DCF London Updated Steps 2020

[os306 103]

Hi everyone,

 

I know the COVID-19 situation has meant that processing times have ground to a halt, but I am just trying to get my head around the entire process of applying for a spouse green card via the DCF route in London. I've looked at Wikis and threads that have described the process from start to finish, but a lot of these are from a few years ago and some of the forms mentioned are no longer in use. Therefore, I have put together a more updated list of steps and documents required.

 

In my case, I am a British citizen and am being sponsored by my US citizen wife. We submitted our I-130/I-130a petition on the 17th of March, but due to the pandemic, processing has not yet begun. Nonetheless, we received confirmation from USCIS that as long as our petition was post-marked before the 31st of March they would still process it. Any I-130 petitions post-marked after the 31st of March will not be accepted as the USCIS London office has now stopped processing these.

 

We are now trying to prepare ourselves for what the next steps will involve. Note, my wife is currently not making an income and we will therefore be using a joint sponsor. With this in mind, here are the steps we expect to go through over the next few months:

 

1.    Receive e-mail confirming that USCIS have received and filed our petition (NOA1)
2.    Receive I-130 approval letter (NOA2) in the post from USCIS stating that our petition has been approved and that we should expect an LND number to be sent by the Immigrant Visa Unit (IVU) at the London US Embassy within 8 weeks
3.    Receive LND Number in the post (this used to be known as Packet 3) from the IVU
4.    Complete form DS-260 online
5.    Book medical appointment with Visa Medicals (http://www.visamedicals.co.uk/us.htm) and book interview at US embassy to take place a few days after this (https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/iv)
6.    Attend Medical appointment

• Required documents:
  • Vaccination records from GP
  • Print out of NHS summary care record from GP
  • 4 passport photographs

7.    Attend interview at US embassy

• Required documents:
  • My passport 
  • Our original marriage certificate (+1 photocopy)
  • Two passport photographs of myself
  • My UK police certificate (+1 photocopy)
  • My UK birth certificate (+1 photocopy)
  • My wife’s I-864, including supporting documents:
    • Wife's IRS tax transcripts for the past 3 years
    • Copy of my wife's US passport photo page
    • Documents proving my wife intends on re-establishing domicile in the US (e.g., voting record, driving licence renewal, e-mails showing inquiries into possible jobs)
  • Joint sponsor's I-864, including supporting documents:
    • Joint sponsor's IRS tax transcripts for past 3 years
    • Copy of joint sponsor's US passport photo page
    • Joint sponsor's pay stubs for the past 6 months
    • Letter from joint sponsor's employer confirming nature of employment, salary etc.

8.    Receive passport back via Embassy courier service
 

Do the steps above make sense, or have I missed our anything? I would be grateful for any advice. Cheers!

Edited April 25, 2020 by os306

[Nitas_man 3,100]

23 minutes ago, os306 said:

Hi everyone,

 

I know the COVID-19 situation has meant that processing times have ground to a halt, but I am just trying to get my head around the entire process of applying for a spouse green card via the DCF route in London. I've looked at Wikis and threads that have described the process from start to finish, but a lot of these are from a few years ago and some of the forms mentioned are no longer in use. Therefore, I have put together a more updated list of steps and documents required.

 

In my case, I am a British citizen and am being sponsored by my US citizen wife. We submitted our I-130/I-130a petition on the 17th of March, but due to the pandemic, processing has not yet begun. Nonetheless, we received confirmation from USCIS that as long as our petition was post-marked before the 31st of March they would still process it. Any I-130 petitions post-marked after the 31st of March will not be accepted as the USCIS London office has now stopped processing these.

 

We are now trying to prepare ourselves for what the next steps will involve. Note, my wife is currently not making an income and we will therefore be using a joint sponsor. With this in mind, here are the steps we expect to go through over the next few months:

 

1.    Receive e-mail confirming that USCIS have received and filed our petition (NOA1)
2.    Receive I-130 approval letter (NOA2) in the post from USCIS stating that our petition has been approved and that we should expect an LND number to be sent by the Immigrant Visa Unit (IVU) at the London US Embassy within 8 weeks
3.    Receive LND Number in the post (this used to be known as Packet 3) from the IVU
4.    Complete form DS-260 online
5.    Book medical appointment with Visa Medicals (http://www.visamedicals.co.uk/us.htm) and book interview at US embassy to take place a few days after this (https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/iv)
6.    Attend Medical appointment

• Required documents:
  • Vaccination records from GP
  • Print out of NHS summary care record from GP
  • 4 passport photographs

7.    Attend interview at US embassy

• Required documents:
  • My passport 
  • Our original marriage certificate (+1 photocopy)
  • Two passport photographs of myself
  • My UK police certificate (+1 photocopy)
  • My UK birth certificate (+1 photocopy)
  • My wife’s I-864, including supporting documents:
    • Wife's IRS tax transcripts for the past 3 years
    • Copy of my wife's US passport photo page
    • Documents proving my wife intends on re-establishing domicile in the US (e.g., voting record, driving licence renewal, e-mails showing inquiries into possible jobs)
  • Joint sponsor's I-864, including supporting documents:
    • Joint sponsor's IRS tax transcripts for past 3 years
    • Copy of joint sponsor's US passport photo page
    • Joint sponsor's pay stubs for the past 6 months
    • Letter from joint sponsor's employer confirming nature of employment, salary etc.

8.    Receive passport back via Embassy courier service
 

Do the steps above make sense, or have I missed our anything? I would be grateful for any advice. Cheers!

Looks close

 

Not sure how London does it but next time we heard from the embassy after filing it was your Step 3 

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

16 hours ago, os306 said:

Hi everyone,

 

I know the COVID-19 situation has meant that processing times have ground to a halt, but I am just trying to get my head around the entire process of applying for a spouse green card via the DCF route in London. I've looked at Wikis and threads that have described the process from start to finish, but a lot of these are from a few years ago and some of the forms mentioned are no longer in use. Therefore, I have put together a more updated list of steps and documents required.

 

In my case, I am a British citizen and am being sponsored by my US citizen wife. We submitted our I-130/I-130a petition on the 17th of March, but due to the pandemic, processing has not yet begun. Nonetheless, we received confirmation from USCIS that as long as our petition was post-marked before the 31st of March they would still process it. Any I-130 petitions post-marked after the 31st of March will not be accepted as the USCIS London office has now stopped processing these.

 

We are now trying to prepare ourselves for what the next steps will involve. Note, my wife is currently not making an income and we will therefore be using a joint sponsor. With this in mind, here are the steps we expect to go through over the next few months:

 

1.    Receive e-mail confirming that USCIS have received and filed our petition (NOA1)
2.    Receive I-130 approval letter (NOA2) in the post from USCIS stating that our petition has been approved and that we should expect an LND number to be sent by the Immigrant Visa Unit (IVU) at the London US Embassy within 8 weeks
3.    Receive LND Number in the post (this used to be known as Packet 3) from the IVU
4.    Complete form DS-260 online
5.    Book medical appointment with Visa Medicals (http://www.visamedicals.co.uk/us.htm) and book interview at US embassy to take place a few days after this (https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/iv)
6.    Attend Medical appointment

• Required documents:
  • Vaccination records from GP
  • Print out of NHS summary care record from GP
  • 4 passport photographs

7.    Attend interview at US embassy

• Required documents:
  • My passport 
  • Our original marriage certificate (+1 photocopy)
  • Two passport photographs of myself
  • My UK police certificate (+1 photocopy)
  • My UK birth certificate (+1 photocopy)
  • My wife’s I-864, including supporting documents:
    • Wife's IRS tax transcripts for the past 3 years
    • Copy of my wife's US passport photo page
    • Documents proving my wife intends on re-establishing domicile in the US (e.g., voting record, driving licence renewal, e-mails showing inquiries into possible jobs)
  • Joint sponsor's I-864, including supporting documents:
    • Joint sponsor's IRS tax transcripts for past 3 years
    • Copy of joint sponsor's US passport photo page
    • Joint sponsor's pay stubs for the past 6 months
    • Letter from joint sponsor's employer confirming nature of employment, salary etc.

8.    Receive passport back via Embassy courier service
 

Do the steps above make sense, or have I missed our anything? I would be grateful for any advice. Cheers!

We are in the same boat as you. Ours arrived at the London office on 18/03. Our only difference is we were due to file the I-864W since my husband worked in the US and accrued the 40 credit quarters with social security. However, for stateside applications that form has been removed. So I'm waiting to see how that affects DCF filings. 

[Ziongirl 269]

18 minutes ago, Robyn-n-Kris said:

We are in the same boat as you. Ours arrived at the London office on 18/03. Our only difference is we were due to file the I-864W since my husband worked in the US and accrued the 40 credit quarters with social security. However, for stateside applications that form has been removed. So I'm waiting to see how that affects DCF filings. 

Just wondering which form will you be filling cause I was to file I-864w but its no longer on their site? 

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

1 minute ago, Ziongirl said:

Just wondering which form will you be filling cause I was to file I-864w but its no longer on their site? 

I have no idea. I have emailed the IVU in London to see if i can get any answers. Technically the questions for I-864W were rolled into the I-485, but that form is for filing AOS from the US with the DHS. It does not take into account those of us filing through the department of state with the embassy. I do have a copy of the I-864W that I had saved previously, so who knows. I don't think USCIS thought it out when they went to discontinue the form itself, since many filing through DCF probably wouldn't qualify.

[Ziongirl 269]

3 minutes ago, Robyn-n-Kris said:

I have no idea. I have emailed the IVU in London to see if i can get any answers. Technically the questions for I-864W were rolled into the I-485, but that form is for filing AOS from the US with the DHS. It does not take into account those of us filing through the department of state with the embassy. I do have a copy of the I-864W that I had saved previously, so who knows. I don't think USCIS thought it out when they went to discontinue the form itself, since many filing through DCF probably wouldn't qualify.

The copy might work well, incase of anything. Would you mind sending me a copy of the form? 

[os306 103]

34 minutes ago, Ziongirl said:

The copy might work well, incase of anything. Would you mind sending me a copy of the form? 

Although we will not be using the I-864W personally, in case Robyn-n-Kris has not yet sent you theirs, I have attached a copy that I found online (note it says "expires 03/31/2020").

 

1 hour ago, Robyn-n-Kris said:

We are in the same boat as you. Ours arrived at the London office on 18/03. Our only difference is we were due to file the I-864W since my husband worked in the US and accrued the 40 credit quarters with social security. However, for stateside applications that form has been removed. So I'm waiting to see how that affects DCF filings. 

We're part of a select group of individuals who "filed in the time of Corona" 😅As you may have seen, the central USCIS website states that they are planning on reopening offices on June 4th, so fingers crossed that the London office is able to reopen then and resume the processing of our petitions (https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-offices-preparing-reopen-june-4)

Download the I-864W form.pdf

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

9 minutes ago, os306 said:

Although we will not be using the I-864W personally, in case Robyn-n-Kris has not yet sent you theirs, I have attached a copy that I found online (note it says "expires 03/31/2020").

 

We're part of a select group of individuals who "filed in the time of Corona" 😅As you may have seen, the central USCIS website states that they are planning on reopening offices on June 4th, so fingers crossed that the London office is able to reopen then and resume the processing of our petitions (https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-offices-preparing-reopen-june-4)

Download the I-864W form.pdf 369.78 kB · 0 downloads

Ya, the form I have expired 3/31/2020. But again, the form was rolled into the I-485 which is only used for those who file stateside. I would be curious to see if they allow those who filed overseas (prior to 3/31) to utilize the form. Again, I have an email out to the visa processing unit in London, but not sure how fast they will respond. 

[os306 103]

35 minutes ago, Robyn-n-Kris said:

Ya, the form I have expired 3/31/2020. But again, the form was rolled into the I-485 which is only used for those who file stateside. I would be curious to see if they allow those who filed overseas (prior to 3/31) to utilize the form. Again, I have an email out to the visa processing unit in London, but not sure how fast they will respond. 

Good luck, it sounds like they are responding to people via e-mail, and hopefully they will be able to give you a final answer.

 

We're having our own issues with the I-864 - our joint sponsor has just been furloughed for 6 months due to COVID-19, so even though we have the past 3 years of tax transcripts, we won't have enough pay stubs for them as they wont be paid during this period...

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

1 minute ago, os306 said:

Good luck, it sounds like they are responding to people via e-mail, and hopefully they will be able to give you a final answer.

 

We're having our own issues with the I-864 - our joint sponsor has just been furloughed for 6 months due to COVID-19, so even though we have the past 3 years of tax transcripts, we won't have enough pay stubs for them as they wont be paid during this period...

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. I think my biggest thing with if they try and tell us to fill out the I-864 anyway, is this part of the guidelines: 

An Affidavit of Support is legally enforceable. The sponsor's financial responsibility usually lasts until the applicant either becomes a U.S. citizen, or can be credited with 40 qualifying quarters of work (usually 10 years) under the Social Security Act.

 

So the moment it is signed it is null and void for us since he has the 40 credit quarters lol What I would hope they would do, is since the form expired the same date as the last date of filing with the London office, that they base using the form on the postmark date of the original filing. But that makes sense and this is the government lol.

[Dags 134]

Quick question: we have filled our petition and submitted to USCIS lockbox ( regretting it SO much right now 😞), but once approved, the NVC process will be taking place in London. Will that case be still treated as DCF?

[os306 103]

58 minutes ago, Dags said:

Quick question: we have filled our petition and submitted to USCIS lockbox ( regretting it SO much right now 😞), but once approved, the NVC process will be taking place in London. Will that case be still treated as DCF?

Hi Dags,

 

I saw your other post in the forum, and from what I understand, it looks like you filed your I-130/I-130A online and that your petition will be processed by USCIS in the United States, after which it will be passed over to the National Visa Centre in New Hampshire

 

With DCF, you file a paper petition with the London USCIS Field Office and you effectively bypass NVC, as your petition is handed directly to the Immigrant Visa Unit (IVU) at the US Embassy in London, who deal with all the processing. 

 

Form what I understand, the US Embassy in London won’t be processing your application, but your interview will still take place at the London Embassy once NVC was finished processing Stateside.

 

Anyone else- please feel free to correct me if i’m wrong here? It’s frustrating that the terminology isn’t clear, and I wish you the best of luck. 

 

 

[Dags 134]

2 minutes ago, os306 said:

Hi Dags,

 

I saw your other post in the forum, and from what I understand, it looks like you filed your I-130/I-130A online and that your petition will be processed by USCIS in the United States, after which it will be passed over to the National Visa Centre in New Hampshire

 

With DCF, you file a paper petition with the London USCIS Field Office and you effectively bypass NVC, as your petition is handed directly to the Immigrant Visa Unit (IVU) at the US Embassy in London, who deal with all the processing. 

 

Form what I understand, the US Embassy in London won’t be processing your application, but your interview will still take place at the London Embassy once NVC was finished processing Stateside.

 

Anyone else- please feel free to correct me if i’m wrong here? It’s frustrating that the terminology isn’t clear, and I wish you the best of luck. 

 

 

Thanks for the answer. Yeah it’s really frustrating..

[os306 103]

24 minutes ago, Dags said:

Thanks for the answer. Yeah it’s really frustrating..

The main advantage of DCF (as I am sure you already know) is that the process is normally much quicker than if you file with the USCIS Lockbox in Dallas. However, given the COVID-19 pandemic, the London USCIS Field Office is currently closed and no petitions are being processed. Therefore, I'm not sure how much time will actually be saved via the DCF route. 

 

Even though the London USCIS Office stopped accepted new I-130 petitions from April 1st, the DCF route will still be available if you have 'exceptional circumstances'. There's no harm in e-mailing the London office and explaining your situation and seeing what they advise, although it may not be the answer you're looking for.

[Dags 134]

11 minutes ago, os306 said:

The main advantage of DCF (as I am sure you already know) is that the process is normally much quicker than if you file with the USCIS Lockbox in Dallas. However, given the COVID-19 pandemic, the London USCIS Field Office is currently closed and no petitions are being processed. Therefore, I'm not sure how much time will actually be saved via the DCF route. 

 

Even though the London USCIS Office stopped accepted new I-130 petitions from April 1st, the DCF route will still be available if you have 'exceptional circumstances'. There's no harm in e-mailing the London office and explaining your situation and seeing what they advise, although it may not be the answer you're looking for.

Yeah I may try that. Have you heard of cases being transferred between USCIS internationally?