leeen21

Thank you!

Just echoing that you do need four separate I-864s! They end up being similar because it's a lot of your information, but do pay attention to Part 5 (the calculation of your household). Your household size should be the same on all four forms, but the way you calculate it will be different on your husband's vs. your stepkids'. I'm in the same boat as you - petitioning my husband and three stepkids - and my advice is make sure that for each of their cases on CEAC, you upload the same financial documents! Even though we as the petitioners see them as "one case," NVC does not while they are reviewing. I forgot to upload one document to my third stepkid's case on CEAC, and the rest got DQ'd, and hers didn't. I had to resubmit and wait for hers to be DQ'd a month later. When their interviews were scheduled, the three who were originally DQ'd first got assigned interviews, and the third stepkid did not. She got approved an expedite, and then was scheduled an interview 2 weeks before the others 🤦🏻‍♀️. So now I'm having to hassle the consulate to move her interview to the same day. All that to say, double and triple check each case before submitting! PS. Happy to see someone else in my situation on here. I haven't come across many people with four cases going on at the same time!

My husband has his interview in September at CDJ in Mexico, and it is required that I (the petitioner) bring my long form birth certificate. Vital records of the county I was born in does not provide short and long form - it's just one kind of certificate. It includes: My full name, DOB, time of birth Hospital name and city/county where I was born Both parents' full names, ages, places of birth, SSNs, and address at the time of my birth Full name, mailing address, and signature of the attendant/doctor Signature of the registrar Is this considered "long form"? I think the words long and short trip me up because I expect the long form certificate to be a full page, and mine is only half a page.

We filed four I-130 petitions on June 2, 2022 - this is our timeline: Received the notice of I-130 approval on November 14 (letter was dated November 12) Received notice via email of NVC case creation on November 19 Paid the AOS and IV fees on November 21 Submitted everything to NVC on April 13 (got way delayed getting passports for my minor stepchildren) 3 our of the 4 cases were DQd on April 26 by NVC; forgot to upload one document to the fourth case, uploaded that and it was DQd on May 26 Currently waiting for an interview If your case was sent to NVC on June 2, and you still haven't received any communication from them, I would submit an inquiry here.

Glad to know even different DQ dates get interviewed together. You are lucky to have an interview so quickly - our consulate's wait time is around 12 months.

Yes, I filed four (4) separate I-130s for each of them in the USCIS stage. When we proceeded to NVC, I also uploaded a separate I-864 for each of them. In Part 5, this is how the household was calculated: Part 5: Sponsor's Household Size - for my SPOUSE 1. Person you are sponsoring in this affidavit - 1 2. Yourself - 1 4. Dependent children - 3 Household size - 5 Part 5: Sponsor's Household Size - for each of my STEPCHILDREN 1. Person you are sponsoring in this affidavit - 1 2. Yourself - 1 3. Currently married - 1 4. Dependent children - 2 Household size - 5 I used the same supporting financial documents for each stepchild, but each stepchild (each IR-2 application) has their own NVC case number and Invoice ID number, so you have to upload all supporting financial documents for each stepchild separately.

I contacted NVC, and this is the response I got: To Whom it Concerns: Your inquiry contains requests involving multiple petitions. In order to protect the privacy of all visa applicants, the National Visa Center will respond to one case per inquiry. Please resubmit your inquiry with only one case per email. Hmmm... how can I only reference one case per email if I'm requesting that all four be interviewed together?

Good idea. Just sent a public inquiry to NVC and an email to the consulate. Thanks!

We have four cases at NVC (CR1, IR2 x 3) -- three of the cases (my spouse and two of my stepkids) were DQ'd on April 26. The fourth (my other stepkid) was just DQ'd yesterday, May 26. Will NVC continue keep them all together for the interview scheduling, despite their different DQ dates?

Resubmitted on 5/10 DQ on 5/26!

Got DQ'd today (4/26) on 3 out of 4 cases. CR1 - DQ'ed IR2 #1 - DQ'ed IR2 #2 - DQ'ed IR2 #3 - Case FE Review note: This case does not meet the minimum income requirement to sponsor the intending immigrants. To avoid delays, an additional Affidavit of Support Form I-864 from a joint sponsor may be submitted. For more information visit https://nvc.state.gov/aos. The consular officer will make a decision regarding this requirement at the time of the interview. For more information, please visit https://www.uscis.gov/i-864p. All the documents are marked as ACCEPTED on CEAC. The I-864 for all four applications is the exact same. Our household size is 5, and I make at least 200% of the poverty guideline for that household size, as shown by my tax transcripts, letter of employment, W-2, and Schedule C. HOWEVER, I just realized that on IR2 #3 I didn't upload my explanation for not filing my 2022 taxes (extension), like I did for the others (although I submitted prior to tax day). I'm guessing that was the reason for the FE Review note. "The consular officer will make a decision regarding this requirement at the time of the interview." -- this is the part that gets me. Does this indicate that this case is "approved" at NVC and it's now up to the consulate? Either way, I've already uploaded the missing document (and kicking myself for missing that despite my quadruple check of everything before submitting). ETA: Will the IR2 #3 now be stuck behind the rest of the cases? Or does NVC keep them together until all are DQ'd?

I've been wondering about this as well, and I just wanted to clarify what side-loading means. Does it mean that you upload more documents to CEAC while you are waiting for your interview? And if so, do you upload those under the applicant's civil documents? Or under the petitioner's financial documents?

Whoops. I should have checked this thread before I submitted tonight. That's super weird that you would be required to write the date by hand when it's a typeable field, especially when it's nowhere in the instructions.

Can you add me? I have 4 cases at NVC. CR1: Submitted on 4/13 IR2 #1: Submitted on 4/13 IR2 #2: Submitted on 4/13 IR2 #3: Submitted on 4/13

We are getting ready to submit all documents to the NVC, and I want to make sure we don't have any delays because of mistakes. My one doubt is with my oldest stepdaughter's address. She currently lives with her mom (they are staying somewhere where they don't have to pay electric/water, so she has no proof of address in her name). She hasn't lived with dad (and my younger stepdaughters) since she was about 15, but she considers it her permanent address, so that's the address she put on her government ID card. When she submitted for her police certificate, she had to submit that ID card and use the address on that card (not where she's currently living) because she again has no proof of address where she currently lives. She has lived in one other place other than where she currently lives since moving out of her dad's house, and I have that information ready for the DS-260. Do we risk her documents being sent back from NVC if her police certificate does not match her current address? The living situation with her mom is very, let's say, fluid, and they could (or she alone could) easily move again tomorrow, which is why she just uses her dad (my husband)'s address where she lived the majority of her life as her address for everything. All addresses are in the same state of Mexico, and the police certificate is with the state.

Best of luck! I know it's grueling.

Yeah, I'm hoping some other border residents see this. There's a very fluid back and forth along the border that, at times, makes it feel like one city, but then at the same time, a river causes so much divide. I do know that because we live in the "border zone," many Mexican nationals with tourist visas just use their border crossing cards and never even have to deal with I-94s unless they go up past the second "crossing" that's about 85 miles up. Thanks, that is something to consider as well.

Nope. If more time had passed, I would have though. It did take a few days for the status to change from "actively reviewing" to "approved," and I only found out about the approval by going to the documents tab (which I'm sure you've tried). Did USCIS give you any other insight other than "sorry, just wait"?

I filed an I-130 petition for an IR-2 visa for my stepdaughter (age 17 at the time I married her dad, now 18). It was just approved, along with her dad's (CR-1) and two younger sisters' (IR-2). She has a son who will be 1 year old in February - she is listed as a single mom on his birth certificate, but has a supportive mom and oldest sister who can assist with childcare. I know that as an IR-2 visa applicant, she cannot include her son as a derivative on her application for the visa. Our understanding is that the path would be for her to (hopefully) receive her IR-2 visa, enter POE, and receive her green card. At that point, as an LPR, she could file an F-2A visa for her son. Are we correct in that? Clearly, being away from such a young child is not ideal. We live on the border (me in the U.S., them in Mexico) so our commute to each other is only about 45 minutes. She would like to begin working in the U.S. and maintain a residence with us (me, spouse, and her two younger sisters/my SDs), pay her U.S. income taxes, but also travel back to see her son/spend the night with him as frequently as possible while going through the F-2A visa process). After reading through USCIS policy manual for not abandoning status, I feel torn about the phrasing around "frequent visits." For us, living on the border, I travel into Mexico several times a week. When my spouse + stepdaughters immigrate, we plan to visit Mexico probably at least two weekends a month for the girls to see their mom and oldest sister. Those trips would likely be in and out the same day, or include one overnight stay. And I know that the 18-yr-old SD will want to visit as frequently as possible to see her son. Thoughts on this? When the time comes, what can we do to help my stepdaughter bring her son to the U.S./minimize time away from him without abandoning status?

How long has it been since your spouse's I-130 was approved? No, actually 3 different ones - in order of when we saw their approval notices show up: 1) Spouse - Texas Service Center (date says 11/12/22, we saw the letter online on 11/14/22) 2) Stepdaughter #1 - Vermont Service Center (date also 11/12/22, showed up later in the day on 11/14/22) 3) Stepdaughter #2 - Texas Service Center (11/15/22 - same time as stepdaughter #3) 4) Stepdaughter #3 - Potomac Service Center (11/15/22 - same time as stepdaughter #2) They were all originally at the Nebraska Service Center.

I wanted to follow up on this. As of today (11/15/22), all four petitions I submitted for my husband and three stepdaughters have been approved!

Got the same email early Sunday morning. I checked the status of our petition, and it was still “actively reviewing,” as it has been since June/July. I checked the documents tab today, and we had our approval notice 😊

I-130 APPROVED!!! PD: 6/2/22 K3: 6/21/22 I-130 APPROVAL: 11/12/22 Texas Service Center So far, the only approval notice we've received is for my husband. There are also 3 pending I-130s (submitted at the same time as my husband's) for my stepdaughters. I'm hoping because they were submitted together that their approvals won't be far behind - does anyone with experience petitioning multiple family member have any input on that? The status on the USCIS website still says "actively reviewing," but I checked the documents tab, and there was the approval letter! I got two emails on early Sunday morning that said, "we have taken action on your case," and that's what prompted me to look. The approval letter just showed up under documents today.

Good point. Thanks for the advice! I've also read that the immigrant needs to have enough luggage that it's obvious they're moving. Is that true? Would one or two suitcases per family member be considered sufficient?

Is the process any different if my husband and stepchildren would be traveling with me in my car across the border? I live on the Texas side, and they live on the Mexico side, so it would make the most sense for us to travel in the vehicle. Does that make a difference? Would there be any advantage to walking? (We are still a long way off from that day, but I like to picture what will happen when that day finally comes )