Any experience with interviews in Auckland?

[Louis10182 8]

So I got DQ'd today!

 

I had already swapped in a letter explaining the process etc (probably shouldn't have). 

 

My wife called the Auckland Consulate three times, eventually the lady on the phone conceded she could not access the system that sends the police certificate to the NVC and recommended we email so she can escalate to a consular officer for review.

 

So I emailed the Consulate asking them to: (1) resend my police certificate to the NVC (2) to ask the NVC to review it again without going to the back of the line.

 

The Consulate sent me an email yesterday confirming that on 4 March 2022 the NVC confirmed to the Consulate that they received my police certificate and marked it against my file - but not that the Consulate had resent it or anything. 

 

I tried calling the NVC a couple of times yesterday but couldn't connect, and the one time I did my call disconnected while on hold (I got into an elevator without thinking).  Then today, literally while on hold to the NVC to request a review, they DQ'd me.

 

I can only assume the consulate sent them a message in the background!

[NZ_101 1]

13 minutes ago, Louis10182 said:

So I got DQ'd today!

 

I had already swapped in a letter explaining the process etc (probably shouldn't have). 

 

My wife called the Auckland Consulate three times, eventually the lady on the phone conceded she could not access the system that sends the police certificate to the NVC and recommended we email so she can escalate to a consular officer for review.

 

So I emailed the Consulate asking them to: (1) resend my police certificate to the NVC (2) to ask the NVC to review it again without going to the back of the line.

 

The Consulate sent me an email yesterday confirming that on 4 March 2022 the NVC confirmed to the Consulate that they received my police certificate and marked it against my file - but not that the Consulate had resent it or anything. 

 

I tried calling the NVC a couple of times yesterday but couldn't connect, and the one time I did my call disconnected while on hold (I got into an elevator without thinking).  Then today, literally while on hold to the NVC to request a review, they DQ'd me.

 

I can only assume the consulate sent them a message in the background!

Congratulations. I'm glad it worked out. They seriously need to fix this!

 

My spouse was recently DQ'd. Would be great to keep each other posted on interview dates etc.

[Louis10182 8]

18 hours ago, NZ_101 said:

Congratulations. I'm glad it worked out. They seriously need to fix this!

 

My spouse was recently DQ'd. Would be great to keep each other posted on interview dates etc.

Yeah it's clearly a flawed system. 

 

Absolutely, I'll let you know when we hear about interview etc. Hopefully smooth sailing from here.

[Sammy.NZ 45]

Hey all! Anyones spouse enter the US recently for the first time with their green card? My husband joins me on Saturday & he’s wondering if he goes through resident/citizen line at customs or if he goes through non resident line???? 
I figured through the resident line but I haven’t seen anything on it.. 

[jcm122 3]

On 1/30/2022 at 2:10 PM, BahamaBaby said:

Hi all, 

 

So happy to see most of you having completed interviews and ready to head on over to the USA! 

My family and I are kiwis living in Australia waiting for an interview at Sydney consulate for an immigrant visa. We qualified under the employment based (EB) visa program. 
 

We’ve been DQ since august 2021 and have not heard from the consulate. They were shut through Sydney lockdown which ended in October and then they relocated to a new office and are still not set up to take appointments. It’s also unclear when they might eventually open and what the backlog or timeline might look like, so we don’t know if it’s weeks/months/years. 
 

I guess one option we have is to ask NVC to send our case to Auckland consulate and attend the interview there? At least we know it would happen within a couple of months (once NZ has free travel with Australia) 

 

Just wanted peoples views on whether it was feasible doing it in NZ - sounds like there isn’t a backlog there and it might be a whole lot easier than waiting indefinitely in Sydney? 
 

 

 

 

Hello. Did you end up doing your interview in Sydney or Auckland? How long did it take after your interview for your visa to be issued?  We're also waiting for our EB visa from Auckland - been 5 weeks since the interview...

[jcm122 3]

On 4/27/2022 at 3:48 PM, EKT said:

@ztiberiusd congrats on a smooth interview! In case you don't know, you check the visa status here to see when it's issued: https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattracker/status.aspx

 

@Sammy.NZ they seem to issue the visas on the Friday after the interview (occasionally Monday the following week) and courier them the same day. Definitely get an overnight courier bag with tracking! The only delays I've heard of were parcels that got held up with the courier. But I suggest booking flights at least a couple of weeks after interview to avoid unnecessary stress!!

Hello. Do you know how long the Auckland consulate takes to process employment-based immigrant visas?  We had our EB visa interview nearly 5 weeks ago and haven't got our passports back yet.  Every time I check with them they just say its being processed and can't tell me how long it'll take.  Online tracker hasn't been updated since just after the interview.

[Louis10182 8]

On 5/20/2022 at 12:01 PM, NZ_101 said:

Congratulations. I'm glad it worked out. They seriously need to fix this!

 

My spouse was recently DQ'd. Would be great to keep each other posted on interview dates etc.

For anyone keeping track of times from DQ to interview we just got our interview letter. 

 

Was DQ'd on Friday, 20 May 2022 (NZ time). We received our interview letter on Saturday, 18 June 2022 (NZ time) for an interview on 10 August 2022. 

 

So seemingly things are running a bit slower now that they have opened up interviews etc for all visa classes. 

[R gill 2]

Got notification for DQ on 22 june . Waiting for interview letter . F2A category 

[R gill 2]

Just want to ask that How NVC sends the interview letters ?  Is it by email or via postal mail ?

[Chancy 6,241]

On 7/5/2022 at 4:52 AM, R gill said:

Just want to ask that How NVC sends the interview letters ?  Is it by email or via postal mail ?

 

Email.

 

[R gill 2]

Thanks @Chancy

[mekbus 9]

Hi all,

Submitted our documents April 11 to NVC. Had an RFE at the beginning of May which we've uploaded further evidence for and haven't heard anything since. The phone lines are now closed (as of end of May) and the public email system is now processing emails from 2 months ago. 

Any advice on how to contact NVC and get an update, besides continuing to wait?

Thanks in advance

[mekbus 9]

 

On 6/19/2022 at 3:57 PM, Louis10182 said:

For anyone keeping track of times from DQ to interview we just got our interview letter. 

 

Was DQ'd on Friday, 20 May 2022 (NZ time). We received our interview letter on Saturday, 18 June 2022 (NZ time) for an interview on 10 August 2022. 

 

So seemingly things are running a bit slower now that they have opened up interviews etc for all visa classes. 

 

Does anyone know when Auckland sends out interview letters? If we get DQ'd mid/end of July, when should we expect an interview letter? I see @Louis10182 had about a month and @RGill possibly hasn't heard anything about theirs, with a DQ date of 22 June. 

[Louis10182 8]

4 hours ago, mekbus said:

 

 

Does anyone know when Auckland sends out interview letters? If we get DQ'd mid/end of July, when should we expect an interview letter? I see @Louis10182 had about a month and @RGill possibly hasn't heard anything about theirs, with a DQ date of 22 June. 

Hi Mekbus 

 

From what I have seen and read, the interview letters tend to come out around the 20th of the Month and usually sent Friday to Monday (NZ time). So for July I assume they'd likely come over the weekend of the 15th or the weekend of the 22nd. The interview is always scheduled on a Wednesday for CR1/IR1. 

 

I think the Consulate is still pretty back logged. They are basically trying to catch up all the interviews that were put on hold during last year's lock down (since August 2021).  I also think they kept most classes of interviews on hold until March 2022 as NZ was technically in traffic light 'orange' (even though everything else was open like normal). I think the Consulate eventually realised the traffic light system is arbitrary and the government is not actually using it (I think they have left it at Orange since the lockdown ended and not changed it despite the wording of the traffic light system) so the Consulate restarted all the interviews. But this means they are trying to clear the backlog. 

 

The consulate recently contacted me to see if I could push my 10 August 2022 interview (IR1) back to 30 August 2022 (but we couldn't because my wife is starting work in the US in August and we have very young children). So looks like the backlog is still not cleared. I also know for my daughter's consulate record of birth abroad and first passport interview the backlog was long. In 2021 for my son it took two weeks to get an interview from from application received, this time it took 4 months and we had to make it an emergency passport application. 

 

So I suspect that you may be in for a bit of a wait. I'd guess that if you are DQ'd mid July you'll probably receive an interview letter around 20 August 2022 for an interview late September/early October (maybe 28 September or 12 October). 

 

[mekbus 9]

4 hours ago, Louis10182 said:

Hi Mekbus 

 

From what I have seen and read, the interview letters tend to come out around the 20th of the Month and usually sent Friday to Monday (NZ time). So for July I assume they'd likely come over the weekend of the 15th or the weekend of the 22nd. The interview is always scheduled on a Wednesday for CR1/IR1. 

 

I think the Consulate is still pretty back logged. They are basically trying to catch up all the interviews that were put on hold during last year's lock down (since August 2021).  I also think they kept most classes of interviews on hold until March 2022 as NZ was technically in traffic light 'orange' (even though everything else was open like normal). I think the Consulate eventually realised the traffic light system is arbitrary and the government is not actually using it (I think they have left it at Orange since the lockdown ended and not changed it despite the wording of the traffic light system) so the Consulate restarted all the interviews. But this means they are trying to clear the backlog. 

 

The consulate recently contacted me to see if I could push my 10 August 2022 interview (IR1) back to 30 August 2022 (but we couldn't because my wife is starting work in the US in August and we have very young children). So looks like the backlog is still not cleared. I also know for my daughter's consulate record of birth abroad and first passport interview the backlog was long. In 2021 for my son it took two weeks to get an interview from from application received, this time it took 4 months and we had to make it an emergency passport application. 

 

So I suspect that you may be in for a bit of a wait. I'd guess that if you are DQ'd mid July you'll probably receive an interview letter around 20 August 2022 for an interview late September/early October (maybe 28 September or 12 October). 

 

@Louis10182Thanks for the reply. I had to come back to the US at the end of January, leaving my husband and 5 month old daughter in New Zealand. I was so hoping we'd be reunited by her 1st birthday, which is end of August, but it's seeming unlikely. Super disappointed and frustrated, like I'm sure everyone in our situation is.