Direct Consular Filing of I-130 petition in Paris

[2018croz 5]

Hi JulienR,

 

NO! It was way simpler. We prepared everyone that USCIS listed because when I emailed the embassy to ask, they never replied. But we only needed the I-130, our passports, our marriage certificate, both our birth certificates (in French was fine, they did not need a translation), and the documentation justifying why we needed direct consular filing (in our case, my offer letter from my employer in the USA). We did not need any of the "evidence of bona fide marriage". 

 

For some reason, when the embassy sent us the email for the first appointment, they also said to bring ID photos and a G325A form for each of us, but at the appointment they did not ask for them.

 

Good luck!

[JulienR 92]

Thanks 2018Croz,

 

Please keep us posted on the progress of your application and in particular any tips that could be helpful.

My wife is a US citizen, she is applying for jobs in the US and we will have to go through DCF in Paris if she gets an offer.

[2018croz 5]

Hi JulienR,

 

It was actually quite simple and almost identical to what was described in the first post on DCF in France in this thread with only a couple of differences.

 

August 12: emailed the US embassy in Paris requesting to exceptionally file because of new job offer in the USA and that I had been living in France for more than a year. I included the PDF of the memo listing relocation due to job as one of the qualifying reasons, found here.

August 13: consular section emailed back asking me to email documentation of relocation along with copies of both our passports, birth certificates, and marriage certificate.

August 15: I emailed the requested documents, with the offer letter with start date listed from my employer serving as proof of relocation.

August 17: The wrote back saying the petition had been approved, to fill the form I-130 and prepare documentation and that once the documentation was ready we could request an appointment, which would only be available on Wed afternoons.

Sept 13: We wrote saying the documentation was ready (we thought we had to bring in all the things USCIS ask for evidence of marriage, which is why it took a while to compile) and requested an appointment for mid-October.

Sept 13: Embassy wrote back the same day granting us the appointment on the date we requested

Oct 17: Appointment to file I-130. As mentioned, they only wanted the I-130, our passports, brith certificates, and marriage certificate, no other documentation was needed. We paid a fee.

Oct 31: my husband received an email saying the petition was approved. "Complete you DS-260, gather the full documentation, and register your appointment." 

Nov 25: We submitted the DS-260 online via the CEAC portal. No fees. We tried to make a medical appointment and to register a visa interview appointment but learned we had to wait till the embassy responded with the visa interview appointment before we could do either of those things. I prepared the I-864 and he got his police records and vaccines done.

Dec 13: My husband received an email giving him a visa interview date of Jan 9. We could then schedule the medical appointment and register the appointment (essentially to have a courrier service return the passport and visa).

Jan 4: medical appointment, fees.

Jan 9: visa interview. Another fee payment. Very short, he was told at the end that he was approved and that his passport would be mailed back to him in two weeks, so we're now just waiting for it to arrive (knock on wood!). 

 

The main takeaways for me were that we should NOT have spent all the time we did gathering evidence of our shared residence, finances, trips, photos, etc and translating all the documents. None of that was needed. We were especially worried because we had very recently gotten married but it did not matter. And they did consider my job a relocation even though I had just graduated, wasn't moving from one job to another. 

 

I also want to note that it could have probably been done in 2 months instead of 5, we just had a complicated schedule in the fall so could not be available for appointments and filling out the forms immediately. So, if your wife gets a job in the US definitely send in a request to do DCF with documentation of her job offer or contract.

Hope this helps! 

 

[accumbyte 149]

On 10/3/2018 at 2:43 AM, JenniferC said:

I am currently in Malta . My husband and 2 children have an interview set up for the final stage of immigration. Unfortunately due to a long story my youngest never had immigration papers filed for her. We want to be in the states by Easter next year.. I presume this is a perfect case for direct filing. Malt has no presence of USCIS Here..

 

Kindly advise what you think - she is only 6

You should contact either the Naples Consulate or USCIS Rome.

[coubeau 0]

Hello, 

 

Thank you so much for this post! I have been searching everywhere for a more detailed description of this process. Specifically though the embassy in Paris. 

 

I do have one question. I have already send one email using the Contact Form on the embassy website. However, the list given does not include any options that are relevant. The last time I contacted I used one of the topics but I got no response. Could you tell us which topic you selected? 

 

Again thanks so much for the info! 

 

[JulienR 92]

Hi coubeau,

 

My wife asked a question using "I have feedback regarding customer service" and got a reply, thought not very helpfull for the question we asked.

 

 

[2018croz 5]

Hi coubeau,

 

When I requested permission to file DCF due to exceptional circumstances, I emailed the embassy using the address: citizeninfo@state.gov

 

 

[coubeau 0]

Thank you JulienR and 2018croz! I have been searching for months and finally received an offer for a job in the US. All of our paperwork has been ready for months so I am ready to go! 
 

I will be emailing the embassy today and I will keep you all updated on my processing time. 

[JulienR 92]

18 hours ago, coubeau said:

Thank you JulienR and 2018croz! I have been searching for months and finally received an offer for a job in the US. All of our paperwork has been ready for months so I am ready to go! 
 

I will be emailing the embassy today and I will keep you all updated on my processing time. 

Great, good luck.

 

On our side things have evolved too, not the way we were thinking originally but for the best. In short I got a job with my company in the US. They are approved under and L1 blanket petition for transfering employees. The good hting with the L1 visa is that it's a non-immigrant visa but with dual intent, meaning that you can go to the US with the intention of applying for permanent residency once there. It's much quicker to get than the immigrant visa and even easier than DCF. The I-130 petition we sent in February remains valid. My interview at the embassy is on July 17. This is a big relief because our petition was sent to Nebraska Service Center and we were looking at 12 months of wait at least before it was approved. Also, my company will cover the cost of the move. If everything goes well, we should be in the US in August.

[coubeau 0]

Hi again all! 

I'm feeling a bit discouraged. I have emailed using the provided email above and sent a request through the Contact Form. I am not getting answers and I have no idea what to do. I have a job offer to start in August. I can't get any responses. I have no idea what to do. I am assuming I can't schedule an appointment unless they have asked me to do so.... 

 

Any advice?

[JulienR 92]

Hi,

 

It's only been a week, maybe give a few more days and try again. I scheduled my visa appointment a couple of weeks ago and the wait was 5 weeks so they must be busy.

From what I've read, even if you have all documents ready and do everything ASAP, it will still probably take at least a couple of months to get teh visa so August is very tight.

 

My understandin of the process is that they will first ask you for some documents via email and based on that they will decide if they allow you to do DCF or not. Then they will ask both of you to come for an interview and bring the I-130 petition with the required supporting documents. Once they approve the petition, the process is the same as normal. The spouse of the US citizen will apply for an immigrant visa on the NVC website, upload documents and pay the fees. Once the application is submited and confirmed, you get a number that allows you to make an appointment for the visa interview at the embassy (link on the embassy website). Note that the US citizen spouse does not have to attend that second interview so they can leave before their spouse. Are you the US citizen or the spouse?

[JulienR 92]

Edit: reading the previous posts, the process is different. You apply for the visa on the NVC website but you do not need to submit your documents or pay the fee, you wait for the embassy to give you an interview date, make an appointment for your medical and bring all documents at the interview.

[coubeau 0]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate your advice! 

 

I am the citizen. From the previous posts it seemed like the responses had been quick at the beginning so I am a bit worried I am just being ignored. 

My idea was to leave after the first appointment where we have to go together. My husband will rejoin me later, but before he can give his 3 months notice at his work we want to make sure the I-130 will be processed through Paris and not the lockbox in Chicago. 

[coubeau 0]

As I finished that last message I received a mail. Apparently writing two times today helped... 

 

They responded stating their processes have been updated and sited the link below.

https://fr.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/family-employment-immigration/foreign-spouses-and-children-of-u-s-citizens/

 

It clearly states how to proceed with Direct Filing complete with an email address! Hooray. 

[JulienR 92]

15 hours ago, coubeau said:

As I finished that last message I received a mail. Apparently writing two times today helped... 

 

They responded stating their processes have been updated and sited the link below.

https://fr.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/family-employment-immigration/foreign-spouses-and-children-of-u-s-citizens/

 

It clearly states how to proceed with Direct Filing complete with an email address! Hooray. 

Good. Hopefully you don't have to wait 5 weeks to get your first interview.

 

I am actually applying for an L1 intracompany transfer visa now, I got an opportunity within my company in the US. I have my appointement on July 17. I will then apply for AOS once in the US. We should be there in August if everything goes well. Going to Richmond, VA.