Scandinavians Part 2

[SkeletonNessa 8]

2 hours ago, Scandi said:

This is the email I used back in 2016, likely they're still using the same one. stkivinfo@state.gov

This is the email I've been using to extend our approval with Stockholm's embassy. 

When they email them, they will request proofs of ongoing relationship. 
This can just be a varying snippets of text messages or online messages in the last 3-6 months. (Our last one we sent 16 screenshots of conversations from different days)
They will extend it as long as they need to, 4 months at a time. 

 

My fiance and I have gotten caught in a bad place with his work where an important project he's on has needed to be extended before he's been able to come, and we were finally scheduling the interview. But we're having to put together another one, so if they have any more specific questions, feel free to message me! 

Be sure they put their STK#######Blahblahblah in the title for the email. 

Does anyone think they're going to be letting us extend the medicals? We got ours at the end of January, and it kind of sucks we're going to have to pay that fee again. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by SkeletonNessa

[emma24 161]

On 4/28/2020 at 2:13 PM, Simone Jakobsen said:

Hi guys! 
I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking this time is awfully hard and heartbreaking. All I want is to be with my fiancé and the not knowing is slowing killing me and making me sad every day.

 

Our petition was approved on March 25th and I’m not really sure what the next step is? I’m reading that I should get in touch with the NVC to get a new car number but I’m not sure why? 
Anyone knows anything about this? 
 

Thank you! 

I contacted NVC and got my case number. You can track your case with CEAC now with that number but it is kind of pointless now because I don't think NVC is shipping the cases to the embassy until it reopens.

 

I also contacted the embassy and they will not be processing any K1s until the Schengen travel ban is lifted. So not only do we have to wait for embassies to reopen, we have to wait for Trump to end the ban....so there really isn't anything to be doing right now except waiting. Which SUCKS!!!

[Simone Jakobsen 8]

On 5/7/2020 at 9:31 PM, emma24 said:

I contacted NVC and got my case number. You can track your case with CEAC now with that number but it is kind of pointless now because I don't think NVC is shipping the cases to the embassy until it reopens.

 

I also contacted the embassy and they will not be processing any K1s until the Schengen travel ban is lifted. So not only do we have to wait for embassies to reopen, we have to wait for Trump to end the ban....so there really isn't anything to be doing right now except waiting. Which SUCKS!!!

I contacted them as well but the case number is invalid according to the website. The number is STK followed by ten numbers. Do you know if that’s how it’s supposed to be or is it not the correct one they gave me?

 

I’m not going to lie, I think this whole situation is beyond rough and I’m having a hard time getting through days at the moment. If I could just go to the embassy, getting some answers, would make me feel a little better. This is hard! 

[emma24 161]

2 hours ago, Simone Jakobsen said:

I contacted them as well but the case number is invalid according to the website. The number is STK followed by ten numbers. Do you know if that’s how it’s supposed to be or is it not the correct one they gave me?

 

I’m not going to lie, I think this whole situation is beyond rough and I’m having a hard time getting through days at the moment. If I could just go to the embassy, getting some answers, would make me feel a little better. This is hard! 

Mine is STK and numbers so that seems like the right case number. Are you tracking it on https://ceac.state.gov/ceac/ under IMMIGRANT? Even though it is technically  a non-immigrant, it is issues by the immigrant visa department. Let me know if you still have trouble!

 

I am totally with you on your feelings. The uncertainty is what is killing me and my fiance. We had very realistically planned for him to come over mid-September for a 10/10 wedding. We were expecting to have visa in hand by June or July......with each day that is passing, I am losing hope that he'll even be here for Christmas now. It's nothing short of depressing....

[Simone Jakobsen 8]

3 hours ago, emma24 said:

Mine is STK and numbers so that seems like the right case number. Are you tracking it on https://ceac.state.gov/ceac/ under IMMIGRANT? Even though it is technically  a non-immigrant, it is issues by the immigrant visa department. Let me know if you still have trouble!

 

I am totally with you on your feelings. The uncertainty is what is killing me and my fiance. We had very realistically planned for him to come over mid-September for a 10/10 wedding. We were expecting to have visa in hand by June or July......with each day that is passing, I am losing hope that he'll even be here for Christmas now. It's nothing short of depressing....

I got it to work, thank you for that heads up! I appreciate it. Our case is still just at the NVC, but I think I kind of knew that already. 
 

I’m so sorry. Ugh this is just not the way anything was supposed to be. It looks like we got approved just around the same date so I hear you, I was hoping for the very same thing as you guys. All this makes me feel so sad every day. It’s tough 

[Scandi 4,166]

To all Scandinavians who still visit visajourney and are still on the immigration journey - where in the process are you now and how has this virus affected it? 

 

After all the years here on VJ, and after getting to know a bunch of lovely people on here, I'm finally done with the i-129f, K-1, AOS and ROC. I'm at the last stage of the immigration process - the naturalization. I became eligible to file on April 19 of this year, and finally filed on May 1. Naturally, both dates occured in the middle of this pandemic, so obviously my case was affected like most others. No biometrics yet.

 

I'm just glad that I'm here, with my husband, having a status and an established everyday life. I can't even imagine how hard this is for the couples who are stuck in different countries and who can't even see each other. 

[LilyJ 1,258]

31 minutes ago, Scandi said:

To all Scandinavians who still visit visajourney and are still on the immigration journey - where in the process are you now and how has this virus affected it? 

 

After all the years here on VJ, and after getting to know a bunch of lovely people on here, I'm finally done with the i-129f, K-1, AOS and ROC. I'm at the last stage of the immigration process - the naturalization. I became eligible to file on April 19 of this year, and finally filed on May 1. Naturally, both dates occured in the middle of this pandemic, so obviously my case was affected like most others. No biometrics yet.

 

I'm just glad that I'm here, with my husband, having a status and an established everyday life. I can't even imagine how hard this is for the couples who are stuck in different countries and who can't even see each other. 

We are at the interview stage. We had our interview was scheduled for April 1. On March 16 we saw they were closing a lot of interviews at STK so we emailed them about it, and they told us since my husband is the spouse of a USC, his interview was not cancelled. The next day, we got a cancellation email as the embassies had stopped taking interviews entirely.. So now almost 2 months since the cancellation email and almost a month and a half since he should have had his interview, we wait for the embassy to open again, so my husband can have his interview finally. We are now nearly 15 months into our visa journey. So frustrating because after all we had went through, struggling with being in Nebraska service center (even though we were luckily approved quicker), then having a missing document at NVC shove us back by 2 months that we didn't know we needed, we thought we were finally at the finish line when that interview letter came. Now we don't know when it will be anymore. I think so much about how if we hadn't had that missing document at NVC, that my husband could have been here now..

[Scandi 4,166]

5 minutes ago, LilyJ said:

We are at the interview stage. We had our interview was scheduled for April 1. On March 16 we saw they were closing a lot of interviews at STK so we emailed them about it, and they told us since my husband is the spouse of a USC, his interview was not cancelled. The next day, we got a cancellation email as the embassies had stopped taking interviews entirely.. So now almost 2 months since the cancellation email and almost a month and a half since he should have had his interview, we wait for the embassy to open again, so my husband can have his interview finally. We are now nearly 15 months into our visa journey. So frustrating because after all we had went through, struggling with being in Nebraska service center (even though we were luckily approved quicker), then having a missing document at NVC shove us back by 2 months that we didn't know we needed, we thought we were finally at the finish line when that interview letter came. Now we don't know when it will be anymore. I think so much about how if we hadn't had that missing document at NVC, that my husband could have been here now..

Oh no, so many setbacks. Immigrating to the US is normally a difficult process, and right now it's so much worse. I feel for you guys. All of us are in the same boat with regards to not knowing anything at this point - not knowing when embassies/consulates/field offices will open again, when our cases will proceed, if there will be a backlog and if so, how massive it will be and so on.. But you guys are still in a worse situation since you can't wait this storm out together, as in physically together. That is by far the most painful and difficult part of the whole journey. Hopefully it's a good thing that you already had an appointment, hopefully that means that you're among the first ones in line to get an interview once everything opens up again.

[LilyJ 1,258]

Just now, Scandi said:

Oh no, so many setbacks. Immigrating to the US is normally a difficult process, and right now it's so much worse. I feel for you guys. All of us are in the same boat with regards to not knowing anything at this point - not knowing when embassies/consulates/field offices will open again, when our cases will proceed, if there will be a backlog and if so, how massive it will be and so on.. But you guys are still in a worse situation since you can't wait this storm out together, as in physically together. That is by far the most painful and difficult part of the whole journey. Hopefully it's a good thing that you already had an appointment, hopefully that means that you're among the first ones in line to get an interview once everything opens up again.

It's truly scary and sad for everyone. I only hope that the situation in Sweden can get better so that the embassy can open safely without worry to covid-19; I'm sure when they come back they will be requiring interviewees to wear masks. I think we are definitely one of the first - since our interview was about a week and a half away from the date it was cancelled - to be rescheduled so I am at least grateful that I don't think we have to worry about backlog. I read on the STK website that interviews for June are still available but that there is no guarantee they won't be cancelled, so we are just keeping our eyes out on our emails.. both for an interview letter and for a possible subsequent cancellation. I know Sweden hasn't really closed down the country at all so it may even be July - August before the US embassy sees it safe to open again there..

[emma24 161]

3 hours ago, Scandi said:

To all Scandinavians who still visit visajourney and are still on the immigration journey - where in the process are you now and how has this virus affected it? 

 

After all the years here on VJ, and after getting to know a bunch of lovely people on here, I'm finally done with the i-129f, K-1, AOS and ROC. I'm at the last stage of the immigration process - the naturalization. I became eligible to file on April 19 of this year, and finally filed on May 1. Naturally, both dates occured in the middle of this pandemic, so obviously my case was affected like most others. No biometrics yet.

 

I'm just glad that I'm here, with my husband, having a status and an established everyday life. I can't even imagine how hard this is for the couples who are stuck in different countries and who can't even see each other. 

We are still at NVC stage of our I-129F....waiting and waiting. We can't even visit each other if we wanted to because of the travel ban. It's honestly so hard being apart from each other. I haven't seen him since the beginning of January. It's the longest we've been apart since we started dating 2 years ago. 

[jules98 44]

On 5/10/2020 at 2:35 PM, Scandi said:

To all Scandinavians who still visit visajourney and are still on the immigration journey - where in the process are you now and how has this virus affected it? 

 

After all the years here on VJ, and after getting to know a bunch of lovely people on here, I'm finally done with the i-129f, K-1, AOS and ROC. I'm at the last stage of the immigration process - the naturalization. I became eligible to file on April 19 of this year, and finally filed on May 1. Naturally, both dates occured in the middle of this pandemic, so obviously my case was affected like most others. No biometrics yet.

 

I'm just glad that I'm here, with my husband, having a status and an established everyday life. I can't even imagine how hard this is for the couples who are stuck in different countries and who can't even see each other. 

Adjustment of status here, got our interview date SUPER fast (filed end of January, got NOA2 in March) but that’s been cancelled now (interview was supposed to be May 5th). Assuming USCIS will reopen June 4th as they announced I’ll probably have to wait a few extra months for them to go through all the interviews that were supposed to be before mine. Fingers crossed I’ll get EAD before that because I’m losing my mind over not being able to work 🥺

 

congratulations on almost being done with your immigration process by the way!! Must feel amazing.  I’m also pretty relieved to be here with my husband. He was furloughed from work early March and since I’m not working, this has just been the best honeymoon we could ask for, after doing long distance for a year. 

[Kl30morg 7]

Thanks for everyone's  help! My friend emailed the embassy in Stockholm to extend her application. But they told her they haven't yet received her packet from NVC and so they don't yet have her STK number in their system.

Her CEAC case status says : Your case is ready for your interview when scheduled at the U.S. Consular section. If you have already scheduled an appointment for an interview, please prepare your documents as directed in your appointment letter and appear at the consulate on the appointed date and time. Otherwise, please wait until you have been notified of your interview appointment. Additional information about how Immigrant Visa interview appointments are scheduled can be found at: http://nvc.state.gov/interview

For more information, please visit TRAVEL.STATE.GOV.

 

From my experience, CEAC went from at NVC--> In Transit--> Ready.  Should we email NVC to see if they still have it?

 

 

 

[emma24 161]

52 minutes ago, Kl30morg said:

Thanks for everyone's  help! My friend emailed the embassy in Stockholm to extend her application. But they told her they haven't yet received her packet from NVC and so they don't yet have her STK number in their system.

Her CEAC case status says : Your case is ready for your interview when scheduled at the U.S. Consular section. If you have already scheduled an appointment for an interview, please prepare your documents as directed in your appointment letter and appear at the consulate on the appointed date and time. Otherwise, please wait until you have been notified of your interview appointment. Additional information about how Immigrant Visa interview appointments are scheduled can be found at: http://nvc.state.gov/interview

For more information, please visit TRAVEL.STATE.GOV.

 

From my experience, CEAC went from at NVC--> In Transit--> Ready.  Should we email NVC to see if they still have it?

 

 

 

From my discussion with the embassy, NVC isn't shipping any cases until the embassy reopens. You could call but I am sure they still have it!

[Scandi 4,166]

1 hour ago, emma24 said:

From my discussion with the embassy, NVC isn't shipping any cases until the embassy reopens. You could call but I am sure they still have it!

That makes sense, or the embassies would be full to the brim with cases by the time they actually open.

NVC can still assign case numbers though, I would assume, so it could be an idea to call (if possible) and ask for the case number (that's how we did it in the olden days, back in 2016 🤭). Not sure if the embassy can extend the petition approval with just the case number or if they have to actually have the case there.

[Annem95 1]

Hey! Just wanted to join in here. Send I-130 January 1st, now stuck in the waiting game. The Schengen travel ban does not affect me (immediate relative), was considering going for at trip in July on ESTA, but none of my travel insurances are valid due to the Norwegian "do not travel" advice. Don't wanna get the rona' and end up in the hospital without insurance... This situation is next level waiting game.
 

I wonder if the I-130 approval speed changes due to the recent changes in the Trump immigration politics?