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mlybrand

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    Sending I-130 Packet tomorrow, i need advice

    in IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures

    Posted

    Well here is my cover letter, which list everything that i have in my packet. Let me know if, that is good enough, or if im missing anything.

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

    September 1, 2009

    USCIS

    P.O. Box 804616

    Chicago, IL 60680-4107

    Subject: I-130 Petition for my spouse name

    Dear Sir/Madam:

    I, name, a citizen of the United States, would like to file a petition I-130 for my spouse, name

    Please find enclosed the following required and supporting documents:

    1. Completed and signed form I-130

    2. Money Order for I-130 filing fee

    3. Completed and signed form G-325A and photograph (petitioner)

    4. Completed and signed form G-325A and photograph (beneficiary)

    5. Copy of my naturalization certificate to prove U.S citizenship

    6. Copy of my U.S Passport to prove U.S Citizenship

    7. Copy of our marriage certificate with English translation

    8. Copy of beneficiary’s birth certificate with English translation

    9. Six (6) pieces of pictures as evidence of Bonafide Marriage

    10. Two (2) Affidavits sworn by third party and spouse having personal knowledge of our marriage as evidence of Bonofide Marriage

    11. Beneficiary’s Passport & I.D.

    12. Phone call records as evidence of Bonofide Marriage

    Copies of documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an immigration or consular officer at a later date.

    I kindly request you to process the above petition and to provide the receipt notice as soon as possible.

    If you have any questions or concerns on the above matter, please do not hesitate to contact me at number, or at my address below.

    Thank you,

    name

    SSN: number

    address

    ------

    Okay, here are a few questions that i ahve:

    1. I just separated each document with post-it stickers and labeled them, and have multiple ducuments with binder clips. Is that good enough, or should i use one huge binder clip to hold everything together?

    2. I'm only sending the two only passport photos i have for me and my wife, but when i wrote down our names and birth dates on the back, it kinda of shows a little in the front. Will that matter at all? bc i do not have any more.

    3. who do i make the money order to? and what do i write down on the outside of the packet, should i include my name and address?

    4. Im only sending one copy of the g325a for me and my wife, or do i need to make 4 copies if the one paper for me and my wife?

    Please help me out. I want to get this over with tomorrow. Thanks!!

    Here a some instructions:

    http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

    And here are more:

    http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-130instr.pdf

    It looks like you are good to go. Nowhere does it say that you have to send passport and id of your true love, but I don't think it could hurt. In the PDF it says exactly who to make it out to:

    'Make the check or money order payable to U.S. Department of Homeland Security'

    it further says:

    'NOTE: Please spell out U.S. Department of Homeland Security; do not use the initials "USDHS" or "DHS."'

    Hope that helps. Others will surely opine after me...

    Mark :)

    DOCS ASKED BY THE EMBASSY IN PERU.

    in Mexico, Latin & South America

    Posted

    does anyone know how long these documents are good for? i just got my NOA1 but i want to be ahead of schedule and get this done early. If, for example, I get these now and send them with the IV packet 6 months from now, will they still be honored?

    It would probably be best to get it as close to the time of the interview as possible. Even if it is still valid you don't want to give the officer at the embassy any reason at all to question or deny it.

    Hey NJ,

    My wife and I were also going to get these after taking care of everything else, but I was planning on asking the consulate directly, as they have answered my questions pretty quick in the past. I am assuming they have some experience with these docs. I will let you know.

    In any event, I am willing to bet that getting them at the NOA2 stage or thereabouts is probably pretty good.

    I will post my consulate answer here when I get it...

    Mark :)

    Registration of US Marriage W/ Brazilian Consulate

    in Mexico, Latin & South America

    Posted

    Thanks, JoeyJoye -

    Mississippi used to fall under the jurisdiction of Miami.

    We now "belong" to Atlanta, which opened about 2 months ago.

    Appreciate your experiences with the other Consulates around the USA -

    So you didn't get any certification other than the notary stamp?

    I'm asking before I fire off another email to the Atlanta Consulate, trying to keep this from escalating

    into a Pi$$ing contest which I'm sure to lose ^_^

    If anyone has gotten a County Clerk Certification did they just "Certify" the notary?

    I didn't specifically have to get a "certificate of singleness," even though Peru also requires this document. The reasoning in the municipality where we got married was that I was divorced, so I was not considered single. This turned out to be lucky as we in the US have a "divorce certificate" issued by the county :) My experience was with other affidavits. Advice that I read of others who needed to certify their singleness was to sign an affidavit and notarize it. I know that the Peruvian consulate requires further certification for the notary stamp, which as I pointed out is done by the secretary of state here in WA. The other affs I did were done this way and the consulate legalized/certified them without issue. But I would call the consulate and check to see if this is what they really want from you. So in direct answer to your question to me: I needed the notary stamp, followed by the secretary of state of the state of Washington certifying the notary. That made them happy. (Of course the municipality in Peru wanted the consular legalization of the secretary of state, followed by the Ministry of Foreign Relations certification of the consular legalization, but I am not sure if you have to go that far). The process was similar in Colombia.

    If they are being this resistant, have you ever considered that they are simply trying to get you to be a little nicer to them ;)

    Good luck.

    Mark :)

    Registration of US Marriage W/ Brazilian Consulate

    in Mexico, Latin & South America

    Posted

    You do not have to get it certified only by the County Clerk. Any Notary can notarize your signature. The Notary's job is to swear that the signature made befroe them is yours. They are not swearing that all the info in the document or statement is true! They won't be trying to determine if you married a Brazilian before.

    We did this here in Houston and it was no problem. We took our marriage certificate to the Brazilian Consulate. They translated and notarized the document for us. Next, we took it with us to Brazil to a Cartario. They entered the information into the official records. Eventually, they gave us a Brazilian marrriage certificate to match the US marriage certificate. You are now officially married in both countries. We did not have this issue of proving that we were never married to another Brazilian. Think you just landed in front of a trainee!

    Try this:

    1. Get the affidavit notarized.

    2. Have the county clerk certify the notary stamp.

    Here in Washington state, I got affidavits notarized for Peru and had the Secretary of State's office "certify" the notary stamp (secretary of state will also know whether Brazil was the certification (like Peru does) or an apostille (like Colombia does). It will also depend on who the notaries are licensed by in Georgia. In WA they are licensed by the state, so I wouldn't even involve the county. Try that and see if the consulate will accept.

    Keep in mind that I know nothing about Brazil and am basing my answer on my experience with Colombia and Peru.

    Mark :)

    AUGUST I-130 PETITIONS!!

    in IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    Hey Finn, the online USCIS doesn't show much info (pretty much just confirmation of the receipt). How did you find out about the touches? Do those come in email alerts, or will it make more sense at the site once I get one?

    Mark

    Let me...re-log back into my USCIS and I'll be able to tell you.

    When you log in, you'll be able to see the files that you've currently filed in your profile.

    Look under

    Last Updated

    (mm/dd/yyyy)

    Receipt Number; WAC----------

    E-mail; Y

    Last Updated

    07/15/2009

    I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN

    So, here is my example. When they got my petition, the Last Updated said 03/18/2009. And whenever we got ''touched'', the date changed to say...05/23/2009. And when we got approved, it changed to 07/15/2009. So a touch is whenever the date under Last Updated changes.

    Hope that helps.

    If that's the case, I have been touched at least once, since that date is 08/31 on both cases.

    AUGUST I-130 PETITIONS!!

    in IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    Oh lord did anyone write on the back of the passport photo with pen? OMG i am freaking out i wrote on them with pen because the pencil did not work :( someone just told me i might get RFE for new pictures :crying::crying:

    I used a Sharpie on the back of mine. The instructions state to use pencil or felt pen (which I intrepreted a Sharpie as being) to mark them lightly. What kind of pen did you use? Could it be interpreted as "felt pen"? You might be okay. Probably best not to stress unless you get an RFE. I have an extra photo of my wife and I can get ones of me same day, so I would just provide if I got an RFE. Maybe you could proactively score another photo of your hubby just in case (you can always carry it around with you if you don't need it... I always like having photos of my wife with me :)

    AUGUST I-130 PETITIONS!!

    in IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    So, still no canceled checks... But I go to my mailbox and what do I find??? Two envelopes from USCIS. YIPPPEEEE!!! Bucking all the trends, I get my hardcopy NOA1s first. Rec'd 08/24, Notice Date 08/28 on both and their numbers are sequential, so I have greater hope that my wife and my stepson won't get separated in the system.

    Yay!! Snoopy Dance! Snoopy Dance!

    Now, I will send my positive thoughts out to the rest of the August crowd.

    Mark :)

    PS. I will update my timeline after my run. Gonna be the easiest 6 miles in weeks :)

    AUGUST I-130 PETITIONS!!

    in IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    Ok ppl anything new today? :blush:

    Not for me yet (despite my looking every half hour).

    all my checks Friday-Monday will not update until midnight :blush: so i guess i have to wait for my mail man who normally shows up around 3 or 4pm :angry:

    Yeah. I wasn't really expecting anything to process until after work tonight, but a guy can dream.

    I have even less faith in seeing a hard copy in the mail, though, if others' experiences can be applied to our own...

    <sigh>

    AUGUST I-130 PETITIONS!!

    in IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    I'm losing my hair over this stupid cancelled check :wacko::bonk: I AM BORED!! :wacko: I spoke to my hubby about 4 times already today he's like "oh god baby your name is the only one in my call log for the past day and a half take it easy stop stressing about that receipt number" :lol::lol::rofl:

    Luckily for me some sideline work turned up and that kept me a little occupied today (translation into Spanish and voiceover recording for something some drug company is putting together... I hope they like Colombian-Peruvian accents :)

    Now I can go back to joining MsSheka on our stressing. Netflix did come through and I have Punisher War Zone and Fun with ####### and Jane on the docket. Those should be okay.

    Green Card is in the queue (position #1) but the Proposal doesn't even have a release date (but it is in the "saved" queue regardless).

    Mark :)

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