IR 1 @ Jerusalem Consulate: questions on police certificate, interview wait time, interview questions

[Moonrising 3]

On August 11th we were notified by NVC that our case review is complete and they are scheduling an interview for my husband at the Jerusalem Consulate (but we didn't get the date yet).

Three questions:

1) We got an Israeli police certificate (printed out when my husband went to the police station a few months ago), and we submitted it to NVC along with a translation as part of the paperwork for the immigrant visa application. The instructions on the Consulate website are not very clear - they say we "may" request a police certificate be sent directly to the Consulate by the Israeli police at least 4 weeks in advance of the interview. I called NVC and asked if we are required to do this, they said no, the certificate is already in your file and this will be forwarded to the Consulate. Elsewhere on this site I've seen someone say that the Consulate requires it be sent directly to them and they won't accept it otherwise. What's the recent experience with this, what do we ask for in Hebrew (is it 'tuedat yosher?'), and what information do we have to give the police (just the case number or also the interview date?). I'm thinking to save some time and request it now if necessary, even before we get our interview date. Is this advisable? P.S. if it makes a difference to know, he is a Palestinian Jerusalemite (laissez passe holder).

2) How long until we get our interview date? (based on the recent experience of others)

3) What are common interview questions to expect, considering we've been married for a long time and residing here in Jerusalem together? (I assume they will not be asking so many questions about our marriage, probably more why we want to move to the US - right?).

Thanks for sharing your experience! So far things have gone smoothly for us, we sent our petition last September and it was approved in February (5 months later). We had a delay on our side of a few months in submitting the paperwork for the AOS and IV, but once we did it was processed in under 30 days. Hoping this next phase moves just as quickly so we can move to the US before the end of the year.

[Adil & Jeanne 296]

Did they actually say the packet had been sent? or they are sending it?

CEAC site may be more up to date now and if so, will say, ready for Interview which means embassy has it

the NVC sends the criminal investigations reports directly to the embassy. you should no not have to provide new ones but each embassy is different so email them and ask. Always is the safest way.

Questions range from WHAT COLOR IS SPOUSE'S HOUSE?

TO WHAT COLOR IS CARPET IN BEDROOM TO

WHAT BOOKS DOES SPOUSE READ

TO questions about spouse family

favorite foods, things spouse likes

since you live together this should not be a problem

just know EVERYTHING

Be honest

Confident and do not hesitate on any questions

Best of luck

[Moonrising 3]

Thanks Adil & Jeanne. CEAC just says AOS fee "N/A" (changed from paid to N/A when our case review was done), AOS supporting docs N/A and under applicant info, IV fees "paid" IV application "Completed" and Civil Documents "N/A." According to the lady at NVC, they are sending the package of docs to the Consulate but haven't sent it yet (they only send once they get the interview date, which they haven't yet).

I have emailed the Jerusalem Consulate and asked them this question, but in my experience they tend to provide very form-letter, cut/paste answers and don't actually directly answer your specific question. I would expect them to just copy the statement they already have in their packet 3 information on the website.

Interesting questions! I suppose we'll have to be prepared for anything.....

[allyinchicago 8]

my husband is palestinian, he had to request the Israeli police report and they send it directly to the consulate. I would go ahead and request it because it does take awhile to get and you don't want to get to the interview and they are requesting it.

We got our interview assigned a few days after our case complete. was your case just completed at NVC?

They barely asked my husband questions, we have a daughter together and I've brought her to pali 3 times, they took all the plane tickets and israeli entry/exit stamps. They didn't look at any of our pictures. They asked how we met, how long we knew each other, how many times I came to visit, who were the sponsors for the AOS papers..like simple stuff !

[Moonrising 3]

Hi allyinchicago, yes our case was just completed at NVC, they notified us on August 11th. I'm expecting to hear about the interview date very soon and hoping that our interview date will be no later than mid-October. How long did your husband have to wait for his interview? Was he approved on the spot and how long after did he get his visa? We're on a bit of a deadline as I'm pregnant and won't be able to travel beyond end of December (baby's due at end of January) and the plan is to deliver in the US; of course we want to arrive in advance to set up our house and register our son in school, etc.

My husband will go tomorrow to request the police certificate. Can you please ask your husband if it's called the 'tuedat yosher' in Hebrew, and if all we have to give them is our case number (or do we have to tell them when the interview date is, in which case we'll need to wait until we get it). Does your husband have Jerusalem ID or West Bank ID? If Jerusalem ID, where did he request the certificate? We went to the Russian compound when we needed it for the NVC and they sent us to Davidka building on Jaffa Street. Finally, do we have to tell them it's for an immigration visa or can we just say it's for a visa (you know, we'd rather not announce to the Israeli authorities we're leaving, we'd like to try and hold on to our Jerusalem IDs). Sorry for all of the detailed questions and thanks in advance for your help! If easier feel free to email me at moonrising20142@yahoo.com.

[Darnell 8,478]

is your husband Israeli or Palestinian? Location matters, descent matters, passport matters.

[Moonrising 3]

Darnell, my husband is a Palestinian Jerusalemite with Israeli issued Jerusalem ID (which is like a permanent residency, he's not an Israeli citizen, he has a 'laissez passe').

[ammali 7]

Hi Moonrising,

Can you give us an update on your case? My wife lives in West Bank and we are still waiting for CC at NVC - Hopefully soon. Have you been scheduled for an interview yet?

[Moonrising 3]

Hi Ammali,

I'm not sure what you mean by CC - can you explain? Do you mean case review? Once NVC received our paperwork they completed the review of our file in 28 days. We even got a checklist due to 1 missing paper (copy of birth certificate of the joint financial sponsor), but they said we could bring it to the interview (whew!).

The latest update on our case is that we are still waiting for an interview date at the Consulate in Jerusalem. I called NVC on Friday Aug 28th and they said they had finished booking September interviews and would 'soon' start booking October interviews. But she couldn't give me any indication if we will get our interview in October or not, or how close to the top of the pile our file is. She said it all depends on how many available interview dates the Consulate has (which NVC has no control over) and the number of people in the queue. A bit frustrating, but hopefully we'll get an interview in October, I can't imagine we would have to wait much more than 2 months for the interview.

Let me know if I can help you and your wife in any way, and good luck!

[ammali 7]

Hi Moonrising,

Thank you for the update, I meant by CC Case Complete. We are still waiting on our case be reviewed and completed, we also got a check list for not paying DS-260 while back in June, but that all have been cleared and we are just waiting now.

Question, while we are waiting, would you recommend to go ahead and do the Medical Exam? Also, correct me if I'm wrong, the police certificate is valid for a year, and the Israeli Authorities will send it directly to the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem - My wife police certificate will expire this coming month September 2015, we are thinking to also go ahead and renew it, since it takes couple of weeks for the U.S. Consulate to get it.

I've read on other posts here in VJ Forum, that at the begining of every month, all U.S. embassies send their available schedules to NVC, and they book them up with cases for interviews, and send them back to the Consulates. Not sure if this is true or not, but I read it somehwhere here.

One true thing I can tell you, 2015 is the busiest year of U.S. immigration history lool

Let me know if you get interview scheduled, this way I will get some idea of what to expect kinda.

I appreciate the help have already provided and offered, and also please let me know if I can help too. I will be glad to,

Hopefully, we all will get through this process and be done very soon!

Thank you again and good luck!

[Moonrising 3]

Hi Ammali,

NVC received our supporting documents for the Affidavit of Support and Immigrant Visa application on July 13th and they sent us a letter saying they needed 30 days to review. On August 5th they sent us the checklist (but said we could submit the missing paper at the interview) and on August 11th saying all documentation for our case had been received and they would be scheduling the interview. Does that qualify as case complete? The AOS fees on the State Dept CEAC website changed from "paid" to "N/A" around Aug 11th which I heard can mean the case is complete, though the IV fees still show as "paid."

I think you're right about the police certificate, it expires after 1 year, so it's a good idea for your wife to go and get a new one sent to the Consulate. If she has Palestinian ID I think that means she has to go to her local DCO. Even though we didn't yet get our interview date, my husband also went to the local police station (which for us is in Neve Ya'kov) and asked for it to be sent. She should bring her passport in addition to her ID, they asked for my husband's and we had to go back home and get it. It was actually quite easy and they gave us a police certificate case/application number, I'm not sure if we will need this during the interview but we'll have it on hand just in case. I heard it can take several weeks up to a month for it to be received by the Consulate, their website says get it at least a month before the interview date, and I believe it does need to be sent directly to the Consulate by the police, I don't think they will accept if you bring a copy yourself.

The medical exam results are valid for 6 months, meaning your wife would need to be in the US before they expire. Since the exam can be expensive, I advise to wait until you get your interview date and then do it, that way you are sure it will not expire before your wife travels. The Consulate website suggests to do it about a week before the interview.

So how long have you been waiting so far for your interview date? If I read your message correctly, since June? Wow - that seems a bit unusual given what I know about the Jerusalem Consulate and it's worrying! We are in a rush to get to the US before the end of the year, my son and I can move before my husband, but only if we know he will be coming soon after us. I'm pregnant and will give birth at the end of January, so come mid to end-December I won't be able to travel. I don't want to be stuck in the US and him here, we want to be together for the birth!

Let's hope we both get interview dates in October, keeping fingers crossed! Yes, let's keep in touch and update each other about the progress of our cases.

[ammali 7]

Hi Ammali,

NVC received our supporting documents for the Affidavit of Support and Immigrant Visa application on July 13th and they sent us a letter saying they needed 30 days to review. On August 5th they sent us the checklist (but said we could submit the missing paper at the interview) and on August 11th saying all documentation for our case had been received and they would be scheduling the interview. Does that qualify as case complete? The AOS fees on the State Dept CEAC website changed from "paid" to "N/A" around Aug 11th which I heard can mean the case is complete, though the IV fees still show as "paid."

Yes, you got a Case Complete! Congrats! Let's hope soon they will schedule your interview.

I think you're right about the police certificate, it expires after 1 year, so it's a good idea for your wife to go and get a new one sent to the Consulate. If she has Palestinian ID I think that means she has to go to her local DCO. Even though we didn't yet get our interview date, my husband also went to the local police station (which for us is in Neve Ya'kov) and asked for it to be sent. She should bring her passport in addition to her ID, they asked for my husband's and we had to go back home and get it. It was actually quite easy and they gave us a police certificate case/application number, I'm not sure if we will need this during the interview but we'll have it on hand just in case. I heard it can take several weeks up to a month for it to be received by the Consulate, their website says get it at least a month before the interview date, and I believe it does need to be sent directly to the Consulate by the police, I don't think they will accept if you bring a copy yourself.

Yes, we have got the Police Certificate issued a year ago (By Mistake lol) but, I emailed the Embassy while back and they confirmed, they had it and it's in-file. The issue date was Sept. 2014 - I think will have my wife go to DCO and get it renewed and be sent to Consulate, I'm glad your husband got it done, and I think you will need to make a copy of the certificate (as part of all the civil supporting documents copies) to give to the Consular.

The medical exam results are valid for 6 months, meaning your wife would need to be in the US before they expire. Since the exam can be expensive, I advise to wait until you get your interview date and then do it, that way you are sure it will not expire before your wife travels. The Consulate website suggests to do it about a week before the interview.

Have you guys done with the Medical Exam yet? And if so, how the process went? Does the Provider send the Medical Exam results directly to the Consulate or hand the results to the Patient/Applicant? How much does it cost? Thank you,

So how long have you been waiting so far for your interview date? If I read your message correctly, since June? Wow - that seems a bit unusual given what I know about the Jerusalem Consulate and it's worrying! We are in a rush to get to the US before the end of the year, my son and I can move before my husband, but only if we know he will be coming soon after us. I'm pregnant and will give birth at the end of January, so come mid to end-December I won't be able to travel. I don't want to be stuck in the US and him here, we want to be together for the birth!

Yes, I have submitted the AOS and IV packages together on June 5th, after that I got a check list for not paying the IV fees, I called NVC so many times and they told me all your paperworks have been reviewed and completed, only the IV payment, and due to DOS CEAC web site technical issues, I was not able to pay on-line, after a month or so of waiting to open my case and make the payment on-line, I decided to mail the payment instead. After a week or so, my case got actually opened on the CEAC shown as PAID, and DS-260 avialable to fill out, I've completed it on Aug. 8th - I called NVC couple of time, and they said, application needs to be reviewed - still waiting for that to happen, hopefully very soon.

Congratulations, you're going to have a babe! You should have requested expidition on your case, and the NVC and U.S. Consulate will totally understand!!! too bad you did not do that in the early process of your application at NVC, but I wonder if you can still email them now and request to Expidite your case, I think their email: NVCexpedite@state.gov - the request has to go through NVC first, then they will forward it to the U.S. Consulate who will approve or deny the request. I'm also wondering, if you could email the Consulate directly? they probably will make exceptions for your case, you never know, but I hope you guys be together at birth!

Let's hope we both get interview dates in October, keeping fingers crossed! Yes, let's keep in touch and update each other about the progress of our cases.

Fingers crossed! Stay in touch, have a good one! :-)

[Moonrising 3]

We didn't do the medical exam yet but I hear it's easy. You have to use one of the approved physicians, this document explains everything: http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Medical/JRS%20-%20Jerusalem.pdf.

I think at this point requesting an expedite from NVC will unnecessarily slow things down, but if we don't hear anything about the interview date soon then I will call NVC and see what they say. I am just afraid that if you ask for an expedite, they will need some weeks to review the request and make a decision on it. Anyhow it seems you need a life and death emergency, I don't think wanting your spouse to be present at a birth qualifies for an expedite. Until the Consulate has the file from NVC, I don't think there's much they can do about anything, and they only receive it after NVC has made your interview. So a bit of a catch 22.

Sorry to hear you got hung up in the payment technical difficulties. We luckily avoided all of that, paid the AOS fee in April and the IV fee in early June, I heard many people had problems though.

[ammali 7]

You probably right, it could slow things down if you request to expedite your case, just wait hopefully soon will hear the good news.

Thanks for sharing the Medical Exam document, this is very helpful!

[Moonrising 3]

Ammali and others,

I just got off the phone with NVC as we haven't heard anything about our interview date (our case was complete as of Aug 11th). I spoke with Penelope, such a lovely lady, unfortunately she didn't have the best news. She said NVC is almost done scheduling October interviews so while there's still a chance we could get one next month, she thought chances were slim. She said Jerusalem is pretty strict about the number of people they let in each month for interviews. NVC will start scheduling November interviews at the end of September.

However, I explained my situation to her (pregnant) and she thought we have a good reason to request an expedite seeing as there will come a time when I can't travel. She said it won't delay things and that pregnancy qualifies under a medical reason. I thought it had to be life or death, she seemed to think they would consider one for pregnancy as well. So that's positive.

Another VJ member waiting for an interview in Jerusalem with an August 10th CC also called today and they told her the same thing - October interview scheduling is winding down......

Do you know of anyone who got an October interview in Jerusalem, and do you know their CC date?