rachel&andy

You should start the process now if you believe that you will get the job and have to start in a few months. Even with DCF, it can be months. It was 5 months to process my DCF from the UK, and apparently that was one of the faster ones-- the embassy here says to expect 8-10 months. So get started now, and you will at lease lessen the chance that you might be apart for any significant amount of time.

My question is do I have to be a resident with papers to file DCF in Peru? I have seen conflicting arguments for just living in the country you want to do direct consular filing. I entered the country on Tourist visa but I've been here for 6 months, but my visa is ending and I'm not sure if I can file here (while I am waiting for my resident card). Oh please tell me I don't have to wait another 6 months to file after I get that!

Thank you in advance for any help!!! =D

You should check on the US Embassy in Peru's website. I filed DCF in the UK, and here you have to have a resident permit-- you can't do it on a tourist or even a student visa. But it may vary by country.

Hi, I'm a US Citizen filing an immigrant visa for my wife here in Peru. However, I did not need to file taxes last year because first of all, we don't file federal taxes unless we work for a federal company, if we work for a local non federal company, we file "planillas" (local taxes). Secondly, last year (2010) I came to Peru and I've been working as a volunteer thus I didn't have an annual income. I recently started working for a company in Puerto Rico via e-mail.

The point is that I haven't had to file any taxes yet. What are my options in this case?

Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

You still need to file your taxes when you live overseas, even if you have no income. You should file now for every year you were abroad and bring a copy and a receipt of posting. It doesn't matter that it doesn't show any income. You will also need either a US joint sponsor or assets if you don't have income that will continue when you move to the US. Good luck!

Congratulations!!! That seems bizarre that your tax transcripts weren't correct? Were they the ones that came in the mail? Maybe it was the wrong year or something. But I'm glad you were approved!!

Yes, he has his birth certificate, a marriage certificate with the raised seal, and his police certificate...as well as his photos for the visa.

It sounds like you'll be fine! Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes!

Yes, OK, this makes more logical sense. He sent off the I864 material in error, and they have emailed him and stated:

Thank you for your email.

"The Immigrant Visa Unit has received your I-864 form and will hold the form and documents on file until the time you appear for an interview. You should bring all other documents with you at the time of your interview on the 23rd August. "

I have told him to bring a copy of the I864, and copies of the paystubs, offer letter, irs transcripts, etc with him JUST IN CASE the case worker forgets. And also to print out the email from USCIS.

Yes, I have already earned above the poverty line this year (tax year 2011), and have paystubs to reflect this, so hopefully this will be sufficient.

We filed in November, this has been a lengthy process, but I can finally see the light

Can I just check with you that you have all of the other documents you need-- e.g. marriage certificate, birth certificate, police certificate?

Congratulations! When you say "it was a breeze" what does this mean? How long was the interview? What questions were asked?

My husband has his interview in London on Tuesday and he and I are feeling very nervous.

I was there with my husband so I can tell you what happened. The appointment time was for 8am. We got there at 7am and were the third ones in line. We were taken through security at about 7:30. Our number was I-901 which was the first immigrant visa number. The first numbers were called at 8am and we were in that group. We went to a window where my husband's fingerprints were taken and they gave us his chest x-ray on CD to bring to the US. They asked us for our marriage certificate, his birth certificate, his police certificate, my i-864, my evidence concerning reestablishing US domicile, my 2010 tax return, my dad's i-864 (he is a joint sponsor since I will not have continuing income from my existing work), his 2010 tax return, a copy of my dad's passport photo page, and my husband's US-size visa photos. We then paid for the visa and went back to the same window with the receipt. We were given a form to fill out for the courier.

About 45 minutes later we were called to the interview window. My husband was asked how we met, when we got married, and what he planned on doing in the US, and what I planned on doing in the US-- I only think she asked me because I was there. It took about 3 minutes. We then paid for the courier and his visa will be here in 7-10 working days. We were out of the embassy at 8:55.

As long as you have correctly filled out all of your paperwork and have everything you need you will not have a problem. My husband was extremely nervous, too!

Thanks everyone!!

You need to bring everything listed on the embassy website: http://london.usembassy.gov/interview_documents.html

My husband had his interview this morning (London). It was a breeze. We were very nervous but extremely prepared thanks to this forum and www.britishexpats.com. Thanks everyone!!!

We filed in January (DCF) and are still waiting on an interview date (due to a backlog our petition was forwarded to Rome for processing). Long before the embassy website posted the 8-10 month wait time. And like you, we read on this website that it take 3-6 months.

I think to best be prepared, it can take anywhere between 4-9 months. But it really does depend on your case and how busy they are when you file. Good luck.

Shermeen and Adam-- have you tried calling the number at the embassy to get the email code so you can email the immigration unit at the embassy? We did so in order to find out what our interview date was. I wonder if your case has been mishandled-- you should call them up and I bet it will speed up your interview date if you are still waiting for one.

We submitted March 10 and my husband has his visa interview next week. It's been about 5.5 months from submission to that point. We submitted a few weeks before they posted that 8-10 month timeline so I'm not sure. You might find that it's faster to do a fiancee visa-- but I'm not sure.

Are you and your spouse both living in the UK? Did you file DCF? Were you ever a legal permanent resident in the US? Unless you've answered "yes" to all three questions I can't imagine what they are talking about but perhaps someone with more experience will be able to chime in. I always thought an A number was your "Alien Number" if you were a permanent resident in the US before. On our application we just wrote "NA" in that box because my husband (the UK citizen) was never a permanent resident. I applied just a week before you and we're already through the medical and just waiting for a visa interview date so it seems like something is screwed up in your case paperwork. I'd call again and try to get more details. Did you call the embassy number? They were able to give me our case number before it arrived in the mail.

Good luck!

My husband had his medical on the 17th. No word yet but we called the embassy and they confirmed they had received his paperwork.

Just to throw a completely different option out there. Why not defer law school for a year and do BUNAC in the UK? My friend did BUNAC right after college and she said it was one of the best experiences she ever had. There are tons of law firms in the UK, and many American firms. You could probably do paralegal work to get some work experience as well. Unfortunately the BUNAC UK programme is only an internship but it is 6 months. http://www.bunac.org/usa/interninbritain/ Another option is if you both want to travel together you could go to either New Zealand or Australia. You're young! Law school is an expensive proposition and delaying it by a year won't be the worst thing in the world in my humble opinion. That would give you some real time together and probably help convince your family it's for real. It will probably also help convince immigration. Good luck!

The OP meant they needed to apply for UK citizenship first :-)

Ahhh! I see. Well in that case I recommend doing the document check through your local council as my UK citizenship was processed in 1 month!! (And I'm in London, which I would think would be slower due to high volume)

Good luck!

My UK Passport application has been processed in about 6 weeks. Don't know who told you 9 months!

Really, it could be days or weeks. Just more waiting really. Have you received your offical I-130 approval yet?

Nope. That's what I'm waiting for!

Hi there, I'm filing DCF in London. Our official i-130 processing date was March 10th. Last week the embassy got up to our date. Now they are up to April 1st and I still haven't received anything in the mail. Any experience on how long it typically takes for the letter with your case number to arrive after they say they are processing your date?

Thanks,

Rachel

do you have an income statement from a chartered accountant, covering either YOU or the BUSINESS?

Hi there,

yes, we have both. In the UK I do a personal tax return as well as a business tax return. On the i-864 it clearly states that a business cannot sponsor an immigrant, so it appears that only my personal returns would be relevant, not the business ones. But I do have both and could include them in our package.

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post so go easy! I'm filing DCF from London. I run my own business, and have for 2 years. I have filed returns in the US for every year I've lived here. My question is regarding form i-864 line 23: "My current annual income is" -- Because I run a limited company my accountant has me pay myself the minimum rate e.g. £5,715. This covers the UK fiscal year from April 1, 2010 to March 31st 2011. I know that my business income won't cover the sponsorship reqs anyway because I don't think I can convince the embassy that my income will continue after we move. We are using my Dad as a joint sponsor.

My question: in that box do I list $9,273? (the currency converted to US). It just seems like such a low number that we will be turned away, even with my Dad as joint sponsor. My husband has savings in his name of about £23,000 (e.g. about $37,000). I don't want us to be denied because my salary looks like bupkis.

Thanks,

Rachel