Notice of action form and Interview date

[JMR 3]

Hello there VJ community =)

I have a couple of questions I am hoping you friendly bunch will be able to help me with me !

First off, I sent my check-list off in the post to get my interview date, my medical is feb 12th, I am just wondering what the average time is between sending the letter and the actual interview date. Is it a couple of weeks or like a month or two?

Secondly on the notice of action form (i-797) that my fiancée received state side the expiry date is 1st march. I am starting to panic now because i know that you only get the 4 month period to sort your forms, medical and interview out etc. If I don't get my interview date before then should I notify them or will they see on their records and automatically extend the date another month or so? Or should I email them or phone them or something?

I really appreciate your help and it will ease my mind.

Thanks so much,

Jmr

[Otto 83]

The Embassy/Consulate can and likely will, almost as a matter of routine, extend the approval period (especially if the beneficiary has complied in a timely manner; which presumably you have). It is usually not something to be terribly concerned about.

[JMR 3]

Fantastic !

At least I don't have anything to worry about...well regarding that...i still have alot more stuff to worry about !!!

Thanks for your quick reply its been worrying me.

As for my timeline im trying to fill it in

*edit* btw what if they don't extend it...? Should i get in contact or just wait and see?

Edited January 31, 2010 by JMR

[FrostyMist 1]

First off, I sent my check-list off in the post to get my interview date, my medical is feb 12th, I am just wondering what the average time is between sending the letter and the actual interview date. Is it a couple of weeks or like a month or two?

I think I read somewhere that the London embassy have a bit of a backlog at the moment. I just had my interview on the 15th January, and I sent my checklist in around the 18th November. (I think) I got an interview letter four weeks after I sent off my checklist, and the interview itself worked out at being about 4 weeks after the letter arrived. I think it partly depends on what time of the month you send your checklist off---from what I can tell, the embassy seem to schedule interviews only at a certain time each month.

Secondly on the notice of action form (i-797) that my fiancée received state side the expiry date is 1st march. I am starting to panic now because i know that you only get the 4 month period to sort your forms, medical and interview out etc. If I don't get my interview date before then should I notify them or will they see on their records and automatically extend the date another month or so? Or should I email them or phone them or something?

Our expiary date was October 31st 2009. Interview was January 15th 2010. It wasn't a problem for us--we were approved and I wasn't even asked about it at the interview (I brought it up myself though, because I was concerned the issue had been mistakenly overlooked).

I had a really hard time finding information out about this. In the end, I sent a notarized letter of intent from my fiance to them in the beginning of November (as well as a brief cover letter explaining why I was writing, and why we were delayed---"we are still collecting documentation", was what I wrote). And then took an updated notarized letter of intent from him, (since it had been over three months since I sent them the October notarized letter) and also one from myself, (cost was £30 for me) to my interview in January.

I'm not sure how much of any of this was actually necessary to do. When I asked about it at my interview, the interviewer said "it's fine, I have everything here." So, I guess it seems all he really needed was my fiance's letter of intent. But I made sure to hand over my letter of intent, which he did accept, just because I was worried something had been overlooked (and also because I didn't like the idea that I might have paid £30 for something that ended up being useless!)

Edited January 31, 2010 by FrostyMist

[JMR 3]

It might be worth us getting a notarized letter each maybe and i can take them with me to the interview? I mean in with all the documents though there are both of our letter of consents ya know so im not too sure.

I hope it is on the same time frame as yours was tbh because my fiance is still waiting to get some documents from her work but i figured i would get them within the month and in plenty of time for my interview.

Another thing i have been thinking about on the checklist it mentioned police certificate. I have never been arrested or anything like that but do i still need one? I just figured I didnt...

Thanks for your reply,

Jmr

[h1a1 5]

Another thing i have been thinking about on the checklist it mentioned police certificate. I have never been arrested or anything like that but do i still need one? I just figured I didnt...

Yes you do and it can take a couple of weeks to arrive so get one ordered as soon as possible.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

About the expiration of the petition approval. If you did nothing to continue your case after the petition was approved, then they could consider it abandoned after the expiration. But you have sent in the DS forms to apply for the visa and the checklist in a timely manner. They know you are still actively pursuing a visa. Any time it takes them to get around to granting you an interview isn't held against you. You've done your part, and you don't need to formally ask for an extension of the petition expiration.

An example where a second letter of intent to marry might be needed at an Embassy.

You met on the internet and don't speak the same language, were together one time for 2 weeks and got engaged instantly. The fiancee didn't send in her Embassy paperwork for 5 months after petition approval. The USCs affidavit of suport is 8 months old. Now 12 months have passed since you last saw each other in person. The fiancee shows up at the interview pregnant. Do the math. The US Embassy might want the US citizen to confirm again that he does indeed still want to marry this person.

[JMR 3]

Yes you do and it can take a couple of weeks to arrive so get one ordered as soon as possible.

Thanks, ill get on it ASAP !

About the expiration of the petition approval. If you did nothing to continue your case after the petition was approved, then they could consider it abandoned after the expiration. But you have sent in the DS forms to apply for the visa and the checklist in a timely manner. They know you are still actively pursuing a visa. Any time it takes them to get around to granting you an interview isn't held against you. You've done your part, and you don't need to formally ask for an extension of the petition expiration.

An example where a second letter of intent to marry might be needed at an Embassy.

You met on the internet and don't speak the same language, were together one time for 2 weeks and got engaged instantly. The fiancee didn't send in her Embassy paperwork for 5 months after petition approval. The USCs affidavit of suport is 8 months old. Now 12 months have passed since you last saw each other in person. The fiancee shows up at the interview pregnant. Do the math. The US Embassy might want the US citizen to confirm again that he does indeed still want to marry this person.

Thanks you make alot of sense =)

[FrostyMist 1]

It might be worth us getting a notarized letter each maybe and i can take them with me to the interview? I mean in with all the documents though there are both of our letter of consents ya know so im not too sure.

In our case, there were some lengthy delays during which the embassy would have heard nothing from me if I hadn't have written to them and sent my fiance's letter of intent.

Even though I knew I would be delayed in sending in my checklist, I sent in all the forms because I felt this would prove that my application was still "active". Originally, I had been hoping that my checklist could be sent off a couple of weeks later (i was waiting some documents) but there were massive delays and in the end, I didn't send my checklist back to them until end of November.

Apparently, it's not very difficult to get a notarized letter of intent done in the US. So I'd have one of those ready at the interview, just in case. But it's a lot harder in the UK - I paid £30 for mine, (some charge as much as £70, maybe even more!) and there are not many places that offer this service (had to travel 40 minutes to get mine done). It seems pointless that the UK citizen should be required to do this, but I was just really, really worried so had it done anyways. I couldn't get a straight "yes" or "no" answer from the embassy, so didn't want to go to the interview without it-just in case.

And yes, you do need to get a police certificate. Even if you know you have no convictions, they don't know that without proof. When I sent off for mine in August, it took about 3 - 4 weeks before I got it, so get that done as soon as possible.

[JMR 3]

Sweet. Im going to send off for my police certificate tomorrow. Ill get it in plenty of time.

Thanks for your help. Ill keep you all updated =)

[JMR 3]

Have I got the wrong birth certificate?

It has on it:

#Name and Surname

#Sex

#D.O.B

#Place of birth

# I <name> registar of birth an deaths for the sub-district of <place> etc etc...

#Date #Signature of registrar

Have i got the short form? It is the original from when i was born though.

Thanks

Jmr

[Amanda and Tony 0]

Have I got the wrong birth certificate?

It has on it:

#Name and Surname

#Sex

#D.O.B

#Place of birth

# I <name> registar of birth an deaths for the sub-district of <place> etc etc...

#Date #Signature of registrar

Have i got the short form? It is the original from when i was born though.

Thanks

Jmr

yes you have the short form, the long form has both your parents' names and occupations on it. You need to obtain a copy of the long form from your local registrar.

[JMR 3]

Right. Found my local registrar going to sort that out tomorrow.

I found a check-list for the interview (not official one I don't think) under co-sponsor for Affidavit of support it has letter of support. Can anyone tell me what this is and if they have an example of it.

Thanks so much

Jmr

[JMR 3]

*bump*

Ive found an example but its for a UK person. Still not sure what it is :S

[Nik+Heather 121]

*bump*

Ive found an example but its for a UK person. Still not sure what it is :S

Cosponsor fills the same form, and provides the same info as the primary sponsor (petitioner) does - the I-134. The ADDITIONAL info required of the cosponsor is proof of their US perm. residence or US citizenship. So, copy of green card, copy of passport, copy of birth cert, natz. cert....etc.