16 days from NOA1 to NOA2 - Now delaying

[LauraDP 10]

Good Morning, VJers!

We received the NOA2 notice this morning for myself and our four sons. It was approved on 8 November which means it took 16 days from NOA1. Things are moving way too quickly for our circumstances so we are going to delay submitting the next "packet" of documents. As we cannot relocate unless my husband has secured a job, we need to wait for a while. He has applications in - one of which has progressed - but most of the jobs he has applied for don't even close to applications until the end of the year. So we need to buy ourselves some time so that the kids and I don't end up with our visas in hand before we are actually capable of emigrating to the US.

Has anyone else been in similar circumstances of having to stall the process?

How long can we hold off on submitting the next set of paperwork without informing USCIS at the London Embassy? Or should we get an email code so as to make contact with them right away and let them know we are still pursuing the visas and set out our reasons for stalling for a period?

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

Best wishes

Laura

[Jamaican Luv 13]

Well i know you have up to a year for paper work so this means u can take time in paying fees and the nvc stage which is next. Youll get a email statung to turn in choice of agent form but u can take time. They will also give u a case numbr. So once they contact you you can call them.they are friendly for the most part. Good luck.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Good Morning, VJers!

We received the NOA2 notice this morning for myself and our four sons. It was approved on 8 November which means it took 16 days from NOA1. Things are moving way too quickly for our circumstances so we are going to delay submitting the next "packet" of documents. As we cannot relocate unless my husband has secured a job, we need to wait for a while. He has applications in - one of which has progressed - but most of the jobs he has applied for don't even close to applications until the end of the year. So we need to buy ourselves some time so that the kids and I don't end up with our visas in hand before we are actually capable of emigrating to the US.

Has anyone else been in similar circumstances of having to stall the process?

How long can we hold off on submitting the next set of paperwork without informing USCIS at the London Embassy? Or should we get an email code so as to make contact with them right away and let them know we are still pursuing the visas and set out our reasons for stalling for a period?

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

Best wishes

Laura

Laura, there is an expectation for a reasonable amount delay while you get things prepared for the next part. Many people have not been way ahead of the game and don't have a clue what"s next. So they have to go get photos, shots, order birth certificates, etc. For that reason, I don't think you need to contact them immediately. In general you have four months to get the next part in line. So drag out each step. Send the application DS-230 next month...4 weeks from now. They will still be waiting for medical results and DS-2001. By mid January, ask for an extension and give a reason if you aren't ready. You don't want to pay for medicals if you are going to back out.

Most companies don't hire at the end of the year so likely January will be his month. My son-in-law was laid off from a high paying professional job when the economy slumped. His head-hunter, who was trying to find work for him, told him it's almost impossible to get hired in Nov-Dec, but it really picks up in January. She dealt with the job market daily and had seen the trends. As it turned out, he started a new job the week before Christmas which was unusual but happens. I think there is also a lot of uncertainty in the economy (and hiring) following a presidential election. The stock market shows it every time. But then things start to get back to normal, no matter who wins. We carry on.

[LauraDP 10]

Laura, there is an expectation for a reasonable amount delay while you get things prepared for the next part. Many people have not been way ahead of the game and don't have a clue what"s next. So they have to go get photos, shots, order birth certificates, etc. For that reason, I don't think you need to contact them immediately. In general you have four months to get the next part in line. So drag out each step. Send the application DS-230 next month...4 weeks from now. They will still be waiting for medical results and DS-2001. By mid January, ask for an extension and give a reason if you aren't ready. You don't want to pay for medicals if you are going to back out.

Most companies don't hire at the end of the year so likely January will be his month. My son-in-law was laid off from a high paying professional job when the economy slumped. His head-hunter, who was trying to find work for him, told him it's almost impossible to get hired in Nov-Dec, but it really picks up in January. She dealt with the job market daily and had seen the trends. As it turned out, he started a new job the week before Christmas which was unusual but happens. I think there is also a lot of uncertainty in the economy (and hiring) following a presidential election. The stock market shows it every time. But then things start to get back to normal, no matter who wins. We carry on.

Thanks, Nich-Nick, for another clear answer. I always appreciate your replies.

It was exactly that "reasonable time" I was trying to figure out. So it seems like we can hold out until January and maybe even February to contact them and apply for an extension. You have hit the nail on the head: we do not want to be shelling out for medicals etc if we are not going to be able to make the employment part work but we also reckon they will not issue the visas for the kids and me if my husband does not have a job to go to to enable us to prove intent to establish domicile or an ability to support ourselves (though we will, of course, have a joint sponsor). Basically we need his job application time line to catch up with our visa timeline because the gap is too big right now.

Since the jobs he is applying for close at the end of the year, my assumption was they would use January for sifting through them, might draw up a candidate long-list in February, maybe conduct some distance interviews by phone / skype and then draw up a short list for interview candidates around March time. As I have said before, he is applying for Accountancy / Auditor / Finance Manager posts in Federal Government departments in the Washington DC area as that aligns with his qualifications (which have been converted by an accredited agency) and career experience here in the UK. We also know what grade he needs to enter at for us to realistically be able to afford to live in the commuter belt of the capital - the advantage of being married to an Accountant is he can create fantastic projected budgets. That job stream seems to be pretty stable right now despite the election and the economy. Since he is not picky about which department of government he works in, he is able to apply for three or four jobs per week at the moment. He has had notice than one has already been progressed after the initial computerised sifting and, as I say, the others have not closed yet. One he got a direct knock-back for because he was not taught in semester hours for his postgrad and when he spoke to someone in HR they were not willing to consider converting the qualification in any other way. Hopefully one of the irons he has in the fire will come to something.

We know when our point of abandonment is but it is only fair to slow up the immigration process to give him a fighting chance of securing a job while we are able to do so.

Best wishes

Laura

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

As I have said before, he is applying for Accountancy / Auditor / Finance Manager posts in Federal Government departments in the Washington DC area as that aligns with his qualifications (which have been converted by an accredited agency) and career experience here in the UK. We also know what grade he needs to enter at for us to realistically be able to afford to live in the commuter belt of the capital - the advantage of being married to an Accountant is he can create fantastic projected budgets. That job stream seems to be pretty stable right now despite the election and the economy. Since he is not picky about which department of government he works in, he is able to apply for three or four jobs per week at the moment. He has had notice than one has already been progressed after the initial computerised sifting and, as I say, the others have not closed yet. One he got a direct knock-back for because he was not taught in semester hours for his postgrad and when he spoke to someone in HR they were not willing to consider converting the qualification in any other way. Hopefully one of the irons he has in the fire will come to something.

We know when our point of abandonment is but it is only fair to slow up the immigration process to give him a fighting chance of securing a job while we are able to do so.

Best wishes

Laura

I think the embassy will work with you so not to worry. Is there a reason he wants a job in government over private sector? Is it because you want to live in the DC area? The son-in-law I spoke of has a degree in accounting and a masters in finance. He is currently with BP but has always found it easy to find the next job. Around here the oil and gas industry is huge and he has worked for several companies including negotiating comtract leases for drilling to internal audit, despite not having previous experience in a specific area. I also have a daughter who is an accountant. The same head hunter that finds her brother-in-law jobs, found her a $25k per year better job with great perks. The employer pays the fee, not the job seeker. Accounting has been a good field for my kids, despite the economy.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Nich-Nick

[MollyDan 0]

Good Morning, VJers!

We received the NOA2 notice this morning for myself and our four sons. It was approved on 8 November which means it took 16 days from NOA1. Things are moving way too quickly for our circumstances so we are going to delay submitting the next "packet" of documents. As we cannot relocate unless my husband has secured a job, we need to wait for a while. He has applications in - one of which has progressed - but most of the jobs he has applied for don't even close to applications until the end of the year. So we need to buy ourselves some time so that the kids and I don't end up with our visas in hand before we are actually capable of emigrating to the US.

Has anyone else been in similar circumstances of having to stall the process?

How long can we hold off on submitting the next set of paperwork without informing USCIS at the London Embassy? Or should we get an email code so as to make contact with them right away and let them know we are still pursuing the visas and set out our reasons for stalling for a period?

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

Best wishes

Laura

Hi, Laura! Funny, I recently asked our immigration lawyer the same thing: whether there was any kind of expiration date or deadline for faxing in the DS 230 (which for us is the next step). The lawyer answered: "Generally, it is one year." So if that's generally true at all embassies, then I would say it's OK for you to stall a bit. We are stalling too (though my parents aren't any too happy about that)!

Take care and keep us posted.

Molly

[JoannaV 174]

In general you have four months to get the next part in line.

I've always heard the four month figure in relation to the K-1, whereas there seems more leeway with the spousal visa. With service center filing it appeared that at every step in the process you could go up to a year with no contact.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I've always heard the four month figure in relation to the K-1, whereas there seems more leeway with the spousal visa. With service center filing it appeared that at every step in the process you could go up to a year with no contact.

Yes, probably true since I think K1 most of the time. I know the embassy puts a date on the P3 letter for K1s. Do you know what they say in a DCF letter if anything?

[JoannaV 174]

Yes, probably true since I think K1 most of the time. I know the embassy puts a date on the P3 letter for K1s. Do you know what they say in a DCF letter if anything?

I'm not sure, other than to return promptly to avoid delays. It's always possible to return the DS-230 but hold off on the DS-2001. The I-130 approval is essentially valid for the duration of the marriage. Personally I guess I would send in the DS-230 so that the IV department had heard from me, and then I'd happily forget about it for many months.

[AmyWrites 593]

You can take your time sending in docs, we had to do it also, but remember just because you have a visa doesn't mean you need to go into the US right after. My husband got his visa in June, and it expires in December, so we could've gone in in December if we needed to.

[himher 634]

Please note that once the visas are issued you have (6) months to use them. We received ours October, didnt enter the US until March, and we had until April 15th.

We stalled in the Packet III document collection for about a month as well which gave us almost a year after we filed to actually enter the US

Good Morning, VJers!

We received the NOA2 notice this morning for myself and our four sons. It was approved on 8 November which means it took 16 days from NOA1. Things are moving way too quickly for our circumstances so we are going to delay submitting the next "packet" of documents. As we cannot relocate unless my husband has secured a job, we need to wait for a while. He has applications in - one of which has progressed - but most of the jobs he has applied for don't even close to applications until the end of the year. So we need to buy ourselves some time so that the kids and I don't end up with our visas in hand before we are actually capable of emigrating to the US.

Has anyone else been in similar circumstances of having to stall the process?

How long can we hold off on submitting the next set of paperwork without informing USCIS at the London Embassy? Or should we get an email code so as to make contact with them right away and let them know we are still pursuing the visas and set out our reasons for stalling for a period?

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

Best wishes

Laura

Edited November 18, 2012 by himher

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

Personally, I would try to get a straight answer from London on how long is acceptable to delay, although if you're only thinking a matter of months, I don't think there's any reason for concern. Seoul actually specified that we had two years from the date of our petition approval to officially apply for the visa, which was the first time I'd heard anything other than one year. Either way, I don't think it would be less than a year and if it were, it would be 6 months. I think you have nothing to worry about if you need to drag things out a bit.

[LauraDP 10]

I think the embassy will work with you so not to worry. Is there a reason he wants a job in government over private sector? Is it because you want to live in the DC area? The son-in-law I spoke of has a degree in accounting and a masters in finance. He is currently with BP but has always found it easy to find the next job. Around here the oil and gas industry is huge and he has worked for several companies including negotiating comtract leases for drilling to internal audit, despite not having previous experience in a specific area. I also have a daughter who is an accountant. The same head hunter that finds her brother-in-law jobs, found her a $25k per year better job with great perks. The employer pays the fee, not the job seeker. Accounting has been a good field for my kids, despite the economy.

Hi Nich-Nick

He wants to work in the government sector simply because that is where all of his experience in the UK has been (national and local government) so ideally he would like to segue into working in a similar field in the US. It is also what he really enjoys doing. However, while that is what he is applying for right now there will come a point where he will reassess (if he is not even getting phone interviews, say) and will apply for state government positions and then in the private sector. He just thinks he is probably less competitive as a candidate in the private sector because his entire professional career has been spent in the public sector. So he's not closed to the idea of it but his priority at this point in our timeline is to apply for federal jobs. Yes, he (we) do want to live in the DC area because it is where he grew up so it is somewhere we are very familiar with and where we have some family and friends. We think this latter factor is important in particular because of having the kids as we need some sort of back up for emergencies.

Best wishes

Laura

[LauraDP 10]

Thanks for all of the replies, everyone.

I don't think we will be delaying moving on to the next phase for any longer than six months but it is good to know we might have up to a year just in case. I think if it is taking so long for my husband to find a US job then it is probably not meant to be and we will need to countenance jettisoning the whole plan.

I appreciate we have six months from the medical / visa issuance but we obviously want to ensure that we don't go right down to the wire on that timescale as we cannot afford to repeat any part of the process as we need to husband our funds for the actual costs of relocating and starting from scratch in the US. On a more personal level, I also wish to avoid living with my in-laws for any longer than is strictly necessary and that is something that might happen if our immigration and employment timelines get too out of whack.

So it seems like the best way forward in our situation is to submit the DS-230 once we have the next set of instructions (the NOA2 said it would take up to 5 weeks to receive the next round of papers) and then in late January / early February we will write to the Embassy to inform them that we are intending on proceeding with the application but are holding off on submitting the next set of papers for X, Y and Z reasons so that they know we are extending and not abandoning the process. I am sure they will appreciate that our reasons for delaying are very sound. Since so much of the process is to ensure that we don't become a public charge then I think they would like the fact we are choosing to hold off on emigrating until my husband has a job that can support us all.

Fingers crossed one of my husband's applications is the winner and we don't have to delay for too long!

It is reassuring to know that others have also chosen to delay.

Thanks again for your helpful replies.

Best wishes

Laura