mickey79

Hi,

I went to the US Consulate in New Delhi today in the morning with my wife, to file the I-130 Petition. We took the DCF route.

I'm an Indian National residing here in India, my wife is an American Citizen. We got married on 28th November this year, in a traditional Hindu Marriage Ceremony, and also got our Marriage Registered at the Court.

We got the I-130 Forms and got all our documents and evidences together. Actually there wasn't too much... just essential documents like Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Passports photocopies, most importantly some nice pictures from the traditional Wedding Ceremony.

The Consular who interviewed us was very nice... he didn't ask many questions, just that if we're married before or not... if any of us have children... and asked my wife what is the most important part of a Hindu Traditional Marriage (which is the 7 circles around the fire).

He then told us that all our paper work is proper and congratulated us on our recent wedding and told us there is no reason not to approve the petition, and thus approved the petition. He told us he's forwarding the pettition to the USC, and that i'll get a packet in the next 60 to 90 days... completing which i will need to come to the Embassy and get the Immigrant Visa.

So now I'll be waiting for my packet here which should arrive anytime in the coming 3 months.

If anyone has taken the same route and has gone through DCF with an Immigrant Visa approval, we'd like to hear from you.

Regards,
Mickey

NYState of Mind

Hi Mickey, I'm not as far as you but hopefully will be soon. I have all our papers in order and just about to mail them in. After reading your post I'm wondering if I should physically go to the embassy in London and drop them off personally?? Or continue with our plan of mailing them in.

I'm almost considering dropping them off pesonally this way if there is something that I'm missing or not correct I can resolve it and bring it back the next day. Instead of mailing everything in and finding we're missing some information weeks later, hence delaying our process...

Good luck to you. I'll be hanging out on this board probably more often then my usual Americans Living in London board.

Cheers.

purvi

Hi Mickey79,

Congrats for approval of your petition
Me and my husband (USC) had submitted our I-130 Petition in New delhi on 20th Nov 2003. I received the approval letter and packet 3 from Mumbai on 15th Dec... the consular guy who interviewed us in Delhi told us it wuld take 2-3 weeks for approval.
I have sent in duly filled and signed packet 3 ( it contains a checklist and DS form 230 part 1) to Mumbai today. Hopefully i should be getting my packet 4 ( interview letter and medical instructions) soon!!!
What i would suggest is that you gather all the documents you require esp the police certificate as it can take awhile and the affidavit of support.

dutchman2001nl

Congrats.

mickey79

Trust me.... Go personally. It makes a very big difference. At least here it did. Is your wife/fiancee with you in London currently? Filing together makes the biggest difference. That's what i learnt. Mailing the papers in is definately not the best idea, on any count, except when it can't be helped.

Let me know how it turns out.

Dominor,
Mickey

mickey79

Purvi,
Thank you.
As we had submitted our I-130 Petition on 16th Dec, in New Delhi, i'll be looking forward to the Packet 3 by 1st week of Jan. I wanted to ask you, is Packet 4 the last packet to be recieved, or are there more formalities after that?
Secondly, if everything goes well at the Interview after Packet 4, do they issue the Immigrant Visa?

I will certainly gather the Police Certificate & Affadavit of Support in the meanwhile, to save time. Is there any location you can guide me to on the Internet where i can get the Details pertaining to these two so i can get the proper documents?

Thank you so much,
Regards,
Mickey.

purvi

Hi Mickey,
As far as i understand once u send back the packet 3 forms ( the DS form 230 part 1 and the checklist) the consulate will schedule an interview.
The details abt the interview date and the medicals are in Packet 4. I dont think there is any other packet sent after that.
I think that if the consulate officers are satisfied, they grant the Immigrant visa either on same day or within 1-2 days

About Affidavit of support its on the BCIS website http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-864.htm
There are also several posts abt it on the forum

About police certificate, you can do a search on this forum cos i am not sure abt what u r supposed to do in ur case. In my case as i am on a residential permit, i requre a police clearance from the District Suprident Police in the area i reside.

mickey79

Hello,
Thanks for the info. I'll be looking at the concerned stuff.
I had one question though... my wife and i had downloaded the I864 Form and had gone through it. Can you tell me who is supposed to full up the form and provide the documents mentioned in it... is it my wife (the petitioner) or me (alien relative) ? In case it is my wife, she's in United States now, she'll have to fill up the form and send it to me alongwith the documents by mail.

I don't see any problems with the Police Certificate, so i'll get it done once i recieve the information about it.

Strange that i have not yet spoken to one single person who's gone through New Delhi DCF and completed the actual procedure upto getting the Immigrant Visa.

Anyway, thanks a lot.

Regards,
Mickey

Hypertweeky

CONGRATS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

purvi

The US petitioner fills the I-864 and has to provide the relevant doucments.

mickey79

Thanks Purvi,
I'll send the relevant information to my wife so she can start completing the form and gathering the relevant documents.

Thanks,
Mickey

jay warrior

Hi Mickey,

My wife is also a USC and we are planning to file DCF in 1st week of Jan...

your wife need to send I-864 (and I-864A for joint sponser, in case her income is not sufficient to support you) , last 3 year w2 and her employment letter...In new delhi biggest worry is getting the approval to file DCF, final interview will be as same as approval interview, so don't worry...go through above link

http://www.kamya.com/interview/intro.html

read the interviews...you will get idea about the final interview..

Wish u good luck...

for me...Do my wife also need her birth certificate, as she doesn't have...she is India born and naturalised citizen of USA...is it mandatry to have at the time of filing application....are they friendly while taking interview? Do they ask lots of question? or just as u mention, basic one..

I already got police clearance certificate's from local police station and from Passport Office too...can i submitt those in same day it self...can i take DS 230 part 1 on same day? pls provide any essential tip which u think it is important for us...Any little info would be a great help for us....


Jat_warrior

mickey79

Astrum!
Hi Jay... thanks so much for writing in and for the valuable information. I'll be going through that link and also inform my wife of the information. The Affidavit of Support & the documents my wife needs to provide for it won't be a problem, niether the others... what was my concern was the final interview, but it seems it won't be a big problem, then everything should go ok.

I'll tell you about my experience.
We went to the US Embassy on a monday morning, got the I130 Petition Form and came back home. The next day morning we were at the Embassy at 9 o Clock with all our papers & documents.

They'll be nice to you, make you wait in a nice comfy room with other applicants and start taking you in one by one to the Consular.

The Birth Certificate is mentioned boldly in the forms but the consular didn't ask us for it. Instead, Photocopies of our Passport were enough for that because your Date & Place of birth is mentioned on that. Note - DO TAKE PHOTOCOPIES of your passport's relevant page. Just flashing the passport in front of the Consular won't do. We had another couple in the room who made that mistake.
Apart from Passport Photocopy... photocopies of your wife's Class 10th Passing Certificate from her School would also do because that also carries the Date of Birth.
If you have Birth Certificates, well and good, if not, dont' worry... produce either of these documents and it will do.

To our surprise, they were extremely friendly, warm & nice. We didn't face any problems or harshness from them. Though we didn't really have any questions asked from us, some other couples did have more questions for them... not difficult though.. just about your professions, where & how you met, what you do now, what are your future plans. Just very simple questions. Be friendly with them, dont worry at all and don't be nervous at all. It was very casual there at the Embassy.

At the interview they will check all your documents. Be sure to attach at least 10 photos of your Marriage, with the traditional ceremony. Very specially of the "Saat Phere" ... the circles around the fire, and of the pundit performing the ceremony. It's good to have pictures with people in thier too.
Have your Registered Marriage Certificate ready as well.
Rest of the things are regular documents.

If they find everything is ok, they will tell you "Your petition is approved" ... he'll give you an information sheet and let you know that Packet 3 will arrive within mail in 60 days.

I dont' think you can take the PCC or the DS Form 230 Part I the same day. But it won't harm to ask them. They are friendly, trust me.

From where did you get your Police Clearance Certificate? Did the station already know what you're asking from them?

Let me know how it goes or if you want to ask anything else of me.

Cheers,
Mickey

sunil

Mickey,
We were interviewed on the same day you guys did. There were about six couples and i think you were among them.
Ours were a breeze. no question asked. We are still waiting for our approval letter.

jay warrior

Hi Mickey

1). From where did you get your Police Clearance Certificate? Did the station already know what you're asking from them?

I have to get it from Haryana...from my native place....but in police station they know what we are asking for. Specially in Noida cuz lot of ppl are going to them to get it. So don't worry....just go there and they will tell you how to do. You need to get one from Regional passport office. for this you just need to meet Mr. Chandel ( i wrote qbout him to you but in another post..if u didn't read that i am telling his address again. In Atta Market, near Aggarwal sweets..just look up...near by u will find a board written PASSPORT in Big capital letters. it is his office) . He is certified agent formMOE. but again it is up to you, if you want to do it by yourself you can do it...but y i am refering this person cuz he has very good links in Gaziabad passport Office...he would make it quite easy. I also took his help.

Let me know how it goes or if you want to ask anything else of me.

One more thing...do I need to get all the photostates attested at the time of presenting it to officer?

for next week mostly i will be on leave..if u want to know any thing about PCC you can contact me on above email id. Just FYI I am working in Noida at present.

[email protected]