Choice of Agent? AOS payment?

[jeffinjapan 0]

Hello all,

I am a US citizen and I've been living in Japan for 10 years now. Married to a Japanese National for 9 years.

We are planning to come back to the US this year and my wife passed the first step of Visa processing.

I just received two emails that contain the next steps.

However, I'm really confused about what to do next... I hope somebody can clear it up for me!

It says that I need to establish communication and register an agent as well as pay a AOS fee.

Is this all done via email? Do I need to print out this DS-3032 form? How do I know if we are eligible to just use the online DS-261 form?

Pay the Affidavit of Support (AOS) processing fee: I haven't used my US bank account in nearly 10 years although I've maintained a joint account with my mother that I think I can use. Is this OK? If I use the bank account, I can do everything online? If it's money order, what else do I need to send?

Choice of Agent and Address: Can it be me even though I live in Japan? Our postal delivery service in Japan is top-notch. I suppose we could appoint my mom if it were a problem...

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Thanks!!!

Edited March 16, 2013 by jeffinjapan

[Saylin 1,605]

Hello all,

I am a US citizen and I've been living in Japan for 10 years now. Married to a Japanese National for 9 years.

We are planning to come back to the US this year and my wife passed the first step of Visa processing.

I just received two emails that contain the next steps.

However, I'm really confused about what to do next... I hope somebody can clear it up for me!

It says that I need to establish communication and register an agent as well as pay a AOS fee.

Is this all done via email? Do I need to print out this DS-3032 form? How do I know if we are eligible to just use the online DS-261 form?

Pay the Affidavit of Support (AOS) processing fee: I haven't used my US bank account in nearly 10 years although I've maintained a joint account with my mother that I think I can use. Is this OK? If I use the bank account, I can do everything online? If it's money order, what else do I need to send?

Choice of Agent and Address: Can it be me even though I live in Japan? Our postal delivery service in Japan is top-notch. I suppose we could appoint my mom if it were a problem...

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Thanks!!!

You can certainly email the DS-3032. But that's the only form you can email. The AOS and IV packages have to be snail mailed. The DS-261 is only eligible to certain countries. Japan is NOT one of them.

As long as it's still open and has enough money in it, you can use it to pay the fees. And yes, it can be done online through the payment portal.

Yes, you can choose yourself as agent, even while in Japan. Don't worry about receiving postal mail from NVC though. If you give over both email addresses to an operator, then all correspondence sent from NVC will be by email.

I highly suggest you click on the last two links in my signature and do some reading. All these questions could be answered there

[jeffinjapan 0]

Thanks for your reply!

I'll take a closer look at your FAQs, but I have to admit, my head is spinning right now...

The instructions in the mail are so vague...

So... If I understand correctly, I first need to pay this AOS fee online, then email the DS-3032 using the template that you have linked to?

All that they have emailed me so far is Affidavit of Support (AOS) Processing Fee Bill Invoice and DS-3032 (Choice of Agent and Address Form), so this AOS package and IV package that need to be snail-mailed are still a ways off? I'm assuming that those are the next, next step and that they will contact me about those?

Thanks again!

[NikLR 13,227]

Once you pay the aos bill online, you wait for it to say paid (generally a week at most as far as I can see) then you print off a cover sheet and send the AOS package. The quicker you do these stages, the faster you can move. You can, of course, make it take longer, up to a year between contacts, if you want. After they receive the ds-3032 from the beneficiary's email, the Immigrant Visa (IV) bill will be available to also pay online. You print out the cover sheet and send the DS-230 with the beneficiary's original documents.

[Saylin 1,605]

Thanks for your reply!

I'll take a closer look at your FAQs, but I have to admit, my head is spinning right now...

The instructions in the mail are so vague...

So... If I understand correctly, I first need to pay this AOS fee online, then email the DS-3032 using the template that you have linked to?

All that they have emailed me so far is Affidavit of Support (AOS) Processing Fee Bill Invoice and DS-3032 (Choice of Agent and Address Form), so this AOS package and IV package that need to be snail-mailed are still a ways off? I'm assuming that those are the next, next step and that they will contact me about those?

Thanks again!

The DS-3032 is part of the IV track. And the AOS and IV tracks are two separate ones at NVC. They have nothing to do with one another except that both need to be completed before the case is closed. So, as long as NVC has both your email addresses, the beneficiary can send the DS-3032 NOW. No need to wait until after you pay the AOS fee.

The AOS package is mailed after the AOS bill is paid and appears as PAID in the payment portal. The IV package is mailed after the IV bill is paid and appears as PAID in the payment portal. The IV bill only gets invoiced after the DS-3032 has been received, accepted, and added to the case file.

They may or may not send you correspondence about the package. I never received any information about the AOS package. But I didn't need it as I was already before I even got to NVC. Although I did get information on the IV package, like the AOS package, I didn't need it. Plus, the information packages don't really give a lot of information. They just tell you that you can now send the package, and they give you a link or two to go find the forms and what needs to be sent along with it. You can find all those links and information here on VJ, like in those last 2 links in my signature.

So, I suggest if you're not doing much this weekend, to read up on all the links applicable to you in the first post, and then go over the FAQ in the second post. You'll get a much better understanding of the NVC process, I assure you.