Bypassing Team Papi Membership

[jediknight]

it's much faster and easier to call the irs. you can obtain a transcript by calling (800)–829–1040, no forms to fill out, just answer a few simple questions and they'll mail it out to you right away. it took a week to get mine.

but if you feel a need to fill out papers, go here to get the proper form.
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc156.html?portlet=1

JK

[papi]

but if you feel a need to fill out papers, go here to get the proper form.

right, like there is not enough forms to fill out already. i guess it keeps the lawyers in business.

i forgot to copy my passport stamps showing i entered the country. I sent photos together, copies of plane tickets and hotel. I am hoping this does not cause a delay. pain in the butt

[Dan Las Vegas]

Congratulations Valleydude!!!!!   Way to go, your wife is beautiful and you are a lucky man!!! Looking forward to your posts on the visa process.

[valleydude]

Ok! Finally, my mind is clearing up. I was reading and re-reading the last 2 days and maybe 10% stuck. Nothing was sinking in for the last couple of days. Now, I am ready to get this rolling! I have a few questions running in my head, but they seem to slowly be clearing up as I read and re-read, so I'll wait them out.

For the past few years I have been looking at the K1 in my spare time and I was ready for that. Even though this is similar, I feel like I am starting from the beginning again, and I am completely caught off guard. I have read this thread over and over and compared it with the instructions on the actual I30 and after reading it about 30x it all starts to clear up. I can see Papi is talking about the K1 and that I need to translate my docs, so that's what I am going to do.

I started reading on Visa Journey and quite honestly I want to stay away from there until I get everything put together. Why? Because I am the type that will rack my brain over and over looking at every angle and trying to take it all in. I think the instructions are actually clear, it's just that one needs to read them over and over, and over again. For the next couple of days all I am going to do is refer to this thread along with instructions on the I30. After I get a handle on it, then I'll read more on Visa Journey. I don't want to fall into "Analysis Paralysis", so I think I need to keep these first few steps simple, so I can begin to get things rolling.

I will be posting my experiences through this. For me, I know that seeing a post or two from the creditable guys is better than the 1,000s of people who might respond to me on VJ, so maybe I can give that back after this is all said and done.

Ok, time for me to read this thread and the forms again.

Muchos Gracias a Todos!!!

VD

[Kiltboy1]

VD

I got my NOA-1 today and registered my account with USCIS. The application I-130 is pretty basic and simple and the G325 A as well, just you need her signature on 4 copies. The marriage certificate, birth certificate, copy of her passport, copy of her cedula, your BC, copy of your passport with entry and exit stamps and that should do it as far as the first part of the process. All spanish docs need to be translated into english , but that is pretty simple. It is not as stressful as people make it out to be. For me, the worst part is the long timeframe to get the VISA issued, now that does stress me out. Good luck and the key is patience of course which i have very little when it comes to the GOV..

KB

[valleydude]

Cool! Glad to see you got it KB!

I am cool and accept thinking 4-6 months, but when I saw 8-12 or more, I don't like that the thoughts of that one bit. I was suprised to see JK still waiting. I can remember when he announced he was married. To me, it seems like it was forever ago, I can imagine how long it must seem to him. By the way JK, thanks a million, you too Ray! Gracias a  todos tambien. I just can't thank everyone enough. Ray can put all the "cartoons" he wants in my posts!

I wanted to start this before I left her, but after we were married I just wanted to enjoy our time together. I left her with money and she is so responsible and reliable that I feel comfortable in her getting the passport photos and signed copies to me quickly. I am going to start sending her the list tonight.

Ok, I'm rambling and I really have to get back to work now!

VD

[jediknight]

vd, you appear to be going about this the right way and that is not to rush into sending things until you've taken a breather, have read a little and asked the right questions. doing it otherwise will mean making mistakes and causing delays. it's also nice to read someone else going through the same thing i did last year. it brings back nice memories and i know exactly what you mean when you wanted to spend time with your wife, leaving her enough money and knowing that she is capable of taking care of things over there. it's a very good idea that she have some responsibilty in this process and not have you do all of the work.

as for me, we got married over the summer, i stayed in barranquilla until the end of aug and upon arriving i started a new job that same week, so i didn't get the I-130 and supporting documents out until the first week of october when things settled down and i had read all the info about the first step.

our petition was sent to vermont, which has been one of the fastest centers to process petitions but for some reason, those of us that had sent our forms to vermont were not being processed as quickly as before. people who sent their petitions to california were getting NOA2 approvals much faster. also, i noticed that people who also applied for the I-129F were getting approved quicker. well, after 5 months of waiting, things started to move again and it's been rolling rather quickly ever since. we are on the last leg before the interview so that maybe coming up soon. yes it's been a little longer than expected but since getting married i've flown down 3 times and we've accepted the fact that we have to wait. we've put everything in Gods hands and said that as long as things moved along, without problems or USCIS or NVC asking for additional papers or telling us that we've made a mistake, we were ok with the waiting game.

so for now, gather your stuff for the I-130 and relax, you'll be waiting for a few months. there are people on the vj board who submitted their petitions in sept and some even earlier that are still waiting. look at this thread and goto the last page to see the dates posted to get an idea of the wait times. you can look me up there, i have the same user name so you can see the steps i've taken with dates in my signature.

good luck
JK


http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42024

[Ray]

VD, has your head stopped spinning already? :-)

Since that I-129F is for the optional K-3 petition, you can concentrate on the I-130 and G-325A forms first. When reading over the I-129F, keep in mind that there are errors in the 2nd paragraph of Block 10 of the instructions where they tell you which documents to omit. I don’t know why they didn’t catch those with the last revision.

Have you decided yet if you will go for the K-3 visa?

When you’re working on the I-130 package, you can use this checklist if it will help.

Spouse I-130 Checklist

1.  Completed Form I-130

2.  Filing fee

3.  Form G-325A (Biographic Information) for you

4.  Form G-325A (Biographic Information) for your spouse

5.  One recent color passport photo of yourself

6.  One recent color passport photo of your spouse

7.  Copy of petitioner’s certified birth certificate or proof of U.S. citizenship

8.  Copy of your marriage certificate

9.  Copy of documents showing legal termination of all previous marriages

10. Copy of spouse’s birth certificate (not required but recommended)

11. Signed statement attesting to the fact that document copies submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered originals

Ray

[william3rd]

We usually add a copy of the passport (unexpired) faceplate for the woman to the mix. IF it is available, of course.

[valleydude]

It actually stopped for a moment, but it comes and goes. I believe I have a grip on it all though. I skipped over to VJ to look at the sample forms. (Just one step at a time over there for me.)

I have only just begin typing the info in the I30. I am officially broke now, but if money wasn't an object, I would pay someone to just throw it all together and then give it back to me to look at before I mailed it off. That way I could keep the ball rolling and hang out on cloud 9 a while longer. I'm a firm believer in paying people in the qualified profession, but I know I can do this. It's just a lot happening all at once.

Thanks for the checklist. I was working on that. I was writing her up an email, but your version is a lot nicer than mine. Thanks!

I was thinking we will go for the K-3 as well that would be worth the couple bucks to have another chance at something faster, but if they are getting approved at the same time, then I'll wing that decision  after I get these first steps taken care of.

She is going to send me her papers this week and I hope to have this off by the beginning of next week. Looking back, I should have just photocopied all them in the notary's office. That would have worked perfect.

This is cool that I got some others guys that have been around awhile to compare notes with. We can probably spin off a few more clubs out of this.

VD

[Ray]

It sounds like you have a good handle on things VD.

One note. Figure out exactly what form she wants to use for her married name and use that on all of the immigration forms from here on out. That will make things a little easier down the road. There is a separate block on most of the forms for her maiden name also.

Ray

[valleydude]

I saw JK's post and I was about to ask if there I was something I needed to know.
Do you mind, if I ask a little more about this?

I see on the VJ's example's they use the married name on the I30 and on the G325A they use the maiden name. So basically, what I want to do is put her maiden name on the G325A, her married name on the I30 and then here on out, on everything, always use her married name?

While we are talking about names. Should she sign, her maiden name on forms with her maiden name, and then her married name on forms with her married name?

After reading JK's thread. I started thinking about all this. All kinds of stuff starts running through my mind, like what if her passport says her maiden name and the visa says her married name? Blah blah blah. (This is exactly why I am staying away from VJ for the moment)

VD

[william3rd]

Visas are issued to match the name in the passport. . . .

[Ray]

Use the married name on ALL forms. Be consistent with the names.

For the G-325A, her married name goes in the first block and her maiden name goes on the second line directly below that (All Other Names Used).

She can still travel on her passport if it’s in her maiden name. Don’t worry about the visa because she will only use it for a few hours until she arrives in the States where they will take the visa and stamp her passport with a temporary Green Card (I-551).

Ray

[jediknight]

I got the letter from the NVC regarding the DS230 with barcode and instructions. I posted the letter in my photos  on VJ if you want to see what it says.
as you can see, they include a link (the one we've been throwing around here) to the instructions and to download the DS230. so, yes, as the website has stated, those of us going through bogota for CR-1 have to send the additional documents with the DS230 to the NVC, translated. i just sent it out so we'll see. oh, one more thing, the envelope that they included had the letters APPT stamped on the lower left corner in big letters. i don't know if this is important but those that want to send out the ds230 as soon as its generated may want to include that detail on their envelope. also, make sure to write down the case number on the upper right corner of every page you send to the NVC.
JK
 

[utopiacowboy]

Visas are issued to match the name in the passport. . . .

Yes and no.

In my wife's case, let's say her name is Maria Z. Perez Lopez and my name is John H. Smith. They ended up putting her name as Maria Z. Perez de Smith. In fact her green card also has the same name Maria Z. Perez de Smith.

[pan de bono]

Congradulations Valleydude!