Bri and Thor

17 minutes ago, JohnMcL said:

Thanks, when your wife went to secondary screening where you able to be present, wait in the waiting area or wait in the baggage claim?

After the first counter, they waved us over to what I am guessing was secondary screening (basically another cubicle) where, after a brief wait in a seating area, they called us all up, gave her a sheet with some info about the next steps, asked a few questions to confirm address, etc and it was off to baggage claim from there. I was with them the whole time. 

To echo the others, yes. Earlier this month I accompanied my wife and stepkids through this process at the Atlanta POE. I greeted one of several people that were guiding those arriving into the proper line, explained the situation, and they told my family "welcome to the US" and waved us on through to an agent. Everyone was professional yet cordial...y'all should be good to go.

We uploaded my (petitioner) 2020 W-2 as well as the IRS tax transcripts from 2020, 2019, and 2018. My understanding is that the transcripts contain the same info as the 1040, but the transcripts are preferred.

11 hours ago, randy32 said:

Original documents are returned. No need for 3 originals

Give her the original and a copy. You will get is back shortly since you already plan to be there for the interview.

 

I don't know how to have them schedule all the interviews on the same day but I guess that by default it is if the are CR2s (unmarried child of a foreign spouse)

Thank you for the info! That is correct, the kids are both unmarried minors (15 and 9). I was thinking it may be the case they'd schedule the interviews on the same day at least (or maybe at the same time, since they're minors?).

Just to be on the safe side, I'm thinking of carrying my original birth certificate and a copy for each of their three cases.

Hello, I have a bit of a multilayered question for those in the know. I (natural-born USC) and my wife (Colombian national) are, along with her children (my stepchildren), awaiting our interview appointment assignment at the Bogota Embassy for a CR1 (plus CR2s for the kiddos) after receiving the notice that NVC was transmitting the cases to the Bogota Embassy. She has asked me about obtaining three original copies of my (the petitioner) birth certificate to carry to the interview. I used my passport as proof of my status/domicile in the US. I did submit my birth certificate with the I-130 paperwork, though.

I am planning to attend the interview with her and the kids on their interview day.

My first question is: If I submitted my passport for proof of status/domicile for the NVC part of the process, do I need to worry about asking for additional original copies of my birth certificate to carry to the interview(s)?

My second question is: If one original copy of my birth certificate was used for each I-130 application, would I need to only bring the original and three copies, the original only, copies only, or...?

Third (bonus) question, if anyone can provide insight: Is there any way to request that my wife's interview and the kiddos' interviews happen on the same day?

Thank you in advance for any insight, and if I happen to have left out any information critical to answer the question(s) above, please let me know and I will gladly provide it. Cheers!

In preparing the paperwork and supporting documentation for DS-260s for herself and her minor children (my stepchildren), my wife noticed that in the NVC portal her intended visa is correctly reflected as CR1 (we have been married since January 2020, so less than 2 years) but the intended visas of the two kids both show up as IR2. Is this normal, a clerical error on the part of NVC, or...something that we should raise a question about to NVC asap?

Thank you very much for any insight or advice!

On 5/30/2021 at 6:20 PM, pushbrk said:

Do not list family members who have their own petition.  You are sponsoring 1 immigrant per affidavit.  The step children are counted in part 5, to make the household size correct.

Many thanks for the clarification!

21 hours ago, pushbrk said:

The questions are asked in the present tense.  You can hand write any extra characters when you print and sign.

 

You said you are filling "the form".  You'll complete, sign and upload a separate form for each immigrant, at least 3 forms, as you've used the plural stepchildren.

Thank you for the clarification re: the extra characters!

That is correct, there are three individuals: my wife, and her two minor children (my stepchildren). Based upon this, I would need to file an I-864 form for each of them, with the other 2 listed as "Family Member 1" and "Family Member 2" in Part 3, i.e. the two children on the I-864 for my wife, my wife and stepdaughter on the I-864 for my minor stepson, etc?

(I've done several searches and so far have not found a clear answer, so here I am raising my hand with my question...thank you in advance!)

I am filling in the I-864 form for my sponsorship of my wife and her children (my stepchildren). For the "mailing address" section of Part 2 (Information about the Principal Immigrant), I have a few questions after reviewing the I-864 as well as the published instructions. I may be overthinking this, but I felt like asking the community here would yield some great information as it has many times before. 😁

- Is this intended to be a) my wife's current mailing address in Colombia, her country of residence, or b) her address when she moves in with me here in the US following issuance of her visa?

- If it supposed to be her current address, how might one signify characters other than those allowed by the form (i.e. # and -, in the case of Carrera X # X - X, etc.)? Should I simply fill it in by hand when I print it for signature (seems like the easiest option) or is there a better/more acceptable way?

- For the line regarding "In care of" name, should I list her name or leave it blank? She's the only adult resident at her current address in Colombia...if this is supposed to be her address once here in the US (my address), I'd assume that I'd list myself as the "In care of"...right?

Thanks in advance for your helpful insight!

On 4/2/2021 at 6:10 PM, JefferyC91 said:

Good afternoon, My wife and I got married in her home country in Colombia back in October. I'm a US citizen and the sponsor. We are starting to file for the Visa and was wondering what is some good advice to file the I130 and the CR1. 

We have been together since December 2019.

First of all, congratulations to both of you!

Regarding advice, some general advice that served us well during the I-130/USCIS portion of the process (we're currently at the NVC stage) is:

- In the evidence packet, we submitted lots of photos, screenshots of chats, tickets/receipts corresponding to events in the aforementioned photos, etc. Essentially, you need to establish that the marriage is indeed bonafide. We probably overdid it, honestly...but it's better to be safe than sorry. They don't need to see *everything*, but certainly enough to prove that there's an ongoing relationship.

- Check and double-check the information before you submit it. Dates, spelling of names, addresses, etc.

- For translation of Colombian documents with the certification statement found elsewhere on VisaJourney, I did the translations for us (obviously not for any items that had to be officially translated/apostilled). Depending on your comfort with and command of Spanish to English translation, you may or may not elect to proceed the way we did. Translations aren't terribly cheap (at least in terms of the official ones) in our experience...but in all honesty, there's also something to be said for paying a professional in return for a solid translation, timeliness, and peace of mind as well. YMMV.

- Be patient. Unless y'all are lucky, it is going to take a while...we filed the I-130 in early May of last year, and were transferred to NVC last month. That said, it depends upon the service center where your paperwork is reviewed. We were at Potomac. Estimates kept being extended and extended later and later (we thought we'd be waiting until the end of this summer at one point), and then out of the blue we received the good news...so don't lose hope even if the process seems like it's taking forever and a day.

Cheers, and good luck!

20 hours ago, EM_AA_032020 said:

Very pleased to say we just had the I-130 approved! NOA1 5/14/2020 - we got notice this morning that we were under review and about 10 hours later we had been approved! Very anxious for the next steps, but at least this bit is done!

We noticed the same with our case; the "under review" date and the approval date were the same day. Congratulations!

We received our NOA2 notice from Potomac Service Center via email (saying the paper copy has been mailed) on 3/16/21; our NOA1 date was 5/7/20...we are elated! It seems as though USCIS (or at least Potomac) has been putting on some extra steam lately, perhaps. Hopefully others who are waiting to be will receive theirs soon too!

On 2/4/2021 at 3:53 PM, darth vader said:

I just did this. Can we all do this please?

It's on my list to do as well.

I (a US citizen) filed for my wife and two kiddos...May 2020 NOA1. We knew it was not normally a short process, and that the impact of COVID would likely lengthen the wait somewhat, but it's approaching the point of being ludicrous. It's disheartening, to say the least.

My wife (Colombian citizen) flew here to visit me (US Citizen) on October 4 into ATL for ~6 weeks (until the middle of November). We are pursuing a CR-1 currently (currently under review at USCIS Potomac Center since May).

She brought a copy of our marriage certificate, a letter I wrote explaining the purpose of the trip (a visit for the first time since our wedding in January was planned for June/July, but COVID put a damper on that)/where I live/my employer/etc, return flight information, as well as a copy of my passport. From what she described, the agents in Atlanta were not exactly friendly (she said she felt like they treated her like a criminal at first) but they let her in and we've been enjoying every moment of her visit.

Her visa is stamped to where she can stay for 6 months, even though her return ticket indicated a ~ 6 week stay. The original plan had been for her to return to Colombia for 4 weeks and then return here for another stay until the end of January, but recently we have discussed the idea of changing the flight from November to the end of January (essentially combining the two 6-week trips with a month in between into one long trip (still within the amount of time allotted on her visa). The main reasons for extending the trip is a) save on airfare, b) her experience in Atlanta was stressful on her, c) it's more time to spend together and d) less exposure to COVID risks while traveling.

My question is this: will this cause any problems for us later on in the CR-1 process, or on any subsequent visits while still in the USCIS or NVC stages? Cheers, and thanks for any insight y'all may have for us!