RyDa

For the history:

7/16/2012 - NOA1

8/11/2012 - Biometrics

2/23/2013 - RFE

3/01/2013 - Response to RFE sent

3/11/2013 - Card production ordered (text message and email received at 6:22pm, so USCIS must be logging in some OT!)

Good luck to those waiting!

I got a letter in the mail today with my interview appointment! The day X is July 26th. The last touch on the web site was June 8th, after my biometrics, and the date on this letter is June 17th, so again, don't rely on the "touches" too much. I'm very excited

Ok, that's spooky ))

We didn't make pysankies, because I am THE worst with arts and crafts )) We did use a traditional Ukrainian embroidered ... cloth or towel, or i don't know what to call it in our wedding ceremony. That made my grandma back home very happy. Awww... ))

Good luck with the process!!

We used my husband's mom, who lives with us too. And we had her complete 864A.

BTW (off topic, but kinda funny) - I noticed ur date of wedding and location, and ours was April 16, 2009 on the beach in Laguna Beach, CA

Card production for EAD ordered for me as well Got the email today, no text. Yahoo!

I'm glad to hear your appointment was breezy, but that is NOT the rule. My appointment was on Fri, Jun 4th. They did NOT let my husband in with me. Then they gave me a tiny paper marked "Name" on it and put me and two other girls in the corner. Everyone who came after us had already left, when finally the security guy told us that the three of us were waiting for some senior officer lady, who had to come out and "clear" us, as there must be a problem with us, since we are in that corner. Turned out it was the fact that we had married name on our application, and no ID with it (duh! I'm applying for one - GC). Anyway, the lady came out 10 min (!) before the office was closing. My appointment was at 3 pm, we got there at 2:15. She came out at 3:50pm. It took her literally one minute for each of us to sign our stuff and send us over to the actual picture/fingerprint thing. I was SO mad. An hour and a half of sitting and waiting, while she could have come out like 3 times! Make it every 30 min, lady!

I came out of there at 3:58 to find my poor husband sleeping in the car.

Oh, and to the OP: I didn't get my biometrics appointment letter for almost a month either after the NOA date. And it was scheduled for a date three weeks later. It was driving me crazy! Good luck to you!

Biometrics appointment was super quick and easy. We got there an hour early and they didn't say anything about our appointment time. They just wanted to see the letter. After checking in, we didn't even make it to the waiting chairs before they called his number. (Side note: I spent 2 1/2 hours at social security today for myself, a citizen!) At the application support center, there was no line and just one form to fill out. I would suggest to try to go as soon as you get that letter. I feel like we delayed things a month by not knowing that we could go early. At worst, they tell you no, right? It's right off of 635 between Dallas and Garland so it's easy to get to. Good luck!

Vegabond, isn't there a case number on this letter that you can compare to your NOA's and see which case it was - AOS or EAD. Either way - congratulations!! Having my case sent to CSC is my dream ))

On June 4, 2010, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

what card? The employment authorization card? what card?

Hi there April filers! Just wanna join the crowd. I just had my biometrics taken last Friday, June 4th. Keep looking at everybody else's timelines, and can't stop thinking that my BM's took almost 2 months compared to other people's one month average. Oh well, at least now it's a done deal.

Good luck and much patience to everyone waiting!

Yeah, my Biometrics letter took a while too. I sent the paperwork on 04/10 and got my letter in the mail on 05/13 (although on the notice the date was 05/05 - more than a week before). And the appointment was scheduled for 06/04 - thats three weeks after i got the letter. Oh well. I was gonna go this Sat, but since it's Memorial Day weekend, they are closed. The wait for the appntmt letter was driving me crazy! Cuz I knew nothing will happen until they get my photo and finger prints taken.

Hi Everybody

Here is my case, i entered in the USA with a k-1 visa, my mother in law was our sponsor for the fiance visa because my husband was not working, because he spent a long time with me in Brazil. He started to work this month, so my mother in law will continue as our sponsor. We live in the same house, my mother in law, she is divorced, my husband and I.

Now the main question is, Do I have to fill the I-864 in my husband's name and the I-864 in my mother in law's name?

If is the case to fill the I-864 in my husband name how are we going to answer his income, he doesnt have, and federal income tax information, these question number 25, doenst have a option for someone without income.

Thanks

Actually it is your husband and his mother who should be filling out the forms. But if you want to do their paperwork, the questions are addressed to them.

If you live with mother, then her income can be included on your sponsor's (husband) form. He shows her income on his I-864 line 24 b. Then she can fill out a I-864A as a household member.

Back to your husband and questions about his income and tax returns. If he has a job now, he can figure what his yearly income will be based on his current salary and state that as his income. He will prove that with an employer letter and pay stubs. If he didn't file tax returns, then that question is addressed on page 8 of the instructions for form I-864.

If you were required to file a Federal income tax return during any of the previous three tax years but did not do so, you must file any and all late returns with IRS and attach an IRS-generated tax return transcript documenting your late filing before submitting the I-864 Affidavit of Support. If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law because your income was too low, attach a written explanation.

So he attaches a statement saying what his income was and that he was not required to file. If he doesn't attach tax returns or fill out the tax return queston, then they will be looking for a statement from him to explain why.

Hello!

I am in a similar situation - my husband and I live with my MIL, who will co-sponsor us. My question is:

Do they both have to fill out I-864, and she has to also fill out I-864A? Or is it JUST I-864A for her? Thank you!

And a BIG thanks to every one who posted congrats and support!! We appreciate this community very much. Vika and I spent about a half hour looking at the site and composing a few posts, and the embassy review together. She was looking over my shoulder the first time, and sharply asked me to explain those hearts . Fortunately we ran into one half of RYDA (from this forum) at the embassy, and she was able to verify the purpose of the post count. Phew! B)

Haha! The one half (the DA part is Dasha. RyDa=Ryan and Dasha) was glad to meet you guys. Felt like I wasn't completely alone there. And yeah, the wait is ridiculous for the "interview" that really-really-REALLY looked like a formality. I got so burned out while waiting (AND cold!!!) that the outcome of the interview didn't make me quite as happy as the fact that I could finally get the heck out of there! Just kidding, of course - I was ecstatic!

Have a good journey you guys! I'll be about two weeks behind you - have some stuff to take care of. But hey! What's 2-3 weeks after all this wait!

With Moscow it goes like this: after NVC has run all their checks and assigned their MOS number to your case, they send it to Moscow. Once the embassy enters your case into their system, your MOS number appears on the US embassy in Russia web site:

http://russian.moscow.usembassy.gov/iv_dates.html

If you will be there Monday, you will likely see Brad and Vika, other members here. I am sure Brad would not mind giving you some support or pointers if he can.

Yep! I know! We both have appointments at 9:30 on Monday. Since Brad has several pictures in his signature I will trcogniza them and will definitely come up to say hi. I'll say u guys said hi too! J/K It's just so funny - I remember reading Brad's posts when we just sent the papers in, and we ended up having the interview on the same day....

Do you think that would be a problem?

Do not worry!

Thanks Gary! I hope everything will be ok. My fiancee won't be there, because he got this job not so long ago, and can't take any days off yet.

Anyway, I think I'll just keep being paranoid till Monday, cuz I can't help it

U said they assignated barcodes to your DS-156. How do they do that? Like stickers or smth?

Hey guys!

I just received the financial documents from my fiance and his mom (she's our co-sponsor). Well, his affidavit looks fine, but hers has no bar codes. We used the new form from the USCIS site, and I guess her printer didn't print out the bar codes. Do you think that would be a problem? Do they actually scan them or smth at the embassy? I already asked my fiancee to have her fill it out once again and print it out on his printer and sign and email to me ( no time for snail mail left), so I WILL have the copy. But I'm still worried.

Thanks!

I'll have my interview next week...I was thinking about a nice pair of new jeans, a sweater (its so cold here!!) and a nice pair of shoes...I think (and hope) it will be fine!!

Why jeans?

I'm not Giuly and Rocky, but... why not? In Kiev it is cold, and you have to wait outside for a while before they let you in. Plus, the CO's windows are so high they can only see you like chest up

I had a J-1 issued, wearing blue jeans, warm sweater and with a backpack three years ago ))

Maybe they have a more strict dress-code for K visas. IDK ))

We got approved December 4th, NVC arrived December 9th and left for Kiev Dec 12th, but as of Dec 17th, not in Embassy system yet

Take about 3 weeks

You CAN make appt as soon as you receive your KEV number from NVC and if you don't want to wait for paper from them, you can call and they will give you your number, then you can call & get your PIN number that you must pay $12.00 for with credit card, for the luxury of being able to speak to Kiev call center in Poland on the phone

Not my understanding... you cannot get an appointment until the file physically arrives in Kiev

So it IS Poland.... I thought I read about it somewhere.... Plus, they all speak a little, mmm... unlike the regular Ukrainians. Oh well!

Hey guys!

Kiev embassy is being weird with the appointments lately! My chronology, to give you an idea:

Dec 19th - NVC left

Dec 1st - Called USEM on , the file was there, but they offered me the range of dates from Dec 8th (a week(!) ) till Dec 16th. We were not prepared for that, so I asked for a later date, preferrably in early January, and was asked to call in 2 weeks.

Dec 3d - Packet 3 in mail. I live about 7 miles away from Kiev.

Dec 9th - One of VJ users, Brad&Vika posts here, that they made an appointment for January 12th. So I called them again, and got the appointment for January 12 as well.

Now, as for waiting for Packet three to schedule - how should I put it... Don't do it! It even says on the embassy web-site, smth like "even though we send out info packets to all the applicants, the postal service in Ukraine is slow and unreliable, blah-blah-blah". The point is, there is nothing in the packet that you can't get off the web-site.

So keep calling them. Cuz I also emailed them on November 22nd or smth asking if they have my file yet. And while my friend got a reply from them on Dec 1st about the same thing, I never received anything. So I just called.

Good luck!

It's anecdotal. If you want to know where a country fits in the fraud spectrum, just ask. In general, if it's not Canada or a VWP country it's medium or above.

What do you think Ukraine is? It's not in Lagos category, but it's no Canada either, huh?

Looks good to me if they'll include a couple recent pay stubs instead of employer letters.

That gives me hope. Thanks!

Speaking of Affidavits and such - we called the Embassy and co-sponsors are, according to them, allowed and used all the time.

However, there is one more technicality I am unsure, but curious about. We hope that, financially, what my fiance will have by the time of the interview will be enough. We'll also have a signed and overall ready co-sponsor Affidavit, but we'd like to not turn it in with the rest of the documents at the Embassy, but instead to give it to the CO in case they asked for more proof (documents, whatevers) during the interview. Is this even possible? Or is it better to hand in both Affidavits? Would they just ignore (and therefore return) the one signed by the co-sponsor if the petitioner's was sufficient?

The problem might be the fact that my fiance won't have tax returns for any year other than 2008. He makes enough money now, and has been in 2008, overall. Before that, he was in college and didn't file taxes.

Badgerella, I read somewhere about a girl who had two sets of fin-l dox too, her fiance's and their co-sponsors. When she was called to submit the documents before the interview to one of the consulate workers, she gave her fiance's financial papers and said that they also had a co-sponsor, however she was told that she would only need to present them if the CO asked during the interview. And I believe he never did.

Thanks! His mom WAS actually gonna black out her SSN. I figured it wouldn't be that big a deal, since they won't have time to run it thru any kind of check at the embassy.

I'll keep trying to straighten out the rest of stuff too. I can't believe, in the very end, we hit such a stumble. Immigration red-tape, I hate you!

You're right, you do need all of those documents. It's not overkill if you wish to avoid being denied at the interview. If only his mom would get that letter from her employer you'd be all set & safe. I'm not sure how they scrutinize the length of employment, but I do know that they will want to see 2007's taxes and possibly even the past 3 years (form asks for 1 year, but many people have been asked for 3 years). What I did for my employer letter was send an email to the head of our Human Resorces office with a copy of what I wanted the letter to say (word for word) and made it super easy for her. I had her print out 3 copies so they'd all have her original signature on (one to send to embassy, one to take to interview, one for my records). Would his mom be more willing if you sent her a copy of what it needs to say? Maybe she's not sure what to ask for so she doesn't want to do it?

I don't know that I'd submit your fiance's info since his employment is only 2 months so far, and he won't be able to send any tax transcripts along. Seems very risky to me.

Thank you so much! I don't know why it is such a big deal to do it, but my fiance says she said "it would be embarrassing and wouldn't do it"

We do appreciate her help anyway, of course! But I'm just afraid it might be no good in the end.

Hello everybody!

I always thought that the hardest part would be to survive the NOA2 wait, but here we are, have the Interview date set, and it does not get easier.

Here is the financial aspect of our situation. My fiance, the American citizen, has been in school 2005-2007. Therefore, his income has been sketchy. So his mom has volunteered to be our co-sponsor. Now, it took her a while to make this decision, especially after I sent them the list of what they may ask for at the embassy. Her main concern was sending all her detailed info across the globe, it may getting stolen, identity theft, well, you get it.

Now, finally my fiance tells me she has everything ready. At a closer look, it turns out that "everything" includes tax transcripts for 2007, bank statement and affidavit. I asked about the letter of employment, to show that not ony she had a steady income in the past, but she still got it, right? And was told "it's an overkill".

And my fiance, who now makes about 22K, but he's only been at this job for 2 months is sending me his affidavit, his bank statement and recent pay stubs. Turns out he did not file taxes in 2007 as he did not work - only studied full time. So I asked to also sent me a diploma, or a certificate or smth from his school to prove that. And he might get a letter of employment himself, but he says that no one does those where he works .

Please, tell me how screwed are we? We've been arguing over this a lot lately, and he says that it is just too much to send ALL that I asked for. But it's not like I just decided to ask them for all those dox, just for fun.... Oh boy, am I worried?

Thanks!

Congrats!

You know what's funny? Not only our interviews are on the same day, but turns out we both honored ProCredit Bank with our humble visa fee donation on the same day )))

I am now all set too, and just waiting for the Big Day See you guys there!