Expedite request directly to consulat or rather to NVC?

[alcope 0]

Dear fellow members,

Does anyone have experience with expedite requests?

We are currently stuck at the NVC since May as we have been unsuccessfully trying to change our consulate from Frankfurt (I am a German citizen, obviously) to Barbados (we are residing in the Caribbean). After months of waiting and a denial letter by NVC we successfully contacted Bridgetown. They immediately agreed to have our case processed at their consulate and said that they "have contacted NVC to have the case forwarded" there.

All our forms/supporting documents have been sent to the NVC over the last couple of months and all fees are paid, DS 260 was completed last week (with processing time of 60 days).

Our priority date is 09/09/13.

As my husband (the petiontioner) has just finished his basic science part of medical school he needs to return to the US latest in late October for his board exam. We have a letter by the school verifying/stating this. Also, our permanent residency papers expire on 12/31/14 and cannot be renewed as residency is conditioned to my husband's attendance of medical school.

We would like (need) to expedite the process and I was wondering if there is anyone out there who has experience with this matter and this specific consulate.

Should we send our expedite request to Barbados (they are very responsive, I had my request approved within 24 hours) or do we need to go through the NVC (which we would like to avoid)?

Any ideas/reccommendations/comments are greatly appreciated!

[Mark88 184]

Did you reside in Germany at time of filing?

[alcope 0]

No, we were already living in the Caribbean. Not sure where we made the mistake, probably when filing the I130. We put in our current residency address, but whoever has lived on a small Caribbean island knows that there are no zip codes, etc. available. We put my old German address as the mail address and I am assuming USCIS did not recognize the current residency address.

Nevertheless, I have official papers by local immigration services stating our current permanent residency status (those were sent to Barbados) and local census offices (those were sent to the NVC).

[Mark88 184]

You can find all the information you need here:

http://www.uscis.gov/forms/expedite-criteria

The consulate will have nothing to do with your expedite request, since they are the last stage after NVC approves it.

[alcope 0]

Thank you!

I am a little confused here as the NVC officer on the phone told me that the expedite request will not be decided by the NVC but will be forwarded to the cosulate and it is up to them if they expedite or not.

Can anyone elaborate?

[Mark88 184]

The instructions say

The NCSC will take a “service request” and forward your expedite request to the office with jurisdiction over the application or petition.

Means: If you did DCF, then the Frankfurt consulate would decide over it. If you filed over NVC, they will decide.

[alcope 0]

Ah, so I am in the wrong forum after all?!

Sorry, this all is just a very confusing and overwhelming process

Thank you for your help though!

The expedite request was sent to the NVC today, we'll see what happens.