FEBRUARY 2022 K1 NOA2 to NVC to EMBASSY

[J&D1008 376]

11 hours ago, charlottewitch said:

I filled my timeline out a bit what I could and updated my profile a little. My fiance is from Mexico.

If I'm looking at the right page here, it seems like I might be waiting 93 days for "At NVC" to change? I'll hope for some kind of miracle. lol

In addition to everyone else comments, I found this website very helpful for trying to understand the backlog at a particular embassy. You can choose your embassy and then choose the visa category. 

https://visawhen.com/

 

 

[charlottewitch 43]

Thank you for the replies everyone!

 

 

@EatBulaga thank you for the incredible comprehensive and enlightening reply! I greatly appreciate this deep dive and you really helped me chart out estimated times on my calendar, and now I'll be able to consistently keep these estimates accurate by following the links.

 

As for my consulate, I tried to leave it blank because I'm not sure which mine is. I don't think it's actually Armenia, lol- I assume it must be Mexico City? But then again I'm someone who has a hard time grasping what the difference between an embassy and a consulate is and all the different fields on my paperwork, so I tried to leave it blank- and it just turns into Armenia by default when I try to select a blank answer there.

[Oti&Dum 7]

Hi guys! We just received our case number yesterday and that’s some great news for us! NVC received it on March 16th. I will try to update my timeline sometime this week. But I wanted to ask you, how can I check the status of our case on CEAC? Do I select immigrant or nonimmigrant? and also I tried typing in my case number as it is and it says that it’s incorrect. 

[Polly3 18]

6 hours ago, Oti&Dum said:

Hi guys! We just received our case number yesterday and that’s some great news for us! NVC received it on March 16th. I will try to update my timeline sometime this week. But I wanted to ask you, how can I check the status of our case on CEAC? Do I select immigrant or nonimmigrant? and also I tried typing in my case number as it is and it says that it’s incorrect. 

Im choosing immigrant as nothing comes up for non immigrant 

[SandyR 142]

13 hours ago, EatBulaga said:

Here is my understanding of how to interpret the stat pages to get an idea of the wait time for those at the NVC stage. The major wait times left are the "At NVC" processing and the "Days between Consulate Receiving Information from NVC and Actual Interview", not counting the "In Transit" time, which is usually fairly short and can use the DHL Hack.

 

The "At NVC" processing time has 2 charts:

https://visawhen.com/nvc

which currently shows an AVERAGE of 90 days, and

https://www.visajourney.com/times/k1-fiance-visa-historical/

which currently shows an AVERAGE of 97 days.

The 2 charts are fairly close together so about 90 days is fairly reasonable with visawhen maybe a little more accurate than visajourney.

 

The next major wait time is the "Days between Consulate Receiving Information from NVC and Actual Interview"

https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/stats.php

which currently shows for K1 the AVERAGE of 102 days.

 

So summing the 2 averages gives about 199 days = 97 + 102.

 

But, the "Days between Consulate Receiving Information from NVC and Actual Interview" varies greatly depending on the consulate, and it may also correspond to the consulate caseload. Therefore, the longer the "Days between Consulate Receiving Information from NVC and Actual Interview" may correspond to the longer "At NVC" processing time. And similarly, if it was shorter, then "At NVC" is shorter. And keep in mind the "Statistics by Consulate" data is probably more important than the beneficiary "Statistics by Country" data, since it is the consulate requesting cases from the NVC.

 

So for example, the Mexican beneficiary waiting for the Armenia consulate, the Armenia consulate "Receiving to Actual Interview" is 78 days, which is below the AVERAGE 102 day, meaning the "At NVC" wait is probably below 90 days. So the total wait to the interview is about (less than 90 days) + 78 days, which is less than 168 days.

 

For Mumbai, India, the "Receiving to Actual Interview" is 61 days, which is below the AVERAGE 102 day, meaning the "At NVC" wait is probably below 90 days. So the total wait to the interview is about (less than 90 days) + 61 days, which is less than 151 days.

 

I don't know how accurate these predicted wait times are, since this method depends on the accuracy of the Timeline data. And also, we have seen some very speedy processes with certain cases here.

 

As the mutual fund disclaimer goes, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Good luck to everyone. 

haha.  I like your disclaimer.  In my experience (for India at least and a few others I looked at), these timelines are way longer than they are in reality.  Case creation for example is on the shorter end of 5-9 days.  Inquiry is about a month or even less (from my two experiences with this).  And I'm wondering if the document review pertains more to those that have to send documents in for other visa types.  Again, most cases I have researched have been in and out of NVC within a month (usually much less).  I agree with @slavaskii I don't know what to make of it!  It's a journey and a mystery.  

[GoingEastish 23]

@DeeJess I’m guessing you’re still showing as ‘in transit’, right? I think we got delivered to London on the same day. My guy doesn’t feel comfortable scheduling anything until the status changes to ‘ready’, so the anticipation is killing me! 😀

[DeeJess 53]

1 hour ago, GoingEastish said:

@DeeJess I’m guessing you’re still showing as ‘in transit’, right? I think we got delivered to London on the same day. My guy doesn’t feel comfortable scheduling anything until the status changes to ‘ready’, so the anticipation is killing me! 😀

Yeah still waiting. Schedule it as you can always cancel or reschedule, that's what I plan on doing worst case! Or at least do the medical so that's done?

 

I check every day for that 'ready' haha but from what I've seen it takes a week to 2 weeks for that status!! 

Edited March 25, 2022 by DeeJess

[GoingEastish 23]

Just now, DeeJess said:

Yeah still waiting. Schedule it as you can always cancel or reschedule, that's what I plan on doing worst case! Or at least do the medical ao that's done?

 

I check every day for that 'ready' haha but from what I've seen it takes a week to 2 weeks for that status!! 

Ah that’s good to know! I wasn’t sure what the typical amount of time was at this stage for London. That makes me feel better. Seems like the closer we get to the visa, the more impatient I get! 😄

[DeeJess 53]

32 minutes ago, GoingEastish said:

Ah that’s good to know! I wasn’t sure what the typical amount of time was at this stage for London. That makes me feel better. Seems like the closer we get to the visa, the more impatient I get! 😄

Yeah I feel exactly the same! I've been going through our documents for the medical and interview like every day haha I'm feeling so anxious now as this is it!!! 

 

What are your plans when your fiance arrives? We plan to get married within a few days, file for our AOS and my SSN so that's done . Really hope the work authorization doesnt take long and they clear the backlog for when we actually arrive into the US.

 

We've already filled in the documents for our AOS (gotta double and triple check though)

[Oti&Dum 7]

3 hours ago, Polly3 said:

Im choosing immigrant as nothing comes up for non immigrant 

Thank you for your help! I managed to check it after all.

[GoingEastish 23]

49 minutes ago, DeeJess said:

Yeah I feel exactly the same! I've been going through our documents for the medical and interview like every day haha I'm feeling so anxious now as this is it!!! 

 

What are your plans when your fiance arrives? We plan to get married within a few days, file for our AOS and my SSN so that's done . Really hope the work authorization doesnt take long and they clear the backlog for when we actually arrive into the US.

 

We've already filled in the documents for our AOS (gotta double and triple check though)

We’re planning on getting married quickly too. We’re just going to do something very small with immediate family and then get started with the SSN and AOS. I’m not looking forward to more processes, but at least we’ll be together! The K1 was the best choice for us at the time since we didn’t know when travel restrictions would be lifted. We just wanted to get in line. Hopefully, it’s not too much of a pain to get through the rest of the steps. 
 

I didn’t even think of looking into the AOS process yet! I’m glad you mentioned that. That’s such a good idea to start preparing for it now. I’ve been so focused on getting to this point that I wasn’t even thinking about those next steps. It’s not going to be much longer until he’s here so I’ll definitely start that! Thanks!

[EatBulaga 314]

On 3/20/2022 at 9:37 PM, EatBulaga said:

Okay Taiwan UStravelDocs is specific to Taiwan. See the attached pic.

DS-160 Confirmation number and Case ID are required for the Taiwan UStravelDocs.

Apparently, Taiwan UStravelDocs has some textboxes specific to Taiwan like "When possible please enter your complete address in Chinese".

So we have to complete the DS-160 first before the UStravelDocs, at least for Taiwan.

 

Do other country's UStravelDocs look different?

Okay having filled out the DS-160 and the UStravelDocs forms for the Taiwan consulate, here are some things I noticed. The US petitioner can help fill out these forms, but keep in mind to fill out these forms from the perspective of the beneficiary visa applicant. Again this is for the Taiwan consulate, and as previously discussed, each consulate may be a little different and may have tailored the forms to their process.

 

1. The DS-160 kept logging us out every 5-10 minutes (not the 20-minute as listed), so save each page often as you complete them, and you can retrieve it within the 30-day of starting the application. So starting the DS-160 too early without an interview scheduled within 30-days may not be useful?

2. The DS-160 login to "Retrieve An Application" requires Application ID, First 5 letters of Surname, Year of Birth, and Security question (of your choice).

3. The UStravelDocs login requires an email and password.

4. DS-160 does ask for an email, and social media (like Facebook, etc.), but not sure if the consulate/embassy will use the input email for notification. As mentioned previously, unless you called NVC to verbally update your email for notification, the default email on record is the petitioner's email listed in the I-129F. The NVC inquiry page to update the email has a delay, which makes it unreliable to update the email. The DS-160 confirmation page is emailed to the form input email address. So in other words, I don't know how reliable is the email notification, but see below for the UStravelDocs dashboard and CEAC notification.

5. The USCIS Receipt Number (ex. WACXXXXXXXXXXXXX) goes into the DS-160. 

6. The DS-160 Application ID and the NVC Case Number goes into the UStravelDocs. 

7. The beneficiary passport is the identifier in both the DS-160 and UStravelDocs.

8. The K1 visa fee is 265US payable in the UStravelDocs.

9. The UStravelDocs does have the option for pick-up from the courier instead of the courier delivery of the passport visa package after the interview.

10. The DS-160 at the end "Sign and Submit" page, asks for the "Preparer of the Application", which means that the petitioner or a 3rd party (ex. lawyer) can be on record to help fill out the form.

11. For the beneficiary medical exam, the scheduled interview letter (from UStravelDocs) and the DS-160 confirmation page are required, along with the passport, photos and immunization records.

12. The UStravelDocs dashboard is supposed to be where to we can see the visa status updates after the interview. But I read on other forums that the visa status are also updated on the CEAC tracker site like "Approved", "Administrative Processing", etc. So we shall see how we will be notified.

 

Again, I'm learning as I go along, and all these are subject to change. But these are the what I understand at the moment. Hope this is helpful and Good luck to all.

Edited March 26, 2022 by EatBulaga

[Oti&Dum 7]

7 hours ago, EatBulaga said:

Okay having filled out the DS-160 and the UStravelDocs forms for the Taiwan consulate, here are some things I noticed. The US petitioner can help fill out these forms, but keep in mind to fill out these forms from the perspective of the beneficiary visa applicant. Again this is for the Taiwan consulate, and as previously discussed, each consulate may be a little different and may have tailored the forms to their process.

 

1. The DS-160 kept logging us out every 5-10 minutes (not the 20-minute as listed), so save each page often as you complete them, and you can retrieve it within the 30-day of starting the application. So starting the DS-160 too early without an interview scheduled within 30-days may not be useful?

2. The DS-160 login to "Retrieve An Application" requires Application ID, First 5 letters of Surname, Year of Birth, and Security question (of your choice).

3. The UStravelDocs login requires an email and password.

4. DS-160 does ask for an email, and social media (like Facebook, etc.), but not sure if the consulate/embassy will use the input email for notification. As mentioned previously, unless you called NVC to verbally update your email for notification, the default email on record is the petitioner's email listed in the I-129F. The NVC inquiry page to update the email has a delay, which makes it unreliable to update the email. The DS-160 confirmation page is emailed to the form input email address. So in other words, I don't know how reliable is the email notification, but see below for the UStravelDocs dashboard and CEAC notification.

5. The USCIS Receipt Number (ex. WACXXXXXXXXXXXXX) goes into the DS-160. 

6. The DS-160 Application ID and the NVC Case Number goes into the UStravelDocs. 

7. The beneficiary passport is the identifier in both the DS-160 and UStravelDocs.

8. The K1 visa fee is 265US payable in the UStravelDocs.

9. The UStravelDocs does have the option for pick-up from the courier instead of the courier delivery of the passport visa package after the interview.

10. The DS-160 at the end "Sign and Submit" page, asks for the "Preparer of the Application", which means that the petitioner or a 3rd party (ex. lawyer) can be on record to help fill out the form.

11. For the beneficiary medical exam, the scheduled interview letter (from UStravelDocs) and the DS-160 confirmation page are required, along with the passport, photos and immunization records.

12. The UStravelDocs dashboard is supposed to be where to we can see the visa status updates after the interview. But I read on other forums that the visa status are also updated on the CEAC tracker site like "Approved", "Administrative Processing", etc. So we shall see how we will be notified.

 

Again, I'm learning as I go along, and all these are subject to change. But these are the what I understand at the moment. Hope this is helpful and Good luck to all.

Woah, thank you very much for all the info. All of you have been a great help for us. I hope that all of us will get through this process as smooth as possible. ☺️☺️

 

Also, the UStraveldocs account is made only after completing the DS-160 form, right? After you tell them your email, I guess they will send a password on that address and we can login afterwards. 

[lb119397 79]

8 hours ago, EatBulaga said:

3. The UStravelDocs login requires an email and password.

4. DS-160 does ask for an email, and social media (like Facebook, etc.), but not sure if the consulate/embassy will use the input email for notification. As mentioned previously, unless you called NVC to verbally update your email for notification, the default email on record is the petitioner's email listed in the I-129F. The NVC inquiry page to update the email has a delay, which makes it unreliable to update the email. The DS-160 confirmation page is emailed to the form input email address. So in other words, I don't know how reliable is the email notification, but see below for the UStravelDocs dashboard and CEAC notification.

Thanks for your post. So in this case, in your opinion, do you (or anyone else) think that it would be advisable to use my (petitioner’s) email address to create the account and complete the DS-160 for purposes of consistency, or just go ahead and do it with my beneficiary’s email address?

[slavaskii 886]

11 hours ago, EatBulaga said:

6. The DS-160 Application ID and the NVC Case Number goes into the UStravelDocs. 

-

11. For the beneficiary medical exam, the scheduled interview letter (from UStravelDocs) and the DS-160 confirmation page are required, along with the passport, photos and immunization records.

Some quick caveats about this:

 

(1) The DS-160 can be filled out at any time; there is nothing that stops any of us from accessing it now. However, it's strongly advised to wait as long as possible to fill it out, as information can change and the DS-160 cannot be edited once made.

(2) You can, however, update the DS-160 linked to your TravelDocs account. You will need to call the embassy, but no longer do you just have to print out the confirmation page for your 'new' one and tell them to ignore the old. You can make an entirely new DS-160 at most three day before the interview, call TravelDocs, and print out the new confirmation as requested.

(3) Not all embassies' TravelDocs require the DS-160 and NVC Case Number. Some require one, some require both, others still require none. As you pointed out, that means that the 'common denominator' across everything is the passport number, as this is the only thing standard across all embassies. Also note that once you make an appointment, your passport number is 'sealed' into the TravelDocs account. Before you make an appointment it's editable, but from the moment you lock in a spot, it's permanent. Very interesting.

(4) Each embassy has different requirements for the medical, needing the DS-160 confirmation and passport is required, but some let you go through the process without photos, for example. Other doctors ask for the Case Number up front.

 

Good luck everyone!