catmonkey

This is probably me being overly careful, but...

...On the check instructions (via https://www.uscis.gov/forms/filing-fees) it says:  "6. Sign the check in ink using your legal name".

My signature that I use everywhere is "Kev Jones" written in cursive with some style. My full name is "Kevin Peter Jones".   Should I use my regular signature there or just write "Kevin Peter Jones" in plain cursive writing?

(fyi: My real name is not actually Kevin Peter Jones, that is just an example name that fits this situation, since I don't want to put my real name here on a public forum)

Are you guys going to fill out the "G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance" to get a text/email confirmation message when they receive your application package?

The top of that form says: "Use this form to requestn an electronic notification when USCIS accepts your immigration application. This service is available for applications filed at a USCIS Lockbox facility"

I'm confused because I don't know if my application will be "filed at a USCIS Lockbox facility" or not.   

14 hours ago, HRQX said:

Leave that field blank.

13 hours ago, tiantian2 said:

Most likely you don't have one. I did what you did and couldn't find any number either. Just left as "NONE"

Thank you 

Part 1 - Question 9 on the I-751 is asking for:   "USCIS Online Account Number (if any)"

...I don't remember if I ever made one. 

So to search for it, I just logged back into the USCIS site (by signing in at https://myaccount.uscis.gov) for the first time in about 2 years and I don't see any "Online Account Number" listed there.  

Any tips on what to do and how to find out if i ever had one?

So, i attended school in my home country of India, with a strong focus in Chemistry. I recently immigrated to the USA.

My spouse and I recently sent my transcripts/grades/degrees to ECE for an evaluation. I received the following:

1.   3.59 GPA for 130 Undergraduate Credit Hours (and they equate this to a Bachelors Degree in Chemistry) 

2.   3.34 GPA for 28 Graduate Credit Hours (and they are equating this to a Masters Degree in Chemistry...though I would think most USA Master's Programs are more than 28 Credit Hours

So, I think this looks pretty amazing. 

But is it really the equivalent of a USA student going to Michigan State, Indiana University, or University of Miami (these are just some random USA Colleges off the top of my head that are pretty solid schools) and getting a 3.59 while majoring in Chemistry?   

If so, can I apply to medical/dental school and have a good chance (after taking the MCAT) to get in?

So we had heard from others that this process can be done very fast.  So, me and my spouse (who is now in the USA, and previously lived in India) booked a hall and got everything ready in preparation for our Wedding Reception Festivities which will be on Labor Day Weekend in a month.

We were expecting her parents (from India) to be able to come to this event.  However, now they are telling them that they don't have any interview dates before the middle of September.  So, they won't be able to come to the Wedding Reception, which is the only reason they want to come in the first place.

Is there anything we can do to expedite the process and get my wife's parents over here sooner?  

Okay guys, my wife's interview (in Mumbai, India) is coming up in about a week.

She wants me to ask you guys what she should wear to the interview?  

I'm a guy, so i know nothing about clothing.  Please help lol. 

My spouse just had her medical exam in the foreign country.

If she "failed" a test or something, they will tell us right?

Because apparently, if we get the medical exam results from the doctor, we are not supposed to open it until the interview.  

So, im just thinking it would pretty stupid if my beneficiary flew out to the embassy (which is 1,000 miles away from her) for her interview, only to open up the envelope there and see that she failed something on the medical.  LOL. 

2 minutes ago, Kartinee23 said:

First, we have to bring everything on the checklist which we will arrange according to embassy list (for montreal, I read that they will give you your number and a checklist on how to arrange/order of document while waiting for your name to be called).  It is best to arrange everything by year. Also separate the set of documents you uploaded on CEAC.

  

Based on others stories, Yes.

Oh.  Well I was going to write a cover letter.  Like this below:

" Dear Embassy Officer,

Enclosed, please find the following: 

A) Documents for the Petitioner, Michael Smith:
    1. Copy of Michael’s USA Passport 
    2. Copy of Michael’s USA Birth Certificate
    3. Form i864, filled out by Michael
    4. Michael’s Tax Return Transcript (obtained from the IRS Get Transcript Website) from the most recent tax year (2018)
    8. Michael’s 1040 from the most recent tax year (2018)
    9. Michael’s W-2’s from the most recent tax year (2018)
    10. Michael’s Business Certificate 

B) Documents for Joint Sponsor, Steven Jones:
    1. Form i864, filled out by Steven
    Steven’s Tax Return Transcript (obtained from the IRS Get Transcript Website) from     the most recent tax year (2017) as sent to the NVC 
    6. Steven’s 1040 from the most recent tax year (2017) as sent to the NVC
   7. Steven’s 2018 Tax Return Transcript (obtained from the IRS Get Transcript Website)
    8. Steven’s 2018 1040
    9. Steven’s 2018 W-2’s
    10. Steven’s 2019 Monthly Pay Stubs 
    11. Steven’s Employment Letter (this employment letter and the above 2019 Monthly     Pay Stubs were     used to calculate his CURRENT INCOME on form i864 (108,042.48))
    12. A Notarized Copy of Steven’s Certificate of Naturalization 
    A Notarized Copy of Steven’s Passport Bio Page "
 

...So, based on what you said, this cover letter would be useless even before the beneficiary walks into the interview room, as they will ask her to reorder the documents according to their liking anyway?

3 hours ago, Kartinee23 said:

Rather be safe than sorry with 221g when my interview comes. Bring extra. If not needed then dont give. If they ask, at least you have it. 

Right. 

So you (well, the beneficiary) basically just walk in there with a folder of papers.  And they might ask you to see a particular one (or two or three)?

So, are most people just bringing to the interview the things in this checklist: https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Supplemental/appt%20letter_checklist%20for%20interview.pdf  (civil documents, and tax information for 2018), or are you guys being safe and bringing everything (tax documents for 2015-2017, and anything else)?

So my beneficiary's interview is in a few weeks  

I'm putting together the papers to bring to the interview.  And I'm using this checklist: https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Supplemental/appt letter_checklist for interview.pdf 

However, I don't see anything about any of the old I-130 and USCIS stuff from last year. 

And I remember when i sent these things last year, some people on here were telling me to make photocopies of everything I send USCIS, because my Beneficiary will need to bring them with her to her Visa Interview.   So umm...were those people who told me that just wrong or what? 

1 hour ago, missileman said:

Until you are employed, you current income from that career is zero.....and current income is what is considered for support.

Okay.

So, i should find a joint sponsor (well we already know someone who would do it) and have him fill out a form i864 and bring this physically to the interview next month overseas?

1 hour ago, missileman said:

If your finances are "not the greatest" (as you said), you might want to have a joint sponsor I-864 ready.

Oh okay.  I'll do that. So wait, i won't upload it to CEAC, but my beneficiary should have it on her physically at the interview?  

Also, i myself have a new job that i just got two months ago.  Can i bring some type of evidence for this?

I am also working towards becoming certified for a certain career.  I'm very close.  I should be done in about 1-4 months.  After that, the likelihood that I land a job in this career (which pays $70,000 +) will be very high.  Is this stuff meaningful to them?  If so, should I give them evidence of that (my official test scores) too?    

I also am a Certified Public Teacher, and that is my back up career.  Should I bring evidence of this (my certification)?

Does it mean:

1. They checked all of our financial documents on CEAC, line by line, looked at all of our evidence, and believe that the beneficiary will not become a public charge

or

2. Our financial documents are all there and we don't have anything left to send them.  However, they still have not made a judgement on whether or not my beneficiary will become a public charge or not.  This will be done at the interview. 

Just a very general question...

Given that I (and hopefully, you too) have been given our interview date, does this mean that our financial situation (based on the financial forms we uploaded to CEAC a couple months ago) has been approved?   

I ask because my financial situation isn't the best, and i barely made over the poverty line last year. 

2 hours ago, NZcat said:

 

It might be different for different embassies but here is what happened to me (New Zealand) - I called my embassy and asked if I needed to provide the 2018 transcript and they said to upload the 2018 transcript to CEAC. Then about a week before the interview they suddenly emailed and said I also needed to submit a new I-864 as well with the 2018 data on it. It was very inconvenient because I was already in Auckland for the medical and interview (not my home city) so I had to try to find places with internet and to print and scan everything! Then when I tried to upload it the CEAC portal kept crashing. I asked the lady at the embassy if I could just email it to her and she said no, it has to be uploaded to CEAC by me so just keep trying. Not much fun when you are in a strange city without easy access to a computer/internet etc! I finally got it done but would recommend uploading both the transcript and updated I-864 well in advance so you’re not super stressed at the last minute like I was!!  As I said, this might be different for different embassies though, of course!

Thanks for the info.  And yes, that must have been very inconvenient as you weren't at home with your computer and internet.

Background info: My spouse's visa interview is next month overseas. Our Financial Sponsor is my uncle.  

My Uncle's i864 (that we uploaded on CEAC in February) only included tax information for 2015, 2016, and 2017. He made around $70,000 in each of these years. 

My Uncle just recently filed his 2018 taxes in April. And in 2018 he only made $10,000. 

So, I am scared that the interviewer next month is going to see my Uncle's 2018 Taxes and Financial info, and will not be happy to see that he only made $10,000.

Now, to be prepared for this, my uncle has assets (a business and house) that are worth around a million dollars, and he says he will gladly put these up in support of my spouse.  However, I'm not sure exactly how to do this...should we fill out a brand new i864 in which he lists these assets on the asset section?

Okay, so in the email that the NVC sends you to let you know that you have an interview date (aka the "interview letter"), this is the third bullet point in the Reminders section:

• "If a sponsor filed an I-864 (Affidavit of Support) AND provided the NVC with proof of an IRS Federal Income Tax Extension in lieu of a Federal Income Tax Return, you must upload this to CEAC or bring the sponsor's most recent Federal Income Tax Return to the visa interview."

I'm having trouble comprehending this sentence.  I did NOT get a Tax Extension, so does this mean that the rest of the sentence doesn't apply to me?

Or does this mean that I am not supposed to follow the first option ("upload this to CEAC"), and rather, should follow the second option "bring the sponsor's most recent Federan Income Tax Return to the visa interview".

Basically, this is a question of english, and would be a good SAT question lol.

Like if the sentence read: "If you are a football player, you must go get your helmet or read a book at your desk".  Does this sentence mean that if you are a football player you have two choices (1. getting his helmet or 2. reading a book) or does this sentence mean that all football players must go get their helmets and everybody else has to read a book?

Okay so i bet some of you have this same question and some of you are in the same situation.

My spouse has her interview in June next month (yayyy). Our uncle was our Financial Sponsor and he filled out the i864 way back in February, so it does not include his 2018 tax numbers on it (since he did not have his 2018 taxes filed at the time he filled out that form). 

He filed his 2018 Taxes last month. So, do I need to update the i864 and put these new 2018 numbers on it?

My financial sponsor lost (he probably threw it away in the trash) the physical i864 that he signed for me in February. 

Is this going to be a problem?  Do they (the embassy at my spouse's visa interview) want to see original of this at the interview? 

On travel.state.gov it says that (see attached photo) a scanned copy will suffice, and i have the scanned version on my computer so that sounds great.

But, in the interview letter we received last week, it said:

"Important Information:

You submitted forms and supporting documents to the NVC in electronic form. You must present the original forms and documents for review by the consular officer during your interview.

Please promptly read and follow all Interview Preparation Instructions located on the Department of State's web site at: https://nvc.state.gov/interview."

So uhh, which one is it?   Will a scanned copy be good or am i screwed?

Okay guys.

I just got my Interview Date.  It is in late June.

Embassy: Mumbai

I am trying to schedule my spouse's Biometrics appointment.  However, when i click on the link (the REGISTER buttom from Step 1 up top of this site: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/BMB-Mumbai.html) , it takes to me a site that has information about the DS-160 and all the things we did last year.  So, i guess that is the wrong link. 

Does anyone know the correct link and/or know how to schedule my spouse's Biometrics appointment?

5 minutes ago, Kartinee23 said:

What is your visa category? Well better to have interview date than having rfe like me and @nyokie 😂

Mine is a CR1. 

I had an RFE two months ago (well, actually i had 3 documents that got declined at once).  I bet most people get at least one RFE.  

My CC was March 20, and my Interview Date is June 27.

Yet I see people on here with a CC date of April 1 and they received an interview date of June 7.

We all have the same embassy (Mumbai).

What is up with that?

2 minutes ago, nicedamsel said:

Please which embassy and case close date. Congratulations 

CC Date: March 20

Embassy is Mumbai