I have my spousal visa appointment at the London embassy tomorrow, I can hardly believe it's here! My wife filed the I-130 at the end of the January, I filed the DS-230 in May, had my medical at the end of May and now the appointment is tomorrow. Just so I don't screw this up, yes I have checked the embassy website but there's so much conflicting information on there, I wondered if I list what I'm taking you kind folks could take a look and see if I'm missing anything.

I have:

My appointment letter
My new passport and my old passport that expired during this process
4 US sized passport photographs (I know I need two)
A copy of my DS-230 parts I and II
my birth certificate
my police certificate
my marriage certificate
my wife's I864EZ and three year's tax returns
my father in law's (only joint sponsor) I864 and three year's tax returns

additionally I've thought to bring:

a statement of my own bank account which shows my saving (more than enough to support myself for a few years in the case of no employment)
copy of my vaccinations
all correspondence we've received from the embassy

Anything I've missed that I should take?


Thanks for your help and have a great Independence Day!

Don't forget proof of the sponsor and joint sponsor's US citizenship or LPR status. Also don't forget proof of sponsor and joint sponsor's current income.

Rene

I don't have proof of my joint sponsor's US citizenship. I'm lucky my wife is here with me and we have her passport. Is this going to be a deal breaker?

I have my wife's tax returns and we can probably print off her payslips but I'm not sure about my father-in-law who is currently in the US and is self-employed.

I'm really worried now.

On the Immigrant Visa end of visa applications, there are what I call "hard" denials and what I call "soft" denials. As a general rule, "hard" denials are under section 212 of the Immigration & Nationality Act and "soft" denials under 221(g). A 221(g) denial is one that can usually be fixed quite easily. When I did visa work, we overcame almost all 221(g) denials -- sometimes within a day!

Good luck.

We're now frantically trying to get a hold of my father in law (praying he isn't out of town for the holidays) to try and get a fax or scan of his passport. I'm not sure we'll be able to get payslips.

I wouldn't worry too much about the payslips... from what I gather they are not always required. If they do request them, you can forward them on at a later date I believe (someone will correct me if this is wrong.)

You will however, definitly need a copy of the joint sponsor's US citizenship, ie passport, birth certificate. Fingers crossed for ya that you can get a hold of your FIL and get a copy emailed/faxed to you today.

Good luck for tomorrow!!

You mention your FIL is self employed. Does he actually receive a payslip from his company? i.e., he pays himself with a check from the business? If so, it will be helpful to have a few recent payslips/checks to bring to the interview.

Self-employed sponsors are a little tricky, in that they can only use personal income on the I-864, not business income. Personal income equals business income minus business expenses. Or, if the business actually pays him a standard income per week or month or so.

Just make sure it's his *personal* income that meets the I-864P income requirements; not the total business income.

Rene

He's a freelance IT consultant, he doesn't own a business. His income is paid directly to him by the clients he works for. We have his W-2s for the last 3 years and its a sizeable income so hopefully they won't need anything else.

He's emailing a scan of his passport tonight and it's a mad dash to find an internet cafe to print it at tomorrow morning before my appointment!

Interesting - his clients give him W-2s, not 1099s?

Regards, JEff

Don't get in a state over this. If you don't have them, as Mr F was pointing out, it is any easy fix. They will give you the opportunity to get the documents and have the courier take them to the embassy. Worse case is it takes a few extra days. It is NOT a deal breaker.

UPDATE:

I had my interview yesterday. The visa was temporarily denied due to a 221(g). Everything was fine with my Father in Laws I-864 but, and we didn't know this, because his tax returns are filed jointly with my mother-in-law we were missing an I-864A from her. Also, as my wife didn't meet the poverty requirements she needs to send in an I-864 instead of the I-864EZ.

Other than that my case officer was completely satisfied and said he would be happy to issue the visa as soon as these were received.

My MIL's I-864 is being overnighted so I just have to give the courier a call when I've received this. Does anyone know much about the process for this? Do I have to prepare the documents in any special way? Do I put them in an addressed envelope myself or does the courier come with a special packet?

Also, as my visa was denied yesterday, I didn't go to the courier counter to pay my fees there. How do they go about sending my passport and visa back?

We had a muted celebration of my visa yesterday, we know it's going to be ok, it's just a shame it wasn't all done there and then. This stuff is never easy

In item 25 of your father-in-law's I-864, did he enter only his own income? Or did he list the income shown in the tax return which, because it is a joint return, would be the income of both him and his wife?

If the former, or if the latter and his wife's income was zero, did he also submit documentation to demonstrate what part of the joint income was his alone?

Regards, JEff

I'm not sure what he put in that box, I assume it was just his income.

My mother-in-law has her own income. There was no addition documentation to show what my FIL earned but the agent was not bothered about that, he said his I-864 was spot on. He said he'd approve my visa as soon as he had my MIL's I-864A and my wife' I-864.

Sounds like the I-864 showed household income, not just the joint sponsor's income, and so the I-864A was required of the household members.

It has been posted in many threads where questions have been asked about joint tax returns that sponsors need to aware of this kind of thing.

Regards, JEff

Hey guys,

Just to clarify--so if the income used by your joint sponsor is only the joint sponsor's income then you do not need to file a I-864A for the other members of the joint sponsor's househould. Is this correct? I thought you only had to file an I-864A if you were using the income of additional members of the household to meet the income requirements...

My husband's joint sponsor has used his income (I assume...) but files his income taxes jointly with his wife. Does his wife need to send us an I-864A? If so, will it matter that they are signed and dated on different days?

thanks...