Nairobi Embassy Thread!

[Gretch 11]

Hi all!

I was very active on this board back in 2012/2013 when my husband was immigrating on an CR1 visa. My husband had a great and easy experience with the Nairobi embassy back in 2013. Now we are currently going through the process again for my stepdaughter. We are at the NVC stage waiting for her case complete notification and then we will also be awaiting the interview date to be scheduled. Please let me know if I can help to answer any questions as I will be happy to if I know the answer. Best wishes to all.

Hi loveyourlife! I see you were in a similar situation to me. My husband is from Rwanda, which just started processing immigration visas; until a few months ago Rwandans had to go through Kenya. So there isn't any information about the process at the Rwanda embassy.

Anyway, my question is this: my husband has a son who we are not applying for at this time. Do you remember, when your husband applied, whether you submitted a birth certificate for his daughter? Both the Kenya and Rwanda embassies have said this is necessary, but when I asked around on VJ, several people said it wasn't true. My husband is trying to get a birth certificate for his son but it's likely to take several months. I don't know whether to send the documents I have to the NVC now, knowing it's possible I'll get an RFE if they want the birth certificate, or wait many months until it's available.

Since my husband lived in Kenya for a couple of years he's also trying to get his Certificate of Good Conduct from there... the directions online are clear enough, but the official at the Kenyan embassy in Rwanda told him it's not possible. Gotta love Africa! I swear, government officials in Rwanda don't give up documents until you've asked three times. "Impossible." Next day: "Impossible." The day after that: "fine, if you come back tomorrow." The day after that: "Who told you that? Impossible." (and so on...)

I envy people whose spouses live in countries where everyone has a birth certificate!

[loveyourlife 2]

Hi loveyourlife! I see you were in a similar situation to me. My husband is from Rwanda, which just started processing immigration visas; until a few months ago Rwandans had to go through Kenya. So there isn't any information about the process at the Rwanda embassy.

Anyway, my question is this: my husband has a son who we are not applying for at this time. Do you remember, when your husband applied, whether you submitted a birth certificate for his daughter? Both the Kenya and Rwanda embassies have said this is necessary, but when I asked around on VJ, several people said it wasn't true. My husband is trying to get a birth certificate for his son but it's likely to take several months. I don't know whether to send the documents I have to the NVC now, knowing it's possible I'll get an RFE if they want the birth certificate, or wait many months until it's available.

Since my husband lived in Kenya for a couple of years he's also trying to get his Certificate of Good Conduct from there... the directions online are clear enough, but the official at the Kenyan embassy in Rwanda told him it's not possible. Gotta love Africa! I swear, government officials in Rwanda don't give up documents until you've asked three times. "Impossible." Next day: "Impossible." The day after that: "fine, if you come back tomorrow." The day after that: "Who told you that? Impossible." (and so on...)

I envy people whose spouses live in countries where everyone has a birth certificate!

Hi Gretch,

Best of luck to you as you complete this journey soon! Rwanda is beautiful. I spent some time in Kigali last year and truly enjoyed it. When my husband went through the immigration process a few years ago, he was not asked to provide a birth certificate for his daughter, but we also did not mention petitioning for her in the future at that time. If I were you, I would send your documents to NVC now instead of waiting because you may luck out and not be asked to provide his son's birth certificate.

I feel your pain on the drama associated with getting a birth certificate issued. It took my husband nearly 6 weeks to get a birth certificate issued for himself a few years back. We had to request that a birth certificate be issued for my step daughter months ago knowing that it would be needed to complete this process and it took 10 weeks to receive because they create inaccurate birth certificates with spelling errors on it the first two times they issued it.

Wishing you all the best with this process.

[Ambasa73 45]

Hey team Kenya, we finally got our NOA2! Yaaay! It's only been 2 days since we got notification on the USCIA android app. I have read elsewhere on this thread that we should start calling NVC after 2 weeks....is this correct? Should we decide to wait it out and hear from the Embassy, how long should we expect to wait? I guess I'm basically asking how long it takes after NOA2 to get case number, do they contact petitioner? How long does it take to hear from the local embassy? etc Once we get our case number, can we proceed with medicals and filling out the visa application forms, DS160 and DS256? Please share any other important info that I should be aware of. Thanks in advance.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Ambasa73

[shannonnoelle 2]

Hi all,

My husband's interview is in Nairboi on July 26th. SO anxious excited about it. My question is how long after approval at the interview is the visa issued usually?

Thanks

[Ambasa73 45]

Hi all,

My husband's interview is in Nairboi on July 26th. SO anxious excited about it. My question is how long after approval at the interview is the visa issued usually?

Thanks

Hey Shannonnoelle,

I wish I could be of more help. It seems Team Kenya is not very responsive or they simply don't log in to the forum. I wish I could be of help, unfortunately I can't! I'm still waiting for my NVC case number and mine is a K1 visa. I would however appreciate any info/insights into the process that you might have. All the best and God's speed in your process, keep us updated, especially with the interview part.

[loveyourlife 2]

Hi all,

My husband's interview is in Nairboi on July 26th. SO anxious excited about it. My question is how long after approval at the interview is the visa issued usually?

Thanks

I am not sure if it still takes this long but it took exactly 7 days after the visa was approved for it to be released to my husband back in 2013. Hopefully it doesn't take that long now. We have our case complete and are now waiting for an interview date to be issued for my stepdaughter. It looks like it took several months after your case was complete to be issued an interview date....that's what I was afraid of.

[KASH2011 382]

Hi all,

My husband's interview is in Nairboi "Nairobi" on July 26th. SO anxious excited about it. My question is how long after approval at the interview is the visa issued usually?

Thanks

Usually anywhere between 1-2 weeks after approval unless otherwise! Good luck to you at the interview and let us know how it goes!

[KASH2011 382]

It is so silent in here!

[Ambasa73 45]

It is so silent in here!

KASH2011, you can say that again! I've made some progress in my journey, I actually have the interview set for November 16th, yeah, that far out! This has totally messed me up...I had done my police certificate late May as I was certain that I would get an interview date sometime mid or late August. I intend to apply for the police certificate afresh in September and do my medicals in October. Has anyone out there had a similar experience? The US visa scheduling service asked me to keep checking just in case a new earlier date opens up....does this actually happen?

Edited August 1, 2016 by Ambasa73

[loveyourlife 2]

Our IR2 case has been complete with NVC since June 10th and we are simply waiting g for an interview date for our daughter now. It seems like the embassy is moving pretty slow these days or is super busy so we are praying for an October interview for her. The embassy seemed to be issuing interviews much sooner back in 2013 when my husband went through the IR1 process.

[shannonnoelle 2]

Hi all my husband was approved for cr1/ir1 visa last Tuesday and got his passport back on Friday so now he is back with me so happy! If u have any questions I'm happy to help. It is a lonngggg wait for the interview. We found out in May a whole 2 months after our case was complete with NVC that our interview would be End of July >_<

Edited August 2, 2016 by shannonnoelle

[KASH2011 382]

KASH2011, you can say that again! I've made some progress in my journey, I actually have the interview set for November 16th, yeah, that far out! This has totally messed me up...I had done my police certificate late May as I was certain that I would get an interview date sometime mid or late August. I intend to apply for the police certificate afresh in September and do my medicals in October. Has anyone out there had a similar experience? The US visa scheduling service asked me to keep checking just in case a new earlier date opens up....does this actually happen?

Yes! There will be some appointments that are cancelled or re-scheduled and hopefully you can take an earlier spot. Good luck to you, I hope it all works out for you sooner!

Hi all my husband was approved for cr1/ir1 visa last Tuesday and got his passport back on Friday so now he is back with me so happy! If u have any questions I'm happy to help. It is a lonngggg wait for the interview. We found out in May a whole 2 months after our case was complete with NVC that our interview would be End of July >_<

Congrats!

[loveyourlife 2]

Hi all!

Looks like Nairobi may be picking up the pace with IR1/IR2 interviews. My daughter's case complete was June 10th and today we received notice that her interview will be September 20th!

[KASH2011 382]

Hi all!

Looks like Nairobi may be picking up the pace with IR1/IR2 interviews. My daughter's case complete was June 10th and today we received notice that her interview will be September 20th!

That's great! Good luck to you!

[Kolewenoik31 57]

Hey everybody it's been so long that I have checked in. Well I can say it was a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong roooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooough adjustment for my hubby. I think I may have had one of the worse cases but through prayer and much more prayer we have made it this far. We are coming up for our 10 yr. I want to encourage someone that with God all things are possible when we counsel with him about this marriage relationship. I know many are and have been scammed, my heart goes out to you all. I felt that once! Today we still have rough patches because we are from different everything but I can say that God is the elastic in the middle. If there is someway I can assist anyone, even if it's to bring comfort or advise on our testimony please feel free to let me know a PM is ok. I will try to continue updating everyone as the years go by.