The 'OMG this is happening fast' thread

[FLAussie 5]

My heart goes out to everyone who's separated from their partner, waiting months or years for their visa to be processed.

However, I'm having the opposite problem: we expected and planned for about 4-5 months from NOA1 to embassy interview, at least. Our NOA1 was May 15th, and we had hoped we might be back in the US in time for Christmas because it means a lot to my fiancé and his family to spend it together.

Instead, we found out yesterday that our embassy interview is July 15th. 63 days from NOA1 to interview!

I know this would be classed as 'nice problem to have' by so many here, and I really hope this doesn't come off as insensitive... but honestly, the whole thing is freaking me out.

Firstly, I spent the whole day today getting fingerprinted for the police check and booking the medical exam. Also got NOA2 in the mail today, and finally got my engagement ring, but no time to celebrate that.

Secondly, I suspect I'll only have 3 month validity on the medical exam due to Class B medical conditions. That would mean I'd have about 2 months from when I get the visa to actually be in the USA!

I had this nice plan of selling a whole lot of my stuff over the next few months to raise a little more cash for the move, but if I only have two months... it feels like barely enough time to sort out what comes with me and what doesn't, pack what's coming and donate the rest.

I also have a business here to wind up, and stock to try to resell for some portion of what I paid for it all.

But most importantly, my fiancé and I were going to take a road trip to my hometown to meet my childhood friends, visit the people who adopted me as a kid (no parents), see where I grew up and went to school, etc. I'm not sure we'll be able to do that after all, and that makes me sad. Most of my loved ones there won't be able to come over for the wedding, so I wanted to at least celebrate our engagement with them, and say goodbye properly.

Thirdly, we wanted to have our wedding on Valentines Day next year, which we thought was a reasonably realistic date given 5 month average time to interview. Now... not sure we'll be able to do that.

I won't know for sure what's going to happen until the medical exam and consulate interview. But did anyone else have to pack up and leave their life behind a lot faster than expected? How did you cope? Any tips?

[chiggins82 88]

This happened to me. It makes me feel really bad for people that are ready to go and have to wait so long. I actually contacted my consulate and asked if we could push out our interview until Dec/Jan and they were fine with it. Something you could inquire about if you wanted.

Even so, I know the move will come really fast when it gets here. I am making many, many lists to try and stay organized. Lists of what I own, what is moving with me, lists for things I need to do before I leave. I find that is helping me.

Just think, it may be rushed, but soon this step will be all over with. I think that is going to feel really good

[landr 126]

There were parts of my journey that were slow and parts that were fast. I picked up my visa today and while I've been preparing for this moment for the last six months, it still seems a bit surreal. And I know that with AOS, ROC and then naturalisation, I've only taken the first step in the journey.

2-3 months from a sent petition to interview is very fast, especially if you didn't request an expedite. Unfortunately, there are many others who are less fortunate. Be thankful for your quick process and hope that the rest of the journey is as swift and smooth. Good luck!

[Tina and Johan 206]

see if you can get the interview resceduled for a later date. This whole thing is a gamble with time. We were hoping that he'd be here by mid-November. He's through the process and is now really feeling the pressure to purge, sell, give away, ship his stuff.

Good luck!

[jameswhunt 12]

Geez...

[Sekhvaruli 74]

You can reschedule the interview - just write an email to the embassy and ask for a later date.

Also, after the visa is issued you will have 6 months until it expires.

[FLAussie 5]

You can reschedule the interview - just write an email to the embassy and ask for a later date.

Also, after the visa is issued you will have 6 months until it expires.

Thanks.

I got very worried that because I have serious medical issues and will almost certainly get Class B condition on the medical exam, it would only have 3 month validity so I'd have about 2 months from when I'm likely to actually get the visa, to pack up my whole life and move... with aforementioned serious medical issues, which slow me down sometimes and mean I can barely lift anything, which makes packing boxes difficult.

I finally found the right part of the CDC manual, and it looks like the 3 month validity is only for people with TB or HIV; as far as I can tell, other Class B conditions still get 6 month validity. 5 months to pack up and leave my life here behind, I can handle; 2 months, not so much.

(Yes, I get very worried about things. I copped a very heavy-handed interrogation from a border control officer a while ago, even though I hadn't done anything wrong. I still have nightmares about it. US immigration scare the ####### out of me, so this whole process makes me very nervous.)

[FLAussie 5]

This happened to me. It makes me feel really bad for people that are ready to go and have to wait so long. I actually contacted my consulate and asked if we could push out our interview until Dec/Jan and they were fine with it. Something you could inquire about if you wanted.

Even so, I know the move will come really fast when it gets here. I am making many, many lists to try and stay organized. Lists of what I own, what is moving with me, lists for things I need to do before I leave. I find that is helping me.

Just think, it may be rushed, but soon this step will be all over with. I think that is going to feel really good

I'm a list-maker too.

And yes, it will be amazing to get over there and start the 'new life'; we've been in a state of limbo for months, not wanting to put down roots too much in Australia because we know we'll be leaving at some point, but also not able to start anything over there til we get there.

Does make me feel really sorry for the people whose limbo time extends for years, not months. US immigration is an unpredictable beast.

There were parts of my journey that were slow and parts that were fast. I picked up my visa today and while I've been preparing for this moment for the last six months, it still seems a bit surreal. And I know that with AOS, ROC and then naturalisation, I've only taken the first step in the journey.

2-3 months from a sent petition to interview is very fast, especially if you didn't request an expedite. Unfortunately, there are many others who are less fortunate. Be thankful for your quick process and hope that the rest of the journey is as swift and smooth. Good luck!

Congrats on getting your visa! So much work, even getting to this point.

You're right that getting the visa is really just getting out of the starting gates; still have the whole marathon to run.

We didn't request an expedite, but possibly we got one anyway. My USC partner is living here in Australia with me atm, but our main reason for moving is that his whole family is in the US, his mother had a major health diagnosis a while ago and has to make big lifestyle changes ASAP (and since they're Southern, only way they know to make food is bacon fat and/or butter in everything), and his grandparents are at an age where they likely won't be around too much longer. Pretty sure we mentioned that at the bottom of the covering letter, to explain why we were applying. One of his uncles died last week, and he's missing the funeral to be here with me.

So maybe they sometimes expedite to reunite USC families even if you don't ask for it?

Or maybe they rate Aussies as extremely low risk, because they figure that if you're moving from a country where minimum wage is $20/hour to one where it's $7/hour, you must be doing it for love.

We are extremely thankful that, with any luck, the uncertainty will be over within a month or so for us.

We're especially thankful to the people who wrote the I129-f guide on here; we followed it to the letter, and for us, it's worked out well so far. So big thanks to the people who compiled it!

Edited June 28, 2014 by FutureSouthernGal

[FLAussie 5]

see if you can get the interview resceduled for a later date. This whole thing is a gamble with time. We were hoping that he'd be here by mid-November. He's through the process and is now really feeling the pressure to purge, sell, give away, ship his stuff.

Good luck!

Thanks!

I'm just starting the ship / sell / donate process now, and it's weird how much stuff there is when you start having to look at each piece individually and decide how much you value it, and then either pack it, sell it or give it away.

Best of luck with your new life in the USA!

[TBoneTX 45,294]

A post has been removed because of its insensitivity and not dealing with the OP's questions. Unless you can post constructively, don't post.

VJ Moderation

[bellejimmy 10]

Ah I am SO incredibly jealous! I'm Australian and waiting waiting waiting, NOA1 26 March, texas service centre too. Super depressed here without him. I wonder why your application got processed before ours?!!
So happy for you though!

[lilsadie 50]

My heart goes out to everyone who's separated from their partner, waiting months or years for their visa to be processed.

However, I'm having the opposite problem: we expected and planned for about 4-5 months from NOA1 to embassy interview, at least. Our NOA1 was May 15th, and we had hoped we might be back in the US in time for Christmas because it means a lot to my fiancé and his family to spend it together.

Instead, we found out yesterday that our embassy interview is July 15th. 63 days from NOA1 to interview!

I know this would be classed as 'nice problem to have' by so many here, and I really hope this doesn't come off as insensitive... but honestly, the whole thing is freaking me out.

Firstly, I spent the whole day today getting fingerprinted for the police check and booking the medical exam. Also got NOA2 in the mail today, and finally got my engagement ring, but no time to celebrate that.

Secondly, I suspect I'll only have 3 month validity on the medical exam due to Class B medical conditions. That would mean I'd have about 2 months from when I get the visa to actually be in the USA!

I had this nice plan of selling a whole lot of my stuff over the next few months to raise a little more cash for the move, but if I only have two months... it feels like barely enough time to sort out what comes with me and what doesn't, pack what's coming and donate the rest.

I also have a business here to wind up, and stock to try to resell for some portion of what I paid for it all.

But most importantly, my fiancé and I were going to take a road trip to my hometown to meet my childhood friends, visit the people who adopted me as a kid (no parents), see where I grew up and went to school, etc. I'm not sure we'll be able to do that after all, and that makes me sad. Most of my loved ones there won't be able to come over for the wedding, so I wanted to at least celebrate our engagement with them, and say goodbye properly.

Thirdly, we wanted to have our wedding on Valentines Day next year, which we thought was a reasonably realistic date given 5 month average time to interview. Now... not sure we'll be able to do that.

I won't know for sure what's going to happen until the medical exam and consulate interview. But did anyone else have to pack up and leave their life behind a lot faster than expected? How did you cope? Any tips?

Were in the same boat! We thought that it would be around xmas when we moved (thinking that would be quick) Our interview is the same day as yours!

Application to interview in around 70 days.

We have decided to go over in September and have a small ceremony in the second week we get there and do the legal stuff with our close friends and family. We are also wanted a wedding around V day (The day we became 'official'!!)

Its a nice problem to have but still a problem, there is so much to do, so much to organise, I totally understand your stress with this.

I guess you will just have to wait and see if your medical is 3 or 6 months and then go from there?

Its such a big life change and Im trying hard to pre plan as much as I can but its so hard when you have no real timeline.

Good luck with the rest of the process and maybe we will bump into each other at the interview!!!

[FLAussie 5]

Ah I am SO incredibly jealous! I'm Australian and waiting waiting waiting, NOA1 26 March, texas service centre too. Super depressed here without him. I wonder why your application got processed before ours?!!

So happy for you though!

Thanks!

Honestly wish I could tell you why ours was done so quickly. Just lucky? California does seem to process the 'decision ready' ones quickly.

We are living together here in Australia, in a registered de facto relationship (civil partnership), and maybe got expedited even though we didn't ask because his mother's sick and his grandparents are old, and all living in the USA.

Maybe my months of worrying and obsessively researching, here and elsewhere, paid off and our application was so great they went, "Yes! We want this lady in our country!" (Hey, a girl can dream... more likely, whatever poor civil servant got stuck with our inch-thick application went "omg what have they put in this thing?? newspaper clippings of your boyfriend talking about you when he's meant to be promoting his play?? How do I get these people off my desk as quickly as possible? Right, APPROVED stamp. Goodbye crazy people." )

We did have heaps of evidence of being together, visiting each other multiple times, all that; maybe it helped. But lots of people on here seem to have that, and still don't get fast approval like that.

I do suspect the close diplomatic relationship between the USA and Australia effects these things; my partner's visa to come here to Australia for a year was approved in under a day. It's like they can just log straight into the other country's government databases, see everything your own government knows about you, and if it all seems OK they just say yes. Or maybe I'm paranoid, and both countries just consider the other's citizens really low risk?

Really wish I knew what the secret for super-fast interview was; I'd happily tell you all if I knew!

Good luck, hope your approval comes through soon.

[Sabrina_T 22]

Thanks!

Honestly wish I could tell you why ours was done so quickly. Just lucky? California does seem to process the 'decision ready' ones quickly.

We are living together here in Australia, in a registered de facto relationship (civil partnership), and maybe got expedited even though we didn't ask because his mother's sick and his grandparents are old, and all living in the USA.

Maybe my months of worrying and obsessively researching, here and elsewhere, paid off and our application was so great they went, "Yes! We want this lady in our country!" (Hey, a girl can dream... more likely, whatever poor civil servant got stuck with our inch-thick application went "omg what have they put in this thing?? newspaper clippings of your boyfriend talking about you when he's meant to be promoting his play?? How do I get these people off my desk as quickly as possible? Right, APPROVED stamp. Goodbye crazy people." )

We did have heaps of evidence of being together, visiting each other multiple times, all that; maybe it helped. But lots of people on here seem to have that, and still don't get fast approval like that.

I do suspect the close diplomatic relationship between the USA and Australia effects these things; my partner's visa to come here to Australia for a year was approved in under a day. It's like they can just log straight into the other country's government databases, see everything your own government knows about you, and if it all seems OK they just say yes. Or maybe I'm paranoid, and both countries just consider the other's citizens really low risk?

Really wish I knew what the secret for super-fast interview was; I'd happily tell you all if I knew!

Good luck, hope your approval comes through soon.

You should probably change your timeline if it was processed at California Service Centre as it currently says Texas

[FLAussie 5]

You should probably change your timeline if it was processed at California Service Centre as it currently says Texas

Really?? Just went in to check and when I look at it, it says California... gremlins in the system, maybe? Eh, technology. Makes our lives sooo much easier.