BMWFIRE

11 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

My wife and I married outside the US in 2015.  Our marriage certificate was written in both Chinese and English.  Wife came to the US via a CR-1 visa in 2017.  Wife naturalized in 2023.  We never did anything to register our marriage inside the US.  Non-issue.

Thank you! 

Our marriage certificate is also written in both languages, Arabic and English. I'll use the certificate we used originally during the IR-1 visa process. It's what I had originally planned on but hearing this information from someone threw me for a loop.

29 minutes ago, Mike E said:

No. And if you did that and if he submitted that document with N-400, because it would be dated in 2023 and not 2020 or earlier, there is a risk N-400 would be denied. Or worse.

 

With  a certified translation to English, it suffices.  
 

I  advise you to  review the I-130 you filed for your husband and submit the same marriage certificate and certified translation you  submitted with I-130. If it was good enough for I-130, it will be good enough for N-400.

Some people have had trouble with state drivers license and ID  agencies using their foreign marriage certificate as a lawful change of name document. One new immigrant was forced to re-marry in Colorado (one of the  states that allows two people married to each other to marry each other again). 
 

 

 

 

Thank you for that information, it definitely helps ease my worries. 

5 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Shouldn't be an issue.  If your marriage certificate was good enough for the I130 visa process, etc., he should be fine with the N400 process.

 

Good Luck!

Thank you.

Did you go through a similar process? Someone here in my state mentioned something about having to do that and I had never heard of it before and Im not even sure if I would even be able to obtain something from my local court since the marriage didn't happen in the states.

Hello, 

I have a question that I can't seem to find an answer for when looking online.

Me and my husband have been married since 2018. We were married in Egypt and had our marriage certificate notarized while there and it is bilingual and we did everything we could find would be needed while in Egypt. However, next year will be three years that my husband has been living here in the USA with me and he will be able to file for citizenship...

I'm wondering if there's anything I need to do here in the United States to have our marriage certificate documented. Do I need to have anything done with the court/county clerk/etc. to have our marriage documented in the US or receive any kind of documentation from my state recognizing the marriage. Or would our foreign marriage certificate suffice as proof of marriage?

Very confused about this as someone had mentioned they had to receive some type of certificate from the state instead of just their foreign marriage certificate and I can't find anything about this when searching online. 

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you.

For anyone wondering, the answer is no.

I know that before the interview it's necessary to register the address online in order to return the passport.

But, is it also needed to register the actual appointment date online?

I'm seeing some conflicting information and travel.state.gov doesn't really make it clear.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/CRO-Cairo.html

6 minutes ago, HRQX said:

That form is not currently needed because the DOS 2019 interim final rule is not currently in place: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.528697/gov.uscourts.nysd.528697.116.0.pdf "This Court entered a preliminary injunction in July 2020 barring enforcement of all three challenged actions. Mem. Decision and Order 52, ECF No. 88."

That was a different rule that affected Adjustment of Status, etc. type of cases. That DHS rule did not affect Immigrant Visas.

Ohhhh okay, thank you!! I had no idea it was two different rules. 

Just needed to make sure we didn't need to bring the DS-5540 so we didn't show up missing something. We won't be bringing it then.

1 hour ago, Jorgedig said:

The public charge inadmissibility is still in place.   It was the I-944 form that was eliminated.

I know public charge inadmissibility is in place, but I thought it went back to the old rule? The DS-5540 was with the new rule.

As per this link https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/03/09/dhs-secretary-statement-2019-public-charge-rule#:~:text=Today%2C DHS Secretary Alejandro N,keeping with our nation's values

Also, please check out this https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/update-on-public-charge.html

So it's gone, we don't have to bring it? Right? 

 

Since the Public Charge rule is no longer in effect, does this mean we no longer need to bring the DS-5540 to our visa interview?

On 5/22/2021 at 3:47 PM, Lucky Cat said:

I see no reason why the consulate would want pictures of the petitioner. Only the applicant's picture is on the visa.

When I go to the site where you're supposed to choose the delivery address for your passport it says the below.

I realize we have the DS-260 but should this be a concern? Does this mean we need to go back on the DS-260 and update the new passport number once we receive it or would this not work considering the documents have already been sent to the embassy and an interview scheduled?
 

Or do we simply put the new passport number when we schedule the delivery and simply bring the old and new to the interview as you advised?

Please advise as im not sure what to do or if this message even applies to us. @Lucky Cat

19 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

if you do not or can not produce the needed documents ,  you will be in AP saying refused on CEAC site while you get them and that is only if your case is strong at all

otherwise no income,  not able to add or pay for health insurance ,   CO will deny 

if you do not have income as on SSA or SSI,  you can not add person to insurance 

Embassies consider all in granting a visa/  called totality of circumstances

CO's have even asked questions like "how could the USC travel to marry if no income?"   looking to see if the person is being paid

 

 

Im not that worried about it in my situation as I've been living in Egypt with my husband and did not have a work visa while we were waiting for the interview. That is what our joint sponsor is for... However, I will certainly look at getting the tax return if possible or transcript from the joint sponsor as to avoid AP. 

2 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

I would take a copy of the letter you created explaining why you didn't file.   Remember, NVC does not actually approve the documents.  The Consulate Officer is the sole approval authority for the documents, sponsor qualification, and the approval/issuing authority for the visa.  

Okay, thanks. I will take that with me. I was going to request IRS by online but I don't have a credit card or anything to verify myself. I requested tax return by mail so if they actually end up sending something I will include that as well.

For the joint sponsor, what should I do considering she does't have tax return? She only has W2 and tax receipt showing she has paid in. But she will also be looking for anything additional and said she will send it to me.  I have the tax returns from the prior years, but not this most recent.

3 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

That is REQUIRED.  You must submit an I-864.  You must list the tax data for the last 3 most recent tax years or you must indicate why you were not REQUIRED to file taxes....in written form.

Thanks. I already filed the I-864 and it was accepted.

I simply created a word document explaining why I did not have to file taxes for the 3 years, as I didn't have income, and it was already accepted. I am Documentarily Qualified already. Should that be enough then? I had no idea an IRS paper for non-filer was required because when I searched it before I always saw that just written explanation was needed. 

So the passport says profession: student when the applicant is no longer a student. It also has outdated military information which is concerning since here in Egypt the military service is required except for exempted/postponed situations.

We are thinking about renewing it so that this information is updated incase it will cause a delay with the embassy or perhaps issues when trying to fly.

Does anyone know if this is actually an issue and we should get it renewed for this reason? It doesn't actually expire until 2023 so we just want to update the outdated information.

I'm confused about whether we are supposed to bring financial evidence and the affidavit of support to the visa interview as I'm seeing conflicting information.

On the interview preparation page, as picture below, it says it is not necessary to bring the Affidavit of Support or financial evidence submitted to NVC.

However, this appointment letter checklist (for example) states the Affidavit of Support and recent tax returns are required?
https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Supplemental/appt letter_checklist for interview.pdf

So, I'm confused. I guess we should just bring them anyway to be on the safe side?

On that same note, we do need to bring the most recent tax information right? I, the petitioner and first sponsor, have not filed taxes as I didn't have an income. So, do I need to create some word document stating that or can I just verbally tell them the reason why I didn't file? As for the joint sponsor, she filed her taxes already but had to pay in. She's already sent me her needed W2s but I think she doesn't have a tax return, is it sufficient enough to provide her W2s and Tax Receipt from where she paid? Please advise.

1 minute ago, Lucky Cat said:

It is not uncommon.  Just bring both passports.  They will attach the visa to the new one......no issue.

Thank you so much!

I also have a quick silly question not justifying an entire new post..

I just want to confirm that the applicant only needs to bring updated passport sized photos to the interview, not the petitioner (even if the petitioner/spouse is joining the interview).

3 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

yes

Thank you!

Because the passport has some outdated information needing to be changed.

I don't want to risk a delay at all! So we simply bring both with us and inform the interviewer that it's been updated, show it to him/her, and that's all? It shouldn't be any cause for concern?

Sorry, I'm not sure how common that is and what happens as a result.

Is it okay to renew the passport which was uploaded to the NVC? 

Can I renew the passport and bring the new one and old one to the visa interview or will the new updated passport cause a delay since it's different from what was uploaded to NVC?

Hello.

My husband's visa case was documentarily qualified in April 18. We never received another email from NVC since, due to Covid-19. Therefore, we never had an interview scheduled.

I have seen some members posting about attempting to reschedule their interview themselves through some type of portal/website. Is this only for people who have had their interview scheduled and then canceled? Can we schedule the interview ourselves or do we have to wait for an email from NVC with the interview date?

Thanks!

I got my DQ with the bilingual certificates, so at least for the documents sent to the NVC no embassy stamp is required! Still wondering if an embassy stamp is needed to go INTO the US, i'm assuming no. Will update if so.

16 hours ago, Paul & Mary said:

Since Hong Kong is a member of the Hague Apostille  Convention we did not have to do anything else.    Egypt is not a member.   I expect you would have to go thru some extra steps.  Have you looked at the US State Department Document reciprocity guide?

Yes I have. It does say to get the bilingual certificates but says nothing else about authentication. The only place that mentions authentication at all is the  instructions for marriage page on the embassy website but doesn't mention the new bilingual certificates either. So it's pretty confusing.

 "To use the marriage certificate in the U.S., it should be translated into English at the Notary Public Authority-located on 57 Ramses Street, Cairo.  It takes 1-2 days to receive the translation, which must then be authenticated by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and authenticated by the American Citizen Services Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo ($50.00).

Please note: If you do obtain an English marriage certificate from the Egyptian Ministry of Justice Translation office, you DO NOT need to have it authenticated at the American Embassy to use for immigration in the United States. "

 That's all it says, but I believe the bilingual certificates may be fairly new here according to what I've heard and this page is older so that could be why I can't find mention of it anywhere else.

4 hours ago, Paul & Mary said:

We had an english / chinese  marriage certificate and no one asked for anything else.

Did you two have to have your bilingual marriage certificate authenticated by the embassy for immigration to the US/it to be legal in the US? I can't seem to find for sure whether or not it needs authenticated or if it doesn't need to be due to being an official document

14 hours ago, arken said:

They don’t need to be authenticated by the  US embassy. However, they are issued recently, lots of years after your birth and ir marriage, USCIS may ask for secondary evidences of birth and/or marriage evidenced due to the late registration.

Thanks. I don't believe they should ask for other evidence as I have seen on the forums lately that people were being requested to send in these new forms instead of the old ones. Does it not need authenticated by the embassy due to being a government doc.? I know that if an arabic one were to be translated it would need authenticated for immigration to the US based on the embassy website but they mention nothing about this one.

1 minute ago, katkoota said:

Hi, I submitted the bilingual certificates on 1/28 so hoping those are the correct ones but I haven’t had my paperwork approved by NVC yet.  Going by what another poster said these are the correct documents.  I’ll let you know if they aren’t.

Thank you! Yes I have seen other people say they used these documents and that this is what NVC wants. I also just submitted my papers to NVC today using these, i believe they are correct. However I'm wondering do we need these authenticated by the embassy for when the interview happens and for immigration to the US? As I have not taken that step yet.

I just received the new bilingual (English & Arabic) Marriage & Birth Certificates. I have already had them stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However I can't find any answers on the embassy website as to whether or not these certificates (specifically our Egyptian Marriage Certificate) need authenticated by the US Embassy or not.

Any Info would help greatly as I have searched everywhere and can not find an answer. (Just today we sent in our documents to NVC with only the certificates having been stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office as I had seen somewhere else in the forums that people had luck with that. But I would like to know this for future use when it comes time for the interview.)

On 1/28/2020 at 7:13 PM, Exanuage said:

 

This is the one we uploaded eventually and got accepted.

It looks exactly the same as the new marriage certificate. You will need to issue it at the Civil Status Record Office (Segal El Madani, Abbasiya Square)

 

I just got these new Bilingual Birth and Marriage Certificates and stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Could anyone please tell me if they need authenticated by the US embassy for future immigration to the US or not??