Affidavit of Support Fee

[minha_raposa 0]

Hello all. My USC sister-in-law resides in Brasil with her husband and has been trying to get questions answered from NVC but only receives boilerplate information that seems wrong (when she even gets a response). The latest information from NVC said they sent her an AOS Fee Bill Invoice with instructions how to pay the fee, but she has never received it.

From what I can tell, an AOS fee is only required if filed here in the US. Since she filed CR1, the AOS will be reviewed at the Consulate and no fee is required.

Am I correct in my understanding? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Mike

[Ryan H 3,812]

From what I can tell, an AOS fee is only required if filed here in the US. Since she filed CR1, the AOS will be reviewed at the Consulate and no fee is required.

Am I correct in my understanding? Any help is greatly appreciated!

You are incorrect in your understanding. For any file that requires submission of Affidavit of Support documentation to the NVC, the Affidavit of Support fee MUST be paid or the file goes nowhere.

While a CO at the Consulate does make the final determination on whether or not it's accepted or not, a CO will never see it if the NVC does not send the file and the NVC will not send the file without proper payment of applicable fees.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Ryan H

[minha_raposa 0]

Thanks for the reply. It makes sense, but does not seem to jive with the FAQs from State Department:

Is There a Fee I Will Need to Pay for the Affidavit of Support Forms?

Yes, there is a $88 fee per case for reviewing the Affidavit of Support (Forms I-864, I-864A, I-864W and/or I-864EZ) when the form(s) is(are) filed in the U.S. See Immigrant Services - Other Fees.

Is There a Fee to Review the Affidavit of Support at a U.S. embassy or Consulate Abroad?

No, when the I-130 and subsequent Affidavit of Support (AOS) form is filed outside the U.S. a fee is not charged.

Question: Does the I864 form actually need to be sent back to the NVC for review, or just pay NVC a fee?

Also, in an email from NVC about 3 weeks ago, they said a Invoice was sent. However, she has never received it and they have not replied to her follow-up inquiries. Will NVC discuss her case with me if I call on her behalf?

[Ryan H 3,812]

Thanks for the reply. It makes sense, but does not seem to jive with the FAQs from State Department:

You are misreading the FAQ, your sister in-law's case was received by the NVC from a USCIS service center which means the case was filed stateside; this would include petitioners who live abroad but sent the petition from abroad to a USCIS intake facility in the US for adjudication. A procedural change last August reduced the availability of filing directly at an Embassy or Consulate to those that have a USCIS field office housed within them. Unless your sister in-law filed before that deadline last August, she would have sent the file to the US. Since she is receiving emails from the NVC, I am surmising that she sent the file to the US and it was approved by one of the service centers in the US that adjudicate I-130 petitions. After they approved the petition they sent it to the NVC.

Will NVC discuss her case with me if I call on her behalf?

The NVC will only discuss details of a case with the petitioner, beneficiary, or authorized representative (e.g. an attorney).

[USA Olive 0]

My husband and I are both living abroad but we were required to file stateside and we also had similar problems when trying to communicate with the NVC to get information. We got the same type of responses and I must have emailed them at least 4 times asking them where our bills and instruction packets were but they arrived eventually. Be patient and they will get there soon! We just recently paid our $88 AOS fee and Visa fees. We understand that we will soon also need to send our I-864 form along with supporting documents (such as tax returns, etc.)to the NVC as well as our DS-230 with the list of documents they request. We noticed that the form online for the DS-230 expired on 6-30-2012 so we are hoping they post an updated version soon! Tell your sister in law best of luck with her process!