NMHayek

3 hours ago, Vanessamaria said:

Hello,

I have a further question regarding documents. I finally received my 2019 tax transcripts, and will be emailing them over.

 

However, I do not have any access to a scanner. All libraries are still closed in the UK due to the national lockdown, we are also not able to see people out of our immediate household so I can't use a friend's, and don't have access to scanners at either of our places of employment. 

 

Is it acceptable to send in pictures of the documents, or is it 100% necessary for them to be scanned? 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

I used a scanner App on my phone to scan all my documents :) Worked pretty well. I think a picture will do, but just download an app on your phone and it will make life much easier. Cant remember the name of the one I used but there are a few free ones

Congrats!!! 🎊 whoo hoo!

11 hours ago, abedeygpt said:

Any updates ? I'm sure December will be a very slow month. I started looking forward to 2021.

Nothing as far as anyone can tell

5 hours ago, payxibka said:

Just the passport and packet (unless the embassy does electronic packet).  Nothing else. 

Awesome, Thank you so much

Hello all,

besides passport and sealed packet given by the embassy, what other paperwork should an IR1/CR1 visa holder have with them when they enter the USA for the first time? Should he or she have the sponsor and joint sponsors affidativ of support? Marriage evidence? (Photos etc) passport photos? 
I could not find any clear answer on this searching online or here on Visa Journey.

thanks for your help! 

Thanks everyone! I messaged the US embassy in Egypt and they said technically, since we are traveling together, we should be able to transit through Europe. However they don’t recommend it because there have been cases where people got denied and had to book a ticket back to Egypt. When the time comes and if things are still the same we won’t risk it - we will pay the extra money and fly directly to USA. Just not worth it.

Has anyone had any problems or heard of any problems of a spouse of a US Citizen on an IR1 visa transiting through Europe to travel to the USA?  Any problems at either at the USA border or at any of the airports/transits in Europe? Thanks!

According to the proclamation Spouse of US Citizen is exempt. This is the president's proclamation https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspension-entry-immigrants-nonimmigrants-certain-additional-persons-pose-risk-transmitting-2019-novel-coronavirus/

Below is from the proclamation stating alien spouses are exempt. 

Sec. 2.  Scope of Suspension and Limitation on Entry.

(a)  Section 1 of this proclamation shall not apply to:

(i)     any lawful permanent resident of the United States;

(ii)    any alien who is the spouse of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident;

On 10/1/2020 at 3:09 AM, AngieQ said:

Hey all..

No news on American embassy starting on interviews again??

I thought I heard they were going to start again sept.30th?

Unfortunately they never said they would start again after sept 30. They said that all appointments were canceled till at LEAST September 30. They haven’t announced that anything  is going to change but let’s hope for the best. All we can do 

Ok great! Good luck! My timeline is updated lol... I am just stuck in this COVID disaster. ::crying:: lol

17 hours ago, A Mo and L ma said:

I contacted them. I got the generic “still in process” email.

 

just going to have to wait it out... SO frustrating. 

Yes very, I am sorry you are going through this. A while back a lawyer was telling me about Administrative Processing and that usually if they don't hear back after 180 days they will proceed to action. If it reaches that long maybe talk to an lawyer. Good luck, hopefully you will hear back soon. Keep us updated on what happens. We are crossing our fingers for you

3 hours ago, A Mo and L ma said:

This is a form that Trump added in 2017 for extra security checks that seems to really be used mainly for Muslims/Arabs/those who have traveled anywhere in the Middle East.

 

i have no heard anything back yet and it has been one month..

 

if your husband is the one getting the visa and he has never had a Schengen or US visa before, I would prepare this document just in case. You can print it out online..

Thanks for the reply. I was looking for the form online and couldn’t find it. I’ll try to find it and have him fill it just in case. 
 

You should contact the embassy, I read that if you hadn’t heard back in 30 days you should send them an email. 
 

On 8/19/2020 at 4:39 PM, SETETA said:

For those with CR/IR1 visas travelling to the US, has anyone had any trouble transiting through Europe? While we hope to book a direct flight (these are limited as far as the days of the week) and we may need to transit. I know our visa category isn't part of any of the PPs (Europe Travel ban, etc). However, sometimes, the airlines have their own rules or don't apply the PPs consistently. Anyone have any direct experience transiting thru Europe on the way to the US? 

Which route did you take to get to the USA? Hope you are well!

On 9/14/2020 at 12:43 PM, A Mo and L ma said:

Hello all. Really bummed because my husband has been on AP now for a month. No reason really? He is from Egypt, we live in Abu Dhabi now as a family with our daughter and he previously worked in Saudi Arabia. They said he was approved after his interview but then of course he got the email to fill out the DS 5355. His passport was returned 3 days later at the post without stamps and With a 221g slip..

I am seeing these cases taking anywhere from a few weeks to YEARS. Anyone with experience in Middle East: specifically UAE or Saudi Arabia or Egypt? And can anyone tell me if getting this case expedited again USCIS AND NVC might have caused this? Perhaps didn’t give them a chance to even do a background check in the first place for a CR1?

 

thanks..

Hi, just curious if you had any progress with this? My husband worked in the UAE for 14 years before we came to Egypt last year from the UAE. We are waiting for the rescheduling of his visa interview. I never even heard of this form until I saw your post today! 

If it takes a long time you should talk to a lawyer. 

On 9/15/2020 at 11:23 PM, abedeygpt said:

Any Idea what the current backlog looks like ? Are they still stuck on cases from 09/2019-10/2019 ? Also do you know when they will start interviewing ?

Nobody knows  I wish I had better idea too

15 hours ago, abedeygpt said:

It's been 9 month now since I got DQ. Still waiting on the interview 

Ya welcome to the club.  We are all waiting for too long now 

16 hours ago, Paul & Mary said:

Nothing - CR1/IR1 status is determined at the POE.   If you have been married two or more years when entering you (should) receive a 10 year green card.

Hi Paul and Mary,

a question within these lines of what she is asking. 
I have updated police certificate, 2019 tax returns (not transcript unfortunately - IRS hasn’t processed yet) and a joint sponsorship (for backup if needed). 
I am in the embassy stage and just waiting for rescheduling from the closure. Do I need to upload These docs on the CEAC and press submit? Or do I just upload without pressing submit? Or am I just supposed to bring it with me and not upload anything on CEAC? 

there is conflicting information all over VJ and wanted to see if you had Insight. Thanks for your time! 

12 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

My opinion is I don’t think that should have any influence on your interview because you have a joint sponsor. If you did your taxes jointly and reported his income, it would be subtracted out as a foreign earned income exclusion leaving just your income on the TOTAL INCOME line they look at on the tax return. If you didn’t take the foreign income exclusion so his income would be included in Total Income, you would be paying taxes on it unnecessarily. I don’t see how inflating your taxes with a job they know he won’t hold in the US is helpful. 

Yes totally get what your saying. 
The NVC approved my original I-864 with no joint sponsor even though my income was a foreign based income (and taking the foreign income exclusion on my taxes) - I had been living and working in Dubai for 3 years. I did not know till later that they considered foreign income zero. But then why did they approve my paperwork without joint sponsor? This is why I am so confused and am questioning if I should consider ITIN or just not bother. 

If all this goes on too much longer I think my brain will explode from overthinking  

I am sponsoring my husband for CR1/IR1 and we got stuck in his country due to COVID/Embassy closure.I am preparing for the senario that the embassy may not open in 2020 and that I will need to file 2020 taxes for the embassy interview.

I am A resident here but not legally allowed to work in his country (the work must give work permit) and I haven’t had any lucky finding work outside small cash freelance jobs (not a lot of money to make any difference - $2000 total maybe). He has a job, tho it has been significantly disrupted by COVID (tourism industry) he still makes some income. 

Would it be worth getting him a ITIN number in anticipation for 2020 tax year so I can file jointly so there might be some sort of income on my taxes?. I hate for my income to be zero on next year taxes or just $2000 (I can’t even prove this income since it’s just cash work).

I have joint sponsors for the interview luckily and we are both educated with strong job histories but April 2019 we moved from Dubai to Egypt to spend sometime in his country before his visa was finished (We thought we be here MAX 6 months to 1 year). So my 2019 taxes are already low and then 2020 hit. Would have stayed where I was if I had anticipated this disaster. 

thanks for any insight! 

19 hours ago, Paul & Mary said:

Every Page

Not double sided

 

Complete sets of documentation is needed.   You don't want a 221(g) for something the CO asked for.   We were DCF.  Our packet for the interview was over 3 inches thick of just financial and backup sponsor copies.

Thank you so much for ur reply. I will follow ur direction. Thanks!

Note: this is a new document we have In preparation for the (eventual) rescheduling of our visa appointment at the embassy.  
 

My joint sponsor sent me her I-864  and evidence and I have 2 questions that maybe someone can give me some insight:

-She included the required bank statements for Assets and each month has a few pages making a pretty large pile of paper .... do they need to see the entire month statement that Details each withdrawal and deposit that was made Or is the first page that gives a summary of balances, months deposits and withdrawals enough? 
 

-She printed the bank statements double sided to save paper. Do you think I need to recopy so that each page Of the statements is on its own sheet of paper.

thank you for ur patience on all my detail obsessed questions. My anxiety is super high due to COVID era appointment cancelation so I’m overly hung up on everything being perfect. If they made the instructions Clear and detailed at a level a kindergartner could clearly understand this would be easier on someone like me lol. 

13 minutes ago, Sparkle Sparkle said:

True you didn't need to translate it since you will be applying for visa in Egypt. But it's done already and it is what it is.... Although there is no clear specification for translation except the name date and stamp of the translator. Different countries do it differently (I guess according to association standards) .. But I doubt it will be a problem. 

 

Ok great thank you! 

(Note: This is for preparation for (eventual) rescheduling for our embassy interview since the police certificate we uploaded to the NVC is now almost a year old)

We dropped off my husbands newest police certificate for translating at a translator's office and instead of making a copy of the police certificate and attaching it to the translation, he attached the original police certificate to the translation! So now the police certificate is no longer a separate document. Does this mean we will need to redo it all over again with a new police certificate? Do the documents need to be seperate? There is no clear instructions of DOS from what I could see. 

I TOLD them I wanted them to make a copy of the certificate and attach it to the translation not attach the original. So frustrating. 

I am actually unclear if I even needed to translate the police certificate since we are in the issuing country Egypt but i did it just in case. 

Thanks everyone!

On July 24, the DOS approved that medical exams could be valid for 7 months rather than 6. I’m surprised your visa wouldn’t have had an extended date for one month.... see link below.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/one-month-extension-of-immigrant-visa-medical-examinations.html

51 minutes ago, HRQX said:

https://www.law360.com/articles/1300811/attachments/0

Thank u! 

41 minutes ago, HRQX said:

law360 article: https://www.law360.com/articles/1300811

 

Also scroll down to "Attached Documents" section

Awesome thank you!