NVC Filers - February 2012

[Rujby 23]

Specifically, it is a holiday for the government and banks. Most everyone else will be working.

Ok...foobaz I do not really know what to do finish with that process. Living without my wife is not easy at all, plus she is having my first kid, I wish I could be with her now...

[foobaz123 39]

Ok...foobaz I do not really know what to do finish with that process. Living without my wife is not easy at all, plus she is having my first kid, I wish I could be with her now...

I know what you mean. No kid here, however, I can't go back to China until the interview (out of vacation time). After everyone of our previous trips we usually had a pretty good idea of when the next trip would be, if not the exact date. This time... No idea. Should be April. Though, with all the delays in NVC I'm not as confident of that as I was before.

[allinjohnny 0]

It probably goes without saying that as of Friday, we're still stuck in the no-man's-land between EP and non-EP. It's been just under two weeks since we got our case number and have been stuck ever since I sent in that bloody email.

I called NVC the past Friday (2/17) evening. I was told the NVC case number & IIN assigned and provided our email addresses. I will OPTIN for Electronic Processing. So far haven't received AOS bill and DS3032 kit yet. Should I wait for the AOS bill before I send OPTIN email with DS3032? Ryan's EP experience recommends us to wait, and now I see Foobaz having problems after sending it early. The operator told me it could take up to 10 days. :-(

[foobaz123 39]

I called NVC the past Friday (2/17) evening. I was told the NVC case number & IIN assigned and provided our email addresses. I will OPTIN for Electronic Processing. So far haven't received AOS bill and DS3032 kit yet. Should I wait for the AOS bill before I send OPTIN email with DS3032? Ryan's EP experience recommends us to wait, and now I see Foobaz having problems after sending it early. The operator told me it could take up to 10 days. :-(

YES!!!!!!!!

Do not under any circumstances send the OPTIN email prior to getting the AOS bill.

Just call them Tuesday and ask for them to generate the AOS invoice and DS-3032. If they say they can't yet, then just call every day until they can. DO NOT OPTIN PRIOR TO GETTING THE AOS INVOICE. YOU WILL REGRET IT.

I've already lost two weeks in what ought to have been only a three week (or so) process.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Should I wait for the AOS bill before I send OPTIN email with DS3032?

For the record, you don't have to wait, but seeing what Foobaz and Palladin experienced by sending the OPTIN early, I think it's a good idea to wait. I received my AOS bill and DS-3032 "kit" the very next day after receiving the GUZ case number. The soonest you are likely to receive your bill is Tuesday since Monday is a Federal holiday.

[foobaz123 39]

For the record, you don't have to wait, but seeing what Foobaz and Palladin experienced by sending the OPTIN early, I think it's a good idea to wait. I received my AOS bill and DS-3032 "kit" the very next day after receiving the GUZ case number. The soonest you are likely to receive your bill is Tuesday since Monday is a Federal holiday.

The thing is that it doesn't seem to make any sense. It almost seems like by opting in early, you get dropped clean out of standard processing until some timer expires and until it does the call center can't/won't do anything with the petition. Thus, no DS-3032 and no AOS/IV invoice. No processing at all.

[allinjohnny 0]

The thing is that it doesn't seem to make any sense. It almost seems like by opting in early, you get dropped clean out of standard processing until some timer expires and until it does the call center can't/won't do anything with the petition. Thus, no DS-3032 and no AOS/IV invoice. No processing at all.

Ryan & Foobaz, thank you for the advice! I will wait until AOS bill to inbox, hopefully very soon by mid next week.

[bouerchithi 1]

YES!!!!!!!!

Do not under any circumstances send the OPTIN email prior to getting the AOS bill.

Just call them Tuesday and ask for them to generate the AOS invoice and DS-3032. If they say they can't yet, then just call every day until they can. DO NOT OPTIN PRIOR TO GETTING THE AOS INVOICE. YOU WILL REGRET IT.

I've already lost two weeks in what ought to have been only a three week (or so) process.

A couple questions:

1) Do you folks think OPTIN for EP is a substantial timesaver? Are you glad that you did it?

2) 'foobaz123, would you mind elaborating a little bit more on what went wrong on your sending the OPTIN early?

Thanks!

[Laure&Colin 558]

Ryan & Foobaz, thank you for the advice! I will wait until AOS bill to inbox, hopefully very soon by mid next week.

Most filers I've seen since December receive the AOS bill and DS3032 within 2 business days of getting the case number. So yes, do wait until you get the email.

[Laure&Colin 558]

Weekends are so dull and crappy these days....

Just two (in this case three) days when nothing is being processed and no forward progress is possible..

Week-ends are boring and lonely but the one thing I like about them is that we can spend time together on skype. During the week and because of the time difference, we can only skype when I get up to go to work, before 7am for me, and of course my brain is not quite functioning that early, plus we can only talk for 15 min or so, then I need to leave to catch my train.

So spending an hour on skype on Sundays is what I'm looking forward to all week long!

[Rujby 23]

That weekend was too long. I want things to move fast. Today is hoidy in the US and NVC guys having good time with their family.

[foobaz123 39]

A couple questions:

1) Do you folks think OPTIN for EP is a substantial timesaver? Are you glad that you did it?

2) 'foobaz123, would you mind elaborating a little bit more on what went wrong on your sending the OPTIN early?

Thanks!

Well, my first question would be if you can do EP? Not all consulates can do so. As to what went wrong with my sending it in early, it appears that sending in the OPTIN prior to receiving the DS-3032 kit (via email) causes some kind of hang up in the system. The result is a two to three week delay before anything else happens. Calling the NVC just results in them saying that we have to wait until we're enrolled in EP to proceed.

As to the question of it being a timesaver, yes. If you don't mess up the process like I did it is a massive time saver, especially for people coming from China. For us it saves nearly three months or more off the process.

[foobaz123 39]

Week-ends are boring and lonely but the one thing I like about them is that we can spend time together on skype. During the week and because of the time difference, we can only skype when I get up to go to work, before 7am for me, and of course my brain is not quite functioning that early, plus we can only talk for 15 min or so, then I need to leave to catch my train.

So spending an hour on skype on Sundays is what I'm looking forward to all week long!

Yeah, I think we'd go straight insane without Skype. That said though, even the time we get on the weekends is short. During the week we usually get around 15 - 20 minutes in the mornings and around the same at night. During the weekend we can sometimes eek out as much a few hours, if one of us stays up crazy late. We also lose Sunday nights (US Time) since that's Monday morning over there. So the net result is that even with Skype we're still alone 80 - 95% of the time. She used to be able to chat while she was at work and that was awesome. Then she changed jobs and the new job doesn't allow her that option.

It'll be better after daylight saving time starts here in the US again. Of course, if all goes well she'll be here soon thereafter making the whole thing moot.

[sulhaq 60]

Hey guys. Quick question. I am having a few problems getting the police certificate for the DS-230 (hopefully sometime this week it will arrive). So my DS-230 and I-864 will be about 1.5 weeks apart. Does this matter at all?

[foobaz123 39]

Hey guys. Quick question. I am having a few problems getting the police certificate for the DS-230 (hopefully sometime this week it will arrive). So my DS-230 and I-864 will be about 1.5 weeks apart. Does this matter at all?

They are different tracks/paths. So no, should be fine.

DS-230 == IV Track/Path

I-864 == AOS Track/Path