txladykat

Tanti Auguri!!!!

Kicking myself for not going the DCF route, I did not even think about it But I am at NVC now and hoping it will go smoothly. But I cannot seem to find any reviews of the Consulate in Milan and the process there, but I am hoping it is similar to the Naples as that office seems to be pretty good

Milan? As I understood, ONLY the naples consulate handles immigration.. In fact at the interview there were people from all over italy (and outside italy) including the north (like us) who had to go all the way down there... As I said in the other post.. i would still consider canceling the other I-130 if possible and going the DCF route.. so quick and painless.. no checking websites about status and twiddling thumbs.. it was literally like a 1-2-3 done! Additionally when you file DCF their is apparently some leniency with regards to income paper work.. that worked out nicely for us.. They counted 'future earned income' even though the instructions say they do not..

Yeah, i think they are much more lenient on paperwork, etc when filing in low immigration countries. We filed in Denmark and they did not ask for a single shred of proof of our relationship, and only asked us two questions, and that wasn't even at the interview, it was unofficially when we filed our I-130, LOL As for the income paperwork, same here, I just wrote on my I-864 what I would be making at my new job in the states and came prepared with a letter from the employer, but they didn't even ask to see the letter, or any proof of future income, only the tax return for the previous year.

sound like you are on the right track. unfortunately, there is no way to track when filing DCF

AWSOME!!!! Thanks for the Info.... We need to wait for the package from the embassy to schedule this right??

Nope. You can do the medical anytime. My husband actually did his the day before we filed our I-130

That is what the link above gives you, the list of approved panel physicians All you have to do is choose your embassy from the drop down menu and it gives you the name, address and phone number of approved physicians. It also gives you the procedures for getting your medical and x-ray based on the embassy you choose.

Go here:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/in...ng_for_med_exam

Page 2 and 3 on that link is basically what you get in packet 3. Packet 3 is instructions for getting your medical and a list of the documents you should begin to gather for your interview. The packet will also have the DS-230 form (which is not on the link above). By going to this page and looking up your embassy, you can actually start the medical process before getting packet 3. My husband actually did his medical the day before we filed the I-130 because we had this information and knew where to go and what the procedure was.

Page 4, the same, basically what you get in packet 4. Its your interview letter telling you when it is, what to bring, and what to expect.

By going to each of those pages, you can actually choose your embassy from the drop down menu and it will take you to the page specific to your embassy.

Found it! This link is good for looking up medical information for ALL countries. Just choose your embassy location from the drop down menu and it tells you where you can find panel approved physicians. It also tells you the steps in obtaining your medical.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/in...ng_for_med_exam

Page 3 of that link also tells you what documents you will need for the interview. Basically, everything on these pages it what they will send you in packet 3 (info about medical, what documents to gather for the interview.

Page 4 gives you the opportunity to pull up the requirements of your embassy location which gives detailed information about what to expect at your interview when appearing at the embassy. This was the paper we got in packet 4 which actually notified us of our interview date.

Actually, it would be great to have these as a sticky!

Yes, there is a list on the uscis website. I had it bookmarked, but my computer crashed last week and I am running on a new one. I will see if I can track down the link again and post it for you.

Actually, there is in instance where offer of employment was satisfactory

I used a letter of employment offer. They didn't even ask to see it! They asked for no proof of income, they only went with what I listed on my I-864. I simply listed what my income of the new job would be on the I-864 (that is how they told me to do it), and I made sure to have a letter stating my start date and salary, but they didn't even ask to see it.

Hi redsox. We actually filed the I-130 in Denmark then both came to the states a week later (my husband, the immigrant, came on the visa waiver). We both remained here until time for his interview in Denmark (2 months after filing). Of course every POE and every immigration officer is going to be different, but they never even questioned us about why he was here, etc., they only asked how long he would be staying, then stamped his passport and off we went.

Nope, not at all. I contacted the embassy in Denmark several months before I was eligible and they gave me an appointment to file exactly six months to the day

yes, sworn means notarized.

Yes, that qualifies. You only need to show you resided there legally, whether its with permanent residency or a visa. You will apply for an immigrant visa, the IR1/CR1 visa.

Yes, after legally residing in Canada for 6 months, you can file for the spouse visa from Canada.

That doesn't apply to DCF filing.

Didn't you guys miss the $70.

Ok, your time in Canada applies as long as you continually resided there, regardless of when you actually got the legal residency. For example, in my situation, I arrived in Denmark in October 2008 and applied for residency in December 2008. Shortly thereafter we decided we wanted to live in the US instead, so I contacted the embassy. They said my time began when I arrived in Denmark and continued as long as I didn't leave for a substantial period of time, i.e. continually resided there. Based on my arrival in October, they gave me May 2009 as my eligibility date to file the I-130. We filed on May 1, 2009. At the time I filed, I had not yet received my legal residency, it was still being "processed" by Danish immigration. They embassy didn't care as long as I had resided continously in Denmark.

As for the job issue. The best route is for your husband to accept a position with a delayed start date pending approval of the spousal visa. If he can get a letter of employment offer, that can be counted as income for the Affidavit of Support. Since the employment is US based, his offer of employment can be considered for eligibility purposes. At least that was the case in Denmark, you might want to check with the US embassy in Canada on this point.

There is no way to get your husband here to live until he has been approved.

Haha! Well hopefully it works out! Good luck and hope you both reside in the US very soon! On the other side of things, I am dying to visit Italy. We didn't get to while we were living in Denmark (he is from Denmark). My husband loves Italy, he vacationed there every summer growing up.

Yes, the residence permit is enough, but you were also actually residing in Italy. In the above case, they have the residence permit, but are not residing in Italy. The paperwork will ask where they reside, and if they state Italy, they are lying on the paperwork, and if they state the US, they don't qualify for DCF, even if they have an Italian residence permit.

Fair enough, and technically I am sure that is true... but when I called the US Embassy in Rome, they certainly went out of their way to infer that they really didn't care about how long you were in Italy, as long as you had the Permesso di Soggiorno. They actually gave me the impression that they were bored and wanted people to send these things in so that they had something to do...

If you have been legally residing in Mexico for at least 6 months, you file for the spousal visa through the US embassy.

Packet 3, contains the DS 230 form, a checklist of documents you need for your interview and information on getting police certificate, medical, armed forces declaration. After this, then you get packet 4, which is the interview date.

The Permesso di Soggiorno (or Carta di Soggiorno) is sufficient proof of residency to file DCF with the US Embassy in Rome. I called several times to confirm this at the beginning of the year to be 100% sure of this fact.

It actually took approximately 2 months from my filing of the I-130 to have it approved, but I think that was more of an exception than anything else, as they had to wait for my wife's A-Files to arrive from the US. Generally, the waiting time seems to be 1-2 weeks. If you're able to switch over, it might save you a considerable amount of time.

Yes, the residence permit is enough, but you were also actually residing in Italy. In the above case, they have the residence permit, but are not residing in Italy. The paperwork will ask where they reside, and if they state Italy, they are lying on the paperwork, and if they state the US, they don't qualify for DCF, even if they have an Italian residence permit.

I can't imagine why you can't open it, you will want a copy for your records. Ours didn't even come in an enveloped, they just handed it over to my husband at the police station.

I can't vouch for London, but in Denmark, we had to send in Part I and Part II, you just don't sign part II until your interview. We also were required to bring the documents to the interview. Our packet came with specific instructions that told us this though. Did yours not?

Well there seems to be no rhyme or reason to how they handle POE. My husband also came in through Newark from Hamburg in July of this year. He was directed to go through the US Citizen line. Lucky for him, there was no one in line waiting, so he was the very first one (in all my years of travel I have NEVER seen that happen! LOL). Anyways, yep, he went through the US line, not the immigrant line, and his processing took all of about 5 minutes! We expected delays (especially cause he was traveling on July 3rd), so we allowed 5 hours between flights, and it took him 5 minutes to get through....go figure!

Go here: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/in...ng_for_med_exam

Select your embassy and it will give you the forms and a list of the panel physicians for your area. I imagine the physician isn't going to just talk to you over the phone. You are going to need to do a medical anyways, which you can do at anytime during the visa process, so you might as well go ahead and get your medical done and speak to the physician at that time about it, this way you can deal with any issues that might arise.

If you look at the FAQ on their website about medical, it asks questions about violent behavior or having been institutionalizd, and since you don't have either of these, I would imagine it isn't a problem, but that isn't for me to decide... They are probably just going to need something from your treating physician on the bipolar.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/in...#_What_if_the_6

does the marry in belgium also include residing in belgium to file DCF? If so, I HIGHLY recommend DCF

Actually, the USC goes through the Adam Walsh Act check, the immigrant goes through the FBI name check.