New Zealand DCF: SUCCESS!

[purpletruck 0]

Hello all- I joined Visa Journey in April of 2005 and over the months got a bunch of information from a member named luscilious who was going through the same immigration process in Auckland. She posted her whole story a couple of months ago, so I figured that I would post ours as well- I am a USC and my husband is a NZ citizen. This process was so much easier than other friends we've had who got married in the US and did that whole fiance visa thing. If you're eligible to use this method of immigration, I highly recommend it! Please read on...

April 2005-Joined VisaJourney and discovered the world of DCF

In April 2005 I went back to NZ to visit my boyfriend. He had come to the US for a visit in October 2004, his 4th or 5th visit by then, and we tried to figure out the whole working visa thing. We figured out that it's pretty much impossible. He has a two year culinary degree and lots of qualifications, but the US is really tight on companies sponsoring workers so everyone we talked to suggested we get married. We'd been togethr since March 2002 and had always talked about getting married...one day. When he left after christmas we spent the next couple of months talking about it and on this trip to NZ in April, he proposed. We talked to friends in Auckland (wife is a USC, husband is a NZC) about the process they went rhough and heard a multitude of horror stories. They got married in the US on a Fiance's visa which I think took as much paperwork to just get the Fiance visa as it did for us to do the whole DCF process! When I got back to the US I decided that there just had to be another way and started doing research on the internet... when I found Visa Journey. I read through all the info, talked to him over the phone about it and decided to go for it. Luckily, New Zealand allows USC's not living in NZ to do DCF. The stipulations were that we 1) had to be married in NZ (should check on this for your country) and 2) I, the USC, had to be there at the "Interview" with him after we were married. I called the US consulate there myself and they said, yes, this was all true but to have my fiance call and request the forms to be mailed to him. The woman at the consulate was so nice and pleasant- already a good sign since most USCIS immigration people in the US are not so nice.

May 2005-Fiance called NZ Consulate to request DCF information packet. Received info packet 1 week later.

June 23 2005- Fiance arrives in US on visitor's permit for visit

Even though we'd been together for almost 3 and a half years, we figured it was probably a good idea to "live" together before we get married. We decided that he would come to the US on a visitor's permit (90 days) and see how things went. He was unable to work, but we managed well by living with my parents. It took us a few months to read through all the paperwork (I was procrastinating and I'm a perfectionist-it's so scary finally putting ink to paper!).

August 22 2005- We start the process! DS-230 Part 1, Police authorzation form and DS-2001 are mailed from US to NZ!

These were the first set of forms required by the consulate. No evidence needed here-just the forms. In addition, they ask that you write a cover letter stating your story/any special needs your case may have. By then we had decided on january 09 as our wedding date so I wrote a cover letter explaining that we were not married yet, would get married January 09 in NZ and could we please have an interview date soon after the wedding because I couldn't take off endless amounts of time from work.

September 5 2005- Packet 2 received containing interview date (January 12, 2006- 9:00am) and medical forms arrives!

September 23 2005- Fiance returns to NZ, visitor's permit expires, and will do all medical exams!

He called the Consulate appointed doctor in Christchurch the day he arrived to schedule an appointment. Him and his mother had insisted that there was a doctor down the road from their house that had done immigration medicals for friends of theirs, but I insisted that there were only 1 or 2 doctors in all of the south island and that it was highly unlikely that this doctor down the road was him. I was right. Check the forms the Consulate sends you and only go to those specifically appointed doctors. Everything went smoothly-shots, xray...

September 28 2005- Medical Exams completed in one visit!

October 13, 2005- Fiance returns to US on Visitor's Permit- we continue to "live" together

November 28, 2005- Mailed Interview Confirmation with photocopy of passport and 2 passport photos.

He had actually brought the forms to confirm your interview date back with him when he returned to the US in October but forgot to tell me he had! UGH! Remember to ask your fiance/spouse for everything all the time. If they're not the ones organizing the whole process, they will forget! I ended up reading a blip somewhere saying something about the non-immigrating spouse (me, the USC) should bring two passport photos of themselves to the interview as well. At the time, I thought this was really strange, but I left work in the middle of the day and did it anyway. I went home to read through the papers again and couldn't find the blip, but get the pictures! You'll see how they come in handy...

December 09, 2005- Fiance returns to NZ for Xmas

January 09 2006- Wedding Date! Married in Whangarei, New Zealand (2 hrs. North of Auckland)! And it was beautiful! The marriage officiant/minister will give you a copy of the wedding license at the wedding. You must apply for the license before you get married. He was able to apply in christchurch without me there and you can use it to get married anywhere in the country. Make two copies of the wedding license and bring with you to the appointment!

January 12, 2006- Interview at Consulate in Auckland!

Here's what most people are interested in ( I read luscilious's story maybe 20 times ). Our appointment was set for 9:00 in the morning but luscilious said to be there early so we arrived at 8:30. Don't forget to bring the appointment letter with you- the guard up at the 3rd floor will ask you for it. We were staying in downtown auckland so all we had to do was walk-leave earlier if you anticipate traffic. The building is the Citigroup building on Customs Street (all of the Consulate's papers say Citibank but they're the same thing). You'll notice it because they fly and American flag at the front. We went straight up to the 3rd floor where a very nice security guard was waiting and no line! WooHoo! We took all of our paperwork out of our bags and left the bags with him. He was very nice and pleasant and totally put us at ease from the get go. We went into the waiting room which is a long room with 5 windows. There are signs above each window- you need to go to the "Immigrant Visa" window. But the guard will tell you that.

There was only one other couple there speaking to a women who looked not so happy at the Immigrant Visa window. I listened to their conversation for about 20 minutes and realized they were just at the beginning stages of the whole DCF process. As they discussed each item with the woman I did a mental checklist of all the items and suddenly felt totally at ease. During their conversation, a man (NZ citizen) walked in to turn in paperwork for a temporary work visa to go to the US. The immigration person helping him asked him about a prior conviction he had on his police record. He started saying he was "...only in jail for 6 months and it was 12 years ago!" The couple in front of us started chuckling and we were kind of chuckling too. The US is very strict on prior offences of any kind...obviously he didn't realize this. I don't know what happened to him, but the couple walked out with all the information I had basically received from Visa Journey.

We waited a while and no one came to the window so we got up and pressed a button and a very smiley woman came up to the window. Whew, thank goodness it wasn't the other woman who did not look so happy. But she was from Maryland, very nice and said she would never move back to the US. Ha! But she was very chatty and put us at ease.

She asked for the 1-130 forms (which we had notorized in hawaii), 1-864 forms (notorized in Hawaii) and DS-230 part 2 forms (do not sign this!!! You will sign it in front of an officer at the interview! Because we were intending on living with my family, I thought that our household size, including my husband, would be 6 instead of the 2 of us. She said that even though we were physically living with them, we were financially responsible for the 2 of us so I needed to meet 125% above the poverty line for a household of 2, not 6. That meant that I did not need my dad as a joint sponsor, which I thought I did, so there was no need for an 1-864A form. She took these forms and asked for a copy of our marriage license, a copy of my/USC passport, the passport photos of myself/USC, my last 3 years tax return transcripts, recent paystub, our birth certificates and I think that's it. She looked everything over and didn't ask for anything else. WE had overprepared, though, with photos, airplane boarding passes and such but she didn't ask for anything. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't prepare for this, though.

She asked us to go over and pay at the cashier's window. They said in the forms that they take US cash but she didn't have change so thank God I had enough in NZ dollars!

Another immigration person came up to the window, asked me to raise my right hand, swear if all the info on our forms was true and sign my name. He did the same to my husband as well. This man was also very nice. We could tell the whole process was winding down so we decided to ask how long it would take to get my husband's passport back (they take it at the interview)--break in the story: Our interview was thursday, january 12. We had planned about a month earlier to take a trip to sydney on wednesday january 18. It wasn't until after we made the travel plans that I realized they take his passport at the interview so now we had a whole honeymoon contingent on how fast they could get the passport back to us. To make things a little scarier, we noticed a sign when we walked in saying the consulate was closed monday the 16th for Martin Luther King Jr. Day-be prepared, the consulate observes US holidays!--so we told them our situation and they said no problem, them would try to get it in the mail today and if not, then tomorrow morning.

And that was it. We got our bags from the nice security guard and when those elevator doors closed, we were jumping up and down for joy!

January 13, 2006- Received Passport and Immigration forms for US Customs in Auckland

January 24, 2006- We both return to the US (Hawaii), he goes through customs (about 20 mins) and customs says he'll be receiving his SSN in the mail in a couple of weeks! WooHoo!

...and that's where we are today, just waiting for his SSN to arrive. So for all you out there who have no criminal record ("it happened a long time ago" doesn't count!) and want to make immigration a speedy process, I highly recommend DCF. Feel free to contact me here or email me if you need any help. Thanks, Visa Journey (Meauxna and Luscilious, wherever you are, you are the best!)! B)

[sadie33138 0]

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH! I've been watching to see if you would post your experience of your interview in Auckland. Good info and helps to know what to expect. Thanks so much and again, congratulations!!

[Jasman0717 8]

Congratulations. Great Post!

[aussiewench 9]

Congratulations and yes, great post

[purpletruck 0]

Hey Sadie- Glad to hear I can be of service. Auckland was a breeze-no need to worry. Especially since you're already married there should be absolutely no question. Our friends I was talking about in my last post, who are now living in Howick, are so jealous that our process was so much easier! Good Luck, just holler if you have any questions!

[sadie33138 0]

Hey Sadie- Glad to hear I can be of service. Auckland was a breeze-no need to worry. Especially since you're already married there should be absolutely no question. Our friends I was talking about in my last post, who are now living in Howick, are so jealous that our process was so much easier! Good Luck, just holler if you have any questions!

Thanks PT You're a One thing that makes it easier for us is we live in Auckland and in the initial packet was a sheet saying if you live in Auckland you can walk in to file the I-130.

[sntoria 0]

Congratulations.

[meauxna 15]

WOOOO HOOOO PT!!!

Way to go---and what a great report!

Congratulations and best wishes for you both in your *new home*!

[CarolineM 0]

Just wondering, what does the "no criminal record" have to do with it? Does that disqualify you from DCF? S. has a DUI but we put that on the form and we still got an interview!

[purpletruck 0]

Hey Karo- I'm not entirely sure how strict the "criminal record" part of doing DCF is. My husband didn't have anything on his record so I know it made it a breeze. I'm not sure if they count DUI type offences as being a serious mark on the whole immigration thing. If you got an interview, that's a good sign and If immigration received the police clearance paperwork and still went ahead with scheduling you an appointment, I'm sure it's fine. Even though this whole process will drive you nuts, I think it's always best to be overprepared. Good Luck!

[meauxna 15]

Just wondering, what does the "no criminal record" have to do with it? Does that disqualify you from DCF? S. has a DUI but we put that on the form and we still got an interview!

All,

The 'no crimial record' and 'straightforward case' language came from the original DCF Guide and has sort of just been repeated as 'fact'. In fact, there is nothing that precludes someone with a criinal record from going through the visa application process whether by DCF or conventional means. I intend to remove that language when/if I update the DCF Guide and Comparison chart info.

[Peggy 1]

Congrats

[purpletruck 0]

Just wondering, what does the "no criminal record" have to do with it? Does that disqualify you from DCF? S. has a DUI but we put that on the form and we still got an interview!

All,

The 'no crimial record' and 'straightforward case' language came from the original DCF Guide and has sort of just been repeated as 'fact'. In fact, there is nothing that precludes someone with a criinal record from going through the visa application process whether by DCF or conventional means. I intend to remove that language when/if I update the DCF Guide and Comparison chart info.

Hahaha-for the guy at the window next to us, the NZ citizen trying to get a temporary work permit, his "6 months" of time made the immigration officer send him home. I don't know all the circumstances, but I know that there was an issue with it. Good Luck!

Karo just mentioned that I had written that I'd gotten the I-130 notarized--I was thinking about the I-864A form. No need to get the I-130 notarized, sorry!