Scandinavians

[Unidentified 2,930]

Thank you!! I'm flying to Arlanda airport, Stockholm (currently waiting for my flight at Billund Airport actually haha) and then I'm staying overnight at Hotel Scandic Ariadne which is about a 20 min walk from the U.S. Embassy.

From reading other's reviews, I'm going to show up at the embassy around 7:45 tomorrow morning. My appointment is at 8:30.

Ariadne is a really good hotel (only bad thing about it is that they don't serve dinners on Sunday's). Great view and very nice and friendly staff and the rooms are good. Make sure to remember to put your room key in the little card holder thing beside the door when you come inside otherwise the lights won't come on. They are preventing people from leaving the room with the lights on. I've stayed here for my two recent visa interview's.

If the weather is super bad and you don't want to walk you can take the buss from the buss stop by the grocery store next to the hotel and it stops near the embassy. I believe you can get a ticket for the bus through text message (might not work from a danish phone though).

[Prystine 184]

Fiance had his medical today and it went well even with a minor hiccup that could have caused some issues but luckily worked out. Apparently they didn't put his appt. on the schedule and the dr. was leaving early today. Luckily my fiance had shown up early to the medical and had his confirmation appt page printed off and with him along with all his other papers so they were able to get him right in. It was only 30mins for an appt. that they had told him would take 1.5 to 2 hrs long. So he was in and out very quickly and no issues with his vaccines so he is good to go. Woohoo!! so glad to have this step done. Next step, the Interview!!!

[JayJayH 546]

Fiance had his medical today and it went well even with a minor hiccup that could have caused some issues but luckily worked out. Apparently they didn't put his appt. on the schedule and the dr. was leaving early today. Luckily my fiance had shown up early to the medical and had his confirmation appt page printed off and with him along with all his other papers so they were able to get him right in. It was only 30mins for an appt. that they had told him would take 1.5 to 2 hrs long. So he was in and out very quickly and no issues with his vaccines so he is good to go. Woohoo!! so glad to have this step done. Next step, the Interview!!!

Great, congrats!

That would have put a damper on things.

[JayJayH 546]

Thank you!! I'm flying to Arlanda airport, Stockholm (currently waiting for my flight at Billund Airport actually haha) and then I'm staying overnight at Hotel Scandic Ariadne which is about a 20 min walk from the U.S. Embassy.

From reading other's reviews, I'm going to show up at the embassy around 7:45 tomorrow morning. My appointment is at 8:30.

Ah, the nerve wrecking, yet incredibly exciting time right before the interview.I'm surprised I even slept the night before. The interview was by far the "easiest" part of the entire process though. You actually get to talk to a human. It's a lot easier to deal with a human than having to deal with USCIS and NVC paperwork.

The men and women at the embassy in Stockholm are great. You'll walk out of there on cloud 9. BE SURE to sign the immigrant visa application. They forgot to have me sign (or did I forget to sign?) and I had to come in and sign at the embassy in Oslo - in person, a month later. As far as I know though, no one else has had that problem.

Edited December 16, 2015 by JayJayH

[gusgusgus 0]

Hi All,

First question from IR-1 newbie.

We live in Sweden and want to move to California where my wife have lived most of her life.

1. My wife and I got married in Sweden 1,5 years ago

2. Wife have dual citizenship US/Swedish. Husband is Swedish

3. Wife was born in Sweden but lived most her life in the US.

4. Got one child together (1,5 year old, born after our marriage) (in the process of getting her a american passport)

5. We both reside in Sweden at the moment.

6. We both most likely will have to apply for work AFTER we have made our move from Sweden.

7. Have no current second sponsor in the US.

8. We own assets in property and should be able to provide cash to meet the I-864 minimum requirements. (Our assets are all located in Sweden)

Since we are in the beginning of starting this process. Does anyone have any tips to us based on our above situation?

Anything that we should put extra attention to?

Should we start looking for a second sponsor in the US or should our own assets be enough for approval of the process?

What I have heard is that the assets can still be in Sweden during the whole process. Am I correct?

What time frame should we do our planning after, once started?

Thanks for any help!

[JayJayH 546]

Hi All,

First question from IR-1 newbie.

We live in Sweden and want to move to California where my wife have lived most of her life.

1. My wife and I got married in Sweden 1,5 years ago

2. Wife have dual citizenship US/Swedish. Husband is Swedish

3. Wife was born in Sweden but lived most her life in the US.

4. Got one child together (1,5 year old, born after our marriage) (in the process of getting her a american passport)

5. We both reside in Sweden at the moment.

6. We both most likely will have to apply for work AFTER we have made our move from Sweden.

7. Have no current second sponsor in the US.

8. We own assets in property and should be able to provide cash to meet the I-864 minimum requirements. (Our assets are all located in Sweden)

Since we are in the beginning of starting this process. Does anyone have any tips to us based on our above situation?

Anything that we should put extra attention to?

Should we start looking for a second sponsor in the US or should our own assets be enough for approval of the process?

What I have heard is that the assets can still be in Sweden during the whole process. Am I correct?

What time frame should we do our planning after, once started?

Thanks for any help!

You can use assets to satisfy I-864 requirements.

Your problem here is that the sponsor must be domiciled in the United States. Even if you have a co-sponsor, the US citizen spouse must fill out an I-864 as well, and you have to be a US resident to fill that out. Since the US citizen spouse must be at least a co-sponsor on the I-864, the US citizen has to establish domicile in the US even if there is a co-sponsor. This from the State Department's website:

How can a petitioner establish a domicile?

When a sponsor has clearly not maintained a domicile in the United States, he/she must re-establish a U.S. domicile to be a sponsor. The aspiring sponsor may take steps, including the examples given below, to show that the United States is his/her principal place of residence

• Find employment in the United States
• Secure a residence in the United States
• Register children in U.S. schools
• Relinquish residence abroad
• Other evidence of a U.S. residence

If the sponsor establishes U.S. domicile, it is not necessary for the sponsor to go to the United States before the sponsored family members. However, the sponsor must return to the United States to live before the sponsored immigrant may enter the United States. The sponsored immigrant must enter the United States with or after the sponsor.

Work on that. Here's the link to the State Department's FAQ on the matter. http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/immigrant-process/documents/support/i-864-frequently-asked-questions.html

Edited December 17, 2015 by JayJayH

[mallafri76 1,012]

Hi All,

First question from IR-1 newbie.

We live in Sweden and want to move to California where my wife have lived most of her life.

1. My wife and I got married in Sweden 1,5 years ago

2. Wife have dual citizenship US/Swedish. Husband is Swedish

3. Wife was born in Sweden but lived most her life in the US.

4. Got one child together (1,5 year old, born after our marriage) (in the process of getting her a american passport)

5. We both reside in Sweden at the moment.

6. We both most likely will have to apply for work AFTER we have made our move from Sweden.

7. Have no current second sponsor in the US.

8. We own assets in property and should be able to provide cash to meet the I-864 minimum requirements. (Our assets are all located in Sweden)

Since we are in the beginning of starting this process. Does anyone have any tips to us based on our above situation?

Anything that we should put extra attention to?

Should we start looking for a second sponsor in the US or should our own assets be enough for approval of the process?

What I have heard is that the assets can still be in Sweden during the whole process. Am I correct?

What time frame should we do our planning after, once started?

Thanks for any help!

Look in to see if you can do DCF in Sweden because that's gonna shorten your process a bit. If you have to go through the US with your petition and application, you're looking at about a year.

You can use sole assets to meet the financial requirements, that's what we're doing. If the assets are in both your names, you the immigrant need to fill out an I-864a. If the assets are in only one of your names, you don't need to fill out an I-864. If you're using assets, they need to be 3 times the poverty line for your household size. The US petitioner always fills out an i-864.

Edit. For a three person household, you need $75,336 in assets to meet the poverty guidelines without a sponsor. But aim for at least a couple of thousand more than that because they don't like it when you're just on the limit.

Edited December 17, 2015 by mallafri76

[ckibs 52]

Visa Interview hereby completed and we're approved!! They wanted the original of my translated divorce decree though (I only brought a copy of it) so I will have to send that off before they will issue the visa - no biggie, I have it at home. That was the ONLY original I didn't bring lol typical. Oh well, the embassy was kinda intimidating but everybody was really nice and helpful. I'll be sure to write my review here in a few.

I saw somebody here in the thread saying I would have to sign something? I wasn't handed anything to sign other than the envelope for my visa and documents for my POE so now you're having me all worried lol. I'm NOT going all the way back to Sweden to sign a piece of paper.

Edited December 17, 2015 by ckibs

[Georgia16 2,858]

Visa Interview hereby completed and we're approved!! They wanted the original of my translated divorce decree though (I only brought a copy of it) so I will have to send that off before they will issue the visa - no biggie, I have it at home. That was the ONLY original I didn't bring lol typical. Oh well, the embassy was kinda intimidating but everybody was really nice and helpful. I'll be sure to write my review here in a few.

I saw somebody here in the thread saying I would have to sign something? I wasn't handed anything to sign other than the envelope for my visa and documents for my POE so now you're having me all worried lol. I'm NOT going all the way back to Sweden to sign a piece of paper.

Congratulations!!

[ckibs 52]

Congratulations!!

Thank you

[ckibs 52]

Thought it might.

I'm flying up for my interview on Sunday and staying overnight. I have a hotel booked but can you let me know how the Scandic was? Quiet, ok rooms, easy to walk to the embassy from there etc.

The hotel was fine and the breakfast buffet was good The room was okay too, nothing to complain about really. Nice staff and very quiet in the hotel itself.

It was easy to walk to the embassy but I'm also used to walking to most destinations lol. It was about 30 mins and not 20 mins like Google maps originally informed me of. The quickest route to the embassy entailed about 10 mins of walking across a big open field though so don't bring your prettiest shoes

If you're coming from Stockholm centrum;

The hotel is about 700 meters away from the subway. Take line no.13. Nice and easy

Edited December 17, 2015 by ckibs

[SoerenHelmer 50]

Visa Interview hereby completed and we're approved!! They wanted the original of my translated divorce decree though (I only brought a copy of it) so I will have to send that off before they will issue the visa - no biggie, I have it at home. That was the ONLY original I didn't bring lol typical. Oh well, the embassy was kinda intimidating but everybody was really nice and helpful. I'll be sure to write my review here in a few.

I saw somebody here in the thread saying I would have to sign something? I wasn't handed anything to sign other than the envelope for my visa and documents for my POE so now you're having me all worried lol. I'm NOT going all the way back to Sweden to sign a piece of paper.

Congratulations :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Look in to see if you can do DCF in Sweden because that's gonna shorten your process a bit. If you have to go through the US with your petition and application, you're looking at about a year.

DCF is not available in Sweden without extraordinary circumstances. We were a case of that, but it was a combination of a few things that allowed us to do it, none of them something an ordinary filer would encounter.

[ckibs 52]

Congratulations :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

Thank you!!

[Prystine 184]

Visa Interview hereby completed and we're approved!! They wanted the original of my translated divorce decree though (I only brought a copy of it) so I will have to send that off before they will issue the visa - no biggie, I have it at home. That was the ONLY original I didn't bring lol typical. Oh well, the embassy was kinda intimidating but everybody was really nice and helpful. I'll be sure to write my review here in a few.

I saw somebody here in the thread saying I would have to sign something? I wasn't handed anything to sign other than the envelope for my visa and documents for my POE so now you're having me all worried lol. I'm NOT going all the way back to Sweden to sign a piece of paper.

WooHoo!! Congrats Hon, that is wonderful news!!