Oops...

[neophi 5]

Hey guys I need a little advice.

My wife and I bumped heads recently after noticing something. On the G-325A it asks to list your past jobs/employers. For my wife's G-325A, I made the big mistake of putting None. You see, she and her family are musicians, and they have been paid many times to perform concerts but with no specific employer (I guess in other industries this can be paralleled to freelancing). Technically, we could have put her family as the employer, and her occupation as a musician. In addition, she has always been a student, so that's another reason why I didn't bother with specifying employment info (oddly enough, now that I'm checking the G-325A, we didn't even mention her "last occupation abroad" was Student, but instead I also put in None.)

Anyway, things get a little more complicated now, because not only could we have technically put her family as an employer, and her occupation as either a Musician or Student, but for the past couple of years she and her family have in fact have had all their contracts issued by the same organization (Filarmonica de Bogota) which can probably qualify as an employer. (They are not employees of that organization, they just get their contracts issued from that organization, again kind of like any type of freelancer.)

Now to the real issue/question at hand (sorry for all that back-story but it was necessary). Form DS-157, which is supplemental to from DS-156, asks for the last two employers if any, not including the current. We are totally undecided on what to put there. On the one hand, my wife believes we would be lying if we put "None" (maybe it's her feminine pride influencing?), but on the other hand I do not want to have any discrepancy between the forms and I think said organization is technically not her past employer, as she has never worked FOR them but rather WITH them. (I hate it when it all boils down to semantics.)

The CO can easily compare the forms and notice the discrepancy if we put a past employer on the DS-157, and raise questions we definitely have answers for, albeit "Sorry, it was our mistake when completing G-325A," and further explain, but then what if they they now want further evidence and want to reschedule the interview.

So then, should we just keep the forms consistent and continue to put in no past employers?

What would be more likely to cause the CO to request further evidence? Thanks for any and all advice, suggestions, or opinions.

[knowledge 0]

Hey guys I need a little advice.

My wife and I bumped heads recently after noticing something. On the G-325A it asks to list your past jobs/employers. For my wife's G-325A, I made the big mistake of putting None. You see, she and her family are musicians, and they have been paid many times to perform concerts but with no specific employer (I guess in other industries this can be paralleled to freelancing). Technically, we could have put her family as the employer, and her occupation as a musician. In addition, she has always been a student, so that's another reason why I didn't bother with specifying employment info (oddly enough, now that I'm checking the G-325A, we didn't even mention her "last occupation abroad" was Student, but instead I also put in None.)

Anyway, things get a little more complicated now, because not only could we have technically put her family as an employer, and her occupation as either a Musician or Student, but for the past couple of years she and her family have in fact have had all their contracts issued by the same organization (Filarmonica de Bogota) which can probably qualify as an employer. (They are not employees of that organization, they just get their contracts issued from that organization, again kind of like any type of freelancer.)

Now to the real issue/question at hand (sorry for all that back-story but it was necessary). Form DS-157, which is supplemental to from DS-156, asks for the last two employers if any, not including the current. We are totally undecided on what to put there. On the one hand, my wife believes we would be lying if we put "None" (maybe it's her feminine pride influencing?), but on the other hand I do not want to have any discrepancy between the forms and I think said organization is technically not her past employer, as she has never worked FOR them but rather WITH them. (I hate it when it all boils down to semantics.)

The CO can easily compare the forms and notice the discrepancy if we put a past employer on the DS-157, and raise questions we definitely have answers for, albeit "Sorry, it was our mistake when completing G-325A," and further explain, but then what if they they now want further evidence and want to reschedule the interview.

So then, should we just keep the forms consistent and continue to put in no past employers?

What would be more likely to cause the CO to request further evidence? Thanks for any and all advice, suggestions, or opinions.

Yes, I would have completed the form as freelance work, because she has been payd, and put bassically the name of the organization or company who mainly paid. I also would have completed the abroad occupation and especially for how long, because there is a specific requirement that if been abroad for more that 6 or 12 months, they can ask for police certificate from that country.

However, i was adviced while making myself mistakes on the G-form not to send back the missing info, because it can be lost if the papers have to be officialized like in notarized, etc...and instead, take the initiative to prepare and bring the complemented info at the interview....i see yours is very soon...so just do the best you can with those papers til then, and say honestly to them your mistake, this is bassically what they are asking in the last resort..to be honest...Good luck, hope everything will be ok and smooth!!!

[pushbrk 13,000]

Hey guys I need a little advice.

My wife and I bumped heads recently after noticing something. On the G-325A it asks to list your past jobs/employers. For my wife's G-325A, I made the big mistake of putting None. You see, she and her family are musicians, and they have been paid many times to perform concerts but with no specific employer (I guess in other industries this can be paralleled to freelancing). Technically, we could have put her family as the employer, and her occupation as a musician. In addition, she has always been a student, so that's another reason why I didn't bother with specifying employment info (oddly enough, now that I'm checking the G-325A, we didn't even mention her "last occupation abroad" was Student, but instead I also put in None.)

Anyway, things get a little more complicated now, because not only could we have technically put her family as an employer, and her occupation as either a Musician or Student, but for the past couple of years she and her family have in fact have had all their contracts issued by the same organization (Filarmonica de Bogota) which can probably qualify as an employer. (They are not employees of that organization, they just get their contracts issued from that organization, again kind of like any type of freelancer.)

Now to the real issue/question at hand (sorry for all that back-story but it was necessary). Form DS-157, which is supplemental to from DS-156, asks for the last two employers if any, not including the current. We are totally undecided on what to put there. On the one hand, my wife believes we would be lying if we put "None" (maybe it's her feminine pride influencing?), but on the other hand I do not want to have any discrepancy between the forms and I think said organization is technically not her past employer, as she has never worked FOR them but rather WITH them. (I hate it when it all boils down to semantics.)

The CO can easily compare the forms and notice the discrepancy if we put a past employer on the DS-157, and raise questions we definitely have answers for, albeit "Sorry, it was our mistake when completing G-325A," and further explain, but then what if they they now want further evidence and want to reschedule the interview.

So then, should we just keep the forms consistent and continue to put in no past employers?

What would be more likely to cause the CO to request further evidence? Thanks for any and all advice, suggestions, or opinions.

Yes, I would have completed the form as freelance work, because she has been payd, and put bassically the name of the organization or company who mainly paid. I also would have completed the abroad occupation and especially for how long, because there is a specific requirement that if been abroad for more that 6 or 12 months, they can ask for police certificate from that country.

However, i was adviced while making myself mistakes on the G-form not to send back the missing info, because it can be lost if the papers have to be officialized like in notarized, etc...and instead, take the initiative to prepare and bring the complemented info at the interview....i see yours is very soon...so just do the best you can with those papers til then, and say honestly to them your mistake, this is bassically what they are asking in the last resort..to be honest...Good luck, hope everything will be ok and smooth!!!

I would just indicate she's a student or last was a student. If there's question of how she supported herself, she can simply say she sometimes helps her family by playing in their "band". If questioned about the "none" vs. "student" she can just say her husband made a stupid mistake. I'm sure the CO will just laugh it off. Both mine and my wife's G-325a's said we didn't have a husband or wife. It was never a problem but I do wonder if anybody got a laugh out of that stupid mistake.

[neophi 5]

I would just indicate she's a student or last was a student. If there's question of how she supported herself, she can simply say she sometimes helps her family by playing in their "band". If questioned about the "none" vs. "student" she can just say her husband made a stupid mistake. I'm sure the CO will just laugh it off. Both mine and my wife's G-325a's said we didn't have a husband or wife. It was never a problem but I do wonder if anybody got a laugh out of that stupid mistake.

Yeah well actually there was no need to support herself, as she's always lived with her parents. And once we got married, I was also helping her financially for all the extra stuff she needed for pregnancy and then for our born baby.

But yeah I don't think it will be a big deal at this point. If anything they should have pointed that out at the USCIS stage.

Thanks for the opinions.