A Quick Note About Costs

Now, we've already paid $355 for the processing of the I-130 but, as the NVC is a separate part of the process (and, technically a separate entity), we have to pay them too. They require a further $355 plus a $45 "Immigrant Visa Security Surcharge".

Note that, once we progress to the embassy in London, we'll have to pay further charges for a medical (currently £180), the visa itself (about £95 but worth every penny) and the courier to get the visa to me (another £20). That's a total cost of just under $1,200 (not counting any certificates, postage or printing.)

Fortunately, spending the rest of my life with my wonderful wife will be worth every penny (and a LOT more besides).

Update (the times they are a changin')

Okay, here's a quick update of where we are. We're still waiting for the I-130 to be processed by the CSC. Fortunately visajourney.com has good news here, over on the right, under the line "I-130 for IR1/CR1 & K-3 visas" is the date of the I-130s that the CSC are currently processing (go see, I'll wait). This date is currently quite a way into the past (i.e. there is a backlog) but is skipping forward at an impressive rate. If you take the number of days between that date and today you have the current waiting time. Add that onto your NOA1 date and you have a pretty good idea of when your I-130 will be processed.

Or you would if the CSC weren't clearing the backlog so fast :-)

So I'm keeping myself busy, watching that figure change daily, getting closer and closer...

As for my choice of POE, as I've stated before I have two candidates: Las Vegas or Dublin.

• Las Vegas because that's where I'm heading, it's where Foofer is and it's where I'll apply to have my green card extended and, eventually, where I'll apply for citizenship. If I give them my paperwork there, not only will my paperwork already be in the right place but I can also step straight out of immigration/customs into my wife's arms and not worry about making a connecting flight.
• Dublin because the immigration part is done in Dublin (customs is still done in the US) so I can get everything sorted before the flight takes off. This makes catching a connection in Chicago or New York a lot easier too.
  

I've got plenty of time to make my decision but happily, looking at visajourney, it's not as much time as I thought I had...

The best border?

This cool picture of the US border doesn't really have anything to do with this post. I was just looking at POE reviews on visajourney, trying to decide where to enter the US on my "one-way" flight to the US (yes, yes I'm still getting ahead of myself). They don't have any reviews for Vegas so I checked out the others.

POE stands for Port of Entry and it's where you officially enter the United States. My POE will be an airport and not a dusty road in California, Arizona or Texas. It's tricky to find the best POE as the reviews are mixed, though I do like the idea of entering via Dublin and having the immigration done at Dublin (yes, US immigration happens at Dublin - isn't that excellent?)

As to when I'll be entering the US, there's good news: The CSC are processing I-130s at an incredible rate - racing through the backlog. They seem to be processing a week's worth of I-130s in three working days. This is encouraging.

Averages...

I can't recommend the website visajourney.com enough, we've linked to it a few times before in this blog but I wanted to point out what a great resource it is. There you'll find advice, useful checklists and even shortcuts. One of the things that you get drawn to are the timelines.

• Out of 483 "CR-1"s, the average time to get an interview is 400 days.
• The average number of days to get your NOA1 is 37 days
• The average processing time between the NOA1 and NOA2 is 135 days
• The average time between your NOA2 and your interview is 208 days
  (as of the 23rd of January 2009)
  

Pretty grim reading at first, but I decided to try to look on the sunny side.

These stats are for the last few years, for both the Vermont and California centres and include all attempts at visas - the ones where the forms were botched, the ones where people have "special circumstances", the ones that got lost in the mail etc...

They have a huge amount of data that you can just wander through: I looked at all of the people processed via California who are having CR-1 interviews next month - the numbers vary (with no obvious correlation to country) from a 493 day process (from I-130 to interview) down to a less scary 233 days.

None were from the UK so I checked out my fellow Brits. The most recent wait times were: 363, 157, 281, 388, 252, 193, 201, 425, 489 and 342 days from posting the I-130 to getting an interview. The ones in italics have yet to receive a visa. The average of the other eight is 309 days (which would put my interview twelve days after Bonfire Night). Of course, checking the facts behind the numbers show that one of these applications was lost for four and a half months so, hopefully, my interview will be sooner.

Of course, playing with numbers on this site only gives you a rough idea of what's in store - and we have no real idea what's going to happen in our particular case but looking at these numbers makes me feel like I'm doing something and not just sitting waiting...

ACROvation

I thought I'd take a little break here, grab a soda (see, I'm picking up the lingo already), and address something that's caught my attention.

We know that the main I-130 processing may take a long time but we're trying to be patient and prepare for what's to come.

Most things can be prepared in advance and there are various certificates to get ready for the upcoming forms but at least one is only valid for six months.

This is the "Police Certificate". As this is are a paper certificate to state that you have no criminal record it is, by definition, out of date the moment it's issued. In other countries, this doesn't seem to be an issue - in the UK, surprise surprise, it's different. This quote from the ACRO (ACPO* Criminal Records Office) form itself makes a great point: "Embassies or High Commissions will usually require you to produce a Police Certificate, which has been issued less than six (6) months before your visa interview."

This is actually quite tricky. The average waiting time for the interview (in London) from the moment you get your NOA2 (The second Notice of Approval that your I-130 generates) is currently 200 days (according to this site). But I have to send the police certificate to the NVC (National Visa Center (in the US)) as evidence with my DS-230 form. This means that my certificate stands a chance of being out of date by the time I go for my interview.

Which is why I can't get one now - I'm just going to have to play a waiting game...

(as they're only £35 I really don't mind shelling out for a second one just before the interview if that's all that's needed to get me to my wife...)



*Yes, the "A" in ACRO is, itself, an acronym. It stands for the "Association of Chief Police Officers". I know, I know...

The Windy City

The I-130 has arrived at the USCIS in Chicago.

YAY!!!

I feel a timer coming on.

Yes, yes it's totally unfair to do that, I know - but I'm gonna do it anyway...
(I updated the timeline too)

I-130 as a word cloud

http://www.wordle.net/

Useful advice...

I have to post this link.

It's a really useful blog (hopefully ours will grow up to be one too) that takes you through the "spouse importing" process, step-by-step - in this case a guy is bringing his wife in from Nicaragua but the experience is essentially the same.

He has checklists and gotchas - If you're just starting out, plodding along, caught in red tape or even near the end of your struggle, I urge to you go and look at his site.

Lucky, lucky, lucky

So, Foofer was ill last Friday and couldn't put the I-130 together.

This morning I found an example I-30 and idly glanced at it...

And froze.

We'd put my details in C-17 when it should have been my wife's.
(List husband/wife and all children of your relative.)
This is for Foof to fill in, so she has to write my wife's name there - her name.

Phew!!!

I'm soooo glad we caught it as that would have delayed us. Really delayed us.

Notes on I-130

Just a few notes for anyone hunting desperately for information on how to fill in this fun fun form:

Fill it in through the pdf - it's far easier - don't print it off and fill it in by hand, only print it when you (the US citizen) are ready to sign.

Surnames should be in CAPITALS.

Don't leave blanks - fill them with either 'none' or 'n/a'.

You probably won't have an Alien Registration Number yet - don't sweat it, just put "none".

Finally...

If one of you is abroad and the other is in the US then question C-22 is a bit of a puzzler:

22. Complete the information below if your relative is in the United States and will apply for adjustment of status.
Your relative is in the United States
and will apply for adjustment of status
to that of a lawful permanent resident
at the USCIS office in:

If your relative is not eligible for adjustment
of status, he or she will apply for a visa
abroad at the American consular post in:

(City)_____ (State)______ (City)_______ (Country)________

NOTE: Designation of a U.S. embassy or consulate outside the country of your relative's last residence does not guarantee acceptance for processing by that post. Acceptance is at the discretion of the designated embassy or consulate.

As the questions begins by asking you to complete it if the relative is in the US you may think you should just ignore that - However, the section beginning "If your relative is not eligible for adjustment" shows that this is just a badly worded "or" question.

We went for:
(City) N/A (State) N/A (City) London (Country) England, UK

(We'll let you know how it turns out...)

I-130 ready to rock and roll...

My G-325A documents (with accompanying pictures) made it to Vegas yesterday meaning that, apart from picking a picture and (Foof) writing our names on the back, the I-130 is now ready to go.

Unfortunately my lovely wife is a little under the weather.

So they'll get posted soon, but not quite yet.

Once they do we'll time them (for fun).

Say hello to your first form - I-130

Yes folks it's the I-130!

Apparently this has recently been revamped and is now the first step for most people in a long road to permanent residence and beyond...

As we are married (and I'm playing by the rules and staying in the UK, not illegally hiding in the US trying to be smart) I will be applying for the CR-1 visa.

But first things first - the I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative).

It's available on a lovely pdf file that you can write on and save. It has six sections A-F and the good news (for me) is that Foofer has to fill it in as she's the one importing a fella.

Section C is all about me so, being a total narcissist, I had to fill that part in (C-22 looked a little tricky but a brief sojourn on Google helped me to nail that one). I emailed the form to Foofer. This is when she found "the checklist" online.

Basically we have to prove who we are, prove that we're married and prove that we're serious.

We need:

• A copy of our marriage certificate
• Foofer's divorce documents
• 1 x passport-sized picture of each of us taken within 30 days of sending off this darned form (A quick trip to my local Co-op for me and a brief stop in Walgreens for my love)
  
• 1 x G-325A form each (biographical data) - you do not have to repeat any information that's already on your I-130 but we did anyway, just to be on the safe side
• Any supporting evidence of a relationship.
  

That last one? Yeah, being newly-weds we didn't have mortgages or other financial documentation so we included the following:

• Wedding pictures Elvis looks soooo wonderfully tacky in them
  
• Skype logs We talk daily using Skype - there's a utility called SkypeCallExporter that can help you get the logs to use as evidence
• Travel info The only times we weren't Skyping was when we were together - copies of the confirmation emails from the airline (or eBookers.com) along with (colour) photocopies of my passport stamps (okay I scanned them and emailed them to Foof - it was quicker).

So, I filled in form G-325A, signed it (four times!) and sent it, with four photos (I'm guessing that we may need more in the future) via DHL to the States.

Once Foofer has those then she has to package everthing up, add $355 and post it to Chicago.

Fun, fun, fun...