US Embassy in Paris K1/CR1

[ritac23 11]

On 10/4/2021 at 6:30 PM, neto-66 said:

I recommend continuing to send emails, and list the inquiry attempt # in the subject line. This is the advice I got from a consultation with an immigration lawyer, and given the interview reschedule email directly quoted the subject line of my 33rd email, I believe it works.

 

Here is the format I used for every email (personal data removed):

 

"""

subject: URGENT RESCHEDULE 33rd INQUIRY PRS##########

 

Hello,

 

Please reschedule our missed appointment from June 22nd, 2021.

 

Petitioner: [name]
Petitioner DOB: [dob]

Beneficiary: [name]
Beneficiary DOB: [dob]
Beneficiary country: Portugal

USCIS Receipt Number: WAC##########
CEAC Number: PRS##########
DS-160 Confirmation Number: A#########
IVR Account Identification Number: 6#######

"""

 

 

On 10/5/2021 at 10:55 AM, Paris DC said:

Hi Rita..and the others.

I send last night a transfer email from my lawyer with all details.

This morning at 9.01am I received a reply with some apologies about the waiting and that they will work on finding me an interview date in the next few weeks.

All the best and lets us all keep informed about out process.

Could you please recommend an immigration lawyer you found helpful? Still nothing and I want to hurry up this case. Thank you.

[neto-66 42]

15 minutes ago, ritac23 said:

 

Could you please recommend an immigration lawyer you found helpful? Still nothing and I want to hurry up this case. Thank you.

 

I never actually proceeded with a lawyer,  the advice I got was nothing more than a first time consultation.  During that consultation, I was told that my options were:

 

1. Continue to email the embassy

2. Individual mandamus (they quoted me $7500)

3. Try to switch embassies (beneficiary is also a Brazilian national, but the embassy in Brazil is even slower right now)

 

I opted for the first. There was nothing else the lawyer could do that would speed up the process. You could also try to contact stateside congressmen to write a letter to the embassy.

[Jess.s 3]

Hi, so I haven't been able to update on here for a while but I got my interview on the 6th that was initially scheduled for sept 28th. They sent us a an e-mail the week before the re-schedule. Everyone didn't get rescheduled but the majority did. Some for the 6th some for the 13th. 

The wait at the embassy was kinda long I got in at 9:15 I was out at 11:45. It looked like to me that they were understaffed. Out of 6 windows only 4 were open. Good luck to anyone waiting, I know how frustrating it is! 

[JobbinsKnobbins 240]

On 10/7/2021 at 12:37 PM, Paris DC said:

Thanks for sharing your experience. at least they are booking and go threw the schedule interviews not cancel them anymore. 

Does it seem to you that they were understaffed or in lack of rss.? 

Somehow it definitely should be back to normal by now its been 16 monhs since the hit from covid, US can make it if they want to deal with.

 

best 

I don't know what rss. is but like @Jess.s said, they do look like a bit understaffed. Being a US Embassy they follow the US laws but they also have to follow the French ones, so the Embassy does have to deal with the backlog of cases that are/were from 2019 (because their interviews were set to 2020 and got cancelled/delayed).

They were really nice and helpful, and did not at all looked like they were not doing their jobs. The people at the booths are the same people that deal with all the cases. That's why often the cases have their interviews scheduled in the middle of the work week, because they have to deal with them on the other days (for both people that got their interview/getting their visa issued and the new cases being brought/awaiting for the interview).
 

When we entered it was before 9am and there was 3 people dealing with the documents and by the time we left, there was 4 (maybe 5) people dealing with the documents and 4 interviewers.
The place has assigned booths, with 5 of them being for the interviewers, about 6 to 8 for giving documents for those having to go to the interviewers and the rest of the booths for other things that are mainly for american people, like registry of babies and voting information.

[JobbinsKnobbins 240]

6 hours ago, Jess.s said:

Hi, so I haven't been able to update on here for a while but I got my interview on the 6th that was initially scheduled for sept 28th. They sent us a an e-mail the week before the re-schedule. Everyone didn't get rescheduled but the majority did. Some for the 6th some for the 13th. 

The wait at the embassy was kinda long I got in at 9:15 I was out at 11:45. It looked like to me that they were understaffed. Out of 6 windows only 4 were open. Good luck to anyone waiting, I know how frustrating it is! 

Congratz on the approval! It is nice to hear from you. 😃
Also thank you for updating your timeline!

[Craig07 0]

On 10/5/2021 at 7:19 AM, wave19 said:

I saw on a Facebook group that some of the sept 28 interviews were postponed to tomorrow, I don’t know if they postponed all of them though.

 

i see that your interview is in 2 weeks, do you mind letting us know when the embassy has emailed you the interview date please? 
Still waiting for mine… 

 

thanks!

hi wave19, I see we have similar timelines and same embassy.  Have you received any email or letter in the mail from the US embassy in Paris regarding receipt of your i129f from the NVC and to schedule an interview?  I received a notification on August 17 that the NVC sent the K1 to the US embassy in Paris, but haven't heard from the US embassy in Paris yet.  I filled out the DS160, and tried to pay the MRV fee, but to no avail on their website.

[wave19 0]

1 hour ago, Craig07 said:

hi wave19, I see we have similar timelines and same embassy.  Have you received any email or letter in the mail from the US embassy in Paris regarding receipt of your i129f from the NVC and to schedule an interview?  I received a notification on August 17 that the NVC sent the K1 to the US embassy in Paris, but haven't heard from the US embassy in Paris yet.  I filled out the DS160, and tried to pay the MRV fee, but to no avail on their website.

Hi Craig07, mine was also sent on august 17th and my case is ready since august 19th. I haven’t heard anything from the embassy since then despite all the emails I’ve sent. I also filled out the ds160 but didn’t create an account to pay the fee because on the website it is indicated to not create an account until I get the instruction from the embassy. Is your case ready since august 19th also?

Edited October 11, 2021 by wave19

[Craig07 0]

5 hours ago, wave19 said:

Hi Craig07, mine was also sent on august 17th and my case is ready since august 19th. I haven’t heard anything from the embassy since then despite all the emails I’ve sent. I also filled out the ds160 but didn’t create an account to pay the fee because on the website it is indicated to not create an account until I get the instruction from the embassy. Is your case ready since august 19th also?

Yes, my case also has said ready on the CEAC website since august 19th.  I emailed the embassy and they sent back some template response that it will take a long time to respond.  So annoying... I saw the same instruction on their website about creating the account.  I won't try to pay until I receive instruction.  Let's hope they reach out soon.  We should keep in touch, I would think we'd hear something at about the same time

[Paris DC 3]

Hi All it s me again. 

I hope you are doing fine?

Craig07

My noa2 is back from early 2020 and my status has been "ready "since May so just to give a little update on the status time line here.

Patience is a Better..yeah definitely.

Be well. Chat soon

P DC

[JCFZ 7]

Hi all,

 

I am very happy that announce that my fiancees visa was approved. We were part of the bunch that had scheduled interviews on 9/28, but were then postponed to 10/6. From what she told me, the process was pretty straightforward once she was at the embassy. As for the interview, she said the questions were pretty straight forward and general. We even got our pictures from the K1 packet back. After several general questions, the agent said "Felicitations!" and gave her information about the next steps (validity of visa, rights as a visa holder, etc.).

 

Immediately after the interview, the visa status on CEAC was "administrative processing." The next day it was changed to "issued." We are now waiting for any notification that the visa is ready to be picked up (she chose this option because she lives in Paris). 

 

Thank you to you all, you have been so kind and helpful throughout this process. For those who are still waiting, my heart goes out to you! There is light at the end of the tunnel. 

[wave19 0]

2 hours ago, Craig07 said:

Yes, my case also has said ready on the CEAC website since august 19th.  I emailed the embassy and they sent back some template response that it will take a long time to respond.  So annoying... I saw the same instruction on their website about creating the account.  I won't try to pay until I receive instruction.  Let's hope they reach out soon.  We should keep in touch, I would think we'd hear something at about the same time

Hopefully they do reach out soon, fingers crossed! We sure can keep in touch and update each other if anything comes up 

[neto-66 42]

6 days until my fiancé's interview and we haven't heard anything about postponing, so I'm going to assume we're still good for the 20th.

 

For those who have already interviewed in Paris from Portugal, was your COVID-19 test antigen or PCR? How soon before your interview did you get tested? 

[JobbinsKnobbins 240]

6 hours ago, neto-66 said:

6 days until my fiancé's interview and we haven't heard anything about postponing, so I'm going to assume we're still good for the 20th.

 

For those who have already interviewed in Paris from Portugal, was your COVID-19 test antigen or PCR? How soon before your interview did you get tested? 

For the Portuguese beneficiary traveling, you don't need anything if you have a vaccine passport, otherwise PCR is good for 72 hours, Antigen is 48 hours.  In France a negative test is valid as a health pass for the duration of its validity.  Americans traveling to France (in case you want to know) need to be vaccinated, or have a compelling reason to go (the interview doesn't count as a valid reason I believe) and present a negative PCR/Antigen test, or present that they recovered recently. 

The embassy itself didn't have any testing requirements, they just checked passports at the entrance.  They might ask if you are vaccinated at the interview, but I don't think it will negatively impact entry.  They did recommend keeping the vax passport handy when traveling to the US later.  Hope this clears thigs up for you.

Edited October 13, 2021 by JobbinsKnobbins

[Jess.s 3]

@JobbinsKnobbins Thank you!!  

[ritac23 11]

On 10/5/2021 at 10:55 AM, Paris DC said:

Hi Rita..and the others.

I send last night a transfer email from my lawyer with all details.

This morning at 9.01am I received a reply with some apologies about the waiting and that they will work on finding me an interview date in the next few weeks.

All the best and lets us all keep informed about out process.

Hi there. Have you gotten a date yet? I got an email from the embassy saying I will "receive a new appointment soon." I don't know if it's good news or them just wanting me to stop emailing and calling.