DCF in Frankfurt, started last week!

[SuzyBandseer 0]

Hi,

Just wanted to say thanks for posting all of this helpful information. It would have been a nightmare to navigate this on our own.

We got married on May 29 and sent off the I-130 packet for my husband to Frankfurt last Weds-- it was signed for on Sunday (yes, Sunday!) by the USCIS at the post office. I sent it with a credit card form that I found on the USCIS UK site (crossed out the "London" and wrote "Frankfurt", we will see if that flies) so that I can check my credit card balance and know when it goes through! Just looking for the baby steps for encouragement.

I will try to create a timeline to keep you fellow Frankfurt DCFers posted. From what you have written, it could take 2 weeks or 3 months to get the I-130 approved, so we're just hanging loose & enjoying being married. Good luck to you all!

[meauxna 15]

hey, Congrats on getting your start!

You've got lots of great, recent experiences to lean on in your research---should be a snap!

[Candace 2]

Welcome, welcome

Congratulations on your marriage!

I'm DCFing through Frankfurt also, I'm on my third submission (but this one hasn't been sent back...so far!) as per my timeline, so we're probably pretty close with dates.

Wishing you a smooth and speedy journey

[SuzyBandseer 0]

Thanks for the well-wishes!

Whoo hoo, credit card payment went through on Weds! I had tried to call about 6 times asking for the credit card payment form from Frankfurt with no luck in getting an answer. Ended up using the one I found for London here: http://www.usembassy.org.uk/dhs/forms/inscredit.pdf and crossed out "London" & put in "Frankfurt". Luckily that seemed to do the trick. Guess that doesn't mean anything more than they have my money though! Hah!

[zauberblume 0]

Also going through Frankfurt...

Just received Packet 3...

Good luck with your journey, Suzy! I'll be posting as much as I can about my experiences.

[SuzyBandseer 0]

We were (pleasantly) shocked to find packet 3 in our mailbox this afternoon after only a couple weeks of waiting, especially since we mailed it in instead of going in person.

Sounds like they have gotten whatever issues people were complaining about before resolved. Candace said she got hers today too-- so it's a good day for us Frankfurters!

[zauberblume 0]

Congrats, Suzy and Candace!

Suzy, your petition was approved quickly! That's the kind of quickness I expected with my petition. I was disappointed by that. I complained about it because I couldn't understand why a person who enters the Consulate gets their petition approved that day while a person who mails their petition must wait almost two months. I understand that there must be a waiting period for those who mail in their petitions, but a two-month wait is sort of ridiculous in comparison to those who come in person.

Have you gathered all of your documents?

Where do you live in Germany?

[SuzyBandseer 0]

Thanks! Yes, this was a bit faster than I expected.

We have almost everything gathered, I think.

-We have his English police certificate in hand, and just need to get the one for Germany (we live in Munich), which is supposed to take about a week or so.

-We have an I864 for joint sponsor already filled out with supporting docs in case they don't like our assets and need another sponsor. I'm finishing up my last tax return now for mine. He will also do an I864A since we have shared a household for 6 months.

-I collected some pictures of the 2 of us from various trips (and wedding pics, with family, etc), though someone who just went for an interview a week ago reported they didn't look at them.

-We got his vaccination records to prepare for the medical exam. He will make the appointment this week.

-Passports & birth & marriage certs from before.

-We need to get more passport pics though!

I guess we will try to send in the checklist and DS230 next week if it is all in order.

[SuzyBandseer 0]

Just an update...

We had our interview yesterday and were approved! Took about 3.5 hours total.

We got there at 8:15 for our 8:30 appt. We had to get a number outside the consulate building and this number was what they used to call us for each of the steps. We talked to 4 people total: 1 to take the money, 1 to take the DS-230 part II and the picture, 1 to check the docs & make sure the affidavit forms and evidence looked generally ok, and then the last was the consular officer. There's not really anything tricky I have to share though. The only thing we had done wrong was put my (US citizen) address on his DS-230 part II but the girl just crossed it out and asked me to write my US address instead. Actually the best advice I have is to bring a sweater because it was cold in there!

It took the longest waiting to be called for the doc check. Then the lady looked at my (the sponsor's) affidavit of support. I guess since my job (German income) is ending and my assets alone didn't qualify, she asked if we had a joint sponsor. We said we did (we had all the paperwork from a friend just in case) but that we were hoping to use my husband's assets to qualify. So she looked at his I-864A and said OK that's fine and did not even take the stuff from our friend. We had made copies of the tax returns (I submitted 3 years federal and 1 year of state to help with the domicile part) so she kept those. I also had copies of a couple credit card mailings, my last bank statements with the same US address (printed off the internet), and a copy of my insurance profile that lists my husband as my spouse as evidence of address and relationship. I also wrote up a short note about how we intended to return to the same address in the US with references to the other docs. He submitted copies of his last bank statements, investments, and documents about the house he owns. His job is also ending when we leave Germany.

Finally we were called to see the officer. He was very friendly and professional (the other one working that day looked pleasant as well) and just asked us a few questions, mainly directed at my husband. Mostly it was stuff off his applications, just to verify, and some questions about me. When we met, what my college major was, etc. Definitely not trying to trip us up, just checking things out. He asked why we were moving back to the US and if we had jobs there (we don't but are now applying). Then he looked over the affidavits and asked me if I was currently working. I said yes but my last day was the end of this month. He said, but you are employed as of today? I said yes. He said, well that is good enough to qualify as the sponsor then, it is relative to the interview date (my salary is high enough and I had the last 3 years of tax stuff so I think that was good, though he said we only needed one, I didn't have enough assets though). Actually I had not even included a letter from my employer or my last pay stub as I thought it wasn't going to help anything. We had both written on our affidavits in the employment section that the jobs were ending at the end of Sept & we were qualifying on assets alone. We did write our salaries in just b/c it seemed to make a better impression. Anyway, he kept my husband's form just in case anything got questioned later. We used the new forms, BTW. He wrote a big fat OK on the bottom of the form and said, you know what that means, don't you! We were done by 11:45 or so and he said we would have the visa in 2 weeks. He gave us a green form (this is also the form they give you if something is missing) with the contact info if we didn't get the visa by that time. And he gave us the extra pictures back from the I-130, which was kind of funny since we had to give them another picture on that day!

So that was it. We had brought pictures of us with both families, wedding pictures, receipts from the wedding and our rings, airline stubs from the honeymoon, a copy of our first email, bank statements from a year back in some cases, etc... and they didn't look at any of it. That said, I am glad we had all of it because if they wanted it something we didn't have, it could have caused problems or delays, and it made us feel more prepared.

Sidenote: I was able to also file the form for my updated social security card with my married name afterwards (again I am the US citizen, to avoid confusion. we checked that we want a SSN for him on the DS-230) in the same building. The advantage of this is that you don't have to mail in your passport. They make an "official copy" of your passport and marriage certificate and mail in the form for you. I should get it in 2-4 weeks at our German address.

Now we just need to book the airline tix, pack up house, etc etc etc!

Edited September 12, 2006 by SuzyBandseer

[SuzyBandseer 0]

Ah... just to clarify something... I looked at the new I-864 form again just now. It says: "In order to qualify based on the value of your assets, the total value of your assets must equal at least five times the difference between your total household income and the current poverty guidelines for your household size. However, if you are a U.S. citizen and you are sponsoring your spouse or minor child, the total value of your assets must only be equal to at least three times the difference." So actually, we were case #2, and my assets actually did meet this smaller criteria with no income included, so I was an OK sponsor by the book. Not sure why he asked about the current employment then and used that as criteria. Just did not want to confuse or mislead anyone, you should always go by the rules and not make assumptions anyway!

[Candace 2]

Congratulations Suzy!!! So pleased it all went smoothly for you!

I was going to ask about taking 'personal' relationship stuff - I was also going to take some joint bank statements, photos, cards and emails etc 'just in case'. Like you said - better to be over-prepared!

All the best for your trip home!

[meauxna 15]

Congrats, Suzy!

Happy packing, happy travels and don't forget to scan the Arriving in America thread--and hopefully add your own story soon!

[iceyspots 0]

good luck on your journey

[SuzyBandseer 0]

Visa arrived today-- so quickly! And everything is correct to boot! Oh happy day! The Frankfurt consulate has really been on top of it.

[SuzyBandseer 0]

Quick update... we entered through Dulles on Oct 24. No problems whatsoever. From the time we landed (United Airlines flight) til the time we finished re-checking the bags and going though security again after going through immigration, it took exactly an hour. I sat with my husband in the secondary immigration check for his CR-1 visa for the whopping 10 minutes we had to wait (included in the hour time). We got there on a Tuesday around 2:40pm-- there were plenty of people coming through but the staff at that airport is very organized and know what they are doing. Everyone we saw at the secondary station was just being called up to the desk for a documentation check and that was about it. No one asked about the xray.

I'll post again when we get the green card & social security card in hand.