Marriage based visa - my experiences (long post)
Nov 30th 2002, 9:04 pm
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Marriage based visa - my experiences (long post)
Maybe if there's someone who is in a similar situation to mine, they
might find this useful.
Before I start, this was our situation:
- Me, Jim - British
- Wife, Kim - American
- I was in the UK, she had been in the UK for some 7 years as a
permanent resident
- Kim had never filed a tax return in her life, and had no income in
the UK, but had family in the US who were willing to sponsor me
jointly
- Time wasn't too much of an issue for us - the whole process took us
around 5 months but we could have sped it up by filling in forms
quicker
When we decided to apply, she was in Kentucky staying with her sister.
She hadn't been doing too well in England so it looked like she was
going to stay there and we were going to apply for a visa for me from
there. We called a few solicitors (lawyers) and found that they all
told us different things. Money grabbing &!@*£(^. We were told all
sorts of stuff that wasn't even remotely true that I'm not going to
even bother to go into. However, we called one paralegal who was
unbelievably honest. She said we could do it from the states, but the
processing time was something like 18 months. She explained that if
we did it from London it would be quicker. A quick search of the web
confirmed this. She also slagged off her fellow professionals who had
strung a load of lies and told us what we wanted to here. I would
recommend her but I can't remember her name!
So, we decided to apply from England. We thought we could probably
get away with Kim staying in KY, because she still had all sorts of
proof about her being residence in England (joint bank account,
medical card, national insurance number, etc), and we knew she didn't
need to be present for the WHOLE process, but we thought it was a
risk. Instead, she came back here to fill out at least the I-130
application form from England. As it happened, she's stayed here the
whole time anyway.
At one time we were looking at using an immigration lawyer in England,
but as long as you don't mind doing plenty of research on the web and
trawling through the stuff that isn't relevant to you, I'd say save
your money.
We wrote to the US embassy in London to ask for the initial forms, but
actually used the ones we downloaded from there website. Their
website is a pretty good one, but is sometimes contradictory (and
especially contradicts the US counterpart). The forms aren't all
designed to be filled out from the perspective of living outside the
US, but they can be fudged a little. There are some extra explanatory
notes on the embassy website. I also bought Immigrating to the USA by
Dan P Danilov, which was of some use, but not invaluable.
At first it's easy to get confused by all the forms, and wonder what
happens when. This is basically what we did:
- Checked if Kim should have been filing tax returns months in advance
(more on that later)
- Applied for UK Police Certificate 2 months in advance
- Applied for duplicate (certified copies of) birth and marriage
certificates
- Filled out I-130 (that's Kim's petition for my immigration)
- Bugged Kim's brother in law to get all his tax returns together and
fill out his affidavit of support (he was my joint sponser). There
were a couple of mistakes on it, so he did it again a couple of weeks
later
- A few weeks later, once we received the "Packet 3" I filled out
OF-230 and associated forms (I found out earlier that I could have
done these forms at any time because they are independent of the
I-130)
- At around this time Kim was doing her affidavit of support as my
main sponser, EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO INCOME AND NO TAX RETURNS
- Received the Packet 4, which is the document checklist and
associated stuff
- Returned that and waited I think 4 weeks before we got an interview
date, which was for 3-4 weeks in advance
I was very particular about how the forms were filled in. I made sure
I followed all the instructions. If any were contracdictory, I
checked on this group to see what other people had done. If it said
do N/A I did it, if it said write "not applicable" I did it, and
hardly left anything blank.
We found out while Kim was in the states that all US citizens are
required to file income tax returns wherever they are in the world.
Ridiculous. Anyway, we panicked about this, but, even for citizens
who are resident in the US, you only have to file returns if you earn
over a certain (small) amount. Kim had earned nothing for the last 3
years (the period over which tax returns are requested), so was NOT
REQUIRED TO FILE TAX RETURNS. She was still able to be my main
sponsor, using her brother in law as joint sponsor. At the interview,
we took the 1040 guidance notes along with us that confirmed this, and
it did not pose a problem.
These are the things I had questions about, or that I learnt along the
way:
- A certified copy of a birth/marriage certificate is just the
"proper" one you get when you are registered born/married. It's easy
to get another "copy" from the regiter office. They don't keep them
as long as you take photocopies too. The birth certificate has to be
the one showing both parents names, not the shorter, squarer one. I
got an extra copy of everything to be sure
- You don't have to have filed tax returns if you didn't earn anything
- Documents have to be notarized by a US notary public (ie at the
embassy, free of charge)
- Notarized documents are stamped, signed, but are not always bound
together with a fancy gromit (my joint sponsor's were stapled)
- ADIT style photos can be done easily at a digital-type Photo-Me
booth (eg in supermarkets). Just make sure you do the right pose,
follow the instructions, and measure it afterwards
- It's best to get any jabs you need through your GP before the
medical, and ask them to write you a letter to prove you've had them
- Tax return transcripts are fine (these are the computer printouts
from the IRS). Photocopies of the actual handwritten tax return are
not required, but if you have them, take them - my joing sponsor had
lost one of his and the IRS didn't replace it in time
- Take photocopies of EVERYTHING with you
- Take your time filling in the forms. Be very bloody careful
- Take an umbrella, and something to read in the doctors
My interview was so easy. We travelled from Teesside and stayed in a
Travel Inn near Luton (but far enough away!), and had planned to get
the train from there (cheap parking, frequent trains), but there had
been storms and they were not running reliably, so we drove from
there, allowing far too much time. Hey, better to be safe than sorry.
Got to London at 6am. Nowhere opened for breakfast until 7am. Went
to embassy at 7:45am. Confusion about queues etc. Chubby guard let
us in at about 8:15 - they were running late I guess.
Handed over interview letter. Sat down. Got called up. Handed over
all documents, and paid for everything. Sat down. Waited about 30
mins. Got called up for proper interview. Bit scary. Simple
questions about where I'll be living, etc. Got told to go to the
medical and my visa would be issued at 1pm. Piece of cake.
Went to medical. Waited ages. Saw nurse who took blood etc. No jabs
required because I'd had MMR and Tetanus booster in advance. Waited
ages again. Had chest x-ray (waited ages down there too). Saw
doctor, got fondled. Creepy bloke, took an interest in my GPs headed
notepaper. Was done. Waited ages. Collected x-ray. Went for lunch.
Back to embassy at 1pm. Waited 15 mins. Collected visa. That easy?
Oh yes. They seemed friendly and helpful. Nobody in my group was not
given a visa.
By my calculation, we waited at least 3 times as long for the medical
to be completed than for the visa to be completed (whilst on
premises).
We're off to Kentucky next week. Flying into Cincinnati/North
Kentucky. Kim says Delta airlines suck. I recommend BMI from
Manchester to Chicago as my fave airline. US Airways suck too. But
the award for the suckiest of sucky goes to Philadelphia airport,
where the staff are absolutely useless, the whole place is completely
disorganised and you need to allow 4 hours to get onto a connecting
flight. You will be told lies, you will be confused, and your baggage
will probaby end up in Abu Dabi (except they probably don't know where
that is).
I hope this helps someone. If you're crapping yourself, don't worry.
Just do your research and it will be fine.
Thanks to everyone who responds to queries in this newsgroup. Your
responses are invaluable.
Jim and Kim
might find this useful.
Before I start, this was our situation:
- Me, Jim - British
- Wife, Kim - American
- I was in the UK, she had been in the UK for some 7 years as a
permanent resident
- Kim had never filed a tax return in her life, and had no income in
the UK, but had family in the US who were willing to sponsor me
jointly
- Time wasn't too much of an issue for us - the whole process took us
around 5 months but we could have sped it up by filling in forms
quicker
When we decided to apply, she was in Kentucky staying with her sister.
She hadn't been doing too well in England so it looked like she was
going to stay there and we were going to apply for a visa for me from
there. We called a few solicitors (lawyers) and found that they all
told us different things. Money grabbing &!@*£(^. We were told all
sorts of stuff that wasn't even remotely true that I'm not going to
even bother to go into. However, we called one paralegal who was
unbelievably honest. She said we could do it from the states, but the
processing time was something like 18 months. She explained that if
we did it from London it would be quicker. A quick search of the web
confirmed this. She also slagged off her fellow professionals who had
strung a load of lies and told us what we wanted to here. I would
recommend her but I can't remember her name!
So, we decided to apply from England. We thought we could probably
get away with Kim staying in KY, because she still had all sorts of
proof about her being residence in England (joint bank account,
medical card, national insurance number, etc), and we knew she didn't
need to be present for the WHOLE process, but we thought it was a
risk. Instead, she came back here to fill out at least the I-130
application form from England. As it happened, she's stayed here the
whole time anyway.
At one time we were looking at using an immigration lawyer in England,
but as long as you don't mind doing plenty of research on the web and
trawling through the stuff that isn't relevant to you, I'd say save
your money.
We wrote to the US embassy in London to ask for the initial forms, but
actually used the ones we downloaded from there website. Their
website is a pretty good one, but is sometimes contradictory (and
especially contradicts the US counterpart). The forms aren't all
designed to be filled out from the perspective of living outside the
US, but they can be fudged a little. There are some extra explanatory
notes on the embassy website. I also bought Immigrating to the USA by
Dan P Danilov, which was of some use, but not invaluable.
At first it's easy to get confused by all the forms, and wonder what
happens when. This is basically what we did:
- Checked if Kim should have been filing tax returns months in advance
(more on that later)
- Applied for UK Police Certificate 2 months in advance
- Applied for duplicate (certified copies of) birth and marriage
certificates
- Filled out I-130 (that's Kim's petition for my immigration)
- Bugged Kim's brother in law to get all his tax returns together and
fill out his affidavit of support (he was my joint sponser). There
were a couple of mistakes on it, so he did it again a couple of weeks
later
- A few weeks later, once we received the "Packet 3" I filled out
OF-230 and associated forms (I found out earlier that I could have
done these forms at any time because they are independent of the
I-130)
- At around this time Kim was doing her affidavit of support as my
main sponser, EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO INCOME AND NO TAX RETURNS
- Received the Packet 4, which is the document checklist and
associated stuff
- Returned that and waited I think 4 weeks before we got an interview
date, which was for 3-4 weeks in advance
I was very particular about how the forms were filled in. I made sure
I followed all the instructions. If any were contracdictory, I
checked on this group to see what other people had done. If it said
do N/A I did it, if it said write "not applicable" I did it, and
hardly left anything blank.
We found out while Kim was in the states that all US citizens are
required to file income tax returns wherever they are in the world.
Ridiculous. Anyway, we panicked about this, but, even for citizens
who are resident in the US, you only have to file returns if you earn
over a certain (small) amount. Kim had earned nothing for the last 3
years (the period over which tax returns are requested), so was NOT
REQUIRED TO FILE TAX RETURNS. She was still able to be my main
sponsor, using her brother in law as joint sponsor. At the interview,
we took the 1040 guidance notes along with us that confirmed this, and
it did not pose a problem.
These are the things I had questions about, or that I learnt along the
way:
- A certified copy of a birth/marriage certificate is just the
"proper" one you get when you are registered born/married. It's easy
to get another "copy" from the regiter office. They don't keep them
as long as you take photocopies too. The birth certificate has to be
the one showing both parents names, not the shorter, squarer one. I
got an extra copy of everything to be sure
- You don't have to have filed tax returns if you didn't earn anything
- Documents have to be notarized by a US notary public (ie at the
embassy, free of charge)
- Notarized documents are stamped, signed, but are not always bound
together with a fancy gromit (my joint sponsor's were stapled)
- ADIT style photos can be done easily at a digital-type Photo-Me
booth (eg in supermarkets). Just make sure you do the right pose,
follow the instructions, and measure it afterwards
- It's best to get any jabs you need through your GP before the
medical, and ask them to write you a letter to prove you've had them
- Tax return transcripts are fine (these are the computer printouts
from the IRS). Photocopies of the actual handwritten tax return are
not required, but if you have them, take them - my joing sponsor had
lost one of his and the IRS didn't replace it in time
- Take photocopies of EVERYTHING with you
- Take your time filling in the forms. Be very bloody careful
- Take an umbrella, and something to read in the doctors
My interview was so easy. We travelled from Teesside and stayed in a
Travel Inn near Luton (but far enough away!), and had planned to get
the train from there (cheap parking, frequent trains), but there had
been storms and they were not running reliably, so we drove from
there, allowing far too much time. Hey, better to be safe than sorry.
Got to London at 6am. Nowhere opened for breakfast until 7am. Went
to embassy at 7:45am. Confusion about queues etc. Chubby guard let
us in at about 8:15 - they were running late I guess.
Handed over interview letter. Sat down. Got called up. Handed over
all documents, and paid for everything. Sat down. Waited about 30
mins. Got called up for proper interview. Bit scary. Simple
questions about where I'll be living, etc. Got told to go to the
medical and my visa would be issued at 1pm. Piece of cake.
Went to medical. Waited ages. Saw nurse who took blood etc. No jabs
required because I'd had MMR and Tetanus booster in advance. Waited
ages again. Had chest x-ray (waited ages down there too). Saw
doctor, got fondled. Creepy bloke, took an interest in my GPs headed
notepaper. Was done. Waited ages. Collected x-ray. Went for lunch.
Back to embassy at 1pm. Waited 15 mins. Collected visa. That easy?
Oh yes. They seemed friendly and helpful. Nobody in my group was not
given a visa.
By my calculation, we waited at least 3 times as long for the medical
to be completed than for the visa to be completed (whilst on
premises).
We're off to Kentucky next week. Flying into Cincinnati/North
Kentucky. Kim says Delta airlines suck. I recommend BMI from
Manchester to Chicago as my fave airline. US Airways suck too. But
the award for the suckiest of sucky goes to Philadelphia airport,
where the staff are absolutely useless, the whole place is completely
disorganised and you need to allow 4 hours to get onto a connecting
flight. You will be told lies, you will be confused, and your baggage
will probaby end up in Abu Dabi (except they probably don't know where
that is).
I hope this helps someone. If you're crapping yourself, don't worry.
Just do your research and it will be fine.
Thanks to everyone who responds to queries in this newsgroup. Your
responses are invaluable.
Jim and Kim
Dec 1st 2002, 7:33 am
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Marriage based visa - my experiences (long post)
Oh, Jim that was dandy!
I think this is the 1st time I have laughed while reading posts here!
I'm so happy you and Kim are together and ending your journey with
Immigration for a while anyways.
~Amber
I think this is the 1st time I have laughed while reading posts here!
I'm so happy you and Kim are together and ending your journey with
Immigration for a while anyways.
~Amber
Dec 2nd 2002, 2:13 am
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Marriage based visa - my experiences (long post)
Good afternoon,
You mention not having to file US taxes if you earn over a "small"
amount. Could you let me know what that amount is please? We're aware
that you file a 2555EZ (and the 1040) if you earn less than $78,000ish
and live outside the US but thought that every single US citizen had
to file regardless of income.
Cheers,
David.
[email protected] (Jim Lockwood) wrote in message news:...
> Maybe if there's someone who is in a similar situation to mine, they
> might find this useful.
>
> Before I start, this was our situation:
> - Me, Jim - British
> - Wife, Kim - American
> - I was in the UK, she had been in the UK for some 7 years as a
> permanent resident
> - Kim had never filed a tax return in her life, and had no income in
> the UK, but had family in the US who were willing to sponsor me
> jointly
> - Time wasn't too much of an issue for us - the whole process took us
> around 5 months but we could have sped it up by filling in forms
> quicker
>
> When we decided to apply, she was in Kentucky staying with her sister.
> She hadn't been doing too well in England so it looked like she was
> going to stay there and we were going to apply for a visa for me from
> there. We called a few solicitors (lawyers) and found that they all
> told us different things. Money grabbing &!@*£(^. We were told all
> sorts of stuff that wasn't even remotely true that I'm not going to
> even bother to go into. However, we called one paralegal who was
> unbelievably honest. She said we could do it from the states, but the
> processing time was something like 18 months. She explained that if
> we did it from London it would be quicker. A quick search of the web
> confirmed this. She also slagged off her fellow professionals who had
> strung a load of lies and told us what we wanted to here. I would
> recommend her but I can't remember her name!
>
> So, we decided to apply from England. We thought we could probably
> get away with Kim staying in KY, because she still had all sorts of
> proof about her being residence in England (joint bank account,
> medical card, national insurance number, etc), and we knew she didn't
> need to be present for the WHOLE process, but we thought it was a
> risk. Instead, she came back here to fill out at least the I-130
> application form from England. As it happened, she's stayed here the
> whole time anyway.
>
> At one time we were looking at using an immigration lawyer in England,
> but as long as you don't mind doing plenty of research on the web and
> trawling through the stuff that isn't relevant to you, I'd say save
> your money.
>
> We wrote to the US embassy in London to ask for the initial forms, but
> actually used the ones we downloaded from there website. Their
> website is a pretty good one, but is sometimes contradictory (and
> especially contradicts the US counterpart). The forms aren't all
> designed to be filled out from the perspective of living outside the
> US, but they can be fudged a little. There are some extra explanatory
> notes on the embassy website. I also bought Immigrating to the USA by
> Dan P Danilov, which was of some use, but not invaluable.
>
> At first it's easy to get confused by all the forms, and wonder what
> happens when. This is basically what we did:
> - Checked if Kim should have been filing tax returns months in advance
> (more on that later)
> - Applied for UK Police Certificate 2 months in advance
> - Applied for duplicate (certified copies of) birth and marriage
> certificates
> - Filled out I-130 (that's Kim's petition for my immigration)
> - Bugged Kim's brother in law to get all his tax returns together and
> fill out his affidavit of support (he was my joint sponser). There
> were a couple of mistakes on it, so he did it again a couple of weeks
> later
> - A few weeks later, once we received the "Packet 3" I filled out
> OF-230 and associated forms (I found out earlier that I could have
> done these forms at any time because they are independent of the
> I-130)
> - At around this time Kim was doing her affidavit of support as my
> main sponser, EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO INCOME AND NO TAX RETURNS
> - Received the Packet 4, which is the document checklist and
> associated stuff
> - Returned that and waited I think 4 weeks before we got an interview
> date, which was for 3-4 weeks in advance
>
> I was very particular about how the forms were filled in. I made sure
> I followed all the instructions. If any were contracdictory, I
> checked on this group to see what other people had done. If it said
> do N/A I did it, if it said write "not applicable" I did it, and
> hardly left anything blank.
>
> We found out while Kim was in the states that all US citizens are
> required to file income tax returns wherever they are in the world.
> Ridiculous. Anyway, we panicked about this, but, even for citizens
> who are resident in the US, you only have to file returns if you earn
> over a certain (small) amount. Kim had earned nothing for the last 3
> years (the period over which tax returns are requested), so was NOT
> REQUIRED TO FILE TAX RETURNS. She was still able to be my main
> sponsor, using her brother in law as joint sponsor. At the interview,
> we took the 1040 guidance notes along with us that confirmed this, and
> it did not pose a problem.
>
> These are the things I had questions about, or that I learnt along the
> way:
> - A certified copy of a birth/marriage certificate is just the
> "proper" one you get when you are registered born/married. It's easy
> to get another "copy" from the regiter office. They don't keep them
> as long as you take photocopies too. The birth certificate has to be
> the one showing both parents names, not the shorter, squarer one. I
> got an extra copy of everything to be sure
>
> - You don't have to have filed tax returns if you didn't earn anything
>
> - Documents have to be notarized by a US notary public (ie at the
> embassy, free of charge)
>
> - Notarized documents are stamped, signed, but are not always bound
> together with a fancy gromit (my joint sponsor's were stapled)
>
> - ADIT style photos can be done easily at a digital-type Photo-Me
> booth (eg in supermarkets). Just make sure you do the right pose,
> follow the instructions, and measure it afterwards
>
> - It's best to get any jabs you need through your GP before the
> medical, and ask them to write you a letter to prove you've had them
>
> - Tax return transcripts are fine (these are the computer printouts
> from the IRS). Photocopies of the actual handwritten tax return are
> not required, but if you have them, take them - my joing sponsor had
> lost one of his and the IRS didn't replace it in time
>
> - Take photocopies of EVERYTHING with you
>
> - Take your time filling in the forms. Be very bloody careful
>
> - Take an umbrella, and something to read in the doctors
>
> My interview was so easy. We travelled from Teesside and stayed in a
> Travel Inn near Luton (but far enough away!), and had planned to get
> the train from there (cheap parking, frequent trains), but there had
> been storms and they were not running reliably, so we drove from
> there, allowing far too much time. Hey, better to be safe than sorry.
> Got to London at 6am. Nowhere opened for breakfast until 7am. Went
> to embassy at 7:45am. Confusion about queues etc. Chubby guard let
> us in at about 8:15 - they were running late I guess.
>
> Handed over interview letter. Sat down. Got called up. Handed over
> all documents, and paid for everything. Sat down. Waited about 30
> mins. Got called up for proper interview. Bit scary. Simple
> questions about where I'll be living, etc. Got told to go to the
> medical and my visa would be issued at 1pm. Piece of cake.
>
> Went to medical. Waited ages. Saw nurse who took blood etc. No jabs
> required because I'd had MMR and Tetanus booster in advance. Waited
> ages again. Had chest x-ray (waited ages down there too). Saw
> doctor, got fondled. Creepy bloke, took an interest in my GPs headed
> notepaper. Was done. Waited ages. Collected x-ray. Went for lunch.
>
> Back to embassy at 1pm. Waited 15 mins. Collected visa. That easy?
> Oh yes. They seemed friendly and helpful. Nobody in my group was not
> given a visa.
>
> By my calculation, we waited at least 3 times as long for the medical
> to be completed than for the visa to be completed (whilst on
> premises).
>
> We're off to Kentucky next week. Flying into Cincinnati/North
> Kentucky. Kim says Delta airlines suck. I recommend BMI from
> Manchester to Chicago as my fave airline. US Airways suck too. But
> the award for the suckiest of sucky goes to Philadelphia airport,
> where the staff are absolutely useless, the whole place is completely
> disorganised and you need to allow 4 hours to get onto a connecting
> flight. You will be told lies, you will be confused, and your baggage
> will probaby end up in Abu Dabi (except they probably don't know where
> that is).
>
> I hope this helps someone. If you're crapping yourself, don't worry.
> Just do your research and it will be fine.
>
> Thanks to everyone who responds to queries in this newsgroup. Your
> responses are invaluable.
>
> Jim and Kim
You mention not having to file US taxes if you earn over a "small"
amount. Could you let me know what that amount is please? We're aware
that you file a 2555EZ (and the 1040) if you earn less than $78,000ish
and live outside the US but thought that every single US citizen had
to file regardless of income.
Cheers,
David.
[email protected] (Jim Lockwood) wrote in message news:...
> Maybe if there's someone who is in a similar situation to mine, they
> might find this useful.
>
> Before I start, this was our situation:
> - Me, Jim - British
> - Wife, Kim - American
> - I was in the UK, she had been in the UK for some 7 years as a
> permanent resident
> - Kim had never filed a tax return in her life, and had no income in
> the UK, but had family in the US who were willing to sponsor me
> jointly
> - Time wasn't too much of an issue for us - the whole process took us
> around 5 months but we could have sped it up by filling in forms
> quicker
>
> When we decided to apply, she was in Kentucky staying with her sister.
> She hadn't been doing too well in England so it looked like she was
> going to stay there and we were going to apply for a visa for me from
> there. We called a few solicitors (lawyers) and found that they all
> told us different things. Money grabbing &!@*£(^. We were told all
> sorts of stuff that wasn't even remotely true that I'm not going to
> even bother to go into. However, we called one paralegal who was
> unbelievably honest. She said we could do it from the states, but the
> processing time was something like 18 months. She explained that if
> we did it from London it would be quicker. A quick search of the web
> confirmed this. She also slagged off her fellow professionals who had
> strung a load of lies and told us what we wanted to here. I would
> recommend her but I can't remember her name!
>
> So, we decided to apply from England. We thought we could probably
> get away with Kim staying in KY, because she still had all sorts of
> proof about her being residence in England (joint bank account,
> medical card, national insurance number, etc), and we knew she didn't
> need to be present for the WHOLE process, but we thought it was a
> risk. Instead, she came back here to fill out at least the I-130
> application form from England. As it happened, she's stayed here the
> whole time anyway.
>
> At one time we were looking at using an immigration lawyer in England,
> but as long as you don't mind doing plenty of research on the web and
> trawling through the stuff that isn't relevant to you, I'd say save
> your money.
>
> We wrote to the US embassy in London to ask for the initial forms, but
> actually used the ones we downloaded from there website. Their
> website is a pretty good one, but is sometimes contradictory (and
> especially contradicts the US counterpart). The forms aren't all
> designed to be filled out from the perspective of living outside the
> US, but they can be fudged a little. There are some extra explanatory
> notes on the embassy website. I also bought Immigrating to the USA by
> Dan P Danilov, which was of some use, but not invaluable.
>
> At first it's easy to get confused by all the forms, and wonder what
> happens when. This is basically what we did:
> - Checked if Kim should have been filing tax returns months in advance
> (more on that later)
> - Applied for UK Police Certificate 2 months in advance
> - Applied for duplicate (certified copies of) birth and marriage
> certificates
> - Filled out I-130 (that's Kim's petition for my immigration)
> - Bugged Kim's brother in law to get all his tax returns together and
> fill out his affidavit of support (he was my joint sponser). There
> were a couple of mistakes on it, so he did it again a couple of weeks
> later
> - A few weeks later, once we received the "Packet 3" I filled out
> OF-230 and associated forms (I found out earlier that I could have
> done these forms at any time because they are independent of the
> I-130)
> - At around this time Kim was doing her affidavit of support as my
> main sponser, EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO INCOME AND NO TAX RETURNS
> - Received the Packet 4, which is the document checklist and
> associated stuff
> - Returned that and waited I think 4 weeks before we got an interview
> date, which was for 3-4 weeks in advance
>
> I was very particular about how the forms were filled in. I made sure
> I followed all the instructions. If any were contracdictory, I
> checked on this group to see what other people had done. If it said
> do N/A I did it, if it said write "not applicable" I did it, and
> hardly left anything blank.
>
> We found out while Kim was in the states that all US citizens are
> required to file income tax returns wherever they are in the world.
> Ridiculous. Anyway, we panicked about this, but, even for citizens
> who are resident in the US, you only have to file returns if you earn
> over a certain (small) amount. Kim had earned nothing for the last 3
> years (the period over which tax returns are requested), so was NOT
> REQUIRED TO FILE TAX RETURNS. She was still able to be my main
> sponsor, using her brother in law as joint sponsor. At the interview,
> we took the 1040 guidance notes along with us that confirmed this, and
> it did not pose a problem.
>
> These are the things I had questions about, or that I learnt along the
> way:
> - A certified copy of a birth/marriage certificate is just the
> "proper" one you get when you are registered born/married. It's easy
> to get another "copy" from the regiter office. They don't keep them
> as long as you take photocopies too. The birth certificate has to be
> the one showing both parents names, not the shorter, squarer one. I
> got an extra copy of everything to be sure
>
> - You don't have to have filed tax returns if you didn't earn anything
>
> - Documents have to be notarized by a US notary public (ie at the
> embassy, free of charge)
>
> - Notarized documents are stamped, signed, but are not always bound
> together with a fancy gromit (my joint sponsor's were stapled)
>
> - ADIT style photos can be done easily at a digital-type Photo-Me
> booth (eg in supermarkets). Just make sure you do the right pose,
> follow the instructions, and measure it afterwards
>
> - It's best to get any jabs you need through your GP before the
> medical, and ask them to write you a letter to prove you've had them
>
> - Tax return transcripts are fine (these are the computer printouts
> from the IRS). Photocopies of the actual handwritten tax return are
> not required, but if you have them, take them - my joing sponsor had
> lost one of his and the IRS didn't replace it in time
>
> - Take photocopies of EVERYTHING with you
>
> - Take your time filling in the forms. Be very bloody careful
>
> - Take an umbrella, and something to read in the doctors
>
> My interview was so easy. We travelled from Teesside and stayed in a
> Travel Inn near Luton (but far enough away!), and had planned to get
> the train from there (cheap parking, frequent trains), but there had
> been storms and they were not running reliably, so we drove from
> there, allowing far too much time. Hey, better to be safe than sorry.
> Got to London at 6am. Nowhere opened for breakfast until 7am. Went
> to embassy at 7:45am. Confusion about queues etc. Chubby guard let
> us in at about 8:15 - they were running late I guess.
>
> Handed over interview letter. Sat down. Got called up. Handed over
> all documents, and paid for everything. Sat down. Waited about 30
> mins. Got called up for proper interview. Bit scary. Simple
> questions about where I'll be living, etc. Got told to go to the
> medical and my visa would be issued at 1pm. Piece of cake.
>
> Went to medical. Waited ages. Saw nurse who took blood etc. No jabs
> required because I'd had MMR and Tetanus booster in advance. Waited
> ages again. Had chest x-ray (waited ages down there too). Saw
> doctor, got fondled. Creepy bloke, took an interest in my GPs headed
> notepaper. Was done. Waited ages. Collected x-ray. Went for lunch.
>
> Back to embassy at 1pm. Waited 15 mins. Collected visa. That easy?
> Oh yes. They seemed friendly and helpful. Nobody in my group was not
> given a visa.
>
> By my calculation, we waited at least 3 times as long for the medical
> to be completed than for the visa to be completed (whilst on
> premises).
>
> We're off to Kentucky next week. Flying into Cincinnati/North
> Kentucky. Kim says Delta airlines suck. I recommend BMI from
> Manchester to Chicago as my fave airline. US Airways suck too. But
> the award for the suckiest of sucky goes to Philadelphia airport,
> where the staff are absolutely useless, the whole place is completely
> disorganised and you need to allow 4 hours to get onto a connecting
> flight. You will be told lies, you will be confused, and your baggage
> will probaby end up in Abu Dabi (except they probably don't know where
> that is).
>
> I hope this helps someone. If you're crapping yourself, don't worry.
> Just do your research and it will be fine.
>
> Thanks to everyone who responds to queries in this newsgroup. Your
> responses are invaluable.
>
> Jim and Kim
Dec 2nd 2002, 5:19 am
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Marriage based visa - my experiences (long post)
For married filing separate return, it would be $3000.
For info, see page 6 of IRS Publication 17
If you both live out of the US, and one of you is not a citizen or PR,
then I don't think you can file jointly.
Moby Fan wrote:
>
> Good afternoon,
>
> You mention not having to file US taxes if you earn over a "small"
> amount. Could you let me know what that amount is please? We're aware
> that you file a 2555EZ (and the 1040) if you earn less than $78,000ish
> and live outside the US but thought that every single US citizen had
> to file regardless of income.
>
> Cheers,
> David.
>
> [email protected] (Jim Lockwood) wrote in message news:...
> > Maybe if there's someone who is in a similar situation to mine, they
> > might find this useful.
> >
> > Before I start, this was our situation:
> > - Me, Jim - British
> > - Wife, Kim - American
> > - I was in the UK, she had been in the UK for some 7 years as a
> > permanent resident
> > - Kim had never filed a tax return in her life, and had no income in
> > the UK, but had family in the US who were willing to sponsor me
> > jointly
> > - Time wasn't too much of an issue for us - the whole process took us
> > around 5 months but we could have sped it up by filling in forms
> > quicker
> >
> > When we decided to apply, she was in Kentucky staying with her sister.
> > She hadn't been doing too well in England so it looked like she was
> > going to stay there and we were going to apply for a visa for me from
> > there. We called a few solicitors (lawyers) and found that they all
> > told us different things. Money grabbing &!@*£(^. We were told all
> > sorts of stuff that wasn't even remotely true that I'm not going to
> > even bother to go into. However, we called one paralegal who was
> > unbelievably honest. She said we could do it from the states, but the
> > processing time was something like 18 months. She explained that if
> > we did it from London it would be quicker. A quick search of the web
> > confirmed this. She also slagged off her fellow professionals who had
> > strung a load of lies and told us what we wanted to here. I would
> > recommend her but I can't remember her name!
> >
> > So, we decided to apply from England. We thought we could probably
> > get away with Kim staying in KY, because she still had all sorts of
> > proof about her being residence in England (joint bank account,
> > medical card, national insurance number, etc), and we knew she didn't
> > need to be present for the WHOLE process, but we thought it was a
> > risk. Instead, she came back here to fill out at least the I-130
> > application form from England. As it happened, she's stayed here the
> > whole time anyway.
> >
> > At one time we were looking at using an immigration lawyer in England,
> > but as long as you don't mind doing plenty of research on the web and
> > trawling through the stuff that isn't relevant to you, I'd say save
> > your money.
> >
> > We wrote to the US embassy in London to ask for the initial forms, but
> > actually used the ones we downloaded from there website. Their
> > website is a pretty good one, but is sometimes contradictory (and
> > especially contradicts the US counterpart). The forms aren't all
> > designed to be filled out from the perspective of living outside the
> > US, but they can be fudged a little. There are some extra explanatory
> > notes on the embassy website. I also bought Immigrating to the USA by
> > Dan P Danilov, which was of some use, but not invaluable.
> >
> > At first it's easy to get confused by all the forms, and wonder what
> > happens when. This is basically what we did:
> > - Checked if Kim should have been filing tax returns months in advance
> > (more on that later)
> > - Applied for UK Police Certificate 2 months in advance
> > - Applied for duplicate (certified copies of) birth and marriage
> > certificates
> > - Filled out I-130 (that's Kim's petition for my immigration)
> > - Bugged Kim's brother in law to get all his tax returns together and
> > fill out his affidavit of support (he was my joint sponser). There
> > were a couple of mistakes on it, so he did it again a couple of weeks
> > later
> > - A few weeks later, once we received the "Packet 3" I filled out
> > OF-230 and associated forms (I found out earlier that I could have
> > done these forms at any time because they are independent of the
> > I-130)
> > - At around this time Kim was doing her affidavit of support as my
> > main sponser, EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO INCOME AND NO TAX RETURNS
> > - Received the Packet 4, which is the document checklist and
> > associated stuff
> > - Returned that and waited I think 4 weeks before we got an interview
> > date, which was for 3-4 weeks in advance
> >
> > I was very particular about how the forms were filled in. I made sure
> > I followed all the instructions. If any were contracdictory, I
> > checked on this group to see what other people had done. If it said
> > do N/A I did it, if it said write "not applicable" I did it, and
> > hardly left anything blank.
> >
> > We found out while Kim was in the states that all US citizens are
> > required to file income tax returns wherever they are in the world.
> > Ridiculous. Anyway, we panicked about this, but, even for citizens
> > who are resident in the US, you only have to file returns if you earn
> > over a certain (small) amount. Kim had earned nothing for the last 3
> > years (the period over which tax returns are requested), so was NOT
> > REQUIRED TO FILE TAX RETURNS. She was still able to be my main
> > sponsor, using her brother in law as joint sponsor. At the interview,
> > we took the 1040 guidance notes along with us that confirmed this, and
> > it did not pose a problem.
> >
> > These are the things I had questions about, or that I learnt along the
> > way:
> > - A certified copy of a birth/marriage certificate is just the
> > "proper" one you get when you are registered born/married. It's easy
> > to get another "copy" from the regiter office. They don't keep them
> > as long as you take photocopies too. The birth certificate has to be
> > the one showing both parents names, not the shorter, squarer one. I
> > got an extra copy of everything to be sure
> >
> > - You don't have to have filed tax returns if you didn't earn anything
> >
> > - Documents have to be notarized by a US notary public (ie at the
> > embassy, free of charge)
> >
> > - Notarized documents are stamped, signed, but are not always bound
> > together with a fancy gromit (my joint sponsor's were stapled)
> >
> > - ADIT style photos can be done easily at a digital-type Photo-Me
> > booth (eg in supermarkets). Just make sure you do the right pose,
> > follow the instructions, and measure it afterwards
> >
> > - It's best to get any jabs you need through your GP before the
> > medical, and ask them to write you a letter to prove you've had them
> >
> > - Tax return transcripts are fine (these are the computer printouts
> > from the IRS). Photocopies of the actual handwritten tax return are
> > not required, but if you have them, take them - my joing sponsor had
> > lost one of his and the IRS didn't replace it in time
> >
> > - Take photocopies of EVERYTHING with you
> >
> > - Take your time filling in the forms. Be very bloody careful
> >
> > - Take an umbrella, and something to read in the doctors
> >
> > My interview was so easy. We travelled from Teesside and stayed in a
> > Travel Inn near Luton (but far enough away!), and had planned to get
> > the train from there (cheap parking, frequent trains), but there had
> > been storms and they were not running reliably, so we drove from
> > there, allowing far too much time. Hey, better to be safe than sorry.
> > Got to London at 6am. Nowhere opened for breakfast until 7am. Went
> > to embassy at 7:45am. Confusion about queues etc. Chubby guard let
> > us in at about 8:15 - they were running late I guess.
> >
> > Handed over interview letter. Sat down. Got called up. Handed over
> > all documents, and paid for everything. Sat down. Waited about 30
> > mins. Got called up for proper interview. Bit scary. Simple
> > questions about where I'll be living, etc. Got told to go to the
> > medical and my visa would be issued at 1pm. Piece of cake.
> >
> > Went to medical. Waited ages. Saw nurse who took blood etc. No jabs
> > required because I'd had MMR and Tetanus booster in advance. Waited
> > ages again. Had chest x-ray (waited ages down there too). Saw
> > doctor, got fondled. Creepy bloke, took an interest in my GPs headed
> > notepaper. Was done. Waited ages. Collected x-ray. Went for lunch.
> >
> > Back to embassy at 1pm. Waited 15 mins. Collected visa. That easy?
> > Oh yes. They seemed friendly and helpful. Nobody in my group was not
> > given a visa.
> >
> > By my calculation, we waited at least 3 times as long for the medical
> > to be completed than for the visa to be completed (whilst on
> > premises).
> >
> > We're off to Kentucky next week. Flying into Cincinnati/North
> > Kentucky. Kim says Delta airlines suck. I recommend BMI from
> > Manchester to Chicago as my fave airline. US Airways suck too. But
> > the award for the suckiest of sucky goes to Philadelphia airport,
> > where the staff are absolutely useless, the whole place is completely
> > disorganised and you need to allow 4 hours to get onto a connecting
> > flight. You will be told lies, you will be confused, and your baggage
> > will probaby end up in Abu Dabi (except they probably don't know where
> > that is).
> >
> > I hope this helps someone. If you're crapping yourself, don't worry.
> > Just do your research and it will be fine.
> >
> > Thanks to everyone who responds to queries in this newsgroup. Your
> > responses are invaluable.
> >
> > Jim and Kim
For info, see page 6 of IRS Publication 17
If you both live out of the US, and one of you is not a citizen or PR,
then I don't think you can file jointly.
Moby Fan wrote:
>
> Good afternoon,
>
> You mention not having to file US taxes if you earn over a "small"
> amount. Could you let me know what that amount is please? We're aware
> that you file a 2555EZ (and the 1040) if you earn less than $78,000ish
> and live outside the US but thought that every single US citizen had
> to file regardless of income.
>
> Cheers,
> David.
>
> [email protected] (Jim Lockwood) wrote in message news:...
> > Maybe if there's someone who is in a similar situation to mine, they
> > might find this useful.
> >
> > Before I start, this was our situation:
> > - Me, Jim - British
> > - Wife, Kim - American
> > - I was in the UK, she had been in the UK for some 7 years as a
> > permanent resident
> > - Kim had never filed a tax return in her life, and had no income in
> > the UK, but had family in the US who were willing to sponsor me
> > jointly
> > - Time wasn't too much of an issue for us - the whole process took us
> > around 5 months but we could have sped it up by filling in forms
> > quicker
> >
> > When we decided to apply, she was in Kentucky staying with her sister.
> > She hadn't been doing too well in England so it looked like she was
> > going to stay there and we were going to apply for a visa for me from
> > there. We called a few solicitors (lawyers) and found that they all
> > told us different things. Money grabbing &!@*£(^. We were told all
> > sorts of stuff that wasn't even remotely true that I'm not going to
> > even bother to go into. However, we called one paralegal who was
> > unbelievably honest. She said we could do it from the states, but the
> > processing time was something like 18 months. She explained that if
> > we did it from London it would be quicker. A quick search of the web
> > confirmed this. She also slagged off her fellow professionals who had
> > strung a load of lies and told us what we wanted to here. I would
> > recommend her but I can't remember her name!
> >
> > So, we decided to apply from England. We thought we could probably
> > get away with Kim staying in KY, because she still had all sorts of
> > proof about her being residence in England (joint bank account,
> > medical card, national insurance number, etc), and we knew she didn't
> > need to be present for the WHOLE process, but we thought it was a
> > risk. Instead, she came back here to fill out at least the I-130
> > application form from England. As it happened, she's stayed here the
> > whole time anyway.
> >
> > At one time we were looking at using an immigration lawyer in England,
> > but as long as you don't mind doing plenty of research on the web and
> > trawling through the stuff that isn't relevant to you, I'd say save
> > your money.
> >
> > We wrote to the US embassy in London to ask for the initial forms, but
> > actually used the ones we downloaded from there website. Their
> > website is a pretty good one, but is sometimes contradictory (and
> > especially contradicts the US counterpart). The forms aren't all
> > designed to be filled out from the perspective of living outside the
> > US, but they can be fudged a little. There are some extra explanatory
> > notes on the embassy website. I also bought Immigrating to the USA by
> > Dan P Danilov, which was of some use, but not invaluable.
> >
> > At first it's easy to get confused by all the forms, and wonder what
> > happens when. This is basically what we did:
> > - Checked if Kim should have been filing tax returns months in advance
> > (more on that later)
> > - Applied for UK Police Certificate 2 months in advance
> > - Applied for duplicate (certified copies of) birth and marriage
> > certificates
> > - Filled out I-130 (that's Kim's petition for my immigration)
> > - Bugged Kim's brother in law to get all his tax returns together and
> > fill out his affidavit of support (he was my joint sponser). There
> > were a couple of mistakes on it, so he did it again a couple of weeks
> > later
> > - A few weeks later, once we received the "Packet 3" I filled out
> > OF-230 and associated forms (I found out earlier that I could have
> > done these forms at any time because they are independent of the
> > I-130)
> > - At around this time Kim was doing her affidavit of support as my
> > main sponser, EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO INCOME AND NO TAX RETURNS
> > - Received the Packet 4, which is the document checklist and
> > associated stuff
> > - Returned that and waited I think 4 weeks before we got an interview
> > date, which was for 3-4 weeks in advance
> >
> > I was very particular about how the forms were filled in. I made sure
> > I followed all the instructions. If any were contracdictory, I
> > checked on this group to see what other people had done. If it said
> > do N/A I did it, if it said write "not applicable" I did it, and
> > hardly left anything blank.
> >
> > We found out while Kim was in the states that all US citizens are
> > required to file income tax returns wherever they are in the world.
> > Ridiculous. Anyway, we panicked about this, but, even for citizens
> > who are resident in the US, you only have to file returns if you earn
> > over a certain (small) amount. Kim had earned nothing for the last 3
> > years (the period over which tax returns are requested), so was NOT
> > REQUIRED TO FILE TAX RETURNS. She was still able to be my main
> > sponsor, using her brother in law as joint sponsor. At the interview,
> > we took the 1040 guidance notes along with us that confirmed this, and
> > it did not pose a problem.
> >
> > These are the things I had questions about, or that I learnt along the
> > way:
> > - A certified copy of a birth/marriage certificate is just the
> > "proper" one you get when you are registered born/married. It's easy
> > to get another "copy" from the regiter office. They don't keep them
> > as long as you take photocopies too. The birth certificate has to be
> > the one showing both parents names, not the shorter, squarer one. I
> > got an extra copy of everything to be sure
> >
> > - You don't have to have filed tax returns if you didn't earn anything
> >
> > - Documents have to be notarized by a US notary public (ie at the
> > embassy, free of charge)
> >
> > - Notarized documents are stamped, signed, but are not always bound
> > together with a fancy gromit (my joint sponsor's were stapled)
> >
> > - ADIT style photos can be done easily at a digital-type Photo-Me
> > booth (eg in supermarkets). Just make sure you do the right pose,
> > follow the instructions, and measure it afterwards
> >
> > - It's best to get any jabs you need through your GP before the
> > medical, and ask them to write you a letter to prove you've had them
> >
> > - Tax return transcripts are fine (these are the computer printouts
> > from the IRS). Photocopies of the actual handwritten tax return are
> > not required, but if you have them, take them - my joing sponsor had
> > lost one of his and the IRS didn't replace it in time
> >
> > - Take photocopies of EVERYTHING with you
> >
> > - Take your time filling in the forms. Be very bloody careful
> >
> > - Take an umbrella, and something to read in the doctors
> >
> > My interview was so easy. We travelled from Teesside and stayed in a
> > Travel Inn near Luton (but far enough away!), and had planned to get
> > the train from there (cheap parking, frequent trains), but there had
> > been storms and they were not running reliably, so we drove from
> > there, allowing far too much time. Hey, better to be safe than sorry.
> > Got to London at 6am. Nowhere opened for breakfast until 7am. Went
> > to embassy at 7:45am. Confusion about queues etc. Chubby guard let
> > us in at about 8:15 - they were running late I guess.
> >
> > Handed over interview letter. Sat down. Got called up. Handed over
> > all documents, and paid for everything. Sat down. Waited about 30
> > mins. Got called up for proper interview. Bit scary. Simple
> > questions about where I'll be living, etc. Got told to go to the
> > medical and my visa would be issued at 1pm. Piece of cake.
> >
> > Went to medical. Waited ages. Saw nurse who took blood etc. No jabs
> > required because I'd had MMR and Tetanus booster in advance. Waited
> > ages again. Had chest x-ray (waited ages down there too). Saw
> > doctor, got fondled. Creepy bloke, took an interest in my GPs headed
> > notepaper. Was done. Waited ages. Collected x-ray. Went for lunch.
> >
> > Back to embassy at 1pm. Waited 15 mins. Collected visa. That easy?
> > Oh yes. They seemed friendly and helpful. Nobody in my group was not
> > given a visa.
> >
> > By my calculation, we waited at least 3 times as long for the medical
> > to be completed than for the visa to be completed (whilst on
> > premises).
> >
> > We're off to Kentucky next week. Flying into Cincinnati/North
> > Kentucky. Kim says Delta airlines suck. I recommend BMI from
> > Manchester to Chicago as my fave airline. US Airways suck too. But
> > the award for the suckiest of sucky goes to Philadelphia airport,
> > where the staff are absolutely useless, the whole place is completely
> > disorganised and you need to allow 4 hours to get onto a connecting
> > flight. You will be told lies, you will be confused, and your baggage
> > will probaby end up in Abu Dabi (except they probably don't know where
> > that is).
> >
> > I hope this helps someone. If you're crapping yourself, don't worry.
> > Just do your research and it will be fine.
> >
> > Thanks to everyone who responds to queries in this newsgroup. Your
> > responses are invaluable.
> >
> > Jim and Kim
Dec 2nd 2002, 10:13 am
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Marriage based visa - my experiences (long post)
The amount is clearly listed on all the forms' instructions in the "who must
file" or "Do I have to file a return?" section. If it's W2 income and not
1099 income, and you are single under 65, for it is about $7700. But read
the instructions on the form. There is a whole table dedicated to this and
they list reasons why you might want to file anyway even if you don't have
to. Just look up the forms at www.irs.gov
Fred
"Moby Fan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Good afternoon,
> You mention not having to file US taxes if you earn over a "small"
> amount. Could you let me know what that amount is please? We're aware
> that you file a 2555EZ (and the 1040) if you earn less than $78,000ish
> and live outside the US but thought that every single US citizen had
> to file regardless of income.
> Cheers,
> David.
> [email protected] (Jim Lockwood) wrote in message
news:...
> > Maybe if there's someone who is in a similar situation to mine, they
> > might find this useful.
> >
> > Before I start, this was our situation:
> > - Me, Jim - British
> > - Wife, Kim - American
> > - I was in the UK, she had been in the UK for some 7 years as a
> > permanent resident
> > - Kim had never filed a tax return in her life, and had no income in
> > the UK, but had family in the US who were willing to sponsor me
> > jointly
> > - Time wasn't too much of an issue for us - the whole process took us
> > around 5 months but we could have sped it up by filling in forms
> > quicker
> >
> > When we decided to apply, she was in Kentucky staying with her sister.
> > She hadn't been doing too well in England so it looked like she was
> > going to stay there and we were going to apply for a visa for me from
> > there. We called a few solicitors (lawyers) and found that they all
> > told us different things. Money grabbing &!@*£(^. We were told all
> > sorts of stuff that wasn't even remotely true that I'm not going to
> > even bother to go into. However, we called one paralegal who was
> > unbelievably honest. She said we could do it from the states, but the
> > processing time was something like 18 months. She explained that if
> > we did it from London it would be quicker. A quick search of the web
> > confirmed this. She also slagged off her fellow professionals who had
> > strung a load of lies and told us what we wanted to here. I would
> > recommend her but I can't remember her name!
> >
> > So, we decided to apply from England. We thought we could probably
> > get away with Kim staying in KY, because she still had all sorts of
> > proof about her being residence in England (joint bank account,
> > medical card, national insurance number, etc), and we knew she didn't
> > need to be present for the WHOLE process, but we thought it was a
> > risk. Instead, she came back here to fill out at least the I-130
> > application form from England. As it happened, she's stayed here the
> > whole time anyway.
> >
> > At one time we were looking at using an immigration lawyer in England,
> > but as long as you don't mind doing plenty of research on the web and
> > trawling through the stuff that isn't relevant to you, I'd say save
> > your money.
> >
> > We wrote to the US embassy in London to ask for the initial forms, but
> > actually used the ones we downloaded from there website. Their
> > website is a pretty good one, but is sometimes contradictory (and
> > especially contradicts the US counterpart). The forms aren't all
> > designed to be filled out from the perspective of living outside the
> > US, but they can be fudged a little. There are some extra explanatory
> > notes on the embassy website. I also bought Immigrating to the USA by
> > Dan P Danilov, which was of some use, but not invaluable.
> >
> > At first it's easy to get confused by all the forms, and wonder what
> > happens when. This is basically what we did:
> > - Checked if Kim should have been filing tax returns months in advance
> > (more on that later)
> > - Applied for UK Police Certificate 2 months in advance
> > - Applied for duplicate (certified copies of) birth and marriage
> > certificates
> > - Filled out I-130 (that's Kim's petition for my immigration)
> > - Bugged Kim's brother in law to get all his tax returns together and
> > fill out his affidavit of support (he was my joint sponser). There
> > were a couple of mistakes on it, so he did it again a couple of weeks
> > later
> > - A few weeks later, once we received the "Packet 3" I filled out
> > OF-230 and associated forms (I found out earlier that I could have
> > done these forms at any time because they are independent of the
> > I-130)
> > - At around this time Kim was doing her affidavit of support as my
> > main sponser, EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO INCOME AND NO TAX RETURNS
> > - Received the Packet 4, which is the document checklist and
> > associated stuff
> > - Returned that and waited I think 4 weeks before we got an interview
> > date, which was for 3-4 weeks in advance
> >
> > I was very particular about how the forms were filled in. I made sure
> > I followed all the instructions. If any were contracdictory, I
> > checked on this group to see what other people had done. If it said
> > do N/A I did it, if it said write "not applicable" I did it, and
> > hardly left anything blank.
> >
> > We found out while Kim was in the states that all US citizens are
> > required to file income tax returns wherever they are in the world.
> > Ridiculous. Anyway, we panicked about this, but, even for citizens
> > who are resident in the US, you only have to file returns if you earn
> > over a certain (small) amount. Kim had earned nothing for the last 3
> > years (the period over which tax returns are requested), so was NOT
> > REQUIRED TO FILE TAX RETURNS. She was still able to be my main
> > sponsor, using her brother in law as joint sponsor. At the interview,
> > we took the 1040 guidance notes along with us that confirmed this, and
> > it did not pose a problem.
> >
> > These are the things I had questions about, or that I learnt along the
> > way:
> > - A certified copy of a birth/marriage certificate is just the
> > "proper" one you get when you are registered born/married. It's easy
> > to get another "copy" from the regiter office. They don't keep them
> > as long as you take photocopies too. The birth certificate has to be
> > the one showing both parents names, not the shorter, squarer one. I
> > got an extra copy of everything to be sure
> >
> > - You don't have to have filed tax returns if you didn't earn anything
> >
> > - Documents have to be notarized by a US notary public (ie at the
> > embassy, free of charge)
> >
> > - Notarized documents are stamped, signed, but are not always bound
> > together with a fancy gromit (my joint sponsor's were stapled)
> >
> > - ADIT style photos can be done easily at a digital-type Photo-Me
> > booth (eg in supermarkets). Just make sure you do the right pose,
> > follow the instructions, and measure it afterwards
> >
> > - It's best to get any jabs you need through your GP before the
> > medical, and ask them to write you a letter to prove you've had them
> >
> > - Tax return transcripts are fine (these are the computer printouts
> > from the IRS). Photocopies of the actual handwritten tax return are
> > not required, but if you have them, take them - my joing sponsor had
> > lost one of his and the IRS didn't replace it in time
> >
> > - Take photocopies of EVERYTHING with you
> >
> > - Take your time filling in the forms. Be very bloody careful
> >
> > - Take an umbrella, and something to read in the doctors
> >
> > My interview was so easy. We travelled from Teesside and stayed in a
> > Travel Inn near Luton (but far enough away!), and had planned to get
> > the train from there (cheap parking, frequent trains), but there had
> > been storms and they were not running reliably, so we drove from
> > there, allowing far too much time. Hey, better to be safe than sorry.
> > Got to London at 6am. Nowhere opened for breakfast until 7am. Went
> > to embassy at 7:45am. Confusion about queues etc. Chubby guard let
> > us in at about 8:15 - they were running late I guess.
> >
> > Handed over interview letter. Sat down. Got called up. Handed over
> > all documents, and paid for everything. Sat down. Waited about 30
> > mins. Got called up for proper interview. Bit scary. Simple
> > questions about where I'll be living, etc. Got told to go to the
> > medical and my visa would be issued at 1pm. Piece of cake.
> >
> > Went to medical. Waited ages. Saw nurse who took blood etc. No jabs
> > required because I'd had MMR and Tetanus booster in advance. Waited
> > ages again. Had chest x-ray (waited ages down there too). Saw
> > doctor, got fondled. Creepy bloke, took an interest in my GPs headed
> > notepaper. Was done. Waited ages. Collected x-ray. Went for lunch.
> >
> > Back to embassy at 1pm. Waited 15 mins. Collected visa. That easy?
> > Oh yes. They seemed friendly and helpful. Nobody in my group was not
> > given a visa.
> >
> > By my calculation, we waited at least 3 times as long for the medical
> > to be completed than for the visa to be completed (whilst on
> > premises).
> >
> > We're off to Kentucky next week. Flying into Cincinnati/North
> > Kentucky. Kim says Delta airlines suck. I recommend BMI from
> > Manchester to Chicago as my fave airline. US Airways suck too. But
> > the award for the suckiest of sucky goes to Philadelphia airport,
> > where the staff are absolutely useless, the whole place is completely
> > disorganised and you need to allow 4 hours to get onto a connecting
> > flight. You will be told lies, you will be confused, and your baggage
> > will probaby end up in Abu Dabi (except they probably don't know where
> > that is).
> >
> > I hope this helps someone. If you're crapping yourself, don't worry.
> > Just do your research and it will be fine.
> >
> > Thanks to everyone who responds to queries in this newsgroup. Your
> > responses are invaluable.
> >
> > Jim and Kim
file" or "Do I have to file a return?" section. If it's W2 income and not
1099 income, and you are single under 65, for it is about $7700. But read
the instructions on the form. There is a whole table dedicated to this and
they list reasons why you might want to file anyway even if you don't have
to. Just look up the forms at www.irs.gov
Fred
"Moby Fan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Good afternoon,
> You mention not having to file US taxes if you earn over a "small"
> amount. Could you let me know what that amount is please? We're aware
> that you file a 2555EZ (and the 1040) if you earn less than $78,000ish
> and live outside the US but thought that every single US citizen had
> to file regardless of income.
> Cheers,
> David.
> [email protected] (Jim Lockwood) wrote in message
news:...
> > Maybe if there's someone who is in a similar situation to mine, they
> > might find this useful.
> >
> > Before I start, this was our situation:
> > - Me, Jim - British
> > - Wife, Kim - American
> > - I was in the UK, she had been in the UK for some 7 years as a
> > permanent resident
> > - Kim had never filed a tax return in her life, and had no income in
> > the UK, but had family in the US who were willing to sponsor me
> > jointly
> > - Time wasn't too much of an issue for us - the whole process took us
> > around 5 months but we could have sped it up by filling in forms
> > quicker
> >
> > When we decided to apply, she was in Kentucky staying with her sister.
> > She hadn't been doing too well in England so it looked like she was
> > going to stay there and we were going to apply for a visa for me from
> > there. We called a few solicitors (lawyers) and found that they all
> > told us different things. Money grabbing &!@*£(^. We were told all
> > sorts of stuff that wasn't even remotely true that I'm not going to
> > even bother to go into. However, we called one paralegal who was
> > unbelievably honest. She said we could do it from the states, but the
> > processing time was something like 18 months. She explained that if
> > we did it from London it would be quicker. A quick search of the web
> > confirmed this. She also slagged off her fellow professionals who had
> > strung a load of lies and told us what we wanted to here. I would
> > recommend her but I can't remember her name!
> >
> > So, we decided to apply from England. We thought we could probably
> > get away with Kim staying in KY, because she still had all sorts of
> > proof about her being residence in England (joint bank account,
> > medical card, national insurance number, etc), and we knew she didn't
> > need to be present for the WHOLE process, but we thought it was a
> > risk. Instead, she came back here to fill out at least the I-130
> > application form from England. As it happened, she's stayed here the
> > whole time anyway.
> >
> > At one time we were looking at using an immigration lawyer in England,
> > but as long as you don't mind doing plenty of research on the web and
> > trawling through the stuff that isn't relevant to you, I'd say save
> > your money.
> >
> > We wrote to the US embassy in London to ask for the initial forms, but
> > actually used the ones we downloaded from there website. Their
> > website is a pretty good one, but is sometimes contradictory (and
> > especially contradicts the US counterpart). The forms aren't all
> > designed to be filled out from the perspective of living outside the
> > US, but they can be fudged a little. There are some extra explanatory
> > notes on the embassy website. I also bought Immigrating to the USA by
> > Dan P Danilov, which was of some use, but not invaluable.
> >
> > At first it's easy to get confused by all the forms, and wonder what
> > happens when. This is basically what we did:
> > - Checked if Kim should have been filing tax returns months in advance
> > (more on that later)
> > - Applied for UK Police Certificate 2 months in advance
> > - Applied for duplicate (certified copies of) birth and marriage
> > certificates
> > - Filled out I-130 (that's Kim's petition for my immigration)
> > - Bugged Kim's brother in law to get all his tax returns together and
> > fill out his affidavit of support (he was my joint sponser). There
> > were a couple of mistakes on it, so he did it again a couple of weeks
> > later
> > - A few weeks later, once we received the "Packet 3" I filled out
> > OF-230 and associated forms (I found out earlier that I could have
> > done these forms at any time because they are independent of the
> > I-130)
> > - At around this time Kim was doing her affidavit of support as my
> > main sponser, EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO INCOME AND NO TAX RETURNS
> > - Received the Packet 4, which is the document checklist and
> > associated stuff
> > - Returned that and waited I think 4 weeks before we got an interview
> > date, which was for 3-4 weeks in advance
> >
> > I was very particular about how the forms were filled in. I made sure
> > I followed all the instructions. If any were contracdictory, I
> > checked on this group to see what other people had done. If it said
> > do N/A I did it, if it said write "not applicable" I did it, and
> > hardly left anything blank.
> >
> > We found out while Kim was in the states that all US citizens are
> > required to file income tax returns wherever they are in the world.
> > Ridiculous. Anyway, we panicked about this, but, even for citizens
> > who are resident in the US, you only have to file returns if you earn
> > over a certain (small) amount. Kim had earned nothing for the last 3
> > years (the period over which tax returns are requested), so was NOT
> > REQUIRED TO FILE TAX RETURNS. She was still able to be my main
> > sponsor, using her brother in law as joint sponsor. At the interview,
> > we took the 1040 guidance notes along with us that confirmed this, and
> > it did not pose a problem.
> >
> > These are the things I had questions about, or that I learnt along the
> > way:
> > - A certified copy of a birth/marriage certificate is just the
> > "proper" one you get when you are registered born/married. It's easy
> > to get another "copy" from the regiter office. They don't keep them
> > as long as you take photocopies too. The birth certificate has to be
> > the one showing both parents names, not the shorter, squarer one. I
> > got an extra copy of everything to be sure
> >
> > - You don't have to have filed tax returns if you didn't earn anything
> >
> > - Documents have to be notarized by a US notary public (ie at the
> > embassy, free of charge)
> >
> > - Notarized documents are stamped, signed, but are not always bound
> > together with a fancy gromit (my joint sponsor's were stapled)
> >
> > - ADIT style photos can be done easily at a digital-type Photo-Me
> > booth (eg in supermarkets). Just make sure you do the right pose,
> > follow the instructions, and measure it afterwards
> >
> > - It's best to get any jabs you need through your GP before the
> > medical, and ask them to write you a letter to prove you've had them
> >
> > - Tax return transcripts are fine (these are the computer printouts
> > from the IRS). Photocopies of the actual handwritten tax return are
> > not required, but if you have them, take them - my joing sponsor had
> > lost one of his and the IRS didn't replace it in time
> >
> > - Take photocopies of EVERYTHING with you
> >
> > - Take your time filling in the forms. Be very bloody careful
> >
> > - Take an umbrella, and something to read in the doctors
> >
> > My interview was so easy. We travelled from Teesside and stayed in a
> > Travel Inn near Luton (but far enough away!), and had planned to get
> > the train from there (cheap parking, frequent trains), but there had
> > been storms and they were not running reliably, so we drove from
> > there, allowing far too much time. Hey, better to be safe than sorry.
> > Got to London at 6am. Nowhere opened for breakfast until 7am. Went
> > to embassy at 7:45am. Confusion about queues etc. Chubby guard let
> > us in at about 8:15 - they were running late I guess.
> >
> > Handed over interview letter. Sat down. Got called up. Handed over
> > all documents, and paid for everything. Sat down. Waited about 30
> > mins. Got called up for proper interview. Bit scary. Simple
> > questions about where I'll be living, etc. Got told to go to the
> > medical and my visa would be issued at 1pm. Piece of cake.
> >
> > Went to medical. Waited ages. Saw nurse who took blood etc. No jabs
> > required because I'd had MMR and Tetanus booster in advance. Waited
> > ages again. Had chest x-ray (waited ages down there too). Saw
> > doctor, got fondled. Creepy bloke, took an interest in my GPs headed
> > notepaper. Was done. Waited ages. Collected x-ray. Went for lunch.
> >
> > Back to embassy at 1pm. Waited 15 mins. Collected visa. That easy?
> > Oh yes. They seemed friendly and helpful. Nobody in my group was not
> > given a visa.
> >
> > By my calculation, we waited at least 3 times as long for the medical
> > to be completed than for the visa to be completed (whilst on
> > premises).
> >
> > We're off to Kentucky next week. Flying into Cincinnati/North
> > Kentucky. Kim says Delta airlines suck. I recommend BMI from
> > Manchester to Chicago as my fave airline. US Airways suck too. But
> > the award for the suckiest of sucky goes to Philadelphia airport,
> > where the staff are absolutely useless, the whole place is completely
> > disorganised and you need to allow 4 hours to get onto a connecting
> > flight. You will be told lies, you will be confused, and your baggage
> > will probaby end up in Abu Dabi (except they probably don't know where
> > that is).
> >
> > I hope this helps someone. If you're crapping yourself, don't worry.
> > Just do your research and it will be fine.
> >
> > Thanks to everyone who responds to queries in this newsgroup. Your
> > responses are invaluable.
> >
> > Jim and Kim
Mar 18th 2003, 2:44 pm
#6
Kentucky woman i miss you
Joined: Mar 2003
Location: WEST LONDON UK/KENTUCKY USA
Posts: 62
JIM LOCKWOOD
HI JIM ,WELL I WAS JUST WONDERING WHERE IN KY YOU ARE , I WILL SOON BE RESIDENT IN GEORGETOWN,SCOTT COUNTY,THATS IF I CAN GET THE AFFIDAVIT OF SUPPORT SORTED,IM HAVING A TERRIBLE TIME WITHTHIS PART OF THE VISA ,DONT KNOW IF YOU STLL LOOK AT THIS SITE BUT I THOUGHT I WOULD TRY,
Apr 17th 2003, 12:54 pm
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Marriage based visa - my experiences (long post)
I just by chance saw your message after checking up on some old stuff.
I'm in Covington, Kenton County (near Cincinnati). If you need help
with anything please email james_p_lockwood at yahoo.com. I only have
my experiences to go on, but just ask if you need anything. Getting a
drivers license was fun for me, but ironically, harder for my wife who
is a US citizen.
Jim
MASON wrote in message news:...
> HI JIM ,WELL I WAS JUST WONDERING WHERE IN KY YOU ARE , I WILL SOON BE
> RESIDENT IN GEORGETOWN,SCOTT COUNTY,THATS IF I CAN GET THE AFFIDAVIT OF
> SUPPORT SORTED,IM HAVING A TERRIBLE TIME WITHTHIS PART OF THE VISA ,DONT
> KNOW IF YOU STLL LOOK AT THIS SITE BUT I THOUGHT I WOULD TRY,
I'm in Covington, Kenton County (near Cincinnati). If you need help
with anything please email james_p_lockwood at yahoo.com. I only have
my experiences to go on, but just ask if you need anything. Getting a
drivers license was fun for me, but ironically, harder for my wife who
is a US citizen.
Jim
MASON wrote in message news:...
> HI JIM ,WELL I WAS JUST WONDERING WHERE IN KY YOU ARE , I WILL SOON BE
> RESIDENT IN GEORGETOWN,SCOTT COUNTY,THATS IF I CAN GET THE AFFIDAVIT OF
> SUPPORT SORTED,IM HAVING A TERRIBLE TIME WITHTHIS PART OF THE VISA ,DONT
> KNOW IF YOU STLL LOOK AT THIS SITE BUT I THOUGHT I WOULD TRY,
