Australians Waiting For Interview at US Consulate Sydney

[sydnekins 7]

45 minutes ago, PriscillaQOTD said:

Oh wow that is really fast! My husband had his medical at O'Connell St with Dr Aldous on the 7th of Oct and didn't get his email until the 13th. I noticed my case status date changed in the visa check on the same day so I'm assuming the consulate received it. As both of our medicals were sent on the same day let me know if your case status changes from refused to admin processing and I'll let you know as well!

Yes thank you will do! 

[ErinB 17]

Hey guys! I'm getting a little nervous so I thought I'd see what you all think I should do/is happening. 

I submitted our expedite request on the 10/10, to nvcexpedite@state.gov but so far we've heard nothing back. Today is the tenth day. There've been weekends and bank holidays in that time, but I'm not sure how much that should affect the timeliness of an acknowledgement...

Is there a next step? Is there someone we need to contact to chase this up?

[sydnekins 7]

18 hours ago, PriscillaQOTD said:

Oh wow that is really fast! My husband had his medical at O'Connell St with Dr Aldous on the 7th of Oct and didn't get his email until the 13th. I noticed my case status date changed in the visa check on the same day so I'm assuming the consulate received it. As both of our medicals were sent on the same day let me know if your case status changes from refused to admin processing and I'll let you know as well!

I just got an email from the consulate saying they received the medical certificate and it's under review, just checked the case status and it's finally rolled over from refused to Administrative processing! I'm sure if you havent received it yet that you'll be receiving it soon!! 

[PriscillaQOTD 23]

3 minutes ago, sydnekins said:

I just got an email from the consulate saying they received the medical certificate and it's under review, just checked the case status and it's finally rolled over from refused to Administrative processing! I'm sure if you havent received it yet that you'll be receiving it soon!! 

Thank you for letting me know! That’s so exciting for you! I didn’t realise they sent an email so I guess I’ll stop refreshing the visa check page 😂😂

[sydnekins 7]

5 minutes ago, PriscillaQOTD said:

Thank you for letting me know! That’s so exciting for you! I didn’t realise they sent an email so I guess I’ll stop refreshing the visa check page 😂😂

Haha I was obsessively checking the status all day today and noticed this morning that the 'case last updated' had changed to today's date but still said 'refused' and then next thing I knew I had gotten an email and it had moved over to administrative processing. So if you see that your 'case last updated' date changes and it still says 'refused' its probably a good sign that things are moving along! 

[sydnekins 7]

1 hour ago, ErinB said:

Hey guys! I'm getting a little nervous so I thought I'd see what you all think I should do/is happening. 

I submitted our expedite request on the 10/10, to nvcexpedite@state.gov but so far we've heard nothing back. Today is the tenth day. There've been weekends and bank holidays in that time, but I'm not sure how much that should affect the timeliness of an acknowledgement...

Is there a next step? Is there someone we need to contact to chase this up?

Hey Erin! It took around 12 days for the consulate to approve my request for expedite so I would give it a day or two. 

 

If your case is approved you should receive an email from NVC saying that the consulate has approved your request. 

[ErinB 17]

44 minutes ago, sydnekins said:

Hey Erin! It took around 12 days for the consulate to approve my request for expedite so I would give it a day or two. 

 

If your case is approved you should receive an email from NVC saying that the consulate has approved your request. 

Oh awesome! Thanks. Did you get an email response from them before that point that acknowledged they received it? We’re only worried because we’ve received literally nothing 

[sydnekins 7]

21 minutes ago, ErinB said:

Oh awesome! Thanks. Did you get an email response from them before that point that acknowledged they received it? We’re only worried because we’ve received literally nothing 

Nope nothing! We sent off our expedite request to nvcexpedite@state.gov and only heard back when the consulate approved our expedite request. We didn't even receive an email of acknowledgement that the email expedite request was received and under review... I genuinely thought that they never received our request! I'd wait 2-3 days and then contact nvc for an update 

[ErinB 17]

1 minute ago, sydnekins said:

Nope nothing! We sent off our expedite request to nvcexpedite@state.gov and only heard back when the consulate approved our expedite request. We didn't even receive an email of acknowledgement that the email expedite request was received and under review... I genuinely thought that they never received our request! I'd wait 2-3 days and then contact nvc for an update 

Amazing, thank you so much! That puts my mind at ease a lot. I hate the waiting and not knowing parts of all of this 

[sydnekins 7]

5 minutes ago, ErinB said:

Amazing, thank you so much! That puts my mind at ease a lot. I hate the waiting and not knowing parts of all of this 

No worries, I know exactly how you feel!! Once your expedite is approved everything will move very quickly. I got an interview with less than 24hrs notice. I'm lucky I live in Sydney so was able to attend my interview 

[Adrian6584 7]

I know this process is stressful and frustrating for everyone. The lack of transparency on the Expedited Interview process is so annoying so hopefully my timeline is useful. I applied for IR-1 Spouse Green Card

 

Sep 4th: Applied for Expedited Interview based on Death in Family, Job Offer for US Citizen, Job Offer for Beneficiary.

 

Sep 17th: Expedited Interview Approved. They say the Consulate will be in touch shortly.

 

Sep 28th: Consulate gets in touch. You get the following 3 options. "1 – Please schedule the next available appointment. 2 – I am unable to attend an interview due to COVID-19 restrictions in my State or Territory. I will contact you for an appointment as soon as I can attend. 3 – I am not yet ready to attend an interview, I will contact your office 2 months prior to when I hope to have an interview scheduled. I understand this may be longer due to the effect of COVID -19 on scheduling availability."

 

Oct 8th: Selected Option 1. I didn't respond to the email until Oct 8th as my work had promised an offer letter but yet to provide it. The offer letter wasn't needed for the interview.

 

Oct 9th: Email confirming the interview date scheduled for Oct 13.

 

Oct 13th: Interview at Consulate: 

• Wife lives with me in Australia but didn't come to the interview.
• I was only allowed to enter 15 minutes before the interview time. If you go to the bottom of the MLC building there is a food court to hang out in, I'd avoid coffee as you'll be waiting a while when you get upstairs.
• Once admitted you're told to go downstairs and wash your hands, then clear security (similar to TSA). Then you take an elevator ride up to another level where your interview takes place.
• Take a ticket, sit down, read the magazine that you bought once over. Your first interview is with someone who checks all your paperwork and looks for any problems. When our I-130 was approved we received a message from the NVC that said we do "not meet the minimum income requirement to sponsor the intending immigrants for this case. The consular officer will make a decision regarding this" so we submitted a revised affidavit of support with assets instead of income because we didn't realize AUD income doesn't count. They had not reviewed it at this time and said they'd look over it now and told me to sit down.
• Manage your emotions, I saw a couple of people freak out. It does you no good, just relax, and read your magazine for the second time.
• Eventually, you'll get called up again, this is the actual interview. Get prepared to share your story of falling in love with the Interviewer and everyone else in the room. 
• They tell you if you're approved or not, and if you need to submit more docs. I didn't.

Oct 19th: Passport with Visa received. Expiry date of visa matches expiry date of medical. 

Any questions about the process feel free to ask or message me

 

[sydnekins 7]

For those who are closely following and comparing timelines like I was, my visa was issued today!! I should expect to receive it in the mail tomorrow

 

Heres a little timeline from expedite approval:

22SEP: Uploaded required documents into CEAC

22SEP: US Consulate approved expedite request

01OCT: Received schedule Interview options email from Consulate 

02OCT: Responded to Consulate requesting next available interview

06OCT: Consulate scheduled my appointment for 07OCT (yes the next day!!!) 

07OCT: Interview, interviewing officer approved pendical medical results - left with 221g form to take to medical EXAM - NVC case status showed as 'Refused'

09OCT: Attended Medical exam with Dr Rappaport 

13OCT: Medical exam sent to Consulate 

19OCT: Received email from Consulate acknowledging receipt of medical certificate - NVC case status changed to 'Administrative processing' 

20OCT: Received email from Consulate advising that my visa was issued - NVC case status changed to 'Issued' 

[Jen27062019 22]

Hello everyone! I had my Medical at O'Connel Street on the 8th of October and had my interview on the 14th of October. During my interview, the Consulate still hasn't received my medical report. The guy who interviewed me reassured me that I have nothing to worry as they will approve my case once they receive my medical report.

 

How long does it usually take? it's been like 12 days since my medical. The clinic said they sent my report on the 9th of October but still my visa case status is Refused. Should I make a follow up or just wait?

 

Thank you!  

[ErinB 17]

19 hours ago, sydnekins said:

No worries, I know exactly how you feel!! Once your expedite is approved everything will move very quickly. I got an interview with less than 24hrs notice. I'm lucky I live in Sydney so was able to attend my interview 

Hello! To everyone following along, we actually did end up getting an acknowledgement email letting us know our expedite request was being reviewed. So, timeline so far has been:
10/10 - lodge expedite request with nvcexpedite@state.gov
19/10 - received email from NVC stating our request was being reviewed

Will update as we go.

[Jem.G 47]

On 10/16/2020 at 12:43 PM, PriscillaQOTD said:

Awesome, congrats! How long did it take from medical appointment to visa issued?

About a month but that's because they were waiting on my medical which I had done the week before and police cert which I wasn't able to send them till after I was out of quarantine. If they weren't waiting on anything it probably would have only taken 2 weeks or so.