US Military Spouses

[f1_gurl 0]

Just want to give update that you can request expedite AOS... my husband will be deploying on MArch 2010 and I called the military hotline and they expedited my case... They forwarded my case to CSC so no interview! I explained the situation to them that I dont have a DL and I'll be moving with my in laws to Chicago ...

I got a notification in the mail a few days later and it says that my case will be approved in 15 days...

[yohino 22]

Hi guys!

I hope someone can help me with this.

My husband and I just found out that he is being deployed in may.

We are in the middle of our journey ( at the NVC-stage) and have decided to try and delay my interview until july so I will be able to travel to the States in december when he gets back (it is 6 months you have to travel on your visa right?)

When he leaves he will not keep the house he has been living in, which is the adress that has been on all our paperwork so far. When he is getting ready to deploy, is it ok to do an adresschange and list his parents adress?

We are hoping to be done with NVC before he leaves ( incase there are any RFE's) and then just getting in touch with the embassy to push my interview back a month or two, depending on when NVC appoints the "original" interview. This should be doable right?

I hope someone has some answers or suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Take Care!

[Catt 6]

Hi guys!

I hope someone can help me with this.

My husband and I just found out that he is being deployed in may.

We are in the middle of our journey ( at the NVC-stage) and have decided to try and delay my interview until july so I will be able to travel to the States in december when he gets back (it is 6 months you have to travel on your visa right?)

When he leaves he will not keep the house he has been living in, which is the adress that has been on all our paperwork so far. When he is getting ready to deploy, is it ok to do an adresschange and list his parents adress?

We are hoping to be done with NVC before he leaves ( incase there are any RFE's) and then just getting in touch with the embassy to push my interview back a month or two, depending on when NVC appoints the "original" interview. This should be doable right?

I hope someone has some answers or suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Take Care!

If I were you, I would try and go talk to someone at the Embassy right now, and ask their advice.

Since they would be the ones to delay your paperwork, it would be good to get a feel from the start of what they would be willing to do. Considering you need help because of a deployment, I would expect them to be lenient but you want to be sure and not just assume, right.

As for the address change, whatever you do, also make sure your husband has his mail forwarded to his parents by USPS. And could he ask his neighbors/new tenants/landlord to keep an eye on things as well, just so you don't miss anything?

Good luck.

[yohino 22]

If I were you, I would try and go talk to someone at the Embassy right now, and ask their advice.

Since they would be the ones to delay your paperwork, it would be good to get a feel from the start of what they would be willing to do. Considering you need help because of a deployment, I would expect them to be lenient but you want to be sure and not just assume, right.

As for the address change, whatever you do, also make sure your husband has his mail forwarded to his parents by USPS. And could he ask his neighbors/new tenants/landlord to keep an eye on things as well, just so you don't miss anything?

Good luck.

Thank you so much for your reply.

I have e-mailed the Embassy asking them if it would be possible but it will probably be a day or two until they get back to me. So I figured I'd ask here aswell in the meantime.

The thing is, we have only been renting the house for a short time so we don't really know out neighbours, and have no idea who is moving in after us, but I'll defenitly tell my husband to talk to the landlord and ask if they would help keep an eye out for any mail that belongs to him. And if they could ask the new tenants to do the same.

Is there actually any mail that goes out after the NVC completes the case? Cause we are (hopefully) going to be done there before he leaves.

As for changing the address on file, what would we need to send in, and where? to NVC? the Embassy? USCIS?

Everything just got alot more complicated yesterday!

Thanks again!

[lettaa 0]

Hi everyone... Just introducing myself here and hopefully getting some advice

My fiance is currently deployed in Iraq, we are planning on getting married in May over his R&R then following the correct steps for a CR-1 (me returning to Australia). I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer for us

1) Can we try for an expedite seeing as he's deployed til Oct this year? If so, can we send this along with the I-130 Package and request the military expadite in the cover letter? Should we also attach a letter from command as well as copy of orders as proof of service? If so what should this letter say, should his commander/s know what to write for this?

2) If the expadite is approved I may receive my visa before he returns from deployment. In this case we would like for me to travel to the US and get us an apartment before he gets home. I understand we will need a POA with special conditions for this, can we write one up ourselves and have it notarized/certified or whatever it's called? What's the best way to get a POA? Go to JAG right after we marry and get them to do one up or can we have one done while he's in Iraq?

Thanks for any advice!

Edited March 19, 2010 by lettaa

[Catt 6]

Hi everyone... Just introducing myself here and hopefully getting some advice

My fiance is currently deployed in Iraq, we are planning on getting married in May over his R&R then following the correct steps for a CR-1 (me returning to Australia). I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer for us

1) Can we try for an expedite seeing as he's deployed til Oct this year? If so, can we send this along with the I-130 Package and request the military expadite in the cover letter? Should we also attach a letter from command as well as copy of orders as proof of service? If so what should this letter say, should his commander/s know what to write for this?

2) If the expadite is approved I may receive my visa before he returns from deployment. In this case we would like for me to travel to the US and get us an apartment before he gets home. I understand we will need a POA with special conditions for this, can we write one up ourselves and have it notarized/certified or whatever it's called? What's the best way to get a POA? Go to JAG right after we marry and get them to do one up or can we have one done while he's in Iraq?

Thanks for any advice!

Hi,

1) Yes, you should be able to. I would NOT include the expedite request in the initial package, since chance is high it will get overlooked and then you would be stuck waiting with everyone else, or have to resend it later on.

What I would do is send your I-130, then once you get your NOA1 (notice of receipt, you will get your casenumber), you immediately file your expedite request, with a copy of this NOA1.

We worked through a Senator and it very much sped things up as well.

My husband wrote a letter, stating the reasons for the request (DOD national interest situation - soldier has to be able to fully focus on the job at hand and the uncertainty of when/if wife/fiancee can join him in US is making that difficult).

He did not have actual deployment orders in hand, so we did include a letter of his CO.

In your case, the copy of the depl orders should be sufficient but it cannot hurt to include the CO's letter.

It should include a similar reasoning: mention of where/with what unit your husband is deployed, what his job is, that it is essential he can concentrate on his mission so it is therefore essential that your case is handled/approved asap.).

Do check out the thread 'Expedite Tips', also in the IR-1/CR-1 Forum, for more precise info.

2) POA: you can draw up your own POA, go to a Notary Public off post and have it notarized there (should you spend your R&R away from your husband's base). Or you can take advantage of services on post (doesn't have to be your husband's base, if another one is near), go visit JAG (I would recommend this, they also know more precisely what the POA needs to contain, they have several versions there as well) plus then you would not have to pay for the POA.

If you get married in the US, I would just get the POA taken care of then.

He should also be able to get one drawn up downrange. However, how fast/easy that is, will depend on where he is stationed exactly. For example, on my husband's base (he is deployed to Iraq right now), they don't have anyone available to draw up POA's. So they either have to fly in legal staff for that, or have the soldier flown out to another base, which costs time. I am an FRG leader myself and we have had issues with that for one of our families that needed a POA fast.

On top of that, mail back to the US is not always reliable (some mail he sent back here got lost - this might be exceptional but why take a chance?).

So save yourself the aggravation and just get your paperwork done during R&R, if you can (plus I would also try and get put in DEERS already, if possible, so you can get started on getting your medical coverage. You might not need it in Australia, but once you arrive in the US, you would want that medical coverage asap. So do prepare for that, as you might not be able to do all that by yourself, at least not without a POA - check with JAG and the DEERS people what you need to do to get that sorted out as well).

When you see JAG, I would also tell them you want to find an appartment/sign a lease agreement while waiting for your husband to return from deployment. They might have good info for you to take into account, when doing this.

I hope this helps.

[Scott and Mhay 57]

Hi everyone... Just introducing myself here and hopefully getting some advice

My fiance is currently deployed in Iraq, we are planning on getting married in May over his R&R then following the correct steps for a CR-1 (me returning to Australia). I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer for us

1) Can we try for an expedite seeing as he's deployed til Oct this year? If so, can we send this along with the I-130 Package and request the military expadite in the cover letter? Should we also attach a letter from command as well as copy of orders as proof of service? If so what should this letter say, should his commander/s know what to write for this?

2) If the expadite is approved I may receive my visa before he returns from deployment. In this case we would like for me to travel to the US and get us an apartment before he gets home. I understand we will need a POA with special conditions for this, can we write one up ourselves and have it notarized/certified or whatever it's called? What's the best way to get a POA? Go to JAG right after we marry and get them to do one up or can we have one done while he's in Iraq?

Thanks for any advice!

1. You dont need to file a letter with the I-130. What I did was after I got the case number (use the G-1145 with the I-130 to get email updates) I called the military helpline from my deployed location. There is a way for military to call 800 numbers from DSN...he just has to dial 809-463-3376 (no 1 in front of it) and the military helpline. All they needed from me was the APO zipcode and case number. They sent the request to the CSC and they replied by e-mail approving the expedite request.

For the NVC I called and talked to them and they told me who to send the letter to (the philippine supervisor) with supporting documents.(I used orders and proof of service letter of my virtual military personnel flight)

DiannaWallgreens told me that theirs was expedited through both because when they got an RFE in the USCIS stage they included deployment orders and an expedite request. the best bet would be to call the military helpline to know how to do it all right. I kinda fumbled through it. The big thing with the NVC is to talk to the right operator...I had to call like 4 or 5 times before they told me I could expedite through the NVC..the first few times they told me that there was no way. The big thing is knowing who the supervisor for your country is because you send a separate package to them at the same address and just attention to them.

[lettaa 0]

Thanks everyone! So I think i've got this all squared away now... Hopefully... I guess with immigration you never know what lovely little suprise is gonna be around the corner!

[His_Wifey 1]

hello ladies... try to expedite your I-130 if your hubbys are deployed.... we did that and instead of sending all the paperwork by mail i took them with me to the consulate... and all worked pretty fine!! good luck all

[msd 3]

NVC is taking forever these days and my husband is going to get a memo from his CO stating when he will deploy next. Probably not before January 2010.

My question is, would that be sufficient to get an expedite? Because it's not immediate?

He is also going away for training for 3 weeks and will not be able to contact anybody during that time, so if the NVC sends us something during that time (like an RFE), we'd be screwed.

It would take at least 2 more months in the processing and until we get an interview if that happens.

And how long does it take until an expedite is approved?

[Navyangel 1]

my husband is deployed we have filled all forms in september and have interview in January, can i still have it expidited for nautrilization he has been deployed from August 2010- May 2011

[Pamela&Terry 1]

Hello Everyone, I really need advice. I know they say you have to read first and I did but im really confused about what step take next.

I will try to be very quick in my story: My fiancee works in the US AIR FORCE right now stationed in Germany, Im from Ecuador. He lives in Germany with the SOFA status and I live in Ecuador. I am in Germany now but every time I come here is with a TOURIST Schengen VISA im not a resident in Germany.

He is moving back to the states in August. They are sending him back and we will not being able to see each other in this period because I dont have a tourist visa they denied to me BEFORE we start dating.

Process:

We apply for a K1 Visa: In September 15 ,we receive the NOA1 BUT the 28 of March we get a DENIED because we did not send a lot of papers. This is totally our fault and now we just want to know what we should do.

What we should do now?

We are already sad because me lost 7 months in our process.

K1 Visa - I read about a "miitary expedite request" If we REFILE the K1 visa with all the papers and I know doing it carefully. How does this "military expedite request works" Or its only for spouse visa?

Spouse Visa - If we decide to take the second way and get married in Germany is the Expedite Request available? How do we apply?

I will like for you to help me and please please take your time to explain me your process and how did you do it.

Thanks so much !!

Pamela

[mcdsnight 5]

Hello Everyone, I really need advice. I know they say you have to read first and I did but im really confused about what step take next.

I will try to be very quick in my story: My fiancee works in the US AIR FORCE right now stationed in Germany, Im from Ecuador. He lives in Germany with the SOFA status and I live in Ecuador. I am in Germany now but every time I come here is with a TOURIST Schengen VISA im not a resident in Germany.

He is moving back to the states in August. They are sending him back and we will not being able to see each other in this period because I dont have a tourist visa they denied to me BEFORE we start dating.

Process:

We apply for a K1 Visa: In September 15 ,we receive the NOA1 BUT the 28 of March we get a DENIED because we did not send a lot of papers. This is totally our fault and now we just want to know what we should do.

What we should do now?

We are already sad because me lost 7 months in our process.

K1 Visa - I read about a "miitary expedite request" If we REFILE the K1 visa with all the papers and I know doing it carefully. How does this "military expedite request works" Or its only for spouse visa?

Spouse Visa - If we decide to take the second way and get married in Germany is the Expedite Request available? How do we apply?

I will like for you to help me and please please take your time to explain me your process and how did you do it.

Thanks so much !!

Pamela

I am not sure about K1 going to Germany, coz basically K1 visa is for you to enter US not Germany. Maybe you want to apply for a visa going to Germany, get married there and then file for a CR1 or I-130. then you can request for an expedite for I-130 if you both decided that you will live with your in-laws in US. Now if you want to live with you husband in Germany, he will just have to add you in his orders by command sponsorship so you can go there.

I think I made it confusing...

BTW my husband is in air force and we did the K1 visa.

I have a question though for everyone, can the naturalization be expedited?

Thank you

[tuvaty 3]

I figure I should revise this good military topic. My question to those military spouse is:

Is there a way to expedite the USCIS process when you're not deployed? I don't think I fall under any of those compelling reasons to expedite, but I figure that there's a way to expedite this USCIS thing right?

[Pamela&Terry 1]

I figure I should revise this good military topic. My question to those military spouse is:

Is there a way to expedite the USCIS process when you're not deployed? I don't think I fall under any of those compelling reasons to expedite, but I figure that there's a way to expedite this USCIS thing right?

Hello !! You can apply to expedite the USCIS process but it is VERY HARD to get it if its not a deployment. We tried already to expedite and they did not accept our petition so I wont think expedite is a posibility! But you can try! You have to call USCIS once you apply you have to give them your case number and they will give you a new case number of the expedite process.

Hope this helps!