DCF in Tbilisi with my Ukrainian wife (exceptional circumstance)

[Rukavetchka 0]

Quick question: 

 

Has anyone had experience like ours where they were asked to mail the i-130 and other docs instead of deliver them? If so, how long was it before you receieved the next contact? I would expect it should take them at least some days to review the i-130 and make sure everything is clearly approvable, and it seems like with the people who hand-delivered documents that was about a week. 

[Boiler 45,294]

You are the first one I have seen In Georgia

[Rukavetchka 0]

Update: 

 

we received a case number and the invitation to schedule an interview! 
 

now, I have some questions. I’m confused by the order of operations here. 
 

what do I do first? Complete ds-260? Schedule the interview? Schedule the medical exam? 

the email I received tells me to email to schedule a visa appointment once I’ve “reviewed” the requirements - I guess that will probably be the first step? 

[Rukavetchka 0]

Update! My spouse attended the interview today. She was in the consulate a total of about 3 hours. 
 

seems everything has gone well, except that they asked us for one more documents. 
 

apparently, Georgia is peculiar in that there is more than one police certification that needs to be requested - this information isn’t listed on the embassy website. 
 

They gave us back my wife’s passport (because we would need it to get a copy of the second police cert), and instructed us to send the police certificate along with her passport by courier. 
 

we managed the certificate within a couple hours and sent everything to the consulate.

 

Only one thing was strange: I sent my wife with enough cash to cover all the fees plus some extra. But they only charged her for the i130 and the family-based visa app. So only around 1000. Is that normal? 

 

 

[powerpuff 6,598]

NVC fees are waived when filing directly with the consulate.

 

[Rukavetchka 0]

Update: 

 

still haven’t heard anything from the consulate since delivering the passport to them. With DCF process will the visa status usually still be updated on the CEAC website? Ours still just says “ready for interview” even though we already had the interview. 
 

today is the 7th business day since they received it.

[Rukavetchka 0]

Update - tried to email the consulate to at least confirm the receipt of the documents (after seeing how the ‘FedEx’ office in Tbilisi is operated, believe me you would want to check also 😅) 

 

just received a generic response about administrative processing and nothing else.
 

now the actually start date for the job is quickly approaching (September 15) and it looks like I’ll have to ask my new boss to delay my start - I’m definitely not going to travel without my wife.

 

Not ideal; and very frustrating considering that the consulate seems to know very well that this is a common issue with police certificate in Georgia, but make no special mention that 2 different types are actually needed from police here, either on the local consulate website or in the interview preparation email..

 

so, we have no choice but to wait and hope that we move quickly from AP to issued. 

 

[Rukavetchka 0]

Looks like we will have to delay the start of my new job - there is no way I’m going to fly to the US and leave my wife here in a foreign country without a visa and without a passport! 
 

I emailed my senator to contact the state department as well. 
 

Hopefully his team can manage to get some answers why they have kept her passport for 3 weeks just to process one simple document! 

[Rukavetchka 0]

We heard back from our senator: 

 

They just received boilerplate about the case being in administrative processing. The case has been in AP for over a month already 
 

it looks like I have no choice but to leave the country without my wife and there is no telling how long AP could last. 
 

I don’t think it’s about just the one missing document, but I have no idea what it could be. My wife lived in the US before for more than a year - she had no interactions with the law, always stayed legally, worked, paid taxes, etc - we were married inside the US, neither of us have ever been married before. They haven’t asked us for further interviews, or questions, or documents.

 

at the interview the officer stated that she just needed to submit the one document and it shouldn’t take long. I guess something changed.

[TBoneTX 45,014]

Fingers crossed for you.  Keep the updates coming.

[Rukavetchka 0]

I arrived in the US alone to start my new job - Case hasn’t been updated on ceac since the 16th. Now at about 40 days since the interview and they still have her passport.

 

of course no explanation of anything, only the original request for the police certificate from the interview. 
 

my wife is starting to get very nervous that she won’t be approved, or that approval can take 6 months or a year in this unknown condition.

 

 

[Rukavetchka 0]

I’m just curious, does anyone have any speculation about what could be the reason for the long AP? 
 

a little more background

 

my wife is Ukrainian, she’s traveled to US twice before. Once for work many years ago, maybe 2016, for 2 weeks. 
 

her sister is a naturalized citizen living in the US for 10 years, although her sister did stay illegally before later becoming a citizen
 

in 2022 she came to the US under U4U along with both her parents. Both parents now hold green cards.

 

in 2023 we were married in the US, and changed her name on her social security card to match my last name, but all other documents are still in her maiden name. 
 

at the end of 2023 we flew together to republic of Georgia, planning to live our lives there (not in US) for the next few years. Life circumstances changed at home, and also the political environment has become worrying a bit, so we decided to relocate

 

again applied for U4U, travel not authorized. Applied once more just to see if it was related to the sponsor or the name change, no response. Then I got the job offer which is the basis of our DCF filing. 

 

She never violated any laws in the US. Has a completely clean background. never married before. She’s a dance instructor and a yoga teacher so it’s obviously not career related. 
 

the only things I can think of:

 

- the name change, and the mismatch between name on passport and name in SS card? 
 

- the fact that her sister had an illegal stay a decade ago? 
 

- or finally, perhaps it’s something related to me? Though I’m not sure what. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rukavetchka 0]

Monday will be 60 days of admin processing. I’m going to write them again and ask my senators office to inquire once more as well. 
 

There is no way I’ll stay separated from my wife for more than a couple months so I’ll have to make some decisions soon 

Edited October 15 by Rukavetchka

[Rukavetchka 0]

I wrote to USTraveldocs again, and they obviously didn’t even read my message and just replied with “you should schedule your interview” since our status says “ready for interview” 

 

I wrote them back to remind them we already had the interview and we are now 60+ days in AP, then just received a boilerplate response about AP.

 

The incompetence isn’t surprising but it is frustrating.

[Rukavetchka 0]

Does anybody he have any idea whether asking the consulate to return the passport to my wife could have any negative outcome? Since she’s not “issued” yet, my wife and I might like to travel somewhere together.

 

i assume they would just ask us to submit it again when her AP is finished?

 

Since I relocated for my new job, I have no connections to Georgia so would prefer to spend time somewhere else.