clearcoated

Yes, we also went through the NVC. We've got the delivery location set up on CGI, and the UID printout CGI told us to bring, and all the rest of the supporting docs are ready. Thanks for confirming this situation with your experience, Wawster!

From the above help, it should be no worries, but I just want to confirm our situation. My spouse has had her interview scheduled for May 16, but the CGI website continually shows: "The Case ID that you have entered cannot be found." On the uploaded photo, CGI says next available interview in May 18. So, we assumed that by now, our Case ID would be found. Nothing to worry about?

UPDATE: I called (671) 642-7611 the Guam POE http://www.cbp.gov/contact/ports/hagatna-guam Spoke to a Customs and Border Protection officer, and he said Guam can process the IR-1 Visa, and my spouse will be issued a temporary Green Card good for 1 year. He said Guam will submit the paperwork which will result in a Green Card arriving within about 5 months.

To answer the question regarding whether Guam POE can process an IR-1 Visa and trigger a Green Card, I attempted to contact the Guam Immigration office, and began to make an appointment through INFOPASS, but I can't call them, it's only an in-person appointment. So I called USCIS 1-800-375-5283 and went through the menu to speak with a customer service representative. The USCIS rep told me to contact my local US Consulate here to verify whether Guam can handle it. So my spouse will ask about it during her upcoming interview at the US Consulate in Guangzhou in 3 weeks. I'll update the results as we learn more. Thanks for all your help.

We're living in China, and my immigrant spouse completed her medical examination last week, and 3 weeks from now she'll have her interview at the US Consulate in Guangzhou. We're expecting that she'll be granted an Immigrant Visa. So, we have a 6 month window to enter a US Port of Entry with her Immigrant Visa. Within 12 months, we're planning to permanently relocate to our US residence because we currently have job obligations in China to finish up. We're unable to relocate to the US within 6 months. So, we're planning a short trip to Guam within 6 months to fulfill her US POE with Immigrant Visa requirement. Guam is only 5 hours away, and a lot less expensive than flying to San Francisco. Questions: Randy, you mentioned in another thread you initially went to the Guam POE in 2011, but needed to be processed again when you entered San Francisco. What did the USCIS require from you in San Francisco? How big of deal was that 2nd processing? Anyone, Does anyone know what Form we fill-out to get the Green Card after we've gone through the US POE? Do we fill this Form out online, or do we make an appointment to get biometrics done? If we need to make an appointment, then I should check to see if this appointment can happen in Guam, too. I'm assuming we should have the Green Card mailed to my permanent US address (my parent's home), and then my family can FedEX it to us in China. Then my spouse can enter the US with it next time.

The Visa expiration date is set for six months after the medical.The hospital staff was correct. Ok, so we have a 6 month window to enter the US after the medical exam. My understanding is any port of entry for our international flight is ok, and the confirmation of her IR1 visa happens at the airport. Later, the green card arrives in the mail. We're thinking of finding the cheapest, quickest flight to the US to handle this part. Just a short stay, and then back to China so we can finish our job contracts. We won't be ready to relocate to the US within 6 months. Within 12 months is probably more likely for the relocation. So, if it happens at the airport and any international airport is ok, then we have lots of options.

I have a medical exam question I'd like to add to this thread. My spouse finished her medical examination in Shanghai on April 22, and will go back next week to pick up her results. Her interview at the US Consulate in Guangzhou is scheduled in May. The Chinese staff at the Shanghai hospital told her that her exam results are only good for 6 months, therefore she must enter the USA within 6 months. I assumed the 6 month expiration meant she must complete her interview in Guangzhou within 6 months, and upon that success, we'd get a 1 year deadline to enter the USA. Can anyone clarify this?

I sent a PDF of the .jpg of the passport photo. Perhaps it wasn't necessary, but I included the .jpg to fulfill the Document Cover Sheet checklist. We recently received our appointment time for the interview in Guangzhou, and the Consulate asked my spouse to bring an original passport photo to the interview. For the I-864 form areas that don't allow enough space for overseas phone numbers, I used Part 11 on page 12 to write in the overseas phone numbers with a short explanation saying 11 digits plus country code couldn't to be entered. Using Part 11 is important because it allows the bar code at the bottom of the PDF page to be updated. I also hand wrote the phone numbers into those areas like Part 2 because eventually you'll need to sign the form and print it, and scan it.

All I can say is I sent everything listed on Document Cover Sheet except I didn't send: IRS transcripts, W-2, Adoption rec., Prison rec., Divorce rec., Military rec., as these were all Not Applicable for me.

I made one PDF with the NVC's Document Cover Sheet and merged my own cover letter behind it which explained what I was sending, and how it was organized. I sent everything listed on Document Cover Sheet except I didn't send: IRS transcripts, W-2, Adoption rec., Prison rec., Divorce rec., Military rec., as these were all Not Applicable. Because of having no W-2, in addition to what you listed, I sent 17 financial documents as evidence for the I-864, page 6, part 7, item 2 'Use of Assets to Supplement Income' and these 17 documents related to property ownership also proved domicile in USA (because I've worked for the past 7 years in China, and will be moving back to the USA upon receiving my spouse's visa, and will be securing a new job at that future time). I sent 3 additional documents such as my Florida driver's license which I obtained during a visit back home while living abroad, the official recording of our Chinese marriage certificate into the records at our county courthouse in FL which we also did during a visit back home, and a couple pages that featured various small photos from our USA visits - all to further prove domicile. I sent 5 documents related to future employment such as examples from my internet job search to show potential local jobs and salaries, my resume, and I was lucky enough to get a letter stating a potential job offer upon my return with a salary range indicated. Regarding getting everything under 5 MB, I spent a lot of time optimizing the sizes of the PDFs to get them as small as possible, but those 17 financial documents added 100's of pages.

So after I sent out the 5 emails within 3 minutes, I immediately received 5 automated confirmation replies saying each email was received at NVC. Then, about 3 hours later a real person from NVC replied to 2 of the 5 emails, and told me I had sent 2 secured or password protected PDFs, and I needed to resubmit them as unsecured. The 'secure' PDFs were 2 property appraisals which were created by the appraiser. So the next day, I printed out those 2 appraisals, and scanned the printouts and created 2 new unsecure PDFs, and emailed both together as a reply to the real person's request. I have not heard anything from NVC after that. I originally emailed everything on February 23rd, so I'm expecting some follow up about the next step pretty soon. I didn't send any tax transcripts. Instead, I sent 3 years of the complete tax returns. The tax transcripts would have taken too long to get from the IRS; especially since I was dealing with paper filed amended tax returns. (I originally filed electronically as single since my spouse doesn't have a SSN, and my accountant had advised electronic filing as most efficient way to deal with it overseas. In order to apply for this Immigrant Visa, I amended 2 years of tax returns to show I was indeed married, and so I needed to do a paper filing to get it done.)

UPDATE: I tried sending 23 MB in one email that contained 41 PDF attachments. Biggest single attachment was 1.9 MB. This 23 MB email immediately bounced back as undelivered due to size limitation (although I was able to send to myself no problem). I then created 5 emails labeled (1 of 5), (2 of 5), etc, and divided up my 41 PDF attachments so each email was under 5 MB in total. I prepared drafts of all 5, and sent all 5 withing 3 minutes of each other. Then, I immediately received 5 automated confirmation emails back from NVC saying they received each one. Now, I'm just waiting for the visa officer to reply.

UPDATE: I tried sending 23 MB in one email that contained 41 PDF attachments. Biggest single attachment was 1.9 MB. This 23 MB email immediately bounced back as undelivered due to size limitation (although I was able to send to myself no problem). I then created 5 emails labeled (1 of 5), (2 of 5), etc, and divided up my 41 PDF attachments so each email was under 5 MB in total. I prepared drafts of all 5, and sent all 5 withing 3 minutes of each other. Then, I immediately received 5 automated confirmation emails back from NVC saying they received each one. Now, I'm just waiting for the visa officer to reply.

Thanks, what was the total size of the email you sent including all the PDFs?

After this whole mess with the email thing i and reading this guote a few more times i realized it was not saying anything about the email it self but the Attachments need to be below 5MB and says nothing about how many you can send at one time. So i took a chance and sent ALL files i had in One email. Each FILE was 5MB or below. I sent one email for the wife and one email for step son. Each email sent had well over 5MB and closer to 40-45MB but EACH FILE sent in one email was below the 5MB rule. 40-45 MB sent in one email.... wow. My total size is currently at 23 MB, and that's from 40 PDF attachments. (My largest PDFs are 1.9 MB in size, and these are documents like property appraisals which are 17 pages long, etc.) I'm hoping to send it all in one email. Yahoo and Gmail allow 25 MB to be sent. (Maybe I still need to get it down to 22 MB to allow for email to work, etc) Anyone else have experience of sending one huge email with the attachments totaling way over 5 MB?

After Google searching, I've found there's been a lot of confusion going back 6 years or so as to what is meant by 5 MB attachment size. It seems a lot of people I've found who've dealt with this online in the past have interpreted it as limiting each attachment to below 5 MB, not the whole package. For I-864, Part 7, I need to submit evidence of assets to supplement income (since I'm working in China and have no W-2), and we have lots of paperwork regarding closing statements, mortgage notes, appraisals, and rental leases on two properties for rental income, plus 3 years of tax returns, and other evidence of domicile. Big pile of evidence. So, my current plan is to re-size as much as possible to get everything down below 25 MB so I can try emailing it all at one time.

Yahoo and Gmail limit attachments to 25 MB. It seems that my set of PDFs will come in at around 35 MB in total. I could probably re-size a few large attachments and shave off 4-5 MB (my largest file is 3.9 MB), but I don't think I'll get everything to fit under 25 MB. Yahoo suggests using Dropbox for attachments bigger than 25 MB. Has anyone tried using Dropbox to send their PDFs to NVC?

Here's the welcome letter we received from NVC. It tells us to submit documents to the NVC. It also says we'll have the interview in Guangzhou, and our case number begins with GUZ. Therefore I thought we'd be considered DCF. From this letter, it seems like we're supposed to send documents to the NVC.

Here's a screen print of the above NVC website:

Eventually, my spouse will be interviewed in Guangzhou for IR1, and will bring all of the originals and photocopies necessary. Our case number begins with GUZ. We both reside in China. I'm the sponsor and putting together the Financial Documents aka I-864 aka Affidavit of Support. My immigrant spouse is gathering the Supporting Documents aka IV aka Immigrant Visa packet. All of the above will be organized and delivered together at one time. Looking at the NVC website below, it appears we have a choice of processing, or we can decide how to submit our documents: email or mail I haven't noticed this question being addressed, so I wanted to check to make sure I'm understanding it correctly. To me, it seems that organizing and submitting PDFs by email will be easier than mailing printouts. I want to double check that DCF really can do email processing. Step 6: Submit Documents to the NVCAfter you collect your Affidavit of Support form(s) and financial evidence in Step 4, and supporting documents in Step 5, you must submit all of your forms, financial evidence, and photocopies of your original civil documents inONE package to the NVC. Your case may be significantly delayed if you fail to submit all of your documents in one package. Review the methods below, and choose the one that applies to your case. Method 1: Email processing If your NVC case number begins with one of the following prefixes: AKDAMMDMSGZOMEPSAAScan and email your financial forms and evidence, supporting documents, and translations to nvcelectronic@state.gov. Please place your case number in the subject line of the email and keep your attachments below five megabytes (MB). If you have more than one case, use a different email message for each case. For more information, review our Document Scanning FAQs. Method 2: Choice of processing If Your NVC Case Number Begins With And Your Visa Category Is You Can Choose Either MTL Any immigrant visa category Email Processing or Mail Processing GUZ CR1, CR2, F1, F2A, F2B, F3, F4, IR1, IR2 or IR5 Email Processing or Mail Processing BNS, FRN, HNK, RDJ, or SYD IR1, IR2, IR5, CR1, or CR2 Email Processing or Mail Processing Important: Once you select a method, you cannot switch methods later in the process. Method 3: Mail processing If neither Method 1: Email processing nor Method 2: Choice of processing applies to your case, mail your financial forms and evidence, supporting documents, translations, and photocopies, with the Document Cover Sheet included with your NVC Welcome Letter, to the following address: National Visa Center Attn: DR 31 Rochester Ave. Suite 100 Portsmouth, NH 03801-2914 NVC cannot accept documents saved on any form of electronic media, including CDs and memory cards. If you send any electronic media to NVC, we will return it to you unopened. Please allow 30 days for NVC to review your forms and documents once they are received. We will let you know if there are additional items required or if we have received all the requested documentation. http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/immigrant-process/documents/Submit_documents.html

Thanks. Ok, so this doesn't seem like such a huge hurdle to overcome. EXCERPT from I-864 instructions: Item Number 10. Total Value of Assets. In order to qualify based on the value of your assets, the total value of your assets must equal at least five times the difference between your total household income and the current Federal Poverty Guidelines for your household size, however, if you are a U.S. citizen and you are sponsoring your spouse or minor child, the total value of your assets must only be equal to at least three times the difference. If the intending immigrant is a foreign national orphan who will be adopted in the United States after he or she acquires permanent residence, and who will, as a result, acquire citizenship under section 320 of the INA, the total value of your assets need only equal the difference. Example of How to Use Assets: If you are petitioning for a parent and the poverty line for your household size is $22,062 and your current income is $18,062, the difference between your current income and the poverty line is $4,000. In order for assets to help you qualify, the combination of your assets, plus the assets of any household member who is signing Form I-864A, plus any available assets of the sponsored immigrant, would have to equal five times this difference (5 x $4,000). In this case, you would meet the income requirements if the net value of the assets equaled at least $20,000.

We are DCF, and therefore my Chinese income for past 3 years (even though it does just barely qualify in USD at the 125% poverty threshold) won't matter. I understand what's important is showing how I can support my spouse in the USA. My question is what is the golden number to hit for the value of my assets? EXCERPT from I-864 instructions: Part 7. Use of Assets to Supplement Income (Optional) Only complete Part 7. if you need to use the value of assets to meet the income requirements. If your Current Annual Household Income (indicated on Part 6., Item Number 15.) is equal to or more than needed to meet the income requirement as shown by the current Federal Poverty Guidelines (Form I-864P) for your household size (indicated on Part 5., Item Number 8.), you do not need to complete this Part. If your total household income does not meet the requirement, you may submit evidence of the value of your assets, the sponsored immigrant’s assets, and/or assets of a household member that can be used, if necessary, for the support of the intending immigrant(s). The value of assets of all of these persons may be combined in order to meet the necessary requirement. Only assets that can be converted into cash within one year and without considerable hardship or financial loss to the owner may be included. The owner of the asset must include a description of the asset, proof of ownership, and the basis for the owner’s claim of its net cash value. You may include the net value of your home as an asset. The net value of the home is the appraised value of the home, minus the sum of any and all loans secured by a mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the home. If you wish to include the net value of your home, then you must include documentation demonstrating that you own it, a recent appraisal by a licensed appraiser, and evidence of the amount of any and all loans secured by a mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the home. You may not include the net value of an automobile unless you show that you have more than one automobile, and at least one automobile is not included as an asset. Item Numbers 1. - 4. Assets. To use your own assets, you must complete Part 7., Item Numbers 1. - 4. and submit corresponding evidence with this affidavit. Supporting evidence must be attached to establish location, ownership, date of acquisition, and value of any real estate holding. ### My spouse and I jointly purchased two rental properties in 2014 and 2015. Both generate some rental income. They are townhouses, and 90% paid off in cash already. Still, I'm not sure if the appraised value of our real estate will be high enough? That's why I was wondering what the golden number is to hit for asset value... (Additionally, I don't have employment lined up yet, so I'm unable to show proof of that point. The only proof of future income is from our rental properties, but the net income falls short of the 125% threshold.) (And, we really don't want to obligate a joint sponsor to sign a 10-year contract for us.)