DS-260!!

A little after 8pm, our IV bill finally appeared as paid! It took me a second to realise what I saw. I had been signing into the payment portal all afternoon, every 20 minutes or so, and nothing. But it finally changed! I hit the button to start the DS-260 application.

I'm very glad I went through the DS-260 screenshots. I saved a lot of time by finding out information that would have taken a few hours to get. Page after page, I entered in the correct information. At the end, there's a review page on each section.

I printed out each review section and sent a PDF version to Ben to review. I'm glad he did as I missed a question about the petitioner's email address. I swear, it didn't ask that in the form, but I clicked the edit button, and voila, it was there. Mysterious...

After we both reviewed, I digitally signed it (like with the DS-261) and then clicked the submit button. A confirmation page was presented and I printed that out as well.

Then it was time to send off the email for the supporting documents for the DS-260. I printed out my cover letter, signed it, and then scanned it. I added that, along with the cover sheet, to the package. While Ben's I-864 package was nearly 8 MB (reduced from 20 MB), my package was only 3 MB (and not reduced).

I prepped the email with the needed info, attached the package, and emailed it off.

So, within 7 days, Ben and I have finished paying all the bills and sending in all the forms and documents. Now all we have to do is wait for NVC to review them and complete our case. Very exciting!

~Lindsay

Screenshots

I created a new album on Photobucket called immigration. I then moved the DS-261 screenshots album into that album, so the link will be different. The new link is: http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p174/smurf47/Immigration/DS-261%20screenshots/

I also created another sub-album called Payment Portal screenshots which you can find here: http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p174/smurf47/Immigration/Payment%20portal%20screenshots/ So far I have two screenshots, one showing where you see and pay bills, the other showing where you can see and fill out the online forms. I'll most likely add another one to show what it looks like when a bill is looked at in a few minutes.

If you want to just see the general Immigration album, it's here: http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p174/smurf47/Immigration/ From there, you can choose the sub-albums.

I'm planning on uploading a copy of the correspondence I got from NVC as well soon, so keep an eye open for that too.

If there's anything else you want a screenshot of, please leave a comment and I'll do it.

~Lindsay

EDIT: I uploaded the screenshots of the receipt page in the payment portal sub-album. I also uploaded the 4 page document I received last Friday. You can view this at the sub-album NVC information email here: http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p174/smurf47/Immigration/NVC%20information%20email/

IV bill

Around 10:30 this morning, the IV bill became invoiced and Ben paid for it immediately.

Either tomorrow or Wednesday the IV should appear as PAID and then I can fill out the DS-260 and then submit the supporting documents by email.

Later today, I'll make the scans I need to, so everything's ready.

~Lindsay

I-864 package sent!

*Reference link to abbreviations/terms post*

So just about an hour ago, Ben tells me that our AoS bill appeared as PAID! Oh wow, took just a bit more than one day! Amazing!

I had added something to the cover letter, so Ben quickly printed it out, signed it, and scanned it again. While he did that, I went onto the payment portal site and got the cover sheet saved as a PDF. Once I had that and the cover letter from Ben, I added it to the I-864 package and then reduced it in size. It came to about 8 MB.

I headed over to Gmail, attached the file and put the pertinent info in the body and subject line, and then sent off the I-864 package! Yay!

Now we have to wait for the IV bill to appear in the payment portal to pay that. Once that's done, we wait for it to appear as PAID, fill out and submit the DS-260 and then email the supporting documents. Hoping the bill appears today, but more realistically early next week.

This weekend I'm going to put my supporting documents together so that's ready to go as soon as we can!

~Lindsay

AoS bill and DS-261

*Reference link to abbreviations/terms post*

Yesterday, NVC was closed due to weather. But I'm glad they're open again today.

Well, I got a text message this morning from Ben saying the AoS fee appeared and that he paid it immediately. Now to wait for it to appear as PAID, then we can email off the I-864 package.

When I saw his text, I went to the payment portal site on my iPod and saw the DS-261 was finally available. I got up quickly and turned my computer on. I filled out the form and submitted it. If you want to see screenshots of the DS-261, go here:
http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p174/smurf47/Immigration/DS-261%20screenshots/
I've included descriptions underneath each picture when you click on them.

So, last night, Ben scanned all the I-864 documents. During the day, he got the employment letter printed out and signed by his boss. After he sent me the package, I went through and digitally added our case number to the top right of each page through Adobe Acrobat. In total, the I-864 package is gonna be 30 pages long. Breakdown:

-Cover sheet with barcode (appears on the payment portal site once the bill is accepted)
-Cover letter
-I-864 (4 pages)
-Tax transcripts (9 pages)
-Employment letter
-Pay stubs (14 pages)

I merged everything together into one PDF file then reduced it in size. It's currently 7.91 MB. We still have to add the cover sheet once it's available, so it'll be about 8 MB at the end. This probably isn't too big for NVC's email server. I'm glad its size got reduced so much as the original file was 21.1 MB. A lot of compression!

Nothing more we can do now. Just have to wait for the AoS bill to appear as PAID, then we add the cover sheet to the PDF package and email it off.

Also, have to wait for the IV bill to appear on the payment portal. Still not invoiced yet. It probably won't appear till next week.

So, a bit of progress today! Now to more waiting.

~Lindsay