Scott DB

Which form(s) should someone use to file if they've been living and working abroad? I'm guessing the 1040EZ doesn't cut it.

Go to My Controls, then on the left under Personal Profile click Edit Signature.

Hi, I was also a student when I filed and had no income. The first year (2005) I had some earnings so I filed, in 2006 and 2007 all I had was like $70 from earned interest in my bank accounts. I had to back file for those two years. I was in China also, and the way I did it was my mom (who was my co-sponsor) sent me the forms and I filled them out and sent them back to her. She filed them for me and then I ordered the three copies of tax transcripts. I believe that you must file even with the zero income because you are the petitioner. After that, it's all the co-sponsor's income that they look at. Also, you may want to be careful of domicile issues, so what I did was include copies of letters from my bank saying that I had been using their accounts (I had been using my American credit card, checking account, etc.) They wrote that I was a member of good standing as of _____ (date). Another thing that I did for my taxes is I filed jointly by getting an TIN for my husband. This number allows people without a social security card to file taxes. I am not sure, but I think it helps to file jointly to show you are seriously married to a person, even if your income was zero. Did you really have to file, even though your income was under the minimum level required for filing? I'm confused about this point. Have there been any cases here where a VO rejected a written explanation stating the income of the petitioner was lower than the minimum required to file on the IRS publications? (Assuming the joint sponsor submits their tax returns, of course.)

For those of you who taught in China and had to file taxes after coming back, which form(s) did you use? Was it just 1040 Schedule C?

FTR, here's a draft of the cover letter I'm planning to submit. Dear Consulate, Thank you for the quick response to my petition I-130 and your request for further evidence. We are happy to comply with your request for evidence of a bona-fide marital relationship. Attached I have included: * the original Request For Evidence form you sent me * a letter detailing the account and circumstances of how I first met my wife and how our relationship evolved * a letter from my current employer in China stating how long I have been working for them and that I have been residing on their university campus together with my wife for the past 10 months * various chat logs from instant messengers dating back to the day after we met * local telephone records detailing telephone calls and text messages we’ve sent each other going back six months (the maximum available from the telephone company) * a statement about co-mingling of monetary funds * supplementary supporting evidence If you still have any questions or concerns about the bona-fide nature of our marital relationship, please do not hestitate to contact us and we will answer them. Sincerely, Scott ~~~

Okay, these might seem like daft questions, but I'm in pedantic mode now. 1.) Should I mail the evidence they requested to the address on the letterhead and address it to the person who signed the letter? They didn't specify exactly how to respond to the request, since box number 10 did not have an 'X' in it. (Note that box 10 contains outdated information about the day and time people can appear in person.) 2.) On page 2, which is titled 'REQUEST FOR EVIDENCE', it also says "each response to a Service request must be accompanied by its blue I-797". Does it matter that the form they sent me was not blue? The footer on page 2 says "attachment to I-797", but page 1 doesn't say anything about I-797 and they were both printed on white paper. 3.) Considering our circumstances (we live on campus, uni pays for utilities, don't own property in America), am I right in thinking my best bet at this point is to write a statement explaining those circumstances (along with the letter and contract copies from the university) and our future intentions to cover the financial angle? Or should I wait until we have concrete evidence before responding to them? If they choose to be pedantic about this, am I right in thinking the most likely outcome would just be another RFE? 4.) Should I send them the white book of my wife's marriage certificate? The woman who accepted my petition told me it was not needed and only accepted mine. They didn't specifically request it in their letter, but they did mark box number 8 stating that "All documents in a foreign language must be accompanied by a translation in to English. The translator must certify that s/he is competent to translate and that the translation is accurate." Or should I just save this and have my wife take it with her to the interview when that time comes?

Thanks so much to both of you for the words of encouragement and useful suggestions. I realize now how poorly prepared and organized my initial application was. I'm sure I have enough evidence to show the on-going, long term nature of our relationship, between chat logs and local telephone records, and an official letter from my university stating we've been living together on campus. I'm still unsure how to overcome the obstacle of showing co-mingling of financial funds. When we asked our banks about setting up a joint account they told us they wouldn't because apparently "nobody does that" here in China (to even my wife's surprise). I assumed it would be problematic to change the way my bank account in America is set up unless I go there in person, and I haven't been back there in almost a year. Even if we're able to set something up now, won't that just look dubious since it was set up after the request for evidence was made?

I received this notice in the mail today. I thought this was rare for DCF, but I wasn't entirely surprised. It was addressed to me and had my telephone number on it, though they sent it to the address we listed for Jane's mailing address (which is her employer's). When I submitted the I-130 form, I included an explanation of how we met at a mutual friend's wedding in 2008. The numerous photos we submitted spanning from shortly after then until our wedding all had captions with the dates and locations. Perhaps this was not specific enough? Obviously many of the things they suggest for evidence are impossible to get because they don't apply to us. I've been living and working as an English teacher here in China, so most of our correspondence has been face to face. The place where we reside together is provided by the university which employs me. In addition to writing a more detailed evolution of relationship letter, I'm thinking of asking several people who have known us and of our relationship to write letters supporting us. Do these letters need to be notarized? Does is matter if they aren't US citizens? Also, my parents are now willing to co-sponsor Jane, though they haven't met her in person yet. Any other ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Letter from USCIS: Page 1 [...] PLEASE COMPLY WITH THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS: [...] [X] 8. All documents in a foreign language must be accompanied by a translation in to English. The translator must certify that s/he is competent to translate and that the translation is accurate. [X] 9. Please see the attachment. [ ] 10. You may appear in person at Tian Yu Garden (II Phase) 5th Floor. 136-146 Lin He Zhong Lu, Tian He District, Guangzhou on any Friday (excluding holidays) betwen the hours of 9:00am o 11:30am, or you may mail the documentation to our office, along with a copy of this notice, to the U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou, No. 1 Shamian Street, Guangzhou,China ([Chinese]) Failure to submit documentation within 60 days from the date of this notice may result in the denial of your petition/application. [...] Page 2 REQUEST FOR EVIDENCE *** Each petition must have its own set of supporting documents in the event that your petitions become separated. Also, each response to a Service request must be accompanied by its blue I-797. *** All foreign language documents must be submitted with complete English translations. The translator must certify that the translation is complete and accurate, and that he or she is competent to translate. Do not submit the English translation without the foreign language document. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please respond to the items below: BONA-FIDE MARITAL RELATIONSHIP: You have submitted evidence--a marriage certificate and various photos--confirming that you married the beneficiary listed on the I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. However, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service cannot determine the bona-fide intent of the marital relationship based on this evidence alone. Therefore, submit evidence to establish the bona-fide intent of the marital relationship. Such evidence should include documents showing the co-mingling of monetary funds between you and your spouse, as well as documentary evidence of co-habitation between you and your spouse. Please note: the evidence submitted should span the entire course of the relationship, marital as well as pre-marital. Examples of such evidence may include, but is not limited to the following: birth certificates for children listing both your names as the child's natural parents; property deeds showing both your names as co-owners; documents from government entitlement programs showing both your names; insurance plans showing yourselves as co-beneficiaries; statements from bank accounts in both your names; utilty bills showing a shared residence; receipts for purchases/investments made together; photographs of yourselves together at various stages of your relationship, copies of correspondence between the petitioner and beneficiary, documentary evidence of travel between the two countries of residence establishing the continuing and ongoing nature of the relationship. This evidence is not all inclusive, it is suggested that you submit any other evidence that you feel will help the USCIS to determine that you and your spouse have a bona-fide marital relationship.

I was finally able to file my I-130 form yesterday (Tuesday), and here's my experience. Since I live in another province, I had to take a train the night before and then wait about 5 hours before the public service window time (which is now from 1:30 to 3:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays), so I felt exhausted when I arrived. I went up 25 minutes early and there was already a large number of people waiting on the fourth floor though most of them were visa applicants coming for an interview. I heard one of the guards instructing another one in Chinese that he should divide us up into two lines based on the reason we were coming. When I told him I was going to the consulate to file petition I-130, he had what seemed to be a confused look on his face but then put me at the front of a new line, which thankfully ended up going in first. After I went up to the 5th floor I turned right and started walking. Another security guard approached me and told me that American Citizen Services was the other way and I should be going that way. I told him I wasn't going to ACS, that I was going to the other place. He asked why and I told him I was going to file petition I-130 for my immediate relative. He then tried to tell me I could only do that on Monday mornings! I almost had a heart attack right there. I just went there last Friday only to find out they had changed the day to Tuesday/Thursday. I asked him if he was joking me and wasn't today the day the public service window is open, and he said "Oh... you're going to DHS," and then let me pass. When we got inside we were directed to line up on the chairs by room A in the far back corner of the room. I was the first to go in. I had a my passport, Jane's passport, both of our marriage certificates (red books) and a folder containing all the other materials ready to submit. When I said hello to the lady behind the window she asked me if I was here to file petition I-130, and I said yes. She asked to see my passport and looked it over, checking to make sure I had the appropriate visa and residence permit. Then she asked to see the other passport, and when I was I handing it to her she asked me to hand them all over to her, including the materials in the folder. The folder contained: - cover letter with table of contents - I-130 form - G-325a biographical data forms - Passport sized photos of each of us - Notarized copies and translations of our marriage certificates - Notarized copy of beneficiary¡¯s birth certification letter - Notarized copy of beneficiary¡¯s police record showing no criminal activity - Photos to prove relationship over time She looked over them and asked me to confirm my phone number and chinese address in case they needed to contact me to request more information or documents. Then she made photocopies of my residence permit and one of the red books. When she came back she asked me if I had been married before. Maybe it was because I was so exhausted from traveling the night before (and the week before), but the question kind of confused me at first. Obviously if I'm married now I must have gotten married in the past, and we had just gotten married several weeks ago, but that's not what she meant. I asked her to clarify if she meant before my current marriage and she said yes. Of course the answer was no, I had not been married before, and neither had she. She then placed one of the white books in the tray under the window. I opened it and saw it was the notarized translation of my wife's marriage certificate. I asked her didn't they need both of these? She looked at it and said that one is not needed. She then sent me out the window to pay, which I did with my credit card and brought back the receipt. By the time I left only two people had been seen in about a half hour or so and there were still about half a dozen or so waiting. So like others say, arrive early. It's also a good idea to wear a watch, since there are no clocks inside and you can't bring your cellphone with you.

Our concern is that the letter in the white book does not even mention the Public Security Bureau or the stamp they placed on it. Apparently the PSB where she is registered doesn't even have a formal letterhead to write things on. I don't know why they didn't insert a copy of the original letter in the white book, but the way they did it makes it look like she only went to the notary office to get a certification letter about her birth

Like many Chinese citizens, my wife Jane never had an actual birth certificate, so she had to get a letter from the PSB. The problem is when we had this document translated and notarized, the notary office kept the original document. The white book with the translation of it has the chinese version too, but it just has the notary office's official stamp on it, not the PSB's. Also, the original document was not on "formal letterhead" but had the PSB's official stamp on it. Do I need the original of this document when filing DCF, and is this the correct document? I need to know this as soon as possible so I don't waste another long trip to Guangzhou only to find out I have to back AGAIN just to file the I-130 petition.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Latest Notice * USCIS Guangzhou¡¯s public window service will be temporarily unavailable on December 24, 2009 and December 31, 2009. * Starting on December 1, 2009, our public service hours will be held from 13:30pm to 15:00pm on every Tuesday and Thursday, rather than Friday morning. Customers can walk in to make inquiries or file petitions during these hours. http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/cis.html

Hey guys, am I the first person here to discover that they changed the day you can go in to file the petition? I wish I had known that before I traveled all the way from Guilin to Guangzhou yesterday. B)

Yeah, that's right. Technically my contract with the school expires on January 31st, though my residence permit is valid a few months longer than that. Our interview was just shy of three months after first filing our I-130 petition in Beijing. There are a few others who experienced similar processing times. You may want to look at the timelines to see how fast petitions are currently being processed. If worse comes to worst, we can always delay the interview right? I thought I read that once the I-130 petition is filed and approved it doesn't expire. And the interview isn't scheduled until the P3 materials are sent back, is that right?

What if I enter the U.S. before my wife, shortly after I file the I-130, and begin working at a job before we file the I-864 (which unless I'm mistaken usually happens 3 to 6 months later)?