onlineclicker

Thank you teeak, I would have never thought of that! When I see those numbers, I don't even read them. I copy and paste, and think 'that is me' without much further analysis.

Sounds like I lucked out, I got WAC. I never would have imagined being WAC would be a good thing

Hi Guys,

Ok, so I'm residing outside the country with my wife in Costa Rica.

We FINALLY sent in our I-130 after many hours of work and obsessive verification of everything on my part.

We sent in the package on August 12th.

On the 17th I got an email with Form I-797 receipt number.

On the 18th they cashed my check.

In Costa Rica it is virtually impossible to get mail. I gave a US address of a family friend on the I-130 part C, point 18 (Address in the United States where your relative intends to live). But no notice has reached that address.

I'm guessing I won't be getting the physical copy.

But I can I get it electronically?

I just signed up for USCIS website today.

Also, is there any way for me to know my processing center? I checked my receipt number on the USCIS website and all I got was this:

On August 13, 2015, we received your Form I-130, Immigrant Petition for Relative, Fiance(E), or Orphan, Receipt Number EDITEDNUMBERFORPRIVACY, and sent you the receipt notice that describes how we will process your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you do not receive your receipt notice by September 12, 2015, please call Customer Service at 1-800-375-5283. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

Background:

US Citizen Expat

Married for 1 1/2 years

Looking to go back

Outside the country for 10+ years

Unreliable family in the US

-------------------------

Situation:

I want to pay my fee for the I-130

I read that:
Personal checks must be pre-printed with the name of the bank and the account holder. Also, the account holder’s address and phone number must be pre-printed, typed or written in ink on the check. All checks must be typed or written in ink. http://www.uscis.gov...mmigration-fees

I don't have a personal check here that has these qualities (preprinted with name)

-------------------------

Solution?

I do have a business check from a DBA I own in Florida and that I still use. These business checks have my name and underneath my DBA and US phone number (it forwards to where I am). They look like this:

First Name Middle name Last Name
DBA MY BUSSINESS'S NAME

XXX-XXX-XXX

Do you guys think this will do? I'd still have to write in the address, but that part should be fine to write in.

-----

P.S. if you read my other thread, I'd rather avoid using my Dad's check as he does not have online banking, I do and can see when the check is cashed. (to those who didn't see my other thread, disregard this last part)

Thanks, the problem is I'm outside the US (I'm an expat, sorry I didn't mention that, now that I look back I should have included that info right at the start of this thread)

Type writter... don't think I could easily find one. Good idea though.

Hi Guys,

First off, thanks guys. It's been a few months, but I'm finally ready to send in my I-130 package. Plus, I'm also well prepared for the re-establishing of residency (thanks to you fine people).

But now that I'm putting the finishing touches on my package, I have two questions:

1- Check,

I have a personal check from a US bank with sufficient funds to cover the fees. The problem is my checks don't have my name/address/phone number pre-printed on them as is instructed by USCIS (see * below for the exact text from USCIS that I'm fretting over). My dad has a personal check with his name and my mother's name pre-printed, but not address and phone number. I have a few options, please let me know which you feel is best:

1.1- Write my name, address and phone number on my check which currently has no pre-printed info

1.2- Use my father's checks with his pre-printed name and just adding his phone number and address

1.3- Trying to get my bank to send me checks with the pre-printed required info.

1.4- Have a US friend/relative send me the physical money order via snail mail and then send I in my package (I'd rather not send anyone the package... I worked too hard for this to be messed up by some well intention-ed but not obsessive like me relative)

* Personal checks must be pre-printed with the name of the bank and the account holder. Also, the account holder’s address and phone number must be pre-printed, typed or written in ink on the check. All checks must be typed or written in ink. http://www.uscis.gov/forms/paying-immigration-fees

Thanks guys.

Also, I think I'll use my previous NO1 and NO2 as evidence of our relationship! What better evidence than the one provided by USCIS

Anyways, bit thanks to VisaJourney.

My previous visa filing was done through an attorney... that was hell (he made mistakes on my form, delayed stuff, took days to get a hold of... just a horrible experience)

Visa Journey and you guys are the best!

Maybeee just maybe down the road at the interview it might get brought up and if u want to be safe like super safe just have any medical documents if there was treatment and such during the time or anything of that nature and have your spouse bring it to the interview just to be 100% sure it won't become a problem at any point .

Thanks, I will do that.

Just a suggestion -- our original paperwork was bounced back from USCIS because we used the descriptive "addresses" that are common in Costa Rica rather than street numbers. The second time I added a letter explaining the situation using these exact words, and everything was OK the second time around -- obviously you should modify it based on you individual situation, but it should increase the odds that they accept the non-US addresses in CR first time around. Also,, the embassy will not attempt to send anything in the local mail, but will deal with you by cell phone and email, so no worries there.

This attachment is to specify the street addresses for my three children who live in Costa Rica. There are virtually no street names nor street numbers in Costa Rica. Rather, addresses are descriptive in nature, and are spelled out below for each of my children—first in Spanish which is the way the address would be used in Costa Rica, and then in English:

Thank you for the kind suggestion. Fortunately, I looked up our house on google maps and it stated the street and avenue names for my house (which no one here knows as such, fortunately Google seems to know all). So I managed to put in a 'normal' address of Street #, Av #, Apartment Name, Apartment #, Town, City, Province, Country.

Wow Morganalmonshid94, you are... more than awesome. I'd hug you if I could. You have earned good karma today by putting a worrying soul at ease.

I've been stressing out over the paperwork. I forgot to mention one last thing:

6- We had filed for a I-129F a few years ago. We did not follow through with the process even though we started it. The reason? My mother had cancer in Costa Rica and we staid here to help. We explained this in form I-130 part D, Section 2, by putting in the following info:
First Name Middle Name Last Name Costa Rica X/XX/XX -Process Not Complete Mother had cancer we staid to help

That was all that was allowed based on the space. Should I edit that and put something like: See Attachment and then in an attachment put the info as to why we didn't follow through.

Hi Guys,

Ok, so, I've read all the guidelines and checked everything but I have a few specific questions regarding preparing my IR-1 visa application for my wife:


1- I live in Costa Rica with my wife. We've been together for 9 years and we've been married since March of last year. I was born to expat parents, so I'm both a US citizen and a Costa Rican. I married my Costa Rican wife in Costa Rica under my Costa Rican citizenship of course.

Before I got married I went to the embassy and verified that the US gov will accept my marriedge as previously described, and that I don't have to get married as a US citizen to use the marriedge as evidence since the US government recognizes dual citizenship and my name is the same in both countries, so there should be no problem.

So in the packaeg I'm sending (I-130) I'm guessing I should include a letter detailing this, as well as providing both my Costa Rican and US citizenship documentation together with my US birth certificate.

Do you guys have a template standard for this type of letter? I mean, I should state name, DOB, address, place of birth and use very specific language, but... any other tips?

Has anyone had any experience with a unique situation such as this?

Before anyone asks, no, there is no Direct Consular filing in Costa Rica unless there are pressing circumstances which I do not seem to qualify for.


2- I live in Costa Rica, I've done so pretty much all my life (only lived briefly in the US). I have relatives in Arkansas and Florida that can allow me to stay when I get there, as well as help by providing an address that can be used for coordinating any documents that need to be sent. I say this because mail in Costa Rica... doesn't work.

So... my question is, what address from the forms do they use to send the documents to? In other words, do they use the petitioners address from the g-325? or how do they know what address to use? No where on the forms does it seem to say something clear, like: Put in an address where we should send stuff to...

They seem to just assume that whatever address they chose will automatically be available for document sending.


3- Regarding the affidavit of support. I have two sole proprietorships I started in Florida as part of online business income I've received. In 2013 and 2014 they were above the 125% line, but for 2012 they weren't. For 2015... I should easily make the cut off. All this can be verified through my tax returns.

My question is, the money came in to different sole proprietorships at different times (so one year one contributed 20%, the other 80%, another year one was a loss and the other was what made the income... you get the picture). Anyway, could this hurt? Or would this be a non-issue?

On top of my online income, I always maintained regular day jobs which put total household income for these year way above the poverty line, but I know that won't count since it won't continue when I move to the US (I'll be quitting since the boss doesn't want me to work remote)


4- This one should be a simple question (simple, I know, what a relief) - On the intending inmmigrants g 325 form, where it says Signature of Applicant, I assume they mean the intending immigrant signature, or do they want the signature of the applicant sponsor?


5- Another simple one: We have been maried for 13 months now. If I put in the papers in the next few days and we have our interview a year from now, which would mean we'd be married for 25 months by then, will we get the IR-1 or the CR-1 upon approval?

Thank you for your kind attention.

If anyone doesn't know the answer to these questions but knows where I can find the answers, I'd be most greatful to get pointed in the right direction. I'm willing to pay for help from an attorney who could answer these questions.

I'm not too confident in attorneys, I've had bad personal experiences with them, so I'd like to keep the process in my control, but I don't mind getting expert ADVICE (I just don't want to depend on $7/hour legal aid fresh out of college who doesn't care about me to handle the paperwork which to me represents my life)