FEBRUARY 2022 K1 NOA2 to NVC to EMBASSY

[slavaskii 886]

56 minutes ago, SandyR said:

How can you schedule?  I thought you just got your case number?  Are you at embassy?

This is all that Warsaw seemingly asks for, in order to schedule an interview. The very next page, iirc, is already payment. This is where the problem comes in: if there was a DS-160 outstanding, it's apparently thinking that is what you're making an appointment for. This is something I will need to call Warsaw for sure about. Note as well the language: if you have filled out a DS-160. Thus, it looks like that's not even a prerequisite to the process. Ironically, this suggests to me we didn't need to wait until the case number at all. And you only get to this page after you selected K1; I recall distinctly that if you did B2, there would be no priority date listed.

This would also seemingly explain why all the appointments in Warsaw are dried up. If there, indeed, is nothing really needed to make an appointment, people are likely doing them far in advance. Unless I'm missing something here, I didn't have to enter my case number once; neither on the DS-160 I subsequently filled out, nor on the scheduler itself. Super strange. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by slavaskii

[EatBulaga 307]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a bit confused about how I, as the petitioner, can help my fiancee, the beneficiary, with setting up the interview and paying the fees at the USTRAVELDocs site?

https://www.ustraveldocs.com/tw/

 

The site is designed for the visa applicant (or the beneficiary) to login?

 

Can I, as the petitioner, login as my beneficiary to help in this process?

Would I need to use the beneficiary email to login?

Would the beneficiary have to share the password?

 

How would a 3rd party like a lawyer be able to help with this step without sharing the password?

 

Can the petitioner schedule the interview and pay the fees?

Or does the beneficiary schedule the interview and pay the fees?

How have others done this step? 

 

Thanks in advance for any response.

Edited March 18, 2022 by EatBulaga

[DeeJess 53]

52 minutes ago, EatBulaga said:

Hello Everyone,

I'm a bit confused about how I, as the petitioner, can help my fiancee, the beneficiary, with setting up the interview and paying the fees at the USTRAVELDocs site?

https://www.ustraveldocs.com/tw/

 

The site is designed for the visa applicant (or the beneficiary) to login?

 

Can I, as the petitioner, login as my beneficiary to help in this process?

Would I need to use the beneficiary email to login?

Would the beneficiary have to share the password?

 

How would a 3rd party like a lawyer be able to help with this step without sharing the password?

 

Can the petitioner schedule the interview and pay the fees?

Or does the beneficiary schedule the interview and pay the fees?

How have others done this step? 

 

Thanks in advance for any response.

Personally if my fiance didn't know how to schedule and pay for the interview then I'd just log in on their behalf, pay the fees and ask my fiance when they'd like their interview, schedule it and you'd then put her email address as it's her interview

 

The beneficiary schedules and pays the fees BUT being her fiance then you can do this for her if she doesn't know how to? You would need their email and password as it's their account (this part is all to do with the beneficiary)

 

You're not talking about filling in the DS-160 form right? 

 

Also, I'm not sure about a lawyer, we never used one

Edited March 18, 2022 by DeeJess

[slavaskii 886]

On a really long hold with Warsaw, but I noted that my question (with the B2 DS-160 being used) has appeared before. This thread in particular seems to identify the exact issue. I figured that, maybe, the 'glitch' was caused by not having the K1's DS-160 complete, but it appears as if USATravelDocs is married to whatever's the first DS-160 you enter. So, no matter what you do, you can't fix it. But it also appears as if whatever's written on your application doesn't matter so long as you bring a corrected DS-160 to the interview (that is, a printed-out confirmation page). It seems like the first time the officer will see your application is during the interview itself.

 

I'm calling now to figure out (1) can the previous DS-160 be deleted from the system and (2) do I need to try to reschedule the appointment after making the new one. I also want to figure out where the case number goes, because for the life of me I cannot find it on either USATravelDocs or the DS-160. It doesn't seem right to me at Warsaw applicants were always able to make the appointment before getting the case number. 

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by slavaskii

[slavaskii 886]

Got hung up on by Warsaw after an hour, lol. Impossible to get through their lines. I'm more and more convinced you don't even need a case number to schedule a K1 interview in Warsaw. Perhaps if you never applied for a visa before it would ask you some more questions, but if you had, it takes you right to the scheduler - no questions asked. Seems very unfair that people could just do this. The DS-160 doesn't even ask for the NVC case number, just the USCIS, so like...?! This could've been reserved months ago for Poland. 

[Oti&Dum 7]

12 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

Got hung up on by Warsaw after an hour, lol. Impossible to get through their lines. I'm more and more convinced you don't even need a case number to schedule a K1 interview in Warsaw. Perhaps if you never applied for a visa before it would ask you some more questions, but if you had, it takes you right to the scheduler - no questions asked. Seems very unfair that people could just do this. The DS-160 doesn't even ask for the NVC case number, just the USCIS, so like...?! This could've been reserved months ago for Poland. 

From what I read, we need the case number and the invoice to complete de DS-160 form and also to check the status of your case on CEAC until it’s “ready” at the embassy. I also think that to schedule the medical you need to tell them your case number. Correct me if I’m wrong tho. But since you had another DS-form in their system, maybe that’s why they didn’t ask for yours. This whole process seems so confusing. 😢

[slavaskii 886]

10 minutes ago, Oti&Dum said:

From what I read, we need the case number and the invoice to complete de DS-160 form and also to check the status of your case on CEAC until it’s “ready” at the embassy. I also think that to schedule the medical you need to tell them your case number. Correct me if I’m wrong tho. But since you had another DS-form in their system, maybe that’s why they didn’t ask for yours. This whole process seems so confusing. 😢

Yup, the case number is absolutely needed for medical! So I guess that somewhat stops people from going too far ahead. But I went through the DS-160 again and the case number is never referenced; is anyone seeing where we'd possibly put it? I only see spot for USCIS number. That somewhat makes sense, too, because the DS-160 is non-immigrant and traditionally you wouldn't have NVC information. 

 

It's very confusing indeed. But why TravelDocs would let me go ahead scheduling an immigrant interview spot while only having a tourist DS-160 in their system is beyond me.

[EatBulaga 307]

10 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

It's very confusing indeed. But why TravelDocs would let me go ahead scheduling an immigrant interview spot while only having a tourist DS-160 in their system is beyond me.

Keep in mind that DS-160 form is used for other visas besides K1 like student visa, etc.

And the embassy interviews are also for other visas besides K1.

So that would make sense that the embassy interview scheduling and fee payment would be more general or open for all visas than specific for K1.

 

I do remember using the NVC case number and Invoice number at one CEAC site at the beginning and it then re-directed me to the DS-160 site.

After that I have not used NVC case number besides the CEACStatTracker because I assumed the other sites saved it in a cookie?

I'm assuming that we will still need it to check the visa status after the interview on the CEACStatTracker?

 

With that said, I do agree the current online process can be improved. And I do think this online process will look very different in the future.

[slavaskii 886]

6 minutes ago, EatBulaga said:

Keep in mind that DS-160 form is used for other visas besides K1 like student visa, etc.

And the embassy interviews are also for other visas besides K1.

So that would make sense that the embassy interview scheduling and fee payment would be more general or open for all visas than specific for K1.

 

I do remember using the NVC case number and Invoice number at one CEAC site at the beginning and it then re-directed me to the DS-160 site.

After that I have not used NVC case number besides the CEACStatTracker because I assumed the other sites saved it in a cookie?

I'm assuming that we will still need it to check the visa status after the interview on the CEACStatTracker?

 

With that said, I do agree the current online process can be improved. And I do think this online process will look very different in the future.

I just found this website here... it seems like this is perhaps what you are referencing? Does it look familiar? 

 

And yeah, the fact there's one form being used for everything is a bit disastrous. It's so weird to me that TravelDocs auto-filled my specifically K1 appointment with a B2 DS-160 and never prompted me it was doing this in any step. I just feel like I definitely skipped a step somewhere. 

[EatBulaga 307]

2 hours ago, slavaskii said:

I just found this website here... it seems like this is perhaps what you are referencing? Does it look familiar? 

Yes, that's the CEAC site to input the NVC case number and Invoice number.

 

The whole process requiring 3 government agencies (USCIS, Dept. Of State and Specific Embassy/Consulate), and 2 different users inputs is convoluted.

 

If I didn't have Visajourney, I would probably have hired a lawyer.

[EatBulaga 307]

14 hours ago, slavaskii said:

On a really long hold with Warsaw, but I noted that my question (with the B2 DS-160 being used) has appeared before. This thread in particular seems to identify the exact issue. I figured that, maybe, the 'glitch' was caused by not having the K1's DS-160 complete, but it appears as if USATravelDocs is married to whatever's the first DS-160 you enter. So, no matter what you do, you can't fix it. But it also appears as if whatever's written on your application doesn't matter so long as you bring a corrected DS-160 to the interview (that is, a printed-out confirmation page). It seems like the first time the officer will see your application is during the interview itself.

 

I'm calling now to figure out (1) can the previous DS-160 be deleted from the system and (2) do I need to try to reschedule the appointment after making the new one. I also want to figure out where the case number goes, because for the life of me I cannot find it on either USATravelDocs or the DS-160. It doesn't seem right to me at Warsaw applicants were always able to make the appointment before getting the case number. 

 

Okay so after reading your post,

I became extra paranoid about completing the UStraveldocs form

https://www.ustraveldocs.com/tw/

and the DS-160 form

https://ceac.state.gov/GenNIV/Default.aspx

 

So I logged into both forms to "explore", being extra careful not to put any specific reference to each other so as to "NOT marry" or link one to the other.

 

For DS-160, I "Start An Application", but did not put any name to it.

For the UStraveldocs, I created a login using my email (NOT my beneficiary fiancee email).

 

For DS-160, I got kicked out after 20 minutes for reading too slowly because I was being extra careful. And then I could NOT "Retrieve An Application" since I did not put a surname to the Application ID.

 

When I login back to UStraveldocs, I still had a clean dashboard without a DS-160 linked. See the attached pic. The dashboard information is to copy/paste the DS-160 number from the electronic version, which I did NOT have because the DS-160 is incomplete, so as to NOT link one to the other.

 

So here is what I think I learned from the "explore" (and keep in mind I may be wrong):

 

1) You can create a new UStraveldocs account with a new email that your beneficiary can access. So if your old UStraveldocs is married to an old DS-160, create a new UStraveldocs account with a new email. And at worst, you may have to forfeit the old fee and pay a new fee with the new email account.

 

2) You can create more than one DS-160 by "Start An Application" instead of "Retrieve An Application" with the old Application ID. Theoretically, you should be able to create more than one DS-160 since DS-160 is used for many types of visas like student visa, K1 visa, etc.

 

Since both the UStraveldocs and DS-160 forms are theoretically filled out by the beneficiary and notified to the beneficiary email, what I may try is create a shared email account between my fiancee (beneficiary) and me (petitioner) just for this K1 process, where we both can login and get the email updates. We will use that email to create the UStraveldocs account, and link a new DS-160 to it. I just don't use my email for UStraveldocs since theoretically as a US citizen petitioner, I don't need to pay for the visa fees.

 

I don't know if this will work for your case?

Or if this will help others?

But let me know what you think if this will work or not?

 

Thanks in advance for any response.

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by EatBulaga

[Oti&Dum 7]

Hi guys! I was reading through UStraveldocs and I also saw that most of you went ahead to schedule (or attempt to) an interview before receiving the package with instructions from your Consulate . For my country, the UStraveldocs website mentions that I shouldn’t schedule an interview before I get them (see the picture). I was wondering if it says the same for your countries as well. I am a bit confused, should I wait for the package or can I schedule my interview after I get my case number? Thanks! 

[slavaskii 886]

Thank you both @Oti&Dum and @EatBulaga for your help on this! Let me add my thoughts below:

 

@EatBulaga, that's actually a really good idea, to try to create a new account and troubleshoot it that way. I did the same with my own information (careful not to add my own passport number inside), and I could 'recreate' the steps I took to get to the payment stage. Sure enough, it never asked me for the DS-160 or case number. So, I'm guessing what we're thinking is correct - the system is automatically 'marrying' the DS-160 and TravelDocs together somehow, perhaps because they both use the same passport number. See below how my 'test' account looks, after recreating the steps to get to the payment stage:

 

 

Here's the issue, though. In regards to your point (1), USATravelDocs does not let you change the beneficiary's passport number once's it entered. Thus, my fiancee's passport number is forcibly tied to our old TravelDocs account, and it's my understanding a new account cannot be created if another exists with the same passport. Even if we enter in a new email, I think we still need to use the old one because of this. That's one of the reasons why I had to call Romania to get our account transferred to Poland; we were told that we couldn't create a new account for a different country if an account already existed with the passport. 

 

And, in regard to point (2), we are able to make the second DS-160 for the K1, but I'm not sure how we can now 'switch' the DS-160 numbers now that the appointment was incorrectly created with the old one. My fiancee's actual account's dashboard looks identical to mine above (which didn't have a DS-160 linked), so there was literally no way to know it would trigger the old one. Very, very weird.

 

@Oti&Dum: so that's interesting Bucharest will say not to schedule beforehand. I don't recall particularly what Warsaw says, but I know for a fact our Packet 3 contains no new information; that is, it just tells you to do medical and the police certificate, which we already needed to do because my fiancee had to leave Belarus. I think Bucharest is trying to avoid the problem I THINK Warsaw is having: that is, people are signing up for appointments April-July without actually having approved petitions. We are seeing appointments randomly open up in late March and early April, and I wonder if those are from people who can no longer make what they signed up for in advance.

 

Not that I'm suggesting trying this, of course, but do you have a TravelDocs page? From my coincidental experience with Romania before, I think you did need to enter the DS-160 beforehand (in fact, I'm nearly 100% sure for tourist visa). Our problem in Warsaw is that it asks for literally nothing, and even a bot can do it (I do know, sadly, that Warsaw actually has a 'bot problem' with scheduling).

[Oti&Dum 7]

9 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

Thank you both @Oti&Dum and @EatBulaga for your help on this! Let me add my thoughts below:

 

@EatBulaga, that's actually a really good idea, to try to create a new account and troubleshoot it that way. I did the same with my own information (careful not to add my own passport number inside), and I could 'recreate' the steps I took to get to the payment stage. Sure enough, it never asked me for the DS-160 or case number. So, I'm guessing what we're thinking is correct - the system is automatically 'marrying' the DS-160 and TravelDocs together somehow, perhaps because they both use the same passport number. See below how my 'test' account looks, after recreating the steps to get to the payment stage:

 

 

Here's the issue, though. In regards to your point (1), USATravelDocs does not let you change the beneficiary's passport number once's it entered. Thus, my fiancee's passport number is forcibly tied to our old TravelDocs account, and it's my understanding a new account cannot be created if another exists with the same passport. Even if we enter in a new email, I think we still need to use the old one because of this. That's one of the reasons why I had to call Romania to get our account transferred to Poland; we were told that we couldn't create a new account for a different country if an account already existed with the passport. 

 

And, in regard to point (2), we are able to make the second DS-160 for the K1, but I'm not sure how we can now 'switch' the DS-160 numbers now that the appointment was incorrectly created with the old one. My fiancee's actual account's dashboard looks identical to mine above (which didn't have a DS-160 linked), so there was literally no way to know it would trigger the old one. Very, very weird.

 

@Oti&Dum: so that's interesting Bucharest will say not to schedule beforehand. I don't recall particularly what Warsaw says, but I know for a fact our Packet 3 contains no new information; that is, it just tells you to do medical and the police certificate, which we already needed to do because my fiancee had to leave Belarus. I think Bucharest is trying to avoid the problem I THINK Warsaw is having: that is, people are signing up for appointments April-July without actually having approved petitions. We are seeing appointments randomly open up in late March and early April, and I wonder if those are from people who can no longer make what they signed up for in advance.

 

Not that I'm suggesting trying this, of course, but do you have a TravelDocs page? From my coincidental experience with Romania before, I think you did need to enter the DS-160 beforehand (in fact, I'm nearly 100% sure for tourist visa). Our problem in Warsaw is that it asks for literally nothing, and even a bot can do it (I do know, sadly, that Warsaw actually has a 'bot problem' with scheduling).

Maybe you can try to just make a new appointment with the new DS form number and cancel the old one. 
Also yeah, I was thinking that maybe Bucharest noted that to stop people from scheduling without having the other steps ready. I wouldn’t want to wait until the package arrives to me, honestly, because that’s gonna be a looong time. NVC received our case on March 16th and hopefully by the end of next week we’ll have a case number. I don’t have an account on traveldocs yet, I thought that I would just make it when I’ll fill out the DS-160 form. 

[slavaskii 886]

 

2 hours ago, Oti&Dum said:

Maybe you can try to just make a new appointment with the new DS form number and cancel the old one. 
Also yeah, I was thinking that maybe Bucharest noted that to stop people from scheduling without having the other steps ready. I wouldn’t want to wait until the package arrives to me, honestly, because that’s gonna be a looong time. NVC received our case on March 16th and hopefully by the end of next week we’ll have a case number. I don’t have an account on traveldocs yet, I thought that I would just make it when I’ll fill out the DS-160 form. 

The more that I really think about it, I think you're right. Maybe TravelDocs has no way of actually restricting people from making appointments before assembling all the documents (after all, how do you verify someone has medical done?), so they just ask people to defer making the appointment until Packet 3. Then again, it seems like TravelDocs is different for each embassy, so who knows.

 

This, for example, is what you get when proceeding to the very last step of scheduling a K1 interview in Warsaw before paying the visa fee [edit: I posted this a few posts above, don't want to spam because it's a large picture so I won't add it again here]. As you can see, nowhere is a DS-160 or case number asked. There is no DS-160 associated with this account. I'm very convinced now that Warsaw doesn't require anything before proceeding with making an appointment and this is what's causing them to be backed up until August (only one July spot left).

 

Note that, once you enter the passport details, it becomes 'locked' to the account and impossible to change. Thus, this is probably how Warsaw links the case together with your appointment. At least, that is correct for us. I'm very, very scared to cancel the appointment and try fooling around with the new DS-160 seeing how backed up they are. Think my best bet is just calling Warsaw on Monday and holding my spot here with all my life, lol  

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by slavaskii