briancole

Okay, this may be moved, but I couldn't find anywhere else this made sense, this is the closest relevant forum, imo.

I brought my wife to the States recently after getting married in her native country of Peru. At the time we decided not to have her name changed since it would complicate identification documents for her while in Peru (since they use 2 last names). Now that she's here, she wants to change her last name to match mine. How would I go about doing that? I've looked all over the USCIS website and I cannot find anything that matches this situation. We went to the social security office and the agent there told us to present our Peruvian marriage certificate at the local immigration office to process the change, that the marriage should do that automatically. Is that still the case since we were married in Peru and did not do any kind of name change?

I've found everything I need to apply for a tourist visa for my wife's mother. It's on http://lima.usembassy.gov/niv.html . Now I just have some questions I'm having trouble finding the answers for.

- What are the visit timeframes for a tourist visa? 1 month? 6 months? more?

- I've seen some people talk about acceptance percent by embassy. Where can I find that? And how can we increase our chances?

- Is there another site or phone number I can call to find out more?

Thanks

My wife and stepson are in the US now, we've just received a few letters in the mail, I797C, Notice of Action giving us their A-numbers. Now what? I've looked through the guides, I figure we have to file for AOS, but it mostly refers to K3 visas. I know the information is out there, I'm just having a hard time finding it! How to I obtain a green card? How do I get them SS numbers? Thank you!

This is a very important issue--many countries do not let a spouse leave with a minor child without the proper OK from the other parent, so PLEASE be sure to add this to your checklist before buying tickets. I have flown to/from Costa Rica a dozen times and every single time I see a parent fighting with an immigration agent or crying because they didn't have the proper papers ahead of time.

Yeah, I understand now. We just had no idea. I mean, It's one thing to have that information available and to not have acted, but it's another entirely when that info isn't even there. I mean, how does one just assume something like that? It never even occured to either of us that such a thing would exist. So I guess I'm flying out there this week again. We're rescheduling the flights for next Sunday.

Well, My wife and son are at the airport right now and they won't let them check in because they need me to be there in order to give permission. I either have to be on the flight with them or give them a notorized document notorized in Lima. A mother cannot immigrate alone with her son without permission from the father.

Oh my gosh, I'm so angry, we have the flights payed for and everything. I'm flying out today to meet them on the way, and there's nothing we can say or do to dissuade them at the airport!

We've never heard of this but we don't know what we can do! I guess I have of fly back there again

Edit: I should mention that the visa interview went great, I was there for that and all went super well. My wife and son both have there visas. Now it's just this issue we're working through...

I think you and "they" have to know that your Submitted AOS was valid the time when you submitted it. May don't bring up the topic of your job if they don't ask.

If they ask then you can explain to them plus you said you also included your parents on AOS.

Sorry not much of a straight answer.

I also agree with previous poster about finding a job before the interview so this way "they" will see that you are a responsible person.

Thank you to both of you, that does help. I hoped as much, but I worried that they would see it as instability on my part and that it would hurt our case. Luckily they have the co-sponsor information.

This morning I was let go and now I have no job. My Affidavit of Support contains information about my job I just lost. Luckily I sent in a second affidavit with my parent's information as a backup. Now I'm worried because that document I submitted no longer applies to me. What am I going to say at the interview if they ask about work? If they ask my wife where I work? Or my son? Should I bring an updated copy of my affidavit for whatever other job I get between now and then?

I'll obviously be doing everything I can between now and then to find a new job, but I may not find anything before the interview. What advice or recommendations could you give me?

EDIT: The interview date is set for November 22.

Right. Brian, you will talk to the DHL folks at the embassy and they will help you figure out which location works best for you. If that's in Lima or Apurimac, so be it. You can decide based on how things unfold and your timing post-interview. DHL doesn't know where you do or don't live and they will send it where you request. One thing I wouldn't try is re-routing it after making the initial decision at the embassy kiosk, as that is a sure-fire way to lose your packet! Don't make it too complicated -- just decide and go with it.

Thank you for actually answering my question. Obviously I can check if there's a DHL near where she lives. I know how Peruvian officials and agencies are and I wondered if they would require it to go where her stated address is. That's how things usually work there. Gladly not in this case. I don't want it going to her home, that'll take to long. It'd be better if it were to stay in Lima, so I'm glad I can choose that. Thanks again for your help.

Well, I've purchased my plane tickets to go to Peru, I'll hold off on buying my trip back until I have the visa. Thank you all for your advice and opinions, they've not only helped me figure out how to prepare for this situation, but you've also helped me find some great airlines for getting back there to visit. So thanks again and I'll be back to record our experience at the Embassy in the Embassy review section and hopefully to help others where I can. I would have had a much harder time if it hadn't been for this resource!

Yeah, they have offices in the provinces and it might take longer for the package to make it to the provinces. This is all something you will have to inquire about at the kiosk at the embassy -- how many days they hold it, where they deliver, etc. about all your options. I doubt you'll find someone here who has specific and recent experience with Apurimac.

Yeah, I would expect as much. So it has to go to her address in Apurimac, we can't specify what address we need it to go to?

If the interview outcome is favorable or if they just need to check a few things, the immigration officer will keep your passport. You will be given a slip of paper and you will walk outside the building to the DHL kiosk that is inside the embassy complex. There will be a short wait at the kiosk, you'll fill out a form, and pay (can't remember the cost). Based on where you live, they will give you the address of a DHL office at which you must pick up the passport with visa and a packet with other materials (some of which you are not permitted to open!). They will tell you what date they expect to have the packet, though you may be instructed to call first to check. There are certain hours that they will hand back the embassy packets to you at the particular DHL office, so pay attention to this as they might not be the same hours the DHL office is open for regular business. It should be within a week if there are no issues at the interview.

Okay, that helps a lot. How long will they hold onto the packet at the DHL office? Do I have some time before I need to pick it up? I ask this because we may need to go back to where she lives (Apurimac) to finish packing some of her things, etc.

Thanks again for all your help, we're still trying to figure out exactly how we'll do it. One thing though that I still don't quite understand: How do we get the visas? We go to a DHL Office and hand in the passports. Then do they send them to an address? Do we come back and pick them up? What are some of the ways one can get the passports?

One more comment on Spirit, I'll keep looking around for the best/reliable fare. Spirit looks great, but looking at some reviews and it looks a little unreliable. Has anyone had some good experiences? I still want to use them, but I worry about encountering problems...

I am not sure in what city you live but, if you buy a few weeks in advance, try Spirit Airlines. They have the cheapest flights I have seen from Lima to FFL ( Fort Lauderdale). Hope this helps you

Sadly, I live in Utah at the moment. Oh but my goodness, those are some amazing rates! I wish I'd known about them earlier! The closest flights are going into Vegas.... I could go there....

Well, we'll see. I agree buying a round trip ticket could be risky so I may decide against that risk. Thank you all for your advice, it's given me some perspective. I'm glad the process is finally almost complete, but strangely enough this small conundrum has caused me more stress than any other part of the process.... Her and I will discuss it over the weekend and we'll try and come to a conclusion. We'll take all of your recommendations into consideration, thanks again!

Not sure about Peru, but ours took 1 week for Visa in hand. Others usually are mailed by courier or they pick up a few days later.

Uff, that does throw a wrench into everything.............. My time's limited getting off work... Well, I'll look into the Peruvian embassy portion of this site again and see what it says.

I don't have any answers to your questions, but I do know that you can purchase round trip tickets and it wouldn't be a problem (wait until after the interview to purchase theirs). I have read other VJers doing that and it was fine.

I do feel your pain. I'm trying to get my husband here from Nigeria on the prices and also getting him here without going round the mulberry bush and back

God Bless on your interview!

Thank you! TBH I really don't want to wait until after the interview before I guy the tickets.... It's just a cost issue, plus it'll be harder to get them on the same flight as me, and I don't want to risk us having to go on separate flights! I know it's a gamble...

And we'll have the visas in hand... as soon as they are approved at the Embassy after the interview? I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, but I have to make sure!

My wife and stepson have their interview scheduled for November 22! YAY! I'm so excited, finally this whole process is coming to a close. But now, how do I get them home??? I've been breaking my head against the wall trying to work out flights for them that won't completely destroy me financially. I've been working out various possibilities and I want to run them by you guys now and get your opinions on them, also to see if there's any flaws in my thinking....

1st! and most important, from everything I've read, as soon as the interview is complete and if everything goes well, they can come to the States. Is this correct? Before I buy anything I want to know for sure that this is true. I need to know if there's any kind of waiting period to be expected or whatever...

2. I'm going to fly down to Peru before the interview to be with them at the interview and help them pack and such. My first thought was to buy round-trip tickets going down there and coming from for the three of us, just obviously they wouldn't use the tickets going down, just the tickets coming home. After some research, however, it looks like if I do that, the flight will be cancelled in it's entirety if they are not on board for the first flight. Is this true? Does anyone know if this is a possible idea?

3. Seriously, one way flights are financial suicide. It'd be great if I could just buy them one-way tickets going out of Lima to where I live, but they cost so sooo much! It'd be cheaper for me to buy them round trip tickets going from Peru to the US then back to Peru, and simply not use the tickets going back! At this point it is my plan to do this, but I'm the paranoid type and worry about unforeseen problems. Would them having a round trip flight back raise suspicion with immigration or customs on the way into the country? How 'bout the airlines? Do they usually have any kind of penalty for doing this sort of thing? Seems like a fairly easy loophole to exploit, I would imagine there could be some kind of safeguard against such an action, such as a fine or whatever.

4. Finally, what am I not thinking of? What advice could you give me based on your experience? What did you do to get your loved ones home with you?

Please help me out with this, I'm trying to get my travel arrangements figured out ASAP so as to get the best possible rates. Thank you in advance for you assistance, and thank you Visa Journey for helping me get to this point!!!

Go to this link and read LingChe_NVC_Shortcuts, email DS-3032 form, I-864, I-864 cover letter, DS-230 cover letter & DS-230 - http://www.visajourn...nal_Visa_Center

After that you can ask any particular question and it will be easy to explain for us and easy to understand for you.

Thanks for the helpful resource.

I'm bringing both my wife and step-son over here so I've applied for them both separately. My wife at this point is at the visa application point, whereas my step-son just received his NVC number yesterday. I'm feeling super impatient and don't want to wait for the affidavit of support processing fee invoice to come in the mail, nor do I want to wait for the visa application. I know those are coming up and I want to get a jump start on them! Is there any way I can pay the processing fee now and submit my affidavit? Can I go ahead and have my wife mail in the required documents for the visa application? I'm just trying to see if there's any way I can cut some of the time-consuming waiting out.

Hmmm, after reviewing some things, I wonder if I really need a joint sponsor. I earn 30k which is above the required threshold for a family of 3. The main reason I planned to have a joint sponsor was because I have only recently begun that job. My tax returns for the last 3 years do not reflect such an income. I've already had my employer sign a letter stating my yearly income level as proof of income. Having that, do you believe I need a joint sponsor?

Sweet, thanks! I know it was a very simple question, I just wanted to make sure! Hope the Peruvian Postal Service doesn't go on strike again soon....

Ok, I've been reviewing the I-864 and I've notice some things that i'm not sure about. First, item 21 has me determine the household size. That's fine for me, I just put the 2 that I'm sponsoring and myself which is already marked with a 1. But what should my parents put? They're going to have to declare themselves on the document: 2 being sponsored, 1 "yourself" and 1 spouse. It'll add up to 4. It'll also imply that they will be included into the household, which they will not. Also below on item 24 it gives me the option to state a combined income with someone else in my household. This would remain blank, because this is not a 'household member' type of assisted sponsorship, but with the above item, it seems it would seem that way.

So my wife just finished submitting the DS-260 online, now it wants her to submit the civil documents and photographs... to the NVC? So she sends those things here to the States? The instructions say the documents don't need to be translated so long as they're written in the country's official language. Seems like it would make more sense to send them to the embassy, but I guess we're not at that part yet. Am I right?

Fill out an I-864 and have your parents fill one out as well.. Get it done and mailed asap so you can get it reviewed as quick as possible.. they dont send you the paperwork you get those from the website and fill it out.. make sure that you fill out an AOS for you AND your child..

You mean for my wife and my child? Thanks for the info! That gets me on the right track. I should be able to get all this sent in this week or next Monday at the latest.

It says paid. I'll keep that in mind and include that with the document when I send it. *Bumping to find help with my question.