Where can we stall for time during DCF London?

[LauraDP 10]

My husband has had lots of encouraging and positive feedback to his resume. He has not, however, started applying for jobs in the US yet as we are waiting for his qualification equivalence to be finalised and to receive the status letter from Selective Service. Without either of these things, it will not be possible for him to apply for Federal jobs so we have, therefore, held off on submitting the five I130 petitions just in case the entire plan has to be abandoned. The plan now, therefore, is to submit the I130s for myself and our children when we have these documents and Chris can begin applying for jobs - hopefully not to long from now.

We understand and appreciate that it may take as long as a year - and maybe even longer - for him to secure a job. Since we cannot afford financially, practically or emotionally to be separated as a family for any great period of time (I think 4 months could be the absolute maximum we could manage)we need to get all of our timings as right as we can manage - though of course we appreciate there will be hiccups along the way and things outside of our control.

What would be useful, therefore, would be the ability to stall progress along the way of the DCF process in order to buy ourselves a bit of time if the immigration paperwork is moving too much faster than the employment. Can any of you with experience of DCF in London (or elsewhere if the route is the same) tell me at what junctures in our visa journey we would have the opportunity to delay and buy ourselves a bit of time? And, if so, how much time in each case?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Best wishes

Laura

[Holly2234 66]

You can easily delay after the I-130 is approved. The stage in between the NOA2 and the medical. (your case number will come that you obviously need to keep). I believe you have up to a year to continue with the process but i would recommend writing to them every few months to let them know that you havent abandoned the process.

[Darnell 8,478]

for DCF,

you can stall after the I-130 is approved,

asking (via postal letter) for the interview to be later..

include a copy of the cover letter London IV sends you in yer mailing.

[LauraDP 10]

Thank you both for your responses.

I had a feeling that the period after NOA2 would be the only opportunity but was worried they would regard it as an abandoned visa petition so thanks for the tip about writing to them to inform them of the reason for the delay. I hope the time involved would be very much shorter than a year but it is a relief to know that there is a possibility there to extend the whole process a little if necessary.

Thanks and best wishes

Laura

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

Also, if it takes longer than a year, just be sure to inform the consulate that you are still pursuing the case. Otherwise they can archive the petition and possibly even send it to USCIS stateside, and then you face a big old headache getting it back to London when you're ready.

One other thing to keep in mind is that after visa issuance, you have 6 months before you have to land in the US with it.

[Holly2234 66]

Its 6 months from the medical now so probably 5ish months after visa in hand to get to the POE.

[LauraDP 10]

We really would not expect it to take anywhere near a year. We were really looking at two or three months maximum so as to get everything lined up and good to go. We are so entirely dependent on my husband obtaining a job in the US that can support all six of us (since it may take some time for me to convert my UK teaching qualification) and that, of course, is a time scale we have very little control over. I think if it was taking anywhere near a year for him to obtain a job post-NOA1 then we would probably have to accept that the relocation was not going to work. We are aware that the six months post-medical also buys us a bit of time but would rather have the delay in the middle than at the end since the kids and I will be technically homeless at that point and residing with my in-laws. Believe me, that is the time to be speeding things up rather than slowing them down.

Of course, we may - by some miracle - end up with the opposite problem and my husband gets a job well within the year of applying we have built into our plans but I guess we just have to deal with that issue if it happens since it is less likely.

Thanks again for your responses.

Laura