About the interview, a visit, and extension of NOA2.

[Madrugada 0]

Has anyone had the experience of extending the NOA2 validity period? My fiancé lives in Perth and she is going to come visit me on November 9th and the original return date was early February. We go the tickets in July (before we filed for the K1) and we had-based on the average accounts of all people we read about in the K1 process that the I 129F form- assumed that the process would take longer and that the visit would not interfere with our plans to visit. Well it turns out that our I 129F got approved less than a month from the day we sent it (great news but also stressful!) so the validity period would end before she got back to Australia.

I did find that section 9 FAM 41.81 N6.2 (Validity of a K-1 Petition) at http://http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/87391.pdf states that:

An approved K-1 visa petition is valid for a period of four months from the date of USCIS action and may be revalidated by the consular officer any number of times for additional periods of four months from the date of revalidation, provided the officer concludes that the petitioner and the beneficiary remain legally free to marry and continue to intend to marry each other within 90 days after the beneficiary's admission into the United States. However, the longer the period of time since the filing of the petition, the more the consular officer must be concerned about the intentions of the couple, particularly the intentions of the petitioner in the United States. If the officer is not convinced that the U.S. citizen petitioner continues to intend to marry the beneficiary, including instances where no action has been taken on the application for a year (while refused under INA 221(g)), the petition should be returned to the approving office of USCIS with an explanatory memorandum. (See 9 FAM 41.81 PN5 for revalidation procedure.)

Has anyone had any experience with this? I would appreciate any feedback that you all have. Thanks a bunch.

Daniel

[Ozgirl1981 78]

Yes, We had to extend our NOA2 due to postal issues. Took 4 weeks for me to receive all the paperwork from my fiance from USA. It got lost in the mail and after many phone calls, it was tracked down and sent back on track to me.

From memory, the US citizen/fiance needs to email the Sydney embassy with the extension letter. We didn't get a response but at my interview they acknowledged that they had received an extention which was not needed as we had a few days left but it was important to me that we cover all bases.
The letter my fiance drafted looked like this:


_____________________________________________
(US PETITIONER) FIRST, LAST NAME
(US ADDRESS, ZIP CODE)
US STATE
EMAIL ADDRESS


DATE
RE: Case Number #
USCIS Reciept #


Dear US Consulate General,

Please be advised that I find it necessary to request an extention for the case number listed above. We have had postal issues that hoped to be resolved in the very near future (blah blah blah).

Let it also be known that (Australian beneficiary) and I do intent to be married once he/she arrives in the US, and we are both willing and able to do so.

Thank You in advance and please dont hesitate to contact me for further information if required.


Sincerely,

NAME

SIGNATURE

DATE
_______________________________________

Remember, print, sign and scan before email. We used blue pen for all signatures so there was no doubt of papers being copies.

Good luck and I hope this answers your question.

[Madrugada 0]

Yes, We had to extend our NOA2 due to postal issues. Took 4 weeks for me to receive all the paperwork from my fiance from USA. It got lost in the mail and after many phone calls, it was tracked down and sent back on track to me.

From memory, the US citizen/fiance needs to email the Sydney embassy with the extension letter. We didn't get a response but at my interview they acknowledged that they had received an extention which was not needed as we had a few days left but it was important to me that we cover all bases.

The letter my fiance drafted looked like this:

DATE

RE: Case Number #

USCIS Reciept #

You mention here a case number and a receipt number. The receipt number is the number we used to check the status of the petition online during the first stage of the process. What is the case number? Will we be getting that when the NOA2 comes in the mail? If not, when do we get that?

Thank you,

Daniel

[eloised 2]

We needed an extension too, due to it taking so long to get an appointment at the embassy. I just brought a signed letter from my partner stating that she was still willing and able to marry me, and intended to do so once I arrived. She dated it pretty close to the interview date. They were happy enough with that and approved our visa.

[Ozgirl1981 78]

You mention here a case number and a receipt number. The receipt number is the number we used to check the status of the petition online during the first stage of the process. What is the case number? Will we be getting that when the NOA2 comes in the mail? If not, when do we get that?

Thank you,

Daniel

Your case number will come after NOA2. You will receive that from NVC. You case number will start with "SYD".

Edited October 6, 2015 by Ozgirl1981

[Madrugada 0]

Your case number will come after NOA2. You will receive that from NVC. You case number will start with "SYD".

Thank you for clearing that up. So if we get the materials in just before the expiration date will they give us an appointment after our original period of validity?

Also, if we send all the paperwork in to the embassy, will they give an interview date before we've done the medical? My fiancé will be returning to Australia technically after the date of validity but we can fill out the forms from here and send it from here I think. Before she comes she will do the police check so the only thing left will be the medical. Can she do her medical at any time so long as it is before the interview?

[Madrugada 0]

We needed an extension too, due to it taking so long to get an appointment at the embassy. I just brought a signed letter from my partner stating that she was still willing and able to marry me, and intended to do so once I arrived. She dated it pretty close to the interview date. They were happy enough with that and approved our visa.

So you were only able to get an extension at the date of the interview? Do you think it would be possible for them to give an extension before they assign the interview date should we not be able to get all of the requirements done on time?

[eloised 2]

I read that if the date had expired or was going to expire soon, you bring a letter to the interview from your fiance and they extend the date. I don't know about giving you an extension before the interview. It might be worth emailing support@ustraveldocs.com and asking.

For what it's worth, the time from our NOA2 and interview was about 2 months, so they give you plenty of notice about your interview time.