I-130 Online Filers

[angeljolie 188]

Is there a disadvantage to using a foreign mailing address versus a US address? My husband maintains a US mailing address and when he filled out that portion on the i-130, he used that one. Now that we are reviewing our form, I'm thinking of using our address where we live (the Philippines). We are filing online so  it might not even matter. Any thoughts?

[Leah123 40]

6 hours ago, angeljolie said:

Is there a disadvantage to using a foreign mailing address versus a US address? My husband maintains a US mailing address and when he filled out that portion on the i-130, he used that one. Now that we are reviewing our form, I'm thinking of using our address where we live (the Philippines). We are filing online so  it might not even matter. Any thoughts?

Are you the Petitioner? Whoever is the Petitioner puts their own mailing address. The Beneficiary puts their physical address. 

[angeljolie 188]

2 hours ago, Leah123 said:

Are you the Petitioner? Whoever is the Petitioner puts their own mailing address. The Beneficiary puts their physical address. 

I am the beneficiary. But my husband (the petitioner) lives with me in the Philippines. He maintains a US mailing address. So essentially, he has 2 mailing addresses to choose from.

[angeljolie 188]

My husband created a timeline of our relationship which we will attach to my I-130. Should we attach this too for my kids (his stepchildren)? 

 

Here are the requirements we will submit for the each of the kids' application:

1. My husband's birth certificate and passport, divorce decree
2. Our marriage certificate
3. Our driver's licenses (proof of address)
4. Child's birth certificate
5. Certificate of eligible dependent from our employer
6. Certificate of education benefit from employer for each child 
7. Certificate of insurance showing I am the beneficiary of my husband's life insurance

Should we add more? And if so, what can we add? 

[ElisabethJeannie 0]

Hi!

We’re living both in Sweden now and are about to start the process for an IR1 for me. If we’ll do the petition online for the I-130, is it possible to use the form G-1450 Authorization for Credit Card transactions to pay the filing  fee $535 ?? Or how did you do the payment?

And for the photos of you both, did you upload them as pdf:s too? 
Thanks!! 

[T&S_MTL 113]

3 hours ago, ElisabethJeannie said:

Hi!

We’re living both in Sweden now and are about to start the process for an IR1 for me. If we’ll do the petition online for the I-130, is it possible to use the form G-1450 Authorization for Credit Card transactions to pay the filing  fee $535 ?? Or how did you do the payment?

And for the photos of you both, did you upload them as pdf:s too? 
Thanks!! 

You don't need this form when applying online, there will be a payment page where you can use your credit card (we used our Canadian one).

 

For photos, a PDF file is good, this is the format we used for all the documents we provided.

 

Good luck ! 

[ElisabethJeannie 0]

17 hours ago, T&S_MTL said:

You don't need this form when applying online, there will be a payment page where you can use your credit card (we used our Canadian one).

 

For photos, a PDF file is good, this is the format we used for all the documents we provided.

 

Good luck ! 

Many thanks! 
So for the photos, the actually size requested, you scanned both sides (back with your signature) into one (1) document? 
 

One more (perhaps dumb) question; Cover letter won’t be necessary when you file online?

[T&S_MTL 113]

13 minutes ago, ElisabethJeannie said:

Many thanks! 
So for the photos, the actually size requested, you scanned both sides (back with your signature) into one (1) document? 
 

One more (perhaps dumb) question; Cover letter won’t be necessary when you file online?

Yes for the photos, this is what we did, a regular scan of fronts and backs (including signature), one PDF page / file per person.

 

You still have the ability to upload one if you wish in the upload section, although it's not required.

We did not upload a cover letter and I would say it depends on what you already uploaded. We had bank statements, phone and electricity bills...we were confident enough we did not have to explain or prove anything.

 

Hope that helps!

Edited July 31, 2020 by T&S_MTL

[ElisabethJeannie 0]

1 hour ago, T&S_MTL said:

Yes for the photos, this is what we did, a regular scan of fronts and backs (including signature), one PDF page / file per person.

 

You still have the ability to upload one if you wish in the upload section, although it's not required.

We did not upload a cover letter and I would say it depends on what you already uploaded. We had bank statements, phone and electricity bills...we were confident enough we did not have to explain or prove anything.

 

Hope that helps!

It helps a lot, thanks!

We have car insurance, joint bank account in the US. Here in Sweden, where we live now, we have my house rental and home insurance with both of us on it.

 

 I might have more question later on and really appreciate your help!

[ArwaE 26]

Potomac SC increased their processing times from 7-9 months to 10-12.5 months 😭😭💔

[Transatlanticism 28]

I'm a noobie at this but the variance between the service centers is really baffling to me.

 

How can it be that one service center (Texas) has 4.5-7 months and another (Vermont) has 20-26 months?

 

To add to the confusion, some people seem to get through the USCIS in like two-three months (without being expedited) while it takes more than a year for other people to hear anything - at the same service center.

 

You really don't know what to expect I guess.

[_C&C_ 4]

9 minutes ago, Transatlanticism said:

I'm a noobie at this but the variance between the service centers is really baffling to me.

 

How can it be that one service center (Texas) has 4.5-7 months and another (Vermont) has 20-26 months?

 

To add to the confusion, some people seem to get through the USCIS in like two-three months (without being expedited) while it takes more than a year for other people to hear anything - at the same service center.

 

You really don't know what to expect I guess.

Is an unpredictable system, service centers change their processing times for various reasons (they transfer cases).

Potomac was the fastest, become now the second slowest.

Fast approvals you see is people who do expedites or other randomness.

[MiriamAndDylan 4]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm needing some help with the 2x2 photo requirement in the final part of the online i130 stage. How did you navigate this? Did you use a professionally taken photograph and then scan it? Is there a way of using a photo taken yourself? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I'd prefer to stay out of a California photo store at the moment given the current climate. Thanks a lot  

[onek 306]

4 hours ago, MiriamAndDylan said:

Hey everyone,

 

I'm needing some help with the 2x2 photo requirement in the final part of the online i130 stage. How did you navigate this? Did you use a professionally taken photograph and then scan it? Is there a way of using a photo taken yourself? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I'd prefer to stay out of a California photo store at the moment given the current climate. Thanks a lot  

As long as picture meets the USCIS photo requirements, you can take it yourself 

Edited August 3, 2020 by onek

[ArwaE 26]

7 hours ago, MiriamAndDylan said:

Hey everyone,

 

I'm needing some help with the 2x2 photo requirement in the final part of the online i130 stage. How did you navigate this? Did you use a professionally taken photograph and then scan it? Is there a way of using a photo taken yourself? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I'd prefer to stay out of a California photo store at the moment given the current climate. Thanks a lot  

I had it taken professionally then asked for a soft copy of the picture and uploaded it as a jpeg. Wrote my name on the back of the physical one, took a picture of it with my phone then uploaded it to the system.

 

You can take it yourself I guess, but you need to make sure you have a white background with no shadows...you can look at all the requirements online