biggish data

Where do I start?

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, we dont plan on moving to the US right now. But I travel there several times a year and would like to take her with me for a week or two so she can meet my family and so she can see my country. She was denied the tourist visa because she couldent demonstrate that she had sufficient ties to her country. They want hard evidence that she would return. We spent months collecting documents to prove this, and they never bothered to look at anything we provided. I consulted an immigration lawyer and was told that since we are now married, her chances of obtaining a tourist visa are zero. They seem to think if she got to the States she would never leave. He also told me that the Tourist Visa process is seriously "broken". After helping her apply 3 times and wasting the money, I agree 100%.

We may desire to move to the States sometime in the next few years so I decided it would be best to get the process started. I just hope I can do it while i am living here.

Thanks, I will keep reading this forum.
Bill

Edited by Wildbill, 22 June 2009 - 02:12 PM.

Wildbill

Male

2009-06-22 14:10:00

Where do I start?

Hi, I've heard great things about this place and scanning it over, I must say I am impressed! This looks like a great place to get advice and help with immigration visas to the US.

I'm sure this topic has been discussed many times here, but I can't easily find the answers i seek. Could someone point me in the right direction please?

I am an American citizen living and working in Ecuador. I married an Ecuadorian woman in March of this year. She has been denied a tourist visa 3 times over the last 4 years, twice before we were married and once last week. We are now ready to move on to an Immigration Visa. I talked to some lawyers to help me get started and they want $300-$400 just to discuss my case. I would rather do it myself if possible. I need to decide which visa she should attempt to obtain...where do i start?

Bill

Wildbill

Male

2009-06-21 22:49:00

Just a Visit - Couldn't find the answer

Hi,

Forget about a tourist visa for her...... as my lawyer put it...."The visitor visa process is simply broken. She could recieve a tourist visa only if you believe in and receive a miracle".

Your residency or working here wont make any difference either, I have been living in Guayaquil with residency, and working for the same major company for 6 years.

I am in the same boat as you, I have a great job here and have no desire to move back at this point, I just want to introduce my wife to my family and show her a few sights in my country. She has apllied for, and been denied a tourist visa 3 times. Now I understand that once you are married, they assume you want to go visit and stay and nothing you can provide will convince them otherwise. Each time she went in for an interview, we provided tons of documents proving we both have significant "ties" to this country.....they never even opened her folder. After her last interview I decided it was time for her apply for an immigration visa just so we could make a 2-week trip, but now I understand that you have to prove you plan on living in the U.S. before it will be considered.

So, I guess we wait until we are ready to move there someday and then start the application process, I go and work there, she stays here. What a screwed up system! I have been drafting up a letter to Obama about immigration reform, I'll let you know if he responds.

If you are in Guayaquil. we should go out for a drink....I feel better knowing that I'm not alone now!

Wildbill

Male

2009-06-23 00:51:00

Immigraton lawyer, or not

Thanks for your responses! My wife has tried to get a tourist visa three times while I waited outside watching people come out, so I have a pretty good idea of how the consulate treats people. Its really kind of sad and is certainly changing the way people in this country think about Americans. The consulate has actually surprised me with a few personal e-mail responses, but most of the time its just fill-in-the-blank form letters. It really sucks that my wife has no chance of getting a tourist visa because we are married and we can't apply for an immigration visa until we are ready to immigrate. I would love to take her on a short vacation to meet her new family and to show her a few of the things that make the U.S. great. Such is life, at least I am lucky enough to have a good job here for now and we can be together here. Someday I will be writing about how I havent seen her for 6 months like others on here, while we apply for her visa.

Wildbill

Male

2009-06-26 00:28:00

Immigraton lawyer, or not

Hi,

I have one more quick question for you experts that have been through all this and were successful. My wife and I are still happily living in Ecuador, but may consider applying for a Visa for her someday in the near future. I am wondering if most of you have used an Immigration Attorney or have just done it all on your own? If we do decide to use an Attorney, can anyone tell me more or less what it will cost? I just got a quote of around $5000.00. That sounds kind of high to me, but I really have no idea.

Thanks!!!!

Wildbill

Male

2009-06-23 22:26:00

Once a visa is acquired, do you have to immigrate immediatly?

Thanks for the answers, you guys are the best!

I think we will go ahead and start the application for the CR-1. It is obviously going to take 6 months to a year to obtain the visa and then she will have an extra 6 months to make the move. That sounds pretty much like the timetable we have in mind.

Wildbill

Male

2009-07-09 09:23:00

Once a visa is acquired, do you have to immigrate immediatly?

Hi,
I am just wondering how much time a person has to immigrate once a visa is obtained? If the visa is aquired and the person doesnt immigrate right away, do they lose the visa? And if so, would the person have to start the process over again if they later decided they were ready to immigrate?

This question probably sounds stupid but I ask this because we live in Ecuador and dont plan on moving soon, but would like to get started on the paperwork so that when we do decide to move, we wont have to start the process and be seperated. It would be best if the visa was approved and we could move at our leisure.

One other question, if a green card is acquired, what amount of time can be spent each year outside of the US? I ask this because if we go ahead and start the process and she is approved for a visa and she needs to move to the States so she dosent lose it, how much time could she spend here in Ecuador with me? I am a US citizen but am working here right now.

Thanks!

Wildbill

Male

2009-07-08 16:08:00

X-Ray-Guayaquil

We didnt even take it with us and were never asked for it even though lots of other people were carrying theirs. It wont fit under the window any way so no, you dont need to take it. Funny thing is that the doctor told my wife she needed to take it to the POE.

Wildbill

Male

2009-12-02 19:39:00

Guayaquil Consulate - Translations?

We just had our interview on Dec. 2nd and my wife was approved. We had everything that was in Spanish (except the police record) translated but none of it was certified. The translator just wrote Translated By:her name and then signed it. They DID keep the tranlsations of her birth certificate and our marriage certificate. We also had letters from friends here in Ecuador and my employer, etc. All of which we had translated, but they gave them all back.

I would say for SURE get both the Birth Certificate and the Marriage Certificate tranlsated because they are hand written and difficult to read. I wouldent worry about the Police Record unless it says more than NO REGISTRA ANTECEDENTES ON IT.

I know there are cheap notaries here in the city who will notarize translations while you wait. I can get you some info if you want, just let me know.

Good Luck!

Wildbill

Male

2009-12-04 19:59:00

I was just wondering if you are sure the blue paper is a denial. This is from some other link here:

"A white paper and a blue paper given to you after your interview are just the same. They are both checklists of the lacking documents you have to submit. The difference is that the white paper contains the Consul's signature, while the blue paper is where you will fill up your basic information.

I was given both and got my visa 3 working days after submitting the required document.

Tell your fiance to follow-up on your case and call the embassy at least 2x a week."

Maybe you said you were sure and I missed it, if so sorry. I am really sorry to hear you are having problems I know how frustrating it is in Guayaquil. Good Luck!

Wildbill

Male

2010-03-16 19:51:00

Guayaquil Consulate in the news.......T-bone will like this one

http://www.nytimes.c...n/12family.html

Wildbill

Male

2010-02-12 18:42:00

Wow, Que Juevada!!!!

I'm very sorry to hear your interview didnt go as smooth as ours. I'm very surprised that they said "maybe" and wouldnt give you any reasons. That seems very strange to me. Also, they didnt ask for the the I-864 affidavit of support during the interview?.....(you say I-134)? Hopefully you meant the I-864????????? Did they take the evidence of support such as your taxes, paystubs, letters from employers etc?

The good thing is that they kept your passport and had you fill out the DHL paperwork, I hope that means that they will send it back with an approved visa inside.

Keep us posted, we will keep our dedos crossed that you will get it back next week approved! And yes that angry blonde woman needs to get out and have a beer with the locals to hear how everyone else speaks...She dosent even try..........I heard her yelling at people who couldent understand her spanish and felt sorry for them.

Saludos,

Wildbill

Male

2009-12-19 21:09:00

VISA APPROVED!!!!!

Our jouney ended this morning whith the American Consulate officer in Guayaquil telling us my wifes visa is approved and good luck with our new life in America.

Although the Consulate says they dont offer DCF, I am now pretty sure thats what we did. We both live in Guayaquil so they let us do everything with them and we personally sent nothing to the States. The process was fairly quick and painless and we are both very happy and grateful to everyone who posted information here. We went into the interview very confident that we were over-prepared and that is only because of everyones post. A special thanks to T-bone for all the good advice.

We made the appointment about two weeks ago after receiveing a letter via DHL, from the consulate which said we could download packet 4 and then make an appointment. Just for kicks I had my wife ask if I could accompany her to the interview and they said no. Anyway, we showed up at the consulate at 8:30 and we were led upstairs to the American Citizen services waiting room, it was packed with people and I'm sure we were up there because the two other waiting rooms downstairs were also full. We waited about an hour and heard our name over the speaker system. We went down to booth 4, one of the 4 small interview booths which are seperated from the Consulate officer by a piece of glass. The women behind the glass asked us to pass eveything under the window. She went through our mountain of paperwork and picked out everything she wanted and returned the rest to us. She then asked my wife to swear and then sign the 2nd page of her DS-230. She then asked about 20 questions, mostly basic questions such as where we met, how we met, how long had we been together, a little about our first date, some questions about our wedding etc. Then she looked through our pictures and asked some questions about some of them. She then told us to go pay the 400 dollar fee and return. She then asked a few more basic questions and then told my wife to go get her fingerpints taken and return to the seats until her name was called again. They called us back to booth 4 and asked one final question, "why had we decided to immigrate right now". (I have been living here in Guayaquil for more than 6 years.) We then sat down again for 20 minutes or so and they called us to booth 1 where an American women had us raise our right hands and swear to tell the truth, she then asked 2 or 3 more questions and then told my wife she was approved.

I think maybe some positive changes have been made at the Guayaquil Consulate recently. The people that we dealt with were nice, courtious, and proffesional. We didnt experience any of the problems that we read about here. My advice to anyone who will be dealing with them is to read all the Guayaquil Posts here on this site, make sure both of you are at the interview, and give them everything they ask for and then about a ton of extra things. We swamped them with letters of recommendation, affidavits, letters, pictures, accounts in both of our names, bills in both of our names, contracts, even a book I wrote which mentions my girlfriend in it. They looked at EVERYTHING! Oh, and have your wife bring a jacket, they keep the waiting area nice and cool.

Thanks again to everyone for all your advice! We never could have done it ourselves without this website!

Wildbill

Male

2009-12-02 19:33:00

I want to see this thread keep going and hear of other peoples experiences in Guayaquil since we just started the journey!

My Ecuadorian wife and I turned in her I-130 application last week. We brought tons of information, affidavits, pictures, and letters with us to the first interview.

We waited until my name was called and went to the small window together. An Ecuadorian women went through the folder and picked out the I-130 Application, the two G325A's, our original marriage certificate, my wifes original birth certificate, and a copy of my US passport. She gave us back everything else except for the photos. She picked out a few of the oldest photos of us together and then told us to go pay the $355.00. We did and returned with the recieipt. We then went and sat down again.

About 20 minutes later they called us to another window where an American women told us that the I-130 application was approved. She handed us an approval letter with my wifes case number on it, told us to wait 45 days and then download packet 4 from the website and when we have that assembled to call and make an appointment for an interview. She also gave us back all of the photos.

I'm very sorry to hear about everyone elses bad experiences here and can understand your frustrations after 3 unsuccessful tourist visa applications, but we have no complaints about the immigration visa at this point. The people were nice and proffesional and the process was quick. I hope the next step goes as well. Thanks to everyone who has posted here, we felt very prepared going in after reading all of these posts.

Wildbill

Male

2009-10-08 15:17:00

Wow, I am eagerly awaiting your review of the Guayaquil Consulate. My Ecuadorian wife and I have had our share of problems with them and we havent even started an immigration visa yet.

Wildbill

Male

2009-06-23 00:20:00

Ready to start the journey in Guayaquil (looking for advice...)

Thanks alot T-bone,

I think you are the expert in regards to this consulate, and I appreciate the advice. I really have no idea what I am doing, I called the Consulate to find out if they had DCF and talked to a lady there. She told me that that that wasnt available there, but to justt fill out the CR-1 application, schedule an appointment and bring it in. SO, I'm not even sure if I have everything required. I will email them and see what they say.

Did you file all of your paperwork in the States?

Is there anyway to communicate directly with another memeber here? Maybe this isnt even the right place for this post.

I really appreciate your advice, I have read everything you have written at this site and you have us somewhat nervous.

Thanks again!

Wildbill

Male

2009-09-10 19:42:00

Ready to start the journey in Guayaquil (looking for advice...)

Hi Everyone,

I think we have all the paperwork together to start a CR-1 application for my wife. I have spent hours scanning this site and the Consulate website, but I still have a couple of questions.

1-Does anyone know the best way to submit payment to the Consulate? For the past denied tourist visa applications, we had to pay in a bank here and just take the reciept. Do we do that, or take a check with us, or cash?

2-We have a cover letter which says everything we are including, CR1 application, G325A's for both of us, copys of our passports, birth certificates, marriage certificate, photos, and translations of her birth certificate and our marriage certificate, also 4 notorized affidavits from people at our wedding. That is it......do we just stick all of this in a folder, and go to the consulate and hand it in to someone or what? I know we need an appointment, but am just wondering what to expect and I want to make sure we are prepared.

I am the US citizen, residing in Guayaquil and my wife is the Ecuadorian who has been denied a tourist visa 3 times. We got married in March after being together for 5 years.

I will start a timeline as soon as we turn in the application and keep it updated.

Thanks alot to anyone who responds!!

Wildbill

Male

2009-09-09 18:52:00

Filling out I-130 form and G325A QUESTIONS?

Wildbill

Male

2009-09-19 11:17:00

Filling out I-130 form and G325A QUESTIONS?

QUOTE (Haole @ Sep 19 2009, 11:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

QUOTE (Wildbill @ Sep 19 2009, 06:28 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi everyone, once again I need to ask for help from you experts here. I have a couple of questions about the G325A and the I-130 forms. I am a US citizen and my wife is an Ecuadorian Citizen. I am petitioning for her to recieve a visa so that we can move to the USA and live there together.

G325-A for me

1-Most of the questions are asking for the APPLICANTS INFORMATION. I assume that they want my information since i will be filling out a seperate G325-a for my wife. I dont think that I am the applicant though, I am the petitioneer, so whos information do i put here?

2-On HER G325-a the first question is her name. For her last name, should I put her name before we were married? Or should i put her new last name, (my last Name)? All of her documents have her two maiden names on them. She went to get a new passport and ID card and they wouldent change her name to her new married name, she just signed her signature with her new name.

3-the last box asks what she is applying for. Naturalization, Status as a permanent resident, or other. I'm not exactly sure what to put here. I assume it would be Status as a permanent resident. We are both living in Ecuador and want to move to the USA and reside there if this visa is approved.

Thank you very much!

Are you doing a DCF?

Hi, Thanks for the responses, No DCF available in Ecuador.

Wildbill

Male

2009-09-19 12:11:00

Filling out I-130 form and G325A QUESTIONS?

Wildbill

Male

2009-09-19 11:28:00