i-944 Education, Credit questions. Please Help

[BirdSong 39]

Is there anyone here who did not include their GCSE for this document. After some quick research,  my husband learned that an equivalent to a high school diploma from England is 5 GCSEs with a passing score of C.

 

Well, here's the current situation my husband is in:

 

1. Only 2 passing GCSEs, so we were thinking of not including that on the i-944 form.

2. He did attend OU (Open University) so were thinking of adding a cover letter explaining that for certain courses, prior qualifications are not needed. It also explains this on their site.

3. No social security number, so no credit score. We did contact them online to explain the situation, and we are going to mail out a written request for the credit agencies to say he has no credit history. In lieu of credit history, it does say to show proof on continued bill payment. Now, is that for when he was in England, or does that mean  here in America? He's only been here since October so there isn't really much information to give.

 

Any insights would be helpful, I know this form is about 3 weeks old, but I'm positive SOMEONE on here had to have gotten their i-485 accepted by now with this new form!

[brainless69 251]

On 3/2/2020 at 9:25 PM, QueenOfBlades said:

Because it’s listing your equivalent education on an official USCIS form, I wouldn’t just say yes without evidence. The instructions for the new form itself recommend contacting a NACES organization to get your qualifications reviewed and certified for their US equivalent. See below:

 

https://www.naces.org/members
 

I’ve only taken a brief look at some members but this one below seems to be familiar with the English education system as well as requirements for immigration/USCIS specifically;

 

https://www.ece.org/ECE/Individuals/Immigration-Reports

 

Actually, upon reviewing the instructions for this new form, it says you NEED the equivalency evaluation from my understanding of it. 
 

“Foreign education should include an evaluation of equivalency to education or degrees acquired at accredited colleges, universities, or educational institutions in the United States. For
a list of organizations that provide equivalency evaluation, see the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), at http://www.naces.org/members.htm.”

Sort of unrelated form advice but as a fellow English expat:

 

For what it’s worth, as an unconditional permanent resident and having lived in the US for 7 years now, in practice, I’ve always had everyone treat my GCSEs as a HS diploma equivalent so I doubt you’ll get much different from a professional evaluation. I think the requirement is 5 GCSEs with C or above or something like that. I work in a Fortune 500 global corporation in a high rise just down the road from Microsoft that has Prada stores in the office plaza. I only have 8 GCSEs, no GED, no bachelors degree. I was pretty worried when I moved to the US with no job with nothing other than GCSEs and no employer not really knowing what they were, considered going for a GED. To me, it seems to come more from trying to network, present yourself well, hone your skills, craft a top resume (not like our CVs). Once you start getting work experience and show your skills, the education side of it tends to become less relevant unless something specifically requires it (like engineering, for example). I’ve held “bachelor required” jobs without one. They’re just so common nowadays that it’s sort of a filter to weed out people without a college education that tend to be very unsuitable and under qualified. It can be done. I’m not sure about how this new form is going to pan out, but perhaps food for thought if the “self sufficiency” thing is something that’s going to start cropping up in AOS interviews. 

The fantastic @QueenOfBlades had this reply to my question earlier in the forum, I have had a look  and the https://www.ece.org/ECE/Individuals/Immigration-Reports can do it in 5 days 

[QueenOfBlades 224]

He doesn’t need an SSN to build credit. It’s just one identifier that’s used to find someone. People like students can build credit histories as well. Estimates I’m seeing are 3-6 months. The credit isn’t something to stress over. USCIS provide this link for more info:

 

https://www.usa.gov/credit-reports
 

Which in turn leads to a free credit report here:

 

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
 

Which notes it is the only source for a free credit report, and authorized by federal law. Put your husbands information in. Run a search. Save whatever results you get either way, submit it with your form. Even PrintScreen or something if it pulls up negative to show he has no credit report per the source they provide. Negative credit reports or errors have requirements too if he is pinged for that. Getting letters back saying he doesn’t have one would be helpful too, as you mentioned. 
 

Regarding not having a credit score, USCIS says:

 

“If you do not have a credit report or credit score, provide documentation that demonstrates that you do not have a credit report or score with a credit bureau. You may provide evidence of continued payment of bills if there is no credit report or credit score.”

I would submit the US bills. If he’s been here since October and his name is on the bills, that is a decent amount of time to show bills are getting paid. Ultimately, they care whether he is a burden now on US soil and able to pay for himself, not what his situation was in England. 

On to GCSEs. A high school diploma is generally considered to be at least 5 GCSEs at C or above. C is a pass in England. 

They will need to be sent for an equivalency review. 2 GCSEs would almost certainly not count as passing high school, but you can wait until the equivalency review comes back to make sure before filling it out. He will need to send transcripts/documentation for all education he lists. If he can’t get a hold of them, he needs to explain why and “if possible”, the evidence of unavailability such as the issuing institution writing a letter stating it. USCIS recommends members of NACES for the equivalency review: https://www.naces.org/members

 

Listing the GCSEs is not optional. It says you have to state the highest level of education completed if you did not pass high school, “also, list all educational programs you attended in the space provided, such as high school, college, or other higher education”. All. You must NEVER, I cannot emphasize that enough, willingly leave things out of a USCIS application that it specifically asks for, thus is a material fact, because you think it could negatively affect the filing. Accusations of Willful Misrepresentation from USCIS and the consequences would not be something either of you want. 

Sources:

https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/i-944instr-pc.pdf?download=1

 

 

[QueenOfBlades 224]

Remember that they approve petitions based on the totality of circumstances and 2 GCSEs isn’t an instant denial. They will look at his work history, skills, all of it. I’m sure doing a GED wouldn’t be a big deal for him and USCIS would know that too. Clearly he already got through the K1 bit of it. Then there’s assets too. When I had my K1 interview in London years ago, in 2013, my K1 was based entirely off a co-sponsor because neither me or my fiancé had jobs in the US. He overlooked it based on my strong work history. It was a different time, but USCIS have always been firm regardless.

 

@brainless69 I’m glad my post helped and that the ECE guys have what you’re looking for.

Edited March 18, 2020 by QueenOfBlades

[J&S12 295]

My fiancé didn't take the exams. He left at 16. The schools no longer exist, so how is he supposed to show any proof? 

[QueenOfBlades 224]

@J&S12 Is he English? The instructions say to list whatever the highest level of education he reached. So in England, that would be whatever Key Stage/year he got to. He has the legal right to his school records under the UK’s Data Protection Act. His first port of call should be his Local Education Authority. I put “<old city name> Local Education Authority” and their site came up.

 

There’s also this:

 

https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/22630/8/Keeping and maintaining records - GOV_UK.pdf

 

It provides this e-mail address if you are still struggling: assessments@dfe.gov.uk

 

DFE = Department of Education.

 

If he’s not English, this won’t have been much use, but same principle applies. Take whatever grading system they have there (UK’s key stages, US’ grades), use that for the USCIS form, and do a bit of googling on pulling his educational record. If the school’s shut down, it’ll be with some local educational authority I expect. 

 

 

[J&S12 295]

39 minutes ago, QueenOfBlades said:

@J&S12 Is he English? The instructions say to list whatever the highest level of education he reached. So in England, that would be whatever Key Stage/year he got to. He has the legal right to his school records under the UK’s Data Protection Act. His first port of call should be his Local Education Authority. I put “<old city name> Local Education Authority” and their site came up.

 

There’s also this:

 

https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/22630/8/Keeping and maintaining records - GOV_UK.pdf

 

It provides this e-mail address if you are still struggling: assessments@dfe.gov.uk

 

DFE = Department of Education.

 

If he’s not English, this won’t have been much use, but same principle applies. Take whatever grading system they have there (UK’s key stages, US’ grades), use that for the USCIS form, and do a bit of googling on pulling his educational record. If the school’s shut down, it’ll be with some local educational authority I expect. 

 

 

Thank you for the info. Not sure how far we can get. We'll check things out. He's Welsh. He said both schools no longer exist (torn down), but went up until Year 5 or 6 but didn't take the exams. We've tried finding records to no avail. 

[QueenOfBlades 224]

https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2018-03/educational-records-school-reports-and-the-common-transfer-system-the-keeping-disposal-disclosure-and-transfer-of-pupil-information.pdf
 

Pretty much the same thing. Reaching out to the local education authority. They should have something called the Common Transfer File. This is for when students switch schools and contains their educational record. Structure is the same with the Key Stages. Years 5 and 6 would put him at Key Stage 2. 
 

Yeah, educational records like that aren’t usually necessary unless a student transfers schools. If it’s just leaving secondary school and he had done his GCSEs, he’d have had official certificates as proof issued from places like EdExcel.