jessibicho

I think some people need to get off their high horses and calm down...

I personally would, never, ever have concidered coming here illegally. It is wrong, and downright silly.

But a lot of people do and that is just a fact of life. These people make big problems for themselves in later life when they decide to marry or have children. I'm sure a lot of people come here when they are young and stupid and as they get older and start to make a life for themselves here realize the enormity of their situation. By then there is little or no way out.

I believe the government should allow these people a way out. They should be able to choose to leave the country and go back home, or, if that is not an option, there should be measures in place that they can take to make themselves legal without taking them out of the country and splitting up families. Afterall, isn't that what American values are about? Family, freedom... Perhaps, they should pay a fine that can be paid within 'x' amount of time forcing those without jobs to get one (of course, they would have to grant these people employment authorization for the period of time in which the fine must be paid). Those that cannot pay must leave, they would have had their chance.

Yet, although I believe these people should have the option to make themselves llegal, the government needs to get its finger out and CRACK DOWN on the here and now. Secure our borders and put in place larger penalties for those caught with NO way out from the law. The $ amount raised through fines could be used for this.

Why get caught up with yesteryear? This is a new day. We need to concentrate on the future and not dwell in the past.

I know a lot of people will disagree, I don't want to debate or argue, just giving my opinion.

I agree with you completely - however I think a big problem of all of this is that since the congress decided to put it up for discussion more people than ever have crossed into the country. Dont quote me on this, but I believe that the figure was an increase by 26% a day. I am concerned about this because many of these people will die along the way dehydration etc...... Anyways it is just a mess and I dont think that all of the kinks are ANYWHERE near to being figured out so that we have some way of dealing with the issue that is fair to Americans and illegals alike, which of course would be ideal, but I have long given up on things working themselves out to be ideal!

I agree with the general consensus about the illegal issue, and I have been around illegals ALL MY LIFE as I am from the border city El Paso Texas - a place where my grandmother (a born US citizen and medivac nurse in the army during WWII) could not get the health care and benefits that she needed because our city is swarming with illegals who come and have children here and therefore become qualified for all sorts of services clogging up every hospital in town and running out all decent doctors. I understand and symphathize with the plight of the illegal migrant worker and I know that many of them are hard working, decent wonderful people but there are too many who come to abuse the system - and it is a system that in my opinion fails US citizens all the time. We are the USA and there are many of our OWN who live in poverty, get poor education and simply fall through the cracks. Where are the demonstrations for these people???

In El Paso all the high school kids ran out of class and went down to the border carrying Mexican flags - if you want to remain in the US shouldnt you be carrying US flags?

If they do happen to give them a path to becoming legal where will this leave Mexico? Mexico is a fantastic country with marvelous people and culture but right now remittences ($ sent back from people working in the states) is a higher percentage of their gdp then tourism and oil combined..... If all of Mexico can come here and get legal when will Mexico face their OWN problems (of which they have many) - they get the easy way out and they can continue to thrive on politics of corruption, cronism and corporatism- PRI style.

One more point I would like to make - do you know what happens to Central Americans who are caught illegally in Mexico???? It is not pleasant - of course most of them have their money taken from them, some are killed (a recent case points to a Mexican mistaken for being Haitian who was shot and killed by police this past weekend outside of Mexico City) and they are simply kicked out of the country without food or water..... In the El Paso Times every week people write about how poorly illegals are treated in America - based on Mexicos treatment of illegals I would beg to differ.

My husband is an Ecuadorian and he has to get a visa to go Mexico - so if Mexico wants other countries to abide by their immigration laws why are they supporting their citizens to break ours????

Possibly you have heard of this but did you know that the Mexican government paid for pamphlets to be made that explained how to get into the US illegally, and once there, how to obtain free services???? They were handed out all around the border.

This is a very complex issue but my feeling is this - we need to help AMERICANS first and right now I am not satisfied with the treatment, services, education, and opportunites that are available for many Americans - and it is not fair that Americans who have foreign spouses should be made to separate in order to follow the law and go about things in a legal manner only to see those who have snuck in illegally be handed the opportunity to become legal on a silver platter.

Have been reading people writting about something called james shortcut. Can this be applied to DCF? Are there any of these "shortcuts" for DCF????

Thanks for the suggestions - like the one about poo .....

Husband went and took care of the prob - she decided to extort less money out of him but i guess it was a good thing to get the package because it had specifics that we didnt find on the net or from the embassy. Like that my husbands medical exams will only be good for 2 weeks before the interview date (the website says 2 months) etc.

Anyways the ecuadorian land lady will get her own. I (and others) are reporting her to lonely planet and they are publishing a new ecuador guide. Hopefully our complaints will make it in the book!

Chau!

My husband and I lived in Ecuador in a furnished apt. The land lady was an absolute wack job and did several messed up things to the tourists there - including chasing a girl from norway around with a gun.

Our package 4 has FINALLY arrived (4 months after it was supposed to) and it has come to our old address. My land lady is refusing to give my husband the package (I am back in the states) until he pays her 100 dollars. She gave us a COPY of our rent "contract" before I left but it is merely a piece of typed on paper - I told Alberto to try to get the original and then pay this ridiculous amount (getting rent contract and package).

Do you all think it is worth it to do this? Cant we just get everything online or MIGHT there be some kind of extra info in the package???

Who could I contact about this absurdity?? Isnt stealing mail a federal offense in the states - would it apply to other countries? Could I get the embassy to send her a letter about consequences of stealing peoples mail???

Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful

Mucho thanks!

Our "package 4" never arrived. We have decided to print the forms that we need from the USCIS website. Apparently we need the I - 864 and Ds - 230. My question is this on the USCIS website for the forms there are several options/versions of the I - 864 (I think there is an I -864A, I -864 package and one that is something between household members). Which one do I do? I also have to do the co - sponser.

Also where can I get the forms for the Authorization of Federal Tax review?? I have read that we have to submit one of these with the tax returns on the I 864.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!!

jess,

Since you are filing via DCF, you do not need the Authorization document (unless the Consulate asks for it, but I've not heard of it for a case filed overseas).

D/L the entire I-864 package as germangel suggests. Use the part you need, discard the -A if you don't need it.Your Joint Sponsor will need their own I-864. If the Joint Sponsor has a spouse who will also be contributing their income (or they have jointly filed tax returns), they may want to look at the I-864-A as well.

Thanks to both of you !! I really appreciate it

Also confused about the DCF Cr/1 thing - we did DCF but applied for the Cr/1 visa as apparently this is the only option for those wanting to get married IN Ecuador (or so I was told by the embassy) so - I dont know how to categorize myself here. Suggestions??

jessibicho,

DCF/Direct Consular Filing refers to where you file the petition (abroad vs in the US). When the petition is approved, the beneficiary applies for an Immigrant Visa.

So, the visa your spouse is applying for is a CR-1, but most folk would enter DCF in their 'what are you filing for' field.

Thank you for clearing that up for me!

Before my husband and I decided to get married we went on several trips etc. together. The problem was that since we went just the two of us we didnt take that many pics together. Also we didnt save our bus tickets etc because we didnt know that one day we might need them to prove our relationship. So in order to provide the most possible evidence of our relationship I went to my on line banking center and was able to access ALL of my debit/credit card history. This provides proof that you were where you said you were, even if you dont have TONS of photos or bus/plane tickets to prove it.

Anyways I hope this helps someone.

Our "package 4" never arrived. We have decided to print the forms that we need from the USCIS website. Apparently we need the I - 864 and Ds - 230. My question is this on the USCIS website for the forms there are several options/versions of the I - 864 (I think there is an I -864A, I -864 package and one that is something between household members). Which one do I do? I also have to do the co - sponser.

Also where can I get the forms for the Authorization of Federal Tax review?? I have read that we have to submit one of these with the tax returns on the I 864.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!!

We're finally filling out the DS-230 after getting it nearly three weeks ago. We left for a visit to my parents' place in the States soon after receiving it, and just got back Saturday night. (And no, we had absolutely no problems at the border which had been a big concern before we left.)

Three questions:

1. When it asked for dates of visits to the US, my husband and I got concerned... we've had numerous visits down to the States over the last five years, most of them to my parents' place, and around two per year. We haven't the foggiest idea how to track down the specific dates for all visits and were wondering how others handled this. We don't want to make up dates, but how else do we complete this section?

2. It asks if my husband will be applying alone, or with me... we didn't realize we needed to make this decision before learning of the actual interview date. In a perfect world, my husband would go by himself... if I go along with him, we also bring our two year old and four month old, and what should be a quick and easy trip would become a much more complicated, tiring and expensive one. Is the sponsor ever called into an interview? Is there any reason for me to need to be there?

3. I understand that we only submit the DS-230 and the checklist for now. Are the other documents listed in the checklist to be submitted in person along with the I-864? Or will we be asked to mail them at a later date? I'm sure I've read this somewhere but can't seem to find any info on it. I can't remember if we receive a letter regarding our interview date after the DS-230 submission or if there's another step we need to complete before that.

As always, any info would be greatly appreciated... thanks much.

I am no expert here but for your question # 2 - if you have to go with your husband to the interview - I think this depends on the country. In Ecuador I am absolutely NOT allowed to the interview but I think in other places you have the option. I would ask the specific embassy where the interview will occur.

Sorry, I didnt take note of you doing DCF, only the forum it was originally posted in.

At the interview stage including when one is doing DCF, one must show that they have a bonafide marriage/relationship. Anything that can establish this to the Conof is beneficial.

As to the credit cards, loans etc....dont sweat it as they do not do a credit check.

Also confused about the DCF Cr/1 thing - we did DCF but applied for the Cr/1 visa as apparently this is the only option for those wanting to get married IN Ecuador (or so I was told by the embassy) so - I dont know how to categorize myself here. Suggestions??

Sorry, I didnt take note of you doing DCF, only the forum it was originally posted in.

At the interview stage including when one is doing DCF, one must show that they have a bonafide marriage/relationship. Anything that can establish this to the Conof is beneficial.

As to the credit cards, loans etc....dont sweat it as they do not do a credit check.

Thanks for your help

If you have a co sponsor does your income even matter?

I dont know - that is basically what I am trying to figure out - if it matters, and if so how much??? Any ideas?

Thanks

There is nowhere on the I-864 to include debts so that should pretty much answer your question regarding that

As for your future plans.....There is also nowhere on the forms to my knowledge to include such. Stick with your parents address etc. When you move out you will need to inform USCIS of the address change.

Thanks - I was under the impression that they would be able to obtain all of my financial history - do they not go further in depth than what is on the forms?

I thought about attaching some kind of letter with the forms for my husbands interview that would explain how we met, etc and our future plans...... is this not a good idea??

Hi - some questions for you all.....

If I have a co sponser for the I 864 will it matter that I owe 4,000 dlls on credit cards and am taking out student loans for grad school?

Will they take into account that starting in august I will be a teacher?

Also right now I am living with my parents - when my husband is given the visa I am going to get a place for us (either rent or possibly buy if I can find something cheap enough) should we include this information in the forms (ds 230, I 864)? or should we just make on like we are planning on living with my parents and then when he gets here inform the INS???

Now we have to submit the I 864 and DS 230 and my husband must go for the interview. Apparenly in Ecuador it takes about 2 months to get an interview and they tell you then and there if you get the visa or not. However, there are a lot of fees that you have to pay for the interview. I think it comes out to around 500 dlls.

To respond to the question above, yes, I think it would be best to contact the embassy in Quito and make sure that you could get married there on any kind of visa, but this is the information that we were told. However, they seem to change their policies frequently and also they only serve american citizens on tuesdays and thursdays from 1 to 3 pm.

HI Meauxana -

OK well in Ecuador to file DCF the USC must have a valid current visa and you have to fill out this paper that says that you are not married to anyone else. Then you take the paper to the embassy and they stamp it. Next you can get married. My visa was actually expired by several months, however there are always officials who are willing to give you the visa stamp under the table for about 200 dollars - the US embassy does not look at the USC's visa, only the people at the marriage license place look at it. Ecuador has SUPER strict visa policies.... currently they are charging people sometimes up to 2 thou for overstayed visas but if you go to the immigration office you can pay a fine of 200 dlls and they give you a paper that says you dont have to pay the 2 thousand and it gives you 48 hours to leave.

In anycase make sure that your visa is current - it doesnt matter if you are on a tourist visa or a student or volunteer visa, it just has to be current.

I am not sure if other South American countries let you DCF, and apparently I am the only person on VJ who is married to an Ecuadorian, but if other South American countries let you DCF then this may be helpful.

First of all you should learn about which type of visa you will be applying for because at the embassy in Quito the people were not helpful and just threw forms at us..... My husband and I are applying for the CR1 but for months we thought we were doing a K3!

My husband and I filled out the forms and after a lengthy attempt to get our "original hand written marriage certificate from the book" , we wound up having to bribe a judge 80 dlls to give it to us.

In anycase once we had all the information we went to the embassy and filed the I-130. However, this was before I had discovered VJ, and we were not prepared for an interview.

At the interview the officer told us that we had not submitted sufficient evidence - we brought only a few photos and only about 4 of our wedding photos. Our parents did not attend the wedding because at the time they didnt know. This turned out to be a HUGE mistake and the officer essentially ripped us a new one.

She started making statements like "Perhaps your husbands mother didnt attend the wedding because she wants him to marry someone else" ..... Anyways it just went REALLY badly and in the end the officer decided to call friends and family members and question them to see if we were really married. She asked them trick questions too .......

What I have learned from this, and what I hope you will learn from this too is that you MUST be PREPARED - I have read a few posts on here from people sayng not to bring too much proof of the relationship - perhaps this is the case if you are marrying someone from someplace like Canada or the UK, but from my experiences in Ecuador I would say that you should be over prepared.

Find out about your countries visas stats - in Ecuador, for example, males between the ages of 18 to 35 basically CANNOT get a tourist visa to the US because they are at a "high risk" - if your husband or wife or fiance falls into this category and you are applying in a place like Ecuador I would come prepared for anything!

I hope this will help someone avoid the mistakes that we made!!

good luck!

If only the USCIS call centers were as helpful as this website! I have some questions and I help someone can help.

1. My husband is Ecuadorian - he stayed in Ecuador and I have returned to the states. We were formerly living together - who do we contact about change in address?

2. We never recieved our packet 4 in the mail so we have gotten the info online, however, the people at the embassy in Guayaquil say that we need to file a DS- 230 and on the website is says a DS - 156k

Which is correct?

3. The people at embassy told me that I cannot attend the interview. The website says I MUST attend the interview - which is correct?

4. Do I have to own a house? I was reading the guidelines about the I - 864 and it says that I must have a domicil. How would I explain to them that I am currently living with my parents to save money, but as soon as I know he is coming I am going to buy or a rent a house?

5. Is it a good idea for me to send a letter explaining our situation (how we met etc and our future plans)??

6. Does ANYONE have any experience going through Ecuador?? I am really worried because the consulate officer when we filed the I 130 was so mean to us and critical of the fact that my father doesnt know about our marriage (other family members do) - I am really freaked out that they arent going to believe my husband and anyone with experience in Ecuador please let me know about about it.

Thank you

PS How do I make a timeline pr a profile ???

Hi to all. I have a difficult situation.

First off my husband and I got married in November 2005 in Quito, Ecuador. We came to the decision to get married because at the embassy they told us that this was the best route to take from Ecuador. So, because we knew we would get married at some point anyway we did it. At the time we did not tell our parents. We went to the embassy to file the I - 130 and we were given an interview. The officer was critical that we hadnt told our families and so after this we told them (all except for my father who has not met my husband and I want my father to have the opportunity to meet him first etc. and then we will tell him).

So, the officer waited about 2 weeks and made some calls to friends etc to verify if we were truly married. We recieved a letter stating that the I-130 had been approved and were told to wait for packet 4.

Packet 4 never arrived and we have since moved. I have returned to the states and my husband has moved back in with his family.

Questions -

1.We have been told to go ahead and download the forms from packet 4 and use those instead - should we be worried about anything missing from the website that may be in the actual packet?

2. We know that we now have to majorly impress the officer who gives the interview because of our mistake of not notifying our parents. How should we prepare for this?? The interview will be only with my husband as I am not allowed to go. I have made a scrapbook with photos of us, we have a LONG email history, we have phone bills and copies of our lease and reciepts for bills paid while we were living together in Quito. (these are only copies because our land lady would not give us the originals - should we have those notarized?? We have love letters and letters from friends verifying our relationship. Can anyone think of anything else that may be pertinent to this situation or any suggestions?

3. My economic situation. Currently I am enroleld in an emergency teacher certification course and grad school. I will begin teaching in august with a salary that is 35 thou a year and I live in a relatively LOW economic area (El Paso Texas). My mom is going to be a joint sponser and she has a lot of money. I am looking into buying a home and I have a couple thou in savings and a lot of money in stocks. Do you think this will be good enough?

4. My husband's plan is to come to El Paso and get any kind of job in the service sector while going to school at community college. Eventually he would like to get enrolled atthe university here and go into nursing - should he tell this to the officer if asked? I dont want the oficer to think that we got married so that he could go to nursing school.

5 One last thing - who do we tell that we are No longer living together in Quito?? Do I need to contact anyone and tell them this or can my husband do so at the interview?

Also Please anyone who has gone through Ecuador with any advice or personal experiences would be helpful.

Thank you!

Jessica

Jessica.. where in all of this are you doing a K-3? If you filed I-130 at the Consulate, it's highly unusual to also file an I-129f to the US for a K-3 visa-start.

Neither of us was asked about our parents in filing our case, and no parents attended our wedding & obviously were not featured in any photos. Since it did come up in your case, you'll simply have to give a reasonable explanation. I assume both of you are legal adults?

Thanks for responding - we are not filing the I-129f. We were told that the process could be completed quickly and that there would be no point to file the I 129f. Also for me to file the I-129f I would have to come back to the states.

We are both legal adults which is why I thought it was strange that we were asked to begin with, but now that we have been asked I feel as if we will encounter more problems with this when my husband goes to the interview.

It sounds like you have petitioned for a CR-1, not a K-3. As long as you were legal to get married, your parents approval is not required.

I believe that we filed a K-3 but may be incorrect. We did DCF to turn in the I - 130. The officer told us that we did not provide enough proof or evidence because of the situation with the parents. She asked for phone numbers of people who knew we were married and then she called them and tried to ask them trick questions and confuse them on dates. Obviously I had forwarned them and so after about 2 weeks she sent an email and said the I 130 had been approved and to wait for the packet 4 (which never came). Now we are getting the forms and info from a website but I know that I have to file an I - 864 and my husband has to have medical exams and then he can go for the interview. Would this be a CR - 1??

Thanks!

Hello to all. This is my first post. I am married to an Ecuadorian and we are in the process of getting the K-3 visa. We did the DCF route but we were not fully prepared and I think we may have ruined our chances. The thing is that at the time we got married we didnt tell our parents / this was my decision because I dont have the greatest relationship with my father and he is NOT happy about me having a relationship with anyone who is not an American .... In any case when we went to turn in the I - 30 the officer asked why our parents didnt attend and we told her that we hadnt told them yet. She made a big fuss about it and so now my mother and his parents know. We recieved the notification that the I - 30 went through and are waiting to recieve the packet 4 (which I wonder about because of the Ecuadorian mail system) - In any case I need some advice about how to handle this situation.

When my husband goes for his interview I assume that they will ask him about this. I have prepared a cover letter explaining this and my mother has written a letter as well. We also have letters from friends, people who lived in our apartment, shared lease information, a photo album, emails and ticket stubbs of events we have attended together.

Do you think we are doomed? What can we do to remedy this? Any advice or people with experiences in the Ecuadorian embassy would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much!

Jessica