Our Mao

I posted sometime last week to ask about how much the IV Bill and the filing of the DS-230 will be but did not receive any response. So I called the NVC and asked them. The lady who helped me was very helpful and even verified my and my husband's information.

FYI, the IV Bill is still $70.

The fee for filing the DS-230 is $380 according to her, NOT $335. The amount on the USCIS's website has not been updated.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1263.html

Last but not least, they only accept either money orders or cashiers' checks. Make them payable to the "Department of State".

FYI, she knows I'm filing from Canada. I dont know if the fees will be any different if you're filing from somewhere other than Canada.

I'm starting to fill in my form DS-230 (as a practice) and I have a few questions:

For #20, they ask you to list the places you have lived since 16. Does it matter whether you list them in ascending or descending order? i.e. Should I start from 13 to now .. or from now back to 16?

For #22, they ask you to list all employment for the last ten years. Should I start with the most current to the oldest? I guess it's a matter of personal preference?

For #23, I belong to a few professional accounting organizations but I dont know if they'll undestand if I give them the acronyms, should I attach a list and give them full descriptions?

Also, for the barcode, when I generated mine, it's around 2 inches wide and 0.75 inches in height. Is this right? The reason I asked is because when I look at the DS-3032 (Choice of Agent Form), that barcode strip is very long!? 0.4 x 7.75" Can someone provide some insight?

Thanks!!

If we did happen to get a K3 faster, my husband was going to come down, apply for EAD, and then go back to Canada and keep working up there until he could work down here. At this point, even if K3 gets approved, that + applying for EAD would take about the same as getting a green card, and green card is obviously much better

Yup! Me and my husband felt the same. If K3 is approved, I would enter, file EAD right away, return to Canada to work until EAD is ready, then enter the states. We figured that would be around 5 months (2 months to get the K3 and 3 months for the EAD). In our opinion, getting the green card would probably take the same amount of time!? Besides, our K-3 hasnt' been approved yet so that would not be an option for us now..

Tong and Wei,

Those are very good questions but I dont know if I have the answer to them! ahhhh

Well, in my case, my I-130 was approved before the I-129F. I dont know when the I-129F will be approved. But the I-130 is definitely better than the I-129F (for me anyway), because once you enter, you can work right away. You do not have to file for 'authorization for employment'. I really want/need to work right away when I enter the US (long story short, I was working in US, and my company in the US arranged for me to work in the Canada branch office while I wait for my approval. When I enter on the I-130, I can work right away. However, if I get the I-129F, I will enter, file for authorization for employment, wait ANOTHER three months for approval. I dont know if my company will be nice enough to do that for me so I think at this point in time, I'll go with the I-130.

I got the 'snail mail' letter and for me.. it said specifically that the entire file will be sent to New Hampshire.... FYI for you..!

I got the EMAIL notification for approval too.. (even though I got the snail mail on Monday) hehehe

either way.. i'm happy.. what a great Christmas present!

Congratulations to Natty Bumppo and Riblet again!! ^__^

And I'll continue to pray for the rest of us who are still waiting!

thanks Bradyvicky!

I read through it and i 'THINK" i get it now.. thanks!!

Congratulations Riblet!! I"m so happy for you!!!

Ok so I think we're in a similar situation (Approved I-130 and in Canada).. do go ahead and read james' shortcuts!!!

I also managed to call the automated hotline to find out if they have transferred (not yet) but I'll check in another week... once they have assigned a case number to me, I'll get the ball rolling by sending out that emai lfor the choice of agent, and so on and so forth.... We can figure this out together!

Oh FYI, in a previous post I said i was gonna get the police certificate but i can't get it yet because I'll need some sort of request letter from USCIS. so i can't just walk to the police office and get it....

he's such a cutie pie!! =D

Congratulations!!! September approval.. nice...!

Can someone who has their case completed and is waiting for an interview tell me how many money orders I would need to have and the amount of each money order? I just wanna be more proactive about it and have my husband get the money orders ready so when we receive any documents, we can send right away without making a trip to the bank (and wasting a day!)

Also, can you please tell me who we should make the money order out to?

I know there is a fee for the following:

Type Cost Payable to

AOS / I-864 $70 Department of State

IV Bill $380 Department of State

DS-230 ? ?

Is there anything else that I missed? Can someone please shed some light?

Thanks!!

Hi bradyvicky!

First of all, congratulations! your case is complete! Second of all.. i was wondering if you can help with a few questions i have. I just got my I-130 approved yesterday.. so i'm gonna go ahead and start reading up on James' shortcuts... I have a question: when you say your case is complete, how do u know? Do they send you something in the mail? or something else? i'm confused.. so i guess... once I complete james' shortcuts, (DS3032, AOS fee bill, IV fee, I-894, etc), all i do is wait for them to give me an interview date? Also, after I have received my NO2, when can i start on James' shortcuts?

Please advise.. thank you very much in advance for answering my questions!

No worries Riblet.. I really think you'll be next! You know.. I should be jumping up and down but I'm not... it just feels surreal right now.. on one hand i'm happy that we got approved.. on the other.. i'm starting to figure out how long it'll take before the interview at montreal! ahhah.. AND we can't do the CR1 interview in Vancouver.. that's just to bad!

but no complaints...i'll continue to pray for the rest of us here in VJ!

I'm approved today! My husband called me tonight and told me the good news... we have been approved for the I-130 even though the online status said our case is still pending!

Ok now i need to follow James' shortcuts.. can someone refresh my memory ? the james shortcut link i have is updated this january.. has there been more updates since then?

fellow vjers who have used the shortcut recently... can you please provide some guidance?

I'm approved! So happy... after 4 months of waiting our I-130 is finally approved!!! I'm so glad!!

Ok so now I need to focus on James' shortcuts? Can someone (perhaps bradyvicky??) who has just finished their I-130 case help me? Before I was approved, I scanned James' shortcuts briefly but I was totally confused..

I'm currently in Vancouver and as I have seen discussions from before, I guess Vancouver does not process I-130?? I guess I will have to go to Montreal huh?

Anyone with any information to follow that'll be great!! I guess the first thing that I can do right now is get my police report?

Please add me! I-130 APPROVED! Dec 4, 2006.

The case still says PENDING online but my husband got the snail mail with the approval letter hehhehehe time to do the happy dance!

Hi,

I'll be having my medical in Vancouver also. Ok, since people are gonna be there at 6am in the morning, I think I will go there at 6am as well when my turn comes. Quick question though, can we 'enter' the building? i.e. We're not gonna be stuck outside the building right? The elevator won't be locked up, right? We can wait right outside the doc's office, right? Thanks for answering my questions. ^__^

what? is this for real? i filed for K-3 in Vancouver and I went to the Consulate in Vancouver and asked them. They said they do process K-3s.... I also emailed them K-3 questions and then answered all of them Also, I've seen a couple of couples who had their K-3 interview in Vancouver so i do feel that Vancouver does K-3... someone correct me if i'm wrong?!

congrats! we got married in june too and filed 130 in july and 129f in aug but not word yet... sigh.. hope it's soon!!

Thanks.. that's very useful information!

I have a question.. is it possible to transfer the entire amount of Canadian RRSP into some US IRA account or the equivalent of RRSP in US? If so, do we avoid paying taxes and what knot?

No question is a silly question! I had the same experience.. all you have to do is type in SEE ATTACHED, and include a page with the document (create it using excel with the same headings) and fill in as many lines as you need! =D

O jessipooh.. I really wish this is the case for me and riblet! hehehe

Just received a couple of these emails:

Oh I hope that this means an approval soon!!!! I know I've seen it before Anything give me hope at this point!

Edited to say - Just received five more, LOL. I thought two wasn't very many, 7 seems more USCIS style

I got the same I-129F message when I logged into the system. But the date didn't change (still read Oct 27 and Aug 8) Usually when I see that the dates didnt change, I dont bother clicking in to the message. But last week I did click in to read the message and I got the same message as you did! (for the I-129F) For the I-130, i got a similar message, saying that it's now PENDING. ALSO, the touch date for my I-130 moved from 8/8/06 to 11/28/06! So I realy hope that means an approval is coming soon.....

I did not receive any email to notify me of this message. I just clicked in there and found out myself. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I read in another post that the computer systems are all WACKO.. so dont panic! If you're still worried, you can call them and see what's going on. But there is nothing to worry about..