Picky questions about filling in forms

[shira 4]

It sounds like the NVC can be pretty picky about how forms are filled in, so I have some picky questions:

1. When a form (such as the DS-230) instructs "Mark questions that are Not Applicable with "N/A," should "N/A" be used for ALL spaces that aren't filled in? For example, Item #11 on the DS-230 says "Address in the United States where you want your Permanent Resident Card (Green Card) mailed, if different from address in Item #10." Now, it's pretty clear to me that leaving this space blank indicates that the address is NOT different from that in #10. But should "N/A" be filled in here anyway?

How about if a person has no middle name? Should the space simply be left blank, or should "N/A" be filled in. Or should "NONE" be used (or even better, "(NONE)"?

If you select the "No" checkbox in Item #34 (Previous Military Service), is it necessary to fill in "N/A" for all of the spaces for this item?

I know, I know, "use common sense." But I don't know what "common sense" means when the NVC may be completely #######.

2. For Item #30 on the DS-230 ("List below all places you have lived for at least six months since reaching the age of 16 . . ."). If the person has lived in a place for LESS than six months, should a gap be left in the chronology? For example, suppose a person lived in place A from 05-1992 to 05-2000, in place B from 05-2000 to 09-2000 (four months), and in place C from 09-2000 to Present. Should Item #30 look like this:

A information 05-1992 to 05-2000

C information 09-2000 to Present

or should something else be filled in indicating the 4-month gap?

For gaps due to unemployment in a person's employment history, should the gaps explicitly be labeled "UNEMPLOYED", along with the relevant dates? Or should only actual periods of employment be included?

3. If a person's English is weak, should they list "ENGLISH" in Item #33. And if so, should they add a qualifier: "CHINESE and ENGLISH (weak)?" How about dialects? My wife speaks both Mandarin and the Sichuan language; should she list both here?

4. In Item #33 of the DS-30, is "List below all educational institutions attended" intended to include kindergarten, grade school, middle school, or high school? (The sample form on this website shows only a university in this item.) I'm actually pretty amazed that this form contains such an ambiguous request.

Edited January 27, 2013 by shira

[LilyR 7]

I am no help with most of your questions and actually had a few of them myself. (The gaps in work history is one I am wondering about).

The one thing I can say is that my mother has no middle name and on documents that ask for a middle name or a middle initial it is usually entered as "nmn" or "nmi" (no middle name or no middle initial). On my first marriage license that field was left blank. On my second marriage license they filled it in with "nmi". Sorry I cant speak more authoritatively than that.

[shira 4]

And here's another question: In Items 22 and 27 of the DS-230 there's not nearly enough space to type in a full address. Is it intended that an attachment be added for any DS-230 information that won't fit in the available spaces?

Edit: Oh, I see. The Part 1 instruction at the top clearly says "If there is insufficient space on the form, answer on a separate sheet using the same number that appear on the form."

Edited January 27, 2013 by shira

[Ms Hogan 295]

It sounds like the NVC can be pretty picky about how forms are filled in, so I have some picky questions:

1. When a form (such as the DS-230) instructs "Mark questions that are Not Applicable with "N/A," should "N/A" be used for ALL spaces that aren't filled in? For example, Item #11 on the DS-230 says "Address in the United States where you want your Permanent Resident Card (Green Card) mailed, if different from address in Item #10." Now, it's pretty clear to me that leaving this space blank indicates that the address is NOT different from that in #10. But should "N/A" be filled in here anyway?

I filled mine in as the same address. I just didn't want to take any chances.

How about if a person has no middle name? Should the space simply be left blank, or should "N/A" be filled in. Or should "NONE" be used (or even better, "(NONE)"? I would not write None here because people may have the name "None" in some countries. This is one that I would leave blank.

If you select the "No" checkbox in Item #34 (Previous Military Service), is it necessary to fill in "N/A" for all of the spaces for this item? I did not put N/A

I know, I know, "use common sense." But I don't know what "common sense" means when the NVC may be completely #######.

2. For Item #30 on the DS-230 ("List below all places you have lived for at least six months since reaching the age of 16 . . ."). If the person has lived in a place for LESS than six months, should a gap be left in the chronology? For example, suppose a person lived in place A from 05-1992 to 05-2000, in place B from 05-2000 to 09-2000 (four months), and in place C from 09-2000 to Present. Should Item #30 look like this:

A information 05-1992 to 05-2000

C information 09-2000 to Present

or should something else be filled in indicating the 4-month gap? You must account for EVERYWHERE you've RESIDED. If you went visiting somewhere for those 4 months you still had a residence somewhere didn't you? For example, I was away for a few months on a training program but I left that out as it doesn't apply as a residence. My RESIDENCE was still my home address at that time. I don't know how else to explain it but you need to NOT have any gaps. If you LIVED in the backseat of a car in a parking lot then that would be your residence during that time. You must account for everything. There should be an address at all times.

For gaps due to unemployment in a person's employment history, should the gaps explicitly be labeled "UNEMPLOYED", along with the relevant dates? Or should only actual periods of employment be included? I did not have to do this on my DS-260 which is the online version. But when I did my practice of the DS-230 I did include the time I was off on maternity leave just in case. Again, I didn't wind up having to provide any of this information in my online version but if I had, I would have included maternity leave time so as to not have any gaps. BUT to add confusion to it, I have been told time and time again to NOT overthink what is being asked and to JUST answer the question being asked. It is hard to know for sure. The question isn't asking you to account for all your time. It is asking you to explain work history.

3. If a person's English is weak, should they list "ENGLISH" in Item #33. And if so, should they add a qualifier: "CHINESE and ENGLISH (weak)?" How about dialects? My wife speaks both Mandarin and the Sichuan language; should she list both here? Can't help with this as I don't know what Item #33 is.

4. In Item #33 of the DS-30, is "List below all educational institutions attended" intended to include kindergarten, grade school, middle school, or high school? (The sample form on this website shows only a university in this item.) I'm actually pretty amazed that this form contains such an ambiguous request. This also was not asked of me in my online DS-260 however, I would have included the high school I graduated from and then my college and university.

I realize I'm not able to answer your questions as specifically as you might like however I am sharing with you feedback based on what I have JUST gone through. My applications were approved so I can say that what I did worked so that's what I'm sharing.

[Ryan H 3,812]

My answers are in bold below:

1. When a form (such as the DS-230) instructs "Mark questions that are Not Applicable with "N/A," should "N/A" be used for ALL spaces that aren't filled in? For example, Item #11 on the DS-230 says "Address in the United States where you want your Permanent Resident Card (Green Card) mailed, if different from address in Item #10." Now, it's pretty clear to me that leaving this space blank indicates that the address is NOT different from that in #10. But should "N/A" be filled in here anyway?

No, do note write "N/A" here. Instead leave it blank or write the address in #10 again. On a side note, I did write my PO Box on my wife's form but they sent it to our apartment anyway.

How about if a person has no middle name? Should the space simply be left blank, or should "N/A" be filled in. Or should "NONE" be used (or even better, "(NONE)"?

Do not write "NONE" here has that could result in the person being entered into the system as "Jane None Smith" for name. If a person does not have a middle name, the best thing to do (and this is what I did) is to put dashes in this filed. Like this: --------

If you select the "No" checkbox in Item #34 (Previous Military Service), is it necessary to fill in "N/A" for all of the spaces for this item?

If "No" is ticked for this question, then there is nothing more that needs to be written for this section.

2. For Item #30 on the DS-230 ("List below all places you have lived for at least six months since reaching the age of 16 . . ."). If the person has lived in a place for LESS than six months, should a gap be left in the chronology? For example, suppose a person lived in place A from 05-1992 to 05-2000, in place B from 05-2000 to 09-2000 (four months), and in place C from 09-2000 to Present. Should Item #30 look like this:

A information 05-1992 to 05-2000

C information 09-2000 to Present

or should something else be filled in indicating the 4-month gap?

If it were me, I would not leave a gap, better to be safe than sorry.

For gaps due to unemployment in a person's employment history, should the gaps explicitly be labeled "UNEMPLOYED", along with the relevant dates? Or should only actual periods of employment be included?

Actual periods of employment are sufficient. If there are gaps, so be it.

3. If a person's English is weak, should they list "ENGLISH" in Item #33. And if so, should they add a qualifier: "CHINESE and ENGLISH (weak)?" How about dialects? My wife speaks both Mandarin and the Sichuan language; should she list both here?

Regarding English; if she is able to speak English (even if it's not very well) she can so state and no qualifier such as "weak" would be necessary. As for Chinese, all she would need to write is "Chinese" as there is no need to include dialects.

4. In Item #33 of the DS-30, is "List below all educational institutions attended" intended to include kindergarten, grade school, middle school, or high school? (The sample form on this website shows only a university in this item.) I'm actually pretty amazed that this form contains such an ambiguous request.

On average, most people start with high school and go from there when responding to this question.