London UK DCF - 2012

[LauraDP 10]

Our I130 petitions were sent to the London Embassy today. I feel excited but anxious to be officially stepping off the ledge into our own visa journey after months of pondering and waiting.

Anyway, I think it sensible that we start to gather our paperwork for the next stage. What would be the advised order for organising our documents for the next stage based on everyone else's experiences of the time it takes to obtain supporting evidence etc?

Is it wise to fill out our five (4 kids + me) DS230s now so long as we don't sign and date them yet? Do I even need separate ones of these for our sons or do they "piggy-back" on my DS230?

Is it worth applying for the police certificate now or is this a time-sensitive document?

Should our sponsor (husband) and co-sponsor be compiling their documents for the I864 / I134 (five copies, I assume) or should we hold off?

The kids and I are waiting for our GP surgery to have the seasonal flu vaccine in stock and then we will get that shot. I also have to get my second MMR and the kids need to have their final Hep B shot but they cannot get that until February. So the vaccination record thing is ongoing.

We will also be beginning to compile our "intent to domicile" dossier as things progress.

Thanks in advance for any and all responses to my "next steps while waiting" question.

Cheers

Laura

[LauraDP 10]

Ignore my questions directly above in this thread as I have made a separate post. Thanks.

[mindthegap 2,590]

Got the NOA 2 approval letter this morning (dated yesterday).

29 days from filing date - really quick at the moment!

Is there any way of getting my A# so i can schedule my medical, or am i at the mercy of waiting for them to write to me with it?

[Yvie_8 0]

Hi yes Ive tried everything, my daughter had an appointment with the nurse for her pre school booster so I tried to get her to do it for me but she wouldn't until Dr authorises it. Dr is insisting I pay! Think it's very unfair but typical of the NHS I'll have to just suck it up & pay. Is the flu shot only seasonal then? I can get that done in Boots chemist it's only cheap I think.

I have been speaking to a family friend who went through the DCF process in London few years ago. I'm confused now as the info she's telling me is different to what I've read up on.

She told me they had to have $50k in the bank? I was just under the impression it went on the US spouses salary, that it had to be something like 125% above the poverty threashold or 100% over for military (which my partner is) can anyone advise me about this as neither of us have actual cash to that value in the bank! I do however have more than that in equity in my property I own, however I'm unsure if assets could be taken into account when doing a DCF as I presume the process is quicker than doing regular filing?

Hi Laila Cakes

Just FYI....I used to live up by RAF Lakenheath/Mildenhall . Is that where your hubby is stationed?

I wanted to let you know that if you get married and command sponsored then you can claim back ALL expenses incurred for the visa process. This includes travel and medicals. Anything you need to do in order to get a visa to PCS, you will get back. If you don't get married before hand then it is all on you guys. Depends on how much time you have to get it all done.

My hubby and I did a quick wedding in TX while on R&R from Iraq. totally intended to have the "BIG wedding" later but 4 years down the line and we are yet to plan a big one lol.

My hubby is US Army and he is currently in CA too. We started all this in paperwork and DCF in Germany while we were stationed there but had to move back to UK when he left for his new duty station. We had been putting it off for a few years and just extended in Europe but the time finally came to do it all.

My husband recently got back from 12 months in Afghanistan, we saw him for a couple of months (the kids and I) and then separated again until the visas are complete. We have been back in UK for 5 months now.

So stressfull. We are just waiting for our interview date. I hope it is soon.

Good luck to you all! We have definitely had a run of it over the last 7 months of waiting! Anything that could go wrong, HAS gone wrong! Here is to plain sailing from now on lol.

[dukespecial 0]

We sent our application right at the end of September and received our NOA2 this week, so fast! Think it was only around 20 days or so!

What is the next step after NOA2?

Also I am not sure if anybody can answer this but I have a job in the UK and I may have the opportunity to continue working in the same position in the US as I am a web developer and can work remotely. At the current moment in time my wife (USC) would have to return to America to get a job to meet the i864 requirements but if I could prove that I would keep my job in the US (working remotely for the company in the UK) which would easily meet the requirements would I be able to use my income in that case?

If so what proof would I need, just a letter? Thanks and good luck to all applying : )

[LauraDP 10]

This is a tip for those of you sending multiple I130s to the London Embassy. When you receive your NOA1 via email, it will be one single email regardless of how many petitions have been sent. Therefore, I would advise checking your credit card statement to see how many payments have been taken. We did this yesterday and discovered that only four payments had been taken despite the fact there were five I130 petitions. We emailed the Embassy and it turned out that two of the payment forms had been stuck together so the cashier had not seen it to process it. This might have delayed the petition further down the line so we are glad it was caught and rectified early.

Best wishes

Laura

[Holly2234 66]

Got the NOA 2 approval letter this morning (dated yesterday).

29 days from filing date - really quick at the moment!

Is there any way of getting my A# so i can schedule my medical, or am i at the mercy of waiting for them to write to me with it?

Woohoo!

Unfortunately its just a case of waiting for your case number (A# is your alien registration number which comes on your visa). It should be with you in 3ish weeks at the most though.

[pauliface 0]

Hi, am I being too optimistic in hoping to get an interview in December? I attend my medical in London next Friday.

Paul

[Holly2234 66]

Its possible that you could. I had my medical on August 23rd and had my interview on October 2nd so if it is still a similar timeline, you could be interviewed close to christmas.

[pauliface 0]

Thankyou.. i pray i do. As i want to be there for Christmas.

[pauliface 0]

I with there was a way of them allowing us to know the waiting time for an interview.

how long Will it take to hear from the embassy to provide me a date?

[pauliface 0]

I wish there was a way*** sorry for typo.

I wish there was a way*** sorry for typo.

[Tim42 0]

Eventually! The case number has arrived from the Visa Unit in London. Sent off DS-230 Part 1 & DS-2001. Medical next week so hopeful of an early interview as we want to move in January and I'm travelling from mid-February to the end of April so can't move then!

[hazzlondon 0]

HI all. Thanks in advance for any help.

We have received a NOA2 approval and a case number.

Although we had planned on pushing through with the application quickly, we are now not looking to head to the US until 2014. I'm therefore wondering how long I can drag out the process. i.e. can I hold things where they are now and take the application forward (with the same case number) at a later point? If there are time limits on each section, any idea where I can find details on this?

Cheers

H

[LauraDP 10]

HI all. Thanks in advance for any help.

We have received a NOA2 approval and a case number.

Although we had planned on pushing through with the application quickly, we are now not looking to head to the US until 2014. I'm therefore wondering how long I can drag out the process. i.e. can I hold things where they are now and take the application forward (with the same case number) at a later point? If there are time limits on each section, any idea where I can find details on this?

Cheers

H

I asked a similar question not long ago as we are also looking to delay after NOA2. In our case it is to allow my husband more time in which to secure a job in the US so that the kids and I don't have our visas approved (and, therefore, have to move to the US) before we are actually financially and practically able to. We, therefore, are not anticipating delaying anywhere near as long as you are so I am not sure if the answer is the same in your case. However, when I asked the question, several people replied and said it was possible to delay submitting the next lot of paperwork so long as you write to the Embassy to inform them that you are not abandoning your case but are delaying for a valid reason. Obviously they would not allow an indefinite delay but I am not sure for how long they would accept it. Hopefully someone on here has actually been through this and can give you a much more specific answer than I can.

Best wishes

Laura