Procedures to Initiate Follow-to-Join
If you are entering the United States on an immigrant visa that allows you to bring a spouse and/or child (under the age of 21) with you at a later date, please follow these steps:
STEP #1 (Verification of Status)
After you arrive in the United States, you must show that you are a legal permanent resident before your spouse and/or child can be issued a visa. You may choose any of the following three options:
1. a notarized copy of all pages of your passport (including the US entry stamp) to the US Embassy, Georgetown, Guyana.
2. a notarized copy of both sides of your original "Green Card" to the US Embassy, Georgetown, Guyana.
3. You may go to the nearest office of the Department of Homeland Security/Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (DHS/BCIS) and request that they send a "VERIFICATION OF STATUS" cable to US Embassy Georgetown. The cable must name each relative, and give his or her address. There is a fee for this cable.
Once we receive one of the three items above, along with the appropriate civil documents (marriage certificate for a spouse, birth certificate for a child) and a local address, the Embassy will proceed to Step #2
STEP #2 (Forms)
Once you have completed Step #1, biographic forms will be sent to your spouse and/or child. Please fill out the biographic forms and return them by post. As soon as the biographic forms are returned, the Embassy will schedule an interview date and send out an additional package of forms including a medical form and additional instructions. Please note that interviews are scheduled in the order in which forms are received.
STEP #3 (The Interview)
On the day of the interview, your spouse and/or child must pay the US$380.00 application and issuance fee plus the US$45 security fee and show that they qualify for the visa by their relationship to you (shown with birth certificates, marriage documents, and other evidence). They will be asked to provide the package of forms they received in Step #2.
Your spouse and/or child must also provide a Form I-864 Affidavit of Support from your original petitioner (the person that put in for you), along with income tax forms and W-2s for the three most recent years, and job letters from all current employers. If your original petitioner does not meet the federal poverty guidelines, then a joint sponsor may be ted in addition to your petitioner’s affidavit of support forms. Joint sponsors must provide all of the above required documents, as well as proof of their legal status in the US.