RodD

We are getting ready to apply for my wife's citizenship and discovered that the instructions say provide proof of divorce for all previous marriages. In our previous applications (K1 Fiance, Adjustment of Status, and Removal of Conditions), we only had to provide the divorce decree from my wife's most recent marriage even though she was married twice before.

Do they really require the divorce decrees from all previous marriages?

Is there any way to enter multiple timelines in VisaJourney?

My K1 wife's daughter is about to arrive separately on her K2 visa after my wife has already received her green card. I would like to set up a second AOS timeline for my step-daughter since we will be applying immediately after her arrival in the US.

My K1 wife has already gone through AOS and has her green card. We are now bringing her daughter here on a K2 visa. All the guidelines about what documents to submit with an AOS application are good for a K1 applicant and K1 with K2, but are somewhat lacking for a separate K2 AOS application.

What documents should be sent for the K2 AOS applicant?

One specific question we have is that we had to provide a certified translation for the K2 US Embassy interview of a letter from my step-daughter's father giving permission for her to move to the US. Will a certified translation of that letter be required for the AOS application or interview, or will a copy of it suffice? The US Embassy kept the original certified translation.

My wife (who came here on K1 visa) returned to Russia in April to prepare her daughter (who had remained in Russia) for her K2 interview. My wife had already been approved for her green card at that time, but we did not have it yet so she took her AP documents with her.

When I returned home from dropping her off at the airport, her green card was waiting in the mail. (Talk about bad timing!) I investigated sending the green card to her by FedEx, but immigration documents are prohibited from being shipped.

Will my wife have a problem reentering the US with only AP documents if they look up her file and see she now has a green card? (She is returning August 2nd.)

I am planning to take the green card with me to the airport to pick her up, but she won't have it until after she clears immigration.

(Her daughter's K2 visa was approved, so she should have no problem at all!)

However I'm finding before adding my wife's income my tax refund is $200 or so higher for about $3,500 in foreign income. It shows up under Less Common Income as both + and - number of the same amount yet it's still slightly increasing the net amount of taxes paid. Is this correct result or am I missing something? As the original poster said I was expecting it to completely cancel out.

Thanks

Maybe not missing something. A month ago I could have told you better but I filed and already got my refund. If your had simple earnings and W2 income, then it would pretty much add it in and take it off.

Without getting too technical. Do you have Schedule D earnings? Qualified dividends, capital gains, etc? If so the total income incuding hers plays into that as I recall. If your taxes are not calculated on the basic tax tables, but rather on the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gains Tax Worksheet, then there could be a slight increase due to the worldwide income.

So it's possible that your refund is $200 higher by deleting your wifes income (on a joint return), but if you also delete the filing joint status and go back to married filing separately, you will find your refund is even less. So you have to judge which is best for you but compared them as you would be required to file.--

Married filing separately with only your income, OR

Married filing joint with another $3500 her income

The filing joint still worked out better for me. If you have more questions about the capital gains and dividend things, I can explain further if you PM me, but I didn't elaborate here because I didn't want to give too much information if you didn't need it.

Actually there is a "Foreign Earned Income Tax Worksheet", found in the instructions for Form 1040, that Turbotax uses to calculate your final tax. It first figures your tax with the foreign income included. Then it figures the tax for the foreign income alone (which will be in a lower tax bracket). Then it subtracts that second amount from the first, which means you do end up paying some tax on the foreign income.

Unfortunately that's the only way you can file jointly, but you still end up saving a huge amount over filing separately.

I read stuck_in_manila's post again and have a little more to add:

I tried TaxCut online and got the same numbers, but it was tedious and annoying. TurboTax was better.

Here's where your numbers could be off doing it by hand. If you have other income like Social Security or Earned Income Credit, the foreign income sometimes factors in. If you have a Schedule D for dividends and capital gains, your taxes don't come straight off the tax tables. There is a worksheet to figure and the foreign income gets taken off differently. It's too complicated to explain, but if you have those kinds of things it could bump you up to higher tax total before it goes and subtracts the taxes that would have been paid on the foreign income. It's just a little different tax calculating process than if you only had wages. It does all that in the background without showing you.

And you are amazing understanding the tax things so well!

Most Americans don't have the understanding that you have gained.

thankie. i will try your suggestions.

well, i used to work with numbers ( stock market and later on broadcast - business news) so i'm used to trying to understand compex numbers.

i think i just miss my former work that's why i insisted on doing my hubby's tax return! he he he

I have been struggling with the same scenario the past week with TurboTax and finally got help on their live help forum.

First let me say that since you are married to a US citizen you can be treated as a US resident for all of 2008 regardless of the number of days you are present in the US. Just attach a written letter to your tax return signed by both of you indicating you have elected for both of you to be treated as US residents for the entire year. This is required if you plan to file jointly and either of you was a non-resident alien during any part of the year. The down side is you cannot file electronically. The up side is you can file jointly and reap the tax benefits of that status.

But as you already know, you must declare all your world-wide income. TurboTax is misleading about how to do this. In the section "Less Common Income" do NOT fill out the section on "Foreign Earned Income" first because that is only the exclusion. If you have already done that, please delete it. First fill out "Miscellaneous Income, 1099-A, 1099-C. There is a check box for "Wages not already reported". If you follow the step-by-step questions, skip all of them until you come to "Foreign Earned Income". Then there will be Yes/No question about whether you are eligible for the "Foreign Income Exclusion". Click Yes and continue until you finish this section. At this point TurboTax knows about your foreign income and it is included in the total.

After that you can go back to "Less Common Income" again, this time selecting "Foreign Earned Income" and entering all the information for your foreign income exclusion. Once you are finished with that, TurboTax subtracts it from the total.

Isn't the American tax code a joy?!!! At least the tax accountants have job security!

My fiancee arrived 10/24/08 on a K1 visa and we married on 10/29/08. Illinois allows a new immigrant to drive on her foreign license for 90 days. However a Social Security number is required to apply for an Illinois license. We sent the application for AOS and EAD on 11/5/08, but are still waiting for the EAD. I only learned today that a K1 visa holder does not need an EAD for the SS#, so it's too late to do anything about that with her 90-day expiration coming on 1/23/09.

Does anyone know if Illinois will prevent her taking the driving test after 1/23/09? It will probably be early February before we have the EAD and SS#.

I have a related question. If the K2 child will follow later, how do you answer whether the child is applying with you?

My Russian fiancee was living in Dubai, UAE, at the time we applied for her K1 visa. We received the NOA2 just 3 weeks prior to her moving back to Russia on June 7. Unfortunately, although we asked for processing to be through the Moscow Embassy in our application, they instead sent the file to Abu Dhabi, UAE. She sent a letter to the US Embassy in Moscow on June 10 requesting the file be transferred from Abu Dhabi, but now we are stuck in limbo with no word on whether the Moscow Embassy has even requested the file yet from Abu Dhabi. In the meantime, I received the embassy packet from Abu Dhabi with an interview date there. (I'm not sure why it was sent to me instead of my fiancee!)

Does anyone have any experience dealing with getting their file transferred from one embassy to another? Any advice (besides "Good Luck!") would be greatly appreciated. It was bad enough waiting over 5 months for the NOA2, but it is now 2 months since that time and we are still on hold.

I called the Dept of State today and learned that the Moscow Embassy finally received our file last Friday, July 25, after 36 days since Abu Dhabi says they transferred it. We have an interview scheduled for September 19.

Sorry to hear that.. DOS can handle all of that.

(202) 663-1225 Press 0, then Press 1

They can always tell you if/when your petition has arrived at 'whichever' Consulate and will even tell you if it's arrived and if you have an appointment date.

Hope it's sorted soon.

Thank you so much for pointing me to the Dept. of State. I called them (it's actually Press 1, then 0, instead of the other way around), and they informed me that Moscow just received our file last Friday and the interview is scheduled for September 19.

As I posted earlier, I have had only good experience with Holmes & Lolly so far. Right now I am truly glad I have an attorney.

We got our NOA2 approval a few days before my fiancee moved from the UAE back to Russia. Of course the NVC still sent our file to Abu Dhabi even though we had requested Moscow from the beginning since we knew when she would return to Russia. But Holmes & Lolly's Moscow office helped us figure out how to request the file be sent to Moscow.

Unfortunately, although the consulate in Abu Dhabi told me a couple of weeks ago that they sent the file to Moscow on June 19, Moscow says they have not received it yet. So right now our file is lost in limbo. Our paralegal just emailed Abu Dhabi to get a confirmation about where the file was sent. If it is truly lost, we will definitely need our attorney to help us sort through this mess.

How do you know your case has been transferred to NVC? Does USCIS send you an e-mail? Thanks so much!!!

You should receive a letter from the NVC about 10 days after your NOA2 approval date, with a new case number.

My Russian fiancee was living in Dubai, UAE, at the time we applied for her K1 visa. We received the NOA2 just 3 weeks prior to her moving back to Russia on June 7. Unfortunately, although we asked for processing to be through the Moscow Embassy in our application, they instead sent the file to Abu Dhabi, UAE. She sent a letter to the US Embassy in Moscow on June 10 requesting the file be transferred from Abu Dhabi, but now we are stuck in limbo with no word on whether the Moscow Embassy has even requested the file yet from Abu Dhabi. In the meantime, I received the embassy packet from Abu Dhabi with an interview date there. (I'm not sure why it was sent to me instead of my fiancee!)

Does anyone have any experience dealing with getting their file transferred from one embassy to another? Any advice (besides "Good Luck!") would be greatly appreciated. It was bad enough waiting over 5 months for the NOA2, but it is now 2 months since that time and we are still on hold.

As I understand,a beneficiary's child 16 or older who will be immigrating must also have a police certificate for interview at embassy. Is this correct?

Thanks

Yes that's correct.

We just received our NOA2 approval from USCIS CSC dated May 12. Total time from filing to approval was 165 days!

Hopefully things will move along now much more quickly!

Hi, Everyone

We are progressing in this visa process!

For the interview at the Embassy in Moscow, does the police certificate have to created by the department actually located in Moscow?

or

Can the police certificate be created by the police department of the region in the women has lived her entire life?

If anyone knows about such things, I have attached a set of three police certificates one certificate for each name scanned onto one sheet of paper to this post. Will these certificates be accepted at the interview in Moscow? These certificates were created by the regional police department.

Thanks in advance for your help!

LLJ45

I believe you must also get a certified English translation for each certificate. You must bring both Russian and English versions to the interview.

We also hired Holmes & Lolly. So far I don't have any major complaints, although I did need to proof read and correct the filing documents very carefully. Some of the errors were my fault, some of them were theirs.

I have sent a lot of emails to them and they have responded to all of them. They also have an associate office in Moscow who have been directly in contact with my fiancee (both by phone and email) about getting all her Russian documents in order. It helps that they can explain things to her in Russian. They will also help prepare her for her embassy interview.

Their fees include not just the K1 filing but also help with filing for AOS after her arrival and our marriage.

What services are people here using and which ones have good quality? I am looking for something inexpensive, but at the same time I am trying to find a service that has pretty good voice quality. It can be calling cards or an internet service, but I would prefer something that I can use over the phone. I call her at work due to the time difference and the web filter interferes with Skype and other services. So, any practical advise will be great and I am not looking for the cheapest one, but something that will give me good quality at a reasonable rate. Thanks!

- Steven

When my fiance was back in Russia for a month over the holidays, I used a prepaid (virtual) card from www.enjoyprepaid.com. For calling her mobile phone, the actual cost was $0.067 per minute billed in 5-minute increments, and the quality is usually quite good. The actual cost you pay depends on the plan you buy, which for me was the Ruby plan. What they advertise is lower than reality, so keep that in mind. For my plan, they advertised $0.054 per minute for mobile phones, but reality was $0.067. For land lines, they advertise $0.009 to Moscow, $0.013 to St. Petersburg, and $0.029 elsewhere in Russia. In Moscow and St. Petersburg they provide access numbers to use the same card to call back to the US.

The same company has cheaper, but less flexible, plans for Russia found at www.nobelcom.com. I have used NobelCom extensively while my fiance is in the UAE. But with the NobelCom cards keep in mind you must choose whether you will be calling a mobile phone or a land line because they are separate cards. You only get the rate for your card when calling the appropriate kind of phone and target location. They advertise $0.009 for their card specific to Moscow, $0.011 for their card specific to St. Petersburg, $0.022 for their card for all of Russia, and $0.044 for their card for Russian mobile phones.

Both EnjoyPrepaid and NobelCom are the same company using the same network. There is an additional $0.99 weekly charge (every Monday) to maintain the account as long as it has a balance. They offer pin-less dialing from a list of up 6 phone numbers. When I call from my Nokia mobile phone, I have the access and pin numbers programmed into it so it is still 1-touch dialing to call her. As I already said, the quality is usually pretty good although sometimes you get dropped calls. (It's possible some of those were when my fiance's mobile phone lost its signal.) I can't even call my parents here in the US for rates anywhere near that low, so I'm happy with these cards. They also occasionally offer 10% discounts over certain holidays for puchasing more time. For example, just before Easter I added $100 to the card for only $90.