maksimov

We used my wife's married name (my last name) on all forms (I-130, DS-260), listing her maiden as "other names used" where requested.

Unfortunately, her visa stamp and green card show her maiden name. Her passport shows her maiden name , but specifies "spouse of <my last name>" since there is no concept of married names in South Korea.

My questions:

1) Is this is a screw up by consulate/USCIS? Or did we have to produce something else to make sure her last name got on the green card?

2) If she wants to use my last name going forward in the US, what are the practical consequences of not having the green card or visa stamp corrected?

3a) What is the procedure to get the name corrected? A new visa stamp and an I-90 form?

3b) How long do these take? Can she travel on the visa stamp while the I-90 is in-process?

Thanks! It's pretty infuriating that the process now might be extended at the last hurdle ...

Wow! If I had filed a few months earlier or 10 months later, I could have skipped all this waiting! Waiting until this month to file would have gotten me into NVC almost as early as my filing last June did!

Congratulations, everyone!

Ditto. I will assume that the new auto-expedites are the result of all the complaining I did to my congressman's office

I also sent our story to neilm. Sad to say, but the right wing in the US has a good track record of making the Obama administration miserable, and that is our best bet to get traction.

I have to quibble with one item in the article: you can visit the US as a tourist while your green card is in process, but you have to follow the rules of the Visa Waiver Program/tourist visa. You must never lie to the border patrol, e.g. whether you've applied for an immigrant visa, and even if you are perfectly honest you can be turned away and shipped back to your point of origin.

My wife has come twice under VWP since we filed the I-130. Both times, she carried a signed letter from me explaining her immigration situation (i.e., since we filed from abroad she will return for her consular interview), as well as financial statements showing her foreign assets. The second time her bags were searched, to check for clues that she was coming here to settle permanently.

NY Times: Program Benefiting Some Immigrants Extends Visa Wait for Others

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/us/program-benefiting-some-immigrants-extends-visa-wait-for-others.html?ref=us&_r=0

Argh, just got an AOS checklist for missing items. They say my I-864 form is incomplete:

1) I did not fill in the number for total household income because I am the sole sponsor. Turns out they want that anyway. (Part 6, Item 10)

2) They don't want total wages from the tax transcript, but total *income*. For me this is a negative number since my income was subject to the foreign exclusion and I had investment losses in the US. (Part 6, Item 13)

Do they really want a negative number for my total income?

Just throwing out an idea: it would useful if the law were clear in allowing people to apply for IR-1 visas (not CR-1s) via Adjustment of Status while in the US on visa waiver.

Passing such a law might be easier than reforming USCIS.

A supplemental strategy: make it known on visajourney.com (and other sites) that once your I-130 petition is past the "normal" processing time of 5 months, an inquiry by your congressman will get a response at USCIS.

If enough congressional offices get flooded with enough constituent requests, someone might notice.

3. Read the requirements here: http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/fees/reciprocity-by-country/KS.html#docs

​This is a nice find! I did not think to look on the page for reciprocity fees; you could do this professionally

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Oh, and indeed, it was a false checklist.

The hits keep on coming!

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​1) I received a cover sheet in the email today, which appears to have been triggered by submitting the DS-260. It says, "We received your Immigrant Visa Application; however, we have not received an Affidavit of Support." Well, I did send the AOS package last week; I presume then that they just haven't gotten around to processing the AOS, and I should ignore this notice?

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​2) I presume also that I should not use this coversheet for the IV package, but the one from the website when the DS-260 was submitted? The barcode is the same, but the address is slightly different. (DS-260 coversheet has "Attn: CMR" whereas this coversheet has "Attn: DR".)

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​3) Korea does not have birth certificates. What they have are "Identification certificates" which show date and place of birth, and "certificates of family relations" which show your parentage (and spouses). I think the combination of these two documents are sufficient as a substitute for a Western-style birth certificate that shows all the info, but does anyone here have any more information?

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​Thank you!

Is there no mention of the Japanese police clearance on the website of the USEM of Japan?

​Good tip: http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivpolice.html

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​They write: Japanese Police Certificates are sealed. If the seal is broken, the certificate is no longer valid. Do not open the certificate prior to submission to the Embassy/Consulate.

That probably answers that, though the interview will be in Seoul.

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​Thanks!

as to translation of a PCC - how to translate a sealed document? I be stumped.

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​The Japan PCC is sealed and probably not in English; the Korean PCC is not sealed, and not in English.

PCCs are the only civil doc you not need to provide copy of,

as

you not need the original in the USA for anything.

birth certificate, marriage certificate, do the original + photocopy bits into NVC.

​Thanks for the info -- I take it then that the originals of the civil documents are returned to the beneficiary at the interview?

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​Also, should I provide certified translations of the police certificates?

Yet another simple question: my wife's Japanese police certificate is sealed. Should we open it in order to provide a certified translation and photocopy? Or just send the sealed envelope in the IV package?

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​Her Korean police certificate is unsealed, so we will provide a certified translation and photocopy for that.

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​Thanks again!

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No it was her surname before she was married. A married woman can either use her maiden name, her married name, or a combination of the two, hyphenated or not.

So both names are part of her "surname" or "family name"

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​Thanks for the reply.

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​Are you suggesting then that I fill out the DS-260 as:

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​Given names: <first name>

​Surname: <maiden name> <married surname>

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​?

Then that's how she should write her name on the forms and that is how her visa and then green card will come.

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​My uncertainty is whether her maiden name can be considered as one of her "given" names on the DS-260. She gave it to herself?

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What is the name on your wife's passport?

​Since in Korea married women retain their maiden names, her passport shows her name as:

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​Surname: <maiden name> (spouse of <married name>)

​Given names: <first name>

Hello,

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​Another simple question: since we got married, my wife has used the full name <first name> <maiden surname> <married surname>.

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​On the DS-260, for the field "given names," should we put <first name> only or <first name> <maiden surname> ?

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She would like her name to appear as <first name> <maiden surname> <married surname> on her green card.

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​Thanks again!

*DS-261, not DS-260

And the DS-261 has to be received, accepted, and then added to the casefile. After all that, it can still be a few days before the IV bill is invoiced. What's the status of your DS-261 when you call NVC?

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​I have not tried calling yet; perhaps on Friday if I still don't get invoiced.

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​Thanks yet again!

This may have been answered already, but I did not find it in a quick perusal: after filing the online DS-260, how long does one normally have to wait before the IV fee can be paid? I filed the DS-260 on January 10th.

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​Thanks!

Doesn't matter. Copies work as long as the signatures are original. (We sent copies of everything except the signature page.)

​Good point; I'll send copies of my tax transcripts and pay stubs, and signed printouts of the i-864 and my employer letter.

A simple question: do I submit original supporting documents (employer letter, pay stubs, IRS tax transcripts) in my AOS package, or photocopies?

NVC case received: 2013/12/09

NVC case # generated: 2013/12/23 (today)

The operator said I could request a change of post from Tokyo to Seoul by email (my wife have been moving around since the I-130 took so long). Would this delay processing at all?

"Just wondering how long the US citizen must be living abroad to be able to expedite the I-130? My husband and I have been living in Mexico for 6 months (I am Canadian he is USC) are we able to file through consulate here or no?

No minimum time written here: http://mexico.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/steps-to-obtaining-an-inmigrant-visa/step-1-file-a-petition.html

Don't panic. That's their standard reply.

I figured as much -- NOA2 to interview has been 3 months for Tokyo. But we shall see; perhaps the USCIS backlog has become the NVC backlog.