Approved!!

[Jason-Sasha 1]

Thanks everyone! I know I will have loads of new questions now. I will be posting a few new topics in the coming days for sure. We seem to be a fairly small group (Russia) compared to most other country threads. But I'm sure there are more than enough people here to help us further. Thanks again everyone!!

[mc2000ch 0]

Always nice to hear another one has almost made it to the top of the hill!

Congra

[mc2000ch 0]

Sasha and I were approved today. Nov 28. We got a touch this morning, then later tonight I noticed we were approved!! Its just so great!!!

Congra and good luck

[slim 1,514]

I know I will have loads of new questions now. I will be posting a few new topics in the coming days for sure.

Keep 'em coming. We've got a few guys right around the same time, so post all the questions you can think of.

[Nagishkaw 510]

CONGRATULATIONS, Jason!

[Nancy2015 2]

Thanks everyone! I know I will have loads of new questions now. I will be posting a few new topics in the coming days for sure. We seem to be a fairly small group (Russia) compared to most other country threads. But I'm sure there are more than enough people here to help us further. Thanks again everyone!!

Folks from other countries or folks from the AOS forum can help you too, if you have questions

[Jason-Sasha 1]

My first question....How soon after the embassy receives our petition will they schedule an interview? I mean, they will send out this packet 3, right? Will this have an interview date already set? Or will they schedule her interview after she sends the list back?

Second question....What's the typical wait time from NVC to hearing something from the embassy?

Next.....If I call NVC in a few days, and they have my case, will they give me the new case number? Will this case number enable me to track my petition at the embassy?

Next.....Is it too soon for Sasha to get her police reports? Does she need something from the packet before she does this??

Next.....Instead of mailing the Aff. of Sup. can I take it to her when I go to Russia at Christmas?

Next.....Is it possible to have an interview as early as late January/early February?

Just a few questions to start with Thanks for any help you all can provide..

[slim 1,514]

My first question....How soon after the embassy receives our petition will they schedule an interview? I mean, they will send out this packet 3, right? Will this have an interview date already set? Or will they schedule her interview after she sends the list back?

The interview will be scheduled fairly quickly (within a couple weeks) for a time a few months away from then. So, if they get your packet in about two weeks, you could get an interview in Feb or Mar. (Not an estimate, just saying it takes about two months or so usually.) The packet 3 (which Moscow only sends one packet) will be sent once they get the case in Moscow and start setting her up for an interview. I believe (not 100% but I'm pretty sure) the interview date is sent out with the packet on somewhat of an "invitation slip" type deal. She doesn't need to send anything back to them (like they do at other embassies, remember, Moscow is "special") but she will need to complete a few forms including some online versions. (Instructions are in the packet.)

Second question....What's the typical wait time from NVC to hearing something from the embassy?

Barring any "issues" it's typically about a month to six weeks. (Interview assigned date. I believe you get an e-mail or something saying like "packet received by embassy." But you won't actually get an interview date until about a month or so from the time it leaves NVC.)

Next.....If I call NVC in a few days, and they have my case, will they give me the new case number? Will this case number enable me to track my petition at the embassy?

They may give you your new case number if they know it and if you're lucky enough to get in touch with an actual person. You can use this number to track your petition at the embassy, but only if you get it, and only if the embassy is actually assigning a date, and only if you can get in touch with a real person and only if they're in a good mood that day and only if..... get the picture? You're talking a whole bunch of "in theory" stuff that is technically true, but not very probable.

Next.....Is it too soon for Sasha to get her police reports? Does she need something from the packet before she does this??

It is NOT too soon for her to start getting her police reports. However, she will have detailed instructions mailed to her inside the packet and there should be sufficient time to compile all reports prior to the interview. She doesn't actually NEED something from the packet to start this process but it will tell her exactly what she needs to get. There's no reason to "hurry up and get them now" before you even have an interview date. That said, it's never too early! (They say they want them within a six-month time period prior to the interview, but that's not entirely accurate. As long as they're within a "recent" time, she'll be fine. 7 months isn't going to get her denied.)

Next.....Instead of mailing the Aff. of Sup. can I take it to her when I go to Russia at Christmas?

Yes. It needs to be "recent" as well and as long as you don't have a significant financial change between now and the interview, you should have no problems. You will probably have an updated W-2 by the time her interview rolls around so you may want to send that to her and a few more recent pay stubs and maybe even an updated employer letter in Feb or so. Your Aff. of Sup. from Dec. should be just fine though.

Next.....Is it possible to have an interview as early as late January/early February?

It's "possible" but it's more probable that she'll have an interview in mid-Feb to March or even April. You can check out the dates on the website and check to see what the most recent updates are scheduled for. You can probably add about two weeks to a month on to the most recent updates and get a pretty accurate idea of when you're going to see your petition # up there. (See above)

Some of the guys that have been through this pretty recently can probably guesstimate this better than I can but the trend seems to be about 3 months from leaving NVC which would put you right about March 1. That's where my money is!!! Hope it's sooner for you but if I were a wagering man...... Good luck, and keep the questions coming.

[jlogajan 0]

In regards to the information packet, our was supposedly sent on Nov 15 from the Moscow embassy, but has not arrived yet. Mean time the interview date showed up on the website for Dec 26. Due to travel booking issues my gal will have to leave for Moscow on Dec 14. I had to ship my documents to her Monday and hope they get there by Dec 13th.

I emailed her some scanned versions to print out just in case, but of course they won't be originals. I also told her the embassy website for forms etc, but not sure she is 100% web savy.

Anyhow, it was a mistake for us to depend on the packet arriving from the embassy. I was holding off sending my documents until the packet arrived in case they asked for specific things not mentioned in the website. Now we are in a time crunch.

[slim 1,514]

Wow! What a quick interview date! (Congrats on that!)

Sucks about the time crunch, but it's one of those "not so bad" type bad deals. Don't worry about not having originals. They've pretty much seen everything they need to see from you already and the forms you send to her to bring to the interview are just to "confirm" that everything is still good.

Good luck with the interview!!!

[Kotenochek 0]

Congrats guys!!!Its not early to get police report because it takes like month to get it.in my case i did not have much time so i went direct to the boss to get papers in few days.normally you should send 3 envalopes and wait till they mail back,and there might be mistakes so i advice to do it as soon as you can!!!

good luck with everything!

ah and yeah funny thing packed was mailed to me earlier than noa2 was approved on their web page:)))

[jlogajan 0]

Just to update the story -- shipped the documents by Fedex on December 3rd. They arrived in Pyatigorsk Russia on December 12th. Just two days before she was to leave on the train to Moscow. Whew. I wonder if DHL would have been faster.

[slim 1,514]

DHL and FedEx seem to be about the same inside Russia. Either way, it's expensive!

I shipped a document packet to my SIL a couple weeks ago. Dude at FedEx said it was going to be like $105 and some change and take like three weeks to get there. We went over to the Post Office (where they have an agreement with FedEx once outside the U.S.) and it was only $75 and took less than two weeks.

So, go to the Post Office.