Any experience with interviews in Auckland?

[Victoria & Phil 5]

2 hours ago, Kiwi_Bdan said:

outline of how it went down:

TLDR: Yes you can check and correct the mailing address at the border when entering.

Arrive States, go to the normal immigration line you would go to as NZ citizen. The border patrol agent noted straight away that I was coming through on a greencard visa, but maybe you have to mention it if not? They take you to a special room where they hand your passport to another agent. You wait and sit till your name is called. ~20mins and they called my name. The person had been processing it the whole time. They asked me one question: "Is this address correct?" followed by my submitted address. You say yay/nay and correct it if need be, they give your passport back and you exit through to baggage claim. Easy as pie.

Amazing. Thanks so much!

[Chancy 6,241]

14 hours ago, Victoria & Phil said:

Did you give your mailing address to border control for the green card and SSN when you arrived? I (petitioner) moved between my husband's DS 260 submission and his interview.

 

Remind your husband to volunteer the info if the CBP officer does not ask.  When I first entered with my spouse visa, I was not asked any question by CBP.  I was surprised, but it was not a problem for me as my info had not changed.  In your husband's case, it might be best to have the new address on paper that he can pass along to the officer.

 

[appleblossom 2,426]

On 12/5/2023 at 11:52 AM, Kiwi_Bdan said:

The whole process is miserably beurocratic and completely lacking sufficient communication. 

 

I'm now sitting here waiting for my actual physical greencard and social security number to arrive in the mail (3 to 6 weeks after arriving in the States apparently)

 

I have to say I found the process pretty clear from the NVC website, their step by step instructions for the whole process were really good I thought. 

 

Your SSN should be received within 2 weeks (assuming you ticked that box on the I-130), your green card will take longer and can be up to 90 days but you can track that using the receipt number from when you paid the green card fee, so you can see when it's in production and when it's been despatched (plus get the tracking details). I'd also recommend you sign up to Informed Delivery if you haven't already, so you can see when both are on their way. 

 

Good luck. 

[Kiwi_Bdan 8]

1 hour ago, appleblossom said:

but you can track that using the receipt number from when you paid the green card fee

Thanks! How does this part work? I signed up to USCIS after paying the fee, but I have no online access code to link my account. Or was I meant to use my petitioners USCIS account that they made when starting this entire process?

[appleblossom 2,426]

6 minutes ago, Kiwi_Bdan said:

Thanks! How does this part work? I signed up to USCIS after paying the fee, but I have no online access code to link my account. Or was I meant to use my petitioners USCIS account that they made when starting this entire process?

 

No, you just use the same online tracking you've used the whole way through, but use your payment receipt number instead of your case receipt number - https://egov.uscis.gov

 

HTH.

[Victoria & Phil 5]

3 hours ago, Kiwi_Bdan said:

Thanks! How does this part work? I signed up to USCIS after paying the fee, but I have no online access code to link my account. Or was I meant to use my petitioners USCIS account that they made when starting this entire process?

We found this confusing as well -- I paid the fee through my account, but it seemed my husband had to verify his identity and create a new account to link the tracking. We also don't have an access code. 

[Kiwi_Bdan 8]

Yeh, especially since the documentation that comes back with the passport visa tells you explicitly to sign up with USCIS, but then has no OAN (Online access Number) to do so. Ive heard you can call them and they can sort it out and get it linked, but I've not tried.

The link, https://egov.uscis.gov, that @appleblossom posted above works and it can find your case. But the info I get is just wait 90 days. So not particularly informative.
I wouldn't care otherwise, and Id be happy to wait, but they wrongly gave me a 2 year rather than the 10 year greencard and so I don't know if the process to renew the greencard involves this USCIS account or not 2 years down the line?

[appleblossom 2,426]

19 minutes ago, Victoria & Phil said:

We found this confusing as well -- I paid the fee through my account, but it seemed my husband had to verify his identity and create a new account to link the tracking. We also don't have an access code. 

 

I never used my USCIS account. Tried it once and found it pretty useless. 

 

4 minutes ago, Kiwi_Bdan said:

The link, https://egov.uscis.gov, that @appleblossom posted above works and it can find your case. But the info I get is just wait 90 days. So not particularly informative.

 

It will be informative when you get to the point of things actually happening. It will say your application is underway, then it will say they're ordered your card to be processed, then it will say it's been despatched (with tracking number). Etc, etc. So just keep an eye on it and then you'll know when the GC is coming, but of course it doesn't really matter as you've got your temp green anyway and that's good for a year. 

Edited December 7, 2023 by appleblossom

[Chancy 6,241]

23 hours ago, Kiwi_Bdan said:

they wrongly gave me a 2 year rather than the 10 year greencard and so I don't know if the process to renew the greencard involves this USCIS account or not 2 years down the line?

 

If you were mistakenly issued a 2-year GC instead of a 10-yr GC, you should file I-90 ASAP.  Do not wait.  Filing fee for I-90 will be $0 in your case, as it is due to USCIS mistake (reason 2d - DHS error).  You may file online (requires USCIS account) or by mail.

 

As evidence that you entered the US after your 2nd wedding anniversary, include a copy of your spouse visa with CBP entry stamp, and a copy of your marriage certificate.  Contrary to the I-90 instructions, I recommend that you do NOT submit your plastic green card along with your I-90 filing.  Instead, submit a copy of your GC.  Wait for the RFE from USCIS asking for the actual card.  The reason I suggest waiting for an RFE is that I-90 processing could take 2 years.  Better to have a plastic GC on hand for as long as you can until USCIS is ready to issue the corrected card.

 

Here's a recent timeline for another member who was in a similar situation --

 

[Kiwi_Bdan 8]

Thanks, I had read either this or a similar case on here as well.
I don't actually have my physical greencard yet, and from what I can tell there's a significant chance that USCIS corrects the CR1 to an IR1 when they issue the card anyway, despite what the stamped visa says in my passport.

If not then yeh, I-90 it is!

[emma_nz 2]

@MT84  hey everyone, I just got the email saying my interview date is for 12th January!! So happy!! Hope you got yours too. 

[MT84 12]

@emma_nz likewise, just got my email a few hours ago - January 12th for me too! 

[MT84 12]

Hi all,

 

I thought it might be useful to record my experience with scheduling my medical with CityMed, and also dealings with the Consulate on the next available interview dates.

 

CityMed closed down over the Christmas / New Year period and by the time I followed up on my email/website request to schedule an appointment I was told that all available appointments prior to Christmas were taken (essentially the whole week prior to Christmas).  CityMed also close down from Christmas until January 8th.  It seems like the best way to approach scheduling is to submit the web form and then call soon after (I did overhear a conversation while I was in the clinic with the reception staff telling a caller that they had a backlog and needed to wait until they were contacted from the web form submission, although I never got a call or an email from them).  Hopefully this awkward year-end timing doesn’t cause issues for others.  The turn-around time does seem quick though (see below), and the Consulate do seem reasonable about the medical timing given only one option in the country.

 

I was able to book an appointment for Monday January 8th, for my Interview Appointment with the Consulate on Friday January 12th.  I emailed the Consulate and they confirmed it would be OK for me to go ahead with the Monday Jan 8th appointment, rather than a strict requirement for the appointment to be 2 weeks prior.  The Consulate also confirmed that they are doing Immigrant Visa interviews once per month and that the next dates are:  February 9th, and March 1st.

 

For my medical appointment on Monday the 8th (08:30am), I arrived at 8am and was directed to a waiting area.  I was called into see a nurse who took a blood and urine sample and input my details into an “emedical” tracking form - as others have noted in this forum, Auckland is now doing a digital process and so no paperwork was needed, nor the 6 passport photos.  I saw the doctor, and she was able to use my Plunket Book for proof of most vaccinations, saving some money (I was charged $37 for chicken pox immunity blood test and $39 for VD test).  I needed a tetanus booster ($69) and flu vaccine ($35), and the chest X-ray for TB ($105).  Total cost was $666.50.

 

I also was required to have a COVID booster since it has been more than 12 months since my last booster.  CityMed did not have the COVID boosters so I had to go to Unichem Queen Street.  Thankfully there is now guidance that COVID vaccine can be given concurrently with flu and with tetanus boosters.  If it’s been more than 12 months since your last COVID shot, and you may need other vaccinations due to not having them or lack of proof you might want to check that there is no required waiting period in between. 

 

I dropped off proof of my COVID booster a few hours after my appointment, and CityMed confirmed my medical was complete and sent to the Consulate on Jan 10th (Wednesday).

 

I have the Consulate interview tomorrow (they confirmed via email that my original docs were all received, which was helpful). I’ll report back with feedback and any info I missed, or that was asked for at the interview after tomorrow.

 

Best of luck to all interviewing in Auckland tomorrow!

[MT84 12]

Hi all,

 

Anyone who interviewed on Friday and had their visa approved see a status change on the visa tracker to "issued" yet?  My interviewer suggested the visa may be printed on Friday, but more likely today (Tuesday) due to the MLK Day holiday on Monday, but still showing as "Administrative Processing"...

[MT84 12]

On 1/16/2024 at 9:46 AM, MT84 said:

Hi all,

 

Anyone who interviewed on Friday and had their visa approved see a status change on the visa tracker to "issued" yet?  My interviewer suggested the visa may be printed on Friday, but more likely today (Tuesday) due to the MLK Day holiday on Monday, but still showing as "Administrative Processing"...

Update:  I emailed the Consulate and they very helpfully confirmed that the visa would be printed today (Wednesday) and would likely miss the NZ Post pickup and so would likely go out tomorrow (Thursday).  I was able to go to the Consulate and collect my passport.  The status in the Immigrant Visa tracker is now showing as “issued”.