CEAC portal, Relocated, got my case number, yet NVC doesn't have our file

[noemit 0]

Hello, I'm hoping someone can help me to understand our situation, as it's been very messy and I'm confused.

 

Me and my husband sent our files to the embassy in London (i-130) on the 29th of July 2019. We lived in England, as my husband worked there, but after we moved (he's back to the US, I'm in Hungary, where I'm from) we had to relocate. We didn't receive any letters except the very first one from USCIS, that said our petition was approved. Later on, we contacted to the embassy in London, asking for our case number (they didn't send us any letter or mail) which they emailed us. 

However, since we moved, and I relocated to Hungary, we have been stuck. The embassy in Hungary officially received our case from London, but they said London has to send our case through the mail to the NVC as well.

I don't understand, doesn't NVC creates the case number? Then how come London had it but the NVC didn't? (We called the NVC and they didn't hear about us, we don't have our case number in their system either.) 

The other strange thing is that we were still able to log into the CEAC's portal. It let us upload the form DS-260, by using the case number London sent us, but we don't have any option submitting our documents. (Didn't receive a welcome letter from the NVC)

 

Please if anyone has an advice or has relocated before, I would grately appreciate that! 

[SorrowL 138]

Did you ever receive a NOA2 stating approval of your I-130?—— sorry I reread your post. You stated the “first” interaction was the NOA2 already? 
 

Sounds like what happened is you did a DCF in London, and since you became ineligible for continued DCF, they sent info to the Hungarian consulate and now they need to send your (I’m assuming) approved I-130 to the NVC to begin formal visa processing.

 

when did you get the NOA2 approval? 

Edited February 6, 2020 by SorrowL

[noemit 0]

5 minutes ago, SorrowL said:

Did you ever receive a NOA2 stating approval of your I-130?—— sorry I reread your post. You stated the “first” interaction was the NOA2 already? 
 

Sounds like what happened is you did a DCF in London, and since you became ineligible for continued DCF, they sent info to the Hungarian consulate and now they need to send your (I’m assuming) approved I-130 to the NVC to begin formal visa processing.

 

when did you get the NOA2 approval? 

Hey, thanks so much for the quick answer!

We did receive a notice of approval. 

That could be very possible, I wonder if our case number could have been cancelled as well... Might be a false thought, but have been thinking of all the scenarios.

[SorrowL 138]

Just now, noemit said:

Hey, thanks so much for the quick answer!

We did receive a notice of approval. 

That could be very possible, I wonder if our case number could have been cancelled as well... Might be a false thought, but have been thinking of all the scenarios.

Cases aren’t cancelled So quickly without informing the applicant, and not in such a short timeframe, especially if your I-130 was approved. The fact is US government don’t exactly send things very quickly, especially if paper is being sent overseas. 
 

When did you get the approval notice? 
when did you contact your assigned mission/when did they inform you they officially received the case transfer from London? did they assign you a new case number? 
 

Have you contacted the NVC recently?

[noemit 0]

4 minutes ago, SorrowL said:

Cases aren’t cancelled So quickly without informing the applicant, and not in such a short timeframe, especially if your I-130 was approved. The fact is US government don’t exactly send things very quickly, especially if paper is being sent overseas. 
 

When did you get the approval notice? 
when did you contact your assigned mission/when did they inform you they officially received the case transfer from London? did they assign you a new case number? 
 

Have you contacted the NVC recently?

Notice of approval was received on the 2nd of November 2019. 

The Hungarian embassy got our case from London on the 2nd of January 2020. They didn't assign us a new case number.

We called the NVC and they sent us back to the embassies London/Budapest, Hungary because they don't have any info of us at the moment in their system. Budapest said we just have to sit tight until the diplomatic post will be received. I'm just confused how we have a CEAC account already. I thought London have already sent our I-130 to the NVC, who gave us a case number. 

[SorrowL 138]

25 minutes ago, noemit said:

Notice of approval was received on the 2nd of November 2019. 

The Hungarian embassy got our case from London on the 2nd of January 2020. They didn't assign us a new case number.

We called the NVC and they sent us back to the embassies London/Budapest, Hungary because they don't have any info of us at the moment in their system. Budapest said we just have to sit tight until the diplomatic post will be received. I'm just confused how we have a CEAC account already. I thought London have already sent our I-130 to the NVC, who gave us a case number. 

The London mission assigned you a number themselves if it was DCF. CEAC May be accessible, but don’t do anything with it yet. It’s unlikely you’ll be assigned another case number. What does your CEAC case status say?

[noemit 0]

9 hours ago, SorrowL said:

The London mission assigned you a number themselves if it was DCF. CEAC May be accessible, but don’t do anything with it yet. It’s unlikely you’ll be assigned another case number. What does your CEAC case status say?

This is crazy! I went to hopelessly check my status, which has been saying "ready" and that I just have to wait for the NVC to book an interview for me.* I just checked it and they updated it!!! I'm so happy! It's still "ready" but,

Our case number slightly changed! 

When we log in, (when you click on pay fees or DS-260) it still says our case is currently in London, but when we click on the "check status"  on the website it pops up with a new-ish case number and it says last updated: 05 -Feb - 2020.

 

*When we contacted to Budapest to relocate and they got our case from London (which happend in a short time) they (Budapest) sent me an informational package via email, and told me to follow the next steps in the meantime. At that point our knowledge on the next steps was pretty poor, so we did log in to the CEAC's site and we uploaded ds-260 on the 2nd of January. That's when we got confused, because we understood we also have to submit documents somehow, but we never received a letter from the NVC, neither we had an option to upload anything on the CEAC's portal. (It doesn't even ask for our invoice number (which we don't have) when logging in) so we got stuck, and comparing our portal to other people's screenshots and pictures of how their portal, (as we learned more about this whole process on YouTube) ours looked simpler, and again, we only needed our case number and DOB to log in and we were able to fill out ds-260. So that's why it's been so messy and we weren't sure what's going on.

Sorry! I know it's confusing! But thank you so much for helping and understanding more about this situation!! It's been very helpful!

[SorrowL 138]

@noemit it saying “ready” is very typically seen in DCF cases. Once the NVC receives your case, the status may change. This status does not mean it is actually ready for interview When the case is DCF, it’s simply the status that it’s ready at the Mission as DCF is a very different process bypassing the NVC completely and usually has much faster processing times. Unfortunately with your move to Hungary, your case is referred to NVC so no skipping that now.
 

your case is super complex with the multiple moves. From London to Budapest then the case being sent to the NVC. It’s all very mashed up. Since your case was last updated yesterday, meaning someone “touched” it, either digitally or physically, means that at least it is known of and isn’t “lost”. 

Edited February 6, 2020 by SorrowL

[noemit 0]

On 2/6/2020 at 1:36 PM, SorrowL said:

@noemit it saying “ready” is very typically seen in DCF cases. Once the NVC receives your case, the status may change. This status does not mean it is actually ready for interview When the case is DCF, it’s simply the status that it’s ready at the Mission as DCF is a very different process bypassing the NVC completely and usually has much faster processing times. Unfortunately with your move to Hungary, your case is referred to NVC so no skipping that now.
 

your case is super complex with the multiple moves. From London to Budapest then the case being sent to the NVC. It’s all very mashed up. Since your case was last updated yesterday, meaning someone “touched” it, either digitally or physically, means that at least it is known of and isn’t “lost”. 

Hey! sorry for the late reply, we have been trying to find out what's happening. I contacted the embassy in Budapest, and they said our i-130 isn't being transferred to the NVC, they are physically transferring it to Hungary.

When I mentioned the NVC, they told me that wasn't the case. (We filed to the USCIS in London last summer, so you were right, it is a DCF. We didn't really see the system clearly.) So we are just waiting now to hear back. And this makes sense why our portal looks different and simpler than those whom have their cases at the NVC. 

[SorrowL 138]

35 minutes ago, noemit said:

Hey! sorry for the late reply, we have been trying to find out what's happening. I contacted the embassy in Budapest, and they said our i-130 isn't being transferred to the NVC, they are physically transferring it to Hungary.

When I mentioned the NVC, they told me that wasn't the case. (We filed to the USCIS in London last summer, so you were right, it is a DCF. We didn't really see the system clearly.) So we are just waiting now to hear back. And this makes sense why our portal looks different and simpler than those whom have their cases at the NVC. 

Well that’s great news. DCF will help you receive your visa faster than through the NVC. Glad to hear they kept it DCF! 
 

you should fill in your timeline so we can see your progress. 

Edited February 9, 2020 by SorrowL