NOA1 Received, what to prepare for next?

[papasmf 90]

Hi, this is my first post here. First of all, I want to say thank you for the wealth of information on this site. It truly helped us to prepare our I129f packet for submission. So, i mailed our packet in on September 22nd to the Lewisville location via UPS overnight early morning. They received it on the 23rd, and on the 27th I received my email and text message from them verifying receipt and NOA1 having been sent in the mail. I received our NOA1 in the mail on Saturday.

My question is - what should we be doing now to prepare for next steps, if anything? My beneficiary is in the Philippines, and I've heard its best to wait to order her documents so that they are only three weeks old by the time of the interview. Should we start gathering her documents now, and what documents will we need, and what will I need to provide for her from me? Basically, I'd love for us to be prepared for next steps so we can jump on it. My fiancé was in the US at the time when I met her, so we included all of the documents she was required for her original visa to come here in our application - birth cert, passport, visa and stamps, NBI / police clearance, etc. NBI clearance expired last month, so I'm sure we'll need updated versions of all that. Will we be needing CENOMARs and affidavit of support as well? Anything you can tell us about what to expect next and/or what to prepare for next is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[A'n'L 735]

http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1guide

[papasmf 90]

Yes thank you, I have read those guides thoroughly. I do have exact copies of our petition. My question is whether it would be beneficial for us to begin gathering stuff now, or should we wait until NOA2 to do all that. Also, I wanted to know when is affidavit of support required, it seems like it's not always a requirement, unless requested - but I understand we need to somehow show that we meet the minimum income requirements.

[LionessDeon 2,060]

Beneficiary can begin to check into things, may be a bit early to complete the items. You have not received approval yet...you have time.

http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1flow

I-134 is given at interview time by beneficiary at embassy

[papasmf 90]

Thank you - I suppose I'm just feeling like I should be doing something now, and I need to just be patient and wait at this point for NOA2. I'm so glad I read the guides and the K1 RFE master list before submitting our application, it really helped us not to miss some common mistakes

[A'n'L 735]

As said in the guide: Start gathering documents after NOA2. The affidavit of support is required for the interview.

[jasper383 23]

Since you'll be going through USEM, A far as the guides go, you'd be much better served going to the Philippines regional sub-forum and asking any specific question there and reading Greenbaum's guide, it walks you through the whole process.

[Rick & Apple 233]

As Jasper383 said, you should read Greenbaum's guide. I is specific to the Philippines.

http://dennyeyberg.wixsite.com/filipino-am-visa

[Tahoma 2,292]

Here is something you can do:

> Once the USCIS approves your petition, wait a couple of weeks or so and then start calling the National Visa Center (NVC) every day until they give you your MNL case number. Ignore their usual advice to call back in a month.

> Once you have your MNL case number, you can pay the visa application fee, schedule an embassy interview, and complete the medical.

> This is much quicker than waiting around for the embassy to notify your fiancee that she's eligible to schedule an interview.

Also, you and your fiancee can start reading up on the interview preparation instructions. To do so, go to the home page of the U.S. Embassy Manila web site and click on:

1. Visas

2. Immigrant Visas

3. Fiance(e) Visa

4. The Interview

5. K1/K2 Applicant Interview Preparation Instructions

Lastly, nevermind those who think the VJ guides are going to answer all of your questions about dealing with a specific embassy. They don't.

[papasmf 90]

Thank you so much Tahoma, and others too. I'll be sure to do all of that, and I'll check out the greenbaum guide. I wasn't aware of that one. And, you are the first to tell me to call them until I get an MNL number and pre-schedule the medical and interview. I've been stressed out about having to wait for them to reach out to my fiancé, because she's going to have to go to the nearest town's post office to check for mail regularly from the embassy. I was hoping I could help her with that from my end instead of her having to wait forever or potentially even miss the mail. Thank you!

[Laurel0708 21]

The NOA2 could come in a couple weeks or in a couple months. If you gather documents now, it would be wasted time, because you don't know when you will get your approval. I didn't begin gathering ANYTHING until after I received the case number from NVC. I came to Nicaragua on Sep 25th (our interview is October 11th), and my fiance has spent almost every day running around getting a Singleness Certificate, police record, etc. I recommend getting the papers together BEFORE you schedule the interview.

[Laurel0708 21]

The NOA2 could come in a couple weeks or in a couple months. If you gather documents now, it would be wasted time, because you don't know when you will get your approval. I didn't begin gathering ANYTHING until after I received the case number from NVC. I came to Nicaragua on Sep 25th (our interview is October 11th), and my fiance has spent almost every day running around getting a Singleness Certificate, police record, etc. I recommend getting the papers together BEFORE you schedule the interview.

[papasmf 90]

Thank you Laurel. So certainly wait till NOA2 to gather documents, but also do it before scheduling any interview, thank you. I hope your fiancé's interview goes great!

[Tahoma 2,292]

All you need is your MNL case number and then you are off to the races. Call the NVC at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. The phone lines seem to be less busy when they open.

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Yup relax. It is a waiting came now.

You can just double check some of the paperwork that you can have ready to go so to say before hand and gather other documents(W2's, 1040's, ect) but alot of it just have wait until the approval.

We are at that point now just "running" to get final paperwork put together and set up medical/interview; but not much can do now but relax and be patient