Submitting Documents for Marriage Visa to NVC and Embassy

[Cece16 0]

Hi all,

Government documents give me vertigo, so I was desperately wondering if someone could help me make sense of my next steps.

The basics are: I am a US citizen applying for a marriage visa for my husband. He lives overseas, and I am in the US. Our I-130 was approved and forwarded on to the NVC, and we've received the welcome letter and document cover sheet from the NVC. The welcome letters says the steps are:

1. Choose an agent [done]

2. Pay fees [done]

3. Submit visa application form [i assume this to be the DS-260, which is done]

4. Collect financial documents

5. Collect supporting documents

6. Submit documents to the NVC

The reason all of this makes my head spin is that even if I stick to what I read online at the official US government websites, I find contradictory instructions as to what I should do. For example, at this website:

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/immigrant-process/documents/Step_4_Collect_Financial_Documents.html

It states:

"submit an IRS tax transcript from the most recent tax year."

Many other places online however say to submit IRS tax transcripts for the past three years. On the I-864 it says only the most recent year is required, but what is recommended? My 2015 IRS transcript should be available within a couple weeks (in theory), though I already have on hand my IRS tax transcript for 2014. Should I just wait for the 2015 tax return? Either way, as I did AmeriCorps I made peanuts, so I will need to include evidence of income.

Which brings me to my next question! Again from the above website:

For those who are employed by an individual or company, submit a photocopy of an employment letter, pay stub, or pay advance (direct-deposit receipt) that meets the criteria below:

• Includes your name and the company’s name;
• Is on signed, business letterhead (you cannot sign the letter yourself); and
• Is issued within the last three months.

I now (thank goodness) make more than sufficient income to support my husband and myself. I've only read online of people submitting (signed, official) letters from their employers verifying income, though the option of pay stubs is also given. Is there a preference here? Could I simply make photocopies of my last two months of pay stubs and include those? Slightly complicating matters is the fact that I work two part-time jobs, and my hours and pay rate have been changing gradually all year long (for the better!). In addition, my hours do vary slightly throughout the month, so I was wondering if that might confuse whoever's reviewing our case. Perhaps it would be simpler to have my employers write a letter for me stating my wage and the minimum number of hours I work per week...?

So aside from the pay stabs and/or letters from my (wonderful) employers, I know I need to complete the I-864. I believe I am eligible for the I-864EZ (as I am only using my income to sponsor my husband, and he is the only one being sponsored). That just leaves the supporting documents. Based off of this page:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?

We'll need the following:

A. My husband's birth certificate

B. A certified copy of our marriage certificate

C. A photocopy of his passport's biographic data

D. Properly-sized photographs of my husband

E. Police certificates for my husband for the countries he's lived in

The following page (https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/immigrant-process/documents/Submit_documents.html) says everything must be bundled up and submitted together to NVC. I believe I've also read that we should be submitting copies to the NVC, and my husband should keep the originals to take with him to his interview. So my husband needs to make copies of his items listed above, send them to me, whereupon I'll send a package to the NVC, then post the originals to him for his interview. ...right??

And just to confirm, that package that I'll be shipping to the NVC (and making a personal copy of beforehand) will be made up of:

1. 1-3 years worth of IRS transcripts [i am inclined to include IRS transcripts for 2014 and 2015, and a statement explaining that in 2013 I did not file as under U.S. tax law my income was too low]
2. The I-864EZ
3. Official (signed, company letterhead) letters from employer stating wage and how many hours employed per week (and, possibly, 1 - 2 months worth of pay stubs)
4. Items A - E from the above list, to be supplied by my husband

Okay, phew! Am I understanding everything correctly...? I am just so desperate to get this right the first time, because I couldn't bear it if it were to be delayed any longer. It says online to allow the NVC at least 30 days, and then I know there's the medical exam and waiting to be told when the interview is, and long story short but I really need this to be over with sooner rather than later. Our marriage counselor says so

Anyway thank you very much for reading, and for any assistance that can be offered. I know that pretty much all Uncle Sam cares about (in regard to the financial documents) is that I am capable of financially supporting my husband so that the US government needn't worry about anymore tired and hungry and poor etc, but I am just so worried about delays and such. I am looking at places for us to rent for September, which already feels too far away, but I am hoping and praying will be just long enough for everything to be done and sealed...fingers crossed!

Thank you again!

Cece

[A'n'L 735]

Sounds like you pretty much got it figured out :-)

I would def wait for 2015 tax return, but also include previous statements if available. Also, a big yes on including the employment letter and some paystubs for verification.

You'll also want to send your husband (or have him collect) evidence of ongoing relationship to bring to the interview :-)

Where is he from BTW?

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

***** Moving from Bringing Family to CR-1 spousal visa forum ******

[Cece16 0]

Alrighty, thank you A'n'L! That is a yes to the 2015 tax return (and others) and employment letters and pay stubs

As for further evidence of our ongoing relationship and such, I figured what we'd do to prepare for the interview is more of the same of what we did for the I-130. What we did for the I-130 was compile everything in a binder and place all sheets in protective plastic sleeves...there was also a cover letter that explained the order of the contents, it was all very nice and organized. So, that's how we'll do things for the interview I reckon, put all the requested documents detailed above in plastic sleeves, as well as continuations of the 'evidence' we submitted with the I-130. We have pages and pages and PAGES of skype call logs and email records (if you put gmail in 'basic view' or something it'll give you a list view of the emails, just the date/time/name of the sender and no info/text from the emails, if that makes sense). Soooo what we did was print out all the logs on numbered pages, and since it'd be ridiculous to send eg 44 pages of skype call logs, we sent a 'sampling' of the skype call logs and emails (eg pages 1, 8, 15, 27 etc), and stated more are available upon request. And then some photos of us from our last vacation together overseas, and possibly we'll also include receipts for the skype counselling we do with a marriage counselor. (I'm sure if asked he'd even do give us a statement verifying the authenticity of our marriage. We had two affidavits verifying our relationship for the I-130 but I'm not sure how necessary that is for the interview; my impression of everything is that for the I-130, you are convincing the US government that you have a true and valid relationship, so in that sense, for the interview stage, you have less to 'prove' in regard to your relationship. You're not trying to convince them anymore that the relationship is genuine, just that it still exists.)

We got the idea for the binder for the I-130 from this lovely amazing blog:

https://immimom.wordpress.com/immigration-packet-i-130/

She's also the one who suggested checking out this forum!

Oh and to answer your question, my husband is from the UK. From everything I've read only, his 'interview' should be a snap (and hardly an interview at that) so it truly does just feel like getting everything off the NVC is the last big hurdle. can'twaitcan'twaitcan'twait

Thank you very much again A'n'L, I hope all of your visa issues are in the past and sorted. It's so wonderful, everyone that helps out online with this very tricky process!