prpplague

Yes. If the person who overstayed was an I-94 D/S holder.

yes she had a valid I-94 which was surrendered when she left the US. she actually overstayed 190 days.

there were several people who messaged me with questions regarding our application:

Q:Are you currently living in the U.S.?

A:No we both are currently residents of Barbados

Q:I just wish to know if there is any residency requirement for both the USC and the spouse in barbados?

A:Yes there does appear to be a requirment. the embassy/consulate webpage does state the following "U.S. citizens residing in the U.S. should file their petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the U.S."

Q:Can both just be tourists in barbados and file I-130 at the embassy?

A: you might be able to get away with the USC being a tourist and the applicant having a local address, but if you are both in the US i would recommend you stay there and file your adjustment of status there.

Q:Were you both asked for any proof of residency in barbados?

A:No we were not asked to show anything such as a lease or bill with our names on it, however the consular did as a few questions about our stay in barbados, i.e. when we moved here, what school our children go to, if we had a local bank account.

Q:Did they ask for the G325a form for you and your spouse? The instructions on the I-130 form suggest that you need that form also.

A: No to my surprise they did not require the G325a for me or my spouse.

Q:What was the instruction from the consulate for packet 3?

A: the Packet-3 had a DS-2001 Readiness sheet along with a DS-230. it also contained a list of documents needed. oddly i was unable to find the DS-2001 pdf on the DoS web site however i did find it on the london embassy web page:

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/.../DS2001list.pdf

the DS-230 is available from the DoS web site:

http://foia.state.gov/FORMS/visa/ds0230.pdf

Q:Are you going back to submit the documents in-person or do you plan to send them in?

A: we will be submitting the documents in person as we are both residents of barbados

Q:Any tips on how to handle the questions they ask?

A: be honest

i've read about all the issues about visa overstays and when a I-601 waiver is required.

for example most people agree that any overstay less than 180 days does not require

a waiver, but anything over 180 does because it includes a ban. my question is this:

does the consular have the authority to approve a visa without requiring a I-601 if there

was an overstay more than 180 days?

hello all,

i've been reading visajourney.com for sometime now in preparation for doing our DCF. well.....today we went and filed our I-130 at the embassy.

we arrived right at 8:30 (opening time) and there was already a line of atleast 40 people. i showed the security guard my US passport and was moved to the front of the line. after getting into the consulate area, we waited for an open window and told the agent what we were there for. she took our I-130 form , but without any supporting documents and we were told to take a seat and wait. we waited for about one and a half hours, then we were called to another window. the agent took copies of our documents including my passport, my wife's birth certificate, our marriage certificate, my divorce degree from my first marrage(doh!). we were then told that the consular would call us up to a window shortly. shortly turned out to be another one and a half hours. we spoke to the consular, answered a few questions about how we met, where we were living, where i was working, and if my wife had ever lived in the US. after answering his questions he said that he intended to approve the I-130 and we'd get our packet-3 in about 10-15 minutes. indeed about 10 minutes later we were called to a forth window and receive our packet-3.

we'll be starting on the forms in packet-3 tonight.

thanks visajourney.com for providing a nice forum for reasearch and support during this process!