ja0701

His visa has been issued!!! thank you all for your help and guidance along the way!

Update: I checked our visa status today and it has been changed to "Ready", and the following message: "Your case is ready for your interview when scheduled at the U.S. consular section. If you have already scheduled an appointment for an interview, please prepare your documents as directed in your appointment letter and appear at the consulate on the appointed date and time. Otherwise, please wait until you have been notified of your interview appointment. Additional information about how Immigrant Visa interview appointments are scheduled can be found at: http://nvc.state.gov/interview". Not sure if this means they are requesting another interview or if ready is indicating the visa is ready. Either way, it is looking good (fingers crossed).

Definitely a head-scratcher especially since we had the lawyer review it, but the answer is simple like you said make sure everything is there and send it in. Thanks for your input! Hopefully all will go well this time.

Definitely a great sign they want the passport back! Copying and pasting the letter below (removing sensitive info): Dear ********************* This office regrets to inform you that your visa application is refused because you have been found ineligible to receive a visa under the following section(s) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The information contained in the paragraphs marked with "X" pertains to your visa application. Please disregard the unmarked paragraphs. / / Section 221(g): You must submit the following documents: Financial Records /X/ Most recent tax returns from joint sponsor /X/ Proof of US citizen status of joint sponsor /X/ Passport Sincerely, Immigrant Visa Unit U.S. Embassy Jerusalem

Update: We got the 221(g) and passport back in the mail. This is a super confusing one. Our lawyer is even confused. So anyone who may know something - please let us know what you think: The 221(g) is requesting the most recent tax returns, proof of U.S. citizenship of our joint sponsor, and my husband's passport. We already gave the embassy all of that when we submitted the new I-864 to them two weeks ago. We are not sure why are they asking for this all over again? Either way, we have all those papers and the simple answer here is just to send it again. Super weird situation - If anyone else out there has a similar experience please drop a comment. Thanks everyone!

Could be. We should be getting everything back tomorrow or Thursday and will let you all know. Just hoping it's nothing complicated.

wish it were the case😕 you can check my most recent reply to pushbrk for more details. Appreciate the optimism though!

Just got the status update. Refused, again. So, yes, they are sending back the passport, but with another 221(g) administrative processing (most likely i hope). **Just some updates for everyone from my last post** My husband and I found another joint sponsor who is very qualified, got all the required paper work (passports, taxes, proof of income, proof of employment, and of course I864). We sent all that in exactly two weeks ago and today we received the refused status and the email posted above. I had the documents reviewed by a lawyer before sending it in and they gave the green light. So, until we get his passport back and the letter attached we don't exactly know if this is another 221(g) or other possible scenario. I will say that our lawyer said it is most likely administrative processing 221(g). We will update with further info, but if anyone else out there has a similar experience we'd love to hear some insight/advice/outcomes. Thanks to you all, as always.

We got this email today (I am deleting the sensitive information) What do you guys think this means? Also there is no update on our CEAC profile (it says the same thing since we got our case sent to the Jerusalem embassy). So we're not sure if this is a good thing or not. Obviously, we'll find out when it's ready to be picked up, but very anxiously waiting and wondering if this is a typical message for approval/denial: Subject: U.S. DoS Visa system return travel document shipment notice Hello *********, The U.S. Department of State Consulate located in Jerusalem has released document related to your Visa application to our courier Israel Post. The document is being sent via the courier option you selected at registration. The tracking number for the package is ***********. It can take up to 1 business day after receiving this notice before your shipment is available to be tracked. Please do not contact the courier company before this time as no additional information will be available. You may track the progress of this shipment at http://www.israelpost.co.il/itemtrace.nsf/mainsearch?OpenForm&L=HE&itemcode=************. The shipment process takes an average of one to two business days from the time you receive this notice. For a list of identification required to receive returned document(s) and additional information related to courier services, please refer to the information at https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-il/niv/information/courier The data we have on file is: Applicant Name: ******** Passport Number: **************** Best regards, The GDIT Visa Appointment and Information Service Team Thanks everyone!!!

Yeah - it seems so, but having spoken with the lawyer and being vindicated in knowing that the paperwork I filled out for my husband was correct and that this is really a consequence of a mistake on behalf of the consulate is reassuring in a way. I'll update as i go forward. Thanks for your input and help.

Update 05/20/24: I spoke with an immigration lawyer today who reviewed all of our files that were submitted to embassy. He stated that in his opinion based on all the information i gave him and paperwork he reviewed that the embassy officer made a mistake, but that the next best option moving forward is to either re-file on my own or get a joint sponsor. He stated that more often than not it is a waste of time to argue with an embassy about a misunderstanding. I will be contacting the embassy to receive further information, but i will not be trying to convince them of any mistake (just want to gather as much info from them as possible). As for what I will do: I am not sure. If I can find another joint sponsor I will use that option (it seems to be the safest). If I can't ill bite the bullet and take a risk and submit on my own. Will update again when there is new information.

That is exactly what i would like to do and intend to do. But if you would have read through my post and all the other posts above you would understand and recognize it's not that easy to just "hand something over" when there is so much on the line. And I would further disagree that it does not "work every time" because people get denied when they dont seek out further information or fully understand the information/requests that are handed to them. I came here looking to get info from people who can understand, empathize, and offer advice to someone like my husband and I. I appreciate your comment but your comment was not helpful nor was it reflective of understanding of how difficult this is process for many people who go through it. Maybe i am overthinking it but i rather overthink and be sure about what i know than under-think and risk not being able to be with my husband and get him out of a war zone. As we were taught as children "if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all".

Great - thank you very much. I'll udpdate this forum to inform the community what happens as this goes forward. Hopefully this can help someone else as well. Again thank you!

Hi, I am a GS-9 with the government and receive 66,942, with a raise to 69,000 coming up in the next couple of months, and my household size is 2. So im pretty sure I am way above the limit. I am guessing (considering your post and another post) l will be providing a cover letter when submitting my I864 again - do you have any recommended verbiage/statements that should be used/made in that letter to convey that I am financially stable to support my husband on my own?

wow, okay, thank you so much!!! This is probably the most helpful response I've received. I'll update this forum after I've gone through these steps with the embassy.

Yup. We did. I am a government employee so I submitted my most recent (at the time of filing) DFAS earnings statement, employment letter, government employment contract etc. DFAS earnings statement is the government equivalent of a paystub btw

Hello - thank you for your response! It's always been very emphasized to me that taxes are important and having not recorded any taxes (due to being a student) didn't qualify me as a sole sponsor. I am very much pleasantly surprised to read your comment but am a bit apprehensive. When you say 'respond with updated paystubs etc.' do you mean via email to the embassy? or through CEAC? I have already emailed the embassy asking for clarity on the 221(g) request and statements made by the interviewer. By the way, all the information you mentioned I have already submitted with my initial I864 application. Additionally, I am just worried so much back and forth with the embassy could come off as resistant or withholding information to the embassy. Any further advice to follow up on your post would be seriously appreciated. My husband and I are totally stumped here. thanks again to everyone for commenting and providing helpful insight!

As i mentioned above - my mother does not meet the requirements for I864, but the interviewer still asked for it from her anyway stating that we filed the wrong form (form I864A which my mother does meet the requirements for). I am "worrying" because i am trying to reunite my family, to take my husband out of a war zone where people of his type are being prosecuted and killed, and do not want to face rejection from the embassy, and came to this community for understanding and helpful advice. Thank you.

I totally agree thats why I'm so confused that the consulate officer told my husband to submit an I864 for my mother because using the I864A for her was wrong (thats what the interviewer said). The interviewer did not ask for a new joint sponsor or anything.

He is Israeli Palestinian

Understood. But, she specifically asked the my mother resubmit her form as an I864, not to find another joint sponsor. This is another area of the issue in which we are really confused.

The $116,000 is in home assets. It is the consulate located in Jerusalem. Why do you think the interviewer said we submitted the wrong form for her? (an I864A instead of I864)

My husband had his interview on May 16th, we filed our case completely in November 2023. We practiced a lot before the interview and felt really confident going into the interview. Some context for understanding: I was a student in 2020, 2021, 2022, and halfway through 2023 I got a really good job (pays way above the 125% rule) but I knew i would still need an additional sponsor to assist with the fact that I dont have tax history. My mother, who has been retired since 2022, was our only option. Her and I live together in the home that we own. I consulted with many people, did a lot of research here on this website, the NVC website, and it was clear I needed to file an I864A for her, not only because she is a household member, but also because she does not qualify to be a sole joint sponsor (her pension payments only amount to $24,000 per year and $116,000 in assets). At the interview: the interviewer, at some point, asked my husband if my mom and I live together, if we all plan to live together, and he replied yes to all those questions. After some time she said to my husband you filed the wrong form for my mom (the household member). She said we filed an I864A instead of an I864. My husband was kind of stumped because this wasn't something we prepared for and he asked her okay what do I do now instead of asking for a reasoning of how the interviewer came to that conclusion. So, now we received a 221(g) to re-file an I864 for my mom, but if we do that surely our application will get denied because she does not qualify under the I864 requirements. We have sent an email to embassy asking for clarification but we haven't heard back yet (they're closed till Monday). My questions to the community: Has anyone experienced anything like this before? If so, what should we do? Does anyone have any insight as to why or what is happening? Is it possible the interviewer made a mistake or just some kind of misunderstanding/miscommunication? Any help or insight would greatly appreciated. Thank you all!