US Embassy, Barbados : Capable of performing petitioner background checks

[Mel_and_Daniel 1]

Visa Petitions

On January 22, 2007, consular offices abroad were instructed to cease accepting certain immigrant visa petitions because consular officers lacked the means to perform the required criminal background checks on American citizen petitioners, as required by the Adam Walsh Act. Since that time, the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown has ceased accepting visa petitions.

Subsequently, the Department of State and USCIS worked to develop a mechanism whereby USCIS will perform these required "Adam Walsh Act" checks for any petitions accepted abroad by consular officers.

Effective March 20, 2007, the United States Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados will once again accept petitions for immediate relative immigrant classifications from American citizens who are resident in the Embassy's consular district, including members of the armed forces, as well as true emergency cases, such as life and death or health and safety, and others determined to be in the national interest.

All lawful permanent residents, and American Citizens resident in the United States or with a permanent address in the United States, should file I-130 petitions at the USCIS Service Center having jurisdiction over their place of residence (as indicated on the USCIS website: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-130.pdf).

Please contact the Immigrant Visa Section if you are not sure if you will qualify to file a petition at the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown.

If the United States petitioner is truly resident in the Embassy's consular district and qualifies to file a visa petition at the Embassy, he/she must have all the originals of the following required documents and pay the applicable fees (see link above for fee information and other instructions):

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Valid U.S. passport or U.S. birth certificate (not hospital certificate)

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Marriage certificate (if filing for a spouse)

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One passport-sized photo of the petitioner and spouse (if filing for a spouse)

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Evidence of the termination of all previous marriages of both petitioner and beneficiary, i.e., divorce, death, annulment certificates

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All documents not in English must be accompanied by a complete English translation. The translator must certify that the translation is accurate and that he or she is competent to translate.

http://bridgetown.usembassy.gov/visa_petitions.html