The Phone Game
Ok, I had some questions regarding the instructions on theI-129f form, So I called the 1-800 number (1-800-375-5283) on the back of it and waded through the menus for a while looking for an option to talk to a person.
Question number 1, regarding section 5b in the instructions for the I-129f which asks
Provide original statements from you and your
fiancé(e) whom you plan to marry within 90 days of
his or her admission, and copies of any evidence you
wish to submit to establish your mutual intent;
What Exactly is this? Can it be say a printed out E-mail? We live 4000 miles apart, I have to file the petition, getting a written statement of intent is not a simple, or fast process. Plus we are filing a $170 FIANCE visa petition of which the entire purpose is to obtain a visa so that she can enter the united states with the intent to marry me within 90 days. What purpose does this serve above and beyond the form submission and visa interview at the consulate in the first place ?
While going through the labyrinth of automated response options I navigated to the I-129f information section. One of the options was a list of needed documents for the k1 fiance visa process. While I thought I knew these courtesy of the instructions on the back of the form and via the uscis website I decided a verification via information from the USCIS phone system would not be a bad idea. The needed documents listed in order were
I-129f -fiance visa
G-325a -biographic information
I-485 -Change of Status
I-130 -Petition for Alien Relative
I-765 -EAD, Employment authorization
I-751 -Petition to remove conditions on residence
The EAD is not mentioned anywhere on the I-129f nor is the I-130. The form is for a fiance to immigrate to the US but it does not mention that the visa itself will not provide for the right to work. Near as I can tell the K1 visa does come with a right to work. But the K1 is only Valid for 90 days upon entry to the United States. Once you are married you have to file the I-485 for change of status. Evidently at that time, your K1 work authorization is no longer valid and you must file the I-765 to recieve an interim EAD while your change of status is pending (about a 6 month wait at present). The EAD is taking about 60-90 days to be issued. Getting a SS or Tax ID number issued is wrapped up in these two work authorizations but I still havn't found a good explination of that FUBAR process.
Regarding the right to work. We are not poor people. We are College grads with a few years work experience each.. I have about 6 and she has about 3. We both have School Loans and some Credit Card Debt. 2-5 months without the right to work for her will not be a good thing for us as her debt is in Pounds and mine income is in Dollars. Not to mention paying for all the other stuff that is going with this (move, wedding, honeymoon etc).
Now I knew what the EAD deal was about even though it wasn't on the back of the I-129, the web site (www.uscis.gov) has plenty of information about it. However that leaves the listing of the I-130. That is the form needed to sponser an immediate relative, Mother/Father/Child/Sibling/Spouse, for immigration to the United States. It is for the K3 visa which is a seperate though similar process to the K1. This created for me question number 2. Why is the I-130 listed as a needed document for a K1 application process ? No reason is given. In addition I have found some conflicting information regarding its need on several immigration websites. As it was not mentioned in the instructions on the I-129f I had paid them little heed. Now that I was hearing it listed by the USCIS phone system as a needed document to file for a K1 I was concerned about it to say the least.
So now I muddle around the options once again till I finally find the one for talking to a person. Time to go through all of this was about 20 minutes before I heard a voice. Now do keep in mind this included listening to the form info, wait time was about 5-10 min once I actually hit the hold que.
For the first response to question number one I was read verbatim the instructions I had a question about. Thankyou, I can read. In fact, because I can read, I read those instructions and did not find them very illuminating and rather than guess at their intent I decided to call for more information. When I pressed further I was told that the person I was talking to could not answer with any authority and that I would need to be transffered to an immigration specialist and before she trasffered me did I have any more questions? So out comes question number two about whether or not the I-130 was needed to complete the K1 process. What insued can only be described as a complete crossing of wires. I had it explained to me what the I-130 was, again, I know that. In fact because I know what the form is, I am deeply concerned that the phone system is telling me I need it to complete the process despite the fact the form itself makes no mention of it. No amount of explination could make this clear to the person I was talking to. Again I was told they could not answer with any authority on the matter and that was also a question for the immigration specialist. Again I was asked if I had any more questions before being transffered. I did not so she transferred me.
Hold time was very short while I was transfered (2-3 minutes). Again I refferenced the specific instructions (5:b of the I-129f) I was wanting explained more clearly. Again I had them read verbatim back to me when I asked what this was asking for. In the end I got a deffinate answer that the original statements were supposed to be written and signed. I asked for an example of what this statement is supposed to include and was told original. No information other than a statement of intent to marry within 90 days.
Question number two met with much similar results to the first time I asked it. However this time I got the answer I think I needed and a rather interesting piece of information. Essentially the need for the form is a procedural question... i.e. when will it be needed or will it be needed at all? The answer seems to be that if you are doing a I-129f then an I-130 is not needed. However the interesting piece of information that was given during our round about discussion was that there was no way to know what I was going to have to do as the procedure was changing daily.
Let me get this straight. I am talking to the "Immigration Specialist" reached through the USCIS offcial help line (1-800-375-5283) asking for information as regards the specific paperwork needed to complete the K-1 process and the answer I initialy got was "I can't tell you because I don't know what you will need to do to complete the process because it changes daily". She said daily... I hope it just means often though working for a government contract myself I would not be terribly surprised if daily wasn't a good discription.
I then tried to explain that the reason I was confused about this was information contained on their phone system so that if it was indeed an uneeded document under any circumstances for completing the K1 visa process that they might want to remove it to avoid further confusion. I am not sure if I met with success or not. In the end the information that I did not need the I-130 is somewhat tainted by her telling me she could not say what would be needed in the end due to the ever changing nature of the process.
Total time on the phone, ~40 minutes. Not to bad from the horror stories I have heard of 3 hour hold times. Also the people I talked with were courteous if not extremely helpfull. I got the impression they were about as frustrated as I was with the lack of concrete information. I also got the distinct impression they were reading off of scripts designed to aswer common questions. Scripted responses work well when the subject is well known. When the subject is ever changing they are worse than useless. They often give out the wrong (outdated) information.
Other thoughts? The phone system should be mapped out on the website to facilitate navigation. Two, the information on the phone system needs to match what the operators and the website are saying. I have no doubts the USCIS agrees with me. But the fact remains this is not currently the case. I am tempted to start recording any calls I make in the future just so that I can have documented evidence of all this instead of my word this is what happend.
The intent to marry statement is a silly gotcha kind of thing. The only purpose it serves is another hoop... another i to dot or t to cross that may get missed in the process of the paperwork... either it could get lost or not be included etc. Its pretty indicative of the problems with this process all round.
Question number 1, regarding section 5b in the instructions for the I-129f which asks
Provide original statements from you and your
fiancé(e) whom you plan to marry within 90 days of
his or her admission, and copies of any evidence you
wish to submit to establish your mutual intent;
What Exactly is this? Can it be say a printed out E-mail? We live 4000 miles apart, I have to file the petition, getting a written statement of intent is not a simple, or fast process. Plus we are filing a $170 FIANCE visa petition of which the entire purpose is to obtain a visa so that she can enter the united states with the intent to marry me within 90 days. What purpose does this serve above and beyond the form submission and visa interview at the consulate in the first place ?
While going through the labyrinth of automated response options I navigated to the I-129f information section. One of the options was a list of needed documents for the k1 fiance visa process. While I thought I knew these courtesy of the instructions on the back of the form and via the uscis website I decided a verification via information from the USCIS phone system would not be a bad idea. The needed documents listed in order were
I-129f -fiance visa
G-325a -biographic information
I-485 -Change of Status
I-130 -Petition for Alien Relative
I-765 -EAD, Employment authorization
I-751 -Petition to remove conditions on residence
The EAD is not mentioned anywhere on the I-129f nor is the I-130. The form is for a fiance to immigrate to the US but it does not mention that the visa itself will not provide for the right to work. Near as I can tell the K1 visa does come with a right to work. But the K1 is only Valid for 90 days upon entry to the United States. Once you are married you have to file the I-485 for change of status. Evidently at that time, your K1 work authorization is no longer valid and you must file the I-765 to recieve an interim EAD while your change of status is pending (about a 6 month wait at present). The EAD is taking about 60-90 days to be issued. Getting a SS or Tax ID number issued is wrapped up in these two work authorizations but I still havn't found a good explination of that FUBAR process.
Regarding the right to work. We are not poor people. We are College grads with a few years work experience each.. I have about 6 and she has about 3. We both have School Loans and some Credit Card Debt. 2-5 months without the right to work for her will not be a good thing for us as her debt is in Pounds and mine income is in Dollars. Not to mention paying for all the other stuff that is going with this (move, wedding, honeymoon etc).
Now I knew what the EAD deal was about even though it wasn't on the back of the I-129, the web site (www.uscis.gov) has plenty of information about it. However that leaves the listing of the I-130. That is the form needed to sponser an immediate relative, Mother/Father/Child/Sibling/Spouse, for immigration to the United States. It is for the K3 visa which is a seperate though similar process to the K1. This created for me question number 2. Why is the I-130 listed as a needed document for a K1 application process ? No reason is given. In addition I have found some conflicting information regarding its need on several immigration websites. As it was not mentioned in the instructions on the I-129f I had paid them little heed. Now that I was hearing it listed by the USCIS phone system as a needed document to file for a K1 I was concerned about it to say the least.
So now I muddle around the options once again till I finally find the one for talking to a person. Time to go through all of this was about 20 minutes before I heard a voice. Now do keep in mind this included listening to the form info, wait time was about 5-10 min once I actually hit the hold que.
For the first response to question number one I was read verbatim the instructions I had a question about. Thankyou, I can read. In fact, because I can read, I read those instructions and did not find them very illuminating and rather than guess at their intent I decided to call for more information. When I pressed further I was told that the person I was talking to could not answer with any authority and that I would need to be transffered to an immigration specialist and before she trasffered me did I have any more questions? So out comes question number two about whether or not the I-130 was needed to complete the K1 process. What insued can only be described as a complete crossing of wires. I had it explained to me what the I-130 was, again, I know that. In fact because I know what the form is, I am deeply concerned that the phone system is telling me I need it to complete the process despite the fact the form itself makes no mention of it. No amount of explination could make this clear to the person I was talking to. Again I was told they could not answer with any authority on the matter and that was also a question for the immigration specialist. Again I was asked if I had any more questions before being transffered. I did not so she transferred me.
Hold time was very short while I was transfered (2-3 minutes). Again I refferenced the specific instructions (5:b of the I-129f) I was wanting explained more clearly. Again I had them read verbatim back to me when I asked what this was asking for. In the end I got a deffinate answer that the original statements were supposed to be written and signed. I asked for an example of what this statement is supposed to include and was told original. No information other than a statement of intent to marry within 90 days.
Question number two met with much similar results to the first time I asked it. However this time I got the answer I think I needed and a rather interesting piece of information. Essentially the need for the form is a procedural question... i.e. when will it be needed or will it be needed at all? The answer seems to be that if you are doing a I-129f then an I-130 is not needed. However the interesting piece of information that was given during our round about discussion was that there was no way to know what I was going to have to do as the procedure was changing daily.
Let me get this straight. I am talking to the "Immigration Specialist" reached through the USCIS offcial help line (1-800-375-5283) asking for information as regards the specific paperwork needed to complete the K-1 process and the answer I initialy got was "I can't tell you because I don't know what you will need to do to complete the process because it changes daily". She said daily... I hope it just means often though working for a government contract myself I would not be terribly surprised if daily wasn't a good discription.
I then tried to explain that the reason I was confused about this was information contained on their phone system so that if it was indeed an uneeded document under any circumstances for completing the K1 visa process that they might want to remove it to avoid further confusion. I am not sure if I met with success or not. In the end the information that I did not need the I-130 is somewhat tainted by her telling me she could not say what would be needed in the end due to the ever changing nature of the process.
Total time on the phone, ~40 minutes. Not to bad from the horror stories I have heard of 3 hour hold times. Also the people I talked with were courteous if not extremely helpfull. I got the impression they were about as frustrated as I was with the lack of concrete information. I also got the distinct impression they were reading off of scripts designed to aswer common questions. Scripted responses work well when the subject is well known. When the subject is ever changing they are worse than useless. They often give out the wrong (outdated) information.
Other thoughts? The phone system should be mapped out on the website to facilitate navigation. Two, the information on the phone system needs to match what the operators and the website are saying. I have no doubts the USCIS agrees with me. But the fact remains this is not currently the case. I am tempted to start recording any calls I make in the future just so that I can have documented evidence of all this instead of my word this is what happend.
The intent to marry statement is a silly gotcha kind of thing. The only purpose it serves is another hoop... another i to dot or t to cross that may get missed in the process of the paperwork... either it could get lost or not be included etc. Its pretty indicative of the problems with this process all round.
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