Derrick Williams

I got a new development today on my I-130 visa (timeline below). I got
a notice in the mail from the NVC advising me that I needed to pay a
$65 fee to an address in Saint Louis, Missouri in order for them to
process the Affidavit of Support, which I have not yet sent (the
letter says the forms will be coming later and not to send them yet).

Just to make it even more confusing, the letter states the form is an
"AOS", which in this case means Affidavit of Support, not the other
kind of "AOS" (Adjustment of Status).

It states that if my wife has children (which she does), then I only
have to pay the fee once.

They also asked me to verify my wife's address, which has mistakes so
I will need to respond to a "change of address" department in New
Hampshire. I am not sure how they managed this, the forms I sent to
them were all typed in from their "fillable" PDF's! Either they have
some kind of optical reader that doesn't work well or are using
low-grade contractor employees to type it all in. They mispelled the
street my wife lives in, confused some digits with numbers, added
extra letters and numbers I certainly didn't type. If they had sent
the letter to her in this address it would never have reached her.

I had expected my wife to be the one to hear from the NVC, and I
hadn't heard of a fee to process the affidavit of support from the
K1-K3 FAQ or from reading about other people's experiences, so maybe
this is something new they've instituted recently. Just thought I'd
mention it to the group who might be waiting for an I-130 too!

I should note that the I-130 was approved before my I-129F, which has
an RFE dated December 30th and I am not sure if it will be approved or
what that will mean if it does.

-Derrick

Timeline for I-130 (Vermont)

NOA#1: Sept 15
RFE: Dec 24th
NOA#2: March 15th
AOS (Affidavit of Support Fee Notice): April 9th

jrusch

Derrick
I got the same thing as well. This is only done if your spouse is
still living overseas. If she is not and she is here you need to
submit a change of address to the INS and NVC. Use the AR11 and then
send a letter to the New Hampshire address. The lady told me to make
a copy of this AOS fee bill as well as the spouse visa petition
approval and send it along to the New Hampshire address. Apparently
the AR11 form will inform the local ins that we are about to file for
adjustment of status. In the meantime keep what you got in the mail.
This is what I am doing

John

Folinskyinla

Hi:

You are now on the IV track and have to follow the instructions for that track.

Your K-3 is now dead letter.

Rather than bitch, don't fight city hall and follow the instructions.

Millana

My husband received the same letter from INS just two weeks before I got my visa and flew to NY from Manila. He paid the $65 fee thinking that its the right thing to do and to not waste time. After a week we received the forms. But to just inquire some more info about it, I called INS myself and was told that since I am already here, I should just send a letter saying that we are just going to file AOS and try if we could refund the Affidavit processing fee for I130. These I all did.

Then, reading some post here suggested ( or maybe I just didnt understand it right) that I should still need to have my I130 approved before I could file for AOS, I went ahead and sent the filled-up Affidavit of support including its attachments like the "bar code" and stuff. After over a month, we received a letter from New Hamphire saying that they received both my letter about my arrival here and the refund, and also the affidavit of support and that they are returning the affidavit to me with the thought that I will be filling for AOS.

Right now, I am still waiting for my EAD and so stressed out being home and not earning anything which I am not accustomed to. Reluctantly turning job offers down. I just dont feel like stressing some more over this I30/AOS mixed up for now.

Maybe when I go to get my interim EAD next April 26 in Latham, NY, I could talk to someone there to make this things clear for me once and for all. And oh, btw, they didnt say anything about the refund.

Good luck. Do keep us posted with your experience.

Harold

It is not a mix up. Your I-130 HAS been approved. The letter 'from
INS' was from the National Visa Center (NVC), where petitions are sent
after they are approved. Your husband should have received an approval
notice, like this

http://www.visajourney.com/gallery/I-129F-NOAs/NOA2

telling him that the I-130 petition was being sent on to NVC. If you
had not come to the US with a K visa, this is how you would have got
an immigrant visa. Since you are already here, you just tell them 'no
thanks' and forget it. You are supposed to send the approval notice
for the I-130 with your AOS paperwork, I-485, to prove that the I-130
has been approved. You should now apply for Adjustment of Status to
get your green card. The EAD is a separate issue. Good luck.

    >
    > My husband received the same
    > letter from INS just two weeks before I got my visa and flew to NY from
    > Manila. He paid the $65 fee thinking that its the right thing to do and
    > to not waste time. After a week we received the forms. But to just
    > inquire some more info about it, I called INS myself and was told that
    > since I am already here, I should just send a letter saying that we are
    > just going to file AOS and try if we could refund the Affidavit
    > processing fee for I130. These I all did.
    >
    > Then, reading some post here
    > suggested ( or maybe I just didnt understand it right) that I should
    > still need to have my I130 approved before I could file for AOS, I went
    > ahead and sent the filled-up Affidavit of support including its
    > attachments like the "bar code" and stuff. After over a month, we
    > received a letter from New Hamphire saying that they received both my
    > letter about my arrival here and the refund, and also the affidavit of
    > support and that they are returning the affidavit to me with the thought
    > that I will be filling for AOS.
    >
    > Right now, I am still waiting for my
    > EAD and so stressed out being home and not earning anything which I am
    > not accustomed to. Reluctantly turning job offers down. I just dont
    > feel like stressing some more over this I30/AOS mixed up for now.
    >
    >
    > Maybe when I go to get my interim EAD next April 26 in Latham, NY, I
    > could talk to someone there to make this things clear for me once and
    > for all. And oh, btw, they didnt say anything about the refund.
    >
    > Good
    > luck. Do keep us posted with your experience.

Millana

Thanks for the info. We didnt get any approval notice for our I-130 yet nor does it say it was approved when we checked online.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

It sounds like the I-130 was approved and CIS simply didn't enter it into the system. My understanding is that the generation of the approval notice on the I-797 also generates the computer entry.

BTW, you now have the option of either continuing with the immigrant visa processing overseas OR doing an adjustment here. It may very well be quicker to do that adjustment.

Millana

Gonna work on getting a copy of that approval then. I am sure it will be necessary to have that when I apply for AOS. Thanks so much!

Folinskyinla

Hi:

I would put in the notice from NVC along with the NOA1 to show that it WAS approved.