LAND DOWNUNDER

[Poi_n_J 0]

i just remembered last night to tell my fiance to scan and email me the NOA1 and the NOA2 ... so i had a copy of them for the interview.... i'm like "do i need to remind you in the morning?" and he replies "no i've got it all under control"

and he did!! i had them in my inbox first thing in the morning - i am so PROUD of him... usually i have to kick him to remind him of something lol.....

Glad I'm not the only one doing the kicking...lol.

Do we have to take those to the interview?

[SharynY 2]

Not sure - its on the guide on this site but its not mentioned anywhere on the paperwork that the consulate sends you.... but i want to have them just in case they do....

it might be an after thought....

now i'm hoping i havent forgotten anything...

three things left to do...

take another copy of the ds 156 form (the one you fill out online)

get some american sized passport pics done

pay the consulate fee

oh and!!! - 3kg express paid envelope.....

see 4 things to do!!

.............

[tonyr7 0]

Not sure - its on the guide on this site but its not mentioned anywhere on the paperwork that the consulate sends you.... but i want to have them just in case they do....

it might be an after thought....

now i'm hoping i havent forgotten anything...

three things left to do...

take another copy of the ds 156 form (the one you fill out online)

get some american sized passport pics done

pay the consulate fee

oh and!!! - 3kg express paid envelope.....

see 4 things to do!!

im not sure about the NOA's seeing as my app was for k3, but i didnt require them. I did however include them with my waiver packs.

The rest of the stuff you mentioned is all required tho.

i went thru my apps 6-7 times beforehand,and for the consul, I took only what pack 3 asked for.

On the day, the CO told me I needed birth certificates for my 2 sons from a previous marraige, and to come back after 1pm to be fingerprinted.At least i had time to get to Births,Deaths and Marraiges, they are right by Central Station, in regent st if anyone else has to make a mad dash too. Renee had sent me Money Gram type money orders for my waiver apps.I was told they dont accept that type of money order.Also, if they request additional fees, all money orders must be made out to US Consulate General, Sydney, and not Dept of Homeland Security, as is advised on the website.Sydney office are the ones who will receipt you for those fees.

.............

[SharynY 2]

the consulate fee you can pay at the post office and get a receipt for it and you have to attach it or have them attach it to your passport.....

but i'm taking the NOA's just incase........ rather have more then needed then less.....

[Poi_n_J 0]

the consulate fee you can pay at the post office and get a receipt for it and you have to attach it or have them attach it to your passport.....

but i'm taking the NOA's just incase........ rather have more then needed then less.....

Goodluck hon!

[calvinch 3]

How long is it typically until interviews? I see some people here that get their interviews a month after sending the interview request in for Sydney. My fiancee sent the interview request in last week and hers was scheduled on Oct 10. Not only that, but they are requesting a police certificate for Japan, where she only spent 10 months, not 12. What gives?

[Kath 0]

hi cal

yes at the moment interviews are being set for october because of the APEC meeting in Australia..if you go to the sydney embassey website it explains it there..

also i found this from one of jezz's posts..hollywood went through the same thing as your fiancee...

To clear up any confusion the US consulate says the following in their information sheet...

If the applicant is living in their country of nationality at their current residence for more than 6 months AND is older than 16 years old THEN the applicant needs a police certificate from the police authorities of that locality.

If the applicant lived in a different part of their country of nationality for more than 6 months AND was 16 years or older at that time THEN the applicant needs a police certificate from the police authorities of that locality.

If the applicant lived in a different country for more than 12 months AND was 16 years or older at that time THEN the applicant needs a police certificate from the police authorities of that locality.

If the applicant was arrested for any reason, regardless of how long they lived there AND was any age at that time THEN the applicant needs a police certificate from the police authorities of that locality.

also do a search for the member called hollywood79 she researched what had to be done for a japanese police certificate..its on page 2 of her posts...also you could do a search for the japanese embassey at the top of this page in embassey info...

from what i can remember of hollywood's post about this topic..she also was under the 12 month rule and she didnt have to get a police certificate...so i would do what she did and contact sydney consulate about this seeing she was only there 6 months...

hope that was some help to you and good luck..just read some of hollywood's posts or send her a message im sure she will help you out...

on a bumma note from me.. our car wont be back from the shop till 5pm tonight and i cant get hold of our friend to take me to do my drivers test so i might have to ring in a minute to cancel it and book it in again ..and thats 2 weeks from now geez im so disappointed in both the damm mechanic and our mate. .. but life goes on just a little bump in the road..

take care

kath

[hollywood79 0]

Calcheng,

If you stayed less than 365 days which to the common man is 12 months you do not need a police certificate from another country.

The people at Sydney are a bunch of idiots!! They told me I would need one and both my husband and I debated with them. We recieved an email confirmation from them stating we would not need one from Japan as I had only lived there as a perm resident for 355 days. Well, we arrive at our interview and the silly woman who looks at the docs first, pretty sure she wasn't a US citizen so why was working with visas???, told me she was going to to recommend a visa refusal because we were missing docs. Well we debated again and I was ready to slap her after we showed her the consulate email and she kept saying "VISA REFUSAL"!! Anyway we had our interview about 10 mins later showed the interviewer my passport with my entry and exits stamps (she didn't really look at it just took my word), and granted me a visa. We received my visa early the following week. The issued me the wrong visa!!!! It's been about 6 weeks since I got my visa and hopefully we get it fixed next week!!

I HATE the sydney consulate and we will be sending them an invoice for one night's stay in LA and fuel costs to get down there as it is a 3.5 hour drive, possibly drycleaning costs too for our car after our baby haas been car sick!! All this too fix Sydney's mistake even after we verified with them twice at our interview on which type of greencard I would be granted.

I am so sorry for you experience. I understand what you are going through!! The stress of thinking you now need a police certiificate which takes time is horrible!!

Goodluck!

[calvinch 3]

Thanks for your feedback Kath and hollywood. Since our interview is scheduled all the way in Oct, I suppose there would be no harm in getting the police certificate from Japan anyway (if only to appease imbeciles), seeing that time is something we have plenty of. I am more annoyed at the fact that we have to wait until Oct for our interview... since our K-1 petition is only valid 4 months from issuance it will expire in Oct so we were told to fax in a request to Sydney extend it. So basically we are filing for an extension because they are telling us to file it, not because we need or want to. Why can't they just grant us one automatically since it wasn't our fault APEC decided to be in Sydney this year? Stupid.

[vylex 0]

Thanks for your feedback Kath and hollywood. Since our interview is scheduled all the way in Oct, I suppose there would be no harm in getting the police certificate from Japan anyway (if only to appease imbeciles), seeing that time is something we have plenty of. I am more annoyed at the fact that we have to wait until Oct for our interview... since our K-1 petition is only valid 4 months from issuance it will expire in Oct so we were told to fax in a request to Sydney extend it. So basically we are filing for an extension because they are telling us to file it, not because we need or want to. Why can't they just grant us one automatically since it wasn't our fault APEC decided to be in Sydney this year? Stupid.

Calcheng,

Request a closer date. That's what Sharyna did and she got bumped to next week.

As for the Japanese Police Certificate, try and gather as much evidence showing it's not needed because I can't believe they gave Hollywood such a hard time and screwed up her Visa classification.

[SharynY 2]

i did, i emailed them on Monday to request a earlier date since sydney wasnt being locked down - and tell them that if they cant give you a earlier date if they can also put you on a waiting list - they did that to me and on wednesday i was emailed by them and told my interview was moved from october to next tuesday - ..... the girl that emailed me she was so nice....actually i have to email her today to confirm that they have my medical results as Dr Waks sent them directly to the consulate....

i recieved the new appt letter last night - yay!!

oh and on the living in another country thing.... i had the same problem - and because i wasnt issued with an ID card - i got that consulate to write a letter stating that since i didnt have one, they couldnt do a check on me, incase the US consulate questions if i even went to do it lol.....

[calvinch 3]

Thanks sharyna and vylex. We'll go ahead and email them to see if we could be put on a waiting list or something. Sharyna why did you need an ID card? You'll just need the police certificate right?

[SharynY 2]

the country my parents come from - they issue id cards - for ID purposes..... and back then if you werent borne in that country you werent issued one... so since i wasnt borne there - i didnt get a card and hence i cant get a police check done with them..

but i've got the police check done with the australian police since i've lived here all my life really.....

********

hey guys

the 3kg express post satchel - do we need to pay the postage on the reply?...... or do the consulate do that?

and remind me again -

are the australian sized passport pics enough for these guys? ... because they are very very close to the size of the american passport size............

thanks!!

[Kelli 0]

hey guys

the 3kg express post satchel - do we need to pay the postage on the reply?...... or do the consulate do that?

and remind me again -

are the australian sized passport pics enough for these guys? ... because they are very very close to the size of the american passport size............

thanks!!

Hey Sharyna!

Yep, you do need to pay the postage on the satchel...its about $10-11 or something, and I just got my passport pics done at Big W and they were fine.

Good luck with everything!

[Kath 0]

hi ya tris

how you doing...

i thought the satchels you bought from australia post already came with postage paid on um..thats why ya pay so much for um..sharyna dont forget to address it on the front to yourself ...and the passport photo's have to be 2x2 inches..

well i cancelled my driving test this arvo.. wont be taking it till 31st july now..i was so disappointed but never mind fingers crossed we get the car back tomorrow and we have at least a weekend together doing stuff before robbie goes back to work..a whole week wasted...

take care

kath