elgarta

Hello all,

So we are near the end of our journey (I hope), but ran in to a bit of a snag. I had my interview on the 20th of August as the Sydney U.S Embassy. The interview was for my K-1 visa and it went seemingly well. I had all of my documents in order except for an original signed I-134, and had to take a digitally signed copy in it's place. I explained this to the officer during my interview, and at the conclusion of the interview I was advised the only thing preventing an on-the-spot approval was the lack of original I-134, and that once we sent it to them, my passport + visa would be mailed back to me within 5 - 6 days of it being recieved and put on my file.

They recieved the I-134 on the 2nd of September (we had huge problems with the mail), and I recieved an email on the 6th of September confirming that the I-134 was recieved, but they needed further documentation, which I sent them back within an hour of being requested.

They asked for: A copy of my fiancees 2012 tax return, any other evidence of assetts (we listed cash assetts and supplied bank statements during the interview), and proof of any payments my fiancee recieves from her ex-husband (we sent back a child support payment schedule showing frequence and amounts of payments). None of this was requested or mentioned as being an issue during my interview .

So anyway, we are currently under administrative processing and I have not heard anything back about whether the documents we provided were sufficient or if they required more. I did email them 2 days ago to ask for any confirmation on this. In the past I have usually recieved responses to emails within 48 hours, even if it is a form response stating something that doesn't help much. It's hard to not be anxious with the unexpected hold-up with the paperwork after being told things were fine during the interview.

Has anyone else had issues or long delays with further processing on I-134 supporting documentation? Normally, how long does this sort of thing generally take?

Thanks

Hi Julie,

Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, there is no phone number to be able to speak with someone directly regarding immigration visas. There is a general enquiries line for non-immigrant visas, but if you try to speak with someone there they just open a case on your behalf and you will usually get a general form response.

My case was last updated on the 6th also, and I am awaiting a response after submitting further documents to them. I have emailed them on the 6th, and again 2 days ago and am yet to get a response back. So a part of me suspects that things have slowed down there this week. Course, I could be wrong.

Hopefully you hear back and get something soon! We had some unexpected delays hit us after being told everything was approved.

The form they already signed and are using is fine. Previous editions of the I-134 are accepted. I do not know if Sydney has ever allowed self-sponsoring like London. I have seen it asked a few times, but I never saw there was an answer either, just like you. I do not think it could hurt anything for you bring your documentation with you. You could try asking in the Australia regional forum. If she makes enough for the household size and it shows on the company info document she can print out, then that should be fine without the need of bank statements. I have heard it is not a requirement for Sydney, but if it helps show her stable income, she could also include a copy of her 2012 tax return or free tax return transcript from the IRS. Oh, and if she has online banking access, she might be able to print bank statements from home.

Thanks, that takes a load off of my mind. Well the information she provided shows that she just meets the poverty level (working part time because of the kids as daycare is expensive and about half hour away from the house, but she will be going full time once I arrive), and she has only been working there since April this year, so although the pay-periods have been consistent in amounts, there is nothing long term that will be reflected in her tax return.

There is a chance she might not have the records easily accessible due to her filing setup.

ANd yes, make sure your signature on the i-134 is current!

Just to clarify, the I-134 is being sent to me, I am the K-1 applicant so I am providing my fiancees proof of support with a I-134 signed by her. The form I attached above was sent to me by the consulate, and I forwarded it to my fiancee.

However, I do have a large amount in savings, so I am hoping that if it comes down to it, they will consider what I have to show in terms of me supporting the family also. Apparently the idea of it is more rare than I would've thought.

Thanks guys. At this stage I doubt I will be able to use another I-134 form since even if it was express posted to me, I wouldn't recieve it before I fly down to sydney for the interview. I will try to see if my partner has pay-stubs to accompany the work report, but her work report does actually include her pay periods, gross pay and hourly rate for them all. My fiancee will not have any more opportunities to go to the bank prior to my interview, due to her work hours pretty much being when the bank is open, having to take the kids across town for daycare (eating up any free time before/after work), and her works strict policy around being late or needing to take an hour off to attend any urgent business. The benefits of a free-to-hire State I suppose

But the other thing I was wondering, was about self-sponsering (as a worst-case thing). I was reading up on the idea, and I know the London Consulate Office allows it, and I know some previous filers who went through the Sydney embassy mentioned it or asked here, but nothing more was ever said. In fact, on travel.state.gov it does say that you can provide proof that you can support yourself financially, but outside of the London embassy site there is little to no information about this, or what it entails.

If I have enough money in a bank account, and can provide proof that I have enough available cash to exceed the poverty level for a family of 3, and even enough to show that I could support myself, my fiancee and her children for at least 3-4 years based on those amounts alone. Is it worth taking that information along just incase we run into problems? I can bring bank statements for the last 12 months and a tax notification for my 2013 tax return (And more if I need them).

Sorry for the double post, the post editor locked me out.

So I went to uscis.gov to see the most up to date form available, and it states the following:

Edition Date :

12/17/12. Previous editions accepted.

This would imply that a previously expired form would be accepted, correct?

If this is form u have filled the one u have attached, so iam sorry to say, its expired, see the date on rite side of corner on first page......Godd luck with ur interview.

That was what was sent to me directly from the Sydney Embassy when they sent me my interview checklist. They attached that, the checklist and instructions for the I-134. Ugh, why would they email a document that is expired and no longer valid?

Hi all,

So my interview date is right around the corner, 20th of August. Getting really excited for it, but me being me, I am now in my 'obsess over all paperwork and nit-pick" mode unti the big day. Sigh.

So, I was looking over the I-134 instructions again and read the requirements for supporting documents. I want to confirm a few things:

1. The supporting documents mentioned should be a statement from a bank officer confirming my fiancees bank balance, total $ amount of deposits for the last 12 months and date of account opening, or a statement from employer confirming date and nature of employment, salary paid and whether position is temporary or permanent.

So far we were only able to get basic bank account summaries which state amount in the last 12 months and current balance at the time the information was pulled, and my fiancees employer said they would not provide a statement, and referred her to some place called "The Work Number" which basically has her history of employment. This information includes hire date, company name + address, job title, base pay rate and breakdown of pay recieved from employer. Are both of these sufficient, or do we specifically require a written statement from a bank officer or employer. and nothing else will be accepted?

2. I also have bank statements of my income which easily show that I would be able so support myself + my fiancee, I have figures in savings which are in excess of $40,000 (Quite a bit in excess of that amount in fact, enough to show we would be sitting above the poverty line in terms of accessible funds). Am I not able to provide information from my bank to verify this?

3. The I-134 requires a signature, of course. The PDF form that was emailed to me with my interview day check-list has an option at the bottom to attach a digital signature, which records time/date it was added, email address, time zone and my fiancees typed name. Seeing as the form even has this option added to it, is this sufficient or does it need to be specifically signed by hand? The instructions state the following only regarding this:

"You must sign Form I-134 in your full name... it is not necessary to sign Form I-134 before a notary, nor to have your signature notarized after you sign it."

"Type or print legibly in black ink"

I have attached a blank copy of the form I was emailed just to show what I mean by digital signature, incase this is not understood.

I-134(1).pdf

Thanks . We are now waiting to hear back about an interview date. We sent everything off on the 24th of July, so it can't be that much longer, right?

I hope to hear something very soon!

That did, thank you very much! That is the same one I am going to, but I have a Dr. Taylor. At least it doesn't sound like invasive medical testing or anything

Elgarta, I am in Queensland and my Police Certificate only took two weeks. I got the one that cost $175.

M

Thanks for that. Fingers crossed mine isn't too long either.

As you were in QLD, which of the medical clinics did you go to for your medical? Did they forward the results to the embassy or to you?

I am waiting on my appointment (had to reschedule) and the receptionist said she didn't know when I asked, and apparently some clincs do mail directly.

Thanks, I appreciate that. Well I will run to the police station later today and do that. It doesn't help that the local police station is very slack and actually told me to just go through to federal without giving me a reason or anything to work with.

I live in QLD. Is it really that quick? I kept hearing it was around 30 days.

I would recommend you do two things

1. http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=131666

and

2. go to the immigrations tab at the top.. choose your petition type, select your country and then message someone who just went through your same process.. I say same process because you are not helping the site by omitting your own petition information

I apologise, my intention was not to omitt any information or anything like that. My fiancee is normally the one who maintains things on this site but she has been busy so I decided to jump on and check some things on my own account, which I last used prior to us formally starting the process. I have linked our timeline now to my profile.

yes, some countries send it directly to the embassy.. mine will

if there is already a process in place for the police to send it directly to the embassy, nvc will already know about it in their reciprocity information

for others that don't and have to be submitted to nvc, there are many success stories in bypassing the police cert needed by nvc

you can submit it directly to the embassy during the interview, but you have to get nvc to sign off on that

you are best served spending the time on the phone and getting a nvc supervisor to help you

I read of one recent member who was able to do this, but it took a few tries on the phone with nvc to get it done

Well, the information regarding a police process is muddled at best. The US Embassy states that they recieve them directly, and the Police state that they only send it to an address they are provided, which can be an embassy. (But will normally send it back to the applicants address if no alternative is provided).

Not sure if the process is different in other countries, but for Australia at least, the NVC sends the embassy the case# and then has no further involvement in the process (or at least that is my understanding of it, based on previous phone calls with the NVC).

I got off the phone to the Embassy earlier and asked them "Can I submit my paperwork without the Police Certificate, and organise them to send it directly to embassy?", and I was told that they couldn't say and that I needed to speak with a different department who only communicates via email. So I wrote to them and am waiting for a response.

Hopefully some further clarification (and hopefully success stories) can be shared so a bit more light is shed on the situation

Thanks for that.

Hi all,

I haven't done much posting personally as my fiancee has been taking care of alot of that, but I wanted to get some clarification on something regarding the Police Certificate & the DSL-1076 (Statement of readiness to be Interviewed)

We recieved the packet 3 yesterday, and I have filled in all of the paperwork and sent the DS-230 (Part I) back to the Sydney consulate office. Now, the checklist we got with the DSL-1076 clearly says what paperwork we need to send away for, but I am having some confusion over the police certificate.

I recently had a name-check done, and thought this would be sufficient as the embassy, state department, local police & federal police websites & call centres didn't specify that I needed a fingerprint check done for a visa application, which apparently I do. So I went and got my prints taken last night and am filling in the paperwork to get another police check done (Grr).

After quite some runaround with talking to the local polce station, state police call center, Australian Federal Police call center & even the embassy call center, it appears as though I can request for the certificate/clearance to be sent directly to the consulate office once it has been completed, which is apparently within 30 days.

Now is it possible to send off my DSL-1076 and attach a page stating that the police certificate is going to be sent to them directly from the federal police, so I can hopefully avoid waiting up to 2 months for an interview, or am I actually required to send them the certificate personally? The embassy website says that residents of NSW & QLD will have theirs sent directly to the Embassy, so surely it would be fine? If I can do this, would I be safe to assume that when I provide the alternate address to forward it on to, someone will see my case # if I put 'CASE# SYD*******" in the attention field?

Any insight to this would be greatly appreciated. So close to being able to be with fiancee again and would like to overlap any waiting periods now so that I don't need to wait months upon months to see this through.