"Don't plan til visa in hand"

[lovenow 2]

Oh my god!

I can't believe it takes so long for them to issue the visa!

I'm so sorry to hear that! I hope you are getting it delivered right now so you can make it to your flight.

I have to show this to my fiance he thinks we can already schedule the wedding when our petition is still on it's way to the consulate (btw- it took our pettiton 18 days just to get to NVC...)

Thanks for "blowing" ( : our dreams that we can plan everything for about 2 weeks past the interview date and saving us from getting disappointed. Now I know you never know until you actually have it in your hands...

Best of luck to you and thanks again for all your help. Sorry for us that they can't work faster at the consulate. They really are the ones who control our lives right now.

[ecce 20]

Consulate is closed for the day. No visa. We'll reschedule the flight.

He really, really tried to get it today and I think ended up annoying the consulate. Now I'm worried. We don't want them annoyed at us.

Sad morning.

[san diego 407]

Consulate is closed for the day. No visa. We'll reschedule the flight.

He really, really tried to get it today and I think ended up annoying the consulate. Now I'm worried. We don't want them annoyed at us.

Sad morning.

I do not believe you can annoy the consulate. They are used to it. Don't worry. I would say bugging them is a good thing.

[ecce 20]

I do not believe you can annoy the consulate. They are used to it. Don't worry. I would say bugging them is a good thing.

Thanks. That actually makes me feel better.

[san diego 407]

Thanks. That actually makes me feel better.

Trus me: I kep bugging consulate big time (in Russia). Turned out positive. This is their job and they used to being bugged. If you don't: this becomes suspicious...

[JLaw 2]

If you wait until after takeoff, the ticket is worth zero.

While this is 99% true, I've had Aer Lingus allow me to just pay the change fee and difference AFTER the date. It doesn't hurt to ask. In any case, definitely better to change the flight beforehand or book a flexible ticket.

Best of luck with everything.

[ecce 20]

Unbelievable. On Friday we got an email from the consulate saying the visa had been issued and was with the delivery company and we should confirm the receipt.

It was not at the delivery company when we called.

Then they sent an email today saying that they were "very sorry for the confusion. The visa has been approved but not issued" and they "cannot predict the time of issuance."

I just don't like this kind of "confusion." It gives me knots in my stomach, and not much faith in the system.

[san diego 407]

What do they mean by "cannot predict"? Did you ask? Did you call them??

[ecce 20]

What do they mean by "cannot predict"? Did you ask? Did you call them??

I wish I knew. We didn't ask anything else. They explicitly told us last week not to interfere in consulate affairs(!) after we (politely) asked for several updates and asked my congressman's office for assistance. So we've decided to lay off for awhile...until one of us can't stand it anymore at least.

For the first time today, I'm really letting go of the idea of spending the summer here with my fiance, and of our August wedding. It's a simple enough wedding, but it's still a wedding, and I still had built up hopes. It sounds like it might be awhile til we get the visa, and I truly don't have the energy to be so stressed about whether he will make it anymore. It really is up to them. The thing I feel absolutely terrible about is that my relatives recently bought plane tickets and booked a big house to stay in the week of the planned wedding (after the interview, of course). We were supposed to pay a sum to our caterer already, but he was nice about our postponing a couple times already. I don't know exactly what day I will wait til to make a decision about it, but today is the first day that I started to really mentally prepare for what we might have to do.

[san diego 407]

You know, Israel is a great place to spend summer . Stay there, relax, go for snorkeling in Eilat. Everything will be fine! Tickets.. money.. it is all relative.. you will catch-up.

Edited June 28, 2011 by san diego

[ecce 20]

You know, Israel is a great place to spend summer . Stay there, relax, go for snorkeling in Eilat. Everything will be fine! Tickets.. money.. it is all relative.. you will catch-up.

Thanks. But I just took a bunch of time of off to go there and be there for the interview. Can't go again. We had plans (hopes, rather) for the 4th of july here in the U.S., weddings of friends we hoped he could attend (apart from our own wedding!), and wanted to enjoy the couple of months where it's actually warm here together...you know, like HAVE FUN after so much hell?

[Andy and Pui 16]

From the way it sounds you two need some fun. If all your vacation time is not used up and you are still there go have some fun right now. Good luck you two.

[JenAndBabs 1]

Hi! My fiance and I are going through a similar situation. They told him on his June 15th appt that he was approved and took his passport and told him to come back on the 24th to pick up the visa. The 24th became the 30th. Then they told him that they were sorry, they wanted to give him the visa but our case is still in administrative processing and they returned his passport and said they will call him at some undetermined future date. It's so frustrating! At least we didn't get his plane ticket, but I did lease an apartment that is now empty. And I also have to change our July 18 wedding date (which at least I didn't put down any deposits on). When we had the good news that we were approved, we couldn't help getting really excited and making plans and getting our hearts set on the time we were going to be spending together really soon.

I hope everything is resolved with your fiance's visa really soon! I'm sure it will happen soon for you but it is hard to be patient when you have it so close.

Jen and Babs

[TBoneTX 46,201]

They explicitly told us last week not to interfere in consulate affairs(!) after we (politely) asked for several updates and asked my congressman's office for assistance.

Well, isn't THIS the height of arrogance? Is the government to serve the people, or are we to serve them?

The LEAST that you should expect is that you be treated with as much courtesy as you would be at, say, the downtown Post Office in Cleveland.

Wait another week, then CALL the service line for U.S. citizens. Explain that you need to speak to an American in the Immigrant Visa Unit. You'll almost certainly be told that the service line doesn't transfer calls there. Your default response is "Are you a U.S. citizen? If not, please transfer me to a human being there immediately." That's the same response to give after you're transferred to the IV unit UNTIL you speak with an AMERICAN, who will likely be a consular officer. You can even ask for the Section Chief of the IV unit and probably get through.

I was given the runaround by the ####### consulate in Ecuador until I did the above. We got the visa approved within 48 hours.

[ecce 20]

Good luck to you Jen and Babs. I can't believe all the conflicting information. I mean, we actually have it in writing from them that the visa has been approved...and here we are a month later with no visa. I just wish I understood what our status was. Are we in scary AP? What's the hold up???

Thanks for the advice, too, TBoneTX. We've been assured from all sides that there's nothing we can do to move our case forward right now.

This is what we've been told:

June 6 - Interview. Went well. Visa approval (verbally). "Should receive it within 7 to 10 days."

June 16 - Follow-up call: "It will be a few more days"

June 22 - Follow-up call: "The visa is printing."

June 23 - Follow-up call: "Stop interfering in consulate affairs"

June 24 - Email: "Your visa has been issued."

June 27 - Email: "We are sorry for the confusion. You visa has been approved but not issued. We cannot predict when it will be issued."

June 30 - Email: "A week or two from this point."

Just sent out the email to all my family and friends (most of whom purchased airfare to the wedding once we were told the visa was issued) to warn them that our August wedding may not happen. It was lovely.