Jim-n-Bennie

Hi All,

My wife Bennie has her interview on the 15th of November. I need to finish putting together the documenation today as we are leaving for Thailand for two weeks for our traditional wedding ceremony and only returning one day before the interview.

My question: On the appointment letter there is a checklist of items to bring to the interview. One item states "All documentation establishing your eligibility for Lawful Permanent Residence status." I would have thought this would be her K-3, I-94, a copy of our I-485 and the appointment letter. However, they ask for us to bring all of these on other line items. Are they simply being redundant or am I missing something here?

Thanks for any help ya'll can provide,

Hi All,

My wife Bennie has her interview on the 15th of November. I need to finish putting together the documenation tomorrow as we are leaving for Pattaya for two weeks and our traditional wedding ceremony and only returning one day before the interview.

My question: On the appointment letter there is a checklist of items to bring to the interview. One item states "All documentation establishing your eligibility for Lawful Permanent Residence status." I would have thought this would be her K-3, I-94, a copy of our I-485 and the appointment letter. However, they ask for us to bring all of these on other line items. Are they simply being redundant or am I missing something here?

Thanks for any help ya'll can provide,

Thanks Debby....it looks like we will just have to hope that the duplicate I-94 form that we applied for last week (via I-102 form) gets processed quick enough to allow her to go in 3 weeks.

I just called border patrol and was told that my wife can not travel outside the country without her I-94. They also said she can not get a duplicate I-94 at her original POE......frustrating!

thanks all for your help.....I just wonder if the ticketing agent is going to somehow say no go when Bennie does not have the I-94 to turn in. I will try calling border patrol

Hi All,

Hopefully someone out there may have experience with a situation we have.

When my K-3 wife initially arrived in the US in late June the immigrations officer mistakenly did not give her the portion of the I-94 that she is supposed to keep stapled in her passport. I have used form I-102 to apply for a copy of this I-94, but that was just last week and I have a feeling it may take 3-4 more weeks to receive this. However, we are hoping to travel to Singapore for two weeks in late August / early September.

Does anybody know if this will be possible?

Can she leave without the I-94?

Or, maybe, is this an easy way to get a replacement I-94?

Thanks for any help or advice,

Jim

Hi Yodrak, Reba and others;

Another quick question. I will be traveling to Singapore on a 2 week business trip at the end of this month. I am hoping to take Bennie with me. Her visa is a K-3, which I believe permits multiple re-entries. Since she did not get the I-94 stapled to her passport when she first arrived in late June, do you know if she will have any trouble leaving and returning to the US?

Thanks gang,

Jim

Thanks Mike and Jass,

We found our A# - just where you said it would be. And, we applied for a duplicate I-94 at a $160 fee. That kind of hurts since the POE officer made the mistake of not stapling the I-94 to Bennie's passport....or giving back to us at all.

Jim

Thanks Buzz, Reba and Yodrak.....really appreciate the help!

I found the A# on the I-797NOA approval letter

It appears I need to fill out an I-102 and submit $160 payment to get a 'replacement' I-94.....even though I am 100% certain the POE folks did not give this back to Bennie (I was with her)

Yodrak, I believe I understand what you are saying about petition vs. visa......however, I have in my hands:

1) a Choice of Agent and Address Form sent to Bennie in Thailand asking her to complete an attached DS-3032

2) an Affadavit of Support Fee Bill ($70) sent to myself here in CA

Is there any need for me to complete either of these? Am I required to formally let NVC know I am pursuing an AOS for K3 as opposed to completing the original CR-1 route?

Thanks again all,

Jim

Hi All,

My wife Bennie arrived in the US on 30 June on a K3. We are now just starting the AOS process. I am hoping some of you may have experience with K3 AOS and can help with the following questions:

Is there any process for abondaning the I-130 (CR-1)? Any forms to fill out?

On the I-485:

1) We do not have an A# that I know of. At least I can not find on any documentation that we have. Am I missing something?

2) We filled out a I-94 but immigration just took it away from Bennie and there is nothing stapled in her passport. What do we put for "I-94#"?

3) What should we put for "Current USCIS Status"?

4) What do we put for "Were you inspected by a U.S. Immigration Officer?" She was interviewed at POE. Would this warrant a yes?

5) What do we put for "In what status did you last enter?" they do not mention K-3 here......should we just write in K-3?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Jim

Hi All,

My wife Bennie arrived in the US on 30 June on a K3. We are now just starting the AOS process. I am hoping some of you may have experience with K3 AOS and can help with the following questions:

Is there any process for abondaning the I-130? Any forms to fill out?

On the I-485:

1) We do not have an A# that I know of. At least I can not find on any documentation that we have. Am I missing something?

2) We filled out a I-94 but immigration just took it away from Bennie and there is nothing stapled in her passport. What do we put for "I-94#"?

3) What should we put for "Current USCIS Status"?

4) What do we put for "Were you inspected by a U.S. Immigration Officer?" She was interviewed at POE. Would this warrant a yes?

5) What do we put for "In what status did you last enter?" they do not mention K-3 here......should we just write in K-3?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Jim

Greetings,

My fiance submitted packet 3 a few weeks ago and we've been waiting ever since for packet 4. How long did you/your fiance(e) have to wait? It's so hard to be patient!!

Thanks...

Hi smgx4000,

First of all, please consider putting your timeline in your signature. It makes it much easier for us to try to help you.

Secondly, you say you sent the mail two weeks ago. Did you send by express mail? If not, always try to do this in the future.

Third, did you check on the interview schedule on the US Embassy website for Thailand? They just updated this two days ago. Possibly your case number is listed? Here is the link http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/services/visa/IVschedule.htm

Lastly, as Tiksman taught me, when you mail the embassy it is helpful if you put "2nd IV Inquiry" on the subject line. This is the only way I have ever received a response from them.

Best of luck!

Greetings,

My fiance submitted packet 3 a few weeks ago and we've been waiting ever since for packet 4. How long did you/your fiance(e) have to wait? It's so hard to be patient!!

Thanks...

After the Ebmassy receives the packet 3, they will schedule an interview date. You can confirm the date by email and/or on the BKK Embassy website. I sent an email inquiry.

It took about 2 weeks to receive the packet 4 after they confirmed receipt of the packet 3.

Smgx4000, a heads up for you:

1) We never got any confirmation that BNK received our package from NVC

2) We never received a Packet 3

We waited about 3 weeks after the date when the NVC claimed they mailed our package to BNK embassy then mailed in the Packet three response to the IV Unit at BNK.

3) We never received a confirmation of receipt for Packet 3 but we did receive packet 4 (with an interview date) a little over a week after we sent Packet 3.

Follow thai2luv's advice, email the embassy! they are not always consistant.

Best of luck,

Hi Everyone,

We have our interview sheduled for 23 June which is a Friday. Does anybody have experience with a Friday interview? If approved, do you go back Friday afternoon or Monday afternoon for the visa? Thanks!!!

I dont have any experience with this but for the life of me cant see why it would only be good for 6 months. Certification of a translation is only saying that it is an acurate translation and that the person translating it is conversant in both the english and foreign language. That aint gonna change after 6 months lol Sounds to me like someone is trying to get more money. Then again I could be wrong and your consulate may have this requirement...even if so, that does suck. Someone going through same consulate will be able to confirm this for you.

All the best

Lorelle

Thanks Lorelle. I have also heard from another that the translation is good for one year, as are most of the other documents.

We will have our interview on 23 June. Our Certificate of Marriage was translated on 7 December. My wife has been told by a local law office in Pattaya that they will need to do another translation for her as they are only good for 6 months. I am wondering if this is just the law office trying to make more money. Does anybody have experience with translated documents at the Bangkok embassy? Will they insist on a new document? Thanks for your help!

Congrats Dennis! Best wishes for your future!

BTW - we got our interview date (June 23)! Thanks for your help!

Be sure to get a copy of the police report. You may need to make a case with Customs that it cannot be exported because it ws stolen, and hopefully avoid any penalties.

Dennis and Tik's interview was yesterday. I wonder how it went????

Speaking of interview's Mike, are you heading to Thailand tomorrow? Good Luck!!! Hopefully we're not too far behind you.

Congrats Karvee....hope ours is as smooth as yours.

Hello All

We have finally received Packet 4 via Express Mail yesterday. Wife had Medical today and has Interview Date Tueday May 30th ALMOST OVER

congrats Wayne....you two worked hard to optimize the process. Glas to see it has paid off for you. Would love to see a picture of the two of you upon arrival!

Hello Ravichan, You handled that very well at POE. Excellent Job! I am so happy to hear your husband is recovering and will be ok. Best of luck to you and yours.....hope you and your husband are together permanently very soon.

Hey All

After months of I-129F Drama My wife receives an email from the London Consulate today and guess what? We finally have an Interview Date My wife and daughter are estatic as am I

way yo go Wayne!!!! Here's hoping for smooth sailing the rest of the way!!!

Ravichan, as someone who travels constantly between the US and Japan, I do not think you will have any difficulty entering the US. Do you know how many people entered here on the VWP for holiday during Golden Week? I think that if you came here for a 1 week holiday with a return ticket you would have absolutely no problem at POE. You would not even have to mention your husband's situation (which would probably not work in your favor). Please understand that I am not an expert but I see this as a simple way to handle your situation. If I were in the same situation I would surely gamble the price of an airline ticket for the chance to be with my spouse at such a time. Good Luck!

Thank you soooo much everyone for kind words and advice You guys are helping me a lot! more than reps...

Jim, what you mean by people is the people who are not applying for an immigrant visa right? I understand that normally Japanese people can visit the U.S. for vacation without any visas, but we have filed for a K3... I heard that when officers scan our passports, they can know if we are applying for any immigrant visas. Is it true?? In that case, it is possible that they will deny my entry right?

Also, on a Japanese forum, I saw a few people weren't allowed to enter the U.S. while they are applying for a green card. One of them even had an employment letter... That is why I am really worried. This is not just a visiting for fun, so I really wanna prepare as much as possible if I leave for the U.S.

I wish I could go to the embassy, but I doubt that they will let me in without an appointment... Also, I live far from Tokyo and I will need to go there by airplane I don't know about other countries, but in Japan you will have to pay to ask the embassy questions regarding visas. $15 for 15 mins I think, so they should give me good services but by how the person answered last night, I am not expecting too much

Hi Ravichan....Yes, I guess it is possible they could scan your passport at POE and see that you have applied for a visa. However, in reading VJ for the last 4-5 months, I have seen so many cases of people living in VWP countries that enter the US without any problem while waiting on their visa. Most of them have given the advice that you should not offer any information to the POE officer unless asked. If you do decide to try this approach and come here as a tourist for a short stay (with return airline ticket) it is a gamble. And only you can decide if you want to risk the possible $ loss if they turn you away. I am sorry I can not offer more to you. By the way....the employment letter (that you mentioned above) without an H1B is like an advertisement for the officer to turn you away. I am truly sorry for your situation and that of your husband. My best wishes to you both.

Thank you very much for your kind words.

Does Congressman help us?? In Japan they don't help citizens directly so it sounds very weird I searched for Congressman and found him. Can you give me more details about what Congressman does for us???

Thank you.

Ravichan, honey, what do you want these people to do for you? I dont' think you will get your K-3 visa intantly, and you don't need a visa to visit the US--you can come on VWP, right?

Your visa paperwork and your usual ties to home, plus the information about your husband's medical emergency should help you get through the POE---I do not htink you need a special medical emergency visa (that would be for YOUR emergency).

Have you looked to see if you can get an airline ticket?

Ravichan, as someone who travels constantly between the US and Japan, I do not think you will have any difficulty entering the US. Do you know how many people entered here on the VWP for holiday during Golden Week? I think that if you came here for a 1 week holiday with a return ticket you would have absolutely no problem at POE. You would not even have to mention your husband's situation (which would probably not work in your favor). Please understand that I am not an expert but I see this as a simple way to handle your situation. If I were in the same situation I would surely gamble the price of an airline ticket for the chance to be with my spouse at such a time. Good Luck!

Regarding finding out when your petition reaches the Consulate:

We did not go through Thailand, but I followed our paperwork by calling the State Dept Info line. And I'm glad I did, because I found out that they tried to mail my then fiance's packet 3 to him at a street address rather than the PO Box I had plastered all over our petition package. He found out later that his mailed packet 3 had wandered around his neighborhood (to the school, to the Village District Committee offices, etc....) and ultimately got sent back to the Consulate (we think). Anyhow, the result of following by phoning the State Dept was that we were able to save time by him going to the Consulate to pick up another packet 3. The State Dept's computers seem to have certain critical dates, addresses, etc, relating to a package's progress.

Here is the info number:

Contacting Visa Services - Information is available to the public by telephone at the Visa Services, Public Inquiries Division at telephone (202) 663-1225 or by FAX at 202 663-3899.

Good luck J&B!

Maya

Thank you Maya, Wayne and Yodrak for your good advice. I will try to call both the embassy in Thailand (not too confident on this one) and the State Dept. number that Maya has provided. I am also thinking about just mailing in the Packet three anyway. The worst they can do is throw it away if they have not logged our info into the computer yet. If they do throw it away it is easy enough to reproduce the information and resend a week later. Hope I don't p*$$ them off this way.