I-130 Approval and Documents required at NVC

[Anmol Yash 55]

Hello everybody! 

 

Beyond happy to have received our approval notice on our myuscis account yesterday, and a welcome email from the NVC last night with our case number. I was able to login and pay both the AOS and IV fees and I'm now looking to gather all documents required at this stage. 

 

From my understanding, I, the petitioner need:

1. Filled and signed copy of I-864EZ (I am going to be the sole sponsor based on my W-2s for the past few years)

2. Tax return transcripts for the years 2017-2019 (I have these downloaded and saved already)

3. Paystubs from January to April 2020 (so about 7) to show current income

4. Do I also need to complete the DS-5540 and upload it?

 

My spouse, the beneficiary, after filling the DS-260 will need:

1. Our original marriage certificate

2. His original birth certificate

3. Police Clearance Certificate from Mumbai (this is currently unavailable because of the lockdown but as @Shemuz mentioned, NVC said we can select that it's not available and add an explanation that it will be brought to the interview but currently it's unavailable because of the ongoing lockdown)

4. Some pictures and text/call logs of our ongoing relationship (I'm not sure if we need this or where does it need to be uploaded)

 

Is that all we need? Are there any other documents required at this stage? 

 

I've heard that people 'frontload' evidence at this stage. I do have a couple of other documents (life insurance beneficiary, spouse added to Geico car insurance) but I'm not sure where can these be uploaded. 

 

Also, for the affidavit of support and income requirements:

1. For the years 2018 and 2019, I've made over 75k and had my sister claimed as a dependent so I filed as HoH, and will be showing a household size of 3. 

2. I made about 3k in 2017 as I'd just started my job. Will this be an issue? I've heard @pushbrk say that Mumbai Consulate requires 3 years of qualifying income. Please advise!

3. My paystubs from 2020 show that my income is consistent with the past two years, and I have been working at the same company since Dec 2017. I'm hoping this makes up for my income in 2017.

 

Thank you for everyone's time and patience in this community. We wouldn't have been able to make it without your help! 💛

 

[pushbrk 13,172]

You seem to have things in hand well.  Mumbai GENERALLY requires three years of qualifying income, but DOES make exceptions, particularly with young people who have just started their careers making good incomes.  By the time your interview comes up, you'll be at nearly the 3 year mark anyway, as they'll need to clear the backlog of interviews ahead of you that were cancelled, plus they always have a backlog.  No way to predict a timeline going forward under current conditions.

[Anmol Yash 55]

9 hours ago, pushbrk said:

You seem to have things in hand well.  Mumbai GENERALLY requires three years of qualifying income, but DOES make exceptions, particularly with young people who have just started their careers making good incomes.  By the time your interview comes up, you'll be at nearly the 3 year mark anyway, as they'll need to clear the backlog of interviews ahead of you that were cancelled, plus they always have a backlog.  No way to predict a timeline going forward under current conditions.

Thanks!

I've taken the general + additional backlog in consideration so I'm guessing the interview will be around 4+ months after DQ. 

Should I upload the DS-5540 at this stage? Or anything from my employer that specifies that my husband entering the country will be a qualifying event to add him to my insurance? 

[carmel34 3,657]

18 hours ago, Anmol Yash said:

I've heard that people 'frontload' evidence at this stage. I do have a couple of other documents (life insurance beneficiary, spouse added to Geico car insurance) but I'm not sure where can these be uploaded. 

You can scan additional evidence of your bona fide relationship and upload it to CEAC in one document as a PDF file, as an "additional document."  Since you're doing this at the NVC stage it is "side-loading."  Front-loading is when you submit evidence of a bona fide marriage with the I-130 petition.  We side-loaded new evidence at the NVC stage, mostly from trips we had taken together, more time spent together in person, during the seven months waiting for I-130 approval.  We front-loaded lots of evidence with the I-130 petition, of financial co-mingling and time spent together.  Front and side loading is a good idea because they often make a preliminary decision about the validity of your relationship based on everything in the file, before the interview.  Some have reported that they don't even look at any evidence you take to the interview.  Good luck!

[Anmol Yash 55]

3 minutes ago, carmel34 said:

You can scan additional evidence of your bona fide relationship and upload it to CEAC in one document as a PDF file, as an "additional document."  Since you're doing this at the NVC stage it is "side-loading."  Front-loading is when you submit evidence of a bona fide marriage with the I-130 petition.  We side-loaded new evidence at the NVC stage, mostly from trips we had taken together, more time spent together in person, during the seven months waiting for I-130 approval.  We front-loaded lots of evidence with the I-130 petition, of financial co-mingling and time spent together.  Front and side loading is a good idea because they often make a preliminary decision about the validity of your relationship based on everything in the file, before the interview.  Some have reported that they don't even look at any evidence you take to the interview.  Good luck!

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation!! Makes a lot of sense now. 

We front-loaded our application with about 14 pictures over the course of 7 years and a page with screenshots of our call logs - that was it. 

While I don't have any more pictures as we haven't met since I filed the petition, I guess I can side-load the new evidence I have: adding him as a beneficiary to my life insurance and adding him to my car insurance. I could also maybe add a page with some more call logs, all in one PDF? 

 

Thanks for all your help! 💛