CR-1 / IR-1 Interview updates

[ohcoffeeeyes 120]

1 hour ago, GringoCarioca said:

I haven't heard anything yet. However, I wouldn't be surprised if we are waiting until closer to the end of the week to receive any news on appointments. Going back some pages in this thread, I found that people were discovering around the 6th of August (Thursday) they received interview date appointments. I would imagine then for us it would be around the same timing for this week.

Pleaseee give me some July DQ dates 😭

 

I would prefer to get my interview naturally than through my expedite.

[loveisvein 39]

anyone else obsessively checking their email this morning? 😅

[shallot343 116]

So we tried calling the embassy earlier this week about our expedite and apparently they “aren’t taking calls anymore” which is annoying but I saw this post on facebook just now (regarding the London Embassy)

 

 

 

It is promising if true...they got through the students incredibly quickly so now they just have to get through the CR1/IR1 backlog plus the few emergency appointments they’ve accepted 

[loveisvein 39]

21 minutes ago, shallot343 said:

So we tried calling the embassy earlier this week about our expedite and apparently they “aren’t taking calls anymore” which is annoying but I saw this post on facebook just now (regarding the London Embassy)

 

when did you request the expedite?

 

we sent a request last thursday and received an email this morning saying it was under review.

[shallot343 116]

22 minutes ago, loveisvein said:

when did you request the expedite?

 

we sent a request last thursday and received an email this morning saying it was under review.

We requested late July, got an E-mail on the 5th Of August  saying it was under review  and nothing since. I called NVC to ask about it earlier this week and was told it was at the embassy and to call them. Then we called the embassy and were told to email so we emailed and were told to ask NVC 🙄

[loveisvein 39]

42 minutes ago, shallot343 said:

We requested late July, got an E-mail on the 5th Of August  saying it was under review  and nothing since. I called NVC to ask about it earlier this week and was told it was at the embassy and to call them. Then we called the embassy and were told to email so we emailed and were told to ask NVC 🙄

oh how frustrating! 😩

[Mpere 11]

So I just had interview for IR-1 visa today at the embassy in London. The CO okayed all the documents I prepared and submitted, however he asked for an additional document which is my personal CV including education/work experience and source of funding for college and graduate school. Someone in the VJ said it is probably my chinese nationality and electrical engineering background triggered this requirement. Have anyone here had similar experience? If so how soon after you send the document did they process and issue the visa? 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 hour ago, shallot343 said:

So we tried calling the embassy earlier this week about our expedite and apparently they “aren’t taking calls anymore” which is annoying but I saw this post on facebook just now (regarding the London Embassy)

That person probably talked to the Nonimmigrant folks who do talk on the phone. He was chatty and told the stuff he knew about —nonimmigrant student visas.  The Immigrant Visa Unit has not talked on the phone since maybe 8-10 years ago when you called to pay for the visa over the phone. Even then it was a clerical person who had no access to the actual visa file. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 hour ago, shallot343 said:

We requested late July, got an E-mail on the 5th Of August  saying it was under review  and nothing since. I called NVC to ask about it earlier this week and was told it was at the embassy and to call them. Then we called the embassy and were told to email so we emailed and were told to ask NVC 🙄

Sorry if you have covered this before. I can’t  remember each circumstance in this long thread.

 Do you know your LND case number assigned by NVC? If you have a case number, have you looked at your status on CEAC https://ceac.state.gov/IV/Login.aspx

Have you tried to log in to the appointment website? https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/iv 

 

[shallot343 116]

17 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

Sorry if you have covered this before. I can’t  remember each circumstance in this long thread.

 Do you know your LND case number assigned by NVC? If you have a case number, have you looked at your status on CEAC https://ceac.state.gov/IV/Login.aspx

Have you tried to log in to the appointment website? https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/iv 

 

We do have an LND number and I check CEAC regularly....we are still "at NVC" and I don't have an applicable "condition" on the booking site. Really just wanted some closure on the expedite even if it is a "no" 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 hour ago, shallot343 said:

We do have an LND number and I check CEAC regularly....we are still "at NVC" and I don't have an applicable "condition" on the booking site. Really just wanted some closure on the expedite even if it is a "no" 

I am wondering why the NVC says you are at the embassy.  Have you done this form to ask if there is a tech support for CEAC.state.gov because NVC says your case is at the embassy, yet the online status status says it’s not. Maybe if you approach it as a tech question about a glitch with your case, it will get routed to somebody who could look into it. Just trying to think of a new angle...

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html

[shallot343 116]

34 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

am wondering why the NVC says you are at the embassy.

Oh! I think my post must have been unclear, I’m sorry! NVC said my expedite request was with the embassy, my case isn’t. We are a June DQ so know we have some time to wait! 

[DrIdu 50]

Well another week come and gone. I guess I was half hoping to be moving forward, toward at least a date for a possible interview occur. But as fall approaches, I'm coming to the reckoning that many anniversaries, holidays, and special occasions will be spent alone. It feels odd after spending so much time together to just have this stark change to all routines. 

 

DH called the Embassy today and spoke with someone who said that the immigrant visa unit isn't even taking calls from other units within the embassy. That they are focused on the "backlog" and have shut everything/everyone else out. And that they are operating at half capacity. So I guess that's an answer. Does it help any of us? Nope. But it's AN answer. 

 

I, too, just wish we could have closure on this part of the process. From the outside, it's hard to know what to be waiting on with the Embassy. Though with all of this process essentially digital, it makes it hard to believe a 'backlog' is really what's holding things up. Unless we work there, we can't really know, right? 

 

I wish I could say I have hope... but to what am I hoping for? A non-answer? I'm trying not to speculate too much about what is keeping every post May 1st DQ from moving forward. The forced waiting starts to feel personal, sometimes. But it's not... 👀

 

I hope this post doesn't bring the energy down 😔 Just feel hopeless and disappointed today. Maybe tomorrow will be better, sunnier? 😕

[GringoCarioca 16]

It can be disheartening in this process to wait so long. We waited 10 months for USCIS, but we've waited 1&1/2 years at NVC (1 yr 2 months to become DQ'd) then pandemic. I can understand how it can be hard as my wife is also pregnant and we have jobs on the line pending the visa in the USA. It is really disheartening. A couple of other notes that I think about while in this process.

• It is hard for me to believe anything that any "rep" at either the NVC or Consulate says at the moment. It still appears that not everyone knows what they are talking about.
• Who knows whether this week is really considered the "1st week." This week I'm still hopefull to hear something and if not, maybe next week. With 2 holidays (one in UK & one in USA) who knows. Maybe the first week is really next week since its the first "full week" of the new month.

My notes are also speculation, but its still a hurry up and wait process as always.

But I am strongly considering now an expedite request to the NVC if the end of next week I don't hear something. Still just don't know how to word my expedite request for my situation.

 

Hope we hear something soon. Praying for all of our cases to work its way through in time.

 

[Lewis1234 3]

Hi there - just making a quick post. I can see a few people are in the same boat as me. I was DQ'd on May 15th and am still awaiting an interview at the London embassy

 

I will be sure to update as soon as I hear anything. Good luck everyone