happyscrub

8 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Maybe should have taken the envelope to a deferred inspection site. 

I saw that advice, but the closet one was 4 hours away. But in my research, I seen a lot of people saying that once you are already in the borders, it's not CBP concern anymore, it's USCIS's... especially if it's months later. I talked to an USCIS agent and he told me to bring it to the field office, which was like 2.5 hour drive. He said no appointment was needed but I didn't trust that. So I tried to make an appointment but they denied me an appointment. I asked on a lawyer site, AVVO and one suggested to just mail it to them. Must easier than driving all those hours... and I would be pissed on the way back if I was turned away.

1. My wife did medical for K1 visa but did not get the hepatitis vaccine in her home country.

2. We arrived at port of entry with K1 visa. The process was extremely fast and CBP didn't ask for our envelope.  I assumed that maybe it was digitalized and already sent to them. They just waived us thru.
3. We get the hepatitis vaccine and took the DS-???? (can't remember the name) to a doctor in the U.S.. They told us we needed to do a new one but I had to go back and forth with them in emails to explain to them we did not need a completed medical.

4. We filed for AOS and got some RFEs about medical.

A: First was saying we needed to send a completed medical. I replied with "my wife is a K1 visa holder. She wasn't required to do a new one."

B: Then they replied saying there was no medial on their file so we must show proof or do a new one. After researching on what to do, I decided to mail them the unopened yellow envelope and explain to them what happened at port of entry.

5. Green card was approved.

6. happy dance.

I'm a stubborn person and I like to argue and research. I think my wife would have had her green card maybe 2-3 months earlier if I just paid to get a new medical from the start. But despite all the advice online saying to just do a new medical, even by lawyers, I'm here to say you do not have to.

 

Hello. We just approved today with no interview. I think we would have gotten approved earlier because we got a lot of RFEs about our medical starting at the end of December. Short story is they wanted us to submit a medical and I went back and forth with them because we didn't need to. I for sure was thinking we were going to be punished with an interview later. LOL

Our case was in Montgomery Alabama. 

It's hard to find this information online and I want to know what exactly they are taking out of the envelope and given back to you

USCIS automated answer system doesn't help. We used a "cheat" to talk to a live agent, but my wife doesn't speak english well and the agent hung up on us because I answered a question for her and I wasn't allowed to (asked for her birthday. She don't know how to say March in english). I'm attempted to answer the mail with our medical and tell them that's what we assumed they were asking for and tell them they didn't state what they wanted. I seen one other person on the internet go thru the samething and it was the mecial they wanted

3 minutes ago, Edward and Jaycel said:

Can you include the 2nd page of the RFE.... On my RFE the first page was generic like that but the 2nd page was where they indicated the reason for the RFE and what they needed.

2nd page

We did not send in medical with the petition and we didn't have the official proof of family base green card eligibility (some document name as numbers and letters that we didn't keep. But I read it's not a problem).

A week ago our status changed to RFE back to processing all in one day, and our case advanced pass step 3 (attend interview if necessary) to step 4.
Today I get this mail but it's not stating what they want in the RFE. The document is the same on the website. This is the first page and the 2nd page it just further instructions and where to mail. Our case online is back to REF status

Thoughts?

I'm going to call today. I assume it's the medical. We never got the courtesy medical letter that I hear about.

I think it will be the medical, but I wanted to post this and will update because I can't find much information from people who had similar experiences

On 6/25/2024 at 6:51 PM, 1journey said:

What happens next? My fiance and her daughter are now in the US, and we had our marriage ceremony. I believe the next steps are to complete the I-130, I-485, and I-765. Is this correct? How much time do we have to complete these documents after we get married? I understand the fees come to around $4,780 (1 form for each person = 2 fees).

Go to the adjust of status part of this forum now. Your K1 visa journey is over. You have 90 days from your fiancee entry date into the US to mail in the documents. Did your fiancée have all their vaccines done? If not, you need to complete that. They should of been given a paper (I forget the name) where the embassy doctor checked off if they were vaccinated or not with all the required vaccines. If not, you need to find a civil surgeon to complete it. That's the most lengthy process that you don't want to wait until the last min to do

10 hours ago, Collegeee67 said:

Well on the I34 it does ask for an employment letter and the attorney did say to provide paystubs so I think they will ask for it in the interview 

It doesn't ask for that. It only states it as an option among a list of options to show evidence.

2 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Tax transcripts (latest) is not about this year.  It's last year.  If one does not have a job now, it doesn't make a bit of difference how much they made last year.  Going to work and providing a pay stub for a full pay period to go with an updated I-134 is the key.  Interview should be postponed until that can be accomplished.  If not, the visa will be denied and they'll have to start over.

If you show transcripts of last year, then that's the end of the investigation. You don't have to volunteer and say, "BTW, I'm not longer workering, deny me"

I don't know why so many people are recommending pay stubs. It's not good as transcripts. 

Both if neither of you meet the requirements and you are combining your incomes to meet the limit. But I assume you only need one person to do so. But if that one person doesn't pass the income requirements by a good margin, I'll file both to make it look better.
 

my mistake
 

Officially, you do nothing until the embassy contacts you. No reason to be rushing to file documents that takes a day to do weeks in advance when they haven't asked you to do so yet. To get a good idea how long the wait will be, you should visit forums related to your country. Many countries are different. It's going to take atleast a month or more for them to process it and ship it and for the embassy to receive it for many countries. And on top of that, the embassy has to go over it and then contact you when they are ready for you to start the process.

If anything, the best thing to do is research how to get the police certificate and birth certificate (and divorce, death certificate from past relationship and proof of being able to be married if your country does that) and if there's any special requirements for them. Like in our country, the requirements had to be that the documents couldn't be more than 3 months old. And also, get any documents saying you have vaccines before or they will make you take vaccines you may have already had for the medical exam.

I would add, if the wait seems unusually long, i would contact NVC just to keep in contact. And if they say they sent it, I would contact the embassy too if it's unusually long just to keep on contact.

3 hours ago, powerpuff said:

Put “deceased”.

Don't put deceased. Can't background check "deceased". Just put the current information of when they died. And the only information they ask for that would matter on this subject is country and city.

This post just shows a problem here of too much advice on doing things without waiting for instructions. People flood the net with information to cheat the system to get a skip in line when some of those tricks really only work in certain countries. But people give this advice as general advice for all.

You are unemployed but will you make enough money this year to get over the 29k(?) threshold? Whatever it is. If so, than all you need is your tax transcripts to show you made enough. 

1 minute ago, powerpuff said:

A pay stub from a few days ago in combination with an employment letter that was signed also a few days ago is literally the definition of current income and sure is a better indicator of current than what you made last year.

 

Again, unless you’re trying to HIDE the fact that you’re no longer employed or making much less, how is this bad advice? And what if the officer straight up asks you what’s your petitioners salary, you’re gonna go off of what they made last year on their tax transcripts even though it might be different from now? That’s just lying and fraud. 

 

I’d rather avoid unnecessary delays. And again, I had to hand in tax transcripts, employment letter and pay stubs. I picked up my visa the very next day. Your advice would have caused me a delay of who knows how long. For example, at Montreal consulate this would have resulted in a 6-8 week delay. 

Oh really. I gave my fiancée >>>ONLY<<< my tax transcripts and she got her visa the very next day also. So what is the common denominator in both our stories? 😆

15 minutes ago, powerpuff said:

Tax returns/tax transcripts- same thing and my point still stands. It’s evidence of past income and not current. 

 

That’s just false unless you’re trying to hide the fact that you’re now unemployed or making much less than what is reflected on tax return/tax transcripts.

Evidence of past income is evidence of current income. Hell, in your view, your paystubs is past income. It's income you made months or weeks ago.
If what you think its true, you would find tons of people who only used their transcripts (which is recommended) and getting a 221g to show proof of paystubs. I doubt you would but I bet you would find it so the other way around.

It's just flat-out bad advice and also a ton of unnecessary work when all is required is a quick download from the IRS

6 minutes ago, powerpuff said:

Tax returns are not evidence of current income. They’re evidence of past income. E.g. I could have made 200k last year which would be reflected on my most recent tax return but now I’m unemployed making $0. Evidence of current income are indeed pay stubs and employment letter. Now they may not be asked for at the interview but I would sure bring them. They took tax transcripts, pay stubs and an employment letter at my interview.

 

The US citizen will need to fill the form out and you would take it to the interview. 

 I didn't say tax returns, I said tax transcripts. And tax transcripts are better evidence than anything else you can show because it shows what you made in a year's time and is evidence provided by the IRS, a government institution. And it shows how much you actually made in a year after any tax deductions. And it's a document that consulars are trained to look at and is easily looked at. Focusing on paystubs is bad advice unless someone didn't earn enough income in the previous year. And it's just going to open you up to more scrutiny. It just sounds sketchy too.

You haven't even scheduled a medical exam yet or got the instructions and how to do that. The interview is the last thing to do. You need to get all your documents and medical exam first. You will get instructions on how to do all that. Or you can cheat the system and ask people how to do it in your country BEFORE you get the real instructions and hope they gave you the best advice

I just read yesterday that border security has procedures for just the thing. You can even get a passport stamped that expires before you come, get a new passport, and then bring both to border security. lol

6 hours ago, Korede Temi said:

Hello,

I am the beneficiary of a K1 visa, and my NVC status currently says ‘in transit’ to the embassy in Helsinki. I have already completed my DS-160 form and am about to book my medical appointment. I am also in the process of gathering my criminal records. I have a few questions:

    1.    Petitioner’s Paystubs: Does my petitioner’s paystubs need to reflect a salary that is close to the interview date?
    2.    Visa Appointment: Can I book my visa appointment now? What other fees should I expect to pay moving forward with this application?
    3.    Required Documents: I know I need to fill out the I-134, and take my passport and photos to the interview. What other documents are required?
    4.    NOA1 Approval: My fiancé does not have a second copy of the I-129F filed, and her NOA1 approval only came via text message, not by mail. Is it possible for me to scan the text message?
    5.    K-FTP Letter: Do I need to present my K-FTP letter at the appointment? What other documents or items will I need to bring?
    6.    Income Standard: What is the standard for showing income?

Thank you for your assistance!

Feel free to adjust any details if necessary.

1. Why are they using pay stubs? Only use pay stubs if your taxes of last year are not enough but you want prove you can make it for the current year. Am I assume some embassies will still ask for transcript. Transcript is the best evidence.
2. You will pay $265 dollars at the embassy and whatever your embassy doctor charges.

3. You will get a packet telling you everything you need, and possibily with special instructions. Like the country we did ours required the documents be less than 3 months old. The govt has a website stating country requirements, but my WIFI is too weak for me to go finding it. But it will be police report and birth certificate for sure. And proof of divorce and probably death certificate of dead husband/wife

4. The NOA1 Approval is meaningless after NVC takes over. Your case will be using a whole different number. The DS-160 conformation page it's more important and needed

5. Probably not, but just wait for your instructions. 

6. IRS transcripts

I filed for my fiancée myself (no lawyers). Didn't get one RFE or any other problems. All I did was read the instructions, followed directions, researched the topic online. I want to say that I think most of the advice online is geared toward the worst scenarios or high red flag countries. I did a lot of things that seemed "risky" by others but had no problems. I treated this like feeling out any other government forms. I only gave what was necessary.   

1. I only had 4 pictures for my petition at USCIS. A lot of people said you needed a ton of pictures. And pictures were the only proof of relationship I sent. I did state, however, that the reason I didn't have a lot of pictures was because I video recorded most of the time there.

2. I didn't write some long love story for the petition on how we met. I think it was probably 4 sentences.
3. I filed 2 months after meeting in person for the 1st time.

4. My second meeting was the day BEFORE the scheduled interview. So I didn't do a ton of meetings to boost chances.
5. I only added 3 pictures of the same night (in the same clothes) to the interview evidence

6. I added only a screen shot of the 1st few messages a month for a year on Facebook

7. I added receipts of all the money transfers I sent. Many people here say that is bad

8. I added evidence of dowry being paid to the parents. Many people say that is bad, but I think that's only in countries where it's a law that dowry means marriage.

9. I went to chew the embassy out for confusion over the interview (they canceled our interview but rescheduled it the following week over some disorganization on their end. But I was under the impression that they were saying it was a mistake I did.) It's the American way LOL

But I will add that, which I assumed to be logically correct, that we were an "easy" case.

1. A poor country but not a red flag country or even a country were many people immigrant from.

2. We both are never married and never had children

3. Same race (black)

4. 12 year age difference but 29 and 41.


I'm gonna pay it forward and stay on this site to help other people

On 4/12/2024 at 3:33 PM, 1journey said:

Hello,

 

Can anyone tell me what the process is like when going through customs at the airport with a K-1 Visa? Is there another interview with the customs agent? If I am with my fiance, could she go in the line with me for U.S. citizens? 

 

Thank you.

Here's some more info for you. Port of Entry reviews have a lot of people saying they went into the citizen line together (in atlanta atleast). I'm planning to do the same

Atlanta US Port of Entry Reviews (visajourney.com)

12 hours ago, 1journey said:

 

That's interesting because a 221g indicates they need more information or something is missing that they still need from you. Usually they say what it is and then people scramble to get it right away. But, if they did not say anything, not sure about the 221g.

We were emailed to come pick up the visa the following morning. I read that sometimes 221g means they got some administrative work to do on their end. It could be something as little as having to run something by a supervisor before official approval.

I was in the same boat and we picked an interview date as far back as we could without asking for special permission. They will tell you how long you have till complete your petition