I-130 preparation questions (split topic)

[luukee 18]

Found it,

If you decide to, this is a sample.

Thanks again TeaCup! Again thank you for guiding me through this.

[TeaCup 65]

Thanks again TeaCup! Again thank you for guiding me through this.

No problem!

[luukee 18]

TeaCup/All,

I was wondering about one thing with the G-325A. For the section of my parents info. on the last field, it requests City and Country of Residence. Since both of my parents passed away, should I just put Deceased? Or should I put Deceased and the previous state and country ?

[luukee 18]

it looks like from reading the instructions of the I-130, it looks like the best answer is to put N/A (and maybe i'll add the deceased next to it?)

thanks again guys.

[Ryan H 3,810]

TeaCup/All,

I was wondering about one thing with the G-325A. For the section of my parents info. on the last field, it requests City and Country of Residence. Since both of my parents passed away, should I just put Deceased? Or should I put Deceased and the previous state and country ?

it looks like from reading the instructions of the I-130, it looks like the best answer is to put N/A (and maybe i'll add the deceased next to it?)

thanks again guys.

All you need to write is "deceased" for that field. DO NOT write N/A.

[luukee 18]

All you need to write is "deceased" for that field. DO NOT write N/A.

Thanks ryan!!

[luukee 18]

Hey guys -

Just wondering if you guys can take a look at my explanation letter. I'm hoping that I've covered some of the things I felt were important that I wasn't able to do on the I-130. This one is slightly more than a page, after I put down my address, so I think I need to cut a few things, on top of that I'm using 10.5 pt font

Please let me know if you guys have any suggestions. Thanks so much guys!

May 15, 2014

Name

Current Address

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

ATTN: I-130

PO Box 21700

Phoenix, AZ 85036

Subject: Explanation Letter/Addendum to Cover Letter for I-130

To whom may it concern:

I, (Name), would like to use this letter as a chance to describe our relationship and clarify a few things that we feel are needed in addition to the I-130 as well as inform you of our future plans.

(Wife) and I met through a mutual friend and began chatting on the mobile application called “Viber” in February 2013. In April 2013, I met my wife for the first time in person. From then on, since my wife works as an international flight attendant for (AirlineName), we were able to meet once or twice a month in person and went on a couple of dates together. After a few months, we grew very fond of one another and our relationship continued to grow. Our daily chats and voice calls (using Viber) became longer and longer every day, while her flights to the U.S. became more and more enjoyable as we were able to see one another.

At the end of October 2013, I took vacation to meet her in Hawaii (one of her flight routes) and proposed to her on top of Diamond Head State Monument. She was thrilled that I asked, but I was even more thrilled that she accepted. Afterwards, we started making plans for our wedding. We decided to officially get married here in the states, at the courthouse in Santa Ana, California, U.S.A. on January 8, 2014. Having the small wedding here at the courthouse allowed for a few members of my family and some of our friends attend. We later had our cultural engagement, tea ceremony and wedding banquet in March 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We had a wonderful wedding banquet at the beautiful Windsor Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, where all of my wife’s family and friends were able to attend. Some of my relatives and friends from the U.S. were also able to join us in celebrating our wonderful day.

Since the wedding, I’ve gone back to the U.S. and we’ve continued to chat, call and video chat while we’re away from one another. As mentioned earlier, we use Viber to chat and call, and for video chat we use Skype. While using these programs to communicate with one another, we don’t always use our real names and usually use some sort of nickname. For our Viber chats, you‘ll notice her name on my phone is “Lo Po,” which means “Wife” in Chinese/Cantonese. Or you may also see her name translated into English as “Jade.” For Skype, she generally uses this email address “email.address.com” and has the Display name “Jade.” For myself, I’m using “email.address2.com” and the Display name (name)

For the future, we would like to settle down here in the U.S. where I’m currently living and to start our family together. Even though we continue to chat, voice call, and video chat, every day, I always look forward to seeing her in person for the 1 day and half that she flies here. Being apart has been tough, but we hope that you will grant us this chance of a lifetime to be together.

Thank you very much for your understand and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

[luukee 18]

After reading a few of other sample letters, mine looks pretty bad - no need for all description...going to update it ...

[TeaCup 65]

After reading a few of other sample letters, mine looks pretty bad - no need for all description...going to update it ...

Your cover letter is good, it's very detailed.

I didn't mention how we met in our application because I know the interviewer is going to ask me anyway.

[luukee 18]

Thanks TeaCup for the feedback, I did a major edit on Explanation letter

Here's my updated one, but I'll make another edit as you've suggested after this one teacup:

May 15, 2014

Name

Address

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

ATTN: I-130

PO Box 21700

Phoenix, AZ 85036

Subject: Explanation Letter/Addendum to Cover Letter for I-130

To whom it may concern:

I, (Name), being the Petitioner, would like to use this letter as a chance to describe my relationship with my wife, (wife name), the Beneficiary. In addition, I would like to clarify a few things that I feel are needed in addition to the I-130 as well as inform you of our future plans.

My wife and I met through a mutual friend and began chatting on the mobile application called “Viber” on February 2013. On April 2013, I met my wife for the first time in person. We were able to meet in person at least once or twice a month since my wife works as an international flight attendant for Name Airlines.

We officially married at the courthouse in Santa Ana, California on January 2014. We later had our cultural engagement on March 2014 and our cultural tea ceremony and wedding banquet on March 25^th, 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

After the cultural wedding, I went back to the U.S. and we’ve continued to chat/call while we’re away from one another. We use Viber to chat and call, and Skype for video chats. While using these programs to communicate, we don’t always use our real names and usually use nicknames. For our Viber chats, I may refer to her as “Lo Po,” which means “Wife” in Chinese/Cantonese. As for her, she will refer to me as “Lo Gong,” which means husband in Cantonese. For Skype, she generally uses this email address “email address” with the display name “Jade.” For myself, I’m using “email address” with the display name as Name.

In regards to written the dates, generally, we (Americans) would use the format Month/Day/Year, while Vietnamese people would write it in the format Day/Month/Year. An example would be Name’s birth date. We would normally write 05/08/1988 representing May 8^th, 1988, whereas the Vietnamese would write it as 08/05/1988. We mentioned this issue, since some of her documents that require a birthdate input, may be filled in as 08/05/1988.

For the future, we would like to settle down here in the U.S. where I’m currently living and to start our family together. Being apart has been tough, but we hope that you will grant us this chance of a lifetime to be together. Thank you very much for your understanding and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

[luukee 18]

TeaCup, Here's my cover letter - Thanks again Teacup!

May 16^th, 2014

Name

Address

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

ATTN: I-130

PO Box 21700

Phoenix, AZ 85036

Nature of the submission: I-130 Original Submission

To whom It may concern:

Enclosed please find my form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative for Name and supporting documents.

Included are the following documents:

• Personal check in the amount of $420.00
• Cover Letter
• Explanation Letter/Addendum to Cover Letter
• I-130 Petition for Alien Relative
• Copy of Birth Certificate (Petitioner)
• G-325A (Petitioner)
• Passport Style Photo (Petitioner)
• G-325A (Beneficiary)
• Passport Style Photo (Beneficiary)

Evidence of Bona Fide Marriage:

• Copy of Marriage Certificate from the United States of America
• Copy of Bank statement showing joint ownership of the account
• Copies of documents for Name’s and Name’s cultural wedding. (Flight itinerary, VISA stamp, boarding passes, hotel receipts, restaurant receipt, wedding invitation)
• Copies of various Chat logs and messages (Skype and Viber)
• Copies of Name’s documents (Flight attendant badge & dates of her flights into the United States)
• Copies of documents for trip to Hawaii (Flight itinerary, ticket stubs, car rental, parking fees)
• Photo pages as evidence to our bona fide relationship and marriage

Copies of documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an Immigration or Consular officer at a later date. Thank you very much for your prompt attention to this matter.

[luukee 18]

I finally submitted my I-130, hoping everything goes well. Thank you again TeaCup, B&G, Christeen, Ryan H, NLR, and rest of VJ for helping me get started and understand what was needed to kick this off. I really appreciate all the advice you guys have given me, the support was very much needed with all the stress. hope to hear from USCIS soon...