EA and MK

14 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

you sent I 130 in 2019 so you must have been married that year (no date of marriage on timeline)

u do not have to wait till she is here and has SS #

file 1040x as MFJ or MFS for both 2019 and 2020 with W7 for ITIN as instructed on iRS site for alien spouse 

 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-alien-spouse

 

not sure how u filed but when a person marries they are married not single and not head of household

 

when i did this i estimated foreign income as husband made very and i used 2555 to exclude that income (need  to check list for countries with tax treaty  with US to see if your country is also one)

 

and no ,  it does not hurt to have returns either joint or separate,  it shows married and commingling of fiances and a plus

 

i believe if you file joint you have to keep filing as joint till  she is in USA (read the complete IRS instructions)

Thank you! I will review the IRS instructions closely. Appreciate your insight on this!

11 minutes ago, seekingthetruth said:

Google is your friend...

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/top-10-tax-tips-about-filing-an-amended-tax-return

 

I'm not sure how long you have been married but you could have filed as MFJ before by getting her an ITIN.

 

Without knowing more detail, it is hard to say how complicated it is.  If it really is 10k, it should be worth the time.  If needed, hire a tax pro.

 

Why would it look bad for her?  As long as everything is legal, no issues.  Will your amended return contradict something in her visa documents?

 

Thank you! I just over think and feel they'll be judgy that she came in and we amended returns. Stupid notion, but nothing contradicts... i greatly appreciate the link, I'll read up on it. I filed married separately, and as IRS instructs if treating spouse as non resident alien, then put NRA in lieu of an SSN. Did that in 2019 and 2020.  

Thank you @SusieQQQ for your help! Looks like it will be a while for a B1/B2 sadly...

18 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Further to the above, if she is in Colombia, the wait for a visitor visa appointment is 580 days at Bogota. 
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html

Hi all,

I am trying to understand how I can change my filing status on previous tax returns since there would be a combined $10k+ in refunds I'd be owed when my wife gets her SSN upon

entering with her IR-1. Since my wife's country does not have earnings statement (W2 equivalent) for people who earn less than a certain threshold etc. it seems like a challenge to gather docs for an amended return. Not sure if seeking such refund would also look bad when she does go for naturalization? What are your thoughts, and the best way to proceed?

Hi,

My wife's mom wants to travel on her time off from work with us as my wife is immigrating to the US with her IR-1 visa in a couple of weeks. She doesn't have a B2 visa, so she was wanting to apply for one. When she was filling out the DS-160, it asks who her point of contact is in the US. Since my wife hasn't been admitted as an LPR yet, how would she best answer this question? She wanted to just put my name and list me as relative, since she's my mother in law. It also asks if she's traveling with a group, and she'd be traveling with myself and my wife. Thus, she listed myself and my wife on there. Not sure though, what are your thoughts?

Just a question, for those of us who are stuck in AP due to the whole lab debacle... My wife was notified that if they don't have the reagent to test the blood samples drawn, we will be given a waiver for this and asked to repeat the medical upon her arrival to the US. What is this waiver, who follows up at that point (USCIS or State Department), what would be the timeline, and how badly would that delay her green card being printed? 

Hi,

I haven't had much of a change in my income but I've seen people update their i-864 and upload it to CEAC. I've updated it to include my 2020 AGI and 2021 current income with my salary increase. The embassy just asks for a copy of I-864, and doest say anything about updates. Is updating I-864 required?

Thanks

2 hours ago, HillJor said:

I'm in a whatsapp/FB group with others in the process who have been reporting about this. What's been reported is that the embassy ended the contract with the lab and are in the process of fixing it and it will take a few weeks, but who really knows. There's going to be a lot of folks in administrative processing

Have you been able to get a hold of someone at the bassy to provide a clear answer as to when lab exams will resume? My wife's interview is in 2.5 weeks and worrying about this lab issue not being sorted out by now...

1 hour ago, majm said:

Does anyone here have any info about the medical lab issue now occurring for applicants?

I'm also wanting to know. I don't want my wife to be put in AP!!!

20 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

Just remember that the DS260 is her submitted document .. not yours .. make sure she’s ok with what she needs to say and not just speaking your words 

You are right; she know what the errors are since she helped point out most of them.  She's much, much more calm about this than I am lol. 

1 minute ago, JeanneAdil said:

2020 taxes had till July 15th so if the interview is after that date they should be sent   / IRS transcripts are better than 1040 and W2  and many embassies only accept IRS (don't really know about yours) but be safe and go online and print them out to be safe

 

address the issues at interview but understand you had the responsibility to review all paperwork  including the petition and sign things as true and/or right

I definitely understand that it was our responsibility to review. Problem is, one day we get an email out of no where with the DS-260 confirmation page. I then called my attorney asking why they didn't let us review before submitting. Anyhow, I'll probably write a letter for my spouse to bring that addresses the issues. Or I'll redline the DS-260... Thank you for your feedback!

8 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

Best to be prepared by taxing the latest tax  return and payslips. A new I864 isn’t necessary unless there has been a major change like change if employer etc. 

The errors you are noting may be formatting issues with the USCIS form / browser used rather than incorrect submission. Have her take a paper with the correct writing of those names on , and she can raise the issue with the IO   She can also clarify that you are returning to the US  with her .. not immigrating 

Thank you for your feedback! I'll  write a letter for my spouse to bring to explain the errors.

Hi All,

I'm working with my spouse to prepare for her interview in a couple of weeks. As previously posted, I hired an attorney and they made errors in DS-260, which I'm just freaking out about (anxiety/overthinking overload!) So I've gone through my spouse's DS-260 once again. It appears my attorney has listed my Mother In Law's middle name as part of her last name. My attorney has also listed my middle name as part of my last name.  Also, as previously mentioned my attorney didn't include my wife's middle name, as shown in her passport, put yes for the question about me immigrating with my spouse, and was adamant that only permanent addresses need to be included despite including the full address history in the I-130. With my wife's interview only a couple of weeks away, how do I get these issues addressed effectively?

Also, do I need to provide new I-864 to include 2020 income as it's been a year almost since I submitted the current one? My lawyer said no, and to just submit my 1040 and W2 for this year. I'm wanting to get second opinions on this.

Thank You!

3 hours ago, Tacos said:

I just got to Munich Germany via Kazakhstan, Inchon and Narita where I started at 4:30 this morning (maybe yesterday morning, I get lost in what day of the week it is; the perks of flying cargo around the world :D), but after getting to my hotel room from enjoying a nice TALL German beer to finish the day  before I sleep and fly again tomorrow, I happened to check the case status and it’s FINALLY in transit to the embassy in Bogota. I’m so happy, 

 

The million dollar question, now what do I do and how soon do I do it? This was totally unexpected, I didn’t think anything was going to happen for at least another few months. 

So happy for you sir! Congratulations!!!

Hi,

I tried to add my wife to my bank account for the second time in 2 years of marriage... The bank finally accepted, but not sure if it's "too late" from an evidence perspective? We haven't gotten our CR-1 interview yet, but want to show strong evidence...

Thanks!

20 minutes ago, MedellinCOUS said:

Thank you!  It looks like one of the legal documents that I provided my wife wasn't a certified copy from the government.  In this case they are saying that since it is only a standard copy they wouldn't accept it.  The other information they wanted was further proof of our relationship.  We did provide substantial photos as well as documentation of our trips together.  This is one point that seems so subjective and maybe this would have varied from one interviewing officer to another.

Thank you for sharing! I'm crossing my fingers for you; I'm sure it's all going to work out!! So exciting! It's annoying that there is still more evidence requested... I'm trying to figure out how to add my wife to my 401K and bank accounts (banks are so reluctant to add my spouse) to show some proof in case we get asked the same thing. Not sure what else outside of trips (I've been flying down there quite often), photos, etc. would be acceptable... Keep us posted!

4 minutes ago, MedellinCOUS said:

My wife went to her interview.  They didn't approve her visa, instead they said they needed an official copy of a document which was submitted as well as some further evidence.  They gave her instructions to send the requested information as well as her passport back to the embassy in Bogota ASAP. I'm assuming this is a good sign as I don't know what other reason they would have for her sending the passport back to Bogota? 

 

Another interesting item to note is that they put a note on the outside of her passport with a date 6 months in the future from the date she did her medical exam.  We are assuming this means that at that point the exam would expire?  We're not 100 percent sure. 

 

Now were just collecting the items requested and should have everything ready to send back in a few days.  whew!  I hope this is almost over.

That's some positive news! If I may, what additional evidence are they looking for?

43 minutes ago, Tacos said:

I’ve seen that cases that were created late May 2020 (K1) were in transit to the embassy, so hopefully my case is in the next round to go in a few weeks, if the embassy is having more sent. 

Crossing my fingers for you, sir! Im sure your interview is right around the corner. I've still got a bit more to go since I was DQ'd Sept. 2020... Hopefully we all are close!

2 hours ago, Boston_Gary said:

Thank you for the update.   Unfortunately, clearing the backlog is not a priority from what I can tell. The lack of transparency with this process is total unacceptable in my opinion.    

I agree! It's highly unacceptable that we don't have clarity on what is going on, and when each of us will get our interviews scheduled. I noticed over 1600 B1/B2 visas were issued, but less than 90 IR-1 and over 20 CR-1 in April? What's been going on for the whole month? Those numbers are a day's worth of cases I would imagine lol... Not sure how we can get the transparency we all desire...

Did you pay your IV fees, and submit all the necessary civil documents, affidavit of support, and DS-260? 

9 hours ago, Bri&Alejandro said:

I think I meant DS 160...right? Lmao now I am getting myself confused

You should check your messages in CEAC and see when the NVC sent you a note that you were documentarily qualified. Not sure if they do K1s the same way they do CR1/IR1s, but if so then this is how you check the DQ date. You can also find when the NVC sent your DQ notice.

😟 any advice folks?

You're not alone on errors. My wife and I found errors because my Attorney submitted DS-260 without letting us review first. Mainly mistakes with my middle name being put as a surname instead of given name, my wife's mom's middle name being put as a surname instead of given name, an entry to the US is missing, my wife's middle name (despite it being on the passport under given names) was not included. I reached out to NVC, they gave me two options: A supervisor can reopen DS-260 or I could write a letter summarizing all the errors. In my case, I don't want to give the CO a laundry list of items. I'd rather have my wife go to her interview with no issues on DS-260, and elected to have NVC Re-Open my DS-260. They gave me a 1-6 week timeframe, but it's not like our case is up for an interview yet. I don't mind waiting as long as we get the record straight. Your case is so much easier, simply let the CO know would be my advice.

Any comments would be greatly appreciate. I'm starting to second guess myself on this and may just call them to cancel the unlock request and we'll handle it during the interview. Not sure if canceling this request will now negatively impact my case? Worried about the re-DQ and the lost time we've spent waiting now...

Hi,

NVC gave me 2 options today to either reopen my case (escalate to a supervisor within 6 weeks) and allow me to re-enter DS-260 or present the consular officer a letter with mistakes. The former would reset my DQ and the latter would not. I elected to have the DS-260 re-opened. I feel it's best that the data in DS-260 is as complete as possible and not have to wait till the interview to give the officer a large list of mistakes. My attorney made these mistakes, and now will make her fix them prior to resubmission. However, I am not sure how the timeframe works for a case like this? How soon after resubmission do we anticipate getting DQ again? I'm starting to think now it was a rash decision, but I've just been so worried about these mistakes that I'd rather the form be right. My spouse is freaking out though, as she's fearing we have lost 5 months of waiting.... 

22 minutes ago, EA and MK said:

I just noticed another error - my attorney forgot to add in my wife's middle name (which appears correctly on her B2 visa). This is insane, and now I'm starting to freak out about how to fix all of these issues! Is this as simple as letting the consular officer know? NVC doesn't want to help. I feel anxiety and frustration...

Oh and she put my name as part of my last name instead of in the "given names" field. This has to be the biggest waste of $2500.