IR-1 Interview in Sydney on 4th Feb - travelling to the US on the 10th Feb?

[ShawnMarie 0]

Hi all,

After an 18 month application process my husband finally has his IR-1 interview at the Sydney consulate next week on the 4th of Feb!!

However... we booked flights last year to visit my parents for a couple of weeks in Chicago, and are departing on 10th February. If he is approved for the visa... and we enter the US on the 10th just as a visitor... is that going to cause problems? I only just now realised this. I'll e-mail the consulate as well but don't have high hopes of getting a response before we leave for Sydney.

Thanks everyone. Fingers crossed.

[Mark @ Georgina 0]

I would wait if approved which is 99% of the time the turnaround is 5 business days I got my passport back in my hands in 7 business days.This also depends where you live I was living on the the Central Coast if interstate add 1 day.

I heard when I went for my interview someone in a similar situation the consulate where not happy when they tell you not to book flights.Postpone your trip by 3 days 1 week it will be worth it.I understand your pain my process took 14 months.

Any questions ask

Mark

[NikLR 13,227]

He won't be able to visit as a visitor should he have the visa. He would have to activate his visa.

[willandnaz 0]

We had our interview this past Tuesday (the 28th) and got our visa in the mail yesterday (Friday the 31st). It does say it can take longer, but the turnaround right now seems to be pretty quick. We checked the case before ours on CEAC (we just changed the last digit of our case number) and their visa was issued on the same day as ours. So if this all works out for you, your husband won't have to enter as a visitor and you'll be fine.

However, I'm not sure what the logistics of entering the country would be while your visa is being processed, but they do strongly advise against having flights booked before you have your visa in hand. This is different, of course, since these flights were purchased with the intention of entering the US as a visitor, and now your interview has conveniently been scheduled shortly before the flights. Still, I can't imagine this to be the kind of circumstance that sways a consulate into expediting the processing. Furthermore, as long as his visa is processing, his passport will be stuck with the consulate. I suggest you either change the date of your tickets now or regularly check your status after your interview and change them if it doesn't look like you will be getting your visa before the 10th.

Good luck - we're leaving on the 10th as well!

[ShawnMarie 0]

Thanks for the responses everyone. We are hoping that because we are just entering for two weeks to visit my parents then returning that we won't have to enter on his visa... if so... I wonder if we could activate his visa then return here for five months before moving to the US? I don't know... guess we'll find out tuesday :-\

Thank again