lyraandmia

Saw 3 N/As today, called the rep and got confirmation that we have our CC Our scan date was Oct 19. Good luck to everyone, stay positive guys!!

So frustrated!! Not sure what is happening but we got a checklist today. Our scan date was Sep 16 and we were so hoping for an early CC. Wondering if there is a possibility that NVC may have generated an unnecessary checklist? We submitted a tax transcript that we requested from the IRS for our sponsor. The checklist they generated asked us to submit: the I-864 Checklist and the W-2 for our sponsor. Why are they asking us for the W-2? The instructions specifically said not to submit that if we're submitting the tax transcript! Are we mistaken? Please help us figure this out, I'm super upset now Thanks guys!

Hello everyone,

My husband is my petitioner. He is a student and does not meet the income requirement. My father-in-law is willing to be a joint/co- sponsor for our application. My husband lives with his parents, so that makes my father-in-law a household member. My husband is also not included in his father's taxes as a dependent. So my question is, does my father-in-law then fill up the I-864 or the I-864A? Initially I thought that both my husband and my father should each submit a I-864 form, now I'm not so sure. Is it safer for my father-in-law to just submit the I-864?

In the case that he has to submit the I-864, and makes well above the 125% requirement, is it necessary for my mother-in-law to fill in the I-864A as well? She doesn't have an income but I believe that they file taxes jointly.

Thanks for your help.

Hello everyone!

Good luck to everyone this month. I hope NVC will keep processing everything as quickly as possible!

Just needed some input from you guys regarding the I-864 form. My husband was not required to file taxes for 2014 due to his income being lower than the required threshold to file. I'm trying to fill out Part 6: Sponsor's Income and Employment (Question 13, 13.a, 13.b, and 13.c). Because he didn't file, we obviously can't check the box for question 13. I was thinking of leaving it unchecked and writing "NOT REQUIRED TO FILE, INCOME BELOW THRESHOLD. SEE ATTACHED IRS VERIFICATION LETTER AND WRITTEN AFFIDAVIT" in the space below it. Then for the follow up questions (13.a, 13.b, and 13.c), I would fill in 2012, 2013 and 2014 for the tax years but leave the total income blank. But I know that they usually send out checklists for leaving questions unanswered so I'm not sure this is the best idea... Anyone else with experience with this issue?

I really appreciate all the advice everyone on VJ has given me so far, thanks guys

Hi, lyraandmia! When did you submit your DS-261? I have submitted mine just 2 days ago but AOS Fee are still unavailable. I wonder if I have to wait 2 weeks in order for the DS-261 to be reviewed or I can call too?

Hi mi_u_Is!

We submitted our DS 261 on July 27. We were also able to pay our AOS bill on the same day. They deducted the amount from our acc on July 29. Today it changed from "In Process" to "Paid" some time in the afternoon. We waited till it was past the processing time stipulated on the website before we called. We thought that if we got a real finicky operator we could say that we were calling because it was past the time they said it would take. Thankfully the lady was really nice

ds-261 will always say completed, even after case complete.

once you get to pay both the fee they will stay paid until ds-260 is completed and reviewed and even then ds-260 will say completed. They will not change to Reviewed.

the only indication of case complete after an eternal wait will be that AOS fee will change from Paid to N/A.

if you haven't had your ds-261 reviewed yet, call the NVC and have them review it. some of us have found that calling 603-334-0888 (option2) and requesting them to submit/review ds-261 will go smoother, most probably they are same folks but they sure sound more empathetic.

After about a week of ds-261 review you will be able to get invoiced for AOS fee, depending if it hasn't been invoiced yet. If it has and you have paid it and its already showing as paid, you will get invoiced for IV fee. But since May none of us can predict the sequence of event with which things could/should/would happen. But maximum you should wait is about 1 week and then start calling NVC.

Thanks for the detailed response! Now I know what to expect in terms of the status updates. Really helps me be less neurotic about the whole thing. I guess now we're waiting for our IV bill to be invoiced to us

meantime you can get the DS261 reviewed, call NVC and the rep can review it over the phone. cz u will get IV Bill only once it is reviewed. PAY IV Fee, Complete DS260..

All this u can do while u wait for PCC.

I just got my DS 261 reviewed over the phone by a rep. I'm surprised how quickly that went. After waiting for an hour it took her literally 5 mins to verify all the info we had already submitted, and then she said that it's now approved. Am I supposed to see a change in status for DS 261 after this? It still just says "Completed" at this point

yes, the barcoded sheet is enough for them to scan your package.

For PCC, you can provide the copy for NOA2 you got from USCIS. I have given that when I requested the PCC. They very well know that for immigrant visas we need to provide PCC, all they want is that we are in the process of immigrant visa.

get PCC and send the complete package, so you will not end up on checklist, checklists and getting it review is miserable.

Oh dear clicked submit before I was ready.

I didn't know I could use the NOA2 to get the PCC! Thanks SiVin that's great advice. Ok I'll get to it and mail the packet ASAP

Thanks for your reply SiVin!

Is the AOS confirmation page the one that we can print out after paying the AOS bill? It has a barcode and my case number on it?

I would like to send in my packet ASAP however, my problem is that I don't have a PCC from my native country yet. The police need some sort of document to show that the USEM needs a copy of it :/ Will there be anything like that in the welcome letter that the NVC will send us?

I don't think it makes sense to send in an incomplete packet because then we'll get a checklist right? :/

Hello all,

I'm new to the whole thing, got my case number through the phone on July 27. Have submitted my DS-261 and paid the AOS bill. We haven't received our "welcome letter" from NVC, so we're on the look out for that.

We're working on our AOS and IV packet now. And I just wanted to check, is it better to submit both the packets together? Or should I submit the AOS after the bill shows "PAID" and then wait for the IV bill to be paid before submitting the IV packet? I checked the elsewhere on VJ and people were saying that NVC wants them to be mailed in together. Thanks!

Hi newacct,

I get what your saying that income is income either way and it didn't make sense to have put it that way :/

But yes, in his case he was well below the annual min. of $3,950 and was not required to file. He has documents that show that his income was below the threshold for 2014.

The USCIS website states that:

If you were not required to file a tax return in any of these years you must provide an explanation. Failure to provide the tax return or evidence establishing that you were not required to file will delay action on your relative's application for permanent residence.

Would the pay stubs (and any documents that show annual income of less than the required threshold) + a cover letter be enough evidence to establish that he was not required to file taxes?

Thanks

What's needed is proof of current income such as a verification of employment letter showing job title and pay rate or pay stubs that show year to date pay. W2's do not show current income.

A salary of less than $500 per month is insufficient to meet the guidelines, a joint sponsor or assists will be required in order to qualify.

Thanks for the reply Ryan, much appreciated!

We do have a joint sponsor who meets the required criteria, and he has been prepping the paperwork on his end.

I hope you could help me with a couple more questions regarding our case:

With regard to my husband's AOS packet, we have the pay stubs and the employment letter you mentioned and we were going to include that as part of his submission.

What I'm wondering is, since he has not had to file taxes (we checked on the IRS website and it said that he is not required to), would this be a problem for us down the road? I was trying to look this up online and some people have said that he should have filed despite not being required to. At this point it's too late to file for 2014 and too early for 2015, so we don't know if he should just go ahead and file anyway for 2014. I'm hoping that he wouldn't have to and that it's enough for us to just submit the proof of income without a tax transcript.

Also we were wondering if it's better for us to just say that he's a student, and indicate that he has no income since his pay is insufficient and we are depending mostly on our joint sponsor anyway...

Thanks again Ryan

He actually has W2 forms from his employer. Should we just submit that as proof of income?

Hi all,

Thanks for your help in advance.

My husband is the petitioner. He is currently a student in college. He is employed as a student worker by the college under the Federal Work Study Program. He earns a small pay of <$500 a month. According to him, he has not had to file taxes as his pay is not technically considered an income.

In the case of the AOS, would it make sense for us to list his:

1. Employment as a student (under Part 6.1.)

2. Employer as his college (under Part 6.1.a.)

Also as he has not filed any taxes, would he still need to submit some sort transcript of his Federal tax return? I will be preparing a cover letter explaining out financial situation and attaching it to the forms for submission.

Thanks again!

Calicolom, that did actually occur to me too... I'm just hoping that despite that, they'd look at all the factors in each case and make fair decisions for everyone haha

Thanks Hypnos, EM_Vandaveer and ValerieA your comments are v encouraging!

I'll post an update of my process in this thread as soon as I can, in case anyone is interested in how this turns out. Hopefully, it'll help someone else figure out what they can do to help themselves

Thanks again everyone!

Thanks San Diego for bringing the denied AOSs to my attention, you're right about looking at those just to make sure I make an informed decision. I did look through quite a few and it seems many of them were mostly issues related to overstaying, were not prepared during the interview, or had some issues with their affidavit of support. I hope none of those issues come up during my application process (fingers crossed)!

And thanks ValerieA and Boiler! Feeling a bit less nervous now

I just realized that I didn't include that I has been asked to go for secondary inspection at POE. Very silly of me, please excuse my oversight!

The immigration officer had asked me how long I intended to stay and when I planned on going back home. I replied that I was only staying 2 months, and had no intention of staying (which was true at the time). I had come to visit my husband to celebrate our anniversary. He eventually cleared me. I answered as best I could to my knowledge and was truthful with my intentions. I'm not sure if he recorded what I had said. I assumed that they had stopped me because they were able to see that I have some pending immigration processes. Is this considered a red flag and something I should be worried about? Again, I realized that this might be a big detail and should have included it in the beginning, my apologies!

Hi aaron2020,

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my questions. I did look up some success stories of people getting their GC on a VWP and it all looks really encouraging. I'll be looking at the guides and planning my next move. Based on my research so far, it seems like the best way to move forward is to just send in the AOS packet!

USCIS is called the misinformation line for a reasob. However you can file the i-485 and all the other petitions with a photocopy of the i-130 NOA1.

Usually the two are filed together, I forget what happens when they are filed separately, I would imagine you would need the NOA 1.

Thanks NLR and Boiler, much appreciated. We do have the NOA1 and it make sense to send in a copy of it so they can locate and match all documents

I may be wrong with how accurate USCIS is apparently I'm starting to worry because long distance is taking a strain on us. Back to reading board.

I hope you find the right solution to your issue! There are so many options that it can get overwhelming Good luck and stay positive

Hi Boiler, by straightforward do you mean that I can just go ahead and file the forms for AOS? Even though the I-130 hasn't been approved?

Yeah all the nitty gritty stuff can get real confusing :/

We couldn't file for the AOS at the time because I had to leave the U.S. and handle some stuff back home. So the K3 spouse visa seemed like the next best thing. We were hoping the darn I-130 would be processed before the l-129F so that we could opt for the IR/CR1 but it hasn't turned out that way. Frustrating!

But anyway, I'll check the guides again, maybe something new will turn up haha. Thanks SparklePony!

Hi SparklePony,

We followed the directions for obtaining a K3 visa found on the USCIS website

http://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/k3-k4-visa/k-3k-4-nonimmigrant-visas

I hope we didn't do the wrong thing entirely!

Hi everyone!

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to dispense some advice on my issues

I'm not sure where to I should post this so I hope I chose the right forum.

Anyway, here's some background on my situation:

My husband is US citizen, and I visited him in 2014 on a VWP. At the time we decided to obtain the K3 Spouse visa for me so we filed the I-130 and the I-129F sometime in November, and I left the US in December. Since then we've received NOA1 for both applications. And some time in May 2015, we received a RFE for our I-129F.

Currently, I'm back in the US on a VWP, and I have a return ticket back home for some time in July. However, after much discussion, we realized that it's a real strain for us to be apart and we are considering doing an AOS while I'm still here. We still have not gotten the NOA2 for our I-130, the USCIS website just says that they've received it and that's about it. It's been 6 months now and we're trying to stay calm.

My questions are:

1. Is it possible to file for AOS on VWP?

2. Can we file the AOS forms if our I-130 has not been processed yet?

3. Should we submit the RFE for the I-129F in the mean time?

4. I read on some other threads that scheduling an Infopass might be helpful. Has anyone who had experience with this give some input?

5. I've been doing all the paperwork myself so far, would it be helpful to obtain the services of a lawyer at this point?

Thanks again for your help!