AngelaHurry

I brought a copy of my 1040 and the transcript from the IRS and they only took the 1040 copy. I would submit your wife's taxes just to show she has been filing and submit your bank statements for the last six months.They may not look at them but at least give them the option.

My husband was denied a tourist visa for the same reason two years ago when we were dating. During the interview for his immigrant visa (we did DCF in Seoul) the consular officer asked him about this and after he explained she apologized for the inconvenience it must have caused us. Don't worry as long as you are honest!

I did DCF and I put my non-US address because I was worried that they might try to send me something to that address and I wanted to show that my husband and I lived together.

My husband and I had his interview on Friday (July 11) for his CR1 visa at the US Embassy in Seoul and were approved! We received a lot of helpful information from Visa Journey, so I wanted to write up our experience and post it here for others.

List of things we brought (underlined are the things they actually took):

*We attached all documents we could to a copy of it so they could take either the original or the copy*

Appointment confirmation

Two passport size photos of husband

South Africa Police Check with copy (took original and gave us the copy)

Marriage Certificate attached to copy, translation, and letter from translator

Korea Police Check, attached to copy, translation, and letter from translator

I cannot stress how important it is to have the “right” Korean police check. They detail the three things the check should cover in the packet three information so be sure to read that carefully. They mention it casually as if every police check comes with ‘expunged records’ included on it but you actually have to ask the police officer at the police station to please include this. We saw two girls get turned away because they didn’t have the right police check.

South Africa birth certificate, attached with copy

I864 with copies of my 2013 tax forms (1040 & 2555EZ), 2012 tax transcripts and copies of forms & copies of forms and 2011 tax forms

They took the I864 and the 2013 tax form copies. I was worried that they would not be enough because they specify they want your transcripts, but mine wasn’t ready yet at the IRS. They were happy just to have the 2013 tax form copies, which was a big relief.

Joint sponsorship I864 form attached to a copy of my dad’s 2013 1040, copy of his birth certificate, copy of her passport information page

They told me that if my income was good enough, that they would not need him as a joint sponsor, but they took the forms anyway. They never told me whether or not he is officially a joint sponsor.

Our Korean bank account statements from December-July

Our work contracts

Letter from our principal stating that we reside together at the residence the school pays for us

Pay slips from school for December-June

My proof of domicile. I had the papers all clipped together with a letter on top explaining that I had always intended to move back to America and the address of where we would live in America. This is what was included in my domicile:

Letter from my dad stating that we were both welcome to reside with him

Copy of the title to my car in America

Letter from family who I will be a nanny for part time

Statements from my American checking account

Emails from KEB Bank showing every time I had sent money into my American account

Credit card statements showing that my address was in America

Email notification of a course I took online to help me better understand human rights because I intend to apply for non-profit jobs

Letters from the alumni association of my high school in New Jersey thanking me for my donations the past two years

They took all of the domicile!

My husband wrote a letter detailing the steps he has taken to apply for jobs and the steps he would take upon arriving to avoid becoming financially dependent on the State. Attached to his letter:

Copy of his university degree

Copies of the email notifications from jobs he has applied for recently

Certificate for online classes he has been taking

Copy of his personal training certificate

Our experience:

They start letting people in at 7:30 and it is first come first serve because everyone has an 8am appointment time. We got there at 6:50 and were the third people in line so I would recommend coming no later than 7 because the line grew quite consistently in the time before the doors opened.

We headed to the second floor and “checked in”, which included a women checking my husband's passport and then headed to the 3^rd floor.

There is a number machine on the 3^rd floor so take one and sit down.

When your number is called they will take all of your paperwork. It’s important to have them all out of whatever binder or folders you have been using to organize them and in the order of the packet 3 checklist that they will email to you. It’s at this time that they will give back to you any forms they don’t want. They took the forms and asked us to sit down.

We waited about 30 minutes and my husband was called up to have his fingerprints scanned. Then he was given a payment paper and told to go to the cashier on the 2^nd floor to pay. The fee was $230 USD/241,000 KRW.

We then waited about a half hour more. We had read online that they try to weed out the people who don’t have the right paperwork first, so if you are not called for a while that is a good thing.

When we were called, I went up with him for the interview because we saw the people before us go up together. The woman asked us to raise our right hands and swore us in under oath. She then asked my husband when we got married and how we met and when we met. She then asked if we were both English teachers and we said yes. She then asked me what our plans were and I told her about my part time job I has set up so I could work while applying for more full time positions and how we would live with my dad. She then asked my husband about his rejected tourist visa in 2012 and he told her that he was told he didn’t have strong enough ties to South Africa or South Korea so he was denied. She then said she was sorry to hear that and told us our visa had been approved and that we would receive his passport within five days.

It all happened very fast!

In regards to the visa lawyers, we met two girls who were there applying for fiancée visas and they both were turned away because their lawyers had given them the wrong information in regards to what they had to prepare. I would suggest to do your own research in addition to using a lawyer/specialist.

Let me know if you have any questions! I would be more than happy to help!