there is an alternate pay-by-mail method, but it can delay the processing of your case. If you choose the pay-by-mail method, you can mail a cashier’s check or money order by following the steps below.

Step Action 1 Review the Immigrant Visa Fee and Affidavit of Support Fee Invoices your agent received from the NVC. 2 Make a cashier’s check (from a U.S. bank) or money order payable to the U.S. Department of State for the amount listed on the fee invoices. We do not accept personal checks.
Important: Write your NVC case number on the memo line of the cashier’s check or money order. 3

Mail the cashier’s check or money order with the fee invoices to the address below:

NVC Fee Processing Center
P.O. Box 790136
St. Louis, MO 63179-0136

[Ryan H 3,826]

Anyway, I am still confused. As we see here from the travel.state.gov website, you can pay online, but you need a NVC case number and invoice id number from the welcome letter. But we can't have the welcome letter until they recieve our application...how does this make sense???? And they don't accept personal checks? How did people pay for their application? I'm lost again..

Since you have not yet submitted the I-130, you don't really need to worry about the NVC phase until after you do. Furthermore, you won't be dealing with the NVC until after USCIS has approved the petition and sent it to the NVC.

Once the NVC has the file, assigned it a case number, and invoiced the bills; you can have someone you know and trust stateside take care of it and you reimburse them at a later date.

In general, most people pay the bills utilizing the online payment portal with a US bank account. If a person does not wish to use the online payment portal, they send a cashiers check or money order to the address in the instructions.