neonrain

I Just went through this. I checked yes for the SSN on the DS-230. I waited three weeks after arriving and when nothing had happened I just went into the closest SSA office, they check if any action has been taken on your case, if not they process an application right there and the card should arrive in 14 days. They ask you to wait 3 weeks after arriving, can't remember the exact reason but something to do with making sure your on the system at least. Once the greencard has arrived you're basically good to go.

It is true that nothing can be done without this number. Most online job applications will not let you proceed because you can't fill in one field, no bank accounts, no drivers license. Not much of anything really. So I've been really frustrated for the last few weeks but the thing should be on its way.

The officer at the SSA who helped me said that she has been noticing lately that immigrants who do check the DS-230, are seeing no action on the case and she feels the option should be taken off of the form, since it makes no difference any way. If I had known I would have checked no and done the job myself anyway.

We did DCF to apply for the green card and I finally arrived just over three weeks ago. When I filed, I checked yes on the DS-230 form, saying I wanted a SSN.

My green card arrived about 5 days ago, three weeks after arriving. Still no SSN though and after looking over their website, which says the wait three weeks after arriving before calling the 1-800 number. Called them yesterday, which wasn't very helpfull, and was told there was no way they could help me, I must go to the local SSA office.

So I went today with all of the relevant documents. I was told that I shouldn't have checked yes on the DS-230 because Immigration does not make it a priority and I could be waiting for like 3 months for a number. When he chcked on the computer, my application hadn't been processed yet. The official was worried that if he processed my application now, I'd end up with 2 SSN's at some point in the future. He suggested we wait another week and see if anything changes.

What should I do? Who is at fault here because no one else on this board seems to have had this problem. Why would the SSA website say that waiting 3 weeks before calling is good, but the guy at the local office thinks it'll take months?

I'm having trouble applying for jobs without the number among other things. Can't get a driver's license either because of it so I'm stuck and going crazy!

Any advice would be great, even if it's a number I should call and sit on hold again for half an hour.

Thanks so much for your help!

So I don't have my SSN yet because I've only just arrived a week ago. My husband is filing his tax return, which isn't an issue EXCEPT that we don't know which box to check.

He wasn't single last year even though we weren't living in the USA, so I hadn't entered yet, so I don't need to file.

If we check any of the other boxes, I need to enter my SSN which I can't push for untill I've been here 3 weeks. I can't even get an ITIN without a SSN.

Any hints? Any one have a suggestion?

Thanks a bunch in advance

Embassy in Seoul also needs you to file in person. We took all 4 g325a forms but they only took one each from both of us. The (harrassed-looking) official actually looked a little annoyed but what can I say? The instructions are so vague at that stage.

For #20 I put the full addresses, even though it comes out so tiny you can hardly read it.

For #23 I just put the City and province(state) that the school is in.

No one complained about my papers.

My DCF process has just ended with getting my passport back in my hands (in record time I think). When we started, it was overwhelming and it was hard for me to find information about doing it in Seoul. So i thought I'd leave an account so that others might be helped by my experience.

We started, of course, by filing the I-130 petition with the embassy. You need to send a request for an appointment to go and submit the documents by email. Their website is quite helpful. The appointments are usually only for 9:30, but we arrived at 9:00 so we were close to the front of the queue. As well as the I-130 forms being filled out, you need the biographical information form for BOTH people and photo's for both (they don't mention this on their website or in the appointment email). They do allow the beneficiary to go with the petitioner into the embassy but you don't have to. Also remember all your marriage certificates etc, but that information is in the email. It took 47 days to be processed and we were approved and received e-packet 3.5 by email.

I immediately filled out the DS230 part one and faxed it to the embassy, sending an email to confirm that they received it. Because I am a foreigner in Korea (not Korean) gathering my documents was a little hard. I had already ordered my Police Check and Full birth certificate from South Africa before approval because I know those take a long time. I'd suggest starting to gather your documents as soon as you have submitted the I130. The Korean Police Check is quite simple to get, you just need your (korean) alien registration number and they print out the paper for you. It's not very fancy to look at. It's free and they should put a red stamp on it. They didn't with mine and the embassy wasn't too pleased with me but they let it slide. I'd suggest pressing the police station for the red stamp (it's the official police stamp, so nothing too rare) because the embassy doesn't really specify that they need it, but of course they really do.

Because our visa's were going to expire in about 3 months from approval, we scheduled our interview before I had all of my documents in hand. This is not really a good idea because the embassy won't be helpfull if you ask to move the appointment or don't have your documents. We did it because we needed to get an appointment date (they're usually only available a month in advance) before we had to leave Korea. Fortunately it all worked out very well. I received my appointment email 2 days after sending the request.

For the medical, I went to St Mary's Hospital in Yeouido. It is easy to find if your an out of towner, the staff are very helpful on the phone and in the clinic. I had to go on a Saturday because we had to come in from out of town and I work on week days. This way, they can only do all the tests, blood work and vaccinations on the saturday. I had to go back on a weekday to receive the results and meet with the panel physician. The saturday medical things took about 2 hours and the panel physician meeting was about an hour and a half frm arriving until they handed me the envelopes.

The courier slip is available at the embassy, we used Hanjin because I have used them before, and they ask to be paid on receipt.

On the day, all interviews are scheduled for 8:30am. They allow the petitioner to attend the appointment. We arrived at 8am and went right in, of course showing the appointment email to get in (they take your cellphone, like most other embassies I'm sure). You need to go up to the third floor and take a number. Then we waited and they only opened officially at 8:30. When they called our number we went to the window to hand over our documents. Make sure the documents are in the order of the checklist given in packet 3.5. I had mine all nicely arranged in plastic sleeves, but took them out since they didn't need them. So advice would be to simply have them in the correct order, copies of everything paper clipped to originals. The consular worker will go through it, check things and give back the originals. Then asked to take a seat and wait for fingerprinting. I was called a little while later and they took all my fingerprints. The fingerprint guy was quite friendly and funny. Then some more waiting. I was called up a little later and asked to go to the cashier to pay the fee. They accept dollars, credit cards or won. At the moment, the exchange rate is terrible and in the embassy it's even worse so we just paid with my husbands US card. Then some more waiting. We waited for quite a while then. Our file probably took longer to go through because our circumstance is a little different (I suppose). The other couples, the husband was involved with the military, and we are not, we are english teachers. We also had a joint sponsor affidavit of support, so I'm sure there was a little more to look at. At the time, waiting, I was sure they were in some way discriminating against me as a non-korean or something, but I was just being paranoid haha.

I was called up to the window for the interview. My husband came with me but was asked to stand a few steps back, but we were expecting that (I warned him on pain of death, no to speak unless spoken to). I swore the oath, then the man asked some questions: How long had we been married? Where and when did we meet? Where did we get married? Why in South Africa? Have I been to the USA before? Where will we live when we go to the US? When do we plan to go? and Do I enjoy teaching in Korea? (that one was random, probably trying to make some sort of small talk) then he said well, your visa is approved, it will be couriered to be within 5 days. I was also told that my chest x-ray had to go with me to US and be handed in at immigration along with the heavy brown mystery envelope. We walked out at 10:20.

I recieved my passport and the envelope and instruction paper (they really say "congratulations for getting your visa" on the info sheet haha) today by courier, only 2 days after the interview. I am most impressed by how efficient they were.

So there it is. Our DCF took 104 days from filing I-130 to visa in hand. Not too bad I must say. Apparently seoul can be quicker, they said they were behind with their I-130 processing at the time. So if you're going through Seoul, you should have a smooth and easy ride.

Congratulations! I know how you feel about needing something else to stress about. Mine was approved yesterday and on the way home from the embassy my husband kept asking me why I seemed so bummed out. I really felt at a bit of a loss. After having this stuff at the back of my mind for months (even though our experience was mercifully short) I felt a little blank yesterday. But today I feel great and a little bit strange... can't believe I'll be an immigrant soon haha!

Not sure about the layover thing, I'm super paranoid so we just booked flights with a 7 hour layover in JFK. I don't like to tempt fate. My husband was a little put off that I insisted on the longer layover, he just likes to get the traveling over with, but maybe he knows better than to trifle with an emotional woman.

We were approved without too much fuss and bother . My passport will be back in my hands within 5 days.

Thanks everyone who offered me advice when I needed it.

I'll post a detailed account of the process here in Korea a little later. Right now I must get through the work day.

If all goes well on 15th December, ours will have taken just over 3 months here in South Korea.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

neonrain, I'd be happy to wait but our interview is Friday! woohoo!

Ooo ooh best of luck then haha! I suppose you can then tell me what they accept and don't accept. Starting to have sleepless nights myself and I still have 10 days to wait

I understood that you should put the petitioners current address. So for us DCF folks, that means the petitioner's address should be in the country which you are living in, and not the US one.

I mean that is the address where you reside right now? I could stand to be corrected as I am in the middle of this process but that was the advice given to me by other VJers and it makes perfect sense to me.

You can wait 2 weeks until I go for my interview and I'll tell you what they say

I haven't actually gone through it yet, but the instructions from the Seoul Embassy were to fax part 1 asap which I did, and then to complete part 2 and bring it along to the interview.

From what I've read on this forum, you have to sign part 2 (like the bottom half of the second page of part 2) in the presence of the consular official (it does state on the bottom half, not to complete it yet).

Just my 2 cents, maybe some one has more specific advice for your embassy.

MargotDarko, Thank you so much for your clear advice. You are an absolute star, you have always answered when i have posted questions on this forum and you replies have always been so helpful. I hope i can be of similar use to people in the future.

IamGodsProperty, thanks for the congrats, feels like I'm reaching the end of a marathon, like there will be a crowd cheering me on to the finish line on the morning of the 15th. EEEEk it's really close.

Thanks for all the help given. I think I was most freaked out in the beginning because I couldn't find people going through the same thing as me (a foreigner doing DCF in South Korea) but everyone here has been most encouraging. I will post a nice long account of my experience so anyone in the future who's in my position will get a little bit of information.

I'm off to complete my documents and practice my "Please approve my visa, I'm a benefit to society" face.

Well we have our interview in just under 20 days time, much excitement and nerves on this side but I must admit the trials of the medical examination were more stressful for me. At least no one is going to stick needles in me at the interview.

We have pretty much everything ready, as well as all the papers and affidavit from our joint sponsor. We're now filling out my husbands affidavit of support and it's a little bit confusing (no wonder his poor mom was stressing about it). Would be most grateful if any one could help out.

So since we are both living and working here in Korea and obviously that income will cease when we leave in 2 months, that's why we needed the joint sponsor.

here are my questions

Question 23 and 24: They ask for sponsors annual income. I assume we put down what the annual income is at this job right now.

24 asks for income of anyone in the household being counted. Do we put my income in there? (as I am the immigrant AND that income will not continue when I leave Korea, I assumed we'd leave it off, very confused)

Question 25: Tax returns: My husband has his tax returns from last year 2007, but of course it was all foreign earned income so what do we put there? Is it the gross income or is it $0?

Secondly, he filed in 2006 but was a student in 2005 and so did not have to file (since was not earning) so I assume it's ok to put $0 for 2005?

Question 26: assets: Ok so we/my husband have a small amount saved in the US at the moment. If we input this do we need to have proof and what kind of proof would they accept?

Question 28: My assets: I don't have much but I do have a sum saved in my Korean account. Should I put this in? again, what proof would I need? In korea you have a "bank book" where every transaction on your account is printed in it with the total balance etc, would that do?

(if most of these questions are redundant because we won't be earning this income when we leave korea, please say so)

Finally: There doesn't seem to be a place to state that we are using a joint=sponsor? Did I miss this question? Does my husband need to write a sign letter stating this or something?

Most confusing form ever - my final opinion.

Ok Domicile: We have bank statements etc with my husbands name and the address at which we will be living. We have a signed statement from his mom (who we will be living with in the beginning) stating as much. The issue I am concerned about is, my husband will be working as a teacher. To do this he has to apply to the state licensure board, BUT may only do so from the 1 March 2009. And only after that can he seriously start applying for actual jobs. So right now he doesn't have any solid proof of what he will be doing next year, what should we do? He needed to send fingerprints for a background check a month or two ago (to the education department) and we have the piece of paper that was with that, so technically that's the only proof of the first step we took towards his future employment. Perhaps if he wrote a statement and signed it?

One more question: do we need a letter from our current boss attesting to our current income? or current employment rather?

Phew! Thanks to those who read this whole ramble and any one with some advice. We are so close to the end and I want things to go as smoothly as possible.

I need to get a Korean Police clearance certificate for the time I've been here and they only come in Korean, which means it needs to be translated.

Who can i ask to do this for me? I work at an english school so i have a Korean co-worker who is proficient in both languages. Can I ask her to do it for me? Or do i need someone official or professional?

If she can do it for me, how should it be done and what do we need to attach to show that she is proficient in both languages?

Thanks, but the info from the embassy isn't too clear.

Thanks again, your advice is golden.

Did she send the I-864 with the "only joint sponsor" box ticked? If so, that's correct.

I'll send her an email to make sure. Thanks

Thanks a bunch!

My husband is the USC. He will not be able to sufficiently fullfill the requirements of the Affidavit of support so his mom, who we will be living with, is going to be our joint sponsor. Since we need to have all her forms sent over, I want to make sure we give her the right instructions.

What would my husband have to fill out as the sponsor and what would his mom have to fill out as the joint sponsor? The fields on the I-864A about sponsor vs. household member were particularly confusing. Do they both need to fill out both forms?

Thanks again, I think I'm nearly done with the questions.

I am filling out my forms, trying to be diligent and use time efficiently so I'll ask this question now.

Part 2 of the DS-230 form question 29 asks "Name and Address of Petitioner". My husband is here is Korea with me, so do we fill in his current address or his address back in the states?

I just want to make sure everything is filled out perfectly. Thanks

Yay! I got the petition approved and E-packet 3.5 email today! What a happy day. Now we need to get our documents in order. My husbands mom is going to be our co-sponsor for the affidavit or support and she sent us a completed set of forms but I think it's the wrong form I'll worry about that later today, right now I'm going to enjoy "not stressing" for the first time in 2 months!!!

Venting - Well it's been a month. I put it out of my mind for a month. Then I got my husband to send another email to the embassy politely asking how far they were.

Just heard back that now they are 40 days behind, they would review my petition soon. Trying to work out now, is that 40 working days or 40 days total. Either I hear from them next week or I hear from them at the end of the month.

I was really hoping to have positive news by now, but it seems like nothing is happening. It doesn't even feel like a process, as in moving forward in some way. Just stuck waiting.

Ok back to the status quo - spending my days trying not to think and obsess about it.

Hmmm nobody in Seoul? I was so so hoping. I know I'm not alone, the queue at the embassy was enough evidence.

Hmmm, well more expensive wouldn't be great, I'm just not good with needles. So are we talking a lot of vaccinations or is it a reasonable amount? I suppose this should be the least of my worries.

(the annoying thing is I vividly remember suffering through chickenpox and ESPECIALLY the mumps).

I'll see if I can get the titer test done easily here or if just waiting for the exam will be more economical. Thanks