biggish data

Expired DS-230 form but no new one available?

Just thought I should update this thread. As I went to print my DS-230 package which I just finished, I thought I should check one last time to see if they have posted an updated form online, and they have. The new one is good for a very long time too, not expiring until 2015, however apparently expired forms are ok too for this form.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-07-19 01:25:00

Expired DS-230 form but no new one available?

I just downloaded the latest DS-230 from the travel.state.gov website. It expired on 6/30/2012 (11 days ago). Anyone know the top-secret location of the updated form?

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-07-12 01:01:00

And for another fun update, I just called NVC to double check again and this time they said to include the originals and 1 copy of each. So there you have it, it's anybody's guess. I think I'll do what this last person at NVC said because she was really nice and friendly.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-07-18 22:47:00

I only made 1 copy oh snap!!

Well, aside from calling NVC and them telling me just the original is what to send, apparently this site already held the answer as well in the popuplar LingChe NVC tutorial, which said either the original or certified copy but not both:

Below are the package contents:

BARCODED Cover Sheet (to be printed from web when your status is PAID online for IV bill)
You OWN cover sheet listing what documents are in the package, so they're easy for the reviewer to locate
Completed DS-230 part I & II and ONLY part I signed by beneficiary.
Photocopy of the beneficiary's passport biographic data page.
Original/certified copy of beneficiary’s birth certificate.
Original/certified copy of beneficiary’s and petitioner’s marriage certificate.
Original police certificates of the beneficiary.
Original/certified copy of military record, if applicable.
Original/certified copy of divorce decree, death certificate, etc. of previous marriage, if applicable.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-07-18 22:39:00

Well, since I didn't succeed at mailing it off today the good news is I was able to call NVC and ask them. They said just the originals and it wouldn't be neccessary to include copies of what I'm already sending. Anybody out there do this without any problems?

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-07-18 10:13:00

Regarding the civil documents with DS-230 (Birth Certificate, etc...) do I send both the original AND a copy? I was under the impression that just the original would suffice but I read those pesky instructions again and it says this:

"Original documents, photocopies, and translations (if required, as explained above) of the following documents must be submitted to the NVC for you and each family member immigrating with you to the United States."

from: http://travel.state..../info_3195.html

Which reads Originals, Copies and, if required, translations.

I feel like it would be bad to include copies if they aren't required as perhaps the person on the other end will see that and stop looking through as if I didn't also send the original, or maybe they will confuse the copy for the original.

So if someone who has already successfully passed this step tell me what they did it would be a huge help.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-07-18 01:38:00

hi, i was just wondering if u called nvc and wat did they say because im in tthe same situation.

I called them a few times. Didn't get consistently the same specific answer each time but I did get the same consistent sentiment that at the end of the day, whatever It was, if I am legitimately domiciled in the US (which I am) they will figure that out anyway. Basically fill the form out how you feel is most accurate.

I ended up going with what I believe was the most accurate answer which was to list my US address as my address of residence and my Indonesian address as my mailing address. Furthermore I attached a written explanation because the instructions said if you write something outside the US for either to do so.

I made sure to address the points regarding the issue in the written explanation. (I'm Indo on a tourist visa, I have no accounts for anything here and all my accounts for everything are in the US, paid state and fed taxes, etc...) of course evidence of all this was attached as well. Who knows how much of this was actually neccessary, but that said better to go the whole 9 yards just in case.

We got our interview date a few days ago.

Make sure you send your DS-230 at the same time as I-864, this was a few week hold up for us as I thought they had to go in order. After they processed the I-864 they sent us a letter saying that they were still missing DS-230 as if we should have sent it at the same time.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-08-08 11:34:00

I guess I could technically just write my US address in the Address of residence spot and leave the Indo address for the mailing address. On the other forms where I had to put my address I've always listed Indo for everything.

I-130 just said "What is your address", I listed Indo. It didn't say "What is your residene"
G-325A said list your last 5 years residence. I included an attachment and showed a dual current residence of Indo and California.

I'll call NVC and ask them if I still need to include an explanation if my Mailing address is Indo with a Residence address as US. Seems perfectly reasonable that I could just write my CA address as my address of residence. Whenever I fill our arrival forms for entering countries or on my Visa applications here I always put US as my country of residence.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-06-09 22:15:00

Yes I put US as country of domicile. I think its pretty solid that the US is my domicile. I just want to avoid not sending enough and then having them ask for more, and also want to avoid sending them a bank statement that isn't neccessary that they may not like. Reality is I have a residence in the US just don't stay there any more. In my explanation to them I wrote "I could have used my US address on the form just as well but since I am spending my time here until we can come to the US together as a family I figured better to use this address because better to mail me here for the time being", or something like that.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-06-08 09:25:00

Anybody? I'm hoping to mail on Monday and Appreciate any advice on the matter.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-06-07 20:05:00

I have to provide an explanation/proof of domicile along with my I-864 as per the instructions because my mailing address is in Indonesia.

Currently I have the following items included:

Written explanation that I am in Indonesia only on a temporary basis
Past 3 years tax returns (2009-2011)
Copy of title to my car (in the US) & Last 3 years through current proof of registration
Passport stamps of all my tourist Visas for Indonesia since I am only here as a tourist and keep getting a new Visa every few months
Last month's Allstate Car Insurance Bill
Last month's AT&T Cell phone bill
Current California Drivers License
Recent Jury Duty Summons from last month (both glad and not glad that I got that)
Last month's 24 Hour Fitness bill/gym membership

So first question is, is this too much stuff?

My second questions is:

Now I can also include copies of my most recent bank statements, but the problem is my bank statement is not impressive. Unfortunately the way my income works is that I make large sums of money but only a few times a year so my cash flow is strange and currently my bank statement is around $5k and shows the previous month's balance of far less than that.

Now my annual income is significant and many times 125% of the minimum poverty line. For 2011 it was 4x, for 2010 it was 3x, for 2009 it was 8x. Just depends on the year but always many times higher than the minimum. Of course all the previous tax returns support this. Frankly my current bank balance is low because I just had to pay my income taxes which sucked and like I said my income is in spurts and in no specific pattern.

So the question is, do I include a copy of the recent bank statement? It seems they like this sort of thing, but then I don't want to make trouble for myself because perhaps they will frown on the balance? Perhaps its a bit strange if I include all this other stuff and no bank statement?

Or am I seriously over thinking this and I should just go with my written explanation along with the past 3 tax returns that are already included & maybe a copy of my California Drivers License?

Edited by furble, 07 June 2012 - 02:18 AM.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-06-07 02:17:00

Medical Examination Questions

So no we have our interview date (I will update my timeline tonight), and next thing is the medical.

For us the 3 doctors we are allowed to choose from are all in Jakarta close to the embassy, and we are in Bali (Different Island).

A few people have just told us to go to Jakarta 1 week before the interview, do the medical, hang out for a week and then do the interview, and maybe hang out a little while longer if the Visa will be ready soon.

Sounds good, but after reading on the instructions I have a few questions about how the medical goes.

Question 1: If everything is honky dory is it all done in one appointment? I read they do a TB skin test, don't you normally need to come back the next day or have someone check the site? Maybe things have changed since I was in elementary school.

Question 2: Do they tell you all of your results or is it a secret in the sealed envelope? And assuming they do tell you, aren't some of the blood work results not instant? Can you just call in a few days and get that info outside of it being sealed in an envelope?

Question 3: Does this plan of just going a week ahead of the interview sound reasonable (since I have to buy plane tickets, and we will be bringing our 1 year old around with us)? Should we go two weeks ahead? My concern is what if something requires follow up, then the 1 week wouldn't be enough. I'm mostly concerned about the TB thing. Although you wouldn't know by looking at her or talking to her, my wife is originally from a small village that's way out there, national geographic style, where nobody even speaks the national language of the country and they all only (generally speaking) speak the village language. Of course my wife speaks 3 languages and even a little french. If for some reason in her youth she got exposed to TB then she might have it latent (let's hope not) and in that case I imagine we might need more than 1 week for the medical? Should I just go get her the skin test locally in Bali before buying plane tix? I guess that would answer that question. She has no idea if she has ever received the BCG vaccine, but she doesn't have the scar from it so probably not.

Question 4: Since we are still breastfeeding, and my own personal view on vaccinations (get them if you need them) I'd like to go get her titered for all that stuff ahead of time to see which if any she already has immunity for. If the titer shows she is immune to stuff from a well known hospital in Bali should that typically be good enough to avoid her getting re-vaccinated for something she is already immune to?

Ok that's it, we appreciate everyone's help, especially if you are from Indonesia!

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-08-09 03:47:00

Clearing up some confusion

Just want to clear up a few questions I have as I want to make sure I'm up to date here:

1. Was I supposed to list our POE (Port-of-Entry) to be somewhere? If so where was that supposed to be. I can't imagine that we were supposed to as they say don't buy tickets until you have the Visa and your POE will depend on the tickets you purchase, yet I see people talking about this in threads all the time here.

2. On the VJ timeline it asked some questions that didn't make any sense to me such as: Date Received I864 Package, and date received Instruction package. We never "received" anything, just got an email asking us to send them the I-864 which I downloaded online. Also what is this instruction package? Was the the case completed letter they emailed us that had our interview date on it?

3. Regarding consulate processing, What are these Packet's 3 & 4? We didn't get anything yet our interview date is tentatively really soon (we are working on a date change). Was I supposed to get something from the embassy/consulate or is this apply only to folks doing DCF? I have read a few posts recently here on VJ about people having problems with Packets 2 or Packet 3 etc... yet we are at the point of being at the Embassy and we haven't gotten any numbered packets.

4. How do you know what date your package left the NVC? I know it just got to the embassy last Friday because I called to check and they said they just got it, and I know it wasn't sent the same day we got the case completed letter.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-03 05:09:00

Medical Photo Size

I'm glad you posted this which has reminded me to update this thread.

I spoke with the embassy in Jakarta and they told me that for the Medical a 3x4 is indicated, so we went with that although we will also have one us a 5x5.

The embassy also told me that the Doctor which requested the 3x4 used to work directly in the embassy however he went off and opened his own business doing the same so sounds like he should know what he is talking about.

I could find no documentation anywhere that specifically states the medical photo size. All the docs say "bring a photo" and that's it. Also to consider is that this may be something that changes depending on the Embassy.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-07 21:32:00

Medical Photo Size

We have 2 doctors we are allowed to choose from in Jakarta (well really 4 but 3 of them all work in the same office so it's more like 2) anyway between the 2 locations we have called and inquired and both have requested different sized photos from us. One said 5x5 (centimeters) and the other said 3x4 (centimeters). So which one is it? And if the Doctor screws this up will it matter at the Embassy?

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-02 22:24:00

Which docs needed for interview?

We are leaving for Jakarta tonight for our upcoming interview. I had planned on bringing everything we have up to the kitchen sink just in case however don't really like the idea of traveling around with every important document that we have.

So I emailed the embassy and they told me specifically that all the docs for my daughter (a US citizen born abroad already has Consular Report of Birth Abroad) are "not neccessary". So of course I would prefer not to travel around with them if they are not neccessary.

Of course also in the Interview instructions letter it says "bring originals for any documents which a copy was supplied". And copies of all of our daughter's docs (Indonesian birth cert & CRBA) were included with the I-130.

So do I trust them and not bring the stuff? We will be bringing our daughter's US Passport.

Also do I need to bring my US birth certificate? It says on our interview letter that it is not neccessary for our case but again a copy of it was provided with I-130 so in that case should I bring the original?

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-09 22:06:00

POE Address Change

Your POE has no bearing on your application or interview.

I would say the great majority of applicants don't even know their POE during their interview.

That is what I thought.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-03 11:05:00

POE Address Change

I wasn't asked about port of entry either. It doesn't matter where you enter the USA, as long as you do. If you mean you want to change your address that you'll be living at the interview, I am not sure how that works.

@Nick1980

Have you or your spouse already entered the US with the Visa?

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-03 04:54:00

POE Address Change

I dont recall ever being asked what would be our port of entry? where did that happen. i gave the address where we will stay on I-130 but that isn't the airport where we will enter the US. They tell you not to buy tickets until you have your visa anyway so how could you know what airport you will cross the border on? that will depend on ticket pricing and availabiliry right? Am I missing something here?

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-03 03:36:00

Filing I-130, proof of bona fide relationship

lol the best thing i have to provide proof of a bondfide relationship is a 1 year old baby that was born to us 9 months after our wedding hehe. and well a trip to singapore with my wife. otherwise in indonesia there is no Joint bank accounts and foreigners are forbidden ( actually illegal ) for them to own a house or property cant even really have a vehicle in my name since im just a temporary resident. so my biggest proof is going to be our son , whom has a CRBA certificate and a passport and a SS card all with my wife as his mother on all of them .

Yea similar situation here. I got joint names on a few things in the U.S. though, nothing impressive. One of them is actually a phone bill though and the phone is a VOIP phone that actually is located in our apartment in Bali, giving us a local U.S. number and phone in Bali. I'd like to think that the folks in the embassy in Jakarta are familiar with the situation in Indonesia. Also, the bottom line is we are married, we have a kid together, and we live together. We have over 5,000+ pictures too which couldn't hurt. You probably do have a joint-prenumpt together so that you wife won't lose all her her property to the goverment as a prize for marrying you but a prenumpt somehow isn't as exciting as a joint utility bill.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2011-12-29 06:52:00

So glad to see the good news on Dr. Punjabi.. I was hoping it'd be painless, and the phone person was his wife in a bad mood (or a permanent bad mood)..

Yea, wife is in a permanent bad mood. Can also verify that.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-11-17 16:09:00

My Fiancee is Indonesian. And in the next few months we expect she will be getting an invitation to the US embassy in Jakarta and will be needing a medical exam.

Have read the entries listed here I still have some questions.

She is shy about having a male doctor examining her private parts. Is this actually done in Jakarta?

Should she get some of the vacinations done before hand? Should she get in touch with one of the docs even before receiving the Embassy appointment date? So as to get any vacinations out of the way in a timely fashion?

Any recommendations ?

I was there with my wife @ Dr. Punjabi's. The whole thing was pretty laid back but professional. He did not look at my wife's private parts and we even asked him if he needed to and he said not neccessary.

I wouldnt worry about the vaccinations before hand. You may end up getting her vaccinated for stuff that he wouldn't have given anyway. Better to just let the Doc decide. I recomend Punjabi.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-11-17 02:57:00

hallo Furble, will you give us the update ??
i have planned to go to Dr. Narain Punjabi for my medical exam
but i have to wait until i get the e-mail from the NVC

Ok here's the scoop on Dr. Narain Punjabi

Had an 8.30am appt but we showed up at 8am and were seen right away anyway since we were the only ones there at the time.
Nice and proper setup, it's a private practice run from the basement of his house. It's a very nice house in a very inpressive neighborhood.
Confirmed he used to do this for the embassy directly but decided to open his own practice which is why he is on the list along with Medikolgia
Apparently when he's not doing this his specialty is he is actually a pediatrician so the sign says above his office door.
He was very nice and very professional. Most everything was done in 5 minutes.
He gave my wife 2 shots (MMR & Chicken Pox I think)
He sent us to a local lab that was a typical lab for the blood draw and x-ray.
He was kind enough to have his personal driver take us there since our taxi had already left. We didn't ask, he offered.
Lab took about 30 minutes and the drive was maybe 10 minutes. We were back at the hotel at maybe 9.30?
Lab said they will deliver the results to him.
Although he originally said to come back the next day for the result he said we could just come back to his house/office at 5.15pm an we did so same day results!

I can't remember the fee breakdown exactly right but here is what I do remember:

We paid him 1,050,000 (like $100) and paid another 180k at the lab for their part.
His fee was 400k or so for the exam and the rest were the two shots.

He made a point to show us the bottles the shots came from so we could see they were still good and from the USA.

I highly recommend him.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-11 09:10:00

hallo Furble, will you give us the update ??
i have planned to go to Dr. Narain Punjabi for my medical exam
but i have to wait until i get the e-mail from the NVC

Will let you know tomorow.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-10 02:17:00

Medikaloka accepts credit card and they will call us when the report is ready for pick up. For Rp 600K at Dr. Punjabi, that's much cheaper for both medical and vaccinations.

Yea I have found Doctor fees can vary greatly here. I hope that 600k turns out to be true, sounds good to me.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-10 01:34:00

I just called Dr. Punjabi's office to ask if we can pay by credit card or should I bring cash. They said must be cash and that it will cost only 600k. I asked "itu semua, sekalian?" and she said yes. So we'll see.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-10 01:16:00

Most likely, Rp 800,000 limitation is for medical check up only, not including vaccination. Our medical appointment is this coming Monday, we will find out how much is the total cost for both medical and vaccination.

Which One are you going to?

They should really ada Medical stuff to the timeline So folks can list which Dr. They went to and how long for the result. This is especially important info for those of us which the embassy is not local.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-08 06:54:00

Yea when we called them they told us 7 business days. Surprised a little (but not too much) that they charged you 1.5+ jt as the list from the Embassy specifically says total charges not to exceed 800k. So I guess that 800k limit thing is not followed.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-05 21:11:00

Wow I feel sorry for your little one. Glad you got it worked out. We are schedule with Dr. Punjabi. I asked about him with the embassy and apparently he used to work in the embassy doing the same thing directly in the embassy but apparently decided to go off on his own as his own business so that sounded good. They said he was cool so maybe just his receptionist was having a bad day or is just kinda rude.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-05 09:54:00

Hi Furble,

I got my examination at Medikaloka, Dr. Gunawan Kosasih, Nice and very friendly Doctor. But He past away 3 months ago. Only 1 time and i got my mecial examination only 4 days.
My Daughter just got her examination 1 week ago with Dr. Indriyati. For so sorry .. i am not recomended ! Long Process , and my daughter should go back there for 3 times, almosr 10 days.

I tried to call Dr. Punjabi before i got mine, the receptionist is not nice, but i heard that some people had nice time in there . But i never had experience there anyway .

My suggestion is ,...

Go to Medikaloka, but try another Doctor, and makesure you get all vaccination in one time visit.

If i am not wrong, they can send the medical examination to your addrress ( i am not sure about this, try to ask them )

Good luck !!
Soevi

If you don't mind me asking, why did your daughter have to go 3 times? Was it just because of the immunizations? We're they not all in stock there or something or did they not want to give her everything all at once? Maybe not good to give all that at one time for a little kid? Feel free to just not answer if you prefer to not share.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-03 19:29:00

Hi Furble,

I got my examination at Medikaloka, Dr. Gunawan Kosasih, Nice and very friendly Doctor. But He past away 3 months ago. Only 1 time and i got my mecial examination only 4 days.
My Daughter just got her examination 1 week ago with Dr. Indriyati. For so sorry .. i am not recomended ! Long Process , and my daughter should go back there for 3 times, almosr 10 days.

I tried to call Dr. Punjabi before i got mine, the receptionist is not nice, but i heard that some people had nice time in there . But i never had experience there anyway .

My suggestion is ,...

Go to Medikaloka, but try another Doctor, and makesure you get all vaccination in one time visit.

If i am not wrong, they can send the medical examination to your addrress ( i am not sure about this, try to ask them )

Good luck !!
Soevi

Looks like we have to do Dr. Punjabi because our interview is supposed to be too soon for Medikologica. The problem is we requested to change the interview date because with the one we were given would cause a problem with my Visa to stay in Indonesia. The embassy was very cool and said they could give us the date we want but they couldn't give me the official word until they recieve our packet from the NVC. With Idul Fitri it took them almost a month to recieve our packet. I called last Friday and they said they just got it that day but didn't email me the new interview date yet. Then the weekend hit and yesterday was labor day. They told me to not buy Plane tix from Bali and not to reserve a hotel till I got the official email on the interview change. Now with the medical and everything we might have to go to Jakarta in as soon as 2 days and we still don't have the email. So looks like Dr. Punjabi is gonna be the winner.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-03 19:11:00

National Visa Center (Dept of State)

I hope I posted this in the right area.

We are given 4 Doctors to choose from for the medical in Jakarta. 3 of them are in the same office (Medikaloka Clinic).

Their names are:

Dr. Narain Punjabi

& From Medikaloka Clinic:

Dr. Retno Asti Werdhani
Dr. Indrayati Handojo
Dr. Hendrik Wiraatmaja

Anyone have any experiences with any of these? The first on the list Dr. Narain Punjabi can get the results within 2 working days however they were extremely rude on the phone.

The receptionist at Medikaloka Clinic was very nice, but said the results would take 7 working days. 7 working days is kind of a problem for us for a barrage of reasons.

So I am hoping someone can tell me something good about Dr. Narain because if it weren't for their 2 day turn time on the results after that rude phone call there is like no way I'd be going there. Maybe the girl that answers the phone just isn't friendly.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-02 22:36:00

Automated System knowledge

So NOA2 was sent to NVC about 11 days ago from California Service Center (so 8 business days). I call the Automated system every now and then and enter my Receipt Number and it always says "We have no record of your case..."

I see a lot of people post on here 2 different dates for when NVC receives their case from USCIS and another date for when they first get a case number which seems to take a little bit longer.

So the question is, does the automated system give me a separate message each for when they both received my case and when they assign a NVC case number, or is there just one automated message only after the case number is assigned? If it is just one automated message that you can only get once you have a case number assigned then how are people differentiating between when they get a case number and when NVC receives their stuff? It would really just be nice to at least know they received our case.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-01-30 02:27:00

Hotel close to Embassy in Jakarta

Alot of cheap motel around jalan jaksa. U can browse on Internet and the
,ace very close to us embassy , kn fact u can take walk from motel to embassy or hotels in japan sabang . Both
Laces are close embassy. Gud luck

I mean hotel in jalan sabang

Thanks!

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-03 11:07:00

Hotel close to Embassy in Jakarta

Any recommendations for a hotel close to the embassy in Jakarta?

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-08-10 00:46:00

US Embassy In Jakarta under attack, interview tomorow

Thanks everyone for your updates and information on this. I apologize for not keeping up with this thread but I was concerned that some protester would read about us and be waiting for us to make an example or something since it was me, my wife and our 1 year old baby together. Wasn't worth the risk all be it far fetched.

Anyway for the update I made an entire post out of it. It's really an incredible story that I wouldn't believe it it didn't happen to me. It's posted here at VJ, here's the link: http://www.visajourn...ks-to-6-months/

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-21 08:01:00

US Embassy In Jakarta under attack, interview tomorow

One thing is for shure, if we even go today we wot be showing up early. As close to exactly on time seems a better idea. The sooner they let us in the gates the better.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-17 21:39:00

US Embassy In Jakarta under attack, interview tomorow

If anybody has any information on this or was interviewed today or yesterday please update this thread regarding the security of going to the embassy. As much as we'd love to do our interview, it ain't that important.

furble

Male

Indonesia

2012-09-17 05:04:00