Timdo72

Hello everyone, I have waited 11 months so far and now got a RFE a few days ago. I am filing a CR-1 for my wife from Vietnam.

The RFE letter stated "The photocopy of the English translation of your marriage certificate does not indicate the date of marriage but the date of registration. Submit a photocopy of your original marriage certificate. The marriage certificate must be issued by an appropriate civil authority. In order for the marriage to be considered valid for immigration purposes, it must have been legally valid in the location where the marriage took place. The document must include the date of marriage, date of registration and signature of the registrar."

I did submitted a photocopy of my original marriage certificate along with the I-130 to USCIS last year on April 20, 2020. The problem is the marriage certificate from Vietnam only indicates the place of registration and date of registration but not the date of marriage. In Vietnam, the date of registration on the marriage certificate is legally considered the same as the date of marriage. It's the date when both my wife and I signed the marriage certificate in person in front of the registrar to be legally considered as husband and wife. I had my wife in Vietnam asked the registrar to see if the marriage certificate could be edited to include the date of marriage but the response is no. The registrar said that Vietnam uses a unified format marriage certificate that cannot be changed or edited to include the date of marriage. The registrar said that the date of registration is considered the same as the date of marriage on the marriage certification in Vietnam. There is no way that I can get my marriage certificate to show the date of marriage on it but only the date of registration. I am sad, stuck and not sure on how to handle this RFE.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this RFE? Thank you so much in advance!

Can the sponsor who is currently living in the US submit the form DS-260 for the immigrant visa applicant who is currently living abroad or does the visa immigrant applicant has to submit the form DS-260 in his/her home country? Because of the IP address, NVC would know the location of where the form DS-260 submitted. Anyone has any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance!

36 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

Then become an A-Student of the I-864 instructions.  You'll $3 in liquid assets to make up for each dollar of income shortfall.

Thank you for the info.

Which has more weight to qualify in the eyes of NVC agents if I have no job, a qualified joint sponsor with enough income or my liquid assets that have 3x values of income requirement?

What do you think is more important in the eyes of NVC agents or it doesn't really matter which method I choose just as long as the method qualified?

9 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

Yes, sometimes the visa applicant has been in the US working previously.  See the words, "the principal applicant can be credited with 40 eligible quarters"  You are not applying for anything.  Your spouse is.  If you are unemployed, you'll need a job or a qualified joint sponsor.

Thank you for making it clear to me now. Tough situation because of no job or qualified joint sponsor, guess I will have to rely on proof of assets then.

5 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

I think you are confused. If you are the petitioner, the American, you have to submit the I-864. 

 

When the beneficiary (the immigrant) works 40 quarters, or becomes a citizen, or you or she dies; then the I-864 is no longer enforceable. 

Yes. Once they work 40 quarters you are no longer responsible for them

Thank you and yes, you are right! I was confused. Now I understand that the 40 quarters only applied to the visa applicant and not the petitioner. 

1 minute ago, pushbrk said:

I take it you are the "petitioner".  Petitioners submit affidavits of support for visa applicants.  If your visa applicant has 40 quarters of earnings, is the context.  Are you the petitioner, or visa applicant?

Yes, I am the petitioner. So does this mean that the 40 quarters of earnings only applied for the visa applicant which is someone I am trying to sponsor?

I came across about the Social Security Administration (SSA) Earnings Statement at NVC stage on the travel.state.gov website.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-5-collect-financial-evidence-and-other-supporting-documents.html

Under the Social Security Administration (SSA) Earnings Statement, it reads: If no I-864 is required because the principal applicant can be credited with 40 eligible quarters under the Social Security Act, submit the applicant’s SSA Earnings Statement showing the coverage.

So if I have 40 eligible quarters of SSA Earnings Statement, I do not have to submit the form I-864? And if no form I-864 is required, does this also mean that I do not have to show proof of income, no affidavit of support is needed under this situation? This would be the perfect situation for me because I am currently unemployed but I do have more than 40 eligible quarters under the SSA.

Am I understanding this right and has anyone tried submitting the SSA Earnings Statement instead of submitting the I-864 plus income verification? Thank you in advance!

5 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

I believe they select based on case load.

 

Had a petition once in Texas Service Center, it was transferred mid-processing to California

Thanks for letting me know. 

4 hours ago, Ryan H said:

***Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to USCIS Service Centers forum.***

 

**Moderator hat off**

 

 

That used to be the case when only two service centers were responsible for adjudicating I-130 petitions.  In a nutshell, physical address of the petitioner became irrelevant when more service centers were given the task of adjudicating such petitions.

Thanks Ryan for the info!

Hello all,  my physical address on the I-130 is Houston, Texas but my petition was sent to the Nebraska Service Center. I know that there is a service center in Texas so I thought my petition would be sent there instead. That would make more sense to me so I am curious how USCIS determines which service center to send a petition to. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks in advance!

So does USCIS select a service center based on your physical address?

1 hour ago, Anmol Yash said:

We put deceased in both the city and country of residence and were approved. There's no requirement for the death certificate either!

Thank you for your response!

I put DECEASED in Family Name and N/A in the rest of the questions. I just hope that won't be a problem. I should have provided the info and put Deceased in both the city and country of residence like you did. I didn't provide any info but if USCIS still wanted to know, the info is on my wife's birth certificate which I did provided. I am also glad that a death certificate is not required at NVC stage. Thanks for the info!

14 minutes ago, Timdo72 said:

Hello all, I have 2 questions today. I have already filed a CR-1 I-130 for my spouse (wife) last month (April 2020).

 

1. On the I-130A, under Information About Parent 1 & 2.

My wife's father had passed a long time ago so 

Hello all, I have 2 questions today. I have already filed a CR-1 I-130 for my spouse (wife) last month (April 2020).

1. On the I-130A, under Information About Parent 1 & 2. For Parent 1, I completed all questions with my wife's mother info. As for Parent 2, I just put DECEASED and N/A on the rest of the questions since my wife's father had passed away a long time ago. The question is: Am I still supposed to provide my wife's father info even though he had passed or putting Deceased and N/A was the correct way?

2. Will a death certificate be required at NVC stage for my wife's father who had passed?

Thank you in advance!

Hello all, I have 2 questions today. I have already filed a CR-1 I-130 for my spouse (wife) last month (April 2020).

1. On the I-130A, under Information About Parent 1 & 2.

My wife's father had passed a long time ago so 

4 minutes ago, arken said:

That is usually for the intending immigrants. Your birth certificate would be useless even if you have it for the purpose here, so don’t worry, you are fine.

Thank you for confirming this, arken! 

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

The requirement is to show that you are a USC. Both documents provided accomplish that.

That said, I'm assuming a BC or the affidavit was provided previously in your immigration process...

Thank you for the quick response, geowrian!

Hello all, I am filing a CR-1 for my spouse and our I-130 is currently at USCIS. I left my home country, Vietnam, a long time ago and didn't have a birth certificate. Then I became a US citizen and have my Certificate of Naturalization. I submitted both copies of my Certificate of Naturalization and US Passport to USCIS. I have heard from another website saying that I would eventually need to submit a Birth Certificate and if I don't have one, I would then need to get an "Affidavit in Lieu of Birth Certificate" or an "Affidavit of Birth" to submit instead. I am confused! Is this true or is my Certificate of Naturalization good enough? Thanks in advance.

Thank you, MILIMELO.

Please correct me if I'm wrong!

FYI: I am filing a CR-1 petition by the way.

In 2019, I was single/divorced the entire year. I got married this year in January 2020. So when I filed my 2019 tax return, I filed as SINGLE thinking since I was single for the entire 2019 tax year.

Am I correct to file as Single for 2019 tax year even though I am currently married this year 2020? I don't want it to affect my CR-1 petition at all. And if I am wrong, what should I do? Thanks in advance for your help!

1 hour ago, Scandi said:

We have always used USPS priority (it includes tracking), for all three petitions (i-129f, AOS and ROC). Has worked like a charm, and would it them again if needed.

Thank you for the info!

2 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

Personally, I always use USPS Priority Mail........it gives you a tracking number, and it usually arrives in 2-3 days.

Thank you Lucky Cat!

Hello all, I am preparing to mail out the I-130 package. I wanted to know which carrier should I use? Has anyone had any problems with any carriers? Which carrier should I avoid?

I live in Houston, Texas. Thank you in advance!

USCIS: If you are filing a standalone Form I-130, and you live in: Texas

Mail your application to:

USCIS Phoenix Lockbox

For U.S. Postal Service (USPS) deliveries:

USCIS
Attn: I-130
P.O. Box 21700
Phoenix, AZ 85036

For FedEx, UPS, and DHL deliveries:

USCIS
Attn: I-130
1820 E. Skyharbor Circle S
Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ 85034

12 hours ago, Paul & Mary said:

If you file online there is a limit to each pdf upload.

 

Do you know what are the limit? How many pdf files can I upload? How big of a pdf file can I upload (meaning how many pages inside that pdf file)?

 

 

10 hours ago, Paul & Mary said:

Not knowing the country where you are interviewing and if there are any red flags gets you the following stock answers.  You can update your profile to include the country to get better answers quicker. I have to read down the 5 question to find out it is Vietnam.  

Thanks for the suggestion. I just edited my profile

 

There is no way that a petition of several hundreds or color copies needed.  Quality over quantity.  A few photos reduced to a 8 to 12 on a page is all that is needed.  If you include chat logs only a few pages are needed and can be printer from 2 or 4 reduced pages on one page. 

I have tons of chat logs and call logs. Should I just include the first week of every month to show that there is an ongoing communications between us? I also have tons of pictures of us together since I spent 8 months with my wife in Vietnam. Again, should I just include a few photos from each month only to show that we did spend time together?

 

If you file online there is a limit to each pdf upload.

Do you know what the limit are? How many PDF files can I upload? How many pages inside a PDF files can put?

 

Yes

Thank you for the confirmation!

 

read the instructions and follow them literally.

The instruction says not required if she is not in the US so I guess I won't have to submit it.

 

What do the instructions say?

There is no instruction on this. Can anyone suggest what to do with these?

 

Again, hundreds of pages, does not equal quality.  Upload the best evidence. You aren't going to be able to upload all that in one PDF.  And no one will be anxious to scan in or read a large box representing a case.

Thanks! I will look into omitting lots of pages and only trying to keep some of the strong evidence. It is just hard to know exactly what evidence are consider as strong evidence in the eyes of USCIS. Any suggestions might help as strong evidence?

 

If it can't fit into a USPS priority letter envelope or a padded envelope, you are probably sending in too much.  I looked at ours and it was 30 pages long but front loaded as we were filing directly at the consulate (at UCSIS office) and had documents from 4 countries.

At the moment, I have way too much evidence (chat logs, call logs, photos) that it won't fit inside the letter envelop. I will need to spend more time cherry picking evidence. So tough when I have so much that I want to show everything about my relationship.

 

 

1. I am thinking of filing online to minimize the cost of making hundreds of color copies of all the photos and evidence as well as paying to mail the heavy I-130 package. Is online filing a better way compares to paper filing?

2. When filing online, do I have the option to pay the $535 fee with a credit card at the end or do I have to fill out Form G-1450: Authorization for Credit Card Transactions and upload that? Could I choose one or the other?

3. Form I-130 can be filed online but form I-130A cannot. So do I have to print out form I-130A and upload it as a PDF file along with form I-130 when filing online?

4. I read that 2 passport-style photos of the beneficiary are not required at this time if he/she is not in the US. The situation is the beneficiary is currently not in the US at this time. Since I have the 2 passport-style photos of the beneficiary available on hand, should I submit them now so that later on I wouldn't have to submit them as part of the RFE at NVC or should I wait until they are being requested? The other question is if I submitted them now, would they be too old by then and I would have to submit new ones again later at that time?

5. I currently have translated and certified copies of the beneficiary (spouse) birth certificate, passport, and ID card from her home country Vietnam. Should I submit them now as part of the I-130 package so that they wouldn't be requested later at NVC or should I wait until they are being requested at a later time?

6. I currently have hundreds of pages of evidence of a bona fide marriage to upload when filing online. Should I upload one massive PDF file of all the pages of evidence into one file or should I separate it into different sections and have multiple PDF files instead? And does it matter which way I choose to upload?

Please confirm and thank you in advance for your answers and/or suggestions. Thank you!

What physical address should I put on form I-130 during the 8 months that I was vacationing oversea?

So here is the situation:

I left the US mid June 2019 oversea to meet someone. Not knowing when I would be coming back to the US so I decided to cancel my apartment lease agreement and put everything in storage. I didn't change or update my resident address at all since I left. I ended up staying oversea for 8 months just on vacation and not working at all. Now I am back in the US as of mid February for the first time since I left. For the first 4 months oversea I was staying at various hotels as I was building a relationship with my girlfriend then. After the first 4 months I moved in to live with my girlfriend at her place. After 3 months of living together we got married with a marriage certificate. One month after our marriage I am back in the US trying to file form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative on my own.  Form I-130 asks me to provide my physical address for the last 5 years. I now have a new current physical address since I came back to the US. My marriage certificate in January 2020 has my previous US address on it since it was the last known address that I was staying at in the US. The question I have is what physical address should I put down as my previous address during the 8 months that I was staying oversea? Should I put down my last known US address that I was staying at before I left oversea and since it is also the address listed on my marriage certificate? Thank you in advance for your advice!