Hi folks!
I write this in thanks to the wonderful people at immigrationportal and
cptracker. The information on these websites was invaluable to me during
my preparation for the CP process. In particular, thanks to srifx for
the detailed write-up about his experiences. However, I do point out
that the information on srifx's post is slightly dated, so I thought I
could help fellow CP'ers by relating my own experiences, which happened
recently, so the information should be a little more up to date. Also, I
believe I have a couple of insights that may add value.
As always, "caveat emptor".
Forgive me if this posting is a little verbose, I don't have anything
else to do at the moment.
Document preparation:
I received Packet 4 from Chennai, at my dad's home in India. I had my
dad scan the OF-171 and email it to me.
Basically I had two 1.5 inch folders, one for the documents actually
listed in the Packet 4, the second for supporting documents. I used a
transparent plastic "protector sheet" to hold each document. These are
available in your local office supply store: Staples, Office Depot, etc.
I used yellow sticky notes to list the status of "unfinished" documents,
to indicate whether I needed to get it, copy it, sign it, etc. Once a
document was ready, I removed the sticky note. The protector sheets help
keep the docs in pristine condition.
Marriage and birth certificates are important documents, so I made
copies and appended 1 copy to each original.
Folder 1:
Documents for me, the primary applicant.
Documents for my wife.
After all the documents in this folder were ready, I made a second set
of copies and stored them separately, so that I would have an "exact
image" of the documents that we would present at the interview.
Our medical reports were not sealed. So I copied the medical reports
after we got them in Chennai.
Folder 2:
Supporting Documents for me.
Supporting Documents for my wife
Travel & stay in Chennai
We took the overnight train to Chennai, a/c 2-tier sleeper. My wife,
parents, baby, and self. So we had 4 berths, which can be curtained off
to create a nice private area. The gentle rocking of the train helped me
to the best sleep I had had in weeks.
We stayed at the 3 star "Days Inn Shan" in "Koyambeedu". The 25% luxury
tax is atrocious, but the hotel staff gave us a discount. We ended up
paying Rs. 1600 total for an "executive room". We took 2 rooms. Decent.
Overall, my rating is "very good value for money", clean, very
comfortable, good service. Of course you can pay through your nose to
stay near the consulate, at a 4 or 5 star hotel.
By the way: autorickshaws in Chennai practice daylight robbery. The
moment they see you depart from a "fancy" hotel, their fare-meters will
fail. Then they quote atrociously high prices. And our lack of fluency
in Tamil seemed to be like a large "Sucker" signboard stuck on our chests.
Immigration style pictures
These pictures were probably the toughest step in my whole CP process.
My recommendation is to bite the bullet, and go to Camera Citi, near the
consulate. Some other posters say that these people understand how the
IV pictures must be taken. The location is mentioned in another post in
this forum. If you go to a studio other than Camera Citi, show them the
picture format, the one that shows the photogenic hispanic looking girl
in 3/4 frontal face pose. Make sure that the photographer understands
the pose, and that the picture must end up at 1.5" x 1.5" (40 mm x 38
mm). Get at least 4, preferably 8 copies.
We used a standard ball-point pen to write our name and case number on
the back of 3 of the pics. We signed on the front of 2 of these, making
sure that the signature does not go across the face. We stored the
remaining pictures as backup.
Day 1: Lister Labs
You will need 1 passport-style full-frontal picture here. You will also
need to take the Packet 4 with the medical form.
We hired a "non-ac" taxi, an Ambassador, for "full day/10 hours/100 km"
for Rs. 700. Went to Lister labs at around 9:30 a.m. Walked into the
reception area, and showed our appointment letter and passports. They
gave us 2 sets of forms to fill. Then they gave us a glue stick to fix
our passport-style picture on the form supplied in Packet 4. We paid the
Rs. 300 each for the lab work. Then we stepped out of the reception and
joined the group of about 8-10 people who were seated in the corridor.
My name was called, and the med-tech drew blood for the HIV test. Same
for my wife. I returned to the corridor-seat. I was called in again, for
the X-ray. The X-ray tech gave us a receipt each. We were done by about
11:00 a.m.
We returned to Lister at 4:30 p.m., showed this receipt, and collected
our medical reports. This is a sealed package that contains the X-ray.
The rest in the Part 2 of this post..
I write this in thanks to the wonderful people at immigrationportal and
cptracker. The information on these websites was invaluable to me during
my preparation for the CP process. In particular, thanks to srifx for
the detailed write-up about his experiences. However, I do point out
that the information on srifx's post is slightly dated, so I thought I
could help fellow CP'ers by relating my own experiences, which happened
recently, so the information should be a little more up to date. Also, I
believe I have a couple of insights that may add value.
As always, "caveat emptor".
Forgive me if this posting is a little verbose, I don't have anything
else to do at the moment.
Document preparation:
I received Packet 4 from Chennai, at my dad's home in India. I had my
dad scan the OF-171 and email it to me.
Basically I had two 1.5 inch folders, one for the documents actually
listed in the Packet 4, the second for supporting documents. I used a
transparent plastic "protector sheet" to hold each document. These are
available in your local office supply store: Staples, Office Depot, etc.
I used yellow sticky notes to list the status of "unfinished" documents,
to indicate whether I needed to get it, copy it, sign it, etc. Once a
document was ready, I removed the sticky note. The protector sheets help
keep the docs in pristine condition.
Marriage and birth certificates are important documents, so I made
copies and appended 1 copy to each original.
Folder 1:
Documents for me, the primary applicant.
- OF-171, appointment letter from consulate.
- Form G-28, notice of entry of attorney, signed by me. (This tells
the consulate that the law firm of A, B, C & D are my attorneys in
the matter of my petition for permanent residence) - DS-230 Part 1, signed. I attached additional sheets to list the
information for boxes 20, 20 and 25. (DS-230 Part 1 was "just in
case". My lawyer told me that DS-230 Part 1 had already been sent
to the consulate, as part of the procedure to request CP interview.) - DS-230 Part 2, unsigned.
- Marriage certificate, original + 1 copy
- 4 Wedding photos
- Non-Availability of birth certificate, issued by the Government of
Karnataka, (Form No. 10). Getting this takes from about a day upto
a week. Depends on your ability to navigate the bureaucracy. - Affidavit of birth facts from my mother.
- Affidavit of birth facts from my father.
- Police clearance certificate, issued from the Indian Embassy in
Washington DC. The embassy took about 15 working days to get this
certificate ready and send it back to me. Maybe the quick
turnaround, shorter than the advertised 45 working days, was
because my wife and I are from Bangalore. Maybe it would take
longer if one is from a smaller city or rural area. - Notarized letter of employment, stating my annual salary, and that
I will be employed immediately upon entry into the US. - Medical Reports. These to be inserted after the medical exam.
- Last 3 months bank statements
- Last 3 years tax returns
- Tax transcripts for the last 3 years. Getting this is really
simple. Locate your local IRS office, visit them, and ask for the
tax transcripts you need. The whole process took me about 1 hour.
They will give you a printout for each year, and put an IRS seal
on the first sheet of each transcript. I had them put the seal on
each page of the transcript. I guess I'm paranoid.
. If you
have enough time, you can request the transcripts by phone.
Instructions for this are somewhere here on the CP threads on
immigrationportal. - IRS Form 9003.
Documents for my wife.
- Form G-28, notice of entry of attorney, signed by my wife.
- DS-230 Part 1, signed (just in case)
- DS-230 Part 2, unsigned
- Copy of marriage certificate
- 4 wedding photos
- Birth certificate from the Corporation of the City of Bangalore,
original + 1 copy. This certificate does not state my wife's
maiden name, but it does have the names of my wife's parents. - Affidavit of birth facts from wife's dad.
- Affidavit of birth facts from wife's mom.
- Police Clearance Certificate from Indian Embassy in WDC.
- I-134, notarized affidavit of support. (I am the supporter, and my
wife is the supportee) - Medical Reports. These to be inserted after the medical exam.
- IRS Form 9003
After all the documents in this folder were ready, I made a second set
of copies and stored them separately, so that I would have an "exact
image" of the documents that we would present at the interview.
Our medical reports were not sealed. So I copied the medical reports
after we got them in Chennai.
Folder 2:
Supporting Documents for me.
- OF-230 Parts 1 and 2. The consulate sends OF-230 in the Packet 4.
It states on the right corner of the form, that it expires on
09/30/1995. Also, my lawyer told me that form DS-230 is the
currently active version, and form OF-230 is obsolete. In any
case, I filled out the OF-230 and had it available, just in case. - Latest 3 biweekly paystubs.
- Previous H-1B and F-1 approvals and I-20.
- Couple of old paystubs, from a couple of years back.
- Old employment verification letters.
- My MS and BS degree certificates.
Supporting Documents for my wife
- OF-230 Parts 1 and 2.
- Previous H-4 approvals.
Travel & stay in Chennai
We took the overnight train to Chennai, a/c 2-tier sleeper. My wife,
parents, baby, and self. So we had 4 berths, which can be curtained off
to create a nice private area. The gentle rocking of the train helped me
to the best sleep I had had in weeks.
We stayed at the 3 star "Days Inn Shan" in "Koyambeedu". The 25% luxury
tax is atrocious, but the hotel staff gave us a discount. We ended up
paying Rs. 1600 total for an "executive room". We took 2 rooms. Decent.
Overall, my rating is "very good value for money", clean, very
comfortable, good service. Of course you can pay through your nose to
stay near the consulate, at a 4 or 5 star hotel.
By the way: autorickshaws in Chennai practice daylight robbery. The
moment they see you depart from a "fancy" hotel, their fare-meters will
fail. Then they quote atrociously high prices. And our lack of fluency
in Tamil seemed to be like a large "Sucker" signboard stuck on our chests.
Immigration style pictures
These pictures were probably the toughest step in my whole CP process.
My recommendation is to bite the bullet, and go to Camera Citi, near the
consulate. Some other posters say that these people understand how the
IV pictures must be taken. The location is mentioned in another post in
this forum. If you go to a studio other than Camera Citi, show them the
picture format, the one that shows the photogenic hispanic looking girl
in 3/4 frontal face pose. Make sure that the photographer understands
the pose, and that the picture must end up at 1.5" x 1.5" (40 mm x 38
mm). Get at least 4, preferably 8 copies.
We used a standard ball-point pen to write our name and case number on
the back of 3 of the pics. We signed on the front of 2 of these, making
sure that the signature does not go across the face. We stored the
remaining pictures as backup.
Day 1: Lister Labs
You will need 1 passport-style full-frontal picture here. You will also
need to take the Packet 4 with the medical form.
We hired a "non-ac" taxi, an Ambassador, for "full day/10 hours/100 km"
for Rs. 700. Went to Lister labs at around 9:30 a.m. Walked into the
reception area, and showed our appointment letter and passports. They
gave us 2 sets of forms to fill. Then they gave us a glue stick to fix
our passport-style picture on the form supplied in Packet 4. We paid the
Rs. 300 each for the lab work. Then we stepped out of the reception and
joined the group of about 8-10 people who were seated in the corridor.
My name was called, and the med-tech drew blood for the HIV test. Same
for my wife. I returned to the corridor-seat. I was called in again, for
the X-ray. The X-ray tech gave us a receipt each. We were done by about
11:00 a.m.
We returned to Lister at 4:30 p.m., showed this receipt, and collected
our medical reports. This is a sealed package that contains the X-ray.
The rest in the Part 2 of this post..