Kiev - Original Documents VS Copies for Interview

[CinnamonToast 25]

13 minutes ago, Uli Mey said:

Thank you so much for all your answers! It's a big help for us!!!

You're welcome!!  

[OlgaA 67]

On 11/3/2020 at 4:28 PM, CinnamonToast said:

Awesome! Welcome on the approval of your first steps!!! ❤️ @sweetlana

 

Ok for us... we actually never even received NOA2. But here's the process for us. After 797, you should get a NOA2. I suggest your fiancé in Ukraine call the embassy about 2-4 months and ask if there is any update on status. I would be kind on the phone and only ask for updates (that's what we did) 

When we did this...the lady on the phone provided us with our Case number. After you have your case number this when you can schedule your interview. we never received package from ukraine...and actually we already had our case number and would log into the website to check if appointments were available before embassy even notified us that our case was ready.  here's roughly what happened (sorry not good at explaining) 

 

1. March - filed I129f

2. June - Got approval notice from lawyer - you can see this by going too https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do we never got a document though. just an email she said.

3. August - She called embassy to ask for case number by providing her passport number (different then USCIS number) this case will start with KEV if you're doing yours in Kyiv. After getting your case number you can check its' status here (https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?eQs=o/iS8zDpeAKjMWCuebHqOw==) make sure to select the right option.

4. August around the end we saw status changed to READY (can't remember date close to the end of the month)

5. September - start doing your Ds-160  - https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/  -  I RECOMMEND BEFORE YOU'RE DONE...at the end it gives you like a "REVIEW" page of everything you've done. I would do print screen of each of those pages so you and your fiancé can go over the answers...some of the questions on this page were asked by the interviewer. Copy the confirmation page, download it, print it, email it...(everything) LOL

September 25 - still no package from embassy. 

6. https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/ApplicantHome    --- this is the MAIN site you want to check. Here is where you create a profile and put all your information and check to see if interviews are available. This is where you can find out before the embassy tells you. Now...you have to make sure that #4 says ready...your case i believe has to say ready in order to schedule an appointment. in Step #4 our case said ready so that's why we started going to this site.

7. Once you log in on the left side it gave me a little notice like " INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE AS EARLY AS NOV 2ND!" when i logged in one day randomly i saw that and proceeded to go to the appointment calendar. That's when i was able to select my day and time. It only gave me one day option (nov 2nd) and there was only about 10 slots available, after 2 min the slots started to disappear as others were on the site taking appointments too...so you have to be fast)

8. checklist is pretty simple - this is what we used  https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/181364/visa/kev1eng.pdf

9. Make sure to have your fiancés financial documents perfect. We submitted 2 tax years (full), 2 w-2, Letter head of employment stating how long i've been working there including my yearly salary, any property you might have ( i did print screen of tax collector website for my county to show the house in my name), the most important i-134, copy of bank statements (just the front pages to show accounts and savings) 

10. Remember the I-129F form....expires 4 months after you submit it. Because of coronavirus and everything going on if your case is delayed you will need to make sure you send an email...the Petitioner in United states will have to send the email as they're the ones that created the I-129F form...KyivIV@state.gov   tell him/her to send email here and just say.  

 

"My case number is this and i submitted my documents at this time. This is my passport number and my fiancé passport number...we would like to formally request an extension of our possibly expired I-129F form" 

In a couple days you should get an email back from them saying we will add your request to your case. Make sure to do this before your interview. 2 people that day got RED page because everything was good except their I-129F form was expired and Petitioner in the US had to send an email to the embassy. 

 

Yes, all of them were k-1's...some of them walked out crying and some of them didn't look too upset. my advice....bring supporting documents. Bring a book of pictures to show your relationship...our life for 2 years has been over the phone. Our holidays were spent on Whatsup video and we took screenshots of everything...us eating dinner together, us at Christmas, us at Thanksgiving dinner, us at new years with fireworks from 6000 km away.. i made two 40 page paper photo booths...all scanned photos. i took pictures of my passports visiting her and when we went on vacation. receipts of flowers i sent, receipts of hotels we stayed. I painted a picture of my last 2 years with this woman so she could give to a stranger and see what we did for 2 years....i spent days/weeks on it. There was no way they could deny us and honestly thats what you have to do i think. You have to prove to a random stranger that you are in fact legit. 

 

In her interview he asked her What do you love about him and what do you hate about him....tell them, describe to them how your fiancé makes you feel (she did and it won them over...almost had the interview guy in tears) This has been an insane emotional rollercoaster for sure for both of us. In total she was asked about 20-30 questions...she can't remember she was a ball of stress. 

 

I'm attaching our checklist that i modified for us...it's extensive LOL but you're free to use. again...this was serious for us and I wanted to make sure she was armed with everything possible because i've heard about 50 or more different stories and most of them have been scary. Also for the financial documents like the I-134...you can sign them and email them to the person in Ukraine, Embassy does not need original documents for the financial section they can all be copies. So don't worry about sending sensitive original to ukraine via postal service, financial documents can all be copies. If you have questions you can also email them directly 

 

I think i should create a website on our journey and just point everyone to it. @sweetlana I hope this helps ❤️ Let me know if you have anymore questions!  

 

 

KEV-1_English.pdf 99.13 kB · 3 downloads L & T's Kyiv K1 Visa Checklist.pdf 65.05 kB · 4 downloads

I think it's not true you will be rejected in visa if you don't write to extend your petition. We have our petition expired July 7th 2020 we emailed to embassy in Poland ( I am from Belarus) and they told to send intend to marry letter signed, after we sent they just told to take this intend to marry on the interview, I have not heard about denied in visa because of not writing them

[CinnamonToast 25]

11 minutes ago, OlgaA said:

I think it's not true you will be rejected in visa if you don't write to extend your petition. We have our petition expired July 7th 2020 we emailed to embassy in Poland ( I am from Belarus) and they told to send intend to marry letter signed, after we sent they just told to take this intend to marry on the interview, I have not heard about denied in visa because of not writing them

I actually sent in our intent letter with my original 129f package signed and notarized (i got that idea from a friend of mine would married his Russian wife) so they already had that for our packet.  

 

We actually found out about the extension requirement when she called the embassy to get her CASE number, the woman said "hey did you know your form is expired and it will be a problem at interview". I also never heard of an interview being denied at this point because of an expired 129F form...i actually didn't even know the 129F form expired! lol but speaking from more experience about the extension, She met 3 girls (which now are friends of hers and we will be visiting them in the states) at the medical exam all interviews between Oct and Nov, all 3 were not given approval simply because the 129F was expired(all three of them walked out with the RED letter), 1 of them needed more than just that.. They were told to send an email to the embassy wishing to extend the 129F form. After they got home that day they informed their American counterpart to email the embassy and after writing a quick 2 sentence email they both got their passport in the mail about 15 days later with the approval( for just 2 of the girls), 3rd one still had more information they were reviewing...I think she got an official 221G. Maybe they're only being strict about the extension of the 129F in Kyiv. 

 

They day of her interview she saw about 8-9 people getting interviewed and herself and one other woman were the only approvals...the rest all walked out with RED letters. Maybe the approval process is tougher in Kyiv? When i spoke to my buddy that married his Russian wife, he said nearly everyone was walking out approved with their passport in hands, some people even leaving that day to their fiancé destination. 

 

[OlgaA 67]

7 minutes ago, CinnamonToast said:

I actually sent in our intent letter with my original 129f package signed and notarized (i got that idea from a friend of mine would married his Russian wife) so they already had that for our packet.  

 

We actually found out about the extension requirement when she called the embassy to get her CASE number, the woman said "hey did you know your form is expired and it will be a problem at interview". I also never heard of an interview being denied at this point because of an expired 129F form...i actually didn't even know the 129F form expired! lol but speaking from more experience about the extension, She met 3 girls (which now are friends of hers and we will be visiting them in the states) at the medical exam all interviews between Oct and Nov, all 3 were not given approval simply because the 129F was expired(all three of them walked out with the RED letter), 1 of them needed more than just that.. They were told to send an email to the embassy wishing to extend the 129F form. After they got home that day they informed their American counterpart to email the embassy and after writing a quick 2 sentence email they both got their passport in the mail about 15 days later with the approval( for just 2 of the girls), 3rd one still had more information they were reviewing...I think she got an official 221G. Maybe they're only being strict about the extension of the 129F in Kyiv. 

 

They day of her interview she saw about 8-9 people getting interviewed and herself and one other woman were the only approvals...the rest all walked out with RED letters. Maybe the approval process is tougher in Kyiv? When i spoke to my buddy that married his Russian wife, he said nearly everyone was walking out approved with their passport in hands, some people even leaving that day to their fiancé destination. 

 

Maybe better just  to write to embassy and find out about extending. In here it's more complicated because we have to go to Poland and apply for a visa so you can stay in there for just a couple of days

[CinnamonToast 25]

2 minutes ago, OlgaA said:

Maybe better just  to write to embassy and find out about extending. In here it's more complicated because we have to go to Poland and apply for a visa so you can stay in there for just a couple of days

I would yeah...it's super fast to just an email and have that base covered. I might be wrong but in general the 129F does have a formal expiration date of 4 month from the date of approval by USCIS...with all countries. Maybe some countries will just overlook that because the pandemic has paused or slowed most of the visa operations.

[By ftr 1]

We sent an email to the Embassy requesting to extend our expired I129-F form and the next day they replied and said that a request was added to our case. That's it. 

[OlgaA 67]

Just now, Uli Mey said:

We sent an email to the Embassy requesting to extend our expired I129-F form and the next day they replied and said that a request was added to our case. That's it. 

👍

[By ftr 1]

I wonder if they stopped processing visas in Kiev... I have been trying to schedule an appointment for such a long time now... Every day I try there is this notice ''no dates available for the appointment''....Such a frustration! Why don't they create a queue or something because now it is a bit unfair that anybody who is fast or lucky can schedule the appointment and it doesn't matter if you had your case approved in July or a month ago...:(

 

Cinnamon Toast, did you say that you had a notice about available dates on the main page as soon as you logged in? Did you have this notice on the main page or after you clicked ''continue'' ? It seems that you can't check the calendar page often but it is possible to check the main front page often...that's what I am trying to do  hoping to see that notice without clicking ''continue'' in order not to be blocked.

 

Can anybody else share how they managed to schedule the appointment?

Edited November 13, 2020 by Uli Mey

[CinnamonToast 25]

11 minutes ago, Uli Mey said:

We sent an email to the Embassy requesting to extend our expired I129-F form and the next day they replied and said that a request was added to our case. That's it. 

Perfect!!! that's what they sent for us too!!!  

[OlgaA 67]

Just now, Uli Mey said:

I wonder if they stopped processing visas in Kiev... I have been trying to schedule an appointment for such a long time now... Every day I try there is this notice ''no dates available for the appointment''....Such a frustration! Why don't they create a queue or something because now it is a bit unfair that anybody who is fast or lucky can schedule the appointment and it doesn't matter if you had your case approved in July or a month ago...:(

 

Cinnamon Toast, did you say that you had a notice about available dates on the main page as soon as you logged in? Did you have this notice on the main page or after you clicked ''continue'' ? It seems that you can't check the calendar page often but it is possible to check the main front page often...that's what I am trying to do  hoping to see that notice without clicking ''continue'' in order not to be blocked.

I got a letter it says they can't schedule an interview until ban restrictions will be lifted 31 December so in here we can't do anything we applied K 1 October 2019 and petition was approved last March so we have been waiting for long. Hope in January it will change

[CinnamonToast 25]

8 minutes ago, Uli Mey said:

I wonder if they stopped processing visas in Kiev... I have been trying to schedule an appointment for such a long time now... Every day I try there is this notice ''no dates available for the appointment''....Such a frustration! Why don't they create a queue or something because now it is a bit unfair that anybody who is fast or lucky can schedule the appointment and it doesn't matter if you had your case approved in July or a month ago...:(

 

Cinnamon Toast, did you say that you had a notice about available dates on the main page as soon as you logged in? Did you have this notice on the main page or after you clicked ''continue'' ? It seems that you can't check the calendar page often but it is possible to check the main front page often...that's what I am trying to do  hoping to see that notice without clicking ''continue'' in order not to be blocked.

UGGGH that's sucks if they did.  i'm attaching a picture of where you will see the notice immediately after logging into that site. The notice shows up in that red box area.

[OlgaA 67]

Just now, CinnamonToast said:

UGGGH that's sucks if they did.  i'm attaching a picture of where you will see the notice immediately after logging into that site. The notice shows up in that red box area.

Do you have medical done?

 

[CinnamonToast 25]

7 minutes ago, OlgaA said:

I got a letter it says they can't schedule an interview until ban restrictions will be lifted 31 December so in here we can't do anything we applied K 1 October 2019 and petition was approved last March so we have been waiting for long. Hope in January it will change

uggghh thats awful! i hope you guys hear some good news in Jan too! 

[OlgaA 67]

Just now, CinnamonToast said:

uggghh thats awful! i hope you guys hear some good news in Jan too! 

Thank you, you will schedule it needs just time, everyone will get visa, we knew K1 takes for about 1,5 years normally so during covid it's more complicated be patient! Good luck!🌺

[CinnamonToast 25]

1 minute ago, OlgaA said:

Do you have medical done?

 

We are done. She got approved November 2nd. We're just waiting on some personal things to be taken care of this month and I hope they don't shut down public transportation/Airports but Late November/Early december she will be coming to me in the states. 

 

Do you have a question about Medical exam though?