What if we need to move before visa interview?

[tofulollipop 7]

Hi all, we're still waiting for our I-130, but I figured I might as well ask ahead to be prepared. I'm a US citizen, my wife is a Mexican citizen. We are currently living abroad in Spain. My work contract ends in December, at which point I will be returning to the US, and my wife to Mexico until the visa comes through. We've already been waiting on the I-130 for 7 months now, so I assume it will come through soon. We were hoping we could schedule an interview at the consulate in Madrid with the hope that it would be shorter than in Mexico, although with how long the I-130 is taking, it seems that we would likely not be in Spain anymore by that point. What are the appropriate steps here? Do we still schedule the interview in Spain? Or do we schedule it in Mexico? Is it possible to schedule her visa interview in Mexico while we're still living in Spain?

[Redro 4,611]

13 minutes ago, tofulollipop said:

Hi all, we're still waiting for our I-130, but I figured I might as well ask ahead to be prepared. I'm a US citizen, my wife is a Mexican citizen. We are currently living abroad in Spain. My work contract ends in December, at which point I will be returning to the US, and my wife to Mexico until the visa comes through. We've already been waiting on the I-130 for 7 months now, so I assume it will come through soon. We were hoping we could schedule an interview at the consulate in Madrid with the hope that it would be shorter than in Mexico, although with how long the I-130 is taking, it seems that we would likely not be in Spain anymore by that point. What are the appropriate steps here? Do we still schedule the interview in Spain? Or do we schedule it in Mexico? Is it possible to schedule her visa interview in Mexico while we're still living in Spain?

Is your wife's visa in Spain dependent on yours? 

If it is I would request an expedite at USCIS and/or NVC level stating that fact and include proof.

If you reach NVC after you move, you request a change of consulate. 

They should schedule you for Madrid (as your wife listed that as her current residence) but you can send an inquiry to NVC showing proof your wife is a Mexican citizen with the request to move the interview location. 

 

Source: I am not Korean. I listed my current address in Korea. They scheduled me to interview in Seoul.

You can see where you are scheduled to interview by the first three letters of your NVC number. 

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by ROK2USA

[tofulollipop 7]

1 hour ago, ROK2USA said:

Is your wife's visa in Spain dependent on yours? 

If it is I would request an expedite at USCIS and/or NVC level stating that fact and include proof.

If you reach NVC after you move, you request a change of consulate. 

They should schedule you for Madrid (as your wife listed that as her current residence) but you can send an inquiry to NVC showing proof your wife is a Mexican citizen with the request to move the interview location. 

 

Source: I am not Korean. I listed my current address in Korea. They scheduled me to interview in Seoul.

You can see where you are scheduled to interview by the first three letters of your NVC number. 

 

Yes, my wife's visa in Spain is dependent on mine. However, our visa's technically are valid for 2 more years. Rather, it's my work contract which ends in December which will be forcing me to move back for another job. I'm not sure if that falls under the qualifications for an expedite request. If so, is it possible to do this despite the fact that we have already been waiting? If not, perhaps I can try expediting with NVC once it goes there.

 

Does moving your interview date reset the time you wait for an interview? I know that in Mexico interviews can come >1 year after reaching NVC. In Madrid I have no idea but maybe it's faster. In that case maybe it's advantageous for us to still go ahead with the Madrid interview even if we aren't living here. I think it's absolutely worth flying back if it means we get an interview that's a few months in advance.

[Redro 4,611]

8 minutes ago, tofulollipop said:

Yes, my wife's visa in Spain is dependent on mine. However, our visa's technically are valid for 2 more years. Rather, it's my work contract which ends in December which will be forcing me to move back for another job. I'm not sure if that falls under the qualifications for an expedite request. If so, is it possible to do this despite the fact that we have already been waiting? If not, perhaps I can try expediting with NVC once it goes there.

 

Does moving your interview date reset the time you wait for an interview? I know that in Mexico interviews can come >1 year after reaching NVC. In Madrid I have no idea but maybe it's faster. In that case maybe it's advantageous for us to still go ahead with the Madrid interview even if we aren't living here. I think it's absolutely worth flying back if it means we get an interview that's a few months in advance.

You'd first ask for an expedite at USCIS level showing your job is requiring you to move in December... don't worry about visa validity of two years. Just state your wife cannot stay in Spain if you leave with evidence of work contract ending. One thinks submitting a petition (more than?) a year before a contract ends is sufficient time... other's have submitted expedites after waiting a few months and been approved. 

Then hopefully they approve the I-130 and you move to NVC stage.

You then request expedite again with the same evidence. And you get moved immediately to consulate or you have to wait out approval (currently 80 days). 

I don't know how busy Spain is... 

but, I would be interested in seeing if job relocation where spouse is dependent in 3rd country is valid reason for expedite... 

Edited April 27, 2022 by ROK2USA

[Chancy 6,241]

40 minutes ago, tofulollipop said:

I'm not sure if that falls under the qualifications for an expedite request. If so, is it possible to do this despite the fact that we have already been waiting? If not, perhaps I can try expediting with NVC once it goes there.

 

Definitely try everything possible to get an interview in Spain, instead of Mexico.  Request an expedite with USCIS first.  Whether USCIS approves or denies the expedite request, send another request at NVC stage.  Even if denied, it will not negatively impact your case.  So nothing to lose, but a little bit of effort.

 

[Redro 4,611]

58 minutes ago, tofulollipop said:

Does moving your interview date reset the time you wait for an interview? I know that in Mexico interviews can come >1 year after reaching NVC. In Madrid I have no idea but maybe it's faster. In that case maybe it's advantageous for us to still go ahead with the Madrid interview even if we aren't living here. I think it's absolutely worth flying back if it means we get an interview that's a few months in advance.

Oh~ just read the second part of your question clearly. 

If you get approved you should be able to interview in Madrid. 

Visas applicants do not choose where their interviews happen OR their own appointments. Rather USCIS sends your approved I-130 to NVC. NVC assigns a case number (based on most recent residential address) and your interview is sent to the consulate of their choosing. 

After your docs are approved at NVC they schedule you for an appointment. 

A member in the K1 visa forum requested his partner be interviewed in Zimbabwe but she was sent to the South African consulate.

She ended up interviewing at the SA consulate even though she had moved back to Zimbabwe... 

I would still attempt to expedite right now at USCIS stage. But, hopefully you will get NOA2 soon... 

Just to add you don't choose when you interview for IR1/CR1 and you can see latest timelines for Spain here:

https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/k1list.php?op6=All&op66=All&op7=Spain&op1=3&op2=&dfile=No&op3=5&op4=1&op5=5%2C6%2C8%2C10%2C11%2C13%2C14%2C15%2C16%2C17%2C18%2C20%2C21%2C22%2C25%2C26%2C27%2C28%2C108%2C110%2C111%2C208%2C210%2C211&cfl=0

Edited April 27, 2022 by ROK2USA

[tofulollipop 7]

Hm thanks for the info you guys. I'll try expediting then, and regardless I'll keep our appointment in Madrid in the hopes it's much quicker than Mexico which seems quite slow with interviews being backed up

[pushbrk 12,883]

To interview in Spain instead of Mexico, the wife needs status in Spain during the NVC stage, AND be in Spain still or have a visa allowing her to travel to Madrid for the interview.  The timing is critical here and the OP has not indicated their petition filing date.

[erika86 6]

On 4/27/2022 at 6:37 AM, tofulollipop said:

Hi all, we're still waiting for our I-130, but I figured I might as well ask ahead to be prepared. I'm a US citizen, my wife is a Mexican citizen. We are currently living abroad in Spain. My work contract ends in December, at which point I will be returning to the US, and my wife to Mexico until the visa comes through. We've already been waiting on the I-130 for 7 months now, so I assume it will come through soon. We were hoping we could schedule an interview at the consulate in Madrid with the hope that it would be shorter than in Mexico, although with how long the I-130 is taking, it seems that we would likely not be in Spain anymore by that point. What are the appropriate steps here? Do we still schedule the interview in Spain? Or do we schedule it in Mexico? Is it possible to schedule her visa interview in Mexico while we're still living in Spain?

Some aspects of our situation are similar to yours, except we are many months ahead of your timeline.  We stayed in Barcelona for two years.  Sadly, the pandemic stopped our plans to travel all of Europe, but we saw a lot of Barcelona and the surrounding regions.  Then, the US citizen spouse took employment back in the US.  Subsequently, our case was expedited to the US Embassy in Spain.  The expedite was approved within 30 days of the request, and the interview was scheduled within 3 weeks of the approval.

 

Anyway, I expect to write more about our experience in late May, after our interview at the embassy.  You can see more of our case details if you go to my timeline.  Feel free to PM me.

Edited April 29, 2022 by erika86
Adding an important time related detail that may be important to the OP.

[tofulollipop 7]

On 4/28/2022 at 1:40 AM, pushbrk said:

To interview in Spain instead of Mexico, the wife needs status in Spain during the NVC stage, AND be in Spain still or have a visa allowing her to travel to Madrid for the interview.  The timing is critical here and the OP has not indicated their petition filing date.

We submitted our I-130 on October 7th, 2021, got NOA-1 a few days later, and on February 20, 2022 our case went to active review, where it has been since. My visa in Spain (and therefore hers as well) is up for renewal this July, which we will be doing. My work contract ends this December 2022. Regardless, I believe Mexican citizens do not need a visa to enter Spain, so there should be no problem to travel to Madrid for the interview with or without our residency visas if this drags out.

15 hours ago, erika86 said:

Some aspects of our situation are similar to yours, except we are many months ahead of your timeline.  We stayed in Barcelona for two years.  Sadly, the pandemic stopped our plans to travel all of Europe, but we saw a lot of Barcelona and the surrounding regions.  Then, the US citizen spouse took employment back in the US.  Subsequently, our case was expedited to the US Embassy in Spain.  The expedite was approved within 30 days of the request, and the interview was scheduled within 3 weeks of the approval.

 

Anyway, I expect to write more about our experience in late May, after our interview at the embassy.  You can see more of our case details if you go to my timeline.  Feel free to PM me.

Just sent you a PM, but I'd be interested in hearing more about your experience and how you got the case expedited, if a job offer in the US was sufficient to speed things up

[pushbrk 12,883]

5 hours ago, tofulollipop said:

We submitted our I-130 on October 7th, 2021, got NOA-1 a few days later, and on February 20, 2022 our case went to active review, where it has been since. My visa in Spain (and therefore hers as well) is up for renewal this July, which we will be doing. My work contract ends this December 2022. Regardless, I believe Mexican citizens do not need a visa to enter Spain, so there should be no problem to travel to Madrid for the interview with or without our residency visas if this drags out.

 

OK, but there are two aspects.  You have the second one handled in that there is not any issue with travel.  The first thing is to have actual status in Spain when your case gets to NVC.  I think there's a good chance that will happen before December and even if it doesn't, she may still be allowed to stay and have the needed status in Spain.  Is this a job transfer, or are you ending a job and finding another?

[tofulollipop 7]

On 4/30/2022 at 12:56 AM, pushbrk said:

OK, but there are two aspects.  You have the second one handled in that there is not any issue with travel.  The first thing is to have actual status in Spain when your case gets to NVC.  I think there's a good chance that will happen before December and even if it doesn't, she may still be allowed to stay and have the needed status in Spain.  Is this a job transfer, or are you ending a job and finding another?

Yes, well, worst case scenario if we leave Spain prior to the I-130 coming through then we can just update our address and do our interview in Mexico, though I know that will take longer. We will just hope that the I-130 comes sooner rather than later. I'm ending my Spain job and starting another completely unrelated in the US.

[pushbrk 12,883]

3 hours ago, tofulollipop said:

Yes, well, worst case scenario if we leave Spain prior to the I-130 coming through then we can just update our address and do our interview in Mexico, though I know that will take longer. We will just hope that the I-130 comes sooner rather than later. I'm ending my Spain job and starting another completely unrelated in the US.

If you already have the written job offer, that can work as a basis for expediting your process.

[tofulollipop 7]

Do you all know if you are allowed to request an expedition of your case with USCIS if they deny? I haven't requested the expedition still as I'm going through job interviews and I have an unofficial offer on hand and am waiting on the official offer to come through to request a letter from the company explaining financial loss (i work in a highly specialized field). I'd imagine this would greatly improve the odds of approval, though the clock is ticking and they are dragging their feet. Is it worth requesting expedition now with what I have, and if I get rejected and then my official offer comes in could I apply again with the additional evidence?