new regulations,Jan 23-2007

[Aneta 0]

Thank you all guys for answering me that fast!

The thing is that on jan 24th we went to the embassy in Sofia(not knowing anything) and when they told us they gave us back our I-130-so it stays now with us.I don't know if I can send it back to them again.It all seems so complicated!At the same time we were told we have to file I-130 through the USCIS and start it all over again,so we did that-a few days ago we filed it to the VSC,sending them also a copy of our approved application.I am so confused now!

Oh, that's tricky. I believe that if I were in your situation I would just wait to see what kind of changes come around before doing anything else. Your petition is where it's supposed to be, according to the official line at the moment. And I think it was smart of you to send a copy of the approved application. It may give your petition some special consideration. If and when DCF comes back, you can talk to the embassy and to USCIS about what will happen. At that point they may even have specific instructions or information for you.

As a side note: If DCF does NOT come back, and your I-130 gets stuck in a processing backlog, you might look into a K-3 visa, which would let your spouse work and travel while waiting for the immigrant petition to process in the USA. But when I spoke with people at the Sofia embassy about K-3's they told me they were highly unusual (probably because everyone in Bulgaria was sensibly and rapidly getting their I-130's done through DCF before!).

Good luck!

yes,you got my thoughts!we hope that when they see our approved application it's gonna be faster,but that's just what we are hoping

we are also going to file for a K3 visa,but it's not gonna happen sooner than 6 mounths from now do u think it's worse that we don't have a USCIS office in bulgaria?and how did you think of ringing the Vienna office?

i am curious to know what is your situation?are you bulgarian and where do u live?

thanks a lot about the useful and hopeful inforamtion!

good luck to you too!

I'm a USC, living with my Bulgarian fiance in Sofia - we're planning to get married in April. I need to go back by mid-July, and I really don't think I can bear another awful airport goodbye. I do think that if we had USCIS office here life would be easier - it seems that countries with one are currently letting residents file there instead of sending all the way to the States. I was at the Sofia embassy, getting some marriage paperwork done, when the consular officer suggested that I contact the Vienna USCIS office about the I-130's.

Two possible tips for you:

If you haven't yet registered with the embassy/Department of State, you may want to do so; they email out "Warden Messages" so that you'll get some advance notice of things like this new I-130 situation (way sooner than the embassy updates their website!).

If you have to go back to the States and you have enough money to travel back and forth and your spouse doesn't have to work when you get to the States (i.e: you have some extra $ B) ), you could try getting a B-2 tourist visa, as one poster here did - it doesn't allow work and your spouse would have to convince all officers that he's DEFINITELY planning to come back to Bulgaria to finish the immigrant visa processing, but it is a possible way you could stay together. If it sounds like a good idea, try looking through this topic: B-2 Tourist VISA while awaiting DCF - APPROVED!!!

Vsichko nai-hubavo (all the best)!

Malka,although you didn't ask me I will try to give you some advise,have you thought what to do if DCF does not come back?you will have to file from the US anyway.If you file now,and not after you get married in April,you will save 2 mounths .you can have your legal marriage earlier,e.g. next week(the wedding day does not have to be on the same day,this is very common in Bulgaria) ,get your marriage certificate,get it translated and then send all the papers to the US.if DCF comes back you can always withrew your application,i think so.

By the way,I see you have registered as a member from Maryland -are you originally from there?I spent 2 summers-2003 and2004,working in Ocean City,MD and actually that's how we met with my husband.

I really hope everything gets the way it used to be!I've lost hope in getting an immigrant visa through the american USCIS office,I think they are so slow,it seems we'll have to wait forever

[malka 0]

Thank you all guys for answering me that fast!

The thing is that on jan 24th we went to the embassy in Sofia(not knowing anything) and when they told us they gave us back our I-130-so it stays now with us.I don't know if I can send it back to them again.It all seems so complicated!At the same time we were told we have to file I-130 through the USCIS and start it all over again,so we did that-a few days ago we filed it to the VSC,sending them also a copy of our approved application.I am so confused now!

Oh, that's tricky. I believe that if I were in your situation I would just wait to see what kind of changes come around before doing anything else. Your petition is where it's supposed to be, according to the official line at the moment. And I think it was smart of you to send a copy of the approved application. It may give your petition some special consideration. If and when DCF comes back, you can talk to the embassy and to USCIS about what will happen. At that point they may even have specific instructions or information for you.

As a side note: If DCF does NOT come back, and your I-130 gets stuck in a processing backlog, you might look into a K-3 visa, which would let your spouse work and travel while waiting for the immigrant petition to process in the USA. But when I spoke with people at the Sofia embassy about K-3's they told me they were highly unusual (probably because everyone in Bulgaria was sensibly and rapidly getting their I-130's done through DCF before!).

Good luck!

yes,you got my thoughts!we hope that when they see our approved application it's gonna be faster,but that's just what we are hoping

we are also going to file for a K3 visa,but it's not gonna happen sooner than 6 mounths from now do u think it's worse that we don't have a USCIS office in bulgaria?and how did you think of ringing the Vienna office?

i am curious to know what is your situation?are you bulgarian and where do u live?

thanks a lot about the useful and hopeful inforamtion!

good luck to you too!

I'm a USC, living with my Bulgarian fiance in Sofia - we're planning to get married in April. I need to go back by mid-July, and I really don't think I can bear another awful airport goodbye. I do think that if we had USCIS office here life would be easier - it seems that countries with one are currently letting residents file there instead of sending all the way to the States. I was at the Sofia embassy, getting some marriage paperwork done, when the consular officer suggested that I contact the Vienna USCIS office about the I-130's.

Two possible tips for you:

If you haven't yet registered with the embassy/Department of State, you may want to do so; they email out "Warden Messages" so that you'll get some advance notice of things like this new I-130 situation (way sooner than the embassy updates their website!).

If you have to go back to the States and you have enough money to travel back and forth and your spouse doesn't have to work when you get to the States (i.e: you have some extra $ B) ), you could try getting a B-2 tourist visa, as one poster here did - it doesn't allow work and your spouse would have to convince all officers that he's DEFINITELY planning to come back to Bulgaria to finish the immigrant visa processing, but it is a possible way you could stay together. If it sounds like a good idea, try looking through this topic: B-2 Tourist VISA while awaiting DCF - APPROVED!!!

Vsichko nai-hubavo (all the best)!

Malka,although you didn't ask me I will try to give you some advise,have you thought what to do if DCF does not come back?you will have to file from the US anyway.If you file now,and not after you get married in April,you will save 2 mounths .you can have your legal marriage earlier,e.g. next week(the wedding day does not have to be on the same day,this is very common in Bulgaria) ,get your marriage certificate,get it translated and then send all the papers to the US.if DCF comes back you can always withrew your application,i think so.

By the way,I see you have registered as a member from Maryland -are you originally from there?I spent 2 summers-2003 and2004,working in Ocean City,MD and actually that's how we met with my husband.

I really hope everything gets the way it used to be!I've lost hope in getting an immigrant visa through the american USCIS office,I think they are so slow,it seems we'll have to wait forever

Thanks, Aneta, although since we only plan a marriage hall wedding and not a church wedding, it seems that that the marriage and wedding will be on the same day. If DCF doesn't come back, we'll probably go for a K3, but there are a lot of posts in the Direct Consular Filing forum that lead me to think that DCF will be coming back, in some form or another. We'll just have to wait a bit and see! Good luck...