CR1 Visa Separate Interview Dates for Beneficiary and Stepchildren

[iskramar 0]

My wife (beneficiary) has 2 kids and we are planning on having the kids immigrate later because they need to finish school (1-2 more years). My wife's case is already Documentarily Qualified and she is waiting for an interview date. We paid one AOS fee and all the cases are linked. We have not filled out any of the documents for the kids yet but we have paid the fees. 

We have been told that the US Embassy won't proceed with scheduling an interview unless the kid's applications are also Documentarily Qualified. We contacted the US Embassy in Tbilisi and they told us to contact NVC and when we contacted NVC, they told us to wait for the US Embassy to schedule an interview. 

Our questions are as follows:

1. How can we proceed with my wife's visa interview first without the kids?
2. If we submit all the documents for the kids, are they obligated to enter the US at the same time as my wife?
3. If we submit all the documents for the kids and they are Documentarily Qualified, can the kids choose a different interview date than my wife? 

Thanks all, 

We searched around Visa Journey and weren't able to find anyone in a similar situation but apologies if this is a duplicate post. 

[nastra30 2,287]

45 minutes ago, iskramar said:

We have been told that the US Embassy won't proceed with scheduling an interview unless the kid's applications are also Documentarily Qualified. - Who told you this?

------‐--

1. How can we proceed with my wife's visa interview first without the kids? - As long as you haven't told NVC to schedule them together, then I believe your current approach is right. Your wife just needs to wait for the interview to be scheduled.

 

2. If we submit all the documents for the kids, are they obligated to enter the US at the same time as my wife? - No. But everyone's visa expires 6 months from the day medicals are completed. So everyone has to enter before their respective visas expires. Since there are kids involved you'll have to figure out the logistics.

 

3. If we submit all the documents for the kids and they are Documentarily Qualified, can the kids choose a different interview date than my wife? - NVC works with the Embassy to assign interview dates. You can't choose your own dates. However, after interviews have been scheduled, you can contact the Embassy to reschedule (which I personally won't recommended).

Another strategy is the kids can still go ahead and get their visas, and then enter the US to activate their LPR status anytime before the visas expire. And then basically turn around fly back home to continue school. May or may not need a re-entry permit depending on how often they'll go back and forth before they finish school.

 

How long have you been married?

Are the kids your biological or step kids?

How old are the kids?
 

Edited November 13, 2022 by nastra30

[iskramar 0]

We have been told that the US Embassy won't proceed with scheduling an interview unless the kid's applications are also Documentarily Qualified. - Who told you this?

We were told this by a lawyer we had consultation with. They told us to contact the Consular Section of the US Embassy to notify them that we want my wife to interview alone without the kids. The lawyer informed us that the Consular Section would notify NVC of our request.

 

How long have you been married?
1.5 years.
 

Are the kids your biological or step kids?
Stepchildren. The biological father has given up parental rights and my wife is their only parental guardian.
 

How old are the kids?
13 and 16. 

[nastra30 2,287]

50 minutes ago, iskramar said:

We were told this by a lawyer we had consultation with. They told us to contact the Consular Section of the US Embassy to notify them that we want my wife to interview alone without the kids. The lawyer informed us that the Consular Section would notify NVC of our request. - Lawyer had it backwards. Your spouse was always going to be interviewed separately. If she actually wanted the interviews to be scheduled together, that's when you actually contact NVC to request that. Note that all applicants are principal applicants on their own that's why separate interviews are always the default. However, an adult will have to accompany minors to their interviews (maybe this is what your lawyer meant?).

 

1.5 years - Ok. Since interview hasn't been scheduled yet and since your marriage is almost hitting the 2 year anniversary, if the opportunity presents itself spouse should enter the US after 2nd anniversary (which seems likely anyways based on my fuzzy math). This way, she'll get a 10 year greencard, and not a 2 year greencard. It will save you guys more money and less headaches.
 

Stepchildren. The biological father has given up parental rights and my wife is their only parental guardian. - ok. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't any potential they could already be USCs or derive citizenship upon arrival. Stepchildren can't derive citizenship unless they've been adopted. 
 

13 and 16. - I asked this in relation to the previous question since there's an age timing to it :). I'll spare you the nuisances, since your step kids can't derive citizenship.

In a nutshell, I think your wife just as to keep waiting for her interview date. Have you already checked how backlogged the consulate is?

Edited November 13, 2022 by nastra30

[iskramar 0]

We presumed that because we only paid one AOS fee for all 3 petitions that NVC had already linked these cases. We did check the backlog and there wasn't much of a backlog. We saw availability for appointments in 2-3 weeks when using the US Travel Docs. We were DQ'ed about 7 weeks ago so we have nothing to be concerned of yet but we did have some concerns that not finishing the kid's documents could cause delays for some reason if NVC has recognized that these cases are linked even if we didn't tell them we wanted a joint interview.

[pushbrk 12,883]

28 minutes ago, iskramar said:

We presumed that because we only paid one AOS fee for all 3 petitions that NVC had already linked these cases. We did check the backlog and there wasn't much of a backlog. We saw availability for appointments in 2-3 weeks when using the US Travel Docs. We were DQ'ed about 7 weeks ago so we have nothing to be concerned of yet but we did have some concerns that not finishing the kid's documents could cause delays for some reason if NVC has recognized that these cases are linked even if we didn't tell them we wanted a joint interview.

Sounds like your in a Catch 22.  The cases need to get unlinked by NVC so they can proceed with your wife getting in the interview queue.  Yes, you wife will need to wait until the Consular IV unit provides available interview dates for her but NVC can still unlink the cases so your wife's proceeds.  You just have go make it clear that's what you want.

[iskramar 0]

2 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Sounds like your in a Catch 22.  The cases need to get unlinked by NVC so they can proceed with your wife getting in the interview queue.  Yes, you wife will need to wait until the Consular IV unit provides available interview dates for her but NVC can still unlink the cases so your wife's proceeds.  You just have go make it clear that's what you want.

Thanks for your input @pushbrk, I agree that it sounds like we are in a Catch 22 type of situation. We have already sent a public inquiry form to NVC regarding unlinking the cases so hopefully they won't just give a canned response saying to wait for the US Embassy to schedule an interview.