EVIDENCE SUBMITTED FOR Affidavit of Support, DS-230

[Dana and Divine 61]

Alright Nigerian family, I, in no way have all the answers to this process and often find myself asking a ton of quesitons! That is why I started this thread because I feel like I am missing somehthing from my case. I often get asked these same questions in my inbox from new VJ'ers so I thought this would be a great place to get it all out in the open, help ourselves and help someone else also! Any additional information you could add would be very helpful to us all.

So here goes...Let's double check each other!

Affidavit of Support

• Form I-864
  
• Tax Transcripts for the past three years
  
• W-2's for the past three years with copy of tax returns.
  
• Letter from employer stating history of employment, current status, and a print out of all year-to-date payments.
  
• Current Check stubs showing year-to-date information
  

DS-230 Checklist

• Form DS-230
  
• Original Marriage Certificate
  
• Original Long form Birth Certificate of Beneficiary
  
• Original Police Certificate of Beneficiary
  
• ORIGINAL AFFIDAVITS FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS ON U.S. AND NIGERIAN SIDES
  
• Original Divorce Decrees if applicable.
  

Since Nigeria is one of the countries that often need front loaded information, what are your suggestions to send in advance that you believe would help the CO to review BEFORE our spouses Interviews?

• Phone Records
  
• Coorespondance
  
• Facebook pages
  
• Skype printouts
  
• COPY of U.S. passport, front cover to back page showing all of your entries and departures from Nigeria.
  
• Cell phone records (detailed and highlighted)...I've been told they are looking for length of calls on these records.
  
• Letter from U.S. bank or Nigerian bank showing joint accounts...if a joint account cannot be obtained, then show your spouse is your sole beneficiary on your bank account.
  
• Letter from landlord showing joint rental (U.S. or Nigeria)
  
• Life insurance policy showing your spouse as the beneficiary
  
• Hotel/Food receipts from your trips to Nigeria
  
• Boarding passes/flight itinerary
  

Lastly, how about information or materials our spouses should CARRY TO INTERVIEW with them in person???

• Photo albums of "before", "during" , after wedding (if married)...photo's of your trips, engagement, etc. if not.
  
• Duplicate of packet sent to USCIS/NVC just in case some things are missing from file.
  
• New POLICE CERTIFICATE (Because it will most likely be expired if you do not get an early interview date. These are only good for three months!)
  
• MEDICAL REVIEW, Sealed!
  
• Phone records from Nigeria, marked and highlighted.
  

Is there anything else anyone can add to these check lists? The only other things I can come up with are:

• Covers letters for everything
  
• Maybe a coverletter if you feel your case is lacking somewhere that might need an explanation or if there is information that you feel will help the CO make a positive determination toward your case.
  

Please list out any additional informatoin you have or can think of.

God bless!

Dana

[Dana and Divine 61]

I forgot one...biopage (two pages) from spouses Nigerian Passport to go with DS-230.

[dwheels76 5,468]

I forgot one...biopage (two pages) from spouses Nigerian Passport to go with DS-230.

You forgot the 2 passport pics needed with the DS-230. Also the affidavits are not needed and rarely ever asked for at interview. They are already in packet. Unless u find necessary to add more.

For those wondering like I did about should you add more evidence at NVC I did post this topic "More evidence at NVC" a lot of good information in there and a post that is a must read. Thanks to Many who added to that. It made me say nope. Nothing more I will add.

[Aya820 33]

Don't forget the Bar-coded cover sheet for both I-864 and DS-230, Sample Here for cover letters (basic):

Sample Cover Letter for I-864 & DS-230

I agree with Dwheels, the only documents to NVC should be what they ask for in the I-864 & DS-230 packages. Any evidence documents not submitted in the beginning with the I-130 should be hand carried to the interview. It might slow down the NVC stage ruffling through additional paperwork.

[Dana and Divine 61]

You forgot the 2 passport pics needed with the DS-230. Also the affidavits are not needed and rarely ever asked for at interview. They are already in packet. Unless u find necessary to add more.

For those wondering like I did about should you add more evidence at NVC I did post this topic "More evidence at NVC" a lot of good information in there and a post that is a must read. Thanks to Many who added to that. It made me say nope. Nothing more I will add.

Debbie can you send me the link???

[Dana and Divine 61]

See that is just it! I didn't front load at the I-130 stage at all. I gave them exactly what they asked for, form wise.

I will do the same at NVC putting the I-864 and DS-230 packages together. I was just thinking maybe I should forward documentation that has a cover letter stating for CO officer pre-interview material, please forward.

Gosh, I'm a mess thinking my husband is not going to be able to sort this informatoin out. I mean, he doesn't have his hands on it everyday and these folks don't know us from a hole in the ground.

Did either of you front load at the I-130 stage?

[Aya820 33]

I did...printed every single chat, phone log, email...but that was just me as I didn't want to leave anything to chance by just sending "samples". At the interview stage I sent my husband everything, including proof that had accumulated after the initial front loading. Ended up being 13 lbs of documentation.

[Dana and Divine 61]

I did...printed every single chat, phone log, email...but that was just me as I didn't want to leave anything to chance by just sending "samples". At the interview stage I sent my husband everything, including proof that had accumulated after the initial front loading. Ended up being 13 lbs of documentation.

that's a lot of documentation! I don't know if I have that much stuff, but I believe I can organize in a way that will make is easy for my husband to find things if he is asked for them during interview.

I do think I should send the affidavits from my family and friends and Divine's family and friends to add to the process and to be forwarded to the NVC. It will not be a ton of paperwork...just five to six affidavits that are sworn too from 9ja and noterized here on the US side. That shouldn't be too much extra to submit. Right???

[dwheels76 5,468]

Debbie can you send me the link???

Here u go although u deserve time-out.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=376374&view=getnewpost

[Amenspanglish 5]

You repeated the Affidavit of Support stuff. You need Tax Return Transcripts OR Tax Returns with the W2s. Not both. Same with proof of employment. I think an employment letter OR recent pay stubs (I don't think the whole year is necessary) are sufficient. Although I guess you could send both just in case. Definitely no need to send tax returns and W2s if you have tax transcripts though.

I don't agree with frontloading, but since you said in Nigeria you are supposed to, I guess it's different.

Best of luck to you!

Edited July 9, 2012 by Amenspanglish

[Dana and Divine 61]

Here u go although u deserve time-out.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=376374&view=getnewpost

:rofl: Girl you are one to talk about a "time-out"! Have you had any sleep yet? Once this stuff is in the mail then I can sit back and take a breather! :

Edited July 9, 2012 by Dana and Divine

[Dana and Divine 61]

You repeated the Affidavit of Support stuff. You need Tax Return Transcripts OR Tax Returns with the W2s. Not both. Same with proof of employment. I think an employment letter OR recent pay stubs (I don't think the whole year is necessary) are sufficient. Although I guess you could send both just in case. Definitely no need to send tax returns and W2s if you have tax transcripts though.

I don't agree with frontloading, but since you said in Nigeria you are supposed to, I guess it's different.

Best of luck to you!

Thanks for the reply. The W-2's were copies, the tax transcripts haven't arrived yet (so I'm keeping the W-2's just in case they don't arrive on time. I ordered an ACCOUNT transcript by mistake...so still waiting.)

The letter of employment is for this "current" year-to-date. It simply states I am still employeed, have worked here for 17 years and my current rate of pay is blah, blah, blah... (which changed from last years W-2's).

Just trying to cover all my bases.

Yes, Nigeria is quite different. It is a country that is know for scammers (brush up on 419 scam) if you're interested. In defense of the citizens of Nigeria, in contrast to their immense population, the scamming is very minimal. They call it a Nigerian scam because it supposedly originated in Nigeria. However, there are many groups of people who participate in those types of scams.

It is best for us who are interviewing there to give the CO as much information to review as possible BEFORE the interview takes place. That's where the front loading takes place. However, after reading Debbie's post and seeing replies, I can see where it would be more difficult to front load at this stage.

I will add additional affidavits from my side of the family, because the thought of not addressing my INTER-RACIAL marriage upfront, bothers me. I need the CO to know, my family is very happy with my husband and our family is of mixed races so this is not a new ball game for us. We ALL love Divine because he is divine!...our skin color has nothing to do with the love we have for each other.

Edited July 9, 2012 by Dana and Divine

[TJ 4EVER 40]

I too front loaded my I-130. Sent every piece of proof that I had at the time except I only sent 12 random photos. When my hubby went to the interview he had the info that continued from the front loading. Dana what I did for Julius was bonded all the info in books made at Staples and labeled each section. That made it neater and easier for him to thumb through. I made sure the books were not too thick and plastic rings were used.