Wrath of Sithis

Well it's been a number of years since I posted here but I just wanted to update our status, on Friday November 16th 2012 my wife took her oath of allegiance and became a US citizen!

Today we recieved our I-797C's, logged in and printing of the green cards has been ordered and we should have them within 30 days.

Fee for the DS-230 is $355, fee for the I864 is $45.00

Woohoo! Congratz!!

Now you should get packet IV and an interview date, Go ahead and get everything ready. CONGRATS!!

You wont be asked for the x-ray

Just make sure you keep your brown envlope, and DONT OPEN IT.

That's not quite correct...

The poverty guideline for a couple (family of two) is $13,690. So %125 of the guideline is $17,113.00

That would be 125% of the poverty line figure for two persons for one year, yes.

In order to avoid the IR-1 requirement for an affidavit of support from relatives/friends in the US you need funds equating to 3 years worth, not 1 years worth - hence my figure of $51,337.50.

Well, that's not what the rule says. My wife and step-daughter's visas were approved today.

I don't make x3 the %125 line but I do make more than the %125 and I did not have to get a co-sponsor.

Here's some snipplets:

"You must show on this form that you haveenough income and/or assets to maintain the intendingimmigrant(s) and the rest of your household at 125 percent ofthe Federal Poverty Guidelines. "

"See Form I-864P, Poverty Guidelines, for moreinformation on which benefits may be covered by thisdefinition "

"To qualify as a sponsor, you must demonstrate that your income is at least 125 percent of the current Federal poverty guideline for your household size. The Federal poverty line,for purposes of this form, is updated annually and can be found on Form I-864P, Poverty Guidelines."

I just read the I-864 again and there is no mention of 3 times, triple or the like when it comes to income, that is to do with assets. You simply must make over %125 of the required amount in annual income.

You might want to read it again..

Now in regard to the OP "The notes with the I-864 say that, if we have insufficient income, we can make up the difference with 3 x the amount in assets." correct.

We'll it's done. I put some detailed information in my other thread and updated my timelime.

We got the visa's all we have to do is come pick them up this afternoon.

Now I'm off to buy some tickets!

We got one email and two letters in the mail that said our interview was 02-JAN-2008 at 08:30 so we arrived on Jan 2nd at around 7:30 and waited.

Come about 10:30am all the windows were closed and everyone else who was waiting had finished, we started wondering what was up. Asked one of the guards and they said that these interviews happen at 7:30am not 8:30.

I went to the counslar window in another area of the embassy and explained the situation. She went and talked to the people in the visa section and vola. We walked right up, did our thing. Handed all the papers they asked for, this took maybe 10 or 15 minutes to get done. Then we went and paid for the visa apps 2x$355 and I also had to pay for the I-864's 2x$45 once that was done I handed her the reciepts and she said have a seat and they would call us in to the interview room. Before we could even sit down they called us

The interview was done in a room all by ourselfs which was nice. They asked us questions (mostly my wife) and took her biometrics.

Just general questions, where did you meet, how long have you been married, whats your husband do and so forth. Then he asked me about my job, what I was doing here, when we are going back, how long I've owned my home and so forth.

He smiled and handed us a ticket and said to come back at 4:00pm to pick up the passports with visa's.

Yeah welcome to the world... I think this is one of those things you can try to pull off and maybe get away with it, or you could get slapped in the face just the same.

It's a risk, personally I would go the safe route and apply for a K visa or your cr1 out of the country if I were you...

Well we have our interview tomorrow wish us luck!!!

I too had a time starting out in life, living as an expat in other countries with my parents nobody wanted to hire the gringo. When it came to these issues I would look them in the eye and say something like "I know that maybe I'm not your ideal choice, but I'm a good person, I learn fast and I REALLY need this job. I'll be a good worker for you I promise, just give me a chance."

Well it worked, don't take no for an answer.

Now you will encounter bigots, there's nothing you can do about them except to move on and look elsewhere.

Be sincere, if you need the work tell them you need the job don't accept the over-qualified rejection without retort.

Ditto. You need to get that file back. If you are going to use a lawyer in the future before you give them any money ask them if they are a partner. I wouldn't want hand my fate to some intern lacky that might be let go of at any moment.

Personally I would not sue at this point, anyways if your thinking about filing a suite you should talk to a lawyer about that..

Remember most people think it's no big deal to sue someone, well it costs money a lot of money unless your case is just too good for the atturney to pass up. It's sad but in many cases it's about money, and who has more of it.

That's not quite correct...

The poverty guideline for a couple (family of two) is $13,690. So %125 of the guideline is $17,113.00

Here's a copy/paste of the guidelines chart for this year:

The following are the 2007 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia:

Size of Family Poverty 125% of Poverty

Unit Guidelines Guidelines

1 - $10,210 - $12,763

2 - 13,690 - 17,113

3 - 17,170 - 21,463

4 - 20,650 - 25,813

5 - 24,130 - 30,163

6 - 27,610 - 34,513

7 - 31,090 - 38,863

8 - 34,570 - 43,213

-----------------

Just take the number PG (times) 0.25 = the amount you need.

Here's another thing I thought I would add.

While getting information for my proof of domicile together a friend (who's also an immigration attorney) gave me some advise.

She said anything I print out that has account numbers on it, that I should go in and blank out those numbers.

She said those numbers are not needed and they do not verify the information. That it will go in to a file for a long time and that ofcourse, government employees are not immune from crime like identity theft and fraud...

Food for thought, I did what she said and blanked out account numbers.

She also said it's a good idea to use a highlighter on these documents to highlight names and addresses, dates and the like so that it will be easy for them to find and less stressful. I also did this.

Anyways just thought I would pass this on FYI.

Got another approval letter send here in my wife's name saying what we already know that we have an interview setup on the 2nd of Jan.

One thing is bothering me however, below it says Travellers:

And lists my wife's name and the case file, but my step-daughter is not listed on there.

Is it because she's a minor, she's only 16 months old. Perhaps they are both in the same file I don't know...

This is making me nervous, and it's too late to contact the embassy to find out whats going on we can only wait and see... But we aren't leaving without her!

I've been cool up to this point, perhaps it's because it's almost time I'm getting nervous.

Grats, whens the interview?

But which English is the real English? I for one can hardly understand the east enders of London! Is it the folks from Newcastle? Or Manchester? Notice there are so many different accents and dialects in England. Who's to say which is the real mc'coy?

What about the poor kid that was stoned to death a few years ago? Ban stones. The only way to be sure everyone is safe is to lockup everybody in padded rooms

Hey congrats, and welcome home

I do stuff like that all the time, never once had a problem.

Grats!

My cousin said I got a letter from USCIS at my house in the states, he scanned and emailed it to me. It ways that the petition is approved, filed 19-nov-2007 approval 04-dec-2007.

Only one approval letter tho, where's the one for my step daughter?

Or maybe I don't need it?

You have till april so I would guess that you should be OK on that one. Most people don't even get their W2s till mid to late January anyways so early feb would be pushing it.

At the same time the dollar is about 30% cheaper, so it all evens out.

Very true