Retrieving old school certificates

[SeanDowney0309 47]

Hi all, 

 

I am from the UK, currently in Chicago on a K1 visa, preparing to submit my Adjustment Of Status package. As part of the new I-944 form, I must submit evidence of my education & proof of English proficiency (i.e. English GCSE certificate). Due to Covid-19, the exam board I need to contact (AQA) to retrieve my old certificates is temporarily closed, with no re-opening date in sight. We are pretty close to being ready to submit our AOS package so cannot afford to wait until they re-open.

I was wondering if anyone else from the UK has been in the same situation? If so what did you do? Did you use AQA or is there another English certificate site we can use?

We are planning on writing a letter explaining our situation, I am unsure what else we can do.

 

Many Thanks

[Tesco 70]

We're going down the IR1 route, so need to get a DS-5540 completed when we're ready to upload to NVC. We had already got the British school certificates from AQA well in advance, it takes a couple of weeks. Do you have a copy of your GCSE's?, as this would suffice for now and then ultimately submit the AQA certs at a later date, A letter of explanation and copies would be your only avenue, as the other boards deal with differing local school boards as we found out. 

[SeanDowney0309 47]

7 minutes ago, Tesco said:

We're going down the IR1 route, so need to get a DS-5540 completed when we're ready to upload to NVC. We had already got the British school certificates from AQA well in advance, it takes a couple of weeks. Do you have a copy of your GCSE's?, as this would suffice for now and then ultimately submit the AQA certs at a later date, A letter of explanation and copies would be your only avenue, as the other boards deal with differing local school boards as we found out. 

No unfortunately I don't have anything. It does say the following in the I-944 instructions:

 

If it is available, you must provide evidence of any degrees or certi cations received, such as transcripts, diplomas, degrees, and trade profession certificates or equivalent (if this evidence is unavailable, you should provide an explanation and, if possible, evidence of unavailability such as a letter from the issuing institution).

 

 It says at the start IF IT IS AVAILABLE...so I'm hoping a letter explaining the situation, the email I have from AQA & a screenshot from the AQA website stating they are closed will be sufficient.

Edited April 25, 2020 by SeanDowney0309

[Tesco 70]

The screenshot would be a good idea, you can only do what's in your power... The DS-5540 doesn't specifically ask for evidence on this question unlike the AOS route. I know we're stuck leaving the house to get a passport photo right now, let alone the embassy only allowing emergency interviews.... It's always something!

Good luck.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

6 minutes ago, Tesco said:

I know we're stuck leaving the house to get a passport photo right now, let alone the embassy only allowing emergency interviews.... It's always something!

Do you have any way to print at home on photo paper?

Oh...wait this is to upload?

Edited April 25, 2020 by Wuozopo

[Wuozopo 4,293]

@SeanDowney0309

 

English proficiency? Tell them your bloody native language is English. 

[SeanDowney0309 47]

8 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

@SeanDowney0309

 

English proficiency? Tell them your bloody native language is English. 

I wish it was that simple...😕

[Tesco 70]

12 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

Do you have any way to print at home on photo paper?

Oh...wait this is to upload?

I have thought of that, (need 6 I think). Although with the Visa Medical and Embassy curtailed to emergency interviews, (whatever the criteria is for that), we're holding off for a while. Just got the Welcome letter a few days ago anyhow. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 hour ago, Tesco said:

I have thought of that, (need 6 I think). Although with the Visa Medical and Embassy curtailed to emergency interviews, (whatever the criteria is for that), we're holding off for a while. Just got the Welcome letter a few days ago anyhow. 

The photo tool provided by the State Department works well, but it requires Internet Explorer to work well...Got a laptop or desktop?

Link to photo requirements and on the left is the link to the photo tool under “Already have a photo?”

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/photos.html

 

We both did our US passport photos and printed at home. It lines up everything and crops to the right size. Just follow the examples about background,  shadows, glasses, etc. We took ours in the garage (with an iPhone) because that was the only white wall we had and used natural daylight to avoid flash shadows.

 

Tips I learned:
You might be inclined to take a headshot, but don’t. It will be too big to size down and work with the tool. Take a torso shot (head, shoulders, chest) and it will zoom in, position, and crop just right. We took ours landscape mode. It doesn’t matter if things are in the shot you take as long as the areas immediately around your head have the white background and no shadows. (The shelves to the side in our garage cropped right out 😂). It produces a 4x6 photo, with two passport size in the middle to cut out with scissors. I had to make sure I set my printer to print actual size so it didn’t blow it up bigger. The bonus is you can take as many pics as you want until you get one that doesn’t make you look old, fat, ugly, baggy eyed,etc. (That was my my wife’s tip.)

Edited April 25, 2020 by Wuozopo

[Tesco 70]

3 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

The photo tool provided by the State Department works well, but it requires Internet Explorer to work well...Got a laptop or desktop?

Link to photo requirements and on the left is the link to the photo tool under “Already have a photo?”

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/photos.html

 

We both did our US passport photos and printed at home. It lines up everything and crops to the right size. Just follow the examples about background,  shadows, glasses, etc. We took ours in the garage (with an iPhone) because that was the only white wall we had and used natural daylight to avoid flash shadows.

 

Tips I learned:
You might be inclined to take a headshot, but don’t. It will be too big to size down and work with the tool. Take a torso shot (head, shoulders, chest) and it will zoom in, position, and crop just right. We took ours landscape mode. It doesn’t matter if things are in the shot you take as long as the areas immediately around your head have the white background and no shadows. (The shelves to the side in our garage cropped right out 😂). It produces a 4x6 photo, with two passport size in the middle to cut out with scissors. I had to make sure I set my printer to print actual size so it didn’t blow it up bigger. The bonus is you can take as many pics as you want until you get one that doesn’t make you look old, fat, ugly, baggy eyed,etc. (That was my my wife’s tip.)

Thanks for the tip Wuozopo.