Seoul CR-1 DCF

[Neuroglia 0]

Hello,

I am a teacher in Korea and my new wife is Korean. We're hoping to move to the US in June, when my teaching contract ends. I've found the info people post on this site very useful in preparing our CR-1 application, so I wanted to contribute. I'll update this thread as time goes on.

Our i-130 filing appointment was at 9am. We arrived at the embassy at about 8:15, and they let us in after looking at our appointment form and both our passports, and taking our phones and my wife's MP3 player. We went up to the third floor and went to the immediate left and sat down (don't go to the area to the right which isn't for i-130 filing, and don't take a number). We waited until the window opened at 9, and turned in our paperwork.

This is my table of contents page from the I-130 packet we filed today:

1. Appointment form

2. I-130 with attachment

3. Petitioner’s G325A with attachment

4. Beneficiary’s G325A with attachment

5. Verification of Registration of Marriage with translation

6. Copy of petitioner’s passport biography and Korean visa pages

7. Copy of petitioner’s Korean Alien Registration Card

8. Petitioner and beneficiary’s passport-style photos

9. Copy of beneficiary’s passport biography page

10. Beneficiary’s Basic Birth Certificate with translation

11. Beneficiary’s Certificate of Marital Status with translation

12. Beneficiary’s Certificate of Family Relationship with translation

The "attachments" are pages where I listed addresses and other info that wouldn't fit in the fields of the fillable PDFs. In addition to this cover page, I'd numbered all the documents with Post-It tabs and put everything in a transparent folder, with paperclips keeping multi-page documents and their translations together. The agent ignored my organization system and immediately pulled everything apart. He asked if we had any past marriages and made a note on our papers, so I'm guessing we should've written "none" or something else explicit where i-130 and g-325a ask about prior spouses. He kept all our documents.

We were sent to the second floor to pay. I had read conflicting reports about whether it's possible to pay the $420 fee with a credit card, so I brought cash. As it turns out, there was a sign on the cashier window that said "NO CREDIT CARDS," so definitely bring cash. We paid and got our receipt, along with a short form to fill out to be notified by email of status updates. I made the mistake of signing this form myself, when it was actually my wife who needed to sign it. Luckily the agent let her simply sign over my name.

We were done within 18 minutes and could've left, but we stayed to ask a few questions about the next steps. We took a number and waited, but after no movement in the numbers for 20 minutes, I asked a woman in one of the windows if I could ask some questions. She was very helpful, and I got this info that may be useful:

• I need to include a 1040 with my i864, but not any W-2s. (Seems questionable, will probably include W-2s and Korean work contract anyway to be safe.)
• My wife does not need to file an i864.
• People often make the mistake of not filing their Korean income and showing up with a 1040ez instead of a 1040.
• Another common mistake is not getting the correct Korean police checks. She said there are three that Koreans have to submit. She also mentioned that people sometimes don't report small things such as traffic tickets, when in fact they should report these things, and that delays their application.

I wish I'd thought to ask about the current interview wait time. If anyone has info about this, that would be great. Otherwise I'll update when we hear from the embassy.

[rolfsinjpn 3]

Hi,

My wife and I are going to the Seoul Embassy tomorrow to submit our I-130 for her CR-1. As some one about a month a head of us in the game any updates on how the process is going in terms of timeline, unexpected issues, etc? Appreciate it.

[Neuroglia 0]

Sorry for the late reply. Here's an update:

On April 13th, I received an email from the embassy saying that the embassy wanted a explanation of why my wife and I have separate addresses (it's because my apartment is terrible), and documentation of the bona fides of our marriage. Here's my table of contents for the stuff we submitted:

Table of Contents

• Signed statement explaining living arrangements
• Housing application listing beneficiary as additional occupant
• Evidence of financial comingling
• Copy of joint credit cards
• Copy of receipts for medical supplies purchased by beneficiary for petitioner
• Third Party Affidavits
• Affidavit from coworker and marriage petition witness
• Affidavit from petitioner's sister
• Affidavit from petitioner's aunt and uncle
• Affidavit from petitioner's friend
• Affidavit from petitioner's friend
• Evidence of Ongoing Romantic Relationship
• Evidence of time spent together in Las Vegas
• Petitioner's hotel receipts
• Beneficiary's hospital invoice
• Evidence of time spent together in California
• Petitioner's hotel receipts
• Beneficiary's plane ticket with translation
• Photos with explanatory captions

On April 16th (I think), I called the embassy phone number that was listed on the physical letter they sent us (but not the email) and asked if they'd received our documents. The immigration officer said our i130 had been approved.

On April 24th, we received packet 3 via email. I wasn't sure if we could schedule our interview without completing the DS-260. We called the horrible service center and tried to schedule it by phone. They wanted a DS-260 confirmation page to schedule our interview. HOWEVER, we went to http://www.ustraveldocs.com/kr and were able to schedule the appointment immediately without submitting the DS-260. We took the first available interview date, which was May 16th.

We had a technical issue with the DS-260 and couldn't log in to complete the form on the date we received packet 3. We emailed the service center, and received an email back the next day saying our login is working now. It's not clear whether they fixed it or if there was a delay in the system. I'm inclined to believe the latter, since the service center was so utterly useless the five other times we contacted them throughout this process.

On May 12th, we got a call from the embassy saying they have to reschedule our interview due to "internal affairs." We were given a choice between the next day or the following Tuesday or Wednesday. We were mostly done with our documents, so we took the May 13th appointment and scrambled to get everything together in a presentable fashion. This is what we brought, in the order they wanted it assembled:

1. Interview confirmation page
2. Beneficiary's passport
3. Two passport-style photos of beneficiary
4. DS-260 confirmation page
5. Beneficiary's Korean Basic Certificate with English translation
6. Beneficiary's Korean Certificate of Family Relations with English translation
7. Korean Marriage Certificate with English translation (NOT the Verification of Registration of marriage. We brought this and they gave it back.)
8. Beneficiary's police certificate with English translation
9. Petitioner's i864
10. Signed supplement to i864 including Korean addresses and phone numbers that were too long to enter into the form, a detailed explanation of how I calculated my current income, and an explanation of our future financial plan to avoid using means-tested public benefits under any circumstances.
11. Petitioner's 2013 tax return including forms 1040, 2555, and explanation of foreign income calculation
12. Petitioner's Korean work contract
13. Petitioner's verification of employment letter from American part-time online employer
14. Petitioner's latest pay stub from American employer
15. Printout from American employer's website showing this year's paycheck amounts
16. Petitioner's financial aid estimate from American medical school
17. Student budget printout from American medical school's website showing amount allocated to personal expenses
18. Petitioner's one-way plane ticket to San Francisco
19. Petitioner's medical school acceptance letter and deferment agreement
20. Petitioner's university housing application
21. Beneficiary's sealed medical exam documents

We arrived at the embassy at 6:20 and had to wait until the embassy opened at 7:30. It was overkill, but we were first in line. We entered the embassy, turned in our electronics and let them scan our bags, and went to the second floor. We gave the clerk our interview confirmation page and were told to proceed to the third floor. We went immediately to the right after entering the third floor, took a number, and sat down. The embassy quickly became quite crowded, so we were glad we arrived early.

A while later, someone at a window called my wife's name. We submitted the documents listed above. I also tried to give them my W-2s and a passport biography photo page, but they gave them back. They asked me questions about my employment situation and my American employer. After, we went and sat down.

Later, a different person called us to a different window and asked the same questions about my employment situation. This was thoroughly and clearly explained in my i864 supplement, but either they didn't read it or wanted verbal confirmation for some reason. After I explained again, they took my wife's fingerprints and we sat down. She was also given a courier form to fill out.

We were called a third time by the original person, who asked if I plan to return to the US. I said yes, and pointed out that there was a one-way plane ticket in the packet. She found the ticket and didn't ask additional domicile-related questions. We were then given a paper and sent to the second floor to pay our $230 fee. I handed the clerk $300 cash and was given change. We went back to the third floor and gave the window person our proof of payment. We waited again.

We were called by a different person for the interview. He asked who I was, and swore my wife in. He then asked both of us questions, including:

To my wife:

Can you speak English?

How did you learn English?

To me:

What are you doing in Korea? How long have you been doing that?

Your documents say you have a second job. What is it? What qualifies you to do this job? (I write MCAT practice tests for a test prep company from my home. It's a pretty good gig, so he might've been asking out of curiosity.)

To my wife:

Have you ever been to America?

Have you met your husband's parents? Do they like you?

Will you live near your husband's mother?

To me:

Why did you get married now instead of earlier?

After, he said that we were finished and that my wife would receive her visa in a week. Overall, the interview was very low pressure. The interviewer was friendly, and made jokes with us. My wife is very shy, and said she didn't feel nervous at all. We claimed our electronics and left the embassy - even though if felt like we'd been there a while, it was only 9:06am.

We only have one remaining question: We've heard new immigrants need a chest x-ray report to present at the POE. My wife has a CD from the hospital, but that's all. If anyone knows how we get the x-ray report, we'd appreciate it!

In closing, this is my advice to people in a similar situation:

• Don't rely on the service center for anything, ever. It's located in either India or the Philippines, and the employees have no idea how to help you. Usually they didn't understand our questions at all, and when they did they gave incorrect or unhelpful responses. Make an appointment at the embassy and go in person if you live close, or call the embassy directly if they send you mail with their number.
• Submit documentation of bona fides of your marriage with the i130, along with an explanation of any abnormal living arrangements. Some posters have said the embassy didn't want these documents with their i130, but in our case not submitting them caused a delay.
• Don't wait until you're done with the DS-260 to schedule your interview appointment. Just do it online.

[Neuroglia 0]

Two more pieces of advice, since I can't edit my other post:

• Arrive early. I think if we'd arrived at 8am, we'd have been there well into the afternoon, judging by the people in line behind us.
• You don't need notaries or apostilles for the Korean birth certificates or marriage certificate, even though the packet 3 instructions ask for "certified copies." My wife printed these documents from the internet, translated them, and wrote and signed sworn statements regarding her fluency in English and Korean and the accuracy of the translation. The embassy didn't ask for anything else.

[ermattson 0]

Hi Neuroglia,

Thanks so much for the detailed post! My Korean wife and I will be completing this process soon. I have been reading about other people's stories on this wonderful website, and thanks again for all of the useful information that you posted.

I'd like to get clarification from you about one thing, if I may. I have been reading about the necessary documents that we'll need to submit when we file the I-330 petition. At the bottom of page 6 and the top of page 7 of the following document http://photos.state.gov/libraries/korea/187344/DHS/CIS_main.pdf it says this:

"Birth certificate of your alien spouse and his/her Name of the Field Information children. (If your spouse is a Korean citizen, you should submit three different certificates; Certificate of Marital Status, Certificate of Family Relationship, Basic Certificate; all must be accompanied with English translation.)"

I understand what the "certificate of marital status" is (we were married in Hawaii), but I am not sure what "Certificate of Family Relationship" or "Basic Certificate" are. Do you know the Korean names for those? Is there some other place that I should look for this? Also, to confirm, you did indeed submit these documents at the time that you filed the I-330? The link that I attached above says to include this at the time of filing, yet I am looking at your list, and it looks like that you submitted them during your visa interview. Which is correct?

Thanks so much!

Edited August 5, 2014 by ermattson

[Neuroglia 0]

We submitted the 3 Korean "birth certificates" both at the time of filing the I-130 and during the interview. My wife downloaded them online and we printed them out. The Korean names are:

기본 증명서

가족 관계 증명서

혼인 증명서

Here's a link to packet 3, which also has that info. You'll receive this link from the embassy later in the process: http://photos.state.gov/libraries/korea/187344/PDF_Dec09/iseo35iv.pdf

Good luck!

[ermattson 0]

Thanks so much for your quick reply! Very kind of you. Take care!

[voirdire 0]

Does the petitioner have to be there for the visa interview, or did you just go with your spouse for support?? I can't go with my wife to her interview because of

work, just wondering if this will be a problem. Thanks.

[Neuroglia 0]

Hi Voirdire,

You are not required to be there. In fact, my research indicated that some interviewers will ask you to leave the immediate area during the interview.

I'm not a lawyer, but here are my thoughts on the matter:

If your case is really strong, you probably don't need to go. For example, if you have children together, a long history of well-documented financial comingling, etc. then you will probably be fine.

If you've been married a short time and/or have limited evidence, I recommend going. Regardless of what the rules say, human psychology is what it is, and the petitioner's presence or absence is likely to have some effect on an interviewer's decision. And frankly, our interviewer spent more time talking to me than my wife.

Good luck!

[EOC 440]

Congratulations Neuroglia