UKC90

Hi everyone,

From what I understand, the three options for the $535 fee payments are as follows.

(i) U.S. Cashiers Cheque
(ii) U.S. Dollar Money Order
(iii) International Bankers Draft

I am based in London, working in Canary Wharf, and having visited virtually every bank (and the local post office) in the vicinity; no one has been able to offer me either USD money orders or an international bankers draft.

The two banks I bank with (nationwide & natwest) only offer sterling bankers drafts.

My wife who is the USC only has a JPMorgan Chase bank account (which doesn't have any branches in the UK) so we're unable to source a U.S. cashiers cheque.

I am struggling to find a way to actually pay the fee - how have you been making the fee payments, and what would you recommend? Am I missing a simple trick here?

ian-mstm

Or a simple US check!


She can write a check on her own bank account. It doesn't matter that the bank is in the US... all money gets sent to the US Treasury anyway.

Ian

tom169

Or failing that could you transfer money to a US friend and have them mail a check to you?

UKC90

So we actually made a submission two weeks ago using a cheque from her own bank account and we received a rejection for the I-130 yesterday because it was deemed to be an incorrect form of payment (i.e. it was a personal cheque, which is not accepted).

Rete

You can't use a credit card? I know that you can use one at the US Embassy to pay the visa fee as found on their website:

Immigrant Visa Applicants – pay the fee to the Embassy cashier on the day of the visa interview. Fees may be paid in cash – sterling or dollar equivalent; by International Money Order or Bankers Draft; Credit Card – Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover or American Express; or Debit Card with the Visa logo. The Embassy does not accept any other credit or debit cards, or personal checks.

But there is nothing indicating how to pay for the initial filing fee. Since your wife has a US bank account can't she have someone in the US go to the bank for her and have a cashier's check issued from her account. Has she tried calling Chase and seeing what they can do for her. Or perhaps a relative in the US get a money order for her and send it to her via a secured method of mail and she can, in turn, give them a check to cover the cost of the MO and mailing fee.

Noorah101

Rete,

London recently stopped accepting credit card payments.

Rene

ian-mstm

Really? I've not heard of that happening. Sorry! There is another option: mail the I-130 to the US. Oh, and tom169 gives me another idea: have someone in the US get a cashier's check and have them send it to you.

Ian

UKC90

No, I'm afraid they've withdrawn credit card as an accepted payment method.

"Effective October 19, 2016, credit card payments are no longer an accepted form of payment on petition(s) filed with USCIS Field Office – London.
The ONLY acceptable forms of payment will be (1) U.S. Bank Cashier’s checks; (2) US Bank or U.S. Post Office money order; or (3) International bank draft in USD.
All checks must be made out to: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY."

So the only option that seems viable is to get her parents to go to a chase branch, pick up a cashiers cheque and post it to us to attach onto the i-130 submission or do the same with a money order.

It's just a little frustrating I guess as this will add another week or two at least - considered we sent off the application originally on the 31st Jan i can't help but feel a little silly for not thinking about this the first time around!

Rete

Would be nice if they updated their site.

tom169

It does seem like a complete pain in the butt that's for sure!

Unfortunately when it comes to immigration they're the game master and it's their rules.

ian-mstm

If time is an issue, they can FedEx it to you overnight or within a few days. No need to rely on the post office!

Ian

AndyMan74

My wife and I walked into her bank (Barclays Manchester) and they said that an International Bankers Draft in dollars would be fine. We didn't get the Draft as we were just checking to see who can do it.

UKC90

Yeah, so I've noticed that Barclays is the only bank that does do an International Bankers Draft. Time to get a Barclays current account!

suze2016

Hi

I also had same problem when trying to obtain one for the I-130. I tried HSBC but they don't do them.

my husband was able to get an international bank draft through Lloyds bank. He does have an account with them though so uncertain if its just for account holders only but worth try it took about 4 working days as it was sent by post.


good luck!

cmsebast

I just had to do this! Hopefully I can be of help. Halifax does international bank drafts, although they may not know it... you just have to talk to someone experienced lol. It does cost 20 GBP for the privilege, and it takes 1-2 days for them to post it to you. The actual draft I got says Lloyds on it, so I am guessing they do it as well?

I do have an account with Halifax, but it seemed like you could order one through them even if you didn't have an account. It seemed like there were other payment options.