jerkchixlvr

Hi all....so I am back on here after a long while. We have submitted I-130 paperwork for my stepson, which was received and accepted in March. Now just waiting to hear more from USCIS... I have called USCIS and they have let me know that my case is being processed at the National Benefits Center, and that there is no timeline for completion and that they have no idea when it will be completed or looked at. So frusterating!!! Has anyone had any experience contacting local goverment representatives to help with thier cases? I am wondering if this would help at all? It just irks me to no end that they are SO quick to cash my check, but then take forever in responding. So thats my rant for the day...

Thanks Kata.. cant do anything but look on the bright side in this process LOL

on the BRIGHTER side i called today and they said that my oldest step son has FINALLY cleared nvc (after 4 mnths of AOS checklists) and is on his way to Kingston for interview scheduling..(only after 30 days of waiting smh LOL)

i will make sure to send all this proof that hubby and I live together so they will have nothing to say for his interview.. i hope.. LMBO!!!

Congrats girl!!! I dont know why but these applications are taking FOREVER! So frusterating but glad things are moving along for you. Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well on the next steps for you and your family!

we got an RFE this morning..

its asking for the LONG FORM of my birth certificate .. maybe i missed where the short form is not acceptable, ive been using the same document for all my filings w/ no problem???

so anyway..i will call to clarify and then i guess going to write to our regional ofc to request it, only the short form (which i sent) can be obtained from the local branches..

Also it says that they cant determine whether the children were born out of wedlock so they need more evidence of relationship.. If i had known, i would have sent in a statement describing the situation?? which i will do now and they said i can include:

proof of financial support (which we only have since he has been here, but will send that)

photographs with dates and descriptions (we sent and will send again)

military records showing them as dependents NONE

insurance policies showing them as dependents NONE

school records, business records, records of family events NONE

Lastly, there was a statement about if the father ever resided int he same house, to indicate when and where..

maybe i will ask him to have the mother to write a letter describing the relationship while he was in Jamaica??

ACK! I'm sorry to hear that. The one upside is that hopefully this thread can help you collect information. I think a letter from the birth mother would be great, and along with any other letters from family would help. As for your birth certificate, i had no idea there were different kinds.

Also, as beejay recommended to me, if you have any western union receipts showing that you have sent money to the kids

Can you post a link to where you read this online, please? I can't believe this is true, but am also praying to the high heavens that it is!!!

I would love to see this as well, and also hoping this is the case. Although, wont get my hopes up too high... lol But if its true, i'll be doing alot of this: :dance:

Thanks ladies!!! I swear joining this site recently has been a mental savior!

So I was reading the information about what to include with the 130, did you all complete the G-325a for you and the minor child? how about the 864 along with copies of financial records to support the 864? i didnt see info about either form on the 130 checklist guide for children, just for spouses...

yes please do it on ur own..with the help of vj..i filed everything for husband including Lifting of Conditions last year and the filing for our children..so you GOT THIS!!

Thanks ladies!!! I swear joining this site recently has been a mental savior!

So I was reading the information about what to include with the 130, did you all complete the G-325a for you and the minor child? how about the 864? i didnt see either form on the 130 checklist...

Beejay, has anyone told you yet today that your awesome? Cause u totally are.

I have to agree!!! Beejay is a superstar :star:

Welcome gdalicia! This is a great thread with great people! Wishing you all the best on this journey, and hoping for a positive outcome!

Ugh I have had 'paper discussions' with my husband. You're a better person than me though, I did take my moment of vindication for obsessively trying to keep every Western Union receipt for the last 4 years when we were compiling the packets. (I had kept them when we lived in Dubai too but somehow those got lost in the move it was hard letting that one go...)

If you go to "Guides" at the top of the page there is one on filing for children http://www.visajourney.com/content/childpet but it's pretty basic. It helps to look at that and the I-130 for spouses

Gotta love the obsessive checking of case status/processing times at the USCIS website Are you a CSC or Vermont filer? CSC is on fire right now!

Thanks, as always. Well things are starting to move along. We are getting letters together for my step-sons mother and my Mother and sister in law to sign to include. Luckily (or not) I am the keeper of the books in my house, so my husband rarely gets on my case except for when the papers pile up and its time for me to file. lol

Will keep you all posted as we get this filing on its way. Unfortunately, we are through Vermont which i know takes a while. If CSC is going so quickly you would think reallocating workload would be sufficient...maybe they should move the office farther away from the Ben n Jerry's factory. No more ice cream breaks for them! lol

Although the video sounds really cute CSC, NVC or the embassy won't accept any electronic media but photos are good. You should keep in mind that what establishes your petitionable relationship to your stepson is your USC status and your marriage to his father and your b/c and marriage cert are what prove that. What you should focus on now is your husband's relationship with his son... although it won't hurt your case that you already have a relationship with your stepson You don't need a ton of photos but ideally it would be best if you included photos that spanned from the time your stepson was a baby until now and preferably included your husband. You want the CO/IO whoever to 1. see that the child on the b/c is in fact the child at the interview 2. That your husband has been present throughout his life. I would also print out a few chat records or call logs just to show that they have regular communication and any records you have of his financial support would be good too. Just include what you have and don't stress if you don't have something. (Although these items are mentioned in the instruction form I think if a father was petitioning for his 'out of wedlock' minor child and did not have involvement in their life but a DNA test showed paternity I would think the petition, barring other problems, would get approved. I think showing these things just makes the case easier. However if they do doubt paternity they can ask for a DNA test)

Short answer

-no electronic media (won't be accepted) but you could take still from the video and print them

+photos showing son from baby to now (if you have) and preferably include his father in photos

+call log/chat records/skype log (to show communication between father and son)

+documents showing financial support (western union records for example)

My answer is based on the fact that my husband's name was not on b/c so I wanted to include as much evidence as I could. I know not everyone on here is in the same position as us but are these items similar to what everyone else sent?

LOL thanks! Time to gather all the information, and be thankful that I am obsessive about keeping those Western Union receipts. lol I suppose it would be rude of me to gloat to my hubby that me being organized does have its place. And he thought i was just collecting paper... Anyhoo - I could have sworn that I saw a guide on here about filing the 130 for children and now I can't find it to save my life now that I am at my computer to save the link. I found this one for spouses (http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2) but i swear there was one for children...

Then, once I collect everything, the real fun of waiting and obsessively refreshing the USCIS Case Status page will commence...

jerkchixlvr - I forgot to add that because it states in the I-130 instruction form that when a father is filing for a child 'out of wedlock' to include proof of support and proof of interest in child's welfare so we also had the mother talk about how my husband has financially supported the children since their birth and how he has acknowledged them as his children and maintained a relationship with them. We included proof of this as well in our packet.

Thanks Beejay! What kind of information (bessides the letters from the birth mother- one stating that she gives permission for my step-son to move here, and another stating that my husband and his son have a relationship and that my husband is the sole financial support) did you include. We have photos of the two of them together from his more recent visit. I have e-mails between me and my husbands family requestin photos of my step-son to give to my husband (when we were still dating). I have a video I can send from my step-sons birthday last year where he thanks me and my husband, giving us cake through the camera.

Wishing you all the best in this journey!!! A couple of questions, what documentation did you submit with the packkage? Did you include a letter from the other birth parent of the minor-child that stated the child has thier permission to move here to the US? Do you have a sample , as I am trying to put one together and would love to know what information others have included.

Also, did you include proof of relationship between your child and thier step-parent with the 130? If you did, what kinds of items did you include?

Thanks all! So just a couple of form-related questions on the 130. For question A1, did you state that this is for your child? Under section C - questions about your relative, questions 9 and 10, did you leave those blank or write in "n/a"? ALso, for those who have filed where the other parent is alive or if joint-custody for the children, did you include anything with the 130 submission from the other parent stating that they grant permission for their child to live with you and your spouse in the US? Did you include any other supporting documentation with your submission?

When I filed for my husband, we used a lawyer who was ridiculously expensive and all she did was fill out the paperwork. Advice and guidance was extra, so i really felt duped and cheated. I figured I could do this one alone, and then as the paperwork progressed if there was a legal necessity than i would seek legal assistance.

Thanks Beejay for pointing me to this forum.

My husband and I have been married about 2 years. I am a USC and he is a GC holder since Feb. At the moment we are trying to work out ways to bring my step-son here. Originally, we really wanted him to be here for the summer and then go back home in August to complete the school year and file for him starting next year, so we filed for a tourist visa which was not granted. Anyone try this route and then file for a I-130 afterwards? What were the outcomes? Did you wait a specific timeframe? Due to some changes in my step-sons living situation i am just trying to see what others have experienced.

Are you a USC or an LPR ? The forum you posted under makes it unclear

USC

Crazy enough, she will let him come here permentanly to live (in my opinion she is F'ing crazy). She will also write the necessary letters allowing this and will get them notarized. I am just curious more about the time inbetween processes... if someone else has gone through this and what they experienced, etc. We are also looking into him going down and obtaining sole custody, but in the meantime my step-son lives (and has been for 6 months) with my MIL becuase his mother doesn;t want any responsibility (i.e. why i think she is F'ing crazy...if you dont want the responsibility of a child, than why mess up his tourist visa. But then there is no reasoning with crazy).

Its a bizarre sitaution. Which is why i am reacing out to this community. Really more concerned with the timing inbetween processes and what others have experienced. I think we would be OK in an interview, especially if we state that his mother has basically abandoned him. At the moment they have shared legal custody as their divorce was here in the US.

I've been married for two years where I sponsored my hubby for a gren card which was approved and received, and our plan was to have my step-son come visit for the summer to see how he would like living here and to also make sure that, as a family, the dynamics were OK especially becuase (as you probably know) life in the US is not all candy and rainbows. I work full-time, my husband works full-time (sometimes 80+ hours a week), and at home my step-son has a ton of family and friends around to spend time with at all hours of the day, which is why we wanted to make sure he would be OK being here. Here we would send him to camp where he didn;t know other children, living in an area where he couldn;t just walk down the street and find a friend or cousin at any time. Then, once we knew he could be OK, we were going to file a I-130 in about a year to try and live with us permenantly hopefully for next school year.

Well, the evil birth mother messed up his tourist visa interview on purpose and now hubby and I are looking at other options. Has anyone else out there had this issue? What have you done, and what were the outcomes? Did you file a I-130 shortly after not obtaining a tourist Visa? Did you try for the Visa again? DId you wait a while (what was the timeframe) before filing the I-130? I dont really know what to do here, we are not really in the best situation for a pre-teen but will do what we have to do becuase we love him. At the moment, we are just heart-broken and angry so I am really hoping that i can get some ideas from this forum...