I'm sharing my DCF (Direct Consular Filing) experience in hope that it comes in handy for others, and to help simplify this often less-discussed path for obtaining permanent residence for a foreign spouse in the US. I know how tough and stressful this journey can be, and I'm super grateful that we were able to pull this off so quickly.
About Us:
I’m a US citizen, and my Romanian spouse and I were in Romania when we made the decision to initiate the DCF process under exceptional circumstances. Despite having accepted a job offer in the US, a job offer letter was not listed among the required documents for this process, as you will see in the document checklist below.
Our Timeline:
August 7th, 2023: Sent an email to US embassy in Bucharest explaining our situation and requesting DCF. We initially sent the email to the incorrect address (posted on their website) but eventually called them to get the correct email address. So make sure you have the right one. Here’s a draft of my email in case it helps someone else get an idea of what to write:
“Dear Consular Officer,
I hope this email finds you well. My name is [name], an American citizen currently residing in Romania with my spouse. I wish to return to the United States and have my spouse accompany me. I am reaching out to explain our situation and kindly request the opportunity to file our Direct Consular Filing (DCF) documents at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest.
To provide some context, I initially arrived here because [fill out your reason] on a temporary [type of visa] visa in [year]. Throughout my time here, my relationship with my now spouse blossomed, and we have been together since [year]. We decided to take the next step in our journey and officially married on [date].
I am excited to share that I have received a fantastic job offer from a well-known U.S. company, with a start date scheduled for [date]. Given the time-sensitive nature of this opportunity, I kindly request your assistance in arranging an appointment at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest to submit our completed documents. We are flexible and available at your convenience, having prepared all the necessary forms and collected the required documents for the application, including forms I-130 and I-130A.
I appreciate your attention to this matter and sincerely hope for a positive response. We eagerly await your reply.
Kind regards,
[name]
[phone number]”
August 8th, 2023: Received a response from the embassy, approving our DCF request. We were instructed to appear at the embassy on August 14th to present the following documents:
Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, completed and signed by me.
Form I-130A, Supplemental Information for a Spouse Beneficiary
Two photos for each of us.
My U.S. passport.
Spouse's passport.
Spouse’s birth certificate.
Our marriage certificate.
Proof of the termination of any prior marriages (if applicable).
Evidence of our relationship;
For evidence, I put together a photo album with around 40 pictures that pretty much told our story from the beginning to now. They seemed to really appreciate it. We also included joint bank account statements, proof of our shared public health insurance, and evidence that we're living at the same address.
The $535.00 fee, payable in cash or by credit card at the Consular Section (in U.S. or Romanian currency).
August 14th, 2023: Made it to the interview at the embassy. The staff were very kind and helpful. The consular officer reviewed our documents, let us know that everything’s looking good, and informed us that we'd receive an official email soon with instructions to complete DS-260 online and the next steps.
August 18th, 2023: Received the official email, it included instructions and provided my spouse's case number, which was necessary to complete the DS-260 form. It also explained the process for the medical examination. We were required to follow these steps before scheduling the final interview:
Complete the DS-260 form.
Undergo the required medical examination.
Prepare the following documents to bring to the final interview:
Spouse’s valid passport.
Spouse’s two photos.
Spouse’s original birth certificate.
The original marriage certificate.
Proof of termination of prior marriages (if applicable).
Police certificates from spouse’s country of nationality and any other countries where they had lived for more than one year.
A medical examination.
Affidavit of support (Form I-864 or Form I-864EZ) filled out and signed by me;
I did not work at the time, so we used my spouse's foreign income for financial support, which was going to continue in the States. Many wonder if this is doable, and it absolutely is, as long as the spouse's income is set to continue in the States and exceeds three times the 125% poverty guidelines. (Check out USCIS’s Instructions for Affidavit of Support for more information).
Copy of my most recent Federal Income Tax Return;
I didn't have recent tax returns since I hadn't filed for the most recent year. So, I wrote an affidavit letter explaining my situation, and they were perfectly fine with it.
A fee of $325.00 payable only at the consular cashier on the day of the visa appointment, in cash or by card (in U.S. or Romanian currency).
September 7th, 2023: We sent an email to the embassy, confirming that we had all the necessary documents ready (obtaining my spouse's police certificates took longer than anticipated due to technical issues). The embassy then emailed us back with the date and time for the final interview, which was scheduled for September 18th.
September 18th, 2023: We showed up at the embassy, the security personnel were quite rude this time around, which I didn't appreciate. But on the bright side, the rest of the staff at the embassy were helpful and friendly. They checked our documents, took my spouse's fingerprints, and provided us with the awesome news that we were fully approved. They kept spouse's passport and offered us clear instructions on arranging passport delivery. Regarding the Affidavit of support: I’d like to mention that although they initially expected the financial support for the I-864 to come from US sponsor(s), they were perfectly fine with me sponsoring my spouse using our household income from spouse’s work that was going to continue in the states.
September 18th, 2023: We completed the passport delivery process online as soon as we got home. As a side note, although it wasn't explicitly mentioned to us before, it's advisable to complete the online passport delivery process in advance of the final interview. (though I don’t believe it mattered after all, we still received the passport back pretty quickly).
September 20th, 2023: We received spouse's passport containing the visa in the mail, along with a sealed packet that is meant to be presented to an immigration officer upon our arrival in the US, unopened.
That's it! I hope this post can serve as a reference point for others considering this process.
I also wanted to point out that as I was doing my research, I've noticed some folks on immigration forums making the DCF process sound like a real challenge. While I understand that different people have different circumstances and experiences, I’m also here to tell you that it's not all that scary, and you can definitely do it! Especially if your case is as straightforward as ours. Everything went super smoothly for us, and for that I’m forever grateful. I wish this option wasn't limited to people with exceptional circumstances. It truly pains me to think that some couples and families have to be apart or wait for years to get this process wrapped up. It's just not fair.
Total time from the initial email to passport delivery: Approx. 42 days.
