Anyone else currently waiting on I-601 approval from London?

[annasherwood 0]

Welcome to the madhouse ... I mean waiting room! It will probably take a few weeks for your case to show up on the page kindly linked to above by Waiting Wanda, mine took about 6 weeks. Since mine appeared on that page I have been waiting 16 weeks and have still heard nothing. 11 cases so far in October is still painfully slow, but you gotta keep smiling, right?

wow, Rinkle, you're on 22 weeks???? oh lord, that's really horrible...i had visions of getting out of here in 12-15 weeks (like they told my husband at the embassy)...*sigh* does it make any difference what your waiver is for (a more complicated case, one with jailtime, perhaps taking longer)? Ours is just a 'simple' one-off cannabis possession from 11 years ago...

Anna

[Rinkle 0]

Hi Anna,

The Embassy originally told me 12-15 weeks also, but that timeline doesn't start until they acknowledge receipt of your paperwork which can take another 6-8 weeks. I have tried going through my lawyer and my congressman to find out eaxctly what is going on but they just say not to believe any timelines put out by the Embassy. It makes no difference what the waiver has been requested for. As long as you have a good case and you have well documented waiver letters, etc I'm sure you'll be ok ... I know it's just hard to wait.

Nick

[annasherwood 0]

Hi Anna,

The Embassy originally told me 12-15 weeks also, but that timeline doesn't start until they acknowledge receipt of your paperwork which can take another 6-8 weeks. I have tried going through my lawyer and my congressman to find out eaxctly what is going on but they just say not to believe any timelines put out by the Embassy. It makes no difference what the waiver has been requested for. As long as you have a good case and you have well documented waiver letters, etc I'm sure you'll be ok ... I know it's just hard to wait.

Nick

i've had a horrible day, and i am so sick of England (no offense intended) and have been in tears since about 4pm and now to hear that it might take over 5 months to get out of here has just sunk me to new lows...i'm beginning to despair, as much as i try to be bright and cheerful around my other half, i just feel like i can't stay here anymore----i want to go home; i hate it here...

sorry for the rant, and i apologise to any Brits reading this, but it's getting dire...

Anna

[jpkeswim 0]

HELLO ANNA

I HEAR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING ABOUT GETTING OUT OF HERE! I HAVE BEEN HERE NOW FOR 1.5 YEARS AND I AM SO READY TO LEAVE. NOW I AM HAVING MY FIRST BORN OVER HERE AS WELL, WHICH WE DIDN'T INTEND ON! ONLY BENEFIT IS THAT HE WILL HAVE LOTS OF HEALTH ISSUES AND IT HAS WORKED OUT GREAT AND THE DOCTORS AND NURSES HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL! NOW WE JUST HAVE TO HAVE THE OUR BABY AND I WILL SEE IF I SAY THE SAME STILL!

WE ARE WAITING FOR OUR 601 ALSO! WE HAVE BEEN ON THE LIST SINCE SEPT. 13TH NOW! NO SIGN OF EVEN MOVING FROM 'PENDING' TO 'UNDER REVIEW'. WE JUST HOPE TO KNOW SOMETHING BY THE END OF THE YEAR. FINGERS CROSSED AND THAT IT IS POSITIVE NEWS!!!!

[annasherwood 0]

i'm sorry to hear your little one will be having a hard time; i guess i should be grateful for what i have, altho it doesn't feel like much at the moment...i can't have kids and we aren't able to adopt here in the UK so i want to get home to america asap to start that process...it feels like my whole life is on hold, and all because he got caught with less than 30grams of cannabis 11 years ago...12 million illegal immigrants in the country and we have to go through this ###### (excuse my french)...

i've been here for 7 years and have just about had it; i want to go home where there is parking and people drive normally and it isn't dark at 3 in the afternoon and people are friendly...i just want to go home

i hope you have an easy delivery and baby is happier than you're expecting...

anna

[WaitingWanda 0]

We've finally got the GREAT news. APPROVED!!

Took exactly 15 weeks from when they first posted it on the website and 16 from when they recieved it.

Just so your not panicking if you're 'completed' but haven't heard anything yet, ours was posted it as completed last Tuesday the package still hasn't arrived at the embassy in Dublin (week later) and no one has called us.

By Friday we couldn't contain ourselves any longer and rang Dublin who knew nothing about it and then UCSIS in London where they confirmed it had been approved.

Finally yesterday I was sent a letter through our lawyer so a relief to have it in writing.

I really really hope everyone here gets theirs soon. It really is a hellish wait.

Any news Rinkle?

[Rinkle 0]

Wow, fantastic news for you guys!

Still no news on my case. What date was your paperwork received by the Embassy in London?

[WaitingWanda 0]

Welcome to the madhouse ... I mean waiting room! It will probably take a few weeks for your case to show up on the page kindly linked to above by Waiting Wanda, mine took about 6 weeks. Since mine appeared on that page I have been waiting 16 weeks and have still heard nothing. 11 cases so far in October is still painfully slow, but you gotta keep smiling, right?

[WaitingWanda 0]

Thanks for the congrats Rinkle. Hope your not too disheartened - you've definitely got to be in the next week or so. The toughest place I know...

Embassy in London said in the approval letter that they'd recieved it on July 12. They posted it for the first time on July 20th I think, so it would have been 15 or 16 weeks from when they actually got it.

But who knows.

We've been monitoring all the cases every time they change it and a couple have just appeared, stayed at pending for two or three weeks and then gone to completed, while others have been 'under review' or 'pending' since we got on.

Anna, I hope you're feeling better. Completely understand the gauntlet of emotions this stuff throws up.

Hang in there. It does end.

[jpkeswim 0]

Congrats Anna

Glad you finally get to move forward and move back to the states! That is the news that we are hoping for as well. I think we are only on about week 8 though. We just hope to hear something by the end of the year. Baby will need a operation so as long as it is a positive and we know we can move back we will be ecstatic!

Our first wait is for me to give birth. I would rather do it in the states but since my husband can't be with me we have opted for us just to have it here.

Well congrats again!

Keep us posted!!!!

[WaitingWanda 0]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for the waiver and the baby. What an exciting time (though worrying too no doubt).

Just as info, we never went to 'under review' went straight to 'completed' from 'pending'.

Many of them don't seem to go to under review so don't think you're getting left behind!

[annasherwood 0]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for the waiver and the baby. What an exciting time (though worrying too no doubt).

Just as info, we never went to 'under review' went straight to 'completed' from 'pending'.

Many of them don't seem to go to under review so don't think you're getting left behind!

congratulations, Wanda (no longer Waiting Wanda)!!!!!

i'm feeling marginally better, altho still feeling very hard done by that i will probably have to wait until April or May to get home...

still waiting for them to update the online list; any idea how often they update it? we posted our waiver paperwork 11 days ago...

Anna

[mac17 0]

Advise Please, we submitted our I601 paper work to London on 14/10/07, the payment was taken on 24/10/07 but we haven't received anything back from the embassy nor is our application on the status list on the website. Does anyone know if the sixteen weeks processing time is from when the payment is taken or from when your application appears on the status list.

Fingers crossed for all of us waiting!!

[WaitingWanda 0]

Sounds like you two are both on a similar time frame.

The updating seems to be sporadic. A big flurry of activity and then nothing for weeks. But sometimes they update on a Monday or Tuesday, so maybe tomorrow?

We got 'put up' about a week after filing but only becasue they happened to update the website shortly after receiving our paperwork. And we never recieved a reciept of application at all so I wouldn't worry about that once you're on the board...

Off to the embassy Tuesday so fingers crossed it all goes well...

[annasherwood 0]

is that common practice then, Wanda, to have to go to the Embassy after approval? Do they not just send you a visa? or do they have to check your paperwork again?

Good luck!!!!!!

Anna