An D

It's frustrating that different counselors have different rules. One person can get CFO in advance while others have to wait until the visa is on hand which I could see delaying travel plans quite a bit.

Thought I'd provide an update. We registered for CFO, and the counselor asked for requirements (some civil type docs, plus relationship evidence) and then told us they won't schedule us for CFO GCP until we have the visa on hand. Extremely annoying but this was my experience and it's making me anxious because I was hoping immediately after we ultimately get the visa, my spouse could travel but now we have the CFO hanging over our heads for the remainder of the process. I wanted to knock it out early but I guess that isn't gonna happen.

Thanks! And yeah, that's important to remember. Anyone have specific fb group names that are worth following for this phase of the visa? Searched but didn't find much.

Got RFI 5/9, resubmitted document 5/9, and got DQ now today 5/10

As someone just DQ'd today, this isn't a fun thing to learn...

After rejecting my I-864EZ despite meeting the criteria to use it, I submitted the I-864. I also submitted all tax transcripts from 2021, 2020, and 2019 - all form 1040s from 2021, 2020, and 2019, and all W-2s from 2022, 2021, and 2020. I submitted pay statements going back to the end of 2022 (4 months or so worth). I have worked for this company for nearly 6 years and also provided an employer letter stating my salary and position. The reason I didn't submit anything for 2022 is that I filed an extension with the IRS - I provided a copy of the form 4648 I sent the IRS plus my IRS account transcript showing for 2022 I have an extension until October. Today, I noticed all my documents were accepted including the new I-864 but with the message: "This case does not meet the minimum income requirement to sponsor the intending immigrants. To avoid delays, an additional Affidavit of Support Form I-864 from a joint sponsor may be submitted. For more information visit https://nvc.state.gov/aos. The consular officer will make a decision regarding this requirement at the time of the interview. For more information, please visit https://www.uscis.gov/i-864p." I am well above the income requirements. Also, I am DQ at this point. I am also aware that filing a tax extension is less than optimal when sponsoring an immigrant. However, I also uploaded an explanation for filing the extension. The reason (which is completely true) is that I am awaiting my spouse's CTC of her Philippines passport (she will be mailing it to me this week) so that I can send it off to the IRS with my 2022 1040 and W-7, ITIN application. I need this so I can file the proper status of married filing jointly. Thus, I have extended while waiting for that. Obviously, by the time the interview rolls around, I will have (hopefully) sent the 1040 and W-7 off to the IRS. Should I simply upload a scan of my 2022 1040 (W-2 already uploaded) and W-7 before sending to IRS? Depending on how fast the IRS works, I may not have the ITIN/1040 completed by the time we reach the interview. I'm just wondering why an employer letter, plus pay statements, plus the previous 3 transcripts and my 2022 W-2 along with the extension aren't sufficient. I am not even close to the threshold. I don't want to risk a denial at the visa interview, so I'm thinking that my spouse should just bring EVERYTHING related to my taxes for the last 3 years, that I have at that point. Just wondering if anyone has experience in a similar situation.

Just received a notice that all my documents were accepted but not my I-864EZ. Here is the message received: "[Name does not qualify to use Form I-864EZ. Please visit https://www.uscis.gov/i-864 to complete a Form I-864 to replace this. FINANCIAL SPONSORSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES: Financial sponsors, joint sponsors, and applicants should be aware of responsibilities when signing an I-864 and the consequences for a sponsored immigrant's acceptance of federal means-tested public benefits. For more information visit https://nvc.state.gov/aos." I just re-read the I-864EZ instructions and I am perplexed. Completely perplexed and do not understand why I cannot use I-864EZ. I am only filing for one person (my spouse) and am the ONLY SPONSOR. I am above the income requirements BY FAR and they accepted ALL of my tax transcripts and W-2s which CLEARLY SHOW I am above the guidelines. Has anyone ever ran into this before any have any suggestions?

submitted 4/20 still waiting, had expected 5/3

I believe they're tied together since if the medical is expired you can't enter the US anyway. So they kind of have to be the same I suppose.

July? Yikes.

Cool. Definitely seems like getting the medical out of the way is really the way to go especially in case sputum testing ends up being required. And six months is a pretty big window to get the rest of the stuff done and enter the US before it expires.

Understandable, so the question becomes how long it takes from DQ to having the visa interview. If the medical is valid for 6 months, and it would only take 2 or even 3 months to schedule and complete the visa interview, that's perfectly fine. That's still a 3 month buffer to get to the US. Thanks for the information!

Yeah, it lists that as a requirement but I've read of people getting in without having the visa appointment letter or the visa itself. That's where the confusion is. Only thing people say is to be careful since the medical expires if you do it in advance like this, but still, definitely have seen reports of people getting in before having either of those. Such as in below: https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/750960-st-luke-medical-without-an-interview/

after DQ, still waiting for further instructions/information, how do you schedule cfo / slec physical? would like to get them out of the way if possible. CFO: registered, and got an email now which is asking us to send some documents including the visa - should we, in lieu of the actual visa, submit an explanation that our case is heading to the embassy now and hope that will suffice? i've seen it said multiple times that some people have gotten the cfo done prior to visa on hand but not sure how to get around the visa document requirement. SLEC: seems to let us register and book an appointment, but again, no visa on hand. don't want to get to manila just to be turned away by the guard...website says visa is a required document too...

thanks, posted there too. as far as i can find online, there is no expiration date for cfo certificate. maybe that's not true anymore. mostly interested in getting it completed as soon as possible, before any visa interview or even medical is completed, to avoid any potential delays or issues with getting it. i don't want to have to rely on the Philippines government at the last minute.

is it possible to schedule the cfo session before doing the visa interview? for example, if you just got DQ and awaiting medical/visa interview, is that too early to schedule it? i've seen some people say you can get the cfo stuff done before the visa is on hand, but nobody specified how you go about doing so.

is it possible to schedule the cfo session before doing the visa interview? for example, if you just got DQ and awaiting medical/visa interview, is that too early to schedule it? i've seen some people say you can get the cfo stuff done before the visa is on hand, but nobody specified how you go about doing so.

hi, we're at the nvc stage but still waiting for 1 civil document (police clearance) which should be in our hands in about a week. Is there any benefit to completing the DS-260 and AOS now before having all the civil documents available? or do we need to have all the civil documents on hand when completing the DS-260? just trying to get everything out of the way that we can as soon as possible so there's less to worry about. i'd also like to submit the AOS stuff, but again, just don't know if submitting that and/or DS-260 now serves any purpose if the civil documents aren't all ready to go for upload right after we complete those previous forms.

How do you go about scheduling the medical exam after getting DQ? I thought you had to wait for the embassy interview to be scheduled to do anything with that. Is there a way we can get the medical exam taken care of asap after DQ and before having a visa interview scheduled? Any idea how to schedule CFO after DQ, but before visa interview or visa on hand?

Just got our i-130 (standalone) approved. I was researching how long it will take to have the case created in NVC, how long itll take to approve the documents, and then how long each of the medical, visa interview, and cfo will take to schedule and complete but I am not able to find any info besides that NVC is taking about a month to create the case and DQ, according to their site. Does anyone have recent info on any of the above? We won't be picky so will choose the soonest appointment for anything that requires one. Thanks!

Hi, I need to file my taxes mfj and my spouse is still in the Philippines. I need to get her an ITIN. We have been looking into getting a copy of her passport when I visit next month so I can bring it back and send the IRS the tax return and w7 together. But I have been looking into acceptance agents and see that there is one in angeles city. Would it be easier to just go with her to Angeles city with a completed w7 and other required documentation and get this over with there? What is the cost of using the acceptance agent? Does it only take one day and how do you schedule it? Do you need to bring your federal tax return and file that at the same time, or is the acceptance agent only going to process the w7 by itself and give the itin number immediately so I can use it for the tax return on my own time? What is all the documentation we would need to take to the acceptance agent?

I'm starting to think that it might be easier and safer to just do married filing separately now, use that for I-864, and adjust to married filing jointly later when spouse arrives. That way I have everything I need for the most recent tax year and there's no explaining to do. Whatever way I look at it, any of the options are a hassle (the itin process may be the biggest since I'd need to be mailed a certified passport from her and she doesn't even have that yet).

And what if it's after? I mean, even if I managed to submit the return with the itin application before submitting the I-864, It's going to take months for the IRS to do anything with it. Would submitting the tax return I send the IRS along with copy of the itin application be sufficient? Or are they looking for an actually completed tax return, and not just one that was submitted? Because either way, it would be a while.

hi, have a question regarding i-864 and submitting your most recent tax return. since I am petitioning for my spouse abroad, they aren't here in the US, so they don't have a SSN and applying for a ITIN while a possibility just seemed like a huge hassle with having to get a certified passport copy and getting it over to me, etc then mailing all that stuff into the IRS. So, I thought we would just wait until she gets here, delay filing my tax return (of which I am owed a substantial refund, and of which I legally am allowed to delay since I am owed a refund) until she is here and has a SSN and just do married filing jointly. That means that I (plan) to not have a 2022 tax return submitted until later this year. I do however have all my tax returns going back to 2016 prior to 2022 readily available. I also have worked at my current employer for 6+ years full time and am considerably above the income requirements, have all my W2s and pay statements. How much of an issue is it that I don't have my last year (2022) tax return? What will happen if I submit an explanation letter, W2s, pay statements for 5 years (with no breaks), and my 2021 tax return instead?