Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Employment last five years--I-129F	Thanks for the reply. I was able to get information for 4 of the 7, so I just take wild guesses on the remaining.	AGUA FRIA	Female	0	2007-02-02 21:05:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Employment last five years--I-129F	My fiance worked for 7 different companies in the last five years (I know that is a lot ). Unfortunately, he doesn't remember the months he was employed. The employment records we do have only lists the year of employment, not the month. My question is: How important is it to have the exact month of employment?	AGUA FRIA	Female	0	2007-02-01 23:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Document Assembly question	Remember you only need proof to show that you have met in the past two years. I included seven photographs of my fiance, some with just the two of us and some with family. On the back of each photo I wrote the month and year. I also included a copy of my entry stamp from my passport, copies of my boarding passes, a copy of a money gram, sent by my sister (I ran out of money ), and a copy of the receipt showing I paid the exit tariff.	AGUA FRIA	Female	0	2007-02-23 21:38:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Photos in packet	The photo shop provided me with two of my passport-style photos. I kept one with my copy and sent the other.	AGUA FRIA	Female	0	2007-02-23 21:45:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I 129f ALIEN's birth certificate	The birth certificate of the beneficiary isn't required at this point. I didn't include my foreign fiance's certificate and all went well with no RFE. Good Luck :0)	AGUA FRIA	Female	0	2007-02-23 21:16:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	G 325A - Attachments	All of my attachments were signed. On the back of each picture I submitted, I wrote the month and year the photo was taken. You could probably do the the same with your DVD still photo.	AGUA FRIA	Female	0	2007-03-11 21:58:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	birth certificate - foreign fiance - why?	I, the USC, didn't send my fiance's birth certificate. I filed through the Vermont Service Center and received no RFE.	AGUA FRIA	Female	0	2007-03-17 12:35:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Need HELP with your opinions!!!!!!	My little comment is to trust your instincts... Remember love is patient and kind. Please ensure you spend your time, money, and effort on someone who loves you. You might want to give it some more much needed thought.	AGUA FRIA	Female	0	2007-03-17 12:46:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	G-325A Address	I'm starting my journey of bringing my lovely fiancee to the US from China... and if any of you have ever been to china, you know that the address system there is all messed up. My question is: can I fill out the address in chinese characters or must I use PinYin (Roman characters). Also, it might not all fit into the box. Anybody have any experience with this? I'm doing it on the computer. Please advise.	Zachary and Lyche	Male	China	2007-03-29 00:35:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Approvedddddddd =)	Guys.. Thanks for the messages.. wish i could quit the job right now and fly to thailand haha take a long break from work. never know i m getting married that soon. now stuck with payments and can't afford to quit the job. damn it. =P anyway, wish everyone here don't have to wait long.	KevAui	Male	Thailand	2007-03-12 21:46:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Approvedddddddd =)	Feb 13, 2007: Filed I129F Feb 21, 2007: NOA1 Hard Copy received Mar 06, 2007: Case is approved. Still Waiting to receive NOA2 by mail. Good Luck to you all.	KevAui	Male	Thailand	2007-03-11 04:08:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	WE GOT IT!!!!	Congrats	Shemmy	Not Telling	Jamaica	2006-05-10 17:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	NOA2 Dated 05/08/06-NVC Received Case Today-WHOAHOOO!!	Congrats Kim	Shemmy	Not Telling	Jamaica	2006-05-18 20:18:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	K-1 Fiance(e) Visa General Discussion	Haven't been here for a few months, lots has changed.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-01-28 17:42:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	anyone ever denied after AR/AP is processed?	If you have aready had the interview at the consulate and are now in Administrative review. The petitioner should be able to call the Dept of State in the US to at least get a status. Department of State Visa office: 202-647-7948 Good Luck. Marilyn and Peter.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-02-01 17:54:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Minimum Income Requirements for K1	Depends on how the embassy interprets the requirements. Some ask for 100% and some for 125% They seem to have total control so check the embassy or others who have come through recently. Marilyn and Peter.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-03-06 16:10:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	income and manila embassy?	Although Manila can and will ask for the last three years of tax returns, they are most concerned with the current return, W-2's and the EMPLOYER LETTER. If you are above the 125% for the current year and the letter states your salary and the job is permanent, you should be fine. Marilyn and Peter.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-03-16 16:42:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I 864	Using the I-864, the applicant must list everyone living under the same roof related by blood, adoption. If there are lots of relatives, it raises the total number of people when you look at the poverty chart. There is a supplemental form (I-864A I believe) that allows you to list the income of the others living in the house to make up the proper amount. Marilyn and Peter.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-05-06 13:06:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Philippines I-134 Minimum Requirements	Manila does not care one bit about assets. You want to have the employer letter, IRS transcripts or copies of 1040's and the W-2 if the taxes were filled jointly. I sent the last three years of w-2's and transcripts when we had our interview just to be safe, as Manila would sometimes ask for three years worth. Marilyn and Peter.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-06-04 00:05:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Philippines I-134 Minimum Requirements	Manila does not care one bit about assets. You want to have the employer letter, IRS transcripts or copies of 1040's and the W-2 if the taxes were filled jointly. I sent the last three years of w-2's and transcripts when we had our interview just to be safe, as Manila would sometimes ask for three years worth. Marilyn and Peter.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-06-04 00:05:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Can anyone decipher what this means?	This is the standard canned message that has always appeared when an RFE has been received. It really means nothing except that it does verify your response to the RFE has been received by the USCIS. Marilyn and Peter.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-07-05 15:59:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Ohio Senator response from CSC	You have got to be shitt!ng me!! CSC was cited for shredded petitions? Was that documented somewhere? Can you please supply a link to that? This seems difficult to believe. Really dude, let's see the link.... Since I have been involved with this visa process, I have witnessed one screw up after another. When I first started, the TSC was taking 250 days and beyond to do anything with petitions. Then the CSC was cited for shredding entire application packets. It just never ends, the government incompetence and lack of accountability astounds me. I have worked closely with government agencies so this is no surprise but the USCIS is probably government bureaucracy at its absolute worst. I am almost done with this mess for a while but have a friend waiting for the CSC to approve his application so he can endure another 5-6 months of waiting for the Manila nightmare to end. Marilyn and Peter. There are many stories but here is one report. http://www.nilc.org/...pr/oblpr087.htm	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-07-22 08:50:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Ohio Senator response from CSC	Since I have been involved with this visa process, I have witnessed one screw up after another. When I first started, the TSC was taking 250 days and beyond to do anything with petitions. Then the CSC was cited for shredding entire application packets. It just never ends, the government incompetence and lack of accountability astounds me. I have worked closely with government agencies so this is no surprise but the USCIS is probably government bureaucracy at its absolute worst. I am almost done with this mess for a while but have a friend waiting for the CSC to approve his application so he can endure another 5-6 months of waiting for the Manila nightmare to end. Marilyn and Peter.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-07-22 00:14:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Change of address	Whose address is changing? The sponsor in the US or the recipient of the visa in the UK? If it is the US sponsor, you just need to make sure you receive the hard copy of the NOA2. If it is UK recipient, here is what I did. I had a letter pre made that had all important information, NOA dates, A number, NSC number, old address and new address. I called the NVC every morning until the case arrived. I then faxed (they gave me the number) the change of address sheet and also needed to send it to the NVC priority mail. My information was changed within two days. This is what we did as Marilyn's address moved from Hong Kong to the Philippines but it all worked out. Marilyn and Peter.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-08-06 09:33:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	THIS IS ABSOLUTLY UNACCEPTABLE AND ABSURD!!!	I've had it, I can't take it any more! Look at E&K's Timeline! May 1996: Met in Mexico March 7th, 2006: Sent 129F to NSC March 9th, 2006: NOA1 June 15th, 2006: Notice of transfer to CSC June 20th, 2006: Last touch I want my RFE!!!!!!!!! March 7th and still no RFE ??? I have read some of this members post and I am SHOCKED! We all need to band together and do something - any suggestions what we could all band together and do? TucsonBill, A few of us are already working on ways to bring attention to profound problems within the current system USCIS is using. If you're interested, you can contact me about it via PM or email. Oddly, a lot of people say they want to do something, but then don't seem to really budge... I've been writing letters. I've also been exploring means to get wider media attention. True enough that the more of us that are focusing our efforts, the more people are likely to sit up and take notice. The current system not only propagates lengthy and unnecessary delays, but charges unnecessary fees and compromises national security. There's nothing good about it. Change has been needed for some time, but while everyone seems to talk alot about it, no one ever does anything. The Ombudsman reports, and the increasing level of frustration they indicate, are proof positive. Unfortunately, that same apathy seems to exist at the customer level. "Just sit and wait. Everyone has to. It'll all be over some day." That's not good enough for me. It shocks me again and again that it seems to be good enough for so many. And as I've said repeatedly now...If you think the petition phase is bad, wait till you see what's coming with AOS...It's gonna get much worse... I felt the same when I was going through the process and 150 - 250 days just getting through the NSC and TSC was the norm. I wrote to just about anyone you can think of, including the Pres and VP and got the standard "we will look into the situation" bullcrap letters. We, people petitioning to bring foreign nationals over to the US are a very small minority in the country as a whole and also within the group of people dealing with the USCIS. Petitions have been made before and haven't produced any changes. About the only thing that might work is a lawsuit, but what do you claim is the wrong committed? USCIS doesn't promise to process petitions within a given amount of time. You could state that anyone not serviced by the Vermont service center is not getting equal treatment, then they would just slow down Vermont to match the other service centers. When Marilyn and I were going through the process, it felt like forever. Looking back, it wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time and also brought us closer together as we endured the wait. You know what they say, "anything worth wide is worth waiting for." Take care, Marilyn and Peter. AOS isn't worse. Even though you still deal with the same incompetent government workforce, you have your husband or wife there beside you. Marilyn and I had to deal with the wrong middle name on the green card, repeated trips over an hour away each time to get it corrected, but she was with me so it doesn't seem so bad. I have been dealing with government workers for 10 years, not just in the USCIS and let me tell you, things are NOT going to change. Take care, Marilyn and Peter. Edited by hotairguy, 30 September 2006 - 04:58 PM.	hotairguy	Male	Philippines	2006-09-30 16:56:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Questions about I-864	It's not that I'm not going to file my taxes for 2010... it's just that by the time I send in my Affidavit of Support, it will only be January or February of 2011, so I won't have filed them yet because taxes are not due until April. And I do definitely have income for 2010, so I won't say that I don't have income, nor will I need a reason for not filing (because no one will have filed for 2010 yet). Haha I agree that generally we would file on April 14th, but this year we expect and want and need our big refund so we will be filing January 1st. Well, later obviously, but if we haven't received all our W2s pretty soon we will be banging on some doors. File your taxes as soon as you can. If your I-864 is requested before you have been physically able to do so, then you could send it off with as much extra evidence as possible and then be prepared for the potential of a RFE asking for your 2010 tax transcript. They should make it clearer what ones does in this situation. Maybe they'll just ask you to give your husband the 2010 tax return to bring to his interview at the Embassy, that would be nice. Hopefully someone who filed their I-864 in a January without a tax return can give you their experience.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-11-19 02:15:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Questions about I-864	Hi everyone, I have a few questions (okay, several, actually) about the I-864. I am still two months or so away from my I-130 approval, but I want to make sure that I am prepared when the time comes so that we can get through the rest of the process as quickly as possible. I really appreciate any and all input you can give me! First of all, I'll be filing my Affidavit of Support in early 2011, but obviously I will not have done my taxes for 2010 by that point. I already have tax transcripts for 2009, 2008, and 2007 – are those still the three most recent tax years, if I'm filing around January/February 2011? You will need your tax return from 2010. Prod your company to give you your W2 as soon as the year ends, and file immediately. If you are in a rush then you can send a copy of the tax return along with the W2 instead of waiting to get a transcript. As for my current annual income, I work part time at a job that I didn't begin until April 2010, and my pay has varied widely from one pay period to the next (at least in the beginning). However, in the past few months, I have become much more involved with the company and make a more steady amount now (although it still varies depending on the actual work I do). I was going to estimate my yearly salary by taking the average of what I now usually make in a two-week period and multiplying that by 24 (two paychecks per month). To get that average amount, should I use my gross pay or net pay from my pay stubs? Is it necessary explain somewhere how I arrived at that number (i.e. my current annual income)? I am going to submit a few pay stubs from the past couple of months, but on them you can see that my year to date earnings are nowhere near the income requirements. This is because I didn't start the job until April, and I was working very little at first. However, my manager is happy to write a letter explaining that I pretty much work full time now to provide evidence that I am gainfully employed. Do you think this is acceptable? When they ask for your past income they ask for the adjusted gross, which indicates that you can use the gross pay from your pay stubs when calculating your annual pay. As you will be giving your current annual income for 2011, you can estimate what that will be based on how much you expect to work in 2011. The current annual income figure can be an estimation, a rounded number, and you do not need to explain how you arrived at it. As your tax returns will show lower incomes you will however need to provide plenty of evidence showing that such a figure for 2011 is reasonable. Recent pay stubs and a good letter from your manager will be essential. In the instructions they mention something about 6 months of pay stubs. This isn't necessarily necessary, but more is generally better. Remember that you will have more pay stubs by the time you submit the affidavit of support. Hopefully you will be able to work as much as possible from the start of January. Those pay stubs will then show that you are on course to make such-and-such amount in 2011. If your expected income is a sufficient amount above the requirement, then this should be pretty straightforward really. If you are borderline then showing you truly expect to make enough in 2011 will require greater attention to the numbers. (So, if it is high then you can round the number to show it is an estimate. But if it is very close then you may want to make it as exact as possible in order to indicate that it is truly what you will make.) In case they decide that all this is not good enough, my mother has also agreed to be a joint sponsor. This is perfect. She used to be a business owner but sold the business over 10 years ago. She does not work anymore but has income from rental properties and investments (stocks, etc.). Does this mean she is self-employed? It sounds like it, I think. Her tax transcripts do show her Schedule D (capital gains) and Schedule E (rent/royalty/partnership/estate) forms. Should she also write a letter explaining her income, and do we need to include statements, say for example from her property manager showing incoming rent payments? Include the transcripts and all related 1040s. Where the self-employed check box is she can write "rental property owner", or some such. No need to explain further in a letter, and the stocks etc. speak for themselves. If her last three tax transcripts are high enough and similar enough then they should be enough evidence of income. If is borderline or the rental income was pretty low in one of the years, then proof of the current incoming rent payments might help show that her future income is guaranteed. To summarize, here is everything that I am thinking of including in my Affidavit of Support package. Please let me know your thoughts (if you think something is necessary/unnecessary): I-864 from petitioner/primary sponsor (myself) Letter from employer stating current annual income (estimated using average pay in a two-week period) and describing my role(s) within the company Make sure your role is described as being permanent, as far as possible. A collection of pay stubs from the past few months (is it OK if they are not consecutive? There will be pay periods, for example during the holidays, for which I wouldn't have earned much, if anything, and I obviously don't want to include those) Probably best to make it consecutive. As they include the year-to-date income it will be obvious how much you earnt in any missing pay periods anyway. It also should be obvious that, for example, Christmas exists. Just try, as much as possible, to work full-time in the new year. Tax transcripts from 2009, 2008, and 2007 I-864 from joint sponsor (my mother) A copy of my mother's US passport and naturalization certificate (to prove her citizenship) Letter of self-employment (not sure exactly what needs to go in here) Evidence of income (e.g. statements from property manager showing rental payments, statements from her stockbroker maybe?) only necessary if the past 1040 Schedules are not indicative of her expected 2011 income. Tax transcripts from 2009, 2008, and 2007 with 1040s Anyhow, sounds like you are very well prepared and fully comprehend the form! Sorry for the super long post, and thank you so much in advance to anyone who can help. This community has been so incredible in helping to make sense of this whole horrible process. I've been apart from my husband for nearly a year now (except for the two weeks we had together in June, when we got married), and we still have several months to go. It really helps to know that other people are going through the same thing.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-11-19 02:10:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Inconsistent use of beneficiary's middle name	In many cases issues with names can be resolved at a later stage without any undue effort on your part right now.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-11-30 23:28:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Trying to decide if this is the best for us	Hi everyone. A few weeks ago my fiancee and I started putting together a K-1 Fiance Visa, but due to some recent events, we believe that it'll be best for us to go ahead and get married while we're both together in the United States, since I'm only here till January 18th. As of right now, we're hoping to get married as soon as possible and put together the IR-1 / CR-1 Visa request as soon as possible. However, we have a few questions before we make any quick decisions. If all goes as planned, I'm hoping to take her back to the United Kingdom with me on January 18th, as February is an important month to us, seeing as its the month of our anniversary, my fiancee's birthday, and (of course) Valentine's Day. This is where my questions begin, would it be wise for her to leave the US while we're waiting for approval of the visa? Would she have trouble getting into the country if we're married? Get married asap. As soon as you get the marriage certificate file the I-130. Approval takes quite a while so she should not be receiving anything of importance in the mail for quite a while. As for entry into the UK, if you have with you a copy of the I-130 and, if you have filed soon enough the receipt from USCIS, then you can show that as proof that she has no immigrant intent - because you are in fact going to be moving to the US. If you don't receive the receipt from USCIS before you fly then you could bring proof of postage, or something showing the cheque has been cashed if USCIS has cashed it but not sent anything to you yet.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-12-07 05:31:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	I-130 Overkill	Is it completely necessary to overkill the I-130 packet with tons of emails, letters, pictures, affidavits, etc. or should we keep some back for the interview? Rose UK specific advice: communications and photos are irrelevant, though if you want to take them to the interview then do so. However, affidavits are a good idea. They don't need to be anything elaborate, but do include them. London has been requesting them so good thing to include even if you're going through NVC.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-12-07 05:35:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	I-130 Affidavits	We will be getting about 5 of those 13 affidavits signed today before we send them off, as for the pictures we are going to send some from each visit and the wedding. Still not sure about the Skype logs and letters/emails though.. 3 affidavits are generally enough so having 5 signed should be plenty. (Especially if they are from US citizens.) Notarization is not required.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-12-07 06:04:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Are the "self-employed" evaluated differently?	As far as suspicion goes, immigration requires your tax information in order to prove your income. They assume that if the IRS has accepted your tax return then it is legit. So there is no double standard in this sense. In general it is your current income or most recent tax return that they consider. There can be variations on this, in that in some circumstances if your past tax returns show a lower income they may want a little extra proof that you really do expect to be earning a similar amount in the future. So long as you have some kind of assets though you shouldn't even have to worry about that possibility.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-12-12 02:17:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	HOW IS CURRENT INCOME EVALUATED?WAS IT BASED ON AMOUNT EARNED OR STABILITY OF INCOME?	A two-year contract is pretty good job security, really. In the "current annual income" box write his expected income for the coming year. When it comes time to submit the evidence, you should have all his recent pay stubs, so from when he started this job up to the interview date or as near as possible.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-12-11 23:56:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Help please! Dont know were to start.	If you become eligible for UK citizenship before you return to the States, then that might be something you want to consider.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-12-20 15:39:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Expiration Date on "Choice of Agent Form" ?	With this particular form, I don't think it matters. I myself noted the date after sending it off last year, and emailed the NVC to, well, panic. But they eventually replied saying they'd received it and all was well. If you're worried though, this form here: http://www.state.gov...ation/80023.pdf has an expiration of 2013 so could just print that!	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-12-30 12:35:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Police Certificate	When I was doing this a year ago, I had to send the original plus photocopy to the NVC then took a photocopy to the interview just in case.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2011-01-02 22:01:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Question..	If you are working then you can visit the US as much as you can fit around your work and proof of your employment should get you through the POE. If you don't work then you can spend longer in the US at a time, but may be harder to prove you intend to return to the UK. Personally I was always allowed in just with my return ticket, but maybe I was lucky.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2010-12-27 13:02:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Income Tax Question	Filing married whilst your spouse is still living abroad can be complicated, as they don't have an SSN. If you won't gain anything by filing together then don't bother doing it.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2011-01-14 23:16:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Preparing this form.. I-130 Question	Nope, lots of people do this! You and your spouse are one	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2011-01-18 01:07:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Documents for Visa Interview	NO you do not need to take originals if you have already submitted them to NVC. Did you also include copies of all the documents you sent? You might need more photos, I can't remember.	JoannaV	Female	United Kingdom	2011-02-04 10:32:00