djwalker60

Greetings; We'll yesterday the wife called me and told me that after my last trip, we'll she is now pregnant with our first child.. Now i am even more nervous and stressed out. Is it possible to expedite her visa? Has anyone ever heard of trying to or actually getting a I-130 expedited? From what i understand she will not be able to travel after her 6th month, true? I truly hope we can get this expedited in time for her to give birth here in the US. If not, i guess I'll be moving to Guangzhou. Any information would be helpful. Oh, just for the fun of it i wrote a lawyer a co-worker of mine knows. He said that he doubts very much that she will be here in time for the birth of our child. I hope he is wrong, can't trust lawyers.. I am sure if i gave him a few thousand, he'd say sure anything is possible. We'll thanks for listening again.. Dan

Using W-2's and Return for 2009, plus IRS Transcripts for 2008 & 2007, plus all other additional income information. So, because i am sponsoring two immigrants, i can give copies for each 864, but be sure the wife has the originals in case she is asked by a "wonderful" person within the Consulate during her interview. This entire interview process at Guangzhou has me really nervous, especially since i hear such horror stories coming out of this consulate. Dan

A short question / confirmation; I am under the impression that I will need to provide two complete I-864's. One for wife and one for step-daughter? Each I-864 "package" to contain a copy of the following: I-864 Completed and Signed 3 years of W-2 3 Years of Taxes or 3 years of offical IRS Tax Transcripts Employer letter Pay Stubs Any information is greatly appreciated. As of now, i am understand the assumption that i will need two sets. Thank You Dan

Yes, I am back down after more and more reading, the more I realize there is much more to worry about. I do hope that I sent in all of the right information and not too much evidence, but yet enough to prove our marriage is bona fide. I guess it's a balancing act with the government. I've already started to get my I-864 information gathered. I have called and received three years of Tax transcripts, even though just a copy is suppose to be good enough, i've read a few post here where GUZ had requested "transcripts" so i might as well order them. Better to have them than not to have them. I've just filed 2009 taxes, so I'll have to just file a copy of my 2009 tax return. W2's & a letter from my employer, oh and of course a continues supply of pay stubs which will be updated every month. I realize there is much more and i am getting my "shopping list" together for that. I love lists.... I just make list and more lists to ensure i have all required Items.. But now i can only do so much and wait and wait and then when it is time "OPTIN" and get the electronic process going.. and then on to getting my wife her visa.. Sorry to bend ears here, but any and all helpful comments and guidance would greatly be appreciated. Thank You Dan Seattle

Duly Noted, just thought i'd offer if anyone needed any help. Dan

Yes Sir I did, I sent Fedex because i can send it from work and get a really good price. Just 6.20, same price or cheaper than i can send at the USPS. So, it's on it's way...

Not worried about financials, I have even scaled back how much i've printed out from chat logs and emails. I then created a summary documentation of all emails and chat sessions. A screen shot of all emails from my email client. plus 60 photos out of 500+ i have. Plus i have a dvd of our wedding party.. Wish i could send that too. I would rather have more than enough than not enough. Like giving them no doubt about our relationship. The wife is now officially on the Deed to the home, and utility bills, insurance beneficiary and more. I hope i have all basis covered. Once I get my NOA1, then i will start gathering all docs for electronic filing.. getting ahead of the game, do not like to wait until last minute. If anyone wants, i can give a full listing of everything i am sending in. Maybe it will help others. Dan We'll I'll post to myself and if anyone has any thoughts, i'd welcome any "encouragement" on this process. Sent off our I-130 Package today, totaled about 3" worth of documents and a complete listing of contents was: Cover Letter Payment of $355 for wife made out to U.S Department of Homeland Security Payment of $355.00 for step-daughter made out to U.S Department of Homeland Security I-130 and Supplements for Wife I-130 and Supplements for Step-Daughter G325a for wife & one Passport Style photo G325a for myself & one Passport Style photo Affidavits of Bona Fide Relationship - 3 Letter from me - Evolution of relationship Letter Copy of My Birth Certificate - Front & Back Copy of entire US Passport (not needed) including copies of Chinese Visa and all entry and exit stamps Copy of Chinese Marriage Certificates Copy of Translated Chinese Marriage Certificates Copy of My Divorce Decree Utility bills with wife's name Copy of Life insurance policies with wife as beneficiary Copy of Deed to House with Wife's name on it Copies of Phone Bills Copies of emails (not all) Copies of Chat Sessions (not all) including summary page 60 Photos of wife and I from wedding and more Evidence of visits, boarding passes, receipts and more Sent all Via FedEx to the Chicago Office. Now, after I get NOA1, time to get ready for phase two. I hope I sent enough Documentation and then i hope i did not send too much. I believe all will be good. I have photos of my package, but do not know how to put it here. We'll as i just said, i hope i have done this correctly and sent all necessary items. Thanks for reading and any Comments. Dan & Yonghua

Not worried about financials, I have even scaled back how much i've printed out from chat logs and emails. I then created a summary documentation of all emails and chat sessions. A screen shot of all emails from my email client. plus 60 photos out of 500+ i have. Plus i have a dvd of our wedding party.. Wish i could send that too. I would rather have more than enough than not enough. Like giving them no doubt about our relationship. The wife is now officially on the Deed to the home, and utility bills, insurance beneficiary and more. I hope i have all basis covered. Once I get my NOA1, then i will start gathering all docs for electronic filing.. getting ahead of the game, do not like to wait until last minute. If anyone wants, i can give a full listing of everything i am sending in. Maybe it will help others. Dan

I personally would not send receipts for this stuff. but that's me. good luck. If I can ask, why you would not send these particular receipts? Just Wondering. Dan

Do not need another sponsor near 100k a year for me.. so do not need that. But not easy to get a letter from employer. I also think i will include at least 6 months of pay stubs, originals, W2 (three years), tax returns (2009, 2008 & 2007) I actually called the IRS to get Transcripts for 2006 - 2008. Won't get transcripts for 2009 thought. I think that should be good enough for the I-864.. I hope. thoughts ?

Now, step xxxxx: My wife has started to gather her police reports because she had to go to Nanning to get one done which will take about 1 - 2 months. With this said, how long is a police report good for? I understand 1 year from date on report. Is this correct? I've emailed the US Consulate two times about this and they have not contacted me back. 2nd Question: On the Affidavit of support I-864. I will get a letter from my employer. Again, same question: How long is it valid for? And yes,,, again i have heard one year from date of stamp. Yes, i've presented this Question also to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, to no avail no answer. Any other resources for this information? Thank You Dan Seattle, WA

Thank you for the vote of confidence. I am just nervous about getting everything just right. I know that they, the US Government and the US Consulate in Guangzhou, can be picky. So my nerves are going a mile a minute. Today i will also have a copy of passport notarized with my visa pages from China. Over kill again, yes. But I'd rather have more than enough and when it comes to getting documents notarized, i'll get everyone notarized if necessary. So, lastly to finalize "construction" eliminate a lot of the printed chat's and emails. Plus I've just wrote up a "summary" of emails and chats with screen shots of all chat session logs from Yahoo and screen shots from my email with all emails sent and received. Thanks again Dan

For some reason this does come up at the consulate when they throw blue-slips for an evolution of relationship letter, they have asked for address and SSN of the EX, in a hand written letter of evolution. I've found it and put it in the letter i have written. If possible can i email you or pm you my letter and let me know what you think? it would be of great help. thanks Dan

Her SSN you may find on a past IRS return if you filed jointly. As for residence, you are sure you cannot find that out? As for bonafides of marriage, the Deed from home and Life Insurance should do it. You probably can trim down the emails and chats to just one or two per month. http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-130instr.pdf (Page 4) Really think SSN Is necessary? just curious as to why they would need that? Would it be helpful to give it to them to speed the process ? Dan

1.6 years is fine, I have seen people with marriages that happened within months after a divorce have problems, very short courtship is a red-flag. http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=35080 As for logs it is the list of emails displayed by your email application, not the content of the emails them selves, I did screen prints of my Skype, and Yahoo messenger's logs and pasted them into a word document, and printed this out. In my case I never Called China using my phone, WAY TOO Expensive, I used Skype for voice communications and the Logs and a note explaining that we always used Skype to talk was fine by USCIS and the consulate. What front loading is about is exposing any red-flags to USCIS and evidence why the red-flag is not an issue. The reasoning is that if USCIS see the red-flag, and approves the petition, the consulate will not use this as a reason to deny. Thanks again, just got done doing the screen shots. 15 pages for emails and 4 pages for chat sessions and 15 pages of phone bills... I hope they do not get upset with so much paper... But I will scale back the amount of actually emails and chat sessions logs. I guess other than that i did edited my letter about our relationship and put some information in there as to when and why the ex-wife wanted a divorce and now i do not know her SSN or her place of residence. So, i guess in the end, i need to ask: You think this is a good list and correct list of items to send? Friday I am going to the post office with this all.. Oh, finally. confirm... Personal Check made out to "US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY" correct? Dan

Wife was never married before. You commented that the "Consulate" may want to know about my ex-wife. So, do I need to put anything in the I-130 Packet about the ex-wife? Also, when you mean "documentation covering courtship with my wife" All we have are the emails, phone bills & Chat logs. Good Enough? Time from my divorce to marriage is over 1.6 years, not yet two years. Two years would be June of this year. Red Flag? How do you think they few that time frame? Finally, everything else look ok? Thank You Logs of Emails? like a outline document or just a statement or a print out of a screen with all chat session... ?? Confused on this one..

Wife was never married before. You commented that the "Consulate" may want to know about my ex-wife. So, do I need to put anything in the I-130 Packet about the ex-wife? Also, when you mean "documentation covering courtship with my wife" All we have are the emails, phone bills & Chat logs. Good Enough? Time from my divorce to marriage is over 1.6 years, not yet two years. Two years would be June of this year. Red Flag? How do you think they few that time frame? Finally, everything else look ok? Thank You

I'm about to mail off our I-130 for the wife and I. However, i am curious as to how much documentation is too much... I have printed the majority of emails and chats and that alone is about 1" - 2" each. Plus all of the other relevant documentation, to include the following: (sorry about this but as you know the process is long enough without missing something, so here goes my laundry list: (again sorry) Cover LetterI-130 Application with assocated Supplement pagesG325a & Passport Photo Petitioner (me)G325a & Passport Photo Beneficiary (wife)copy of my birth certificate, front and backcopy of my us passport pages showing entry exit into Chinaall receipts from everything we bought in Guangzhou and Nanningall receipts from wedding partyall receipts from wedding registration - legal ceremonyboarding passes for all flights domestic and international flightsMarriage Certificate - copyMarriage Certificate Translation - copycopy of my divorce DecreeUtility bills with wife's name on themLife Insurance Policy with wifes name as beneficiaryCopy of New Deed to House with wife's name on it.copies of phone billscopies of chatscopies of marriage ceremonoy photoscopies of marriage party photoscopies of general photos'we both also wrote a letter, similary to the letter of intent for a I-129F but stating the facts of our relationship. How we meet and how we decided to get married. A short narrative with mine being notarized. the wife did not get her's notarized in Guangzhou. Total of 3 pages. So what Have i Missed, oh yeah check made payable to the "US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY" But as I said before you add all of this up and it is about a total of 4.5" inches of paper.. You think USCIS will freak out ?? Then we are going to OPTIN for the "Electronic Processing" procedure. At which time i can email them about 4gb of Documents, photos and even our wedding video. That's a good question. how about sending them a DVD of our wedding? Just trying to "Front Load" this as much as possible without being irritating. I would greatly appreciate a "second set of eyes" to see if i have all things necessary before i send this off. Thank You for your Help Dan & Yonghua

Ok, looks like we screwed up then. We were talking with an attorney and she advised us to list her married name under "Other names used" My wife does want to take my surname, but I'm guessing we'll have to wait until we get to the US and file the I-90 along with our marriage certificate. Is this correct? Stinks that I could of avoided spending the fees it will take to do this. Possibly, I would first mention this to consulate before interview by email, or at interview. Other options are I-90 after entry to the USA, or if married less than 2 years upon entry, and you get a 2 year conditional care, you may be able to file to remove conditions using married name. Name change.. yet another hurdle. Wife wants to take my name, but from what i understand we need to use the name that is in her passport for the visa application, correct? so, we have already filled out and she has signed her G-325a with her current last name. We are hoping we want to change her last name once she arrives.. Any thoughts on this one?

Yes, however most scanners scan in color, and PDF supports color. Later at the interview, all the actual documents are brought to the consulate for inspection and to be added to the file. So the actual passport pictures need to be brought to the consulate. Thank's just trying to get it done in work,, but no color scanner here :-( I guess i'll rescan later in color. Everything i do paper wise, i scan and store as pdf's. I Mean everything, emails, bills, letters, phone bills, etc.. etc.... Dan

We got the same email as we just finished IR5 for my wife's parents. Doucments that used to be turned into GUZ are now being collected by the NVC. These are items like marriage cert, birth cert, police report... etc. Here is a link describing which documents. http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3195.html Also, send in the passport photographs as well. Even though she will take them to the interview, they want to see them before hand. You don't have to wait for them to be mailed to you. Have someone in China scan them in and email them. Just make sure they send it to you in PDF format. This is the reason they recommend having access to scanner both in US and China when you opt into electronic processing. Ok to scan passport photos in black and white or does it need to be color scan?

I've search and found a few post on this subject, but did not find any details. Does anyone know a company that can ship (for best price) from Guangzhou to US? Thanks Dan

So, it seems we can try to apply for the B1 / B2 after i send in the I-130 / CR-1. BUT..... It can be denied at the US Embassy in Guangzhou because they will see that we have a pending CR-1... Does this sound about right ? I guess we can try. Would be nice to have the wife here while they process our CR-1.. Also, once we get through USCIS phase 1, i am going to go through the electronic process. I just got back from Guangzhou and when i was there i talked with someone in the Embassy and he said it will speed up the process "Considerably" . Whatever that means.. But I guess we can try once i get the NOA1 back. Thanks Dan

We are going the CR-1 route, same amount of time as a K3. So file for the I-130 / CR-1 first then have her go for the B1? since she has already been here.. I am sure it won't be such a problem for her to get another one. thanks Dan

My wife has had a B1 visa before, she went to Hawaii in 2003. Now that we are married and submitting I-130 for her CR-1. Would it be a bad idea to try to get a B1 after I have sent in her I-130? this way she could spend 90 days here while waiting for her Visa approval? Anyone done this before? will this be bad when it comes to the Actual CR-1 Interview? Thanks Dan