IR-1 Mumbai DCF, the good, the bad, the ugly...

[aprilflower 0]

I was planning to wait until my husband received his visa before posting this but now I am unsure when that will be so I wanted to post our journey up until now as I think some of the things we have gone through may prove useful to others. I have tried to include as much useful information as possible and if anyone has questions please feel free to message me.

Background info: We applied for IR-1. We have been married for almost 7 years and living in India the entire time. We have a daughter and both she and I are US citizens and have PIO cards. I have not worked or filed taxes in the US for the past 3 years and my parents are cosponsoring us.

We filed our I-130 in New Delhi on the 12th of April 2012. Out of everything we have done that was by far the easiest and smoothest part of the process. We stayed at the HI New Delhi International Youth Hostel for 1260/night. Hotel was nothing spectacular or horrible. Clean facilities but the bathroom was down the hall (they didn’t have any availability for rooms with bathrooms at the time). The best thing is that it is walking distance to the Embassy. We reached the embassy around 8am. I checked my cell phone at the desk outside and then we went through security and went inside and were eventually issued in to a separate waiting room in the embassy. We were the second couple and I don’t know exactly what time they called on us but we showed them all our documents she asked a couple questions but they were all simple like where is this document and what about your daughter and where are you residing and perhaps she asked my husband what visa he had been on when he was in the US and then told us we would have to wait for the cashier to open. We spent perhaps 30-40 minutes waiting and then a security guard walked us around to pay at the cashier’s office. We got a receipt and then left the embassy. The lady in Delhi said it would be about a month to a month and a half before we would here from Mumbai. A few days later and just hours before we were going to leave Delhi (we spent some time sightseeing up north) by train, I got a call from the embassy that they needed a copy of my husband’s passport. We didn’t have sufficient time to go and submit it in person so I asked if we could email it, which she said we could so the next day when we got back home the first thing I did was email a copy of my husband’s passport.

Then the wait began. After 6 weeks we called VFS Mumbai that we had not hear anything. We were told wait it takes 4-12 weeks. So we waited. Still nothing around 10 weeks I started emailing VFS, we don’t have a case number we haven’t received any paperwork. I got no response to a couple of my emails then finally an email that your email has been forwarded to the consulate. Then nothing. So I sent a reminder, and another reminder, and another reminder. We waited. 12 weeks. We again call, it’s been 12 weeks. Please send us an email. We called Delhi, was the case forwarded? Yes, long ago. I kept sending emails and kept getting automated responses and very little else. Finally a reply please include your DOB in your inquiry to the consulate (I had sent our passport numbers and names) so then included that info. After another week another email please include your local phone number/address. Another week, the consulate is unable to locate your record please include your case number! WTH, why were we writing again? Oh yes, because we had not received any case number or and other mail. On July 29th I again wrote another email to VFS and in desperation after having tried to call the Consulate in Mumbai and talk to a real person (they were extremely rude and said I had to deal with VFS only) I emailed American Citizen Services at the Consulate.

Tuesday morning July 31st, I finally received an email with our case number and a request that we scan and email part I of DS-230. I was elated. Around noon I also received a phone call from American Citizen Services. We told them that we had finally got our case number. I’ll leave it to your discretion to decide what happened behind the scenes there. We emailed back our DS-230 the same day. A week goes by and we don’t hear anything and as I didn’t get any response about whether anything had been received on the other end I sent a follow up email by just hitting reply to the one with our case number on it and another one asking for specific info on case no such and such in the Title of the email. Much later on I received a reply to that specific info email (after about 2 weeks) that our case number is wrong. Only at that time did I realize that indeed someone at VFS had perhaps copy and pasted incorrectly and there were only 9 digits in our emailed case number and not 10. Of course I suppose the mistake could be on the consulates end so I can’t point the finger at VFS directly.

On August 8th we got a phone call from VFS telling us that they have scheduled our interview for the soonest available date which is August 22nd and we need to submit our documents to VFS by the 14th. I was elated to finally have an interview date but was freaked out about getting everything submitted on time. We still didn’t have an appointment letter or anything else so I had asked when we submitted our DS-230 when we would get some official document. They emailed us our appointment letter that afternoon. This meant we had less than a week to get everything we needed. I contacted my parents as they were our cosponsors and I had already asked them to get the tax documents together as well as some other odds and ends, their birth certificates and copies of their driver’s license as well as a letter saying that we would be staying with them and they would cover our expenses,I-864/I-864a etc. I asked my Dad to FedEx the stuff to Mumbai to one of our relatives there. It would take another day to reach our city if we had it sent to our house.It was scheduled to arrive on the 13th so we were safe on that count.

Next point of business was the medical. I called the Apollo Hospital in Surat to see if there were any appointments available on the 9th.Earliest we could schedule was Saturday the 11th so we took that. Now the part I had been most worried about, the PCC. We had been trying for the previous 2 weeks to get an appointment for my inlaws passport renewals on the SEVA website. I had even synchronized my computer clock to match their website and sat every night at 7:30pm (both I and my husband) trying to get an appointment. We had no luck so it was obvious we weren’t going to be able to use that route for the PCC. Friday was a holiday so basically we had almost no time left to get the PCC. My husband went on Thursday after having uploaded all the necessary documents to the SEVA website and he was able to get his clearance the same day. A couple of notes on this point as PCC comes up very often on this site.

1.If you have an interview at Mumbai you ONLY require the police clearance through the passport office not the local office.

2.I asked when they called to tell us about the interview, what if we don’t get the PCC in time? She told us we could simply bring it to the interview.

3.SEVA was having some issues (at least in our city) at the time we went to make our appointment. The next week we had no trouble booking the passport renewal appointment for my inlaws so the site does work generally. If you have the time definitely give it a try but do be sure to be online and ready as soon as time slots for your city open. You may want to try again in the middle of the night (2am,4am etc) if you happen to be up. People cancel their appointments and this is one way that agents are able to secure extra appointments for people. We had an excellent experience at the passport office both for my husband’s PCC and inlaws renewals. Things have been set up in a very “American” orderly fashion after the initial stage of getting in to the office. My FIL already got his passport back and it has been less than 2 weeks.

The medical went fine. My husband had almost no immunization records so he had to get a few of the shots which he might otherwise not have required. The exam was at 7:30am and we got the results back the same day at 2pm.

As we had all the documents we went and submitted them a day early on the 13th. VFS for those who have not been does not have any street parking so it’s better to take a cab or rickshaw. We had a family member who dropped us off and went and parked elsewhere while we were inside. I originally didn’t think they would let me go in with my husband to submit the documents but they eventually did let me in with our 18 month old daughter as well which I though was really very nice of the gentleman. It saved me from waiting in the car. The submission process was easy and strait forward. But I was surprised that they took very few of the documents: 2passport photos,pp copy, pcc, birth certificate, marriage certificate, and ds230. Basically they took the bare minimum. My husband said the gentleman was very pleasant and professional and in all we spent about 45 minutes inside. There is water cooler, a photocopier(2 rupees a piece), and they do photos (but they are 100 per piece so better to have them done before hand unless you just want to throw away your 200 rupees, in which case better you call me up and take me out for dominos pizza ). There is no restroom (yes, I am 7 ½ months pregnant so I notice these things) however there is a grocery store right beside the VFS which has a restroom in the back. I even bought some juice for my daughter so I wasn’t a total user!

The interview was scheduled for the 22nd of August and we had gone and got our demand draft even before going to Mumbai. Now please remember that we never received any real paperwork from the embassy so we had followed everything online as far as packet 3 and 4 are concerned. The website says that you require a demand draft for $405. We double checked several places to make sure we had the right conversion rate that they were following so we thought we would be good to go. My husband waits in line gets in to pay and guess what? They won’t take the demand draft, it’s not for the right amount and they won’t take it if it is even a rupee off. We had both seen the other amount ($230) listed elsewhere but we figured there must be some other processing fees added on by the consulate. And wouldn’t you know that all of the government banks were on strike on the 22nd and 23rd. Sing it with me people… “I love my India…” We had a couple tense hours trying to figure things out. We called VFS and were able to double check that the consulate would accept demand drafts from a couple of private banks we asked about. So off we went again. They gave my husband a letter for the next day so he simply went back and had his appointment on the 23rd.

The interview went well until we got to Domicile. The lady asked about me and said it seemed obvious that I was residing in India and she was going to put the visa on hold until I went back to the US. She said I could prove domicile by simply taking a picture in front of a local post office (I find this quite weird and I am still not sure if she didn’t look at the documentation I sent or somehow something got lost). I had sent my US drivers license, US bank account, Voter ID, PIO card of myself and daughter which lists my parents US address and a few other odds and ends. Then my husband told about my pregnancy, that I wanted to deliver in the US and for that reason we were worried that he wouldn’t make it by my November 6th due date if he had to wait for me to go there and send the information and go through processing. So then she said if we submitted a letter that I was planning to deliver the baby in the US that she would count that as domicile. So my husband called me, I ran out to write and print the letter, jumped in a cab with our daughter and met him at VFS to have him submit the missing document. The lady who did the interview made it sound like it would be processed fairly quickly. Of course tomorrow it will have been a week and it is still at the Consulate so we can only keep our fingers crossed.

It is only today that we have realized that what the interviewing officer actually gave us was 221g (Administrative Processing). As soon as my husband pointed this out all my hopes and dreams of having him fly back with me in a few weeks were crushed and I became severely depressed. I had already read all the horror stories (mostly in Delhi) of people going through AP for months and even years. I even had a close friend who went through the process herself in Delhi. I am still trying to be hopeful that things will get processed in a timely manner. The US government says it can take around 60 days. I am just hoping against hope that it doesn’t take that long.

Some funny notes: We found out our “packet 3” was sent on April 30th….we’re still waiting .

One email I sent VFS on August 3rd I received a reply to on August 17th (that was the one about the case number missing a number).

No one ever checked or even looked at the Medical info. However the interview officer did look at the photos and mentioned that our daughter is cute .

For those who don’t know, VFS is “broken” up. The people on the phone don’t have any contact with those on email and can’t access your information. I am very disappointed in the email side obviously. I can’t tell you how many emails I have sent and I think they need to set up a system so that they can at least track a person sending emails from the same email ID. While the people on the phone were not any help before we had our case number, once we had an interview and had specific questions we were able to get answers from them right away. They “preponed” our appointment date as well so I have to say I am grateful for that. Also, this is the second time I have worked with VFS in person. We had done my daughters passport a few months after she was born and we have always have very good service from them as far as direct contact. I also had an excellent experience at that time with the US Consulate. I hope in the end that I will be able to write the same about this experience.

I wish you all luck on your own individual Visa Journeys !

[TimeTravel 78]

It is only today that we have realized that what the interviewing officer actually gave us was 221g (Administrative Processing). As soon as my husband pointed this out all my hopes and dreams of having him fly back with me in a few weeks were crushed and I became severely depressed. I had already read all the horror stories (mostly in Delhi) of people going through AP for months and even years. I even had a close friend who went through the process herself in Delhi. I am still trying to be hopeful that things will get processed in a timely manner. The US government says it can take around 60 days. I am just hoping against hope that it doesn’t take that long.

221g is given for missing doc. But does it say that it was mandatory AP? You already have submitted your required doc that needed to ensure that you are returning to States. Mumbai Consulate is pretty fast to process the application.

Please give a call to Department of States ( DOS ), to check the current status of your case, and see what is the update or what if they need anything else for your case.

I pray you guys get your visa asap. :-)

[MrsNotBonJovi 18]

Engrossing experience and beautifully written.

I have read several posts on this site about how totally 'unkeyed' in VFS is. Hope you get things straightened up soon.

Happy pregnancy and safe birthing. And yes, here's hoping your husband gets that visa very, very soon.

[aprilflower 0]

Iwaiting thanks for the suggestion but I believe DOS only works for those who apply state side not those of us who do DCF. I have tried looking up our case number on the DOS website and it isn't available. This makes sense since everything gets processed in India and then gets sent to the US (or at least that is my understanding). Thanks both for the comments

[aprilflower 0]

Iwaiting, you are correct. After talking to my husband and looking at a few things, it actually is not AP but just additional documentation. I don't know how long "not long" will be though! Sorry for the mistake. Hubby just looked through the post and said they did take his small medical folder even if they didn't review it but they didn't take the x-ray. Silly thing to have to carry around if they don't want it! Sorry for the mistake.

[Deep2009 18]

Very well written... Good luck with new baby and hope he is here with you during birth of your child.

If it is not AP (it is for missing documents), you should be fine... you are in much better shape than number of people.

Please keep us posted, Good luck.

[aprilflower 0]

A clarification about the medical stuff - They took the small medical envelope at vfs with other documents. They did not ask for the x-ray at vfs or at the interview.

[CitizenUSA 0]

aprilflower - did you get the visa ?? I have a similar case

[Janani S 1]

Wow! I just submitted my i130 in Delhi in April. It has been forwarded to Mumbai, so I was hopeful that my husband would get his interview by July end, since it was already in Mumbai! i guess that might not be the case.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Mine was something similar - CR1/DCF at delhi

We took a 9 AM appointment to file the i-130. It is not manditory, but we had just one day, and we wanted to make sure we finished it.

We were there by 8:45. The guard made us stand in the normal immigration line even though I told him I was an american citizen. Then a white lady with her kid came and they were taken in seperately. I called the guard, showed him my passport, and then he let us in.

We were made to sit in the reception till 9, and then were escorted to the DHS room, which is smaller and was completely empty. A lady asked us what we were there for. We told her that we were there to file for the i130. She asked me how long I had been in India, and I replied 15 years. She said that her colleague would help us with it.

We waited.... I think about half an hour. Then her colleague came, asked us what we were there for, and then told us to keep our documents ready and she would be right back (which was another half hour). We showed her all the documents.

For documents we had taken:

1. Passports + OCI card + Birth certificates + 2 copies

2. Marriage certificate + copies

3. Wedding invitations from both sides

4. Our original wedding and reception albums

5. A seperate album with important photos from the wedding, reception, and trips that we had taken post marriage, and causal photos with both sides of the family, printed specifically to submit for evidence.

6. My indian tax returns of the last 3 years,

7. My work experience certificates and joining letters

8. Payslips of the last 6 months

9 i130 form and 2 copies of G325a

She told us how to arrange the docs, did not look at the original albums, removed half of my work documents, took one of the wedding cards, and then looked at our printed album.

She then said that we looked really good together and that she wanted to show the album to all of her colleagues, and disappeared for half an hour again She came back, took 2 photos out of the album, pinned it to the application and told me to pay the fees.

I paid the fees, gave her the receipt, and she gave a form with contact information and said we would hear in 4-8 weeks.

3 weeks later I wrote to them asking for the status, and they replied saying that it had been processed and sent to mumbai the previous week. I am now in correspondence with the VFS to try and get my case number, and after reading this, I am starting to feel extremely doubtful if the rest of the procession would be as fast as the first step

Well wish me luck people!

[Janani S 1]

Got my interview date! (Well my husbands actually) Filing date -> interview date = 50 days!!