Kani2015

27 minutes ago, Happy43 said:

Does the affidavit have to be notarized 

Yes, since it says “sworn”, it means it should be notarized. I’m going to be honest and say that I don’t think they did anything to help our case. But like I said, it can’t hurt and the more you can add to your petition, the better. Just make sure you have really good pieces of evidence like the above listed, and not only rely on the affidavits 

12 minutes ago, Hedjilay2731 said:

Wow!!! That’s awesome! Hamdolh 🤲🏽🤲🏽 Congratulations 🎊🎉 

12 minutes ago, Hedjilay2731 said:

Wow!!! That’s awesome! Hamdolh 🤲🏽🤲🏽 Congratulations 🎊🎉 

Thank you so much!!

Hello all, Alhamdulilah my husband just had his interview yesterday, October 27th, 2020 and it was approved. We got the interview because we requested an expedite request due to a family medical emergency, which they approved. We will be sharing our detailed consulate review soon, inshaAllah. We are wishing everyone the best through the rest of this process and praying that everything goes quickly and smoothly for all VJ members! 

3 hours ago, PoohPiglet said:

Same thing is happening to me. I can only access it though my phone. 😐

I was blocked out of the website from phone and laptop on my WiFi for a couple hours. I just tried again this am, and thankfully it’s working again! I think it’s something with the website but I think it should resolve if you just wait a little while and try again later in the day. 

23 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  I had problems from my work computer. I could access the site on my cell though.

I’m only able to view the website when I’m off of WiFi. As soon as I try to access the website, l on WiFi, the page doesn’t load. As soon as I clicked a link from one of the members, it said a message something like: “ should you really be here, your information is recorded...” or something like that. I’m so confused, the link was on a forum about expedite request process and it was a normal link. I’m worried I won’t be able to access this site anymore on WiFi. Can anyone help??

Agree with both of you. We will get through this, inshaAllah. I’m hopeful these coming months will be filled with good news and reunions. Just one day at a time. 

Nothing as of yet for us too. We were DQ’d March 16th. I can’t imagine we would be far behind on the list to get an interview once things started up again. So I really have no idea what they are/aren’t processing in the Embassy right now. 

My dear fellow VJ member, I was in a VERY similar situation to you when we first applied. I had the exact same fears as you. I met my now husband online in 2015 and we had our first meeting in 2018, in which we got married one week later. We are Muslim and both firm in our faith, so that was one of the reasons we got married during the first in person meeting (we didn’t want to jeopardize our beliefs by being together without being married.) And on top of that, we just knew, without doubt, that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Hey, when you know, you just know. Only you know the legitimacy of your own relationship. And when it’s real, don’t let others make you think you “rushed” into things. Everyone has their own timelines in life, and it’s your life to live. SO! Long story short, Alhamdulillah (all praise/thanks to God), they accepted our I-130 petition and a few months later, we finally got DQ in March 2020. We are just waiting for the interview now. In the interview, you get to prove to the officer that your relationship is legitimate. You are talking to a real person, not just submitting papers online or through the mail. So therefore, it’s easier to make them understand why you got married on the first visit, if they even ask at all. The number of visits to your soon to be husband CAN be a major factor proving your relationship is real, but it’s not the only factor! You have already been talking to your fiancé for 3 years, that’s great evidence. When you submit your petition, gather every single piece of evidence you can think of to prove that your relationship is real (Ex: Proof of: Any bank accounts in both names, any type of living will with your fiancé as the beneficiary, any  Insurance paper that has your husband as your beneficiary, any credit cards that you have a joint account with your fiancé, pictures you have taken after you have your first meeting together- including ones taken with the both of you and family, screenshots of conversations you’ve had together throughout the years, letters that you’ve sent to each other, etc.) Of course every situation is unique but I truly believe you will be fine, God-willing. Just be patient through this long process and keep visiting each other through out the process as much as you can, once airports open again. Because this process is long, about 1 year + ,  so you have plenty of time to get a few more visits in that you can bring as proof by the time your interview day comes 🙂 Feel free to message me if you ever have any questions. Best of luck!!

6 minutes ago, mbssss said:

Waiting would be ideal but my current Visa expires later this year as I graduate and I would prefer to not overstay. What we might do is provide an employment letter, as many paystubs as possible, evidence that he was a student the previous years and mention in our cover letter that we will bring more paystubs as well as his tax return as it is likely that we will not have an interview until sometime next year. 

Yeah I would agreeing not overstaying is best. Last thing you want during a visa process is to face legal issues. Like I said, you will have a chance to better explain your situation to the CO at the time of the interview, as well as provide the updated tax transcripts. 

1 minute ago, Cheburashka34 said:

Yes I'm assuming if everything goes well with the K1 I will be submitting my 2020 tax return and I'm estimating I'll only make about $5,000 above the 125% requirement and have about $25,000 in my savings. I'm worried because I'd really like to not use a joint sponsor. My job is low income right now since I'm still in school.

It’s hard to know the exact chances because every case is unique. From what I’ve read from other people’s experiences, NVC tends to look mostly based off of the number you provide them with your last tax return. If it’s over, you’re good. If you’re under, they’ll ask for a joint sponsor. However, at the time of the interview, it seems they look at total circumstances. In my opinion, it looks like you have a good chance of not needing a joint sponsor since your are $5,000 above and not just slightly over like $1,000. If you’ve had that income for the past 3 years, it increases your chances of not needing the sponsor, as well. However, if you will only be over by $5,000 for the first time by the time you file for 2020, it might make the chances decrease a little. But like I said, that’s where the interview comes in and the CO has a better chance at looking at total circumstances (you are a student and once you graduate, God willing you can make more money). Good luck!

1 minute ago, Cheburashka34 said:

Do you know the chances of them asking for a joint sponsor if you made above the 125% but only by a few thousand?

Do you mean the previous years’ tax returns, you made above the poverty line? 

I had the same issue. I had great current income but my past income was very low due to being a student. What I decided to do was wait a few months in order to file the most recent years’ tax return. Once I did that, I finally submitted everything to NVC March 2020. It was frustrating to wait but I couldn’t chance needing a joint sponsor, since for me too, it was not an option. All thanks to God, we got DQ shortly after submitting everything. 
 

You have 2 options, you can submit everything now, wait to hopefully get DQ, but just know they will most likely say you need a joint sponsor if your past income on your 2019 tax return was $0/low income. What they might do is DQ your documents but then say you will need to provide a joint sponsor at the time of interview, in which case you might be ok with just submitting your new tax returns for 2020 next year and bringing those to your interview. The other option is just wait a few months (until January 2021) so that you can submit everything all at once and not need to worry about them asking for a joint sponsor. Best of luck! 

Hello all, I hope everyone is staying safe during these difficult times. I have a 3 part question about my current job. I have not been highly satisfied with the job I am currently in. The original plan was to switch jobs as soon as my husband comes because I don't want switching jobs to interfere with him getting the visa, since it will look like I don't have a lot of experience at the new job. However, I'm starting to think about my options. If I were to take a paid leave of absence, in which I would still get paid monthly but only 60% of my normal paycheck, do you think this would affect my husband's interview and the CO's opinion of me being able to support my husband once he's here? Also, I have the same question about my option of taking a longer, but unpaid leave of absence. I would still be an employee at my job, just without the paychecks. My hope would be to live with my husband during these leaves of absence.

Lastly, do I even have an option of switching jobs at this point? I have been working at my current job for about 1.5 years now. I just would hate to have only a few months of job experience at a new job during the time my husband has his interview because I'm afraid it would negatively affect the outcome. 

I know no one can tell me for sure but I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with these situations and can give me some advice? Thank you! 

1 minute ago, Duke & Marie said:

The photographs are fine.. even though they ask for 2x2 they accepted mine which are international sizings..  I wouldn’t worry too much

Thank you! I worry wayy too much

Question... I'm really paranoid right now and I'm sure it's fine but when I used a scanner app on my phone to scan all of my documents, I showed a small amount of the background that I took the picture on so that the NVC knew for sure I didn't cut off any border. Is that ok? Or do I have to crop off the background and just leave the document? (By the way, the documents are totally legible and take up most of the screen)

Also...as far as uploading passport pictures, does it HAVE to be 2x2 American size when we are just uploading it to CEAC? I have the 2x2s for the interview but I want to know if they'll accept the international size for CEAC. 

3 hours ago, Duke & Marie said:

I think the easiest way is to answer it truthfully.. straightforward yes or no answers.. n/a Is really only applicable if you never applied or received benifits.

 

- did you or your family apply for or receive public benifits yes/no if yes then It’s a yes / no answer, if you didn’t apply or receive benifits then it’s N/A

 

no one can tell you how to answer it as only you know if y’all claimed benifits 

Right, but the only problem is there is not a N/A choice and I didn’t apply for any benefits therefore I can’t answer that yes or no because none of them pertain to our situation 😕 

5 minutes ago, Kani2015 said:

So I just spoke to a woman at NVC today and I asked her if I needed to submit the new DS-5540 form on CEAC and she says: "Oh, the new form? We have nothing to do with that. Yeah, we weren't told anything about that at the NVC." And then I said oh ok good so I can just bring in to the interview, then? And she said "yes." 

 

So I'm going to be uploading all of my documents to CEAC without the DS-5540. I will complete it and have my husband bring it to his interview along with my husband's proof of ability to get insurance once he is in the USA to the interview and I will only have him give it to the CO if they ask for it. 

 

You are all free to make a decision to submit it for yourself or not but that's the answer I got so that's what I'm going with   Hoping we all get DQ'd soon!!

Additionally, to further support this... here at the bottom, the website says that it may be requested at the time of the interview. Therefore I am starting to believe more and more now that this new form is more of a interview stage document, not a CEAC document. 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-10-prepare-for-the-interview.html

For anyone filling out the DS-5540, how did you answer number 12 on page 3? "If you or your family requested or received a public benefit, were you or your family members exempt from public charge during that period?"

I'm afraid to leave it blank because I don't want NVC to say it's incomplete and then get an RFE but if I say no, it means that my husband wasn't exempt from public charge and if I answer yes it means my husband did request a public benefit. I'm so confused  

quick tax question-- do I have to handwrite my state tax return in capital letters? Or is regular letters fine?

Thank you! I actually read here on VJ that if you file as married filing separately,  you have to do a paper return instead of electronic. But I actually called H and R block and they said in NY state they actually do everything electronically now, so everything should be ok  

4 minutes ago, LilyJ said:

Yes, the only documents that need to be actual originals are the beneficiary's documents, photocopies of originals of the petitioner's documents are fine

Oh good, thank you! 

Do I need original pay stubs for interview? I am missing two original pay stubs and I only have the copy that I can print online. Would that be sufficient?

This happened to me as well. It was cleared from my bank for a few weeks and yet IV bill still wasn’t showing as paid. Keep calling NVC, you’ll eventually get someone nice who will go into your account and look at why it’s not saying paid. I called twice, first person was unhelpful and the 2nd she was able to go into the system and change it 👍🏻 Keep calling until you’re satisfied with your answer. Best of luck!