New baby questions

[Mike E 11,739]

1 hour ago, Kyle6811 said:

The passport for the child won’t take long

Maybe. We have seen extreme cases.

 

I think your wife should start posting here.

 

 

[Chancy 6,241]

1 hour ago, Kyle6811 said:

Let’s hope not but I suppose it’s possible. I started walking at 6 months. But we’re hoping for the 6-9 month mark from now.

 

Current estimate for wait time for visa interview schedule at Ciudad Juarez is 12+ months counting from NVC review date (ie, "Documentarily Qualified" date), not petition filing date.  That's just interview wait time, not counting wait time for the visa after interview.  I expect you'll have lots of time to get CRBA and US passport for your child, before your wife even gets her interview schedule.

 

[Kyle6811 24]

1 minute ago, Chancy said:

 

Current estimate for wait time for visa interview schedule at Ciudad Juarez is 12+ months counting from NVC review date (ie, "Documentarily Qualified" date), not petition filing date.  That's just interview wait time, not counting wait time for the visa after interview.  I expect you'll have lots of time to get CRBA and US passport for your child, before your wife even gets her interview schedule.

 

Oh Christ! That’s a long time.

[Kyle6811 24]

12 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Current estimate for wait time for visa interview schedule at Ciudad Juarez is 12+ months counting from NVC review date (ie, "Documentarily Qualified" date), not petition filing date.  That's just interview wait time, not counting wait time for the visa after interview.  I expect you'll have lots of time to get CRBA and US passport for your child, before your wife even gets her interview schedule.

 

Do they have an appt cancellation scanner for openings?

[Chancy 6,241]

2 minutes ago, Kyle6811 said:

Do they have an appt cancellation scanner for openings?

 

Except for expedited cases, spouse visa applicants at CDJ are not allowed to pick their own interview schedule, regardless of cancellations by other applicants.

 

[pushbrk 12,876]

No need to delay any part of the wife's process.  It's Mexico.  Get in the interview queue as soon as possible, because it's quite long.  Some members take the belt and suspenders approach no matter what the circumstances.  Circumstances matter.  No need for delaying anything.

[Kyle6811 24]

27 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

No need to delay any part of the wife's process.  It's Mexico.  Get in the interview queue as soon as possible, because it's quite long.  Some members take the belt and suspenders approach no matter what the circumstances.  Circumstances matter.  No need for delaying anything.

Thanks pushbrk. I forgot about filing the k3 to try to speed things up so I’m just getting that done. Anything I can or should do in the mean time to speed up anything?

[SalishSea 17,818]

3 hours ago, Kyle6811 said:

That’s honestly great to hear! We’re mentally and emotionally and physically prepared for a 2 year process but obviously hoping for less. This border living is rough commute. Luckily I’m only doing it once a week. It’s 3 hours each direction.

I don't think that is what Boiler meant.  It is much more likely to take two years than one.  

 

There is a long queue for the interview.  There is a significant wait time even for CRBA appointments, from what I have heard.

[Kyle6811 24]

4 hours ago, Mike E said:

Maybe. We have seen extreme cases.

 

I think your wife should start posting here.

 

 

What would you like her to post?

[Mike E 11,739]

2 minutes ago, Kyle6811 said:

What would you like her to post?

If she understands the risks of her child not getting travel documents before her.

[Kyle6811 24]

19 minutes ago, Mike E said:

If she understands the risks of her child not getting travel documents before her.

I think a year will be plenty of time to get a passport. Even if the crba is slow, it’s not required to enter the USA 

[Chancy 6,241]

34 minutes ago, Kyle6811 said:

Even if the crba is slow, it’s not required to enter the USA 

 

CRBA is required to get your child a US passport from a consulate in Mexico.

 

[Lemonslice 4,835]

Of note, if you are planning to enter by land from Tijuana, the CRBA would be required, but not necessarily the passport.

 

See: https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-724?language=en_US 

 

Quote

When U.S. citizen children under the age of 16 arrive by land or sea from Canada or Mexico they may present an original or copy of their birth certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or a Naturalization Certificate. 

 

Still very valuable to get a passport as soon as feasible though. 

[Mike E 11,739]

3 hours ago, Kyle6811 said:

Even if the crba is slow, it’s not required to enter the USA

Oh dear. 

 

That’s enough for me: I’ve contributed all I can, and I don’t wish to argue or bicker, so I won’t post more in this thread. 

[leeen21 27]

13 hours ago, Kyle6811 said:

Oh Christ! That’s a long time.

 

Fellow TX/MX border resident here, though my commute has only been 45 minutes each way. Advantage of folks like us - we have the opportunity to see our spouses relatively easily during this process, while so many others don't. I tried to focus on that through our journey.

 

Just wanted to give you some hope - though understand that our timeline was much quicker than most others I've seen - and also echo others that have said to get your travel documents in order as quickly as possible.

 

We submitted I-130s (husband + 3 stepdaughters) on June 2, 2022. I sent off the I-129F for K3 a couple weeks after that. Our I-130s were approved on November 12 (5 months).

 

Our NVC stage was super drawn out and not because we wanted it to be, and here is where I will encourage you to always err on the side of caution when it comes to travel documents. We obviously did not expect our I-130s to get approved in 5 months (for most, it takes about a year at least), so my husband didn't have his Mexican passport renewed yet, and my stepdaughters still didn't have Mexican passports -- we (naively) thought we had plenty of time! We also (naively) thought Mexican passports would not take that long to get -- we were wrong. By beginning of April, we finally submitted everything to NVC. At the time, we were kicking ourselves for not getting the passports done right away and wasting precious time.

 

End of April 2023, we were DQ'd at NVC and expected it to be about a year to get our interview scheduled at NVC. Three months later in July, we got the email that our interviews would be in September (5 months from DQ to interview). My husband and one stepdaughter got approved on September 18, and we'll back at CDJ this week for another appointment for the other two stepdaughters (administrative processing).

 

All that to say:

1. Yes, expect it to be a 2+ year process, but also know that it IS possible for things to move more quickly. I have no idea how our I-130s were approved so quickly or how we got an interview scheduled so quickly at CDJ, but it can happen. Be prepared for things to happen at any point. Keep going day by day, and eventually, you'll get to have your family with you on the US side of the border, and I promise you, the wait is so worth it.

 

2. Never assume the length of time it will take for a travel document (in any country) to be processed.