Packet 3 arrived at consulate, appointment letter same day?

[MRSW1709 0]

Hi Everyone,

We had something strange happen with our Packet 3 docs that we sent to Frankfurt. We sent all the documents on January 29th and have been waiting ever since to receive the letter stating we can schedule interview and medical exam. Today, I decided to e-mail the consular office to double check that the package arrived (we were silly and forgot to send with tracking). 

The consular responded immediately and said they received the packet and they send a letter the same day for us to schedule appointment / medical exam. We NEVER received this letter. 

 

So my question is, is the packet and its documents approved? Or do they check the packet at the interview? 

I'm not sure how they could have sent the appointment letter the same day if they reviewed the paperwork. I expected they need a few months to review as it goes into financial, background histories.

 

Thank you for any insight.

[Jorge V 195]

9 minutes ago, MRSW1709 said:

Hi Everyone,

We had something strange happen with our Packet 3 docs that we sent to Frankfurt. We sent all the documents on January 29th and have been waiting ever since to receive the letter stating we can schedule interview and medical exam. Today, I decided to e-mail the consular office to double check that the package arrived (we were silly and forgot to send with tracking). 

The consular responded immediately and said they received the packet and they send a letter the same day for us to schedule appointment / medical exam. We NEVER received this letter. 

 

So my question is, is the packet and its documents approved? Or do they check the packet at the interview? 

I'm not sure how they could have sent the appointment letter the same day if they reviewed the paperwork. I expected they need a few months to review as it goes into financial, background histories.

 

Thank you for any insight.

Maybe I'm a bit confused as to how DCF works in Germany. What are you referring to when you say Packet 3? For other countries (including Mexico), packet 3 is just the letter telling you how to schedule your interview and what to bring. Did you get NOA1 and NOA2? If so, when? Filling out your timeline might give us better insight and allow us to help you better.

 

When you say "I'm not sure how they could have sent the appointment letter the same day if they reviewed the paperwork. I expected they need a few months to review as it goes into financial, background histories." that's actually not the case. If you're talking about the I-130 many people in DCF countries get it approved the same day or within only 1-2 days. They don't really dig into your background all that much at this stage, they just check that you're eligible to apply for the I-130 and CR1/IR1. If you're talking about the I-864 it's been my experience that they don't really check it. For mine they didn't even look at the evidence. They just flipped through it, made sure it had all the signatures, and approved us right then and there, after about 5 minutes at looking at our things.

 

Again, this may be because I'm not familiar with how DCF works in Germany. It would help if you could provide some context and/or your timeline.

[MRSW1709 0]

6 minutes ago, Jorge V said:

Maybe I'm a bit confused as to how DCF works in Germany. What are you referring to when you say Packet 3? For other countries (including Mexico), packet 3 is just the letter telling you how to schedule your interview and what to bring. Did you get NOA1 and NOA2? If so, when? Filling out your timeline might give us better insight and allow us to help you better.

 

When you say "I'm not sure how they could have sent the appointment letter the same day if they reviewed the paperwork. I expected they need a few months to review as it goes into financial, background histories." that's actually not the case. If you're talking about the I-130 many people in DCF countries get it approved the same day or within only 1-2 days. They don't really dig into your background all that much at this stage, they just check that you're eligible to apply for the I-130 and CR1/IR1. If you're talking about the I-864 it's been my experience that they don't really check it. For mine they didn't even look at the evidence. They just flipped through it, made sure it had all the signatures, and approved us right then and there, after about 5 minutes at looking at our things.

 

Again, this may be because I'm not familiar with how DCF works in Germany. It would help if you could provide some context and/or your timeline.

Thanks Jorge.

We already received approval on our I-130 documents.

When I say packet 3 I mean the the documents such as I-864, police records, etc. I guess I expected that they really dig into the financials and the joint-sponsor's data. 

My question is if we receive the letter stating we can schedule the visa interview and medical exam, does that mean they've already vetted the documents we've sent, or do they do that at the interview?

Example: If for some reason the financials don't mean the poverty line, wouldn't they see that before the interview and request more info?

Thanks again!

[Jorge V 195]

15 minutes ago, MRSW1709 said:

Thanks Jorge.

We already received approval on our I-130 documents.

When I say packet 3 I mean the the documents such as I-864, police records, etc. I guess I expected that they really dig into the financials and the joint-sponsor's data. 

My question is if we receive the letter stating we can schedule the visa interview and medical exam, does that mean they've already vetted the documents we've sent, or do they do that at the interview?

Example: If for some reason the financials don't mean the poverty line, wouldn't they see that before the interview and request more info?

Thanks again!

Ah, I guess the DCF process is slightly different in Germany then. In Mexico and other countries you bring the I-864 and police records with you to the interview. I'll chime in while someone familiar with the Germany details can give a better answer.

 

They've most likely vetted the documents already. USCIS, and the US government in general use a variation of "trust but verify", but more like "trust but levy with stiff financial and criminal penalties if found to be lying". They're assuming that the documents you provide are accurate and will generally trust them and won't really verify them unless they find a glaring problem.

 

At our interview, I brought 6 months worth of documentation for our I-864. I used assets to sponsor my wife so I figured that they would want to verify using bank statements. We turned in the I-864 and the officer flipped through it. We tried to give him our evidence at the same time but he just motioned that he didn't want it. Once he flipped through it he filed the I-864 away and said we were approved. In our case the vetting process for our I-864 and police records was literally 30 seconds. I'm sure if the sponsorship agreement were to ever go into affect that they would take a closer look, but for most people it seems like they just trust you.

Edited April 5, 2018 by Jorge V

[Hattivatti 35]

Mrsw1709 did you ever receive your interview letter?

My package tracker isn't working, so I don't know if they've received my package, but ceac shows ready for scheduling the interview. And last (only) update since the case was created is today. I wonder if I should wait for few days for the letter or straight email the consulate.

[TootsieTails 2]

On 4/12/2018 at 2:06 PM, Hattivatti said:

Mrsw1709 did you ever receive your interview letter?

My package tracker isn't working, so I don't know if they've received my package, but ceac shows ready for scheduling the interview. And last (only) update since the case was created is today. I wonder if I should wait for few days for the letter or straight email the consulate.

Our package tracker isn't working either, our package of required documents was sent but just says the same thing every day on tracking (??? a bit weird we both are experiencing this) but it seems they work on the honor system with this and trust you are sending it. We received an e-mail from Frankfurt telling us we were approved for scheduling (is this what you are meaning about the CEAC ready?). In our experience the Frankfurt consulate is very responsive to e-mails, if you have any questions make sure to include your case number (if you have it) and just ask them if you can schedule your appointment, explain you received the approval to schedule already. Best wishes! 

[MRSW1709 0]

On 4/14/2018 at 2:39 PM, TootsieTails said:

Our package tracker isn't working either, our package of required documents was sent but just says the same thing every day on tracking (??? a bit weird we both are experiencing this) but it seems they work on the honor system with this and trust you are sending it. We received an e-mail from Frankfurt telling us we were approved for scheduling (is this what you are meaning about the CEAC ready?). In our experience the Frankfurt consulate is very responsive to e-mails, if you have any questions make sure to include your case number (if you have it) and just ask them if you can schedule your appointment, explain you received the approval to schedule already. Best wishes! 

We never did receive the letter to schedule an appointment. They sent it per email, but that was it. And yes, the Frankfurt office is extremely responsive and helpful. 

[TootsieTails 2]

On 5/1/2018 at 7:21 PM, MRSW1709 said:

We never did receive the letter to schedule an appointment. They sent it per email, but that was it. And yes, the Frankfurt office is extremely responsive and helpful. 

Oddly, our package really was lost. As in - the Deutsche Post lost packet #3. We were pretty devastated.