NVC Filers - September 2014

[Soloenta 2,218]

Well, we get to vote, and have US passports, and those are benefits... or maybe you meant in regards to immigration ?

Yeah, I understand you on that one.. being married to a not-white foreigner and having a child with him makes me quite a bit more aware of American racism and bias... it's an ugly side to our society.

Sorry about that yes I mean immigration for sure . Yes no country is without it's racism sad statement about humanity.

[Soloenta 2,218]

Hi Guys! I finally got a case complete. Im a bit relieved since ive been here for many months. Last scan date was july 15th, just called an hour ago and spoke to Lee who confirmed my cc. The ceac portal never had my aos fee change from paid to n/a. They may have fixed that now.

I wanted to sincerely extend my regards and best wishes to everyone here and I hope you are reunited with your partners very soon.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Congratulations so happy for you and your loved one.

[mofatsd 127]

Hello Folks,

Just joining the journey - I've been in the shadows after filing and checking timings. Does anyone know about living abroad with the Beneficiary if that can perhaps speed up the process (I am thankful that our embassy doesn't do many interviews)? Hate the fact that the I-130 approval was quick (thought that was the long part) and now realizing that the long wait is actually with NVC.

I guess just adding my post so I can keep updated on everyone waiting with me.

Cheers to everyone!

[stackeria 280]

Hi Guys! I finally got a case complete. Im a bit relieved since ive been here for many months. Last scan date was july 15th, just called an hour ago and spoke to Lee who confirmed my cc. The ceac portal never had my aos fee change from paid to n/a. They may have fixed that now.

I wanted to sincerely extend my regards and best wishes to everyone here and I hope you are reunited with your partners very soon.

Congratulations and thank you for posting this bit of good news. This thread really needed a July 15th case complete! I hope there is more good news today. It's been a short week but it's felt way long!

I hope NVC schedules you an October interview next week. Good luck!

[Amanda4964 202]

Amanda... we're still waiting for the good news. Have you called at the end of the day?

NVC used to finish scheduling the two-weeks accumulated batch of CCs in two days. This time around 4 days of scheduling passed and still counting. I noticed quite a few CC cases still unscheduled, so hopefully there is a fifth day tomorrow.

Hi MoBar, I haven't called since Wed morning US time and it had not yet been scheduled. I will call Friday afternoon US time (when I wake up in Australia). Hope they have a date for me, otherwise I may have missed out on this round? Hopefully that means they will do another round in a couple of weeks.

I don't think Sydney is a very busy consulate, but I could be wrong. Will keep my fingers crossed! I am hoping to get a date so I can book my husband's medical appt.

[Soloenta 2,218]

I'm not even in a spousal category (EB-1), and still learned a lot from this thread. Recommend you stick long enough to learn of the NVC timelines and pitfalls.

From my experience, frequent and extended meetings are a symptom of a dysfunctional organization. When most of the business is conducted through the meetings, most probably participants do little else outside them, not to mention the wasted man-hours due to large meetings where the majority are there just twiddling their thumbs.

I also witnessed the flipside of that coin. I lived in the States for 7 years, and I can tell that some of those "foreigners" are as racist as they accuse Americans to be. Some even refuse to socialize outside their expat circles on principle.

Yes that also happens doesn't say much for us as living beings now does it. Some times because of the way they were treated others because they are just plain and simple racists. I've seen it also but not as much.

[Robisons 91]

got a mail from NVC. They told me to complete the DS 261 form asap and gave my case numbers......youre only 3 weeks late NVC.

I received the same email and a letter in the mail. Yet, the same email told me that my AOS was paid. What a waste of resources.

[left.coast.love 17]

Hello Folks,

Just joining the journey - I've been in the shadows after filing and checking timings. Does anyone know about living abroad with the Beneficiary if that can perhaps speed up the process (I am thankful that our embassy doesn't do many interviews)? Hate the fact that the I-130 approval was quick (thought that was the long part) and now realizing that the long wait is actually with NVC.

I guess just adding my post so I can keep updated on everyone waiting with me.

Cheers to everyone!

Hi and welcome! If you live in the same city as your local embassy, it might be worth visiting them during immigration office hours or sending them an email regarding your question. My experience with the Santiago embassy is that they were willing to discuss my expedite case and give me an idea of how likely an approval would be. If they don't receive a high volume of cases, they should be more open to expedites that aren't life-or-death situations. Good luck!

[mofatsd 127]

Hi and welcome! If you live in the same city as your local embassy, it might be worth visiting them during immigration office hours or sending them an email regarding your question. My experience with the Santiago embassy is that they were willing to discuss my expedite case and give me an idea of how likely an approval would be. If they don't receive a high volume of cases, they should be more open to expedites that aren't life-or-death situations. Good luck!

Thanks left.coast.love: We tried to do local processing (our embassy actually did local processing 2 years back...I guess we 'missed the boat') - Unfortunately it was denied. We did however talk to a person who worked for ours and they said if we went through the normal process (i.e. NVC) then once NVC approves our case and requests an interview it would be super quick since they don't get that many interviews to get a GC (amazingly enough they get more cases giving up their U.S. Citizenship!)

Called NVC just now - unfortunately no case assigned for the end week for me - let's hope next week will prove better!

[DM_G 20]

Hello Folks,

Just joining the journey - I've been in the shadows after filing and checking timings. Does anyone know about living abroad with the Beneficiary if that can perhaps speed up the process (I am thankful that our embassy doesn't do many interviews)? Hate the fact that the I-130 approval was quick (thought that was the long part) and now realizing that the long wait is actually with NVC.

I guess just adding my post so I can keep updated on everyone waiting with me.

Cheers to everyone!

Hi mofatsd,

Turns out living abroad with your beneficiary gets you auto-expedited at USCIS (since about April of this year), which is a huge time saver. It does not speed up the NVC process in any way though, unless you get an expedite approved (for life and death cases) as another posted just mentioned.

[mofatsd 127]

Hi mofatsd,

Turns out living abroad with your beneficiary gets you auto-expedited at USCIS (since about April of this year), which is a huge time saver. It does not speed up the NVC process in any way though, unless you get an expedite approved (for life and death cases) as another posted just mentioned.

Thanks DM_G: Was reading a blog about that where people were actually considering leaving the US together and filing abroad due to the expedite with USCIS - I can say 20 days compared to a lot of others out there is actually really fast (crossing fingers for all of you waiting!) - I'm wondering if it also had to do with are length of marriage, kids, etc. in reg. to our situation.

[MoBar65 520]

Hi mofatsd,

Turns out living abroad with your beneficiary gets you auto-expedited at USCIS (since about April of this year), which is a huge time saver. It does not speed up the NVC process in any way though, unless you get an expedite approved (for life and death cases) as another posted just mentioned.

It really should be the other way around. Separated spouses/families are the ones who deserve the USCIS auto-expedite, especially if there are kids involved.

[DM_G 20]

Thanks DM_G: Was reading a blog about that where people were actually considering leaving the US together and filing abroad due to the expedite with USCIS - I can say 20 days compared to a lot of others out there is actually really fast (crossing fingers for all of you waiting!) - I'm wondering if it also had to do with are length of marriage, kids, etc. in reg. to our situation.

Not sure about moving abroad for the purpose of getting an expedite with USCIS, sounds unethical or maybe even illegal.

In my case I was living abroad for almost 4 years before we filed with USCIS, and we filed four days after we got married, early April. At that time I had no idea about the auto-expedite thing, was bracing for 6-8 months of USCIS.

[Naumanxenon 38]

Thanks so much! Wishing you the best too!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Congratulations so happy for you and your loved one.

[DM_G 20]

It really should be the other way around. Separated spouses/families are the ones who deserve the USCIS auto-expedite, especially if there are kids involved.

MoBar65, I *totally* agree with you. I can't understand why a USC who chooses to go live in another country (with their spouse), most likely pays taxes in another country, gets an expedite, and not the other way around. I have been wondering about that since the beginning and can't think of a good any reason as to why USCIS does it that way.