USC petitioner living abroad

[hjones 1]

So here is my problem. Even though we signed up for email notifications, we have only got one and have yet to receive an NOA2 or any paper copy of anything. I called the call center, which of course brought more questions than answers and so now my question is what to do, It would seem that it has been forwarded to the NVC but there is no way to know and the paper pusher on the phone told me there was only a fax... she also said they would not send anything abroad. hopefully

someone on here will know what is really going on, or what we should do next.

We never got an NOA2 email, even though we received an email for the NOA1. We did receive a hard copy of the NOA2 at our UK address approximately 2 weeks after our approval. Have you called the NVC to confirm whether they have received your case yet? You can call them with your USCIS receipt number and they can tell you if and when the case was received.

[Lenny Wolf 2]

I agree lemayz, I am in a similar situation. We won't go untill we are approved. We won't look for jobs until approval either. We are just trying to build proof or re-establishing domicile. Voter registration for my USC husband, ordering new SSN card for him, enrolling kids into school etc. I saw a post on here somewhere of someone in a similar situation, they suggested getting quotes from moving companies. It seemed to work for them. I am interested to hear the thoughts and ideas of others in this area. It would be nice to have a dedicated group for USC filing abroad - like the country groups. Can that be done?

Hey there, I am in a simual situation, could you please tell me how you sent your package and what did you use to pay the fee?

[JNEKG 4]

Hey Mick Wolf,

Nice to know others are in the same boat. Where in OZ are you?

I sent my package to a girlfriend in LA and she drew a cheque from her account and forwarded on for me. So it wasn't sent from abroad in my case.

Do you know anyone in the US or have family that can send it for you? I also attached an extensive cover letter explaining our situation.

Let me know if I can help in anyway.

Nat

[Easyflier 0]

Hello all!

Here is my situation, almost identical to Laure&Colin's. Let's see how it plays out.

1. Country USC resides in: France

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: End of April 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 2.5 years (will be 3 in October)

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes (Dual Citizenship French/US)

6. What is the reason for your residence: work permit/student/tourist/other - Pilot on leave of absence

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? Yes

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? Yes.

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? Yes

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? We will see!

I'll update the NOA dates as soon as I have them.

[Lenny Wolf 2]

Hey Mick Wolf,

Nice to know others are in the same boat. Where in OZ are you?

I sent my package to a girlfriend in LA and she drew a cheque from her account and forwarded on for me. So it wasn't sent from abroad in my case.

Do you know anyone in the US or have family that can send it for you? I also attached an extensive cover letter explaining our situation.

Let me know if I can help in anyway.

Nat

g

Hey thanks for writing back . was going to use mother inlaw in the US to do excactly that but i end up sending from here and getting a USD check drawn here from Westpac as advised by the Sydney office of the US consular. I sent my app 16 days ago but havent heard anything yet and check hasnt been cashed so im WORRIED!!! most people have had a NOA1 within a week. so not sure what to do now.

sorry we are on the central coast of NSW and you?

[aniane 0]

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that it took us 16 days to hear anything (email notification that our case had been forwarded to California Service Center), and still no paper notification, but when I go to "check your case status online," we're in the system under "initial review." I was going crazy, thinking that I would have to send another I-130 file in. I actually called the lockbox and spoke to someone who said it could take 4 weeks for overseas applications, and if I hadn't heard anything in 4 months I could talk to someone there about it. That night I received email notification, and I'm sure it was just a coincidence since I hadn't even given the person I spoke to my name. Somehow it makes me feel better to see that we are in the system. As soon as you have your email notification, you will have your case number to check online. I'm still hoping that we will be auto-expedited.....and I hope so for you too and everyone else on this forum.

g

Hey thanks for writing back . was going to use mother inlaw in the US to do excactly that but i end up sending from here and getting a USD check drawn here from Westpac as advised by the Sydney office of the US consular. I sent my app 16 days ago but havent heard anything yet and check hasnt been cashed so im WORRIED!!! most people have had a NOA1 within a week. so not sure what to do now.

sorry we are on the central coast of NSW and you?

[aniane 0]

Hi, we have a similar case to you, and our file was just received and forwarded to CSC April 24th. We are also mailing from France for a IR1/CR1 visa for my French hubby. We have been married 8&1/2 years and have 2 dual-national kids and I am also a dual national, but I don't think that helps us any. Let's stay in touch. I hope we're both auto-expedited... I didn't write a cover letter, but I did use my French address on all the forms, so we'll see.

1. Country USC resides in:France

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130:April 10, 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 8.5 years

5. Do you reside in the country legally? yes, am dual national

6. What is the reason for your residence: dual national

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? yes

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? yes

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? no, unless house ownership counts and was understood (didn't translate document!)

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)?No, I didn't know I should write a cover letter.

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? Don't know yet, just got NOA1

Hello all!

Here is my situation, almost identical to Laure&Colin's. Let's see how it plays out.

1. Country USC resides in: France

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: End of April 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 2.5 years (will be 3 in October)

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes (Dual Citizenship French/US)

6. What is the reason for your residence: work permit/student/tourist/other - Pilot on leave of absence

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? Yes

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? Yes.

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? Yes

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? We will see!

I'll update the NOA dates as soon as I have them.

[Easyflier 0]

Hi, we have a similar case to you, and our file was just received and forwarded to CSC April 24th. We are also mailing from France for a IR1/CR1 visa for my French hubby. We have been married 8&1/2 years and have 2 dual-national kids and I am also a dual national, but I don't think that helps us any. Let's stay in touch. I hope we're both auto-expedited...

Hello!

I hope it does indeed work out as fast as possible for you too! All that is great info. As much as we are both aware immigration procedures vary in time on a case to case basis, it is nice to know how similar applicants are getting through.

Let us know how it works out and don't hesitate to shout if you need anything!

Ben

[pam_ellis 0]

Hello Guys! Very happy to say I got my NOA2 (approved!)

Now ready to answer this survey that helped A LOT! hope it helps more people so:

1. Country USC resides in: Brazil

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: End of April 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: + - 1 year

5. Do you reside in the country legally? No, USC on Tourist visa expired.

6. What is the reason for your residence: tourist / married

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? No, sent to my mother in law to put her affidavit and money order.

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? No.

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? Yes

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? NOA 1, 23th April, NOA 2, May 2nd. (10 days!!!! expedited)

VERY HAPPY!

Thanks you guys a lot!

[aniane 0]

Wow, that's great. Congrats! I'm assuming you received email notification or that you check your case status online.

Hello Guys! Very happy to say I got my NOA2 (approved!)

Now ready to answer this survey that helped A LOT! hope it helps more people so:

1. Country USC resides in: Brazil

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: End of April 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: + - 1 year

5. Do you reside in the country legally? No, USC on Tourist visa expired.

6. What is the reason for your residence: tourist / married

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? No, sent to my mother in law to put her affidavit and money order.

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? No.

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? Yes

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? NOA 1, 23th April, NOA 2, May 2nd. (10 days!!!! expedited)

VERY HAPPY!

Thanks you guys a lot!

[pam_ellis 0]

Wow, that's great. Congrats! I'm assuming you received email notification or that you check your case status online.

I got both!

I received an email saying it was approved and then checked online and it was it was approved on May 2nd! Yay!

Here I go NVC!

BTW, just saw your timeline you got your NOA1 one day after mine, maybe your NOA2 is coming soon too!

Good luck!

Edited May 2, 2012 by pam_ellis

[GitmeOuttaHere 0]

Not sure if my updates will help but here goes.

1. Country USC resides in: Canada

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130: End of Oct 2011

4. How long had you been living abroad: 40 years (been married for 20)

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes (also have a "Canadian born abroad" birth certificate.

6. What is the reason for your residence: My Canadian parents moved back to Canada when I was 2.

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? No, (live close to the border so we went over opened a US bank account and mailed it from the US.

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? No.

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? No

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? See my timeline. I think it was 17 days between receiving NOA 1 & 2

All that being said, we intentionally slowed the process down....

We signed up for EP and did everything via email, and purposely did not send certain sets of documents in until we wanted to.

You will notice large gaps of time in my timeline where we held off on paying AoS fees and sending in the DS-260, and I-864. We do not actually want to do our PoE until July at the earliest. Since our case was sitting at NVC in late Dec/Early January we purposely skewed our timeline so that we did not have to be going to Montreal in February or March.

I guess the good news in all of it is that today we got our email from NVC saying that "All documentation necessary to complete the NVC's processing of your case has been received"

also says as soon as an interview date has been scheduled we will be notified.

Is this what they consider a case complete at NVC? I assume so. I will update my TL as soon as we get our interview date.

[aniane 0]

YES! YES! YES! just got email of approval. I hope the rest goes so smoothly.

1. Country USC resides in:France

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No

3. When did you file the I-130:April 10, 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 8.5 years

5. Do you reside in the country legally? yes, am dual national

6. What is the reason for your residence: dual national

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? yes

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? yes

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? no, unless house ownership counts and was understood (didn't translate document!)

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)?No, I didn't know I should write a cover letter.

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? YES!

How long between NOA1 and NOA2? 8 days!

[Easyflier 0]

Aniane,

Looks like we are in the same boat. Got the confirmation receipt by email saying the file is going to the CSC.

Hopefully the rest of the process will stay smooth just like this!

[aniane 0]

Congratulations! When I first saw that it takes 5 months in the CSC, I was worried but then found out from this forum about the auto expediting and was hopeful. YEAH! Hope it works for your too!

Aniane,

Looks like we are in the same boat. Got the confirmation receipt by email saying the file is going to the CSC.

Hopefully the rest of the process will stay smooth just like this!