Clearing the check soon but currently 10$ short

[AntHoney 2]

Hi fellow visajourney users,

my fiancé and I sent our K1-package 2 weeks ago and it was picked up in Dallas last Monday (Dec 1st). According to my fiancé (the petitioner) the check wasn't cleared last Friday yet. Unfortunately he was charged 10$ last week and now his account only hold 330$ instead of the required 340$. Since it takes between 1 and 2 weeks for the check to be cleared we figure it will happen any day now. My question is: What will happen if there is not enough money on the account?

According to this websites "Paying immigration fees"

Insufficient Funds – Please note that the electronic fund transfer from your account can occur faster than normal processing of a paper check. If we cannot complete the electronic fund transfer because your account has insufficient funds, we will try to make the transfer up to two more times. If your account still lacks sufficient funds, you will be billed the original check amount and a one-time administrative fee by USCIS.

Does that mean that if there are insufficient funds the petitioner will receive a bill instead?

[Zedayn 485]

If there are not enough funds in the account, your entire petition will be rejected and sent back to you.

[mallafri76 1,012]

I'm from Scandinavia where we haven't used checks since like 1980 and I can't believe a country like the US, which is suppose to be modern, are still using checks... But whatever. As far as I understand from when we had to draw a check to pay for my I-130, the money was taken from our bank account the same time as we ordered the check. We did do a banker's check though and not a personal check. Did your fiancé write his own check or go to the bank and had one drawn?

The information you're quoting is about electronic transfers but you said you sent a check, so that quote doesn't apply to your circumstances.

Has he put in the missing $10 now? Hopefully you can get it there on time.

[AntHoney 2]

But what means "you will be billed the original check amount"? 10$ can't get in our way that much...

mallafri76,

checks aren't any more common in Germany either. My fiancé still had some checks and used one of those. Currently he wasn't able to get those 10$. He asked his dad last week but no response yet.

Aren't checks being cleared using Electronic Fund Transfer?

Edited December 9, 2014 by AntHoney

[Zedayn 485]

But what means "you will be billed the original check amount"? 10$ can't get in our way that much...

You aren't billed anything. If your check doesn't cash, then your entire petition is rejected and returned to you for reason of insufficient funds. There may be a chance where your check is cashed and the bank will honor it and just overdraft your account. There is also the chance your bank will reject it...in which case your petition would also be rejected.

[tonyb919 107]

But what means "you will be billed the original check amount"? 10$ can't get in our way that much...

mallafri76,

checks aren't any more common in Germany either. My fiancé still had some checks and used one of those. Currently he wasn't able to get those 10$. He asked his dad last week but no response yet.

Aren't checks being cleared using Electronic Fund Transfer?

Just to comment on the obvious...If you cant secure $10 for your initial fee, how are you going to secure the funds for all the additional fees that follow?

Immigration process is not cheap, as you probably already know.

[AntHoney 2]

I'm aware of other fees and they aren't a problem. This one here is just really bad timing.

[vic&ken 1]

i would suggest the issuer of the check contact their bank to discuss options available. most banks have options like allowing your account to be overdrawn, especially if ur account gets direct deposits. So see if ur fiance's bank will help him out. If not like everyone said unless the fee goes through ur petition will be returned

i would suggest the issuer of the check contact their bank to discuss options available. most banks have options like allowing your account to be overdrawn, especially if ur account gets direct deposits. So see if ur fiance's bank will help him out. If not like everyone said unless the fee goes through ur petition will be returned

[j&ana 363]

You could try to borrow money from friends or co-workers to cover the bank costs and paid back later or sell or pawn something.I am sure the bank fees are going to be high for return check.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

I'm from Scandinavia where we haven't used checks since like 1980 and I can't believe a country like the US, which is suppose to be modern, are still using checks... But whatever. As far as I understand from when we had to draw a check to pay for my I-130, the money was taken from our bank account the same time as we ordered the check. We did do a banker's check though and not a personal check.

So apparently you have no idea what it means when a person says they used a check. A bank check or cashier's check is not what is meant by that as those are guaranteed money and must be backed up by cash. So, the bank in your case withdrew cash from your account and then issued you a cashier's check. A personal check is like a personal promise that the money is in your personal account. It is not backed by cash and will bounce if the bank doesn't let you overdraft.

People in Scandinavia do occasionally use checks, mostly for rare situations in which an institution owes you money and for whatever reason is unable to do a bank transfer.

I can't believe people in Scandinavia do not have the same kind of internet/on-TV/on-Demand viewing options that we have. Crazy for such a modern place, amiright?

Edited December 11, 2014 by N-o-l-a

[j&ana 363]

Hi fellow visajourney users,

my fiancé and I sent our K1-package 2 weeks ago and it was picked up in Dallas last Monday (Dec 1st). According to my fiancé (the petitioner) the check wasn't cleared last Friday yet. Unfortunately he was charged 10$ last week and now his account only hold 330$ instead of the required 340$. Since it takes between 1 and 2 weeks for the check to be cleared we figure it will happen any day now. My question is: What will happen if there is not enough money on the account?

According to this websites "Paying immigration fees"

Does that mean that if there are insufficient funds the petitioner will receive a bill instead?

[j&ana 363]

I could be wrong but I think if your check does not clear and your petition is rejected you will still be charge the filing fee as it is non refundable

[mallafri76 1,012]

So apparently you have no idea what it means when a person says they used a check. A bank check or cashier's check is not what is meant by that as those are guaranteed money and must be backed up by cash. So, the bank in your case withdrew cash from your account and then issued you a cashier's check. A personal check is like a personal promise that the money is in your personal account. It is not backed by cash and will bounce if the bank doesn't let you overdraft.

People in Scandinavia do occasionally use checks, mostly for rare situations in which an institution owes you money and for whatever reason is unable to do a bank transfer.

I can't believe people in Scandinavia do not have the same kind of internet/on-TV/on-Demand viewing options that we have. Crazy for such a modern place, amiright?

Actually a bank check is also a check, and since the OP is from Germany, where checks are no longer used either, I thought maybe a bank check had been used and the money had already been drawn and she was worrying over nothing. I was just trying to help the OP!

And it is very old fashioned for a modern country to still use personal checks rather than credit- and debitcards or actual banktransfers and e-invoices to pay bills. Now if you took that personally and wanted to "retaliate" by saying bad things about Scandinavia, saying that we don't have the same kind of internet/on-Demand etc doesn't really work because we do have the same system.... Some of our bad sides you could have mentioned though is that you can't believe that even though Scandinavians travel so much to other countries and cultures, they are still so closed off to strangers and welcoming new people in to their friends group. Or that you can't believe that in a modern area like Scandinavia, people still smoke like chimneys everywhere... Half my family smokes by the way, and yes I do think they are retarded and so do they but they can't stop so hey.... If people can't be open and honest about their bad sides or their country's bad sides, how are things ever gonna change or improve?!?!

AntHoney, why don't you transfer over the missing amount from your German bank to the US? Last week, I transferred money from my Swedish account to our joint account in the US. You need the Swift code and the American bank account, not IBAN, cause the US don't participate in the IBAN program. I was charged $16 for my transfer, which sucks if you only need $10 on yours but that should still cover the missing amount and the check can hopefully clear. It takes about two to three days for the money to reach the American account.

[Elizabeth+Fred 35]

Hi fellow visajourney users,

my fiancé and I sent our K1-package 2 weeks ago and it was picked up in Dallas last Monday (Dec 1st). According to my fiancé (the petitioner) the check wasn't cleared last Friday yet. Unfortunately he was charged 10$ last week and now his account only hold 330$ instead of the required 340$. Since it takes between 1 and 2 weeks for the check to be cleared we figure it will happen any day now. My question is: What will happen if there is not enough money on the account?

According to this websites "Paying immigration fees"

Does that mean that if there are insufficient funds the petitioner will receive a bill instead?

They will first try to cash that check (using EFT, and not through the usual (and slow) check-clearing procedure)

and if that works, all good. If it does NOT clear, they will try two more times. If that worked (the first or second retry),

all is still good.

If that did NOT work (three times in a row), your petition will be denied ("Reason: No Payment") and you will have to

start over again.

What is puzzling is that they say you will be billed by USCIS - for the original amount ($340) plus their administrative

fee(s) for retrying. SInce they were unable to get payment from you, the only way(s) they could do that is to send you

a bill for that total amount (which you'd better pay... it IS the government ...) or they could instruct your bank to make

those funds available (a lien on your account.) Again, they are government, so, who knows what they could do.

Still. Add that missing $10 (or more) to that account "right now!" to avoid all that. Better to owe the neighbor a few

bucks than to have your petition cancelled AND possibly owing the Government many more bucks!!!

Good luck!

PS: this is a personal check, so the money wont be taken from the account until the receiver of the check actually

processes it. a Banker's Check is "like actual money", so when such a check is drafted, the amount will be taken

off the account right away.

PPS: yes, Europeans (like me ;-), it's true, "they" still use checks, which we havent done since the mid-80's or so,

and people in the U.S. also usually do not pay eachother (for goods or services) by doing an EFT (bank account

transfer) like we do. They even (still) use analog phone lines and above-ground power lines !!

[AntHoney 2]

Thank you very much for your advices.

I just got back from the bank to issue an international bank transfer. According to the lady who filled the form for me the money could be at his account on Tuesday. I hope like crazy they haven't rejected our K1-package yet and try to clear the check again next week.

I read that if the initial check clearance didn't work USCIS tries it again 14 days later to give you enough time to adjust your finances. I don't know if that's true but maybe nothing is lost yet.