August 15th deadline

[Hoptastic 1]

I recently found out about DCF and how it can take less time than filing in the US (correct?)

My wife and I have currently been living in New Zealand since Decemeber 2010. We came here with working holiday visas, got jobs, and now have work visas as of the beginning of July that are good for the next 2 years.

We were married on April 1st 2011.

Our lawyer (in the US) wants us to wait until August 15th and file our I-130 in the US but wouldn't it be faster for us to file here?

Edited July 21, 2011 by Hoptastic

[frenchphenom5 0]

DCF is definitely faster, in most cases. Visa Journey is a great resource, but I'd definitely read up on what the state department publishes; and of course, you ought to spend a bit of time reading what the American Embassy in New Zealand has to say about DCF. It's all well in good, but there is a difference in the dcf process across the globe. Different standards due to high risk zones etc. I would assume, however, that if you are on a work visa and you've lived in New Zealand for longer than 6 months you will be able to apply for DCF.

Secondly, I know there are some changes coming to the DCF, not sure when they take place or how it would affect New Zealand.

Last tip, definitely read everything and anything you can here on posts. I put up a guide on how to do the process through Paris, but they're general tips that anyone could find useful.

Hope this helps.

[LBeachey 44]

I recently found out about DCF and how it can take less time than filing in the US (correct?)

My wife and I have currently been living in New Zealand since Decemeber 2010. We came here with working holiday visas, got jobs, and now have work visas as of the beginning of July that are good for the next 2 years.

We were married on April 1st 2011.

Our lawyer (in the US) wants us to wait until August 15th and file our I-130 in the US but wouldn't it be faster for us to file here?

When do you want to move back to the US? The visa once issued is good for six months. Once you enter on the CR-1, you are issued the grren card which is intended for people actually living in the US. There are procedures to keep the green card valid but it generaly requires frequent trips back to the States.

Is your wife a New Zealand citizen, she should be able to enter the US on the VWP if all you want to do is visit. However, make sure you have strong evidence that you will return to New Zealand such as a letter from employer, property, etc. as you will likely be closely questioned by the border agents upon entry to the US.

[Hoptastic 1]

When do you want to move back to the US? The visa once issued is good for six months. Once you enter on the CR-1, you are issued the grren card which is intended for people actually living in the US. There are procedures to keep the green card valid but it generaly requires frequent trips back to the States.

Is your wife a New Zealand citizen, she should be able to enter the US on the VWP if all you want to do is visit. However, make sure you have strong evidence that you will return to New Zealand such as a letter from employer, property, etc. as you will likely be closely questioned by the border agents upon entry to the US.

She's Japanese, I'm American. We both have work visas for NZ until the end of 2012. We plan on moving to the states once she gets her visa. We don't plan on living here any longer than that.

We hired a lawyer. It's been hell doing it all out of the country.

So we are finally ready to file and then we get an email telling us it's up to us be he thinks we should wait 3 more weeks to file our I-130, g-28's, and all of the other forms. Doesn't really give a reason why except "you'll lose a month but gain more in the long run". Not sure what that even means.

He just said they are changing things on August 15th and that out of US residents can file at Chicago's Lockbox from out of the country.

My main goal is to get to the US as fast as we can so I can visit my family and bring my wife with me. Is it faster to do this through Chicago's Lockbox or having my lawyer file on our behalf in NZ?

[Ryan H 3,812]

He just said they are changing things on August 15th and that out of US residents can file at Chicago's Lockbox from out of the country.

As I told you in the other thread, you can file at the lockbox in Chicago regardless if you live out of the country or not. If that lawyer you retained is saying otherwise, then that lawyer is wrong (and it makes me wonder just how much else they don't know).

IMO, you should DCF now while you still can; people have posted time and again that it is faster.

To qualify for DCF in NZ, I inserted this directly from the website of the US Diplomatic Mission to NZ:

Consular Processing

Up until August 14, U.S. citizens residing in New Zealand may still file the I-130 petition in person, accompanied by spouse, at the Consulate General in Auckland. You can request forms and instructions for by calling U.S. Visa Information Service 0900USVISA (0900 878 472), or emailing the Consulate General in Auckland at AucklandIV@state.gov.

NOTE: To demonstrate residency in a consular district the American Citizen petitioners must be able to show that they have permission to reside in the consular district and that they have been doing so continuously for at least six months before filing the petition. Individuals who are in the country on a temporary status such as student would NOT be considered to meet the residency standard.

Edited July 22, 2011 by Ryan H

[Hoptastic 1]

As I told you in the other thread, you can file at the lockbox in Chicago regardless if you live out of the country or not. If that lawyer you retained is saying otherwise, then that lawyer is wrong (and it makes me wonder just how much else they don't know).

IMO, you should DCF now while you still can; people have posted time and again that it is faster.

To qualify for DCF in NZ, I inserted this directly from the website of the US Diplomatic Mission to NZ:

Ryan H, you are awesome. Thanks for following me all over this site. We just heard about all this today so I am kind of scrambling to find information and make a decision. We've had a pretty terrible experience with our lawyer so we aren't sure what to do.

The only reason we got a lawyer in the first place was because when she was on a working holiday in Canada, I drove up from Chicago to bring her down for a month and she got rejected coming into the states. We were at the infamous Michigan border (which I have heard is one of the worst) and because she had 2 suitcases full of her stuff for the month, she hadn't been back to Japan in 9 months, and she was with her boyfriend (me), they labeled her as immigrant without visa. Our lawyer got all the paper for that case and said we could use it as evidence that we are a couple for when we got married. He said it was great evidence because it was a government record recognizing us as a couple.

Now we are happily married and living together in New Zealand. We then contacted the same lawyer and he said we could get her visa processed and do everything from NZ. That was in April. We been waiting forever for their translator to finish translating my wife's birth cert. Now that we have that, we want to file asap. He said we should wait until the 15th. As far as we know, we have all of our t's crossed and i's dotted.

He is also going on vacation from 8/8/11 through 8/18/11. He stated that at this time, for any Petitioner who lives outside of the United States, the I-130 must be filed at the American Embassy of the country in which the Petitioner is residing. If the Petition is filed now, it must be filed with the American Embassy in New Zealand. After August 15, 2011, I-130 Petitions will be filed with the appropriate USCIS Lockbox in the United States for any Petitioner whether residing inside or outside of the United States.

If we need to make a move, we need to do it soon.

thanks in advance for your advice. We want to go home as soon as we can. This looks like a window to get back sooner.

[Benjamin44 10]

I hate to say this bluntly, but I don't know another way: Your lawayer is DEAD WRONG!! On more than one thing. First, he/she says that to wait until August 14th, as if after that date a new option is ADDED that wasn't there before. This is patently FALSE. What is happening on August 14th is NOT the ability to file at the Chicago Lockbox- this has alwyas been an option. What is happening on August 14th is the TAKING AWAY of the option to file DCF at a Consulate abroad (except for countries with USCIS office), meaning after that date people MUST file in Chicago. This is a blantant mistake for any lawyer to make.

In addition, your lawyer advises you to file in Chicago and NOT DCF in New Zealand. This is just beyond my comprehension. It is a well-established fact that DCF is significantly faster. DCF processing times vary by Consulate, but for most, it is between 2 and 5.5 months from I-130 filing to visa interview. When filing an I-130 petition in the US, the approval time JUST FORE THE I-130- never mind all the steps afterward at NVC and then the eMbassy/Consulate- IS FIVE MONTHS ALONE. These processing times can be found on many of the Consulates themselves, never mind about reading here on VJ and seeing the processing times of DCFers.

In your situation it's a no-brainer. Filce DCF NOW in New Zealand before the Aug. 14 deadline, and get rid of that lawyer ASAP! Get whatever money back you can from him/her and be gone. Most people here will tell you that you don't need a lawyer at all if the case is relatively straightforward, let alone one that clearly knows nothing.

Good luck with your journey!

[milimelo 4,467]

You probably already had to provide all info that you will need for I-130 and G-325A - get those printed off of uscis.gov then go to forms. Skip the G-28 as you no longer want a lawyer. Get an appointment with the US embassy pronto and file the DCF.

All you really need for DCF is your marriage certificate and a bit of proof of good faith marriage. Since you two knew each other for a long time, I am sure you won't have any problems getting evidence for it.

[himher 634]

Its a bit more than that but after doing BOTH (USCIS then moving away then re-filing DCF) ima say that DCF is the best thing going.

You probably already had to provide all info that you will need for I-130 and G-325A - get those printed off of uscis.gov then go to forms. Skip the G-28 as you no longer want a lawyer. Get an appointment with the US embassy pronto and file the DCF.

All you really need for DCF is your marriage certificate and a bit of proof of good faith marriage. Since you two knew each other for a long time, I am sure you won't have any problems getting evidence for it.

[milimelo 4,467]

Its a bit more than that but after doing BOTH (USCIS then moving away then re-filing DCF) ima say that DCF is the best thing going.

We filed DCF with just the basics: forms, pictures, fee and pictures from our wedding and that was it - no questions asked, approved on the spot. 11/2006, 2 weeks after marriage.

[Hoptastic 1]

Alright guys, we made some moves. We fired our lawyer. When we said we wanted to file directly in Auckland he told us that we asked too many questions and wanted to charge us more money. Anyway, that's a whole different story of how terrible of a person he was (message me for details if you live in Cleveland).

On to DCF-ing it.

I contacted Auckland's consulate and they responded very quickly. I was amazed. Here is what they said:

"There is a deadline as to when we can accept I-130 petitions of Friday, Aug. 12, and appointments are now at a premium due to this.

We have given you an appointment to file the I-130 petition on THURSDAY JULY 28 at 11 am –

Please provide the following at the interveiw:

FORM I-130 (do not sign ) - download from USCIS website: www.uscis.gov - FORMS

FORM G-325a x 1 each “ “

1 photograph each

Marriage Certificate – original and one copy

Both of your passports

FEE: NZ$540 in cash or bank cashier’s check.

While you are on the USCIS website, you may wish to download the I-864 Affidavit of Support which you will need to complete and submit at the time of your wife’s immigrant visa appointment at a later date, once we have processed her application and scheduled her appointment (within 2 months?)"

That's a couple days away. I then asked them about the evidence that we needed to bring. They said sure, if we wanted to. So that's where I am at right about now. I am freaking out because our lawyer had us get 4 affidavits from friends, one from me, one from my wife, translated copy of her birth cert, tax info, birth certs for me, 50 pictures, a hundred emails, our lease together, our travel itineraries together, plus whatever else we can mustard up. He has all that information and we won't be able to get it for another 1-2 weeks.

Do we need all this for the I-130? Any other advice would be AWESOME too. Should we try to push it back or just go and get the process started?

[milimelo 4,467]

Alright guys, we made some moves. We fired our lawyer. When we said we wanted to file directly in Auckland he told us that we asked too many questions and wanted to charge us more money. Anyway, that's a whole different story of how terrible of a person he was (message me for details if you live in Cleveland).

On to DCF-ing it.

I contacted Auckland's consulate and they responded very quickly. I was amazed. Here is what they said:

"There is a deadline as to when we can accept I-130 petitions of Friday, Aug. 12, and appointments are now at a premium due to this.

We have given you an appointment to file the I-130 petition on THURSDAY JULY 28 at 11 am –

Please provide the following at the interveiw:

FORM I-130 (do not sign ) - download from USCIS website: www.uscis.gov - FORMS

FORM G-325a x 1 each " "

1 photograph each

Marriage Certificate – original and one copy

Both of your passports

FEE: NZ$540 in cash or bank cashier's check.

While you are on the USCIS website, you may wish to download the I-864 Affidavit of Support which you will need to complete and submit at the time of your wife's immigrant visa appointment at a later date, once we have processed her application and scheduled her appointment (within 2 months?)"

That's a couple days away. I then asked them about the evidence that we needed to bring. They said sure, if we wanted to. So that's where I am at right about now. I am freaking out because our lawyer had us get 4 affidavits from friends, one from me, one from my wife, translated copy of her birth cert, tax info, birth certs for me, 50 pictures, a hundred emails, our lease together, our travel itineraries together, plus whatever else we can mustard up. He has all that information and we won't be able to get it for another 1-2 weeks.

Do we need all this for the I-130? Any other advice would be AWESOME too. Should we try to push it back or just go and get the process started?

No - just go with what the forms and embassy says for initial DCF filing - anything above and beyond is extra and your wife can bring it to her immigrant visa appointment.

[Benjamin44 10]

Alright guys, we made some moves. We fired our lawyer.

Great decision! I'm glad to hear it. In my experience with friends and reading on here- ESPECIALLY for DCF cases, lawyers are really not helpful. They are used to the process in the US, and don't really know much about doing the process abroad. Good luck!!

No - just go with what the forms and embassy says for initial DCF filing - anything above and beyond is extra and your wife can bring it to her immigrant visa appointment.

I AGREE. In DCF cases, they almost never look at all that extra evidence. With me, they almost laughed when we gave them a translation of our lease, which we worked pretty hard on... and didn't even think about taking it, or our affidavits. NO WAY should you push off your DCF appointment- do it this Thursday with everything you have. As for the other stuff your lawyer has- of course get it back, you WILL need the tax info as part of the I-864 packet, but you won't need it until the interview stage so don't worry. Get the I-130 filed NOW and good luck on your journey!

[Ryan H 3,812]

Do we need all this for the I-130? Any other advice would be AWESOME too. Should we try to push it back or just go and get the process started?

Go with what you have now, the other items can be brought to the interview if you don't receive them in time. I always tell people to frontload their petitions regardless, however, in your case, you are up against a deadline so things are different.

Good luck and best wishes!

Edited July 25, 2011 by Ryan H

[Hoptastic 1]

Alright guys. Not sure what to think right now. We submitted our i-130 and g-325's yesterday.

I came home from work today and got a letter asking for DS-230, I-864, and DS-2001. What does that mean?

I know we have to do police records but does that mean they accepted our I-130?