Kiev interview calendar question

[romancape 6]

1 minute ago, TastyCake said:

I apologize if you said this already but did your fiancee pay the fee at Raiffeisen  last Friday?  Or today?

She paid like week ago. 

[TastyCake 232]

3 minutes ago, romancape said:

Finally they unlocked my account. Scheduled for August 12 .... 

Also, when you were unable to get into your account (because you were locked out) did you do any temporary passwords to see if you could get in?  I tried a couple of temporary passwords before I called the hotline and learned the news.  So, when they decide to unlock my account I am wondering if I should attempt to use the password I always had (which was probably in place at the time my account was locked) or the last temporary password... or just get a new temporary password as the last one may have expired already.

 

It's tough to say if all those temporary passwords were not registering in their system because the account was already locked.

[TastyCake 232]

3 minutes ago, romancape said:

She paid like week ago. 

In theory... IN THEORY!!! ... since my fiancee paid this morning we are SUPPOSED to be able to get an appointment after 10 am the following day.  So by 3 am my time (eastern time)... in theory... IN THEORY!!! ... we should be able to get an appointment.

 

Since I probably can't get in right now, what are the chances of you logging in real quick and telling me what the current EARLIEST date is?  I want to know how close I am to my petition expiration date.  This is really causing me some anguish.

[romancape 6]

2 minutes ago, TastyCake said:

Also, when you were unable to get into your account (because you were locked out) did you do any temporary passwords to see if you could get in?  I tried a couple of temporary passwords before I called the hotline and learned the news.  So, when they decide to unlock my account I am wondering if I should attempt to use the password I always had (which was probably in place at the time my account was locked) or the last temporary password... or just get a new temporary password as the last one may have expired already.

 

It's tough to say if all those temporary passwords were not registering in their system because the account was already locked.

I tried to do maybe 5 times that temporary password. You should try log in with a last created temporary password.

[TastyCake 232]

Update:  I scheduled my appointment.  August.  Nothing earlier.  I am still beside myself that there is such a wait time these days when only a month or two ago people could get an appointment the next stinking day if they wanted.  What changed?  Ask the embassy and they don't offer any answers.  I really would like to know why.  I can't imagine there was some sudden influx of people scheduling appointments.  All June?  All July?  Nothing?

 

Anyway, a bit of advice if you lock your account due to excessive activity and have not yet scheduled your appointment.  They will tell you 24-72 hours and your account will unlock.  In the meantime, call them to schedule your appointment.  If you get someone who tells you they can't schedule an appointment if your account is locked this is not true.  Just keep calling back until you get someone who will do it.

Edited June 4, 2019 by TastyCake

[Trapper99 30]

Is it possible to schedule the interview after DS160 is filled out and fee paid, even if status is not "ready" and case hasn't arrived at embassy yet? With the extended wait times, I'd like to schedule as early as possible. 

 

Edit: All I see in the requirements is case #, passport #, and payment receipt for fee. 

Edited June 4, 2019 by Trapper99

[Shiran 1,134]

I am rather curious myself why are they suddenly out of interview slots so far into the future, when only recently they had no such issues whatsoever. New President jumps into mind, I don't know if there is a sudden influx of people suddenly willing to leave the country, or DOS pairing down staff at the embassies for whatever reason. Very curious. I am sorry you guys got caught in it. 

[TastyCake 232]

3 hours ago, Trapper99 said:

Is it possible to schedule the interview after DS160 is filled out and fee paid, even if status is not "ready" and case hasn't arrived at embassy yet? With the extended wait times, I'd like to schedule as early as possible. 

 

Edit: All I see in the requirements is case #, passport #, and payment receipt for fee. 

Good question.  Try completing the DS-160 and pay the fee.  Then, if you haven't already done so, try creating your online account at the State Department website and see if it will let you schedule an appointment.  I think the DS-160 and paying the fee are probably the things the embassy cares about the most.

 

Paying the fee is a biggie.  Have your sweetheart pay at the nearest Raiffeisen branch and get the receipt.  Once she has the receipt in hand, tell her to take a snapshot of it and send it to you in Viber (or whatever you use for communication) so you have a copy as well.  Someone on this board mentioned that to me and it was great peace of mind.  Suppose your sweetie were to lose it accidentally?  Ask her to ask the teller/bank employee to identify what is exactly the receipt number.  In our situation, the teller/bank employee underlined it for us.

 

I believe the format of the receipt number is:  sweetheart's birth date in ddmmyy format followed by the transaction date, also in ddmmyy format, followed by time of day in hhmmss format.

 

For example (birthdate is January 15, 1981, transaction date is June 10, 2019, time of day is 11:15 am and 28 seconds):

150181100619111528

 

[Trapper99 30]

3 hours ago, Shiran said:

I am rather curious myself why are they suddenly out of interview slots so far into the future, when only recently they had no such issues whatsoever. New President jumps into mind, I don't know if there is a sudden influx of people suddenly willing to leave the country, or DOS pairing down staff at the embassies for whatever reason. Very curious. I am sorry you guys got caught in it. 

The new President was my first thought also. Seems like they had a redistribution of resources or something, and don't have the quantity of interview slots for K1s they use too. Tourist visa applicants can still get an interview only a week out. Anything that caused an influx of K1s had to happen 6 months ago to be effecting the embassy now, not anything recently. I'm thinking it's something at the embassy level and not a higher influx of K1s. I don't see any abnormally high amount of K1s through Ukraine on this site either.

[Trapper99 30]

1 hour ago, TastyCake said:

Good question.  Try completing the DS-160 and pay the fee.  Then, if you haven't already done so, try creating your online account at the State Department website and see if it will let you schedule an appointment.  I think the DS-160 and paying the fee are probably the things the embassy cares about the most.

 

Paying the fee is a biggie.  Have your sweetheart pay at the nearest Raiffeisen branch and get the receipt.  Once she has the receipt in hand, tell her to take a snapshot of it and send it to you in Viber (or whatever you use for communication) so you have a copy as well.  Someone on this board mentioned that to me and it was great peace of mind.  Suppose your sweetie were to lose it accidentally?  Ask her to ask the teller/bank employee to identify what is exactly the receipt number.  In our situation, the teller/bank employee underlined it for us.

 

I believe the format of the receipt number is:  sweetheart's birth date in ddmmyy format followed by the transaction date, also in ddmmyy format, followed by time of day in hhmmss format.

 

For example (birthdate is January 15, 1981, transaction date is June 10, 2019, time of day is 11:15 am and 28 seconds):

150181100619111528

 

Thanks for the info

 

DS160 is done, and I made an account of the Dept of State and went through that till it asked for receipt number so I am familiar with that. My fiancee is going to pay the fee tomorrow and we will see what happens as far as scheduling interview now or if we have to wait until the June 11 shipment arrives at the embassy. 

 

Someone else I know went through this process a year+ ago (I actually got the "idea" from him) and he thinks I won't be able to schedule until the embassy actually has the case, doesn't matter I have the case number and paid DS160. Guess we will see!! His fiancee had dual citizenship in Russia and Ukraine (from parents) and although she lived in Russia at the time, she did interview in Kyiv as it was quicker turnaround to interviews.

 

He also suggested that if I am scheduling an interview in late August, but will keep an eye out for a cancellation, to have my fiancee go ahead and get medical done now that way if there is a cancellation (especially last minute) you are ready to go. Might not be a bad idea for your lady also. 

[TastyCake 232]

2 minutes ago, Trapper99 said:

The new President was my first thought also. Seems like they had a redistribution of resources or something, and don't have the quantity of interview slots for K1s they use too. Tourist visa applicants can still get an interview only a week out. Anything that caused an influx of K1s had to happen 6 months ago to be effecting the embassy now, not anything recently. I'm thinking it's something at the embassy level and not a higher influx of K1s. I don't see any abnormally high amount of K1s through Ukraine on this site either.

The DHL waybill to Kiev that arrived on May 31 had '2 pieces' in it.  I don't know what that means in terms of total petitions but I played around with other countries using the search mechanism Greenbaum provides and there are much larger shipments than Ukraine.

 

I think less President and more reallocation of resources.  Maybe, just maybe, they found that allocated slots for K-1 were not at 100% capacity and they redistributed for the upcoming months.  And maybe they went a little too deep on the other end.

 

Anyone with an 8 weeks or > wait may want to email the Kiev embassy and inquire (politely) if more K-1 appointments will be scheduled in June and July.  No promises but it could alert the powers-that-be and then more appointments get set up subsequently making all of us a bit happier.  Just a thought.

 

 

[TastyCake 232]

I was going to ask the Contact Center how soon we should schedule the medical exam.  I mean if I end up stuck with my August appointment date is there such thing as 'too soon'.  Is June too soon?  I'd be happy to get that out of the way ASAP if it wouldn't be a problem.

 

But I get your point.  We could end up with early July and then we're hustling.

 

I'll let you know what they say.

Edited June 4, 2019 by TastyCake

[Trapper99 30]

5 minutes ago, TastyCake said:

The DHL waybill to Kiev that arrived on May 31 had '2 pieces' in it.  I don't know what that means in terms of total petitions but I played around with other countries using the search mechanism Greenbaum provides and there are much larger shipments than Ukraine.

 

I think less President and more reallocation of resources.  Maybe, just maybe, they found that allocated slots for K-1 were not at 100% capacity and they redistributed for the upcoming months.  And maybe they went a little too deep on the other end.

 

Anyone with an 8 weeks or > wait may want to email the Kiev embassy and inquire (politely) if more K-1 appointments will be scheduled in June and July.  No promises but it could alert the powers-that-be and then more appointments get set up subsequently making all of us a bit happier.  Just a thought.

 

 

That is the most likely scenario I'm guessing as they opened up more slots for B1/2 and less from K1/CR1. Once I get interview scheduled, I will also send an email but don't expect anything.

 

I see one other timeline on here that had same shipment dates as you, and they were able to snag an August 1st interview. Currently first available is Aug 14 now.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Trapper99

[Shiran 1,134]

1 hour ago, TastyCake said:

The DHL waybill to Kiev that arrived on May 31 had '2 pieces' in it.  I don't know what that means in terms of total petitions but I played around with other countries using the search mechanism Greenbaum provides and there are much larger shipments than Ukraine.

 

I think less President and more reallocation of resources.  Maybe, just maybe, they found that allocated slots for K-1 were not at 100% capacity and they redistributed for the upcoming months.  And maybe they went a little too deep on the other end.

 

Anyone with an 8 weeks or > wait may want to email the Kiev embassy and inquire (politely) if more K-1 appointments will be scheduled in June and July.  No promises but it could alert the powers-that-be and then more appointments get set up subsequently making all of us a bit happier.  Just a thought.

 

 

The embassy interview building kinda split into two parts. They only had 3 (one intake window gathering the docs, 2 doing actual interviews) windows dedicated to "immigrant" visas (and for the purposes of the interview K-1 falls under immigrant category. Much greater number is allocated to non-immigrant ones. Basically same 2 people who do K-1 interviews are also interviewing people going through adoption, CR-1, family reunifications, etc etc. But you are right, Ukraine is not known for having overwhelming amount of K-1s. 

[Trapper99 30]

22 minutes ago, Shiran said:

The embassy interview building kinda split into two parts. They only had 3 (one intake window gathering the docs, 2 doing actual interviews) windows dedicated to "immigrant" visas (and for the purposes of the interview K-1 falls under immigrant category. Much greater number is allocated to non-immigrant ones. Basically same 2 people who do K-1 interviews are also interviewing people going through adoption, CR-1, family reunifications, etc etc. But you are right, Ukraine is not known for having overwhelming amount of K-1s. 

If only 3 people working the immigrant visa, 1 or 2 quiting /transferring/fired etc could really throw a wrench into things. Quite possibly could be something like that and they are stuck with scheduling way out until they get a replacements.