I-130 (CR-1) process immigration for married (wife)

[April Mora 91]

Just now, humamandrifa said:

So all of this will be after the NOA2 right? the tax police certificate etc...and from how many years back is the tax transcript and W2 they need? Thanks so much this is very helpful! Did you use a lawyer/agency or did it yourself?

Yeah, these documents will be needed for the NVC stage. The police certificate will have to be 3 months current. NVC only asks for 1 year of your income but you can include previous years. I think the irs keeps 3 or 4 years of transcripts.

 

For the USCIS stage, I had a third party company help me sort and review my documents before the USCIS got them; RapidVisa. 

[ayuness 39]

31 minutes ago, humamandrifa said:

Hi, what RFE did the USCIS send you? was it something personal or just general missing information? i was just curious because I dont even know about that part. and im still between NOA1 and NOA2 on my 5th month with no updates on Nebraska. I am US citizen, does it really take that long for US Citizens also versus an LPR? i just dont know how they prioritized that in the times USCIS received it. Thanks so much! congrats on the visa!!

The first time my lawyer filed it, he included everything from marriage book/certificate, wedding pictures, holiday pictures etc based on the list about supporting documents. Then few months after that, USCIS sent us email saying that they needed more evidence, we sent our lawyer more evidence like gift pictures, facebook posts showing how our relationship, skype calls, screenshot of our skype video calls (I usually took pictures of our LDR and share it online so we did have that on our gallery), conversation logs (Facebook/Skype/Whatsapp). We sent that in May then the status changed to RFE received after a month. I-130 approved in July 1st, 2016, only few days after they received my RFE.

 

If your wife is Indonesian, she won't need to include police certificate. It clearly says on the website and email that "Please note Indonesian Police Certificate is not required" but I did send it anyway to my lawyer, my laywer was the one who sent all the documents to USCIS and NVC, so I'm not sure if he enclosed it but on my interview day, the officer asked for all of the documents and didn't even ask about police certificate. 

Edited May 8, 2017 by ayuness

[humamandrifa 7]

5 hours ago, ayuness said:

The first time my lawyer filed it, he included everything from marriage book/certificate, wedding pictures, holiday pictures etc based on the list about supporting documents. Then few months after that, USCIS sent us email saying that they needed more evidence, we sent our lawyer more evidence like gift pictures, facebook posts showing how our relationship, skype calls, screenshot of our skype video calls (I usually took pictures of our LDR and share it online so we did have that on our gallery), conversation logs (Facebook/Skype/Whatsapp). We sent that in May then the status changed to RFE received after a month. I-130 approved in July 1st, 2016, only few days after they received my RFE.

 

If your wife is Indonesian, she won't need to include police certificate. It clearly says on the website and email that "Please note Indonesian Police Certificate is not required" but I did send it anyway to my lawyer, my laywer was the one who sent all the documents to USCIS and NVC, so I'm not sure if he enclosed it but on my interview day, the officer asked for all of the documents and didn't even ask about police certificate. 

Thank you so much and yes of course my wife and I are from Indonesia and we got married there, but my wife is Indonesian citizen while im a US citizen.

on which website/email did it say Police Certificate from Indonesia not required? Congrats on your visa! im going to have to save some of my evidence too in case an RFE comes out from what i read on your post. did you get your VISA on the same day of the interview?

[ayuness 39]

33 minutes ago, humamandrifa said:

Thank you so much and yes of course my wife and I are from Indonesia and we got married there, but my wife is Indonesian citizen while im a US citizen.

on which website/email did it say Police Certificate from Indonesia not required? Congrats on your visa! im going to have to save some of my evidence too in case an RFE comes out from what i read on your post. did you get your VISA on the same day of the interview?

I still have the email, I attached it. On the email it says, "your file is missing some things", but it's not because I didn't send them that, they needed to see the original certificates, photos and medical exam result.

 

But to be safe, just prepare the police certificate and send it anyway, I'm not sure about the rules now. And you don't need the translation because it's in dual language (English and Indonesia). Make sure you tell the police officer that the certificate is to apply for immigrant visa, not to work abroad because they will put the reason why you need the certificate on it. 

 

I think you should just collect all of any supporting documents you can think of, since you're already married, it would make sense too to give proof of billings you do together, or if you guys sending each other money. Pictures with friends and family is a plus too. My conversationlogs were all about how we plan to organize the house or how we miss each other, things like that, you don't have to print every logs, just a part of your conversation that makes your marriage looks valid, like how husband and wife talk, I'm sure you get what I mean. The gifts pictures, me and my husband keeps giving each other gifts on birthdays or wedding anniversary and we have pictures to prove that. We also enclosed our wedding rings receipt.

 

About the visa, on my interview day, an officer checked all the documents first except police certificate, then told me to wait. After more than an hour, I finally got the call to go to the interview booth, the lady just asked few questions and she printed a paper that said my visa has been approved and she congrulated me. You don't get the visa on the same day but you can always check the progress on NVC website. After few days, the status changed to "ISSUED", that means they just issued my visa. Then few days after that, I finally got the visa in hand, and my passport. I chose it to be delivered to my home address. The process took 6 days since my interview day.

 

I hope you all the best. It's a crazy feeling to be apart with your loved ones.

[humamandrifa 7]

5 minutes ago, ayuness said:

I still have the email, I attached it. On the email it says, "your file is missing some things", but it's not because I didn't send them that, they needed to see the original certificates, photos and medical exam result.

 

But to be safe, just prepare the police certificate and send it anyway, I'm not sure about the rules now. And you don't need the translation because it's in dual language (English and Indonesia). Make sure you tell the police officer that the certificate is to apply for immigrant visa, not to work abroad because they will put the reason why you need the certificate on it. 

 

I think you should just collect all of any supporting documents you can think of, since you're already married, it would make sense too to give proof of billings you do together, or if you guys sending each other money. Pictures with friends and family is a plus too. My conversationlogs were all about how we plan to organize the house or how we miss each other, things like that, you don't have to print every logs, just a part of your conversation that makes your marriage looks valid, like how husband and wife talk, I'm sure you get what I mean. The gifts pictures, me and my husband keeps giving each other gifts on birthdays or wedding anniversary and we have pictures to prove that. We also enclosed our wedding rings receipt.

 

About the visa, on my interview day, an officer checked all the documents first except police certificate, then told me to wait. After more than an hour, I finally got the call to go to the interview booth, the lady just asked few questions and she printed a paper that said my visa has been approved and she congrulated me. You don't get the visa on the same day but you can always check the progress on NVC website. After few days, the status changed to "ISSUED", that means they just issued my visa. Then few days after that, I finally got the visa in hand, and my passport. I chose it to be delivered to my home address. The process took 6 days since my interview day.

 

I hope you all the best. It's a crazy feeling to be apart with your loved ones.

Wow that is so cool! thanks for sharing me this info! i really appreciate it. it keeps me feeling more positive from all my times of wait. yes ur right better to be safe than sorry for all the docs that are needed and that are Not. My wife will have everything handled in Jakarta too so we on the same page here. Also if i can ask you, did they use English or Bahasa at the Interview stage in Jakarta? and what kind of questions do they ask if its personal or other things?

 

Thanks again!, we understand those little chat stuff and money/gift sending i have those proof to provide in case they ask me anything.

How long did you had to wait between NOA1 and NOA2 from USCIS stage? Again congrats and I wish you a blessing and happy life with your love one!  

[ayuness 39]

1 hour ago, humamandrifa said:

Wow that is so cool! thanks for sharing me this info! i really appreciate it. it keeps me feeling more positive from all my times of wait. yes ur right better to be safe than sorry for all the docs that are needed and that are Not. My wife will have everything handled in Jakarta too so we on the same page here. Also if i can ask you, did they use English or Bahasa at the Interview stage in Jakarta? and what kind of questions do they ask if its personal or other things?

 

Thanks again!, we understand those little chat stuff and money/gift sending i have those proof to provide in case they ask me anything.

How long did you had to wait between NOA1 and NOA2 from USCIS stage? Again congrats and I wish you a blessing and happy life with your love one!  

Thank you. I hope your process is smooth. I know it's hard cause I've been there but you gotta stay positive, remember that there's a light in the end of the tunnel. 

 

The first officer that collected my documents was Indonesian, but the interviewer was American so we talked in English. The questions were pretty basic, like we met, how many times we ever met, personal information about my husband like his full name, birthday, job and address. She also asked when we got married and why we decided to get married in Indonesia. She then looked at my passport and saw the visa stamps and asked about it, and if I did it with my husband. She was so nice and friendly, even way better than the Indonesian officer. I thinks that's all she asked, it was a very short interview, around 5-10 minutes. 

 

 I'm not sure how to answer your question about NOA1 and NOA2 lol because my lawyer took care everything but I googled and I founf out that my NOA2 (approval notice) was on July 1st, 2016. 

 

Here's my timeline because I know you can't see it on my reply when you login on phone, so you will get idea.

 

Married: October 25th, 2015

USCIS Process

Priority date: January 25th, 2016

Service Center: Nebraska

Request for Evidence (RFE): May 19th, 2016

RFE received: June 24th, 2016

I-130 approved: July 1st, 2016

NVC Process

Choice of Agent (DS-261) completed: August 10, 2016

Affidavit of Support (AOS) Fee Invoiced: August 10, 2016

Pay AOS Fee: August 12th, 2016

AOS Fee appeared as PAID: August 14, 2016

Immigrant Visa Application Processing Fees (IV Fee) Invoiced: August 10, 2016

Pay IV Fee: August 12, 2016

IV Fee appeared as PAID: August 14, 2016

Case Completed (CC) over the phone: November 3rd, 2016

Confirmation of CC email received: -

Interview date received over the phone: November 10th, 2016

Confirmation of Interview date email received: November 11th, 2016

Case "In Transit": November 16th, 2016

Case "Ready": November 17th, 2016

Interview Process

Medical (Jakarta, Indonesia): November 21st, 2016

Interview Date: December 29th, 2016 --APPROVED--

CEAC Status "Issued": December 30th, 2016

Visa in hand: January 4th, 2017

Fees

I-130 USCIS Filing Fee: $420

NVC Affidavit of Support Fee: $120

NVC Immigrant Visa Processing Fee: $325

USCIS Immigrant Fee: $165

Medical: $214.92 // IDR 2,887,632 (rate in December 2016 $1 = IDR 13,437)

Lawyer Fee: $ 2,950
Point of Entry (POE): January 19th, 2017

SSN: January 30th, 2017

Green Card: February 23rd, 2017

[matchabby 1]

19 hours ago, ayuness said:

Ah, I didn't know that. To answer your question @matchabby, I applied CR1 visa right after me and my husband got married, and I'm a LPR now and I've been living here in states since January 19th, 2017, two weeks after I got my CR1 visa (I forgot to answer that). Now I understand why you said it would take years, that's crazy, I hope you can live together as soon as possible.

Thank you for helping me clear those issues. I really don't know what is going on. I hope to leaen more through the process.

[Siskaa 6]

Hi Humam and Rifa. I'm beneficiary from Indonesia too the same with your wife. My priority date is 25 Oct 2016 and haven't heard anything yet from Nebraska Service Center. Been calling tier 2 office many times but they couldn't help anything. They keep saying that Nebraska still processing case 30 August 2017. 

[humamandrifa 7]

2 hours ago, Siskaa said:

Hi Humam and Rifa. I'm beneficiary from Indonesia too the same with your wife. My priority date is 25 Oct 2016 and haven't heard anything yet from Nebraska Service Center. Been calling tier 2 office many times but they couldn't help anything. They keep saying that Nebraska still processing case 30 August 2017. 

Hi Siska,

I guess we are in the same exact situation. I think your case will be approved sooner because of the priority date. But i keep hearing from the tier 2 office saying that every case is different and they cannot explain why, and i keep asking for any support too but they cant help either. May I ask you if you used a CR-1 visa also? Did you used an agency or lawyer or did it yourself? is your consulate in Jakarta? my wife is also in Jakarta consulate, we speak bahasa of course but im not sure if the interviews and everything else will be in bahasa or english hehehe. Good luck to you and please update us if your case is approved. I would like to see a rough estimate of ours. Thanks for sharing us your experience!

[humamandrifa 7]

On 5/8/2017 at 5:41 PM, ayuness said:

Thank you. I hope your process is smooth. I know it's hard cause I've been there but you gotta stay positive, remember that there's a light in the end of the tunnel. 

 

The first officer that collected my documents was Indonesian, but the interviewer was American so we talked in English. The questions were pretty basic, like we met, how many times we ever met, personal information about my husband like his full name, birthday, job and address. She also asked when we got married and why we decided to get married in Indonesia. She then looked at my passport and saw the visa stamps and asked about it, and if I did it with my husband. She was so nice and friendly, even way better than the Indonesian officer. I thinks that's all she asked, it was a very short interview, around 5-10 minutes. 

 

 I'm not sure how to answer your question about NOA1 and NOA2 lol because my lawyer took care everything but I googled and I founf out that my NOA2 (approval notice) was on July 1st, 2016. 

 

Here's my timeline because I know you can't see it on my reply when you login on phone, so you will get idea.

 

Married: October 25th, 2015

USCIS Process

Priority date: January 25th, 2016

Service Center: Nebraska

Request for Evidence (RFE): May 19th, 2016

RFE received: June 24th, 2016

I-130 approved: July 1st, 2016

NVC Process

Choice of Agent (DS-261) completed: August 10, 2016

Affidavit of Support (AOS) Fee Invoiced: August 10, 2016

Pay AOS Fee: August 12th, 2016

AOS Fee appeared as PAID: August 14, 2016

Immigrant Visa Application Processing Fees (IV Fee) Invoiced: August 10, 2016

Pay IV Fee: August 12, 2016

IV Fee appeared as PAID: August 14, 2016

Case Completed (CC) over the phone: November 3rd, 2016

Confirmation of CC email received: -

Interview date received over the phone: November 10th, 2016

Confirmation of Interview date email received: November 11th, 2016

Case "In Transit": November 16th, 2016

Case "Ready": November 17th, 2016

Interview Process

Medical (Jakarta, Indonesia): November 21st, 2016

Interview Date: December 29th, 2016 --APPROVED--

CEAC Status "Issued": December 30th, 2016

Visa in hand: January 4th, 2017

Fees

I-130 USCIS Filing Fee: $420

NVC Affidavit of Support Fee: $120

NVC Immigrant Visa Processing Fee: $325

USCIS Immigrant Fee: $165

Medical: $214.92 // IDR 2,887,632 (rate in December 2016 $1 = IDR 13,437)

Lawyer Fee: $ 2,950
Point of Entry (POE): January 19th, 2017

SSN: January 30th, 2017

Green Card: February 23rd, 2017

The website never changed its processing times in USCIS. I guess we are waiting again and again, ima have to visit Jakarta soon and call off my work due to all this frustrating wait of being seperate. Thanks for sharing us the experience you had, especially the interview stuff and your timeline, I wish ours is approved so i can at least figure out my personal plans for work and other things etc. How are things running in the US for you now? did it take long to get a green card in the US address? did you had to apply for everything like social driver license after green card yourself or was it already there? good luck and best wishes