How to pay for I-129F while living abroad?

[mrsbxox 0]

Please help
We are currently trying to file I-129f and get it sent off ASAP.
My fiance (american + UK citizen) and I live together here in Scotland,UK.

My fiance will be moving back to the states in Oct/Nov.
We are having severe trouble trying to find out how to pay for the I-129f fee ($340) while he is currently living here.

On the instruction document for I-129f on USCIS website they state:
"If you live outside the US, Guam, or the US Virgin Islands, contact the nearest US Embassy or Consulate for instructions on the method of payment."

They also state: "If you live in the US or if you are living abroad: File form I-129f at the USCIS Dallas Lockbox facility."

I have rang US Embassy in Edinburgh, Belfast & London. I was not able to speak to anyone about this from the Edinburgh or Belfast as it did not come up as an option. However, I finally got through to London after they hung up several times. A spoke to a woman who seems to be talking absolute nonsense.
She told me that my American fiance will have to be living in US to file I-129f. I told her this could not be true because of what I read in the instruction document (what I have quoted above). She insisted that this was the case..?!

So I am none the wiser!!
Please help as I want to start this process ASAP, I have all my documents ready to be sent, just need information on how to pay!

Any help is much appreciated.

Hope to hear from you,
Leanne.

[Darnell 8,478]

eh - they want funds drawn on a usa bank.

so - best to have a buddy help out - give the buddy funds, have buddy make a money order in the usa ..

many times - the entire i-129F is sent to the buddy first, the buddy gets the money order and puts it in the packet, then resends on to the lockbox address.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Darnell

[cazzers 83]

We filed from abroad, my US fiance has also an irish citizenship and has been living in Ireland for the last 10+ years. he asked his mom (who lives in the US) to send him a check on her name and it worked. We didnt had any problems with the check being cashed. We sent the file from Romania to Lewisville.

[kpeck 22]

I was also living abroad (Spain) when I had to file the I-129F. The US Embassy in Madrid also had no answer- they just kept repeating the instructions and saying the money had to be drawn on a US bank.

I sent the entire packet to my mom and had her include a check (I then quick-paid her through my Chase bank account) and she re-mailed the entire packet to the Dallas Lockbox. I think that's the easiest way to do it, as well.

OR you can have someone mail you a check or money order to your flat in the UK and then you mail the packet to the Dallas Lockbox from the UK.

***One thing I would check into with mailing the packet (or anything) from abroad is whether or not you can track the package internationally. For example from the Spanish post office, we would only be able to track the packet throughout SPAIN and see when it left the country, but once it was in the US, we would have had no idea where it was and whether or not it reached the Dallas Lockbox.

It might be different if you use DHL or another courier service though- something to check into. In Spain it was much more expensive to send it via another courier service, so that's why we opted for the just the regular mail service.

When we sent it my mom, she of course told us when it reached her, but if it had gotten lost, we wouldn't have known where it was (another solid reason to make several copies of the entire I-129F packet!!!). When she took it to the US post office to mail, she paid for the tracking and we could see where it was and when it reached the Dallas Lockbox.

Good luck!

[NikLR 13,227]

You can also send a money order in US funds.

[Tygrys 143]

You can file from abroad and send to the Lockbox, but the funds (check or money order) must be drawn on US bank. As others said, ask your family or a buddy in the States for help.

[mrsbxox 0]

Hi everyone!
Just thought I'd let you know that I emailed London embassy about method of payment.
I was told to get an international bank draft from my bank and that this would be accepted - and it was!

I received my NOA1 last week.

Thank you for all your responses.
Leanne