February 2015 IR-1 / CR-1 Filers

[lbreal1 16]

Hey everyone!!! I had my interview today and I was APPROVED!! Yayyy I'm so happy and so relieved that this is over now!

Promise I will get back with details about the interview, tomorrow. I'm exhausted right now and just want to sleep lol.

Congratulations and welcome to the United States of America.

[jayisis 13]

Hey everyone!!! I had my interview today and I was APPROVED!! Yayyy I'm so happy and so relieved that this is over now!

Promise I will get back with details about the interview, tomorrow. I'm exhausted right now and just want to sleep lol.

Congratulations to both of you!! Have a happy & safe journey to the states!

[Traveler23 4]

Hello everyone, just an update. My wife arrived on Dec 22nd and we had a good time spending Christmas together even though she had a fever from her trip for a few days after arriving. Congrats to everyone for finishing your journey or moving closer to it.

Question, especially for this group. Does anyone know if a social security card is sent to us automatically as a cr-1 immigrant if we selected that option? Or do we have to apply at the local social security administration office? Anyone, have their ss number yet?

Thanks and wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

[kmurcia 0]

Hello everyone, just an update. My wife arrived on Dec 22nd and we had a good time spending Christmas together even though she had a fever from her trip for a few days after arriving. Congrats to everyone for finishing your journey or moving closer to it.

Question, especially for this group. Does anyone know if a social security card is sent to us automatically as a cr-1 immigrant if we selected that option? Or do we have to apply at the local social security administration office? Anyone, have their ss number yet?

Thanks and wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

my daughter's ss card just arrive today it took 8 days after POE, still waiting for my wife's SS and green cards.

does anybody know where we can track green cards production ?

thanks

[IonelaC. 32]

Thank you everyone! Here is my interview experience:

So I arrived there really early, 3 hrs prior to the interview. I asked one of the guards outside the embassy if I have to give them my interview appointment letter, so they will know I'm there and he said it's not necessary, because I should be on the list. But that I need to wait till 1 pm.
I came back at the embassy at 12:30 and there were already few people outside waiting. Fortunately the weather was lovely
At 12:55 someone came with a list and started calling the people. I got called the 5th. Inside, we had to go through security check same as when going to the airport. We were not allowed to carry any backpacks with us so I had to take out my 2 huge folders, huge wedding album + another photo album where I had pictures with us from our trips. Then we were sent to another building where we were asked to wait till we hear our names called.
Unfortunately, I was literally the last one to be called for the interview. I think there were 12 people in front of me.
When my name finally got called, I went to the window and a nice young lady introduced herself and then asked me to rise my right hand and to swear that everything that I presented and what I will say it's the truth.
First question was: did you pay anyone to introduce you to your husband? I was shocked and said: no, no, no. Then I told her that we met in Abu Dhabi, while in training, sent there by our company (we used to work for the same company). From there on it was mostly a conversation. I started telling her about us and out relationship and she was asking a question from time to time.
Other questions asked: did you started dating ever since? (when we met in Abu Dhabi)
- Did he meet your parents?
- Did you meet his parents? I told her yes, that they came to the wedding in Romania and that also some of his friends came too, all the way from Alaska and Canada.
- What is he doing now?
- Are you working?
Since none of us is working currently, she asked me: and what are you guys planning to do in US? So I told her that Bryan is looking for a job and he might potentially obtain an officer position in the US Army and that as soon as I get my SSN I will start looking for a job.
She asked: so you guys wanna settle in the US, cause I can see from your documents you have been moving around the world a lot due to your job. So I told her that yes, for the moment that's the plan, but hey.. you never know what the life has planned for you And then she smiled and said that's true.
Then she said: well, you guys showed us more proof than we needed and everything looks good. In that moment she took my passport and handed it to me. I was shocked!!! I thought she's going to deny my visa or something. She smiled and said: don't worry, it's your old passport with your tourist visa which I cancelled, cause I have just approved your visa. Congratulations and welcomed to United States!
I was soooo happy!!! And that was my interview! Easier than I would have expected, honestly.
When they asked me for proof of relationship, I had a full folder with hundreds of pages worth of conversations on Facebook, emails, flights and hotels from our trips, phone bills and such. They only took the emails from me, the flights and hotels bookings and the small photo album (the big wedding album didn't fit through the window lol).
They didn't ask me for any financial docs, no I-864, no W2s, no pay stubs, nothing!
Now, 1 day after my interview, when checking the ceac website I can see my visa status changed to ISSUED!!! Yaaaay!!! Nightmare is over!! Will be flying to the States on January 12th. POE is going to be San Diego

[Traveler23 4]

Thanks, will update you how it goes...

[molina86 0]

Hello im New here my category is IR1 I send both packages to nvc I track mythe packages and it was deliver last week can someone tell me how long I have to wait to get case completed letter and interview letter. Thanks

[24KGEM 1]

Hello im New here my category is IR1 I send both packages to nvc I track mythe packages and it was deliver last week can someone tell me how long I have to wait to get case completed letter and interview letter. Thanks

It will take 30-45 days from receipt to obtain a CC. The interview will depend on your which embassy you will be doing your interview.

[FabtheFab 67]

Hi all,

Happy 2016 to everyone! Congratulations to those who already got their visas and I hope that the approval will come soon to those still waiting.

I did my POE yesterday at Dallas (DFW) with my daughter. It was incredibly smooth - it took me 30 minutes from the moment I left the plane to doing all immigration part and getting my bags and meeting my husband outside. We were worried about eventually missing a connection because of waiting for the visas to be processed, so he decided to pick us up at Dallas and driving to Oklahoma from there.

But it was a matter of luck, I think - my flight landed 30 minutes before expected, and I think we were the first flight to arrive on that day. It was 4:30 am. From there, I rushed with my daughter to avoid huge lines - we went through the usual "Non-US citizens with a visa" line that we would use before for visiting. It took us some 10 minutes of waiting there.

The first CBP officer was very nice and friendly. When I told him we were immigrating and showed him the envelopes he said "Oh, this is different. I like this!" - I did fingerprints then and he asked us to follow him to the secondary office. We got there at around 5:00 am. We sat down. There were two people waiting there - they looked pretty stressed out - I am assuming they were trying to come with visitor visas and were sent to secondary. The CBP officer put my envelopes in a queue. The person who was processing it called the two people before me in order, and then called me and my daughter.

He showed our newly stamped visas in our passports and said "This will be your temporary resident proof before the card arrives to your address". And that was all. He looked grumpy (maybe because it was 5 am) so I decided not to make any more questions and left.

We got our luggage, and when we went through customs I told the customs officer in advance we were immigrating (we had 5 huge bags). The custom officer asked if we had food or alcohol and I said no, so he said "Welcome to America"!

And that was it.

Edited January 1, 2016 by FabtheFab

[IonelaC. 32]

Hi all,

Happy 2016 to everyone! Congratulations to those who already got their visas and I hope that the approval will come soon to those still waiting.

I did my POE yesterday at Dallas (DFW) with my daughter. It was incredibly smooth - it took me 30 minutes from the moment I left the plane to doing all immigration part and getting my bags and meeting my husband outside. We were worried about eventually missing a connection because of waiting for the visas to be processed, so he decided to pick us up at Dallas and driving to Oklahoma from there.

But it was a matter of luck, I think - my flight landed 30 minutes before expected, and I think we were the first flight to arrive on that day. It was 4:30 am. From there, I rushed with my daughter to avoid huge lines - we went through the usual "Non-US citizens with a visa" line that we would use before for visiting. It took us some 10 minutes of waiting there.

The first CBP officer was very nice and friendly. When I told him we were immigrating and showed him the envelopes he said "Oh, this is different. I like this!" - I did fingerprints then and he asked us to follow him to the secondary office. We got there at around 5:00 am. We sat down. There were two people waiting there - they looked pretty stressed out - I am assuming they were trying to come with visitor visas and were sent to secondary. The CBP officer put my envelopes in a queue. The person who was processing it called the two people before me in order, and then called me and my daughter.

He showed our newly stamped visas in our passports and said "This will be your temporary resident proof before the card arrives to your address". And that was all. He looked grumpy (maybe because it was 5 am) so I decided not to make any more questions and left.

We got our luggage, and when we went through customs I told the customs officer in advance we were immigrating (we had 5 huge bags). The custom officer asked if we had food or alcohol and I said no, so he said "Welcome to America"!

And that was it.

That's awesome FabtheFab Happy that your POE went nice and smoothly Have a happy life together and Happy New Year!!!

[kriswisconsin 0]

hi everyone,
i've been following this thread for awhile, but then i stopped after my husband and i ran into a problem since our I130 approval in july 2015. here's a qiuck background of our journey:
we met online in 2010. got married in tunisia in 2014. filed for the I130 in february 2015. got approved in july 2015.

the problem we've run into is that we can't find a co sponsor. it's getting very frustrating. we've been ready to proceed with the rest of the visa process since july but no one in my family will sponsor him because they say they don't "know him well enough." i think it's just that they don't approve of him because he's a muslim. a couple of months ago i received an email from the NVC saying that our visa petition will be terminated within 1 year from visa availability notice. and that scares me. it's been 5 months since we've been approved, and the only thing holding us back is a stupid co sponsor issue. i'm afraid we'll have to divorce if we don't get a co sponsor soon. i cannot be in an internet marriage. it's not right.
has anyone else had trouble getting a sponsor?

[mbalih 35]

hi everyone,

i've been following this thread for awhile, but then i stopped after my husband and i ran into a problem since our I130 approval in july 2015. here's a qiuck background of our journey:

we met online in 2010. got married in tunisia in 2014. filed for the I130 in february 2015. got approved in july 2015.

the problem we've run into is that we can't find a co sponsor. it's getting very frustrating. we've been ready to proceed with the rest of the visa process since july but no one in my family will sponsor him because they say they don't "know him well enough." i think it's just that they don't approve of him because he's a muslim. a couple of months ago i received an email from the NVC saying that our visa petition will be terminated within 1 year from visa availability notice. and that scares me. it's been 5 months since we've been approved, and the only thing holding us back is a stupid co sponsor issue. i'm afraid we'll have to divorce if we don't get a co sponsor soon. i cannot be in an internet marriage. it's not right.

has anyone else had trouble getting a sponsor?

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles, I understand what you are going through, this hasn't been easy for any of us here..

Isn't there a friend you could ask to help with sponsoring? What about you?

Please don't think about divorce, there has to be a solution out there, I know how you feel, my husband and I haven't seen each other for a year,and it's been rough, very rough on us.

[Flaco 0]

hi everyone,

i've been following this thread for awhile, but then i stopped after my husband and i ran into a problem since our I130 approval in july 2015. here's a qiuck background of our journey:

we met online in 2010. got married in tunisia in 2014. filed for the I130 in february 2015. got approved in july 2015.

the problem we've run into is that we can't find a co sponsor. it's getting very frustrating. we've been ready to proceed with the rest of the visa process since july but no one in my family will sponsor him because they say they don't "know him well enough." i think it's just that they don't approve of him because he's a muslim. a couple of months ago i received an email from the NVC saying that our visa petition will be terminated within 1 year from visa availability notice. and that scares me. it's been 5 months since we've been approved, and the only thing holding us back is a stupid co sponsor issue. i'm afraid we'll have to divorce if we don't get a co sponsor soon. i cannot be in an internet marriage. it's not right.

has anyone else had trouble getting a sponsor?

Hi. I understand your case because I'm in the same situation. I was approved july 23rd 2015 and since August that NVC got my case I haven't move forward due to the cosponsor issue. Me and my children haven't seen my wife since October 2014. It is frustrating but for now we only can pray to God we find a sponsor. In hoping to get a sponsor in two weeks so I can continue this journey. Just have faith and you're not alone. If you have a friend who can do joint sponsor you can ask him/her. Nothing is lost my friend. Have a good day and remember God time is perfect.

[IonelaC. 32]

hi everyone,

i've been following this thread for awhile, but then i stopped after my husband and i ran into a problem since our I130 approval in july 2015. here's a qiuck background of our journey:

we met online in 2010. got married in tunisia in 2014. filed for the I130 in february 2015. got approved in july 2015.

the problem we've run into is that we can't find a co sponsor. it's getting very frustrating. we've been ready to proceed with the rest of the visa process since july but no one in my family will sponsor him because they say they don't "know him well enough." i think it's just that they don't approve of him because he's a muslim. a couple of months ago i received an email from the NVC saying that our visa petition will be terminated within 1 year from visa availability notice. and that scares me. it's been 5 months since we've been approved, and the only thing holding us back is a stupid co sponsor issue. i'm afraid we'll have to divorce if we don't get a co sponsor soon. i cannot be in an internet marriage. it's not right.

has anyone else had trouble getting a sponsor?

Hey! Can't you get your best friend to be a co-sponsor? Or any other friend that knows your situation and can help in this case? I'm also thinking about the fact that maybe you can get a second job? Not sure how much that'll help, but just trying to do some brainstorming here..

What about your husband? Doesn't he have any savings that might help? :/

[kriswisconsin 0]

there was a woman i worked with that knew about me getting married, but she ended up quitting just shortly after i got married. so i never saw her again. i don't even know how i could get in touch with her. besides, i would feel akward if i were to ask her to be our sponsor after all this time of not talking to her. and what if she said no, then what? it would just seem like i only got in touch with her just to ask her to be a sponsor. that wouldn't feel right to me. i don't have any other friends to ask who know about my situation. people i work with are nice people, but very gossipy. if i did get a 2nd job, it would interfere with my current job first of all. so a 2nd job really wouldn't be ideal for me. even if i did get a 2nd job, i'd have to work all this year, with 2 jobs, so that by the end of this year, i'd make the federal poverty guideline requirement. i'd more than likely have to restart the whole visa process all over again. send in all the required documents again, pay all the fees again, and go through all the waiting periods. it's just not worth it. we've been married for 20 months already, i just couldn't go another year or more with the waiting. i haven't seen him since we got married, i really don't even know when i'll see him again.
i wish my family was understanding and not so prejudiced. some people are lucky to have family who can help them and sponsor them. families who aren't islamaphobic like my family. i'm just in a really bad situation at the moment.
sorry for my sob story everyone, but thank you for listening.