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Hi there,

Our I-130 got approved and we are submitting our packet that has the D-260, I-864, etc and I am a bit confused about the visa fee payment. I am reading the 'Instructions for IV and K Visa Applicants' and it reads:

"FEES: Immigrant Visa Applicants must be prepared to pay the visa fee on the appointment date. For detailed information about immigrant visa fees please see our website. http://germany.usembassy.gov/visa/iv/fees/. K Visa applicants must pay the application fee the local currency equivalent. In order to pay the fee, you must create a profile with our Visa Service Provider: http://www.ustraveldocs.com/de. Information on fee payment process is available athttp://www.ustraveldocs.com/de/de-niv-visafeeinfo.asp. You will not be able to schedule your appointment without payment of the online fee."

What confuses me is that the first line says we must pay the fee on the appointment date and that the last line says that you will not be able to schedule your appointment without payment of the online fee. Is the online fee a second fee for creating a profile or is it referring to the same fee?

I have read on the forum where someone paid a fee related to the DS-160 and my wife will fill out a DS-260 so I imagine it will be similar. I'd just like to be sure, since every mistake sets one back so far.

Thanks so much for any help!

Hi there,

My wife and I got married in May and filed an I-130 via DCF in June. At the time, we chose not to change our names (hyphenated version of our last names) because we were afraid of the delay having to change our passports, IDs, etc might cause in our filing. So, once we reach the US, I will have to go through a legal name change through the courts (California).

My question is, has anyone done this and can you tell me a bit about the procedure? I've looked it up online but it's rather vague. Which office would I file with? Does anyone know the filing fees? Do I have to change my passport if my new name is a hyphenated version of my original? I am the US citizen.

Also, what's the procedure for my wife? Does she have to change her name here in Germany or do we go through the same procedure when we get to the US?

Thanks so much!

Hi there,

I'm hoping someone can help me out with this.

We filed for a 129-F and got pretty far along in the process when, because of family circumstances, we decided to suddenly get married on a trip to the US. We now need to withdraw our 129-F petition and file an I-130 via Direct Consular Filing.

My questions are:

Is there a waiting period between when we send in the letter to withdraw our 129-F and filing the I-130?

Is there something special I need to include when I send in the I-130, explaining about the cancellation?

Is there anyone who has actually gone through thism who can tell me what needs to be done? I've seen posts but they involve different circumstances or people who were asking if they should do it.

Thanks so much for any help!

Hi there,

I mailed a request for extension letter to the Frankfurt Consulate a month ago, as per their instructions, I haven't heard anything back yet. Can someone tell me how they go about notifying you and how long it usually takes?

We have the whole process to go through - turning in paperwork, paying fees, medical, interview - and I don't want to start that until I'm certain we've been granted the extension.

Thanks for any help!

Hi there,

I mailed a request for extension letter to the Frankfurt Consulate a month ago, as per their instructions, I haven't heard anything back yet. Can someone tell me how they go about notifying you and how long it usually takes?

We have the whole process to go through - turning in paperwork, paying fees, medical, interview - and I don't want to start that until I'm certain we've been granted the extension.

Thanks for any help!

Oh my goodness, I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum. Please delete it. Sorry!

I will do that. Thank you for the info!

Hi everyone,

Our expiration date is coming up for our 129-f visa on November 14th. We are not going to make it and need an extension.

We need a co-sponsor for our I-134. My grandparents were going to do it but then my grandmother had a problem with her birth certificate (it says Maria instead of Mary, the name all of her documents are in). We couldn't use them so my aunt decided to help. We have been asking her to send us the paperwork since May or June. She took quite awhile to get it all together. Once she finally did, we realized that she hadn't ordered the IRS transcripts. For some reason, they took much longer than usual to arrive.

She finally sent out the paperwork in September... and it never arrived. It is lost in the mail and USPS cannot find the packet. They mailed it out standard mail so there is no tracking number. Naturally, she freaked out because that packet is a gift from Heaven for anyone wanting to steal an identity. It took some convincing to get her to re-send the information but she is going to... after she re-orders the IRS transcripts.

I don't even think she has ordered them yet so there is no way to have them there, then have it mailed here (even by express mail), have the packet to the Consulate, reviewed and our additional info to us in time to make the Nov. 14 deadline.

We desperately need an extension. Does anyone have any advice or has anyone gone through the need of an extension?

Do I need to write a formal letter or can I send an e-mail to explain the situation.

We are in Germany and our Consulate is Frankfurt.

Thanks so much!

Thank you for the replies!

Hello,

I have a question that I hope someone will be able to answer. It looks like we will need an extension beyond the four months to complete the medical/interview. I have read on Visajourney that, when an extension is requested, the Consulate will give another four month extension. We would need only about a month or two to get everything completed, not the full four months. In fact, waiting the full four months could cut into the date we need to be moved by.

My question is, when you do get an extension, are you able to get the medical, notify the Consulate and request an interview date some time during the extended period? Or do they send you an interview date whenever, which is closer to the end of the extended period?

Thanks!

We got an RFE because they wouldn't accept our typed and signed Intent of Marriage letters, they wanted them handwritten.

Has this happened to anyone else? I sent off the packet last week and ours were typed, printed and hand signed, but not handwritten.

We live in Germany and I mailed the packet to my mom in the US, so she could write a check for me and get a USPS tracking number. I'm wondering now if we should let her go ahead and mail it or hand write two more letters of intent and have her include them.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Thanks for the info. :-)

I will send them an e-mail and see what they say. *fingers crossed*

Maeve,

Can you please tell me which form you submitted to Denmark to show that you were not married? I am part of a same sex couple and have been in a Lebenspartnerschaft (registered partnership) with my wife since 2010. I am American and she is German. We want to get married in Denmark so we can do DCF in Frankfurt, but I just ran into an issue.

I e-mailed the Haderslev kommune to see if our Lebenspartnerschaft certificate is sufficient to show that we are not "married". I received an e-mail back today stating "If this documents is like a marriage certificate and you need to get a divorce to get out of it, then you cannot be married here. Because we would look at his like a marriage."

As an American, I am considered single and I guess I can produce something that says so. As a German, my wife is not considered married but in a registered partnership and all of our German documents list that. If we were to dissolve the partnership in order to get married, I would be deported because I have no right to be in Germany. If we did this to get married in Denmark, the same would happen because Germany doesn´t have same sex marriage, but Lebenspartnerschaft. We have to be legally married to go to the US but in a Lebenspartnerschaft to be in Germany.

I am just wondering which documents you and your spouse were able to produce that listed you as single and not in a partnership.

Thanks so much for your help!

Has no one ever heard of such a problem? Or maybe I should post it in another place?

I called USCIS and the man I spoke with was very dismissive. He didn't seem to understand the problem and didn't seem to want to comprehend it. He told me to take my grandmother's documents to my local office and maybe they can tell me what to do about the different names. I told him my local office is in Frankfurt and my grandmother's documents are in California. He then told me that taking them into the California office would probably be better. Ok... but I am in Frankfurt and my grandmother is 85 years old and probably shouldn't be driving 2 hours away to go to an office where they may not be able to help her. I asked if there was any other way of going about this or any office that might be able to give me a definitive answer vs. a "maybe they can help"? He said he couldn't think of any.

I am so frustrated and confused about what to do.

If anyone has heard of such a thing and can offer any assistance, please let me know.

Thanks so much.

Hi everyone,

I have a question that I haven't been able to find any information on online and I am wondering if anyone else has had to deal with such a problem.

My grandparents are going to be the joint sponsors for my wife. When gathering information for the forms, we discovered that my grandmother's first name is different on her birth certificate (Maria) than on any other form of identification that she has (Mary), such as her Social Security card, California ID, school records, etc. She was born in the 1920s in Texas and she has been in California since she was a young child. She has only ever gone by Mary so this was a shock to all of us, including her.

I have to submit this birth certificate as proof of citizenship, as she has no passport. I'm terrified of the problem this is going to create, since the name on the birth certificate is not going to match her SSN and there is no documentation that links my grandmother to the name Maria.

I have sent an e-mail inquiry to the Frankfurt Consulate but it say they have 5-7 business days to answer.

I was just hoping someone else may have gone through something similar.

Thanks for any help!