Googler

This is a long story but here goes...

My wife (the USC) and I got married in August 2007 and initially planned to make our home in the U.K. She got all the necessary British visas and has been here since October. For a combination of reasons we have actually decided that we are going to move back to the U.S. and hence at the beginning of the year we began the process of applying for my visa. We began by filing our forms with the U.S. embassy in London but was told that as she was not yet a permanent resident here, we should be applying back in the States. This we did, mailing our I-130 form to her father who then forwarded it on to the lockbox address in Chicago about two months ago.

My initial question is this: we have not heard anything back yet, the USCIS service centre to which our form will be rerouted (Texas, I would think) has not confirmed receipt, the banker's draft we submitted with the form has not (as yet) been cashed and no form has been returned to us. What do people think? Is this normal or should we be worried, thinking about chasing up or submitting another application form, etc?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

G

Bluegrass Lass

When your father-in-law sent it to the Chicago lock-box, did he send it with any type of tracking (like delivery confirmation)? If he did, and he kept the confirmation number, look up the number on USPS (or whatever courier you used), and see if it was delivered. This would be your only way of knowing if USCIS actually received it or not. If you know they received it at the lockbox, you may be able to call and find out if your application is in the system. Sorry I can't offer any other suggestions. Hopefully someone else can.

We went through something similar in 2003 when we sent in my (then) fiance's I-129f. We eventually knew they had received it because they cashed the check, however we never received any correspondance until I received the approval notice.

Noorah101

It can take up to 6 months to get the I-130 approved, so your check can be cashed and the receipt generated anytime during those 6 months or so.

I notice you said you submitted a "banker's draft". I'm not quite sure what this is, but payment must be made in USD drawn on a US Bank. Did you do this?

Rene

Noorah101

Also, did you use your father in law's US mailing address for correspondence purposes?

Rene

BritishGuy36

The reason why you were rejected for filing in London was because your wife wasn't a resident in the UK for 6 months at the time of filing.

What you should have done was waited until the 6 months was up (March 2008) then filed in London. Filing the I-130 in London gets sorted in 10 weeks - not 6 months like when you file in the US.

It would have been quicker to wait and file in London in March as it will take you probably about a year to go through the process filing in the US. I don't know if you can withdraw your application or not but you'd still get there quicker if you filed in London now.

Googler

Thank you for all those responses. Just let me answer a few of the queries that were raised.

BritishGuy36 - we were told by the embassy helpline that as my wife's residence was conditional we would not be able to apply through the U.S. Embassy in the U.K. for the entire time this was the case, i.e. 2 years, not six months. We would have waited had this avenue been open to us.

Noorah101 - yes, we are using my father-in-law's mailing address and he has been checking any incoming mail. Nothing as yet. The U.K. equivalent of what we sent was a banker's draft, a cashier's cheque or something I think is the U.S. term. And as my father-in-law works for the bank from which it was drawn, he is able to keep track of whether it has been cashed or not.

Sunflwrgrl13 - Unfortunately (and to my perpetual chagrin) my father-in-law did not get any kind of tracking on the package.

Hope this helps.

G