Scott & Ale

Do you remember how long it took for your airway bill number to show up?

It showed up the next day around 7:30 in the evening....but DHL already had the package at the pick-up location around 4:30 that day so we picked it up first thing 2 days after the interview.

I have my interview in Cd. Juarez on Sept 10th, 2012. That is a Monday, assuming my visa is approved what are the chances the visa will be sent to my DHL office by that Friday?

Pretty good, we had our interview on a Tuesday and was at DHL on Wednesday night in Juarez for pick-up already. If you are picking up and crossing in Juarez, I suggest the Zaragoza bridge.

We only sent 1 year, but we have consistent income comfortably above the minimum threshold. If you have large swings in income or some other circumstance you may want to send more, but in general send the minimum in the process and be prepared for more at the interview.

Looking at timelines a July 31st case closed for a CR1 has a September 6th interview so you will probably have one shortly after that date.

Flights from ORD to El Paso are about $400 with no connections and to Juarez were more than $700 with a connection. The taxi from El Paso to the consulate area hotels though will be about $70 each way, most consulate area hotels have free transportation to/from the airport so the comparison is now $540 versus $700....$540 for a direct flight isn't really a decision anymore.....

That being said I chose to drive it becuase I am an optimist and feel that my wife is getting her visa that week and we can see some of the sites on the way back to the Chicagoland area and then we will have some flexibility depending upon how long it takes to get the visa. I'm not taking my car into Mexico though.

My wife is just going to get them done again at the medical exam (she had them done as a kid but no documentation). From reading some of the reviews I read that they are very picking on what documentation they will accept for verification. We don't want to chance it so we are just planning to re-do them at the exam. That way we don't have to do any more/less than what is required.

1. Use his current address he receives mail at. Military personnel get a bit better treatment through this process.

2. You can get married in the US and DO NOT LIE. They usually just ask a Canadian if you are coming for business or holidays. Just say for holidays. Odds are you won't be questioned further. You do need to be prepared though to show proof of ties that you will be returning to Canada (if you own property, a doctor appt or a job etc).

3. My wife and I file less than a week after getting married. Since we were married in the states we had a notary public come to the wedding and we had about 15 affidavits filled out. I also sent in a copy of the receipt for the wedding reception etc and paperwork adding my wife to my health insurance and as beneficiary to 401K and life insurance policies etc. On top of that add her as an authorized user on my credit card which you don't need a SSN for (at least with Capital One, also put a picture of my wife from our wedding day on the card too).

Need to file the tax return before the NVC will proceed. An extension will not work at this point since it is already late. In fact, they now will require the tax transcripts before moving on. You can file your tax return from anywhere in the world.

From the AOS instructions:

If you were required to file a Federal income tax return during any of the previous three tax years but did not do so, you must file any and all late returns with IRS and attach an IRS-generated tax return transcript documenting your late filing before submitting the I-864 Affidavit of Support.

I would not tell an employer of your intentions. They don't communicate with employees when they are thinking about layoffs etc so there is no need to tell them. They may make it miserable for you if you do tell them....so if you have a great relationship with your boss it wouldn't matter....but if you had that relationship then you probably wouldn't be asking the board that question I guess either.

So she get's them when she is at the POE, or later? Is there a timefram she has to get that done? I haven't read anything about this now since you mentioned it.

In my packet 4 they sent a price list for Juarez (also on the NVC website). They will probably try to verify Tdap, MMR and Pneumococcal from what I have seen in others posts. Don't know where the other person head they no longer do that if that is recent but this is what they sent in.

American Consulate’s Ciudad Juarez Panel Physician Vaccination Price List

Dtap $ 60.00 currently not available

Tdap $ 60.00

Polio (IPV/Salk) $ 50.00 currently not available

MMR (measles/Mumps/Rubella) $ 40.00

Rotavirus $ 75.00 currently not available

Hib $ 32.00 currently not available

Hepatitis A $ 35.00

Hepatitis B $ 30.00

Varicella $ 60.00

Pneumococcal (Adult) $ 30.00

Influenza (seasonal) $ 26.00 currently not available

Pneumococcal (Pediatric) $ 95.00

Meningococcal $110.00 currently not available

Thanks a lot for all the info. Does anyone know how to open a bank account online from abroad? If there's a way then I have to do it.

Also, is it possible to register to vote online, or would I have to be in the states?

Each state is different for registering to vote...you will have to check your state's website.

Ally bank or Schwab banks will all be 100% on-line, but they will send you a signature form by mail for you to sign which you could have sent to your brother....you will need to fund the bank account and have activity

Hello everyone,

My husband and I just got married 2months ago. Do you guys have any idea if an American citizen with salary pay of $15,870/year who lives in Oklahoma can be able to get me? Like how much does he need to show in bank statements? And with that amount of salary he's having, is it a good signal for he can start the application? And what if he still stays with his family, but he pay the bills and everything. Does he need to move first before he could start filing the application? Sorry got loads of queries.

A friend of mine told me that he could just show his income/year and bank statement does not vary. I do not know if he is right. I do want to believe that he is.

Thanks in advance

Regards everyone,

Yalee

1. He needs either $18,912/year in salary or $56,736 in assets or $15,870 in salary and about $12,000 in assets (cash in the bank). Unless you he has enough assets, then either a joint sponsor or another job is required.

2. Staying with his family means nothing unless he claims dependents on his tax return. I am assuming that this year he would claim 2, just you and him for this answer and the answer above. Regardless of that answer though who you live with does not matter.

Hi All,

I am in a state of confusion. I paid AOS bill and everything is ready to submit except I don't have my employment verification letter yet as it is on the way from California. I have printed out 6 months of payslips and also have tax transcripts. My question is, should I wait for the employment letter or should I go ahead and mail AOS documents?

Thanks!

Employment letter is not mandatory....if your income has been stable and comfortably above the threshold I would go ahead and send it in without the letter

There will be a fee for each DS-230 submitted for your wife and stepson ($230 x 2 = $460).

You will submit two I-864 forms, however, you will only need to pay the fee once ($88).

There will also be 2 medical exams as well and any potential vaccines...probably at least $300

Not able to e file.........

Do you think I could try a letter to IRS explaining that I am in a rush cause my all application is on hold especially EAD card.

Would they even care?

Any advises on similar cases??

I don't believe the IRS has an expedite process so not speaking from that type of experience. What I would do though is get the taxes filed and just send a copy of your original tax return.....it won't hurt and the NVC may accept it so that way you at least get through the process quicker. Request the tax transcripts and make sure they are brought to the interview.

Thanks guys.

So I am assuming that the AOS Package ( I-864 ) is scanned and e-mailed as well?

si senor...do not mail anything...but make sure all originals of everything are taken to the interview

.....and please let me know where that great state is with the great economy and great jobs. I need that also....economy here in my state sucks....no work to be found.

Head to North Dakota....modern day gold rush going on with oil.....can't even get a house built there because the construction workers left to start working the oil fields for more pay. Lots of jobs in the 6 figures if you are willing to move and work hard.

If you have a joint sponsor that covers the income requirements, then your income (or lack there of) does not matter one bit. Odds are if you are taking that much time off (I assume months) it is not paid which would actually require you to have a joint sponsor anyway as you need to prove your current and future income will meet the requirement. Since it sounds like you are young it will be critical for you to have recent pay stubs which you would not have if you go when you get the NOA2.

My wife will be arriving to the Untited States soon. Am I allowed to leave her in the US, while I accept overseas employment. I understand she can't leave the US without her green card and when she get green card she can only be outside the US for 6 months (conditional green card). Am I allowed to leave my wife alone in the US and accept employment in the Middle East. Can someone show me where to go and read the law on this.

You can take employment anywhere you want, but you MUST keep your primary residency/domocile in the US for the foreseeable future in order to be eligible for a CR-1. By taking employment overseas you need to determine if that changes your domocile. Your employment overseas would need to be temporary and not permanent (the visa you get for that country will affect this case and your wife would need to be prepared to talk about that at her US interview). It will also potentially affect your affidavit of support as well. If you were counting on US income to cover, that changes that piece of your AOS as they will not accept foreign earned income for an AOS.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_2991.html#4

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/glossary/glossary_1363.html#domicile

It raises red flags, there are ways around it, but definitly does affect the eligibility for a CR1 as well as the removal of conditions.

You don't need to worry about a W-2 form, you need to get your tax transcripts. Since you are late filing they now require the tax transcripts:

Instructions from the I-864:

"If you were required to file a Federal income tax return during any of the previous three tax years but did not do so, you must file any and all late returns with IRS and attach an IRS-generated tax return transcript documenting your late filing before submitting the I-864 Affidavit of Support."

They are asking you for a photocopy as they are just assuming that you forgot to send it to them with the AOS.

Put on your Adjusted Gross Income from your tax return, if you filed a 1040 it would be line 37.

I didn't submit employement letter or pay stubs, just my 2011 tax return and had no issues. I recognize though that you don't have 3 full years of employment due to being a student so the NVC may want more to prove income.

Do you have any large customers that could conirm YTD sales or something like that with? That would in essense act like an employment letter and pay stub. You could then substantiation that with a profit statement.

You have 90 days in South Carolina. Each state is different, university websites always have this information for their internationl students so a link to USC (and not the one in Southern California).

http://www.iss.sc.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=377

For Mexico everything is on-line and via e-mail, you do not mail anything.

1. The DS-261 is the online version of the 3032 that you fill out. I suggest doing both (won't hurt anything). Had an issue with ours we did the on-line and it took forever and called them, I e-mailed the 3032 and got it turned around fast. Do this step as soon as you can as you do not get the IV invoice until they accept this (you know it is accepted by receiving the IV invoice).

2. The DS-260 is the on-line DS-230. You do not do anything with the DS-230, but I do suggest that you fill one out so that way when you have to fill it in online it goes faster, but you do not send that in at all.

3. All of the civil docs (marriage cert, birth cert etc) are e-mail to them. Even if they send you a cover letter telling you to mail it DO NOT MAIL IT IN, simply ignore it. Sound weird, but you also have to scan and e-mail in copies of the passport size photos. I did both for my wife e-mail and mail and they just simply returned the mailed in documents.

In essence, you do not send any originals for Mexico, just scan and e-mail it in, even when you get a cover letter telling you to mail it in just send it via e-mail.

The NVC will accept the receipt for the extension for 2011 and the 2010 tax return in its place...but at the interview they may reject the extension and require the 2011 return. A link below stating to the same.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/322962-canadian-cr1-refusal-at-todays-interview-in-montreal-needs-additional-documentation/

Regardless if you have filed the 2011 tax form, you need to supply the information on the I-864 as requested.