carjen

Hi everyone,
I wrote to the INS in London some 6 weeks ago with a long list of questions that I wanted clarifiying before filing my I-130 on behalf of my husband. This morning I received a "reply" from them, but they haven't answered any of my questions, only sent me the relevant forms. So I'm hoping some of you who have been through the process can advise me.
I'm a US citizen with UK residency. They want proof of my residency status, what are they looking for? I have a stamp in my passport which gives me "indefinite leave to remain in the UK". I do not own any property, and we are living with my husband's parents in an effort to save as much money as possible. So no tenancy agreement. I do however have bank statements in my name, would this suffice? Anything else they might accept?
Another question- as I mentioned, I don't own property, don't have significant savings, and don't have a job or address as yet in the US. So I know I need a co-sponsor. I am considering asking my father, who has ample savings and assets, and only lives with my mum so could easily pass the minimum poverty amount criteria set by the INS. What I want to know is will this be acceptable to them? We have no other means of satsifying the financial aspect of the process.
Also, at what point do I submit the affadavit of support? does this go in with the I-130/G325 or at a later time?
Thank you to anyone who can offer advice and apologies if this has been asked before.
Kiera

Patrick

Hi Kiera,

long time, no hear. Hope your keeping fit and well.

1. The only proof my wife sent was a photocopy of the stamp in her passport and the letter from the home office granting her indefinate leave to stay in the UK. We decided against sending tones of stuff in (bank statements, bills and stuff) as we thought in this case less is more, one thing proving residency should be enough as they are just looking for proof that you can apply in through London.

The co-sponsor is fine, if your father is retired it might be prudent to get two co-sponsors, just in case, as his income is via savings and not work. If your worried you can have as many as co-sponspors as you want so get 8 or 9 people if you want.

The affadavit of support is not required until the interview so you have a while to prepare it. The process for London is -

File I-130 and G325 's (and send money)

File DS-230 (you do not have to wait for I-130 approval for spousal visas so you can send this off straight away) - this will generate a provisional case number for you.

File OF-169 when you have collected all the documents. This the form that trickers the interview date but the I-130 has to be approved before they set the interview date.

The interview is normally (but don't depend on it) around 6 weeks after filing the 0F-169.

I think I still have your phone number so if you want me to ring you and we can talk this over with a nice cup of tea on the phone I would be happy to do that.

Good Luck, and thanks for the tax return advice, it was really easy like you said.

Patrick

meauxna

Kiera, you sound very organized...a great start to your process! I just did DCF in Athens, so YMMV. However, there are several posters here with similar situations in London who will help out too.

For your residency, I imagine that a copy of your passport stamp & bank account evidence would be sufficient proof. Particularly the passport stamp.

Your parents situation will suffice for co-sponsors. You complete the I-864 with whatever info you can provide. Your father also completes an I-864 and if your mother's income is combined with his, they complete the I-864-A. (right everyone?). Don't forget to have your father get his documents notarized before he sends them to you.

The aff. of Support is submitted at the interview. Scheduling of that final interview is the letter and attachements known as Packet 4.

The steps on the Doc Steen site http://www.mindspring.com/~docsteen/...o/visainfo.htm
explain things pretty thoroughly.

From my experience, the only thing I would do differently is to not wait to submit the I-130. That's the first step and gets the ball rolling. Start now to gather everything necessary for Packet 3 so that when you get it from the Embassy, you're ready to submit it. Packet 3 is basically a checklist of all the docs you must have ready to have your appointment scheduled. You can find the specifics online at the USEmbassy UK's website, which is also a very good resource.

Ask away here, we usually answer much more quickly than the Embassy and good luck!

rogerpenycate

Hi,
A couple of points.
1/. The INS accepted a copy of the residency stamp in my wifes passport.
2/. As meauxna said, if both parents act as co-sponsors they have to sign the I-864A which is effectively a contract between the two of the agreeing to be co-sponsors.
Don't forget though that if they are co-sponsors, this puts up the 125% poverty threshold by one.
ie: If just one of them is a sole ponsor it's one plus you two
(assuming you don't have any children)
If they co-sponsor, it's two plus you two.
I hope this makes sense.

carjen

thanks everyone.
Just to clarify=
my dad is not retired and really does have ample savings and assets to meet the 125% poverty requirements for 2 of us. I do not plan to involve my mum in the co-sponsoring, partly because my dad has more assets than she is and partly because she ias a giant pain in the ass!
Thank again to everyone, no doubt i'll have more questions as we progress.
Bye for now,
Kiera