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Change of Local Address

My wife and I have moved houses here in Vietnam and are concerned that we may have mail sent from the USCIS or NVC to our old address. How do we go about changing the address on our forms and does this delay the overall process in any way?

My permanent residence in the US is of course unchanged and this is where the USCIS sent us our first notice of action so it may not be an issue. I guess our concern is when the consulate needs to contact us to set up an interview for my wife, will they send anything by mail?

If they usually call or email for these types of communications then I guess the change of local address isn't important?

Greg and Tuyen

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-03-05 00:55:00

This may be a stupid question but I'm not sure how to fill in the i864 affidavit of support form. Firstly, my grandmother is going to be a financial sponsor for my wife and I (I am an American citizen and my wife is Vietnamese). It is my understanding that I am the petitioner but I'm confused about how we both fill out our forms.

In part 1. do we both fill in letter e. "I am the first or second of two joint sponsors."? Or do I just fill in a. "I am the petitioner" and my grandma fills in d. "I am the only joint sponsor" on her form? Additionally, as the petitioner but not the sponsor am I correct in assuming that I do not need to fill in parts 4 and 5 (information about the sponsor and the sponsor's household)or as the petitioner am I automatically a sponsor even if my grandma is the one backing us financially on paper for the visa?

Any guidance here would be much appreciated.

-Greg

Attached Files

i-864AFFIDAVITFORM.pdf 435.26KB 4 downloads

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-02-23 07:07:00

What's the NVC doing? :S Keeps sending DS 3032 email!

Oh so you've been having trouble too... that's strange. I've asked Saylin on the NVC May Filers thread, you can check her answers there! It might help.

I was just looking at the DS 3032 form and just wanted to ask if I fill it out as the petitioner or if my wife fills it out as the beneficiary? (she is the one who is immigrating). Since I am in the US and she is in Vietnam, we prefer the mail to come here to me but if it's suppose to be sent to her then we don't want to make a mistake on this form. Thanks

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-05-07 09:21:00

Final question:

The joint sponsor checklist says I need to send in joint sponsor proof of citizenship, but the checklist for the petitioner that I have doesn't mention this at all. Does this mean I do not need to send in my birth certificate as the petitioner? I only have one original left and wanted to save it for the DS230...

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-06-29 15:45:00

Okay! Thanks again

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-06-29 15:41:00

A. School is not employment, you will need to check the unemployed box
B. Loans are not income and thus no bearing on your income or tax returns to the IRS and cannot be used for support
C. Just because you were out of the country does not mean you should not file US taxes. In fact as a US citizen or Resident alien living abroad you are still required to file and pay taxes on GLOBAL income and doesn't matter which country where you earned it. Although, depending upon the year and your income you may not be required to file a return (approx $9,500 a year of global income is the trigger to require a return, unless someone claimed you as a dependent which then is around $2k). I attached a link to IRS Pub 54 which on page 3 has some of that info.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p54.pdf

Thank you for the answers. I am a bit confused now though because Anh Map above said that "student" is acceptable "employment" but Scott and Ale have said that "school" does not count as employment and that I should mark "unemployed". I don't see this information on any instructions for filling out the AOS which is why I'm not sure about this. Are either of you 100% certain and do you have a firm basis for this (i.e. saw this specifically written somewhere)? Thanks again, in advance.

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-06-28 23:08:00

Hi,

I am a full time graduate student and am living off of student loans. I don't see a place for this in section 6 of the i864. Should I just put that I'm "employed" as a graduate student and my loans are my income?

I haven't filed tax returns for the last couple years because I've been living abroad. I didn't make much money but I don't have an official exemption from the IRS. I'm not sure what to do about this and I'm worried that if I do my taxes now it will delay the filing process by days or weeks and I need to get this AOS off to the NVC. I do have a joint sponsor so I'm covered there which makes this tax issue really annoying since my financial status isn't important with a joint sponsor, but I still have to complete an i864.

Guidance appreciated!

Greg

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-06-28 17:57:00

AOS problem

Hi,

I am having a somewhat similar issue. I was told by my accounting a couple years ago while I was living abroad and earning very little money that I did not need to file my taxes at all. Now I'm looking at the i864 and since I haven't filed since 2006 and I don't have a "copy of the IRS publication showing the filing exemption" which is what the AOS checklist says I would need if I didn't file, I am not sure what to do about this?

Greg

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-06-28 16:30:00

Getting Work Permit After Arrival

Thank you for your answers.
Greg

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-08-15 12:36:00

Getting Work Permit After Arrival

Hi All,

I was told by someone that with the green card granted to beneficiaries, the right to work in the US is included. But then I saw some information about immigrants needing to apply for a work permit so now I'm confused. My wife will be arriving on a CR1 visa in a month or two (fingers crossed) from Vietnam. Do we need to file additional paperwork for her to get a work visa or not? Thanks

Greg

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-08-08 14:42:00

Visa Expiration Duration

Hi All,

My wife and I are curious about how much time we will have after she gets her visa to book a flight. The reason being that due to our situation we need some flexibility and may want to wait a few weeks before actually getting her flight from Vietnam after she has finished the interview process and received the visa. I seem to remember reading something about 90 days. Is this right? Thanks in advance.

Greg and Tuyen

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-09-11 00:15:00

Question about interview instructions

Hi All,

We just received notification of our interview today. Finally! But I had a question about one line in the instructions regarding the affidavit of support documentation. Here is what it says:

"IF a sponsor filed an I-864 (Affidavit of Support) AND provided the NVC with proof of
an IRS Federal Income Tax Extension in lieu of a Federal Income Tax Return, the
applicant must bring the sponsor's most recent Federal Income Tax Return to the visa
interview."

My grandmother is the co-sponsor and we both provided an affidavit of support. I put on mine that I did not need to file a tax return for the last couple years because I had no income and provided proof from the IRS website that I did not need to file. My grandmother however submitted all of her tax records and everything. My sense is that I don't need to worry about this since she is the co-sponsor and we did not provide the NVC proof of an "extension" per se but I just wanted to check and make sure that my wife does not need to bring my most recent federal income tax returns in this case.

Thanks in advance for any advice/comments.

Greg and Tuyen

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2012-10-03 12:02:00

This is quite easy - they will issue her immigrant visa so it matches her last name in her passport. If she doesn't change her last name to her new married last name in her passport, upon entry to the US her green card will also be in her maiden name. You will have to file the form I-90 and pay all the fees to get the green card changed to her married name.

Also moving to CR1/IR1 visa forum as OP is on that path and not on AOS path.

Thanks for this reply. So how does it affect her other documents such as her Vietnamese passport and social security card if they are still in her maiden name? Is this an issue? I'm concerned that there could be some sort of confusion traveling or doing other paperwork in the future if her green card has her new married name but those other docs have her maiden name...

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2013-02-13 21:20:00

It means that, when endorsed at CBP, it acts as a temporary green card until the real one arrives in the mail, usually within 30 - 60 days of PoE.

It is normal that this "temporary" card expires in one year, but since you will have the real one well before that expires, it isn't an issue.

Okay, got it. Thank You!

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2013-01-16 16:40:00

If, on the date your spouse enters the US, you have been married for less than two years, then you will receive a 2-year conditional green card that you will have to file an I-751 for to remove conditions from.

If, on the date your spouse enters the US, you have been married for two years or more, they will receive a full 10-year green card and will not have to file an I-751 for to remove conditions.

Your spouse is eligible to file for citizenship three years (minus 90 days) after they enter the US, provided they meet all other requirements.

I was just looking at my wife's actual visa that was issued to her and it states that "upon endorsement serves as temporary I-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year." Everything that I've heard and read says the CR-1 visa is good for 2 years...so why does our say it expires in 1 year?

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2013-01-16 13:54:00

If, on the date your spouse enters the US, you have been married for less than two years, then you will receive a 2-year conditional green card that you will have to file an I-751 for to remove conditions from.

If, on the date your spouse enters the US, you have been married for two years or more, they will receive a full 10-year green card and will not have to file an I-751 for to remove conditions.

Your spouse is eligible to file for citizenship three years (minus 90 days) after they enter the US, provided they meet all other requirements.

That is very helpful. Thank You

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2013-01-15 00:47:00

An immigrant visa (such as a CR-1) automatically grants a green card upon entry to the US, hence there is no need for AoS.

Okay thanks for the reply.

After I posted the question I was just reading about how in our case we need to file an i751 to remove "conditional status" before two years after entering the country. Can you confirm this for me?

Also, does that mean that we first do the i751 and then at some point after that (presumably after being in the country for the 3 year minimum), we fill out the N400 for naturalization right?

I realize some of my questions may sound clueless but I figure it's best to get confirmation of stuff that I read because it's not always crystal clear...

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2013-01-14 20:58:00

Hi All,

I have a two part question.

The first part:

My wife will be arriving on a CR-1 visa in February (from Vietnam). Do we need to do an AOS and if so which form is that, and what's the general process? I've seen a lot of discussion about people on k-3 and other types of visas but no CR-1 yet for some reason. I kind of thought for some reason that the CR-1 visa is already a permanent resident status guarantee and that we didn't need to do anything else...

Second part:

We are confused about how to go about changing my wife's surname to mine. She will be keeping her VN passport and such, so we are concerned that if we start using my last name on documents if that will cause any confusion if her Vietnamese documents have her family name on them? And if there is a process to change this, how to go about doing it? We're clueless!

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Greg and Tuyen

gvanderford

Male

Vietnam

2013-01-14 20:19:00

Getting Medical Prior to Packet 3 Request

If you are up to date on all the above vaccinations. With the medical records to back it up. Who cares when thy were administered. The list of hospitals accredited to perform the medical evaluation certainly can understand a vaccination history. It is a great added cost for the hospitals to charge you an exorbitant fee. Many people travel for reasons aside from visa required inoculations . It should not be difficult to locate a clinic in Bangkok that is recognized and specializes in travel vaccinations.

rucus

Not Telling

Thailand

2014-07-09 05:41:00

Packet 3

I had a rather simple question regarding packet # 3

Here is a quote from your consular website "Many U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents reside outside the United States on a temporary basis. "Temporary" may cover an extended period of residence abroad. The sponsor living abroad must establish the following in order to be considered domiciled in the United States:

He/she left the United States for a limited and not indefinite period of time,

He/she intended to maintain a domicile in the United States, and

He/she has evidence of continued ties to the United States."

Here is more from your Bible

" When a sponsor has clearly not maintained a domicile in the United States, he/she must re-establish a U.S. domicile to be a sponsor. The aspiring sponsor may take steps, including the examples given below, to show that the United States is his/her principal place of residence

Find employment in the United States

Secure a residence in the United States

Relinquish residence abroad

Other evidence of a U.S. residence

If the sponsor establishes U.S. domicile, it is not necessary for the sponsor to go to the United States before the sponsored family members. However, the sponsor must return to the United States to live before the sponsored immigrant may enter the United States. The sponsored immigrant must enter the United States with or after the sponsor."

rucus

Not Telling

Thailand

2014-07-25 04:12:00

Packet 3

I have ties. Numerous, such as USA income, credit cards, credit union and bank accounts and have started enrolling my kids in school. I don't think you understand the gist of my question. Living outside the USA does not automatically break ties. This is about domicile. I have an address

Thanks for the kind thoughts though.

rucus

Not Telling

Thailand

2014-07-25 03:58:00

US Citizenship General Discussion

Packet 3

I did not see anywhere that stipulated including documentation for re-establishing a US domicile. However I don't see how it could be problematic.

Since we filed via DCF things get a bit convoluted.

Have any members been there and done that??

The paperwork for packet 3 gets mailed tomorrow AM.

Edited by rucus, 25 July 2014 - 02:57 AM.

rucus

Not Telling

Thailand

2014-07-25 02:56:00

Birth certificated needed?

Actually we may have a problem. On the I-130 we gave my wifes birthplace as Nakhon Sawan. Yesterday we received the official birth certificate, giving her official birth place as Petchabun. She had always been under the impression that she was born in Nakhon Sawan. Because it was the place of her family farm. The only place she resided.

There was never any discussion of the flooding that was taking place in Nakhon Sawan. Hence the need to travel to Petchabun. Do you have any idea how forgiving the embassy is on an honest mistake based on an assumption.

Needles to say their have been some heated discussions (arguments) between my Mother in Law and my wife. Anyone with a similar experience would be greatly appreciated.

rucus

Not Telling

Thailand

2014-07-03 22:10:00

US Citizenship General Discussion

Birth certificated needed?

I read this tidbit while taking a break from filing out our DS-230's today. Has any member had experience with this at he Bangkok embassy? I originally obtanained my passport with my birth certificate 30 plus years ago. If I do indeed need it it looks like at least a month to obatain a certified copy. A heads up from USCIS sure would have been nice. Trying to get specific information such as this like pulling teeth from the Bangkok embassy.

"You (and any family members immigrating with you to the United States) must obtain an original birth certificate issued by the official custodian of birth records in your country of birth, showing your date of birth, place of birth, and parentage. Important Notice: All Immigrant Visa applicants must submit a long form original birth certificate. Short form birth certificates will not be accepted.

The certificate must contain the:

Your date of birth
Your place of birth
Names of both parents
Indication by the appropriate authority that it is an extract from the official records

Birth Certificates"

Edited by rucus, 02 July 2014 - 04:48 AM.

rucus

Not Telling

Thailand

2014-07-02 04:47:00

Planning on returning to USA R1 and R2 for Daughters.

I have been living full time in thailand for 9 years. For numerous reasons I feel it is timely to return to the USA. My wife and I have been married for 6 years. File Federal taxes jointly, so establishing a bionafied marriage should be no problem. We also have two address in America we can reside for an indefinite period.

I just returned from a 7 week job search in California. No luck. My CALPERS retirement is 49,000 annually, which far exceeds the minimum Federal guidelines for a family of four.I am open to suggestion o how to proceed.I am tempted to take my family, since we meet the financial guidelines.

Any input from someone is a similar position would be greatly appreciated. I don't feel that $49,000 is adequate anyplace in the U.S. for a family of four.

rucus

Not Telling

Thailand

2013-10-24 18:29:00