BaBamSam

I misunderstood. I thought you mean self sponsoring was news to you.

No, I am not aware of individual states regulating money transfers. The banking portion of the Patriot Act (post 9/11) has some reporting requirements of large amounts of money being moved about to help with money laundering issues. And the newer Dodd-Franks Law (2013?) adds some layers of disclosure of fees and exchange rates more clearly to consumers using a transfer service to protect the consumer. But those are federal law and would apply to all states.

Bam Bam...of course $200k would get approved. Most are probably wondering if a small amount like $10-20k would do, so that is still a mystery.

Yeah, I know there are some money-laundering protection things. I asked my fiance to call up one of his banks and ask about it again. We hadn't heard of it until it was mentioned (by two different banks even). Though there was also tons of tax confusion and stuff that he had to sort out with his property and such, so there's a very good chance that he misunderstood or something was conveyed incorrectly!

I meant the comment that some states make it illegal to transfer money from overseas into US bank accounts. I don't see information on that on your link, or am I missing something?

I'll see if I can get some more concrete info for you via a link or something. It was an issue raised by his banks in the UK that we had no idea about until they mentioned it. I think "illegal" is a bit harsh, but in some states they apparently have more strict controls over how much can be transferred in a certain time frame.

Without wishing to be rude or personal, could you tell us the amount that he had in his savings account? It would be really useful for people coming after you to have some idea of how much is 'enough'.

Congratulations on his approval and having the confidence to 'self sponsor'. I'm sure it was a nervous time for you.

Thank you so much for this. Nobody has detailed it in a separate thread before. Excellent preparation too.

I am going to add the London link that discusses self-sponsoring to your thread

http://london.usembassy.gov/faffidavit.html

And yes, the burning question of how much is enough? I know it is subjective and is not a numerical calculation of x times the poverty level. Can you give us a ballpark idea?

I am aware of a $50k and $42k being accepted in maybe 2009 or 2010. And a continuing revenue from apps sold online plus $8k being enough in 2012.

Thanks guys!

It was a significant amount in his savings (around ~200K). I think, judging by the reaction of the interviewer, that a smaller amount would have been accepted, too. I wish I could give more details about the cutoff!

As some of you might remember, my fiance and I had opted to forego the I-134 in favor of him self-sponsoring (an option available at London). While it was an option, there was very little concrete info on how to do it. We basically had to guess at what they'd want to see, and he spent a lot of time in banks getting paperwork from them. For the benefit of anyone else considering this route, I thought I'd write up this post.

First, know that this is not the standard route at London. When my fiance got to the interview, the man asked for his I-134 and he replied "I would like to self-sponsor". This threw the man behind the counter off and he openly said that they don't get that often so, to my fiance, "all right, what do you have for me?".

Here is what my fiance had:

- A topsheet with a summary of the four main assets he was demonstrating, with an explanation at the bottom of how he was planning to convert said value into dollars (note: it is actually illegal in some states to transfer money from overseas into domestic bank accounts, and we acknowledged in that letter that California was not one of them)

- A signed and stamped letter from his savings bank with the balance in it

- A signed and stamped letter from his day-to-day checking/savings bank with the balance in it

- A signed and stamped letter with the value of his portfolio (dated within two weeks of the interview) and a brief summary of stocks/bonds that made it up

- A signed letter of valuation for his flat, along with the deed to prove ownership.

Here is what the interviewer was interested in:

- The top spreadsheet, after looking at which he said "all right, show me the savings account"

- The savings account letter, after looking at which he said "yeah, that'll be enough".

My fiance asked if he wanted to see info on the other accounts, or the deed/valuation to his flat, and the officer just flipped through the paperwork in about 2 seconds and said "yeah, it's fine".

So. That was it. Despite the officer only really being interested in the first two things, I would still recommend that anyone going this route bring as much info as they can - just in case.

If anyone has any questions, please ask away! I hope this helped someone on their journey.

Thanks for the luck guys! He was approved! Managed to get home by 9:30am even! SUPER HAPPY

My fiance is about to leave his house in London for his interview. Luckily, he is about a 20 minute walk from the embassy so there's no stress about transportation. As it's at 8am, it'll be midnight for me and I plan on staying up until he gets home to call me and tell me how it went.

Will report on the outcome and on how his attempt to self-sponsor goes!

Few quick questions...my fiancé sent off all of his DS forms and DS-2001 on August 29. They were logged on September 6. How long can we expect to wait to hear of an appointment date being issued. We did state on our cover letter that we would be willing to take a cancelation and our desired arrival date was October 1 in the US.

We were planning on a mid October wedding, but we are pushing it back to November now that it's cutting it so close. However, I'm a teacher and we have a weeks fall break mid October that we would desperately like to share as a family while me and the kids are off work and school. Only 4 weeks away...think there's a chance of us making it?

I can't say with certainty obviously, but your expectations seem too optimistic. For reference, everything was logged for us at the end of July, we didn't get our letter with our date until August 23rd, and our date isn't until September 19th.

Hey fellow December filers! Happy to see good news from so many! Sorry I disappeared there for a bit - lots of personal stuff pushed visa worries down on the priority table, but now it's back to the game

Aw I'm sorry for this hassle!

I would suggest resending the readiness letter after contacting the embassy, as well.

We didn't get our interview date until 5 weeks after everything was received by the embassy, so it was also a wait there. And we had to wait a month after that for the interview itself!

I know what you are asking. The London letter says the petition has to be valid to "process your case to conclusion".

I interpret "conclusion" as meaning visa approved, printed, and stuck in the passport. Do you think your case was concluded when you sent form? If so, then don't worry about it. I can't say what will happen. I only wanted to remind you to have a look at the letter again and decide.

The one interview I remember as far as anecdotal evidence to offer, had an interview about three days before expiration of the petition. They were told at the interview a notarized letter was needed. Not much to go on, so be sure and report back how it goes for you and write it in your timeline review of the interview.

Edit to add: Your interview is not in Canada or Israel. London says notarized. The date in the letter is the NOA2 date according to people who were asked this question. The new wording about expiration wasn't always in London letters. They added it.

Thanks for your help (awesome as always), Nich-Nick.

I guess the ambiguity of "conclusion" is what was throwing me. I mean, it took over a month from everything being received by the embassy to send him a date - which was for a month later, so we hadn't given much thought to the expiry. Just to be safe, I overnighted a notarized letter today so he'll have it. I'll report back on what he encounters for sure.

Thanks again!

As Harpa said, they will extend your validity period at the interview and everything will be fine. In my case in Canada I got my medical, etc done before the validity period was up and then my interview was after my validity period and I am here in the USA with my, then fiancee, now wife. I and I am sure there are others, are proof positive that just because the validity period passes does not mean they deny you. Take everything that you need to the interview including a updated letter of intent dated within 30 days of interview and you should be fine. Hope this gives you peace of mind. Blessings on the rest of your journey.

Thank you for this. Was your fiance's new letter notarized or just signed?

Read your London packet 3 letter again. It specifically says if you go past the 4 month validity of your petition (they give a date at the bottom of the letter), then the beneficiary needs a new letter of intent from the USC that is NOTARIZED to take to the interview in order to revalidate the expired petition.

Most don't go past but I can think of one who reported this year that they were asked to get a notarized letter and their visa was on hold until it was received by the embassy. Whether your non-notarized letter will be accepted, I don't know. A new letter of intent is not normally presented as part of the interview process. Just reminding you of specific instructions from London concerning expired petitions.

Oh, is the validity on the packet 3 different from the NOA2? My fiance isn't around to check the letter.

Read your London packet 3 letter again. It specifically says if you go past the 4 month validity of your petition (they give a date at the bottom of the letter), then the beneficiary needs a new letter of intent from the USC that is NOTARIZED to take to the interview in order to revalidate the expired petition.

Most don't go past but I can think of one who reported this year that they were asked to get a notarized letter and their visa was on hold until it was received by the embassy. Whether your non-notarized letter will be accepted, I don't know. A new letter of intent is not normally presented as part of the interview process. Just reminding you of specific instructions from London concerning expired petitions.

See, but my question revolves around whether or not we will get automatically renewed because all of our stuff (medical, paperwork, etc.), was submitted before the expiry date (nearly 2 exact months before the expiry).

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I've been away for so long (personal things arose that pushed even the visa down the priority of worries list for a while there). Anyway, I have a couple of quick questions.

Basically, my fiance sent all of his paperwork and had his medical in mid-July. He didn't receive a notice for his interview until late-August and it's scheduled for September 19th. I'm assuming this is perfectly fine, but the "validity period" on our NOA-2 expires September 15th - before his interview. Our assumption is that since we did everything on our end before that expiration, so we were literally just waiting on the embassy, we're OK, right?

Second question, I sent him a ton of paperwork in mid-June with everything he could ever potentially need for the interview (including a new letter of intent from myself, I-134, etc.). That time frame is still OK for all of that stuff, right?

The embassy taking so long to set an interview date really caused me a lot of stress (and continues to do so). Just wanted to check on those things.

As for the sponsor stuff, we are still going to attempt to self-sponsor. He has his final bank appointments in two days to collect the rest of the info. Will definitely let everyone know how that goes!

We're going to have a very quick courtroom thing in California upon his arrival (his mom and brother will be here, but my parents/family probably won't bother to fly out for it).

We are planning an ~actual~ ceremony for September 2013 that will be around 100 people and mostly just a celebratory weekend back in my home state of New York (upstate where things are pretty).

But on the flip sides many liberals are against the death penalty, Same thing

P.S. I am pro choice and pro death penalty

Except that being pro-choice isn't being pro-death. So it's not the same really. It's also the reason the abortion argument is a hard one to have since pro-choicers don't see a fetus as a life, whereas pro-lifers argue life starts at conception.

Come on, it's all good. After signing off on more than 260 executions - that's more than half of the 500 total which this threat is about, Perry woke up today and went to give a keynote address at a Right to Life convention in Dallas. I think they call it schizophrenia.

Oh, I thought it was called conservatism.

Well they do work 273x harder, obviously.

My fiance is going to self-sponsor (though we have a co-sponsor I-134 ready just in case). He had his property in London valued/appraised and signed off on, and had his other assets signed/notarized somehow. Other assets being savings accounts, stocks/bonds, etc.

Hey Everyone.

Thought I'd give an update about my fiance's medical experience as another story for anyone curious.

He had his appointment today at 9:30am. He had prepared the "medical history" forms beforehand and gotten a list of his vaccinations last week. Lucky for him, Knightsbridge is about a 10 minute walk from his house so he had an easy time getting there. He walked in about 3 minutes before his appointment and was called at exactly 9:30am. They had him fill out another sheet about his medical history, and only asked him one question about his allergy-induced asthma. Everything was pretty standard, though he was a bit surprised to have blood drawn for tests. They told him that everything should be sent to the embassy on Monday and as long as he doesn't hear anything from them, it's all good!

Overall, he said they were extremely efficient and he was out of there in a reasonable time. They gave him a list of vaccinations he needs for AOS, which all seem to be covered.

Next step - interview ready/cover letter!

I just leased a car for the first time about 3 weeks ago, and one of my good friends who is a UK citizen on her temporary green card is doing the same this week.

Here's what I've learned: there are no strict rules about who can take out a lease. As in, it depends on the city, dealership, time of year, etc. My suggestion would be to contact dealerships in the area and explain, upfront, that you are foreign and recently moved to the US and are becoming a permanent resident.

While getting a lease on a car is a great way to establish credit, it is probably not the best route for someone in your position. I would advise looking at credit cards, like the Capital One program, that are designed for immigrants to build history. Also, talk to your bank or credit union about ways to build your credit as they often have schemes that allow you to take a loan out against yourself to establish credit.

My lease story was highly unusual: I have very little credit, but it is extremely good. I have no full time job (I freelance) and could not provide proof of income. I was given a 3 year lease for a low monthly payment and $0 down. The only concern was that I had only resided at my current address for about 7 months. After a friendly chat, they decided they didn't care. This is probably because I live in Los Angeles where half of the population lacks a full time job because of the main industry being driven by freelance and gig work.

I will reassure you that you have sent more than enough.

Copy of I-129F packet, and NOA1 and NOA2 originals or even photocopies are not part of the interview process. One year of tax returns is also enough, not three. People get approved without any even, but a tax return is an excellent way to prove income. Looks like your part is done.

I hope you kept a photocopy of the NOA2 as it is essential for adjustment of status. If you didn't, tell your fiancé to make sure it gets back to the US for the time when it is needed.

Thanks! I just wanted to make sure I didn't stupidly overlook anything - and I tend to send more things than necessary, I know

I do have a photocopy of the NOA2 and he's going to be bringing it back with him anyway.

Only if he lets the petition approval (NOA2) expire before he submits his forms and does his medical. I bet she makes him get right on it so no worries that it will need revalidating with another letter of intent. It's in the Instruction letter from London. Copy of the letter found in post #18 of the pinned K1 interview thread above.

Hahaha I sent him another one anyway, but he will definitely be getting everything done before the NOA2 expires. For both of our sakes.

Hi Friends!

I'm back to double check that I've sent my fiance everything he'll need for the interview. Here's what has been posted:

Copy of I-129F packet I submitted

NOA1 and NOA2 originals

I-134 Form (dad is sponsor)

- 3 years tax transcripts

- letter from his employer with title, salary, start date and permanency of position

- 2 most recent paystubs

I-134 Form (my own)

- 3 years recent tax forms

I think my dad included a letter from his credit union about his checking and savings account, too, but I'm not 100% sure.

How is this looking? My fiance is still going to try to self-sponsor first with the following:

- Proof of property ownership (valued a few weeks ago)

- Proof of liquid financial assets

- Proof of stock holding and non-liquid assets

- Proof of bank account funds

His police certificated (finally) arrived today (got lost, naturally) and he'll schedule his medical tomorrow. He has all the forms he needs, I wrote up the cover letter, and he's retrieving his birth certificate from his mom this week at some point.

Can someone reassure me that my paranoia and stress is not warranted? Or point out something I'm missing?

Thank you all for bearing with me (again)!

always check the requirements first

California requires a blood test first, Washington does not

Uh, California does NOT require a blood test. Source: http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/birthdeathmar/pages/marriagelicenseceremonygeneralinfo.aspx

Previous marriage to a foreigner will be a question and that's it - typically.

The second flag you have is not a flag - it's a wailing raid siren. Getting pregnant by another man while dating you and applying to come over to marry you is going to look like a textbook case of a sham marriage. I am not saying that it is a sham or that I don't believe you have a true loving relationship (it does not matter what I think or don't), but the officer will not see this as OK. I would immediately start preparing a Plan B because the odds of Plan A working are just so so so small if they find out the baby is not biologically yours.

Regardless, I wish you, your fiancee, and your soon-to-be child the best of luck with this difficult situation.