Urgent, little time left - money order address...?

[JFH 12,190]

*~*~*moved from “IR-1/CR-1 spouse visa process and procedures” to “DCF”*~*~*

[jan22 3,056]

If i understand what you are proposing, you intend to pay WU and they will then send payment to some USCIS office at whatever address you give them. 

ProbIem is, USCIS is not set up to receive a payment that is not submitted directly with a petition (except for filing the I-131A form).  They have no way to match up a random payment with a specific case, especially since there won't even be a case number to provide WU for them to include.  In other words, your payment needs to be attached to or physically handed in at the time the petition is filed.  Best bet is to find a financial institution in Frankfurt that can issue an international bank draft.

Edited October 26, 2019 by jan22

[carmel34 3,646]

Most likely there are US banks with offices in Frankfurt.  JP Morgan Chase has a branch there for example.  Go to one or more of these US banks with cash in hand, Euros, and they should be able to issue a check in US dollars, for a fee, payable to whoever you want it to be paid to.  Then attach that check to the petition and send it to the consulate in Frankfurt.

[Lemonslice 4,922]

No friend of family in the US to overnight you a money order today , or no later than Monday?  Then you wire them back the funds. Paying to have the money order overnighted might still be worth the time saved by DCF.

[Villanelle 4,122]

Cant you just open an account at that bank? Or possibly you know someone there who has an account with that bank already? And I can understand wanting to call instead of running around all day but honestly you will get better results going in person and explaining your situation. Often people will take sympathy on you when you are right in front of them where on the phone its easy to just say nope and hang up. But simply looking at a calendar it seems feasible to WU someone you know in the US the money and have them overnight express mail a money order first thing Monday morning and you will have it by Thursday to file... The only other thing I can suggest is looking for maybe visa agencies that may be located around the Embassy and asking them for advice or a referral to a place they know issues USD money orders/checks. Or search for DCF Frankfort experiences on google and look through the forum type results- thats where I found a reference to someone naming the bank I mentioned as being their solution.  @jan22 explained why WU is not going to work, if you do choose to go forward with it anyway please post back how it went! Best of luck to you!

[Germerican 42]

We are filing via Frankfurt as well and submitted our paperwork on Friday (it was received this morning).

 

I had trouble with my bank (Raiffeisenbank) as well but I followed the instructions in this thread (I hope it’s okay to link to an external forum) and actually got what I needed within 2 days.

 

If you can sort this out today and overnight your paperwork to Frankfurt, you might still get it in on time.

 

My bank initially did not know what I needed, so I did what the aforementioned thread suggested and requested a “Zahlungsauftrag im Außenwirtschaftsverkehr”. On this form the option "Scheckziehung an Kontoinhaber" needs to be selected. For the address I told them to just enter a “period (.)”.

 

They still weren’t exactly sure what to do, so they called DZ Bank. Luckily they knew exactly what I needed. My bank told them it was urgent and they printed the check immediately and I was able to pick it up from my bank 2 days later. I requested it last Wednesday morning, picked up the check on Friday morning and mailed everything that same day via DHL Express.

 

Make sure to remind them that the check needs to be issued to “U.S. Department of Homeland Security” and has to be in U.S. Dollars ($535). The check itself was issued by DZ Bank but drawn on Wells Fargo Bank NA. They charged the $535, incl. a 35€ fee to my bank account.

 

I hope this helps and you’ll be able to get your paperwork in by the 31^st.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Germerican

[Germerican 42]

@Kat&Bree I was just wondering, were you guys able to get your petition in on time?