Angela Murray

Thanks so much for your response, Nich-Nick. I've been biting my nails ever since I signed up. I was petrified that they'd see that I was on medicaid and think my husband and I were incapable of supporting ourselves. Thanks again!

Thumpity-Thump??

Hello We've just sent off the I-751 for my husband's ROC. My husband and I are both employed. I have/had 2 jobs--During the day I run an online shop of made to order clothing and in the evenings I'm a pharmacy tech working toward my certification. The stress of running my own business and working in a busy pharmacy was causing my health to decline. I've decided to take my shop offline for a while and go fulltime at the pharmacy. The problem is that I have a medical condition that requires regular meds/treatment and I can't go without health insurance.

We live comfortably but there's no way we can manage paying out of pocket for my doctors visits and medication. I went onto the healthcare market place on New York State of Health and as it turns out I'm eligable for medicaid so I signed up earlier today...However I'm now panicking that this could negatively affect my husbands ROC.

If I go through with getting medical coverage via this method, will this cause problems for us? I don't need foodstamps or anything, just the coverage and just for me (he doesn't want health insurance). I wont need it long, once my fulltime hours kick in (which may take a while) I get health insurance through my job but it takes 3 months.

Thanks so much in advance

After a refusal at the interview and an RFE nearly a month later--thanks to our lawyer, my husband got his visa today! His flight is booked for tomorrow and he'll be arriving in NY at 8pm. Thanks everyone for putting up with my ridiculous (and neurotic) questions. We can finally breathe again! I thought I'd be extra cheesy and make him a welcome to America gift basket. Almond Roca, Exfoliating gloves, bath and bodyworks swag in woody man scents, old navy jammy pants, his own tea mug (he's English) and special 'no flat' pillows. It's gonna be in an actual basket. Now I need to find the most stereotypical American looking card I can.

Now that this whole nightmare is over and we've had a good 48 hours to settle I will be billing my lawyer for the nearly $200 in fedex and courier fees from having to rush docs to the UK due to her mistakes. I might ask for 10% of our fees back as well since after her first screw up we did the work from then on.

I don't know if you'd technically call this an RFE but we managed to make it through the entire process rfe free all the way up until the interview on October 11th. My husbands visa was refused that day due to a missing signature on the I864A. He was given the number of the embassy courier and told to get that form back to him asap along with his passport. This was sent out on October 16th and received on the 18th.

What I've learned? Just because you've hired a lawyer, don't assume everything is perfect. Double check your docs.

Several weeks went by and we heard nothing. Upon my calling VOS on Nov 7th I discovered that there was another RFE that we were not notified of. They required proof of status for our joint sponsor. The embassy courier picked that up on November 9th and it was received on the 13th.

What I've learned? Same lesson as before only in addition; Just because you've hired a lawyer don't take that as an excuse to remain ignorant on the visa process. Educate yourself on as much as you can because there's a lot riding on it.

Thanks, Nich-Nick. You're right. We're going to do something really nice when he gets here. Thanksgiving is going to be a little tough without him here. It prob sounds cheesy but celebrating just doesn't feel right.

I called DOS but I just missed them. I call twice a day. Once in the morning and again at noon since it's the end of the day for the embassy is closing in London. Friday is the day we slink into partial insanity because we lose 2 days. Roll on Monday!

Ugh--I'm sorry guys, I'm starting to get sick of seeing my own posts >.<

A quick recap; My husband had his interview at the London Embassy on October 11th and was issued an RFI for my missing signature on the I864A. It was sent and received week later. We were since issued another RFE for the joint sponsors proof of status. They received a photocopy of the joint sponsors passport on Tuesday, the 13th.

My husband and I are REAAAAAAALLLY pushing to be together by Thanksgiving. Any ideas on how long this type of RFE takes to process?

Thanks in advance guys!

Congratulations! Have a wonderful future together!

Thanks again Angela... i am getting all confused here now.. this is becoming so complicated... arghhh... i thought i864a is if the sponsor or joint sponsor is using income from house hold members? in our case , my wife lives with me in london and not working so so we are using her brother in law (who is in states) to be the join sponsor to meet the income requirement and his income is ok to sponsor both me and my daugther plus all his current dependants (his wife +kids) , so in that case do we still need to get i864a filled up? am i completely on the wrong page here?

Thanks a million for your help

Hrmm, There may be a different set of forms in that case. I've used my mother as the joint sponsor and she is also whom we'll be living with so she had to fill out the I864A. Nich-Nick and Holly are oracles of information regarding visa's and one of them are bound to see this thread and shed their wisdom.

Thanks Angela,

where does petitioner needs to sign it? i understand that both my wife(petitioner) and join sponser (her brother in law) needs to fill one i-864 form separetly ? is this not right?

and thanks for letting me know about the passport color copy. we will ask him to send that as well.

No problem

There are 2 separate forms. Your wife will need to fill out the I864 and your joint sponsor needs to fill out the I864A. On the last page of the I864A, Part 2 'I the sponsor' etc, Line 14 it calls for the sponsors signature. I hope this helps

Hi Guys,

it would be great if someone could help me out here.

We live in london and my wife is a US citizen /national and recently our petition (for me and our daughter) got approved , to my understanding now we have to complete ds-230 , ds 2001 and I-864(Affadvit of support) and send them back to the london embassy and get our medical done, we have already filled ds230 and sent it back, just waiting for police certificate to arrive so we can complete ds 2001 and send it to the embassy. my question is in regards to the I-864. my wife lives with me in the uk and does not work so we are using my wife's brother in law in states to be the joint sponsor to full fill the income requirement.

Now does the joint sponsor need to send I-864 directly to the embassy or he sends it to us and we take it along with us on the day of interview? or we need to send it to the embassy well before the interview?

And do we need to send all the orignial documents in support of our visa application before the interview or just need to take it along with us on the day of interview?

one final question? on i-864 form it asks if the sponsor is us national or us citizen ? whats the difference?

please if anyone can answer these questions that would be great.

Thanks

Make sure he double checks every signature and have him send it to you first because the petitioner is going to need to sign it as well. I missed that signature and it's caused a delay in our application. In addition, the co sponsor needs to provide proof of status. A color copy of the biographical data page of his passport will suffice. Make sure he sends that too! I'm literally amidst an administrative processing due to the lack of both of those things. It's a hassle you don't want, believe me! Good luck!

There's an IRS in the embassy in London. Have you inquired with them? They advised me through the process as I was completely unaware that despite the fact that I'd been living in the UK for nearly 3 years that I needed to file my returns for the USA. I had to do 3 at once.

Its not actually necessary to send both. You only need one or the other. So i would just go with the passport because it has her current name on it which has been written on the I-864a. I used my father in laws birth certificate. It was a horrendous copy (i didnt make it, they did and mailed it to me) with the edge cut off. But it showed the name, place of birth and the registrars signature so it worked fine.

Passport it is then. Thanks, Holly. The fact that they accepted your copy considering it's appearance makes me feel a bit better. I must have scanned that passport 10 times before I was satisfied. DX is coming tomorrow.

I kept the cover letter simple:

"To whom it may concern,

This message is is reference to Case number LNDXXXXXXXXXX. Enclosed please find a copy of the passport of my joint sponsor, Latoya Jackson. This document has been requested as an accompaniment to the signed I864-A which was requested at my interview which took place on October 11th, 2012. My passport was submitted to you on October 16th."

What Holly said. Both prove citizenship. What I'm posting about is where did you FedEx her real passport? Where is the lawyer...US or UK? Is the lawyer also sending something to the embassy?

I fedexed the real passport to my husband in the UK. The lawyer is located in London. She's American and has a practice in both London and New York but London is where she's located.

She wanted to send something to the embassy today. She asked me for the scans of my mothers passport and BC yesterday but I didn't send them to her. Should I send them to her as well or would that just complicate things.

I apologize for being so ill informed. My grasp on the matter is not fantastic and I've had to cram as much knowledge in the area as I can over the past few days.

We have both color copies of her birth certificate and her passport biographical data page and the embassy courier is booked for tomorrow. My husband is having real issues with sending her birth certificate because her maiden name is on the birth certificate vs her married name on her passport. He feels (and I completely understand given the circumstances) that 2 different names may cause further RFE's. Is the passport enough or should we include the birth certificate for good measure?

Sorry, I didn't mean husband employed but rather you the sponsor.

So you show $10k on 2011 taxes and because it's self employment, there's not a way to show current income like an employer letter or pay stubs. So all they have to go by is the 10K.

There's a couple of ways that are correct. If you would print an I-864 and follow along, it would make more sense.

FIRST WAY--

You the sponsor/wife

• I-864
  
• 2011 tax return
  

On #21g you add 1 to your household size (Mom) in order to count Mom's money.

On #24b you list Mom and her income.

On #24c you total you+Mom $$

On #24d you put a check mark

Joint sponsor Mom

• I-864A (that's like a permission slip for you to use her income)
  
• 2011 tax return
  
• Another proof of her income is always good
  
• Proof of her US citizenship (birth certificate or passport)
  

In addition to that, you must prove:

• You and Mom reside at the same address, ie household members (photocopies of both driver licenses is good proof)
  
• You and Mom are related as stated in the instructions (photocopy of your birth certificate would show her name as mother)
  

A BETTER WAY if Mom makes enough on her own to cover her household size plus 1 (immigrant). If you aren't a listed dependent on income tax, then you don't have to be counted in household size.

You the sponsor/wife

• I-864
  
• 2011 tax return
  

Joint sponsor Mom

• I-864 (note--no A on that)
  
• 2011 tax return
  
• Another proof of her income is always good
  
• Proof of her US citizenship (birth certificate or passport)
  

The second way is easier because no residence to prove or kinship. And I'm wondering if you included the extra bits on #21 and #24 on your form for the first way to be accurate. The only reason anybody needs to do the first way is if you didn't make enough and Mom didn't either. It's a way family members can pool their money into one pot to get over the threshhold.

And I can't believe I've just spent all that time explaining something your paid attorney should have known and done for you.

Buy me a Starbucks please, next time you're in town

You're on! What state are you in?

Everything's been submitted. They have TONS of tax returns, w2's, letter from my mothers employer saying she's been there for 10 years. From me they have a letter from the website I sell on on official company letterhead (etsy) stating my earnings for this year and a graph provided on their site to show earnings. Even though they only accepted my 2011, when added to my mothers it was still enough. The only ####### up was my missing the signature in the middle of the 1-864A just above where my mother was meant to sign...And now as we're coming to find the proof of status.

Wow i am really at a loss for words on this.. You filed the day before me! What a completely useless lawyer to not even know this stuff off the top of her head never mind fail to research it and get it wrong.

Nich-Nicks second option was the one i was describing via PM. I assumed you would not be on her tax return as a dependant since you have only just got back to the US yourself. There was a mistake on my husbands parents tax return. They listed him as a dependant when he wasnt even there! It wasnt an issue at the interview and they have yet to hear from the IRS about it.

Also there is no need to FedEx your moms original documents. They only need to be photocopies. Did she ever refund your last FedEx expenses?!

I hope you get some good news soon.

I've already fedexed the originals a few hours ago. They're due to arrive on Friday. That's another $60 on top of the last one for the missing signature. She never reimbursed us for the costs. It's a total nightmare situation. When I called the visa center today they said all they can tell me is that the RFE on my joint sponsors proof of status went into the system in late October. It's literally all they said was needed. She said she'd been calling daily but after today's phone call to the visa center and the revelation that followed I don't know. Morale is down big time.

Stuart and I decided that we'll let her do whatever she does to try and amend this but we're not putting our faith in her and definitely not putting all our eggs in one basket. Not after the damage she's caused. He's calling the embassy courier first thing tomorrow to pick up the photocopies of my mothers passport and birth certificate. I went to the library this afternoon and made some really high res scans of them both. We're both remaining proactive and calling the visa hotline in the states daily to make sure nothing else arises. As it stands they don't require ANYTHING else. The only thing they required in the first place was the signed I-864A and since the proof of status is meant to go with it I suppose it's part of the same deal.

We have no idea why we were never contacted about the need for additional information but since our lawyer filed on our behalf the notification went to her. She swears she never received contact from them and neither call center can confirm if notification WAS sent out, only that she is the contact. I want him here for Thanksgiving

I think the courier to the embassy would go straight to the proper people because that's kind of an exclusive delivery service and is only used to send passports or further documentation after an interview. The mailing address gets all the visa appplications and it could get lost amongst the masses of mail. Since the courier normally charges for a "round trip" so to speak he needs to discuss with them that he's already paid for the visa/passport delivery back and this is just an additional document that won't be returning to him. They should give him a "one way" rate if he explains it adequately.

So have you learned what is needed for a joint sponsor so you are sure there's not something else. I'm kinda wondering the scenario since you mention I-864A and not I-864. Want to go over what was provided?

Does your husband have any income?

Does he live with his joint sponsor?

Is the joint sponsor his mother or father? Did he/she fill out an I-864?

Who is the person who did an I-864A?

Thank you so much! He's watching this thread from the UK as well. Sadly I don't feel I've learned all I need to. We need all the help we can get at this point. Going over it would be great.

My husband was employed but put in his 2 weeks notice following the interview. Preemptive but we certainly didn't anticipate this.

The joint sponsor is my mother and I live with her.

My mother filled out the I-864A--I am the sponsor and my mother the joint sponsor. I'm self employed and have surpassed the poverty line ($29K for this year) but since I didn't file my taxes yet for this year the guy doing the interview said he couldn't include it. They could only count my $10K from last year which is when my business had just started. They added that $10K to my mothers $33K.

this 'proof of citizenzip' is part of the I-864 instructions.

Your lawyer missed it, and now you suffer some..

Good Luck on getting the next round of documentation into London IV - I pray it goes faster for you, this time.

We can add that to the list of things she's missed.

Your lawyer is worthless for not knowing the basic rules of an I-864....specifically being signed and all joint sponsors must show they are a citizen or LPR in the US. Your blame on the embassy needs to be placed on the lawyer who prepared or reviewed your forms. Had they been done correctly you would already have your visa.

You said you called USCIS London? They aren't the interview people. USCIS has an office in London, but they don't do interviews and issue visas.. The embassy and interview people are part of the Dept of State, which is the number you called in the US. If you mean you called the embassy helpline, they have no access to your case details and are rarely able to help with details.

London will not require your mothers actual passport or birth certificate. It would go waaaay faster for you to make a good scan of her passport biographic page, email it to fiancé, he prints a good color copy and gets it to the embassy himself. He can do that by having the courier pick it up or just mailing to the IV Unit address.

Immigrant Visa Unit

5 Upper Grosvenor Street

London W1A 2JB

He should include his full name, LND case number and a note that the document was requested at his interview date of _____ to accompany the I-864 of his joint sponsor Mrs. Mary Smith. Also note that his passport has already been submitted to the IV Unit on [date]. Even if you don't think they requested it, just say that as a simple way to get across the point that he has indeed interviewed, the date, and that it is the last piece of evidence.

Question: Was he given a paper at his interview listing what was missing or why he could not be approved at that time? Ask him to read it and see what was listed. Or scan it for you to read the details. Is it possible he missed something?

Thanks for the response. He was given a blue slip with the box 'other' ticked stating that what was require was both parties to sign I-864A.

Believe me we are frustrated beyond belief with the lawyer. We've given her a lot of money to cause us a lot of pain. We've been forced to push all that aside to focus on just getting these issues amended as fast as humanly possible and get my husband his visa.

Thanks so much for the additional info. I'm actually scanning in her passport and birth certificate tonight for him to print off in the morning. Should I send it via the embassy's courier or to normal mail to the IV unit address? Thank you so much for your help.

I'm sorry to hear about what you are going through - my husband interviewed in London and we have been in 'Administrative Processing' for the last year. I've done everything from writing to senators, calling the Department of State, & contacting the Embassy multiple times. I recently wrote to the White House and received a response saying that they are awaiting submission of travel documents & his passport. I don't know what this means yet. My understanding was that we were pending due to Name/Background checks...I am going to try to post a thread about it sometime later today when I have more time. I also need to call the embassy and try to figure out what this means. But if I found out we waited a year after our interview and we never got any requests for this information (after repeatedly calling and asking if there was anything wrong/or missing in our case) - then I will be EXTREMELY upset... I've also heard of someone's petition that expired and denied because they didn't submit information in time that was never requested of them. I will post my thread later, but I wanted to share my experience w/you - will try to share more when I have time and figure out what's going on. All I can say is I'm sorry you have to deal w/that and glad you are on top of it making sure it gets resolved asap!

I'm so sorry to hear that. Did you do DCF?

Your attorney should have known and informed you that your co-sponsor needed to show proof they are a USC or LPR via birth certificate or passport bio page, as it asks for this information to be filled with the I-864. The problem with having to submit paper work after the interview is that, who knows when they will update the file and get the process back rolling once it has been put on hold. Not sure why the co-sponsor would have received an RFE as it is not their case. I seems this should have been caught by the NVC unless they thought the embassy would request the missing information during the interview. Either way, it's unfortunate but you are going to have to stay on top of everyone to make sure the missing information gets to the right place. I wish you the best and they get it together soon.

Hey Reese, thanks for your response. We filed DCF so the NVC wasn't involved in this case...Which from what I hear can really complicate matters (more than they already are). It was all filed in London. I guess keeping on top of things is all I can really do at this point

Seems like you are more on top of this than your paid attorney?

That's what we keep hearing on both sides of the pond. When I spoke to the visa helpline in the UK they recited her contact information and said that since she filed on our behalf she would have gotten the RFE via email. She swears she hasn't received anything. I can't say whether she did or didn't but I'm definitely not at the stage of pointing fingers. I just want my husband here already.

It started with my husbands interview which was at the embassy in London on October 11th. Everything went well and the man conducting the interview said that everything looked good however there was a signature missing on the i864-a form (co-sponsors affidavit of support). He gave him the number of the embassy courier and told him to get that signed form back to him asap and include his passport. The courier picked up the amended i864-a and his passport on the 16th. We were given a tracking number and told it would take around 7-10 working days.

It is now November 7th and we've heard nothing. We've been calling USCIS in the UK and have been consistently been told that the status is 'pending'. We've been stalking the tracking number given to us by the embassy courier but to nothing other than an update confirming that the embassy received it on the 18th. Today I decided to call this number: (202)-663-1225 in the USA from travel.state.gov and got a whole other story--I was told that they've received the signature but are awaiting our joint sponsors (my mothers) 'proof of status' as in proof that she is an American citizen. #######?!

So our case has been sitting in a pile somewhere requiring evidence however neither of us have even been notified! 1: my mother was born in Brooklyn, NY. 2: At no point during the interview did the man ask for proof of our co-sponsors status however he did look at 3 years worth of tax documents and kept the most current for their records along with a letter from my mothers employer at a hospital where she's a certified CNA (apparently this does not constitute proof of status). 3: How can we be expected to act on an RFE we were never even issued? Furthermore have no instructions on how to amend! What documents are required? Where do we send them? It's a damn good thing we're impatient as hell and decided to chase things up another avenue.

When we followed up what we've learned with the embassy in the UK they still had the same lack of information and suggested the only way would be for us to be given a CIU number and an e-mail address for the USCIS.

We immediately called our immigration lawyer who was baffled by the whole thing. She told us to scan in high def copies of my mothers passport and birth certificate and email them to her tonight so that she could send them to the embassy in the morning. In addition I need to expedite via FEDEX the originals to her office. She seems to feel that my husband was rushed through his interview which has now resulted in this massive delay. It's been nearly a month since his interview and we still don't have our answer.

What is going on at the embassy in London? Are things really this disorganized? Has anyone else gone through anything similar or have any insight on the matter? We're losing our minds at this point. Any help would be appreciated.

(sorry about the cross post--Not sure if this would be more an embassy specif related thread or not)

Monday morning, still nothing. My husband was told to call in the event of nothing showing by this morning. He did and was given an e-mail address with a code to put in the subject line. Upon doing so he received an automatic message.

"We are currently averaging three to four days to answer routine email correspondence and seven to ten days for all other email correspondence"

Cool more waiting. Not like I haven't just been through a hurricane and could really use a cuddle from my husband right about now.

"There is no mechanism for "status checks" while a visa application is being processed. Inquiries concerning cases which require

administrative processing or background checks, and which have been pending less than 90 days, will not be answered."

So what purpose will this special e-mail serve if they can't give me the status of anything?? So this is the update as it stands. 20 days since the courier has picked up a form with a mere 'missing signature'.