robnewman

Hi all...

Some of you will already know that I had my interview scheduled for 8am today (24th June)...

Well, I went, and I'm pleased to announce that all went well (with a couple of minor scares!) and I am now officially half American (well... ok... I'm allowed to live there)!

Here's how it went...

Wake up at 3:30am... Grunt at the missus as she keeps digging me in the ribs to get me up... Finally get up and do the usual morning rituals (only much earlier than usual). My taxi is waiting outside at 4:30, then it's off to Aylesbury train station... Buy my london travel card and then get on the first train out of Aylesbury (5:05am).

Got off the train at South Ruislip at about 6:00 then into london on the central line... got off at Marble Arch at about 6:30am.

Still very ealry, so went for a wander... Needed to find a cash machine anyway. Oxford street is actually quite pleasent at that time of morning (no people!).

Found a cash machine and then stopped off for some breakfast and a coffee... headed to the embassy at about 7:10 and got there with enough time to have a nice wander round the park and look at the monuments and statues... I paid particular attention to the Eagle Squadron memorial... Being an aviation nut, I found this a nice bonus!

Finally headed out to the building mass of people at 7:30 then shortly after, two security staff lugged out a plastic podium and organised the rabble into a nice line (sort of!)

Had about a 5 minute wait in the queue and had some excitment... apparently now the embassy won't let ANY electrical items into the embassy at all... load of people were being told to find a locker to store thier phones etc and come back later... then one guy had a belter of an idea... he got his plastic baggy and put all his "contrband" in it and then threw it under the bushes next to the queue... 3 seconds later he was pounced on by 2 heavily armed police officers asking him what he had just thrown under the bushes! Obviously NOT a rocket scientist!

Didn't see how that all ended as I had moved up and into the security kiosk by then... with al my stuff (belt, keys, wallet, paperwork etc) through the X-Ray and me through the metal detector, I was directed to the main entrance where I presented my invitiaion letter again and was given a ticket number.

It's worth noting that ALL the staff up to this point were awesome... friendly, smily... realy helped ease any nerves.

I went up into the waiting area... it looks like a cross between a cathedral and a 70's porn film... but hey... It was interesting at least! I sat for a while and slowly but surely the windows all opened and in no time the argos style number boards were in full swing... I waited about 20 minutes before my number was called, then I made my way the my collection point...

There, I was greeted by a jolly little man who asked me to hand my DS-230 part 2 form to him, then add a little correction to one of my previously filed forms... He then told me to go and pay, which I did, then I went straight back with my receipt. He then took my fingerprints and we went through all the documents they needed to see. Everything was going smoothly until we got to the Affidavit of Support forms... Apparently, our current assets were not sufficient for my primary sponsor (my dear lady wife, Katie) to act as sole sponsor... we had $40,000 assets, but you need a minimum of $52,000.

Lucky for us, we premepted this and got my dad-in law to act as joint sponsor... So I simply handed his affidavit over too and all was well... except that we didn't have any copies of his passport or birth certificate... oops!

This is where the embassy staff really impressed me... we went through all our options... luckily, I brought my wife's birth certificate too and on it, it showed her dad's place of birth... so we decided that that should be ok... the staff there really worked hard to find the best solution without me having to go back or send anything extra...

Anyway, after getting through all the paperwork, I was given my "how to be American instruction manual" (the "Welcome to the USA" booklet - which is actually very informative!) and asked to go sit down again and wait for my number to be called again... I was given my X-Ray and off I went.

About 40 minutes later, I was called up to another window where a very nice American consulate officer greeted me... she had a quick look through the paperwork, took my finger prints again, we had a nice little chat about in-laws, then I was asked to raise my right hand and swear that all the paperwork and things I had told them were true... then she said "it only remains for me to say congratulations... I'm pleased to approve your application. Good luck!"

That was that! I was at this window about 2 minutes tops! I then took my pink slip to the courier desk and paid my 14 pounds... I also opted for the saturday delivery (which was an additional 40 pounds, paid when they called me to say they had the package ready for delivery - which they did about 2 hours after I got home).

I then went back to Aylesbury with a mile wide grin fixed on my chops... And that, as they say, is that!

Now to plan our travel and sell our house...

Yay!

Noorah101

Congratulations, Rob!

meauxna

Wahooo!!!

Congratulations, Rob! Great report, and we can't wait to see you over on this side!

PS: way to go with the backup I-864---perfectly played!

TKO

I was expecting to read that your mum had made a killing on the stock market or something...

Congrats!

penguinbar

Is the asset amount so high because you are both immigrating and aren't US citizens?

meauxna

Affidavit of Support form I-864 is different than I-134 for fiances.

It does allow you to use assets in lieu of income to support an Immigrant Visa application. Since most of us USCs living abroad don't have US based employment, this is a popular option.
There is a set formula; assets must be 3X the 125% of poverty guideline. 52500 is the magic number for a 2 person household.
3x is only for the Immediate Relative class.. maybe even only for spouses. Normally it is 5X.

BritishGuy36

I presume you mean the asset requirement, not the assets of Mr and Mrs Robnewman?

You need to show that you can support yourselves for a minimum of 3 years, at 125% of the federal poverty line, which at the moment comes to a total of about $52,000 for a family size of two.

If Mrs Robnewman (the USC) was already in the US and working, or her current UK income would continue from the same course when they moved to the USA, then that salary could be included on the I-864 as counting towards the requirement. As it won't, it can't be used, and a combination of assets and joint sponsorship needed to be used.

~~~

Rob, sounds like you had a hairy moment or two...I perceive you only just scraped it. At the end of the day they would probably have just asked you to send on the "missing" paperwork, rather than denying your visa application. But you made it, that's the main thing.

About the house - if it's not on the market already, get it on ASAP. I know you are aware that the market is in freefall but it really is bad at the moment, figure out how much you think it's worth, take 10% off and put it on the market for that, if you are lucky you may get within another 5% of that value.

I accepted an offer today on my house, it was ridiculously low but I managed to bump them up a couple of grand, it's a case of take what you can get while you can because it will be years before house values go back above even their current levels.

penguinbar

So is the K1 requirement different because it is a non immigrat visa? on travel.state.gov. it says that I need to have the difference between the poverty line and assets not 5x or 3x the amount for the I864. I also have my mom as a joint sponser for my fiancee so we should be ok. Being on tipped and commision based jobs kind of hurts me in thsi situation.

meauxna

I don't know exactly what you're reading at travel.state but yes, the K-1 is a non-immigrant hybrid vs the Immigrant Visa for a spouse.

YOU will need to meet the I-864 requirements for the AOS application after he finally GETS here and married.
If your salary is insufficient, you may use assets to make up the *difference* between your shortfall and the PG level.
Or, use a Joint Sponsor as planned.

The I-864 has a specific provision for assets. The I-134 for the fiance visa interview does not.

If you have specific I-864 questions that are not answered by the form instructions, please start a thread dedicated to that purpose for everyone's benefit.

robnewman

Thanks all...

Yeah... I think our weak link was the I-864's... At least the one that Katie (a USC, but living over here right now) filled in was... We will of course be getting jobs as soon as we move (ok, we'll probably have a few days off first!), but as this can't be proved, we had to rely entirely on assets... Luckily, my dad-in-law is a nice chap and was happy to act as a joint sponsor... and as he has a very well paid job, and assets well above the requirements, all was well.

With regard to our house... it's been on the market for 9 months now... the first agent we used told us that the market was about to take a dive, but still recommended that we put in on the market at a ridiculously high price. Needless to say, we had zero viewings. We dumpped them and went to another agent who has since brought the price down twice... we're now looking at a third price drop which if we sell at that price, we'll only just break even... Things really are looking bleak on that front.

There is the other option of course... we could look at letting the property and maintaining our "investment" remotely until the market recovers... But this route seems to have a whole bunch of additional potential problems!

This moving lark is great!

BritishGuy36

If you will only get the same for your property as what you owe on it, I wouldn't sell it but rent it for 5 years until the market comes back up (presuming it does, of course!).

We are selling even at the low price because we still have bucketloads of equity in it, and need the cash to start off our live in the US.

gstring

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ROB!

I wonder if the fella who tried to dispose of his goods in the bushes got his visa!??!?

robnewman

Ok chaps and chapeses...

My passport and immigration package arrived today... All looking great and can't wait to finally get going!

Here's a question for you all though...

I now have my sealed envelope that I need to hand to the border officer when we arrive in the US...

But I'm dying to know what's in it!!

I obviously can't open it myself, but can anybody who has gone through the process tell me what it contains? purely for my own curiosity of course...

meauxna

NO!!!

It's not called The Mysterious Brown Envelope for *nothing* you know!

But as you've been cleared to know, the Envelope contains every document you've submitted over the course of your case and maybe a few notes from the CO.
It will be part of your A-file and will follow you around for the rest of your immigration.
No big Mystery afterall, and you "should" have a copy of everything in there for your own records anyway.

Noorah101

When my alien fiance entered the USA with his K-1, I was with him, and as I was also VERY curious about the mysterious brown envelope, I peeked over the counter while the POE agent opened the envelope. Lo and behold, it was all our immigration forms and backup documents, medical, you name it, everything we had done to date. Plus some nice big bold red letters on the very first page, noting that my fiance and I have a significant age difference. That fact has never come up as a problem during the course of his immigration, and never was said out loud by anyone, but there it was in big bold red letters on his paperwork. LOL

Rene