Scott & Ale

case number received today..now whats next?..anxiety is building up here.....

Also get everything ready for the next steps that way the NVC portion goes faster and you are ready to run when the time comes

I met my fiance in the USA for the first time, he came here on a tourist visa an lives in Jamaica ,we plan to get marry some time next year,question is when we marry an start the process for the CR -1 visa will he still be able to visit me in the USA? thanks In Advance.

I am making the assumption you are not getting married in the US, but you he can visit you in the US. If the plan for the wedding is to be in the US you should be getting him the K-1. Once married he can still use his tourist visa to visit you in the US, but CPB may give some issues and deny entry. He must carry proof of ties to Jamaica (such as proof of a job or school that he needs to return to as well as his return ticket etc).

Get married where you want to get married. You have 2 options and both take the same amount of time to go through the visa process.

1. A K1 or fiance visa is a 1 entry visa into the US and you must get married within 90 days

2. A CR1 immediate family member visa means you would get married and then file

The paperwork for both is very similar and requirements are the same and both take about 8 months. The K1 visa you could submit the paperwork tomorrow if you were ready and the CR1 you cannot submit until you are married. Also with a K1 you need to go through an adjustment of status after the wedding and therefore cannot return to Mexico till after that is completed or you are given a waiver.

- What other documents should she take with her just in case…to be on the safe side??

All documents that you submitted copies of should be brought to the interview including birth cert, marriage cert, tax return(s), pay stubs and pictures etc if you have them. The more you drag in the potential less questions you may have.

There is a question on the DS-261 that asks if the beneficiary has documentation of vaccinations in accordance with US law.

If I select no, it asks for an explanation. And we cant say Yes because im sure we don't have all the vaccinations complete yet.

I thought we don't deal with this until the panel physician exam??

I entered no in my wife's and put the comment that we would discuss vaccination requirements at the medical exam.

after noa2 how much time do i have to schedule my interview and pay the interview fee??

I assume you are asking the question because you want to take additional time, the documentation that the NVC gives is below:

Please Note: If a period of one year passes without communication to the NVC, all submitted fees and

documents expire and must be resubmitted to resume the immigration process.

I sent in my aid and iv packets 6/20/12. how far out do they schedule an interview?

They just scheduled my wife's on August 14th last week Friday so you are probably looking at the end of August at this point.

Hey guys, I mailed the AOS and IV packages to the NVC one week ago, and I tracked it with fedex and it arrived one week ago from today. I called the NVC to get a check up and they had no record of the packages and said it takes 20 business days to receive. Is this pretty standard? Did the lady know what she was talking about? Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this. Thanks guys.

Yes, I had the same issue. They basically don't want to talk about a document unless they have had it for at least 20 business days (whether electronic or hard copy). At least with electronic we get a response back that they received it and when it gets loaded.

Also when doing your DS-230 (or DS-260) it will ask if you have ever been denied and be honest there as well.

Hello guys had a question and need some help please.Am a US citizen and filling out the I-130 and on question 17 where its asking for spouse and children.Since my children were born in America and not through marriage or by my current wife do i have to list them? i never listed them during my immigration process thus when i was filling for my naturalization.i know they will ask for taxes for the last 3 years and they are listed on my taxes.please advice

That line is just asking about spouse/children of your current wife only. That is where you will list your name and any children your wife has (whether with your or someone else) regardless of where they were born or currently live. Therefore if you have kids that are not related to your wife they are not listed here. If she has kids that are not yours they would be listed here.

While sending I-130 application for spouse visa, should we submit the original affidavits for proof of Bonafide marraige or copies of the affidavits are fine

Good question, I submitted originals becuase I noticed other items in the instructions said to send copies and the affidavits section did not.

Don't sweat it. Either will be fine.

I agree, doesn't matter since there will be a co-sponsor and that is where it will mean the most.

Hello Everyone..I just need help in having these all cleared off my head..

I was in the states with the k1 visa that I was previously granted before, thus, got married there..but due to complications on my timing of getting there, with hubby had to be away for several months, we decided that I just be sent back home without even getting the chance to adjust status. To cut the long story short, since k1 is a one-time entry, we had to re-do everything from scratch, this time, with the cr1 or spousal visa route.

We are now in the NVC stage, and have already submitted the documents both for the affidavit of support and Immigration Visa packet..What we sent in as for the "marriage certificate" requirement, is a certified marriage license issued by the county clerk..I called up the NVC about that, and they kept insisting it's not what they need.. I don't understand why they wouldn't accept it, when it's all the county clerk could provide for us as certified copy of. It's top heading is "certified marriage license", at the top part of it, is the information about my husband (fiance then) and me. then the lower part of it, is the marriage information, as to where and when marriage took place and as to who married us,,with a raised seal on it and the signature of the clerk..it's a one-page document..I called up the county clerk about it, and would insist as well, that's all they issue..We were not sent an RFE yet, but I don't know how we're gonna get through this, in case this comes up as an issue..Anyone here, experienced, getting married in the USA, and only got to sent with heading "certified marriage license"? Tell me about ur experience please...I need clarity..And also, as for the AOS, my husband rounded off the tax income for years 2009-2011, is it gonna be fine, or can we expect RFE for that as well? Thank you so much for response!!!

Did your marriage license have the signatures of the witnesses and the justice of the peace or one who performed your ceremony on that document? If so probably not an issue at all. Also many states keep the marriage license on file and is not stored at the county clerks office (something that we found out). Have you checked your state clerk's website?

Hi,

I am a full time graduate student and am living off of student loans. I don't see a place for this in section 6 of the i864. Should I just put that I'm "employed" as a graduate student and my loans are my income?

I haven't filed tax returns for the last couple years because I've been living abroad. I didn't make much money but I don't have an official exemption from the IRS. I'm not sure what to do about this and I'm worried that if I do my taxes now it will delay the filing process by days or weeks and I need to get this AOS off to the NVC. I do have a joint sponsor so I'm covered there which makes this tax issue really annoying since my financial status isn't important with a joint sponsor, but I still have to complete an i864.

Guidance appreciated!

Greg

A. School is not employment, you will need to check the unemployed box

B. Loans are not income and thus no bearing on your income or tax returns to the IRS and cannot be used for support

C. Just because you were out of the country does not mean you should not file US taxes. In fact as a US citizen or Resident alien living abroad you are still required to file and pay taxes on GLOBAL income and doesn't matter which country where you earned it. Although, depending upon the year and your income you may not be required to file a return (approx $9,500 a year of global income is the trigger to require a return, unless someone claimed you as a dependent which then is around $2k). I attached a link to IRS Pub 54 which on page 3 has some of that info.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p54.pdf

i received my noa1 back in march2012, expecting noa somtime in august. my question is should my fiance get 1 yr mexican passport or 3 years? if we go fro the 1 yr passport and we get our visa approved before december. that should be within the 6 month requirement for the passport.

You should get at least a 6 year as that would take you through the citizenship process. Otherwise you are going to be getting a passport every 3 years and the costs will pile up.

After the status changes to PAID send your affidavit of support package right away, do not wait for nvc to send you an email, you would just be loosing time! Make sure you write the cover letter and print out the bar coded sheet from the online payment page. Here is the link

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_bring_your_foreign_spouse_to_live_in_the_US#Step_2_.E2.80.93_Choice_of_Agent_Form_.28DS-3032.29_Generation_.26_I-864_Fee_Invoicing

I did the choice of agent by email last Friday and did not get any response from NVC. Do they tell you if it's been accepted? Please let me know if you herd something from them regarding that. Thanks

When they accepted that is when I received the IV invoice. It took nearly 3 weeks in our case and when calling the NVC they kept saying that we needed to wait 20 business days prior to calling. In fack I even received an RFE for it during that time. I suggest doing both the on-line DS-261 and e-mailing the DS-3032 as I saw some people on this site doing that as well.

Hi guys, does anyone know how important it is to have sent in the 3 previous years tax returns as I only have returns for 2011,2010 (from canada where ive been living)and 2009 I cant find. Is the 2 most recent years enough or do you need to send in all 3?? Cheers guys.

Each case is a bit different. I only submitted 1 year and no empoyer letter or pay stubs. I have had stable employment in all 3 years but still plan for my wife to take pay stubs and 3 years of US tax transcripts. I am assuming that you are a US Citizen and have had to file tax returns in those years in the US (if not you will probably need to get that done, even if you filed Canada tax returns). If you have filed US tax returns then you can request a transcript:

Past earnings are not as important as current/future earnings as well. Current pay stubs from a US company paying US taxes is the best way to prove this.

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=232168,00.html

I havent started the whole process yet but I do have a few questions, what does the whole process cost for the CR-1, How long does it normally take? and will it be denied to me if I dont have the Tax returns or a joint sponsor?

On top of what has already been posted, there is also the medical exam and any vaccinations that may be required. A minumum of $200 but may be as much as $500 for this depending upon what is determined at the medical exam. I have read some posts that even if they have a record of having the vaccinations that the applicant may have to have them again. They say plan for the worst and hope for the best. The below link goes through the costs of this in more detail.

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/medical/MEP-MED-MULT-0001-1111.pdf

I just paid mine and it took 1 and half day to change from IN PROCESS to PAID hope this can help u

That is about right, if you get it in there prior to approx 4 PM by around 4 PM the next day it will be changed to paid. It has to go through the ACH (automatic clearing house) which goes overnight and each bank tends to have a cut-off as to when those transactions get picked up and funded. If after 4PM it may take an extra day to clear the bank.

The day you see the money come out of your bank account the NVC will most likely also change the status to paid.

I never said I did not have any pictures. Where are you getting ideas that my husband and I haven't spent any time together? Are you serious? I asked for them because I want them. I have spent more than 3 of the past 7 months with him. I didn't ask for opinions.

I re-read my post and I never said you did not have pictures or spend any time together with your husband either so not sure how your are jumping to those conclusions. Let's review the facts of the post.

1. You already have your I-130 approved where the affidavits are requested (at least from my understanding) so in order to help others knowing how you plan to use them could be helpful or perhaps there is a part of the process that I may be missing as well

2. I made a statement that pictures of your husband with your family would be better than affidavits (even know not sure if your family has met him in order to have that personal knowledge you would be asking them to sign an affidavit for as you only talk about your time with your husband and not your family)

3. I made a statement that affidavits without these pictures could be perceived as suspect, which in turn would give the exact opposite intended affect you were looking for. I apologize for trying to give advice on a board meant to help give support and advice through this visa process.

4. I made a statement as I do not know your religious beliefs, as some don't allow their pictures to be taken, and since I do not know your religous situation I didn't know if that prevented you from having pictures with your family and husband together (there may be very good and valid reasons not to have pictures such as religion or in a case that I know where they were destroyed in a house fire).

This is a board where people in the same situation are trying to help each other and give each other opinions and share experiences. I suggest not posting on boards such as this if you are not expecting that. I do not see how I was offensive or vulgar but I apologize if my post was taken in that light and trying to get an understanding in case I was missing something.

Does anyone know where I can find example letters for affidavits from family members? My husbands family will be writing letters to be notarized on our behalf and we honestly don't know how they should be worded.

Thanks in advance

What do you need these affidavits for? I had affidavits made up and sent with the I-130, but I noticed that you are already approved and just have your interview remaining. At this point, in my opinion, if you have pictures with your family together with your husband may be better evidence of a bona-fide for your interview. If you don't have pictures, in my opinion, would make the affidavits suspect since to have personal knowledge of the relationship I make the jump that they should have all met and spent a little bit of time together (and hopefully some pictures). Therefore if it were me, I would just load up on pictures at this point (assuming you do not have a religious reason for not taking pictures).

That being said I have a template that I used as well if you want I can e-mail it to you.

will it help if i have a offer of employment letter

for the interview? i sent out my i-864 with an annual

income of 54,000 a year.

so will the offer of employment help for anything

since my i-864 is wayyy over poverty line?

Did you accept the offer?

If no then the offer means nothing. Would be like someone who works for non-profit social services making minimum wage because they love helping people knowing they could make more flipping burgers at Mcd's. You are reviewed based on results and not potential.

If yes then will you have started the new job by the time the interview starts?

If no then I would suggest taking it along (not required), but in a separate folder where you would only put things that are off the wall and ensure your wife knows this. The only reason I would suggest taking it along as it suggests a little bit of volatility in your employment and if they ask your wife if you plan to continue working at the place you stated on the I-864 she can answer truthfully. Low probability of being asked in this manner but I have a folder for odd question supporting docs for my wife for her interview just in case. Also I assume the offer letter has a starting date on it, if not I would request it to be added from your new future employer.

If yes then definetly take it along as well as any pay stubs. The key now is your employer is different than what you submitted on the AOS and other docs. If any question is asked in the interview you need to be able to show supporting docs for this at the interview. It isn't so much about you making more money than it is that you have a source of income now that it is with a different employer. All of the above if you have not started the job applies as well if you started the job, just need to be prepared in case they ask the question considering what you signed in the AOS is different now.

Anyway this is just what I would do. Hope this helps and good luck.

How is Toronto considered a POE for United States when its in Canada..that doesnt even make sense.

Many countries have pre-clearance for going through immigration. When flying from the Toronto airport to Milwaukee (or Dublin Ireland to Chicago is another example) you go through immigration and customs in the departing city. With Toronto this is great becuase that allows flights to leave to airports in the US that may not be true international airports with an immigration and customs area.

Sorry I'm new to this. Me and my wife are at the NVC stage, can you tell what do they mean by Choice of Agent ? What is a Agent ?

The agent would be the one that will be doing all the work and filing paperwork etc or the main point of contact for the NVC through this process. Kind of like a power of attorney type situation.

Finnally received an August 14th interview date in Juarez for my wife's IR-1, but still a long wait. How long does it take the consulate to get us the passport with visa etc back after the interview if we pick it up in Juarez? Since the interview is on a Tuesday and assuming no issues and we have all documents (I don't think my wife can even carry everything with all of the photos etc we have) and are approved, are the odds good that we would have her passport etc back in time to our home in the US on Saturday the 18th?

Thanks