Form i-944

[brainless69 240]

Hey all,

 

filling in form i-944 and am on this question.

I guess Q1. is No

Q2. I only have my GCSE's is that a high school equivelent? 🤷🏿‍♂️

 

Thanks

[Wuozopo 4,285]

Yes

[QueenOfBlades 224]

Because it’s listing your equivalent education on an official USCIS form, I wouldn’t just say yes without evidence. The instructions for the new form itself recommend contacting a NACES organization to get your qualifications reviewed and certified for their US equivalent. See below:

 

https://www.naces.org/members
 

I’ve only taken a brief look at some members but this one below seems to be familiar with the English education system as well as requirements for immigration/USCIS specifically;

 

https://www.ece.org/ECE/Individuals/Immigration-Reports

 

Actually, upon reviewing the instructions for this new form, it says you NEED the equivalency evaluation from my understanding of it. 
 

“Foreign education should include an evaluation of equivalency to education or degrees acquired at accredited colleges, universities, or educational institutions in the United States. For
a list of organizations that provide equivalency evaluation, see the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), at http://www.naces.org/members.htm.”

Sort of unrelated form advice but as a fellow English expat:

 

For what it’s worth, as an unconditional permanent resident and having lived in the US for 7 years now, in practice, I’ve always had everyone treat my GCSEs as a HS diploma equivalent so I doubt you’ll get much different from a professional evaluation. I think the requirement is 5 GCSEs with C or above or something like that. I work in a Fortune 500 global corporation in a high rise just down the road from Microsoft that has Prada stores in the office plaza. I only have 8 GCSEs, no GED, no bachelors degree. I was pretty worried when I moved to the US with no job with nothing other than GCSEs and no employer not really knowing what they were, considered going for a GED. To me, it seems to come more from trying to network, present yourself well, hone your skills, craft a top resume (not like our CVs). Once you start getting work experience and show your skills, the education side of it tends to become less relevant unless something specifically requires it (like engineering, for example). I’ve held “bachelor required” jobs without one. They’re just so common nowadays that it’s sort of a filter to weed out people without a college education that tend to be very unsuitable and under qualified. It can be done. I’m not sure about how this new form is going to pan out, but perhaps food for thought if the “self sufficiency” thing is something that’s going to start cropping up in AOS interviews. 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

For the form to let USCIS know you have a high school education, I would say yes. 

[QueenOfBlades 224]

This is the instructions for the form they are talking about.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-944instr-pc.pdf

 

“Evidence. At the time of filing, you must submit all evidence and supporting documentation listed in the What Evidence Must You Submit and Specific Instructions sections of these Instructions.”

 

Under the Specific Instructions section, Part 4, Item Nos 2 and 3:

 

“Foreign education should include an evaluation of equivalency to education or degrees acquired at accredited colleges, universities, or educational institutions in the United States. For
a list of organizations that provide equivalency evaluation, see the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), at http://www.naces.org/members.htm.”

 

Then later:

 

”You must submit all initial evidence requested in these Instructions with your Form I-944. If you fail to submit required evidence, your application may be rejected or denied in accordance with 8 CFR 103.2(a) and (b)(1) and these Instructions.”

 

Yes, in reality, they are the same. USCIS forms are different and this one is so new that no one has really seen how it’ll play out yet. The form itself says to provide documentation as outlined in the Instructions. The Instructions say all transcripts must be provided if they are available, and if not, an explanation why and if possible, a letter from the institution confirming unavailability. Again, foreign education ‘should’ include an evaluation from an accredited service on the link the instructions provide. It unfortunately doesn’t seem to clarify how the evaluation is supposed to be done. My assumption would be to file with I-485 because of sometimes passing over the AOS interview: in which case you’d never get to show them the transcript and if they don’t see it in your application, there’s always the risk they might be a hard a*s with this new rule and see it as not having complete documentation. That said, it could prove difficult for K1 filers with the 90 day deadline. They should really have made that clearer. 
 

Anyway - in my view, the instructions clearly say foreign education should include the evaluation and they specifically list where to get the evaluations done to their standard. The rest of the form says documentation must be provided as instructed. If it were me, I would reach out to some of these NACES companies for quotes and estimated turnaround times so I could send the documentation with my AOS application, just to cover myself. It is easier if you have your old transcripts for your GCSEs already. 
 

USCIS and the IRS have given me PTSD so if they say I should include anything, I follow that down to the letter. I don’t take any chances with them. 

[brainless69 240]

Thanks everyone for their insight and information! its really appreciated. Hate being a in kind of a black hole with no information. (stupid rule changes!) 

I will have to get my GCSE certificates sent over and get the equivelency done. Not sure why i decided against bringing my GCSE certificates... guess i thought they wouldn't be needed for anything or useful. 🙄 

Will keep everyone updated of course and so I can pay it forward with information i have learned through this filing system. 

 

I'm sure this is just the first few barages of questions that i will have with regards to this form! 🤪

 

Thanks again!

[QueenOfBlades 224]

@brainless69

 

You’re welcome. I’d never seen this form because I’ve been a resident since 2015 and lived here since 20-3 (my income actually supports two USCs) but I’ve gone through the wringer so many times that I’m used to going through those instructions extremely thoroughly;; making sure I’ve cleared my bases. I did my own documents, on 10 year green card now, and going over the form and instructions word for word.

 

Get the evaluation for USCIS. It could help with getting a job. In reality though, they’re pretty much always the same though.😝

[weelisa 9]

I'm in a similar position. This is the first time I've came on Visajourney and not found all of the information I need, since the form is so new - we're the first!

I'm also struggling with the proof that you've studied English question. I haven't studied English since the 1980's and have no idea where my school certificates are.  I do have subsequent degrees that were written in English - hopefully that will do. 

 

Good luck to everyone wrangling this horrible new form.

[Rambava 73]

Can somebody post an update as to what you all ended up doing? I am trying to avoid spending more money on this equivalency thing but the more I read the more I think its necessary to be not denied or to avoid getting and RFE.

[brainless69 240]

1 hour ago, Rambava said:

Can somebody post an update as to what you all ended up doing? I am trying to avoid spending more money on this equivalency thing but the more I read the more I think its necessary to be not denied or to avoid getting and RFE.

Hey,

I did not get the equivalency, i just sent them copies of my certificates. So far it has all been accepted so no problems as yet. I am hoping that they don't send an RFE for the certificates as they got lost in the post even though i sent it through tracked post. 

[Rambava 73]

29 minutes ago, brainless69 said:

Hey,

I did not get the equivalency, i just sent them copies of my certificates. So far it has all been accepted so no problems as yet. I am hoping that they don't send an RFE for the certificates as they got lost in the post even though i sent it through tracked post.

You mean your originals got lost or the doc's you sent to USCIS did? Also just keep your fingers crossed as nobody really knows what they are going to approve and what not. The only reason me and some other are doing it to be extra safe. It might be Overkill but you never know. We will start seeing some data points in the near future to get us an idea of what they want. 

[brainless69 240]

12 hours ago, Rambava said:

You mean your originals got lost or the doc's you sent to USCIS did? Also just keep your fingers crossed as nobody really knows what they are going to approve and what not. The only reason me and some other are doing it to be extra safe. It might be Overkill but you never know. We will start seeing some data points in the near future to get us an idea of what they want. 

just the certificates i had sent over here from the UK. 

good luck with your application!

[Rambava 73]

18 minutes ago, brainless69 said:

just the certificates i had sent over here from the UK. 

good luck with your application!

Thanks. You too!

[Npime 11]

I am in the same boat as a lot in people in here with the new I-944, I got lucky enough to figure two days ago I needed the I-944. I have most of my certificates, diplomas etc always digital so this helps a lot with this last minute situations.

 

This are my two cents in the High School equivalence certificates dilemma, if you have a higher education US valid certification logic says you made it through high school, right? so I am not adding any high school diploma translations or certificates just the copy of the foreign original one, I have that for the masters and undergrad. 

 

Do not overthink the instructions just stick to them. Also to the I-944 I saw the comments about the 12 months of bank statements this is only if you declare as an asset any type of checking account or savings account. "For checking and savings accounts, you must provide account statements from the bank(s) covering at least 12 months prior to filing the application. You can also provide any documentation from the household members’ assets."

 

This is obviously targeting people that inflate their checking accounts somehow for this process, so if you are over the 125% and have any other assets save yourself and the USCIS some time. 

 

Planning on filling early next week.

[Jali 3]

We were about to send our adjustment of status packet and on the last moment (late april) we found out about the form I-944, I really appreciate having your contributions on this difficult form and feel more calm that we are a community helping each other.

 

Has any of you been able to use one the organizations listed for the evaluation of equivalency  up to this day? if so, which one did you use?  

 

I haven't been able to figure out how to get a credit score or have some sort of proof that I can not get one.  Due to COVID-19 i can not get a Social Security Number and since I moved here to the US about two months ago, to be able able to get a credit score/report is not clear that Is necessary to be here at least six months or two YEARS.

 

Once again, Thank you so much!!