London CR1 / IR1 Appointment Updates

[JacopoBelbo42 2]

5 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

The details for the French birth certificate requirements are here, is this what you have submitted? https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/France.html

 

If you get an interview date that's too early you can reschedule, I think I'd just do that rather than mess around with getting DQ'ed. 

 

Yes we got the BC exactly as they describe in that state department document thingy (we actually used that very link/website you posted and followed what/how to get the BC), both the original one and the new one we are planning on submitting.

 

I read you cannot reschedule your interview until the date for the original one has passed so isn't that a bit risky?  We'd get a too early interview date in say DEC and then have to wait for that to pass to reschedule it and then they could be booked up for months making any interview date we could get too late (like after APR 2025)?  Or do I misunderstand how that works?

 

Basically if someone gets DQ'ed between now and the end of SEP when could they generally expect to get their letter and their interview date?

Edited September 16 by JacopoBelbo42

[tunaqueen25 18]

7 minutes ago, JacopoBelbo42 said:

New User here with question. 

 

My wife (who is French but has lived in the UK for 20 years) and her 3 kids have applied for IR1 visas.  We did the I-130 and have moved on to the NVC stage.

 

We have an attorney who prepared the DS-260s and documents for us in the online portal.  I have paid all the fees and my Affdvt of Support has been accepted (one that went to each of the 4 cases).  Last month the attorney asked us to review and submit the apps and they uploaded all the documents.  The documents for the 3 kids were accepted (AUG 20) but for my Wife her birth certificate was rejected with a message saying:

 

"Please replace this with an acceptable birth certificate from a correct issuing authority. Please use our Document Finder at https://nvc.state.gov/find for acceptable documents guidelines."

 

Which as far as we know we did (got it from the French authority they asked it to be from and even submitted a full certified translation).  We ordered a new one and had it also translated and now here is my question.

 

I think this rejection of her BC while annoying and inscrutable (if anyone has any ideas of why or how to figure out exactly why/what was wrong please let me know) might have been a minor miracle.  Assuming that they are holding up the 3 kids applications for scheduling an interview date because my wife's document acceptance was held up by this rejected BC.  (I mean surely they wouldn't send thru 3 kids to go to an interview on their own without the main applicant right?)

 

Le me explain.  We want to move the family over to the USA in summer of 2025 when the kids are out of school ... so like JUL/AUG of 2025.  From what I understand the visa is only good for 6 months so if our interview and the date of the visa is issued anytime before JAN 2025 we'd be screwed as we'd have to move before summer as the visa would expire before then.  Basically our target move time is JUN-AUG 2025 so our target interview date would be JAN-APR 2025?  (or am I mistaken on that?)

 

All of this our attorney knew but thought the process for getting the letter and the interview date would take like 6 months not the 4 months it seems to be taking from reading the dates people are posting in here.

 

So my question (FINALLY! they all yell at their screens.) is if our goal is to move the family in JUL/AUG of 2025 we will need to get an interview date in JAN/FEB/MAR of 2025 and to get that target date would we be best served to resubmit her BC now in mid-late September or to wait a bit?  Obviously I am not holding anyone to any advice they give I am just looking to confirm or have debunked that this initial rejection of her BC might have secretly been a good thing and fingers crossed the next one we submit is as mysteriously accepted as the other was rejected that will get us our DQ date pretty soon after we send it in?  What sort of DQ date do we need to get the interview date we need to get the move date we need?  When should we have our attorney upload the new BC to the portal?

I can’t speak for French birth certifs, but my husband’s British one was initially denied because it was a short-form version (didn’t contain parents’ names). Neither of us knew there were 2 different versions of the British birth certif. Check the link appleblossom left to double check something as minor as this!!

 

Also to second appleblossom, I say resubmit asap. DQ to interview letter timeframes are increasingly unpredictable. Used to be one month to receive & one month to interview. Recently its been 2-2.5 months to receive and 2 months to interview. It will be damn near 3 months to receive for late June/early July DQ folks. Rescheduling your interview date is possible, so better to DQ asap & reschedule your interview date to a time that works best for your fam!

[appleblossom 2,466]

Just now, JacopoBelbo42 said:

 

Yes we got the BC exactly as they describe in that state department document thingy, both the original one and the new one we are planning on submitting.

 

I read you cannot reschedule your interview until the date for the original one has passed so isn't that a bit risky?  We'd get a too early interview date in say DEC and then have to wait for that to pass to reschedule it and then they could be booked up for months making any interview date we could get too late (like after APR 2025)?  Or do I misunderstand how that works?

 

Basically if someone gets DQ'ed between now and the end of SEP when could they generally expect to get their letter and their interview date?

 

That's odd. I'd print that out then and submit it, pointing out that's what you've already provided! I wonder if they haven't realised her BC is French and are expecting a UK one. 

 

You can reschedule before, if you search the forums you'll find info on that. If you were DQ'ed now I'd expect an IL November ish as a rough guide, interview in December - that's assuming they speed up a bit once the DV visas are all issued. 

 

Is travelling in Easter hols an option to enter before the visas expire? And then move properly later once you're ready? If not then you need to either delay things but that's also risky in case processing times lengthen, or just try and reschedule the interview to a time that suits.

 

Good luck. 

[JacopoBelbo42 2]

2 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

That's odd. I'd print that out then and submit it, pointing out that's what you've already provided! I wonder if they haven't realised her BC is French and are expecting a UK one. 

 

You can reschedule before, if you search the forums you'll find info on that. If you were DQ'ed now I'd expect an IL November ish as a rough guide, interview in December - that's assuming they speed up a bit once the DV visas are all issued. 

 

Is travelling in Easter hols an option to enter before the visas expire? And then move properly later once you're ready? If not then you need to either delay things but that's also risky in case processing times lengthen, or just try and reschedule the interview to a time that suits.

 

Good luck. 

 

Unfortunately this whole process has drained our finances pretty good (with more to come from things like the Medicals from what I hear) so 4 sets of plane tickets in Spring and then 4 more to move in Summer isn't really possible and we are trying to minimize the disruption for the kids by moving them in the Summer so they can finish school one place and start again here pretty close to on normal school schedules.

 

What do you mean by "speed up a bit once the DV visas are all issued"?  I shouldn't expect the DQ'ed to Interview timeframe to continue to be about 2 mo (letter) + 2 mo (Intv Dt)?

 

Your guess is as good as mine on the BC rejection thing.  And the message is less than useless ... I mean tell a person WHAT/WHY you think it was invalid for Odin's sake!

 

I hadn't seen that this forum had info on how to reschedule and that you could do it before your original Interview Date passed, thanks for the tip I will try to find that info.

[Crazy Cat 41,823]

OK.  I think I have it remerged back to the original location.

[appleblossom 2,466]

45 minutes ago, JacopoBelbo42 said:

 

Unfortunately this whole process has drained our finances pretty good (with more to come from things like the Medicals from what I hear) so 4 sets of plane tickets in Spring and then 4 more to move in Summer isn't really possible and we are trying to minimize the disruption for the kids by moving them in the Summer so they can finish school one place and start again here pretty close to on normal school schedules.

 

What do you mean by "speed up a bit once the DV visas are all issued"?  I shouldn't expect the DQ'ed to Interview timeframe to continue to be about 2 mo (letter) + 2 mo (Intv Dt)?

 

Your guess is as good as mine on the BC rejection thing.  And the message is less than useless ... I mean tell a person WHAT/WHY you think it was invalid for Odin's sake!

 

I hadn't seen that this forum had info on how to reschedule and that you could do it before your original Interview Date passed, thanks for the tip I will try to find that info.

 

Yes, medicals aren't cheap - and green card fees too of course. Add in the cost of the move as well, rental deposits, etc, etc, and it certainly adds up! From a parent point of view though, depending on their ages and if they have vital exams (GCSE's etc), you could consider just moving when you get the visas. We moved last July and actually it wasn't great, as the kids don't have anybody to hang out with in the school holidays so it was a very long and boring wait for them to start school. Whereas if they started in April time, they'd have friends by the time summer vacation rolls around. It was also a pain for things like getting their school medicals done, as everybody else had already booked all the slots. Just a few practical things from our experience anyway - but it maybe wouldn't be the worst thing if you did go sooner. 

 

It used to be 2 months (ish) from DQ to interview date, it's a bit longer than normal now. So it may well get faster again, but of course could go the other way, just no way of knowing. 

 

Best of luck. 

Edited September 16 by appleblossom

[TriniToUS 1]

Hello joined this thread as it seems to be the most up to date. My husband and daughter are US citizens and I am awaiting my Interview Letter for London where we resided at the time of application. We were DQ'd on July 24th. Hoping that we get an October date early November date soon so we can be in the US in time for Christmas. My daughter is 19 months and we would like  to carry her with us to interview that way once approved (fingers crossed) we can all head to the US as a unit. Has anyone had any experience or thoughts about carrying children to the interview? 

 

Thank you so much to everyone that has been sharing their journey on here. It's been much help and comfort in this uncertain time.

Edited September 16 by TriniToUS

[appleblossom 2,466]

43 minutes ago, TriniToUS said:

Hello joined this thread as it seems to be the most up to date. My husband and daughter are US citizens and I am awaiting my Interview Letter for London where we resided at the time of application. We were DQ'd on July 24th. Hoping that we get an October date early November date soon so we can be in the US in time for Christmas. My daughter is 19 months and we would like  to carry her with us to interview that way once approved (fingers crossed) we can all head to the US as a unit. Has anyone had any experience or thoughts about carrying children to the interview? 

 

Thank you so much to everyone that has been sharing their journey on here. It's been much help and comfort in this uncertain time.

 

You can take her if you wish, just bear in mind it can be quite a long day - you could be there for many hours. We got there at about 9.30am for our 10am interview slot, we weren't done until 3pm or so. So it may be easier to leave her with family/friends if you can, but your call. 

 

Good luck. 

[MaegZ0322 18]

2 hours ago, JacopoBelbo42 said:

 

Unfortunately this whole process has drained our finances pretty good (with more to come from things like the Medicals from what I hear) so 4 sets of plane tickets in Spring and then 4 more to move in Summer isn't really possible and we are trying to minimize the disruption for the kids by moving them in the Summer so they can finish school one place and start again here pretty close to on normal school schedules.

 

What do you mean by "speed up a bit once the DV visas are all issued"?  I shouldn't expect the DQ'ed to Interview timeframe to continue to be about 2 mo (letter) + 2 mo (Intv Dt)?

 

Your guess is as good as mine on the BC rejection thing.  And the message is less than useless ... I mean tell a person WHAT/WHY you think it was invalid for Odin's sake!

 

I hadn't seen that this forum had info on how to reschedule and that you could do it before your original Interview Date passed, thanks for the tip I will try to find that info.

 

I don't know where you are flying to in the states but Norse Airlines have super cheap tickets.  They are no frills but I got tickets for myself and my 3 children for £1400 one way.  I chose the middle price option as it included a carry on, a checked bag, underseat bag, and a meal.   We then added more checked baggage for a total of 10 checked bags and priortiy boarding.  That was from Gatwick to New City.   Our final destination was Pennsylvania.  If you only have one checked bag, you can book a flight from NY to your destination but as we had 10 checked bags, that would have been way too expensive.  So I bought 4 Amtrak tickets and with all our baggage was about $200USD.  We did have to stay in a hotel $311USD but we did choose a 4* only becuase it was right across the street from the train station.   I forgot to add, I paid for a private driver mini bus service to our hotel.  That was about $240USD.   All in, we paid about £2100 and it was an adventure!  Our train journey was 8 hours but we loved it!   If I were to divide that up between 4 people, that is £600 each.    We paid for all this from selling things that we couldn't bring with us so not a penny came out of our bank account.   We did stay the night at The Bloc Hotel right in the airport and got the rooms that had the runway views.  That was out of our account but a great last night treat in the UK.  It also meant, we were already at the airport, you only had to take the lift down to check your bags in and then security.  The Bloc Hotel gives all passengers fast track security passes as well.

 

My husband is flying over for a visit in Dec. and his round trip ticket with BA is about £1000.  I'm sure there are some good deals out there but thought I would share what we did to save.  Norse doesn't have the best reputation but we were 100% happy with the service but it just depends on where you are flying to.

[Deker1972 25]

Just got my IL, DQ'd July 3rd, interview Nov 1st

[tunaqueen25 18]

On 9/2/2024 at 10:38 AM, andrea804 said:

Thanks so much for your reply!  That makes me feel better. I did tell them my best guess at the moment would be mid November. Fingers crossed we get our interview letters soon! Let me know when you get yours, I'll do the same! 

Hey!! did you receive your letter today?? I received mine today!

[MSShpr 0]

Received our IL today. 9 am London time. DQ July 1st

[dallen 2]

Just received IL today - 4 November. Unfortunately the date is the only day we can't attend due to my brother's wedding in the States. I have looked online but we are unable to register yet I am assuming it takes a couple of days to get into the system, but once it does will the portal allow you to move the date? Additionally, if we decide to go ahead with the 4th, do they take my husbands passport?? Thank you! 

[TriniToUS 1]

Hello Everyone, 

 

Just coming in to share that we got our IL today, praise God!:

DQ'd July 24th 

IL received: 18th September

Interview Date: 15th November

 

It has me as applicant to attend the interview but doesn't state my husband who is the petitioner. Is it that he cannot attend?

 

Hoping everyone else gets their letters soon! 

[TriniToUS 1]

On 9/16/2024 at 3:55 PM, appleblossom said:

 

You can take her if you wish, just bear in mind it can be quite a long day - you could be there for many hours. We got there at about 9.30am for our 10am interview slot, we weren't done until 3pm or so. So it may be easier to leave her with family/friends if you can, but your call. 

 

Good luck. 

Thank you so much for your guidance. This is very helpful.

5 hours ago, tunaqueen25 said:

Hey!! did you receive your letter today?? I received mine today!

Congrats on getting your letter! You've been a huge help with your posts so praying all goes well for you and your family!