biggish data

Age Difference? 15-20 years??

not specific for the embassy at all. as far as i know, there aren't any guidelines/suggestions from my embassy regarding what constitutes "good evidence" or whatever. I just want to make sure that there is ample evidence for the CO so that there is as little reason for doubt as possible. I spose it's more of a reflection of who i am than where our interview will be

I'd rather have something be someone else's fault than mine :lol:

I'm sure that there won't be enough time to go through this all, but who knows which one will be the most useful or which is the magic silver bullet for the CO. So having my bases covered makes me feel a bit more safe about the process. :thumbs:

If you were a CO and you saw all that, how much doubt would you have?

I also want to make sure that my wife feels confident when she goes for the interview - especially if i can't be with her. I'm sure that you can get away with less (and I'm sure that people will post that they have). As I said... it's just me.

Luck favors the prepared, right? ttyl,

mich

Mich, did you assemble all that evidence in response to what you need for that particular embassy? (Just wondering 'cause I didn't realize I'd have to organize a bunch of stuff like that, though I guess I can... I thought wedding photos, joint accounts, a phone bill or two, and health insurance cards would be enough.)

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-06-12 02:38:00

Age Difference? 15-20 years??

Here's the official phirephly list of "evidence" we will use. We haven't had either interview (K3 or CR1), so we're just as hopeful this will be enough as you are:

Three folders: 1) Relationship 2) Well Being/Support 3) Extended emails The + and | indicate things that are paperclipped together. She will have one set of folders 1 and 2 that have the original documents, another with copies that have things highlighted and with stickies pointing out important things. She will just have one folder 3. I will also have a complete set of folders that is an exact copy of all the evidence that I've sent her.

Folder 1 *Relationship*:
+ Plane ticket stubs, Taxi receipts to/from airport, "departure fee" to leave Philippines
| Passport stamp and luggage sticker thingee
| Complete Travelocity intinerary of trip
| Complete Hotel Receipt (including all charges)
| Wedding/Engagement rings Rceipt
-- Stapled together all receipts of paperwork and documents I sent to her
-- Amazon.com and pinasgift receipts from past three years, stapled chronologically
-- Phone bills from last 6 months with massive long distance charges :lol:

stapled reverse chronologically (most recent first)
-- 4 email threads with my family and friends. one friend congratulating me, mom congratulating us at our joint email account, my wife's response to my brother's congratulatory reply to my announcement, and a reply that my wife sent to my whole family about how i liked some of the food there (in response to an email i sent about my visit).
-- 6 email threads between my wife and I that range over our relationship and show nontrivial communication, stapled chronologically.
-- 5 IM convo histories between us
-- Hopefully we can print out a couple IM convos that she's had with my mom
-- SMS records back to Sept 2004 (SMS is huge where she is)

Folder 2 *Well Being/Support*:
-- Letter of documents enclosed (or explaining missing documents)
-- money transfers
-- Bank statements from last few months, reverse chronological order. Shows her accessing OUR account.
+ Lease amendment adding her to the lease of my apartment signed by landlord, her, and myself.
| Copy of my lease which expires in Feb 2007
-- Benefits profile from work showing her designated as my wife and covered under my work's plans for dental, medical, and vision (same as me). She is also noted there as the sole primary beneficiary to my work-sponsored benefits (401k, life insurance, etc)

-- Medical card and letters that she received for being covered under my medical plan
-- Dental card (if it ever arrives!)
-- Auto insurance covering her. Not yet as a driver, but she's on the policy.
-- Life insurance policy (my own, not work) again noting her as my spouse and the sole primary beneficiary
-- Roth IRA naming her as my wife and sole beneficiary

Folder 3 *You want emails?*:
-- Approximately 200 email threads, sorted by year, and ready for inspection.

Loose:
-- 200+ Photos of my trip there with her, including our wedding and a bunch of pics with her mom and sister and a dozen or so at some family gatherings. All consistently labelled on the back with a felt tip pen with the following information in the same places: Event, location, date, people, and photo # (for reference)
-- All the cards, notes, etc she's sent me via post
-- All the cards, notes, etc that I've sent her via post
-- The scrapbook she's making
-- Cards mentioned above (medical, dental, ATM, etc)

Hopefully this will be enough...

Hopefully this will help you or give you some ideas (or maybe someone will give me some extra ideas

). Definitely not definitive, but I don't think they could possibly deny us on a lack of "evidence". Note that she is now represented to my family, friends, employer, and multiple other organizations as my wife. ttyl,

mich

Edited by phirephly, 12 June 2006 - 01:29 AM.

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-06-12 01:26:00

Age Difference? 15-20 years??

jaci - thanks for the quoted message. I think my wife is a bit nervous about the interview and how she'll handle them being rude to her (not that they have a reason, it's just fun to worry, right?

), so hopefully she'll feel better after seeing this.

ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-06-09 20:42:00

I tried the following sequence and it worked for me:

1-800-829-1040 => 2 => 2 => SSN => 1 => 1 => 4 => Address => 4 => Year => 1 => 1 => 2 => Year

And so on. This is an automated system. So it will send you the transcripts to the address that the IRS system has. If someone wants them in a different address, then this option is not going to work. In that case, speaking with a live person will do it.

I apologize for bumping this, but since it's important information I thought it would be okay.

This was the method that worked for me, as simple_male posted. When I tried it the original poster's way, Option #3 also gave me Business Accounts. It would not let me request transcripts for years I didn't file my taxes, as someone else posted. It really was a simple process to order the transcripts, after I knew which numbers to press. I was just thankful I didn't have to speak to a human It does take a while because the automated voice rambles on, but so far this has been the least painful part of this whole process.

Thank you VisaJourney!

Glad to hear that the my method worked for you. We should thank phirephly to start ths topic.

Yeah... wish I would have known about this other menu system that people seem to get so I could have put it in my original post (or that I can edit it to put that info in there) so that people don't have to dig through all the comments to find it. More importantly, I wish I knew how people are getting it, so we can tell people which path to anticipate. :blink:

I guess after the first prompt, you know which menu you received.

Indeed, it's a lot of rambling to get through... that's why it's helpful to know which option you'll push next... sometimes you can just skip the talking.

I don't even listen to the NVC voice prompts anymore... I just 11141 case#, blah blah blah, then listen to him tell me that they don't have my case yet.

It's automatic

I'm glad people are finding this useful - that's exactly what I wanted to accomplish :-D

Thanks for your help as well simple_male.

I'm glad that someone that could find the other menu system was able to document it for us.

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-05-22 18:55:00

Can you also request these transcripts be delivered to a different address?

You can have it emailed to you. I used accuverify.

It would be a good option, if someone needs them within 2-3 days. But when you call IRS and speak with a live person, you can have the live person fax them to you, provided that you are in front of the fax machine in order to verify the fax delivery. Otherwise, it takes about 5-10 days to get them by mail.

I am in New Zealand and I started calling IRS at 1-800-829-1040 in March trying to get transcripts. System disconnected me twice (at international rates) by the time I got to #4 Transcripts option and would not let me use the automated system or talk to a live person. Message said they were overloaded, to call back & then a disconnect. So I mailed the request form. Two days ago I got a letter from IRS telling me my SSN number did not match their records & gave me a different phone number to call between 8am-2pm ET. That is between 12midnight & 6am NZ time. I got up at 5:30 yesterday morning to call them. Dialed & got the message-leave your name & phone number and we will call you. Then the message: Sorry the mailbox is full, call back later, goodbye. So then I called the 1-800-829-1040 and GOT THROUGH to a live person. She put me on hold and never came back, after telling me my address was wrong in their system and that no one would email or fax transcripts to me from IRS. So, I called back and got through again to a very nice guy who promised he wouldn't hang up on me and promised he is sending the transcripts. It took IRS 6 weeks to send me a letter saying my # did not match their records, which is crazy as the # is correct and I had sent in a change of address in 2004, paid my taxes from here for 2004 & 2005 and got a refund both years. Two most difficult things to get for me have been the bank letter from BOA and the transcripts from the IRS.

yikes, how annoying and frustrating! We keep getting a lot of run around and bad help from the people "running things" in the philippines too.

The US stuff seems pretty easy. I'm glad you've finally got a handle on the tax stuff, though.

If you don't mind my asking, what was the hard part about your bank letter from BOA? Was it that you had to do it remotely (guessing they don't have branches there)? I had no trouble with my bank... I went there and had it printed by the dude in a matter of minutes, though he had to manually add my deposits for the past year. Hope the guy you talked to follow through properly and your transcripts arrive shortly! ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-05-19 21:00:00

Call 1-800-829-1040
Press 3 for automated services
Enter your SSN
Press 1 to confirm it's an SSN
Press 1 to confirm the SSN is correct
Press 4 to order transcripts (or copies)
Enter your street address (for example, if you live at 123 Main Street, enter 123)
Press 4 to get an account transcript and return transcript (nothing more for them to request and it's free anyways )
Enter the tax year you want to request
Press 1 to confirm the year (eg, 2005)
Press 1 to confirm the (free) order (eg, trasncript of account and return for 2005)
Press 2 to request another, and go back to the year line above or
Press 3 to end the call.

So for two years of returns (and btw, you can also make multiple requests for the same year in the same call):

1-800-829-1040=>3=>SSN=>1=>1=>4=>HOUSE=>4=>YEAR=>1=>1=>2=>YEAR=>1=>1=>3

mich

Ok, so I decided I was willing to try it one more time and see what happened. This time I called at 5:30pm NZ time which is 1:30am EDT in the US so I knew that IRS would be closed and if I ever could access the Automated System it would be now. I dialed 1-800-829-1040 and the message said the offices were closed, yata yata yata and then gave me three choices, #3 was Automated and then I got all the way to #4 Transcripts. When I pushed 4 for transcripts, I got the message that the office was currently closed, please call during regular office hours, thank you for calling and disconnect. What I think is happening is that the system recognizes from my SSN that I live out of the country and therefore need to talk to a live person as the system is probably not set up for foreign addresses. I would be interested in hearing if anyone else tried to use the automated service from outside the US.

you might be right about that... i hope that someone else can add their experience from outside the US to verify. still seems rude to just disconnect you without explaining at all.

thanks for trying again.

I called tonight and got transcripts from the last 3 years sent to me in under 2 minutes over the phone! Thanks for the post very helpful.

whew! finally, it worked perfectly for someone! glad it was helpful for you.

this system was very helpful for me, so i wanted to help the other people here with it too

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-05-10 02:10:00

I tried the following sequence and it worked for me:

1-800-829-1040 => 2 => 2 => SSN => 1 => 1 => 4 => Address => 4 => Year => 1 => 1 => 2 => Year

And so on. This is an automated system. So it will send you the transcripts to the address that the IRS system has. If someone wants them in a different address, then this option is not going to work. In that case, speaking with a live person will do it.

You're calling from in the US or out of it? it sounds like you might have been getting similar prompts to what sadie observed. Would be good to figure out how that's happening. ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-05-08 17:25:00

When filing the affadavit of support, do they accept transcripts, or does it have to be the full copy?

From what I've read a few places, transcripts are supposed to be acceptable for an AoS, though off the top of my head, I don't have any pointers to evidence.

And to answer your other question, yes, you can get all three years in one call. If I remember right, you can even get two copies of the same year in the same call. I believe the limit for transcript requests is 10 per call or something like that. So you could get two copies of all three years in one shot.

ttyl,

mich

Dunno That may be the case, because #1 is Recorded Tax Topics, #2 is Individual Accounts & #3 is Business Accounts.
I called twice using the info posted here and both times got a message that they were overloaded and then telling me to call back, then a disconnect. I also asked my daughter in the States to try it, she got the same thing. She got all the way to "Press 4 to order transcripts" and then got the same message I did and the disconnect. So I ended up faxing my request in. 1-800 numbers can be called from out of the US but you have to pay for them, they aren't free. Just a heads up for others out of the US.

Interesting. That's not cool if they're being inconsistent. I've never run into that disconnect message either. Wow, you have all the bad luck, lady

Definitely thanks for the warning, I guess it's best to have the USC deal with it domestically in case there are issues, as crummy as that is...

If it helps any, I usually call later at night when I know the office would be closed (less chance of more people on there), and I've never had a problem that way. ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-05-07 01:54:00

Howdy everybody... It pops up here once in a while about what you need when it talks about copies of your tax returns for affadavits of support, etc. Apparently, transcripts are perfectly legit... now how do you get those? Let me walk you right through it (for most people, at least):

Call 1-800-829-1040
Press 3 for automated services
Enter your SSN
Press 1 to confirm it's an SSN
Press 1 to confirm the SSN is correct
Press 4 to order transcripts (or copies)
Enter your street address (for example, if you live at 123 Main Street, enter 123)
Press 4 to get an account transcript and return transcript (nothing more for them to request and it's free anyways )
Enter the tax year you want to request
Press 1 to confirm the year (eg, 2005)
Press 1 to confirm the (free) order (eg, trasncript of account and return for 2005)
Press 2 to request another, and go back to the year line above or
Press 3 to end the call.

mich

When I called 1-800-829-1040 the first set of options gave #3 as Business Accounts not Automated Services. I tried it twice (at International Rates) because at first I thought I misdialed. Didn't. So, could you doublecheck this sequence please? Thanks.

Verified today, just now (sorry about the delay!). The topics I get at the main menu are as follows:
1 - recorded tax topics
2 - questions about you refund
3 - all other automated services

I wonder if you're getting a different menu from an international number. That's not very helpful for us if that's what's happening here.

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-05-06 06:29:00

Can you also request these transcripts be delivered to a different address?

Not in the automated system. That info is never entered, as you'll note above.

You verify that you're you by SSN and address number, and your papers are sent to the address that they have on file, apparently.

germangel -
If you didn't file, wouldn't that be indicated on your transcripts? Minimally, seems like they should return a letter saying "XX didn't file a return for the tax year 2003." or whatever.

ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-04-17 20:58:00

Howdy everybody... It pops up here once in a while about what you need when it talks about copies of your tax returns for affadavits of support, etc. Apparently, transcripts are perfectly legit... now how do you get those? Let me walk you right through it (for most people, at least):

Call 1-800-829-1040
Press 3 for automated services
Enter your SSN
Press 1 to confirm it's an SSN
Press 1 to confirm the SSN is correct
Press 4 to order transcripts (or copies)
Enter your street address (for example, if you live at 123 Main Street, enter 123)
Press 4 to get an account transcript and return transcript (nothing more for them to request and it's free anyways

)
Enter the tax year you want to request
Press 1 to confirm the year (eg, 2005)
Press 1 to confirm the (free) order (eg, trasncript of account and return for 2005)
Press 2 to request another, and go back to the year line above or
Press 3 to end the call.

So for two years of returns (and btw, you can also make multiple requests for the same year in the same call):

1-800-829-1040=>3=>SSN=>1=>1=>4=>HOUSE=>4=>YEAR=>1=>1=>2=>YEAR=>1=>1=>3

You can order these at any time of day (I just ordered a few more at 12:30 am), but last sunday the automated services were disabled, so maybe you can't during weekends. They say it takes 10 to 15 days. I think mine usually take about a week. May as well order them now and have them on hand for when your time comes (one less thing to worry about!). It's a lot easier to shred something you don't need than to send something you haven't received yet :thumbs:

Some of these options you can press before the system is done talking to get you through faster... so knowing what you want ahead of time can make it a bit easier.

Hope this is helpful to me fellow journey companions.

ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-04-11 02:45:00

maiden vs married name

Also, you might consider soon getting your passport, et al. changed over to your married name and making sure that you're using that *everywhere*. You'll get to have your CFO done a bit early, and it looks like according to this post, they'll only issue your greencard with the "standard" filipino naming convention: <first name> <father's last name> <husband's last name>. Hopefully this won't cause you any issues and that you'll be able to fix anything promptly if they don't like it. ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-07-17 23:49:00

IR1/CR1 in Manila

Has anyone done a CR1 or IR1 in Manila and if so, what kind of success did you have?

Our CR1 is in the NVC now, made it through the USCIS without any issues (besides taking forever). You can see my timeline for more info and watch it as we move along.

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-06-01 02:42:00

It may appear minor but is it? First post there appeared only one error on the G-325A...further down there appeared to be more on the I-130. We dont really know how many corrections need doing. If the G-325A is as what many prior posts have stated, really not important, then one would think making corrections to that over the phone, as was said could be done with the I-130, seems to contradict that. I have always been of the belief that the G-325A is very important as it is what is sent out to the various departments for any security checks and/or field investigations. Why not correct any error early in the piece on any documents, when it can be done, as opposed to waiting till the petition process is complete and at Embassy.

Lorelle

Howdy... sorry for my lack of clarity above. The mistake that I made was in the attachment to the G325-A (those addresses in the Philippines are way too long for the forms). I accidentally overstated the length of her last address abroad by two months. However, where it asks you to list all the places you've lived for the last 5 years, I put it right. So I wanted to make sure I correct this so it's clear to them what's what and where she actually was for those two months.

There are no mistakes in my I-130. What I was trying to say was that when I called the hotline, that's the only thing that she told me she could correct. She said that she couldn't correct the G-325A information. Hope this helps clear the discussion up a bit

Thanks for all your help. ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-23 13:14:00

thanks for the resubmission tip. i was actually going to send a letter with replacement attachments for the form (with correct information!) and let them just replace it in the original packet if they so elected, but if that would just confuse them, then yeah... i'll have to just make sure that i write the letter well enough that it will be clear enough on its own in case they add that to my packet as well.

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-23 02:51:00

reporting back what I found...

I called the Customer Service Center and talked to a lady that told me that they can't fix any of that stuff (the G-325A stuff). It sounded like she could fix a few minimum things on the petition (I-130) itself, but not the other docs. What she recommended doing if i wanted to pursue it was to write a letter explaining my mistake and make the corrections. I don't know if this will help anyone, but she asked more than a few times how I noticed the mistake. Perhaps she was trying to clarify if I had received an RFE, but I told her each time that I noticed it myself when I was reviewing the document. So it almost felt like she was trying to get me to say that I was trying to do something wrong or something (which I'm not). So. hi-ho hi-ho, it's writing the service center I go. They haven't even touched my petition yet, so at least there won't be anyone confused in the middle of the process.

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-23 02:21:00

Here's what I would do.........I would wait to get your receipt number when it has been entered into the system. You may get an RFE.....you may not. Have noted members receiving RFE's for incorrect or gaps in timeframes. If you get an RFE I would then send the corrected attachment and if you dont get an RFE with it I would call National Customer Service Center on 1800-375-5283. They may correct it over the phone but I hazard a guess not. They may suggest emailing the correction or mailing the correction to your service center. Im inclined not to give a Conof any reason to delay issuance of a visa (unlikely but always possible)if it gets to embassy without it being noted and corrected. Biographical information on the G-325A is used for security checks.

ok. I think i'm a little more confused, though.

You're saying to wait and see if they catch it and request me to fix it.. if not, then to make sure that I fix it myself before it gets to the embassy. The only time that I'll be assured that I'm not going to get an RFE is when the USCIS approves it and sends me the NOA2 which tells me that it's being sent to the embassy, which means that it's too late to fix it at the USCIS, right? So if I do get an RFE for that, then it would be ok... but if I don't, it could slip over the embassy with me missing my chance to fix it? I probably want to avoid an RFE for this if I can too 'cause I don't think she has much (if any) evidence of living in these places... they weren't hers (so no lease or anything), and i'm not even sure if the utilities were under her name or someone else's (so if anyone has the old bills, it wouldn't be her). I totally agree with you that avoiding causing delay is to be avoided... it's not like they're moving very fast on their side! haha. So maybe I should call them on tuesday? thanks aussie.

ttyl,

mich

PS - thanks for including the number to call in your post.

Edited by phirephly, 18 February 2006 - 05:59 PM.

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-18 17:56:00

I screwed up one of the dates in my wife's G-325A attachment. For her foreign address for more than a year, I accidentally put the end date two months past when it really was, which conflicts with the place she lived after that. It's an honest mistake; I wasn't trying to mislead them or anything. I don't know if they'll even notice it or care... but I do want to alert them to the mistake so it can be corrected before they find it and cause us delay.

And I definitely don't want to be denied because of my mistake

I was trying to look aroud the USCIS site to see if there's any procedure for submiting corrections to pending forms and didn't find much. I wasn't turning up anything useful in my searches here either. Hopefully that just means that something like this is rare... but does anyone know what you would do to submit corrections for a pending submission? Would I just send a letter to my SC citing the receipt number and the corrections to add to my packet? Would it be better to just redo that whole attachment and have them replace it in my packet? Do I just wait fo rthem to mail me and tell me that my packet doesn't make sense? Don't know.

Thanks for your help.

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-18 03:00:00

VISA DENIED IN PERU HELP ME!! CONFUSED

eludy... another question for you that may be helpful for the rest of us (though unfortunately not so much for you).. what did she mean by your answers didn't match up? did someone tell a little fib? were there trick questions? what kinds of things were they asking y'all separately?
From previous members stories it can be something simple as 'when was the first time you kissed' and they gave a different date. So doesn't mean anyone lied, just means they couldnt remember an exact date. Something that could happen with any one of us. I dont know that I could say an exact date if it hadnt been on the day I flew into the US to meet my now Hubby. Some Conofs at some embassies have been known to ask the most personal questions. Luckily these stories are not very common, but they have happened at times when the US partner is present at interview.

That's what I was concerned about... if it's something as simple as "What did you have for lunch the 9th day you were there?", etc. I wasn't trying to imply that she would be lying, but as you mentioned, and as I've heard before, the questions can get very personal... definitely none of their business :no:

which would encourage a polite or shy person to maybe fudge a little bit. That's why I asked... definitely the people here can understand what it's like to have to wait to see someone they really love! :devil:

eludy... another question for you that may be helpful for the rest of us (though unfortunately not so much for you).. what did she mean by your answers didn't match up? did someone tell a little fib? were there trick questions? what kinds of things were they asking y'all separately?

hi phirephly , the consul told me about my personal life with him: example: where did you take dinner yesterday? do you have a pet? name? when your hubby gets divorce? i didn´t remember that date, what is his email? i know that! but i don´t understand whyyy she told me differents answers, my hubby was very sad with her because in my opinion she doesn´t believe us because my hubby is 56 years old and i´m 29 what do you thing???

sorry my english is not good but I try.

Yikes. does sound very not nice how she made it so difficult for you. The thing that's helped me the most for remembering the things that happened in my wife's life before I was in it was having to fill out all those forms. If I hadn't done that, I bet I would be in the same situation (still trying to remember all the family names, and i've only met a few!). Hopefully you'll do much better next time

Yeah, I've heard that a significant age difference can be a red flag, but hopefully you'll prove them wrong! :thumbs:

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-16 03:56:00

VISA DENIED IN PERU HELP ME!! CONFUSED

eludy... another question for you that may be helpful for the rest of us (though unfortunately not so much for you).. what did she mean by your answers didn't match up? did someone tell a little fib? were there trick questions? what kinds of things were they asking y'all separately?

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-15 00:07:00

VISA DENIED IN PERU HELP ME!! CONFUSED

eludy, was your husband required to go to the interview? i don't know if this is good advice or not, and hopefully other people will comment on it, but if they're trying to play you and your husband against each other like that and he's not actually required to go, maybe if you just go yourself then they'll not be able to do something like that next time. from what i'd read before, i thought the USC wasn't required to go to the interview, so i don't know how they were allowed to do all that stuff they did with questioning you two separately. Are your requirements different? Did he have to go to the interview too? Can anyone comment on this idea? Would it help her? Is it seriously flawed?really makes me wonder if i should go for my wife's interview if that can turn out to hurt us.

Edited by phirephly, 14 February 2006 - 03:39 AM.

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-14 03:39:00

DS3032 via email?

Yeah, I would expect it's still a little early for your case number. The 20th or 27th would feel about right, judging by our timeline. Yes, I definitely recommend emailing for Choice of Agent. It looks like it worked even better for ariest than it did for me.

Someday they should automate all this stuff. It would be pretty easy and make life easier for them too. Why shouldn't we be able to just get an email that we have a case number that asks us to fill out the DS-3032 online? We could pay the AoS Fee Bill and IV Bills online using a US check or credit card with a Visa or Mastercard logo. The DS-230 and the I-864 might still need to be in paper form, or there might be a way to automate those too - or at least the DS-230. For those (like me) that need to send docs with the DS-230, once it's submitted, you get the address to which you send your docs. Most of this seems like it would be fairly trivial and would only improve the system for both them and us. In theory, you could get almost the entire NVC process done in one night! Oh well.

Phirephly,

I am waiting for my case number. As of today, they don't have any record for my approved petition. They replied me that they already received my approved petition and on the process of assigning a case number and putting it on their computer system. Maybe tomorrow (Tuesday) I will get a case number, as usually it is assigned on Tuesday. I will follow the same route that you did for Choice of Agent.

Next day? Wow. You're right that was fast. Now your IV Bill should be generated in about a week (if it matches our timeline). Kiss your $380 goodbye

Wow! NVC replied by email the next day. That was SOME shortcut! Thanks for advice!

ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-06-14 05:34:00

DS3032 via email?

Not a problem. We're thinking that we may have shaved about a week and a half off of the long track using this. We sent the email as soon as the hotline said the form was generated, and got a response a day after the forms actually arrived at my place. So yeah, hopefully it will help you too!

ttyl,

mich

Thank you sooooo much for your reply!

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-06-11 17:07:00

DS3032 via email?

We did something very similar to that described in the NVC timesavers (see the link in my sig). Ours went a little something like this:

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is BENEFICIARY and my visa case number is CASE_NUMBER

I have not received my DS-3032, but would like to appoint my husband as my agent of choice to receive all the correspondence from NVC. I have CCed both his individual email address and an email address that we jointly maintain.

His name and address is:

NAME
ADDRESS
ADDRESS

All mail from the U.S. Department of State concerning my immigration visa application for the case number listed above should be sent to him at the address above. Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

BENEFICIARY

It was sent to NVCINQUIRY@state.gov and we received a response from the NVC in two days from the same address telling us to expect the IV Bill. Plain text, no attachments, no "real" signature. Seems like all you need to know is the case number and the name of the beneficiary. It probably helps to choose your spouse that's filed the petition. A bit scary in its simplicity... I guess that's why you need to keep your case number under your hat. Hope this helps. ttyl,

mich

I've noticed a lot of members send their Choice of Agent and Address via email. How do you do that?
Just plain text in the body of an email (and what do you write then?) or attachement with the actual filled out form scanned?
What about your signature if it's sent through email?
Is this the correct email: nvcinquiry@state.gov?
How do you know NVC recieved and accepted it?
I would appreciate your responses!

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-06-11 08:51:00

G-325 A

Both the petitioner and beneficiary complete a G-325A with their details. You are each the applicant on your respective G-325A's. You sign yours and your fiance signs theirs. And remember that each G-325A is made up of 4 pages.

Lorelle

And ... if you use the fillable pdf, then you only have to fill in the info (for each person in each form) once and the form copies it to the other three pages by itself. Very nice!

The old one was a pain and the font was too big and stuff, but the latest (looks like it's the only one they'll even accept now since the rest expired as we turned 2006) one is a LOT nicer. It looks nice and ends up only taking a few minutes to fill out if you've already got all your info handy. I believe this is the right one here:

http://uscis.gov/gra...iles/G-325A.pdf

Hope this helps you! ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-18 02:06:00

Interview in Manila

congratulations!

hope everything goes smoothly for you... definitely let us know how it goes!

I'm not sure I can be much help with your question, and I'm definitely the farthest from an expert... but from my impressions so far (you'll note that I haven't even had my I-130 approved yet), it seems like after the interview, they decide your case and if it's approved, she'll get her visa in about a week (probably longer, hay naku). Then you and your shepherd friends get the flock out of dodge

As far as I know, all you have left to do after you have the visa and your passport is hop a plane. I think that's what the visa is, isn't it? Permission to enter (or stay) in the country?

Here's a list of questions that someone posted a while ago. They're not Manila-specific, but they're definitely good starters. They helped my wife and I even discuss how we should be answering the questions. She tends to be terse when and sometimes a fuller, longer answer might help us more

Good luck!

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-02-17 14:03:00

Evidence of Relationship

If you have the time to process them, then why not include them? My sweet wife and I have communicated via email and IM chat (among everything else... phone, sms, visit, etc... ) for about three years. Even just putting in two emails and/or IMs per month is already 72 (144 for both) documents. That's at least 144 pages of documentation, *if* each of these are only one page (your emails, like ours, probably contain previous replies, so some may get fairly long). If they're more pages, then you're all that much stronger. Adding 150+ pages of proof sounds like a good plan to me

One less reason for them to say your evidence is inadequate, I would think! However, I would be careful about only 2 each... I think I read somewhere in a VJ thread that someone that only submitted a few was asked for more. So I'd say give 'em plenty or don't give them anything. I haven't been through any of this, though, so take my advice accordingly. My preference is to overwhelm as opposed to leave them any reason to ask for more (we're working on preparing a couple hundred photos presently). Who's going to ask for another 150 pages of emails?

Also, if you're submitting emails, it would probably be best to make sure that you're turning on "full headers" so they can see all the information about the emails and not just the to/from jazz. ttyl,

mich

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-03-02 03:53:00

Too much?

Hmm my fiance sent like 50 some pages or more. LOL I guess we just really want to prove to them we are serious about our relationship and doing whatever it takes to be together.

D'oh! For the "evidence" (bleh, of course we're real!) of our relationship, I had prepared over 300 pages of emails over a three year period. Guess the CO might have enjoyed that. -_-

Definitely some reaponses here that are a better point of view than my own - which was that bulk is intimidation :bonk:

haha. Now I'll have to go through and pare down the emails to a few most interesting ones. Good thing I saw this thread beforeI did another 300 pages for the IM convos! :whistle:

phirephly

Male

Philippines

2006-05-17 20:47:00

step closer !

congrats!!.......6 and a half months....huh

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2007-09-09 09:19:00

3- RFE's in 5 days

I'm in the same boat, I called USCIS they told me........RFE been sent. They won't tell me what it is.....am sure it's a birth certificate. I send birth certificate when I filed my I-130. but it's not NSO sealed. All I have to do is wait I guess for me to know what evidence they want.

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2007-12-13 00:48:00

Dried fish and Pusit in the Luggage?

QUOTE (daenna @ Dec 16 2007, 06:04 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hello and merry christmas to all. Just few questions , i'm leaving for USA on this coming dec 29 my POE is San Francisco Calif, I would like to ask if it's ok to bring dried fish like danggit, tuyo and pusit . My mother in law asked me to bring some and I coudnt ask her if its okay, she might take it negatively lol. Thanks a lot!

You should be O.K. I've done it so many times. Just like they said makes sure it's sealed real good .......You don't want to stink up the whole plane don't you?

........

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2007-12-16 11:50:00

I-130 approved

QUOTE (radsr2002 @ Dec 21 2007, 11:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

congrats

Congrats!! another waitin' game comin' up

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2007-12-22 20:33:00

I-130 approved!!!

QUOTE (macilaci @ Dec 21 2007, 02:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Finally a good news! After 152 days our I-130 was approved!

conrats!! yeyy

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2007-12-22 21:05:00

g325-a for the child

QUOTE (martinbr @ Dec 21 2007, 06:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can someone shed some light on whether I need to fill out a g325-a form for my step/child that I am trying to get over with her mother? I was married two months ago in the philipines and I am ready to start sending in all the petitions as soon as I get the kids birth certificate back from the mother.

I have a friend at work and he said they when he filed for his wife and kid that he filled one out for the child. But a few people here in the philipine sub forum mentioned that I don't have to have one for the kid. That I just need mine and the wife's. I really don't want any problems here. I would rather send in more than not enough information about my new family.
thanks,
Martin

Just like pushbrk said not required. On top of that make sure you submit legible copy of MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE on your stepchild files. I got RFE for that one. I thought 1 MC copy is good enough. They won't bother making a copy of your MC on your wife file and put in your child files.

***Each petition must have it's own set of supporting documents in the event that your petitions become seperated.
I just thought sharing this exp. may help you.....Goodluck

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2007-12-23 11:20:00

DS3032 & AOS fee bill arrived!

QUOTE (desiboy2k4 @ Jan 24 2008, 01:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can you please tell me where it says to mail your completed DS-3032 form? According to Jame's Shortcuts it should be:
National Visa Center
Attention ACL
32 Rochester Ave.
Portsmouth, NH 03801-2909

I thought it was changed somewhere but could be wrong. Just wanted to confirm with you since you just received yours.

Thanks!

it says right here, sign and return DS 3032 to NVC. The mailing address for the DS 3032 is:

NATIONAL VISA CENTER
ATTENTION ACL
32 ROCHESTER AVE.
PORTSMOUTH, NH 03801

I guess it's the same one to the one they have in James' shortcuts.....

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2008-01-24 18:18:00

Is that true that the USCIS is paying more attention to the petitions which payed the higher fees ?

QUOTE (panamania79 @ Jan 20 2008, 01:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Could this be why they are taking so long ?

Not true at all

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2008-01-21 20:42:00

All July Filers

QUOTE (Alex1986 @ Jan 27 2008, 11:04 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I filed on july 30th of last year and just wondering where are people at with the same filing dates. I filed an I-130, petition for an a imediate relative and was approved on January 3rd. I recieved my NOA2 on January 10th. And nothing yet, my question is, has anyone recieved anymore information? Thanks for responding.

I receive my NOA2 8th of December, Notice date dec. 5. Got DS-3032 & AOS from NVC 22nd of Jan. ...........

Thats how long it takes................

Goodluck!

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2008-01-28 00:19:00

CR1 and K3 both moving

Hello, is anyone has the same case as ours? My wife and my son (I-130) immigrant visa petitions is at NVC and already has a case # assign as my signature stated. and so our non immigrant K3 (I-129F) case is at US embassy Manila. My wife (manila) receive packet or appointment schedule Medical 03-03-08/interview 03-10-08 for our K3. Since our immigrant case (I-130) sent me AOS bill and DS-3032 (choice of agent) as it stated on my signature. We decided to pursue with I-130 and ignore the K3 appoinment. is it goin' to affect our I-130 once we ignore K3 appointment? I understand what other people are sayin' here or USCIS http://www.uscis.gov...e/PN_i-129f.pdf to the best of my knowledge, once case reach to NVC and case# assign USCIS won't be able to freeze I-130. Our I-130 approve a day before our I-129F. Me and my wife planning to ignore K3 interview, but I'm worry about NVC/USCIS freezing our I-130...base on other people says here ...visa journey....I have to make a decision quick and or prepare our paperwork for K3 interview. I'm wondering what others opinion about my decision, pursuing I-130 instead of I-129F. I'm so worried about ignoring K3 as well.

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2008-01-29 21:52:00

Cr1 and K3 both at the consulate

QUOTE (magayjuan @ Jan 29 2008, 07:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hello everybody
I hope everybody is doing well. We have an CR1 interview next month in Lima Peru, I just received a notice that our K3 visa was also approved and sent to the embassy in Lima. The question I have is, will the K3 overide the the CR1? will they give us and option? thank you

I couldn't answer your question, but I'm in the same case.......but my case not in the consulate...still in NVC. Waiting for evryones reply here. interested in this thread.

as far as I'm concern it won't reflect your CR1/IR1 process.
Goodluck

MOLEN

Not Telling

Philippines

2008-01-29 23:30:00