Too Long?

[vamos 0]

I was wondering how long it usually takes for an initial reply when filing the I-130 at a Service Center (in this case Texas) in the U.S. My wife and I are living in the U.K and sent the I-130 to the U.S Embassy here in mid-January. We were hoping to go the DCF route, however we receivng a letter from the embassy dated the 30th of January stating that my wife has not been in the U.K long enough for us to file there and they have forwarded the application on to the Texas Service Center.

Not knowing how long it usually takes for the Service Center to take the payment (I sent a credit card payment form) and start processing the application I've been checking my credit card online everyday and have so far been charged nothing, nor have we received anything in the post. A month on I was wondering if it is normal that they have not taken the payment yet and gotten back to us so that we can file for the K-3. Is this normal?

[Fischkoepfin 1]

I wouldn't worry about it yet. If the embassy mailed off your petition to TSC on or around January 30, the chances are that it has only arrived at TSC recently. It takes TSC a few weeks to enter the petition into their system and process the payment. They also used to forward all I-130s from US citizens from TSC to CSC, which tacks on another few weeks. Still, you'll hear from them soon...

Good luck!

[hafiz 1]

man its been 20 days(feels like forever) and no NOA1 for me. If its not here in 10 days, i am going to start making some calls.

[Rebster 0]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid you may have a problem. We did precisely the same thing you did by sending our petition to London with a credit card authorization form on December 14th. We then received a letter from the embassy dated December 28th that said I hadn't been in the UK long enough so they were sending my application to Texas. On January 17th our petition was returned to us with a rejection notice stating that we did not have the proper filing fee. The USCIS cannot use the credit card authorization form that you sent because it is for the Embassy.

I had actually received verbal confirmation of this from someone at the National Customer Service center who said the USCIS offices do not take credit cards just days before we finally got the petition back. You can call the National Customer Service number to ask them yourselves. The guy was really helpful and tried looking up our petition in the system using both my husband's and my name. When he couldn't find it & I told him about the credit card form he said it would've been rejected and I would need to re-file. He was right and we got the original petition back within days. We had to re-file directly with Texas using a check drawn off of a US bank account.

I'm so sorry - I know this is frustrating. I would recommend going ahead & getting a new packet together to go directly to TX.

[scy 0]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid you may have a problem. We did precisely the same thing you did by sending our petition to London with a credit card authorization form on December 14th. We then received a letter from the embassy dated December 28th that said I hadn't been in the UK long enough so they were sending my application to Texas. On January 17th our petition was returned to us with a rejection notice stating that we did not have the proper filing fee. The USCIS cannot use the credit card authorization form that you sent because it is for the Embassy.

I had actually received verbal confirmation of this from someone at the National Customer Service center who said the USCIS offices do not take credit cards just days before we finally got the petition back. You can call the National Customer Service number to ask them yourselves. The guy was really helpful and tried looking up our petition in the system using both my husband's and my name. When he couldn't find it & I told him about the credit card form he said it would've been rejected and I would need to re-file. He was right and we got the original petition back within days. We had to re-file directly with Texas using a check drawn off of a US bank account.

I'm so sorry - I know this is frustrating. I would recommend going ahead & getting a new packet together to go directly to TX.

Ah. The pitfalls of DCF. You'd think the London embassy would know that USCIS never takes credit cards as payment, but I guess not.

But the above post is correct, the OP should resend the petition with the proper fee drawn from a US bank or the USPS.

[vamos 0]

Arrrghh! Thanks for letting me know Rebster you've saved us a lot of wasted time and that means a lot. The only problem we have now is how we're going to pay for the I-130 being that my wife closed her bank account in the US and we're both over here right now, would either of you have any suggestions on how to do this?

[scy 0]

Arrrghh! Thanks for letting me know Rebster you've saved us a lot of wasted time and that means a lot. The only problem we have now is how we're going to pay for the I-130 being that my wife closed her bank account in the US and we're both over here right now, would either of you have any suggestions on how to do this?

Ask for a money order at a Citibank branch. Find Citibank locations in the UK at this link

http://www.citibank.com/uk/personal/bankin...nches/index.htm

And make sure the date on the money order is not written in DD/MM/YYYY format. The format is either MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MMM/YYYY with the month abbreviated.

[vamos 0]

Hi, thanks for the advice, unfortunately I live in Scotland and the nearest branch would be Manchester which would be 4 hour drive. I wonder if we can have someone in my wife's family take out a money order for us...

[meauxna 15]

Hi, thanks for the advice, unfortunately I live in Scotland and the nearest branch would be Manchester which would be 4 hour drive. I wonder if we can have someone in my wife's family take out a money order for us...

Yes, someone in the US can write a check for you or get a money order. They will have to remail your packet so the payment can be included.

[diadromous mermaid 36]

Hi, thanks for the advice, unfortunately I live in Scotland and the nearest branch would be Manchester which would be 4 hour drive. I wonder if we can have someone in my wife's family take out a money order for us...

Is there no way to secure a money order in Scotland in US tender? Post Office, perhaps?

[Created 6]

Hi, thanks for the advice, unfortunately I live in Scotland and the nearest branch would be Manchester which would be 4 hour drive. I wonder if we can have someone in my wife's family take out a money order for us...

Yes, someone in the US can write a check for you or get a money order. They will have to remail your packet so the payment can be included.

USD cheques are available from your UK bank, or building society. You simply have to make the request - enquire at customer services, there will be a small fee. I have in the past requested USD cheques from the Halifax. It will take about 5 days.

[scouseredneck 0]

Nice to see other people are in the same boat as us!

Our situation is roughly the same as yours. My wife is a US citizen living in the UK with me, a Brit. We were married in Sept 2005 in the US and returned to living in the UK before we began my immigration process.

My wife and I were advised to go for DCF to the U.S. Embassy in London. We found out too late that the US Embassy had given us the wrong advice (repeatedly) , the I-130 was then forwarded to Texas by Homeland Security without the payment slip that we had origionally included. Inside there was also a recommendation that we should pursue the K-3 visa via the US route. My wife's parents (who still live in the U.S.) received notification that our I-130 had been denied/rejected because there had not been payment included.

To make a long story short, my wife's father sent a cheque to California along with all our I-130 paperwork, as instructed by the Texas centre. The cheque was mailed on the 3rd March 2006 and we are still awaiting the NOA1.

Considering this apparently common situation, does anyone have any idea how long we will be waiting for the NOA1 from this point? (12th March 2006).

Thanks for your help.

[vamos 0]

Hey sorry to switch subjects here but I've got a really urgent question that I hope someone will be able to answer. My wife's sister has been involved in a car accident and she's in a critical condition so my wife and I are wanting to fly back over to be with the family. Would the fact that I've had the I-130 rejected because of the wrong type of payment being sent make it impossible for me to be allowed into the country under the visa waiver program?? I know this is off topic but seeing as this thread has all the information on our situation I thought it would be best to add it here.

[vamos 0]

If anyone is reading this and knows what the answer to my question is or knows where I should ask about it please post, we need to fly out tomorrow...

[aussiewench 9]

Oh gosh....I am very sorry to hear that. I hope all will be ok.

Go for it. Take lots of evidence of ties to the UK....thats all you can do. Anyone at any time can be denied at POE. Explain the situation about your wifes sister, if asked. I doubt they will know anything of your rejected petition.

Lorelle