DCF in London - January 2020

[Just Paul 4,595]

44 minutes ago, FA081 said:

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your quick reply! I read that this morning and have been panicking since and haven’t been able to concentrate on studying because of it! 
 

phew that’s a load off my mind! Hate how these nitty gritty things create havoc in the mind! 
 

thank you again! 

The USC can leave the day after the petition is filed ( I recommend waiting until it is approved  )   I, the petitioneer,  probably traveled in and out of Mexico on work trips every other week until our interview.

 

You are fine.

 

[The4Sands 67]

Well, we've got NOA1 through today.  Have been looking at other London DCF timelines, but it's hard to guess when we might hear back about whether we're approved (assuming no RFE 🤞).  We'll see if it takes the whole 90 days USCIS said it could.

[Morgan5698 58]

We got our NOA1 day before yesterday (10th) so we're pretty much on the same timeline. Website says they are working on cases filed 31 days ago, so I doubt they will be too long.... We're in the fortunate position where we are not in A rush as we are not planning on relocating until later in the year but after I heard notice about USCIS closures we jumped in quick to avoid the lengthy process of Lockbox filing! 

[The4Sands 67]

1 hour ago, Morgan5698 said:

We got our NOA1 day before yesterday (10th) so we're pretty much on the same timeline. Website says they are working on cases filed 31 days ago, so I doubt they will be too long.... We're in the fortunate position where we are not in A rush as we are not planning on relocating until later in the year but after I heard notice about USCIS closures we jumped in quick to avoid the lengthy process of Lockbox filing! 

Oh, it's nice to know we're not the only ones right now.  I knew there weren't going to be loads of other people doing DCF compared to the lockbox or online filing, but I didn't realise how few.

 

We're not in a rush in the sense that there isn't a deadline we specifically need to be there for, but I would like to be able to get the kids settled into school in the States at the same time as everyone else instead of having to take them out of the UK system partway through the year and have to figure out how to get them in to the American school system after the year has already started.

 

Have started gathering docs for the next step (medical records, police reports, tax transcripts, etc.), but I'm more concerned about proving intent to domicile.  Are letters to/from potential employers, emails to realtors and opening up joint bank accounts really going to be enough?  Guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Morgan5698 58]

I think we are among the last remaining! Seems silly to end it, but oh well. 

 

Makes sense on the school front! I'm no expert on this as we are very early on in the process, but from what I've read the domicile thing hasn't been a hotly contested issue with London Embassy. My wife is in UK on a 3 year spouse visa, as that has an expiration date of next year, then she's auto domiciled in US as the visa is temporary. That's my impression anyway. She's also kept bank accounts active in US, Cellphone number, drivers license etc. Sounds like you're doing all the right things, I doubt it will be an issue. I've seen a couple of posts on here with advice and looks fairly straight forward (I hope!) .

[os306 103]

Hi everyone,

 

My wife (USC) and I are currently preparing our I-130 and I-130A petition forms. Glad to see there are other people on here who are among the last people filing through the London USCIS before the office closes at the end of the month. I was wondering if someone who submitted recently could help with a couple of questions we had please:

1. What sort of "documentation to support bona fide marriage" did you submit alongside your petition forms? I'm slightly confused here, as I have seen people on this forum and others state that supporting evidence is NOT required at the London DCF until the interview and that you don't need to submit this evidence alongside your I-130 petition. However, l suspect this may have changed recently, as the current checklist from the London USCIS states that this evidence is required.

 

2. We are planning on submitting the following as evidence: 1) First page of UK tenancy agreement showing that we both live at the same address; 2) Council Tax letter from City Council addressed to both of us; 3) Utility (Water) bill with both of your names on it; 4) Signed affidavit from my wife's childhood friend who was present at our wedding two years ago and has come to visit us in the UK since then. Does this sound like it will suffice?

 

Thanks very much in advance and good luck to everyone!

[Melc 138]

4 hours ago, os306 said:

1. What sort of "documentation to support bona fide marriage" did you submit alongside your petition forms? I'm slightly confused here, as I have seen people on this forum and others state that supporting evidence is NOT required at the London DCF until the interview and that you don't need to submit this evidence alongside your I-130 petition. However, l suspect this may have changed recently, as the current checklist from the London USCIS states that this evidence is required.

We submitted:

1. council tax statements,
2. a one-page collage of photos with family & friends spanning several years, 
3. a copy of our lease,
4. a copy showing each other as beneficiary on workplace pension,
5. a transcript of our joint account.

and were approved. I believe this evidence is required during the I-130 petition, as it is specifically mentioned in their guide.

 

Quote

2. We are planning on submitting the following as evidence: 1) First page of UK tenancy agreement showing that we both live at the same address; 2) Council Tax letter from City Council addressed to both of us; 3) Utility (Water) bill with both of your names on it; 4) Signed affidavit from my wife's childhood friend who was present at our wedding two years ago and has come to visit us in the UK since then. Does this sound like it will suffice?

Generally an affidavit is not considered strong evidence. If instead you have any proof showing financial intermingling beyond bills addressed to the both you, e.g., beneficiary on insurance policies, showing proof of joint accounts, authorised user on credit card, that will be much stronger evidence that an affidavit. 

[os306 103]

33 minutes ago, Melc said:

We submitted:

1. council tax statements,
2. a one-page collage of photos with family & friends spanning several years, 
3. a copy of our lease,
4. a copy showing each other as beneficiary on workplace pension,
5. a transcript of our joint account.

and were approved. I believe this evidence is required during the I-130 petition, as it is specifically mentioned in their guide.

 

Generally an affidavit is not considered strong evidence. If instead you have any proof showing financial intermingling beyond bills addressed to the both you, e.g., beneficiary on insurance policies, showing proof of joint accounts, authorised user on credit card, that will be much stronger evidence that an affidavit. 

Thank you, that's incredibly helpful.

 

This may be a silly question, but when you say "copy of our lease" did you submit the entire lease? Our tenancy agreement is 20+ pages long and I was planning on submitting the first and last page (i.e. the ones with our signatures on them) rather than submitting the entire thing.

[Melc 138]

Just now, os306 said:

Thank you, that's incredibly helpful.

 

This may be a silly question, but when you say "copy of our lease" did you submit the entire lease? Our tenancy agreement is 20+ pages long and I was planning on submitting the first and last page (i.e. the ones with our signatures on them) rather than submitting the entire thing.

Glad I could help!

We had a summary page at the front showing our names and the property. That's all we submitted! 

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

We ended up sending ours in this month as well. We were going to do it closer to the end of the month but with everything closing, we wanted it to be in their hands for processing. For us, the bona fide marriage was always the funny part of the process. We've been married for 12 years. For the I-130 we just sent in a picture of us at my son's wedding, joint bank account statements, prior home documents that we jointed owned and sold, as well as mobile bills showing we reside in the same residence. They can see from our history that they already approved him back in 2008 for the K1 and we are still married.

[os306 103]

1 hour ago, Robyn-n-Kris said:

We ended up sending ours in this month as well. We were going to do it closer to the end of the month but with everything closing, we wanted it to be in their hands for processing. For us, the bona fide marriage was always the funny part of the process. We've been married for 12 years. For the I-130 we just sent in a picture of us at my son's wedding, joint bank account statements, prior home documents that we jointed owned and sold, as well as mobile bills showing we reside in the same residence. They can see from our history that they already approved him back in 2008 for the K1 and we are still married.

Good luck! It sounds like you should be just fine based on the evidence you submitted. We sent ours off a few days ago and are currently keeping our fingers crossed that the processing time doesn't increase dramatically given the ongoing Covid19 pandemic. I know that the London Embassy has cancelled all immigrant and non-immigrant visa interviews and I wouldn't be surprised if the London Field Office is operating with less staff than usual.

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

2 hours ago, os306 said:

Good luck! It sounds like you should be just fine based on the evidence you submitted. We sent ours off a few days ago and are currently keeping our fingers crossed that the processing time doesn't increase dramatically given the ongoing Covid19 pandemic. I know that the London Embassy has cancelled all immigrant and non-immigrant visa interviews and I wouldn't be surprised if the London Field Office is operating with less staff than usual.

Good luck! We aren't worried about a delay as we aren't looking to go back until summer of next year at the earliest. Though i really need the pound to start strengthening again lol

[Morgan5698 58]

10 hours ago, Robyn-n-Kris said:

Though i really need the pound to start strengthening again lol

Good luck it just crashed to an all time low! 
we sent off the i-130 which was filed Feb-10th but noticed the adjudication time has been increasing lately. Likewise we are also not in a rush as we’re planning next summer also. Are you going to drag out the time between I-130 and the next stage then? 

[The4Sands 67]

Well, in the midst of all this drama, I got an RFE in the post today!!  Apparently I have to send a marriage certificate that "must indicate that after the marriage ceremony, it was registered or recorded by the county, state or province where the marriage took place."  I had no idea that was a thing, but having looked at the certificate the pastor signed (married in Maryland) I can see where the problem lies.  Thankfully I have certified copies from the state that show the marriage was registered, but I wish that was something I had known initially.  Ah well.  Getting the copies in the post back to them today.

 

They've said USCIS staff are still working on peoples cases even though the embassies and offices are closed to the public.  Maybe they'll be able to power through them now that they don't have anything else to do!

[Morgan5698 58]

We just received our I-130 approval today. Was filed on 10th Feb, so clearly they are still working on them. I honestly thought it would be delayed with the present situation. Just for info as I've seen it spoken about a bit in this topic, We didn't submit an awful lot for the evidence of bonafide marriage. We included

• Marriage certificate 
• 2 Council tax forms with both names
• 2 Credit Card statements with my wife as named card holder
• Copy of my rental lease showing my wife as a permitted occupier
• Letter from my pension company showing my wife as a beneficiary.