US Immigration from South Africa

Hello Everyone,

When do i get the invoice ID number? I have the case number already but i do not see the invoice number. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

So my fiance is preparing to sell his goods and pack up the essentials to move to the US, and the one string creating any amount of concern is the SABC tv license.

In South Africa, any resident in possession of a television has to pay the government a little over 200 ZAR a year for the privilege. Although a pittance, if left unchecked there are horror stories of nonpayment schedules affecting credit and adding you to a blacklist. The SABC attests that it is very easy to cancel the license and one needs only to submit an affidavit attesting to you no longer owning a TV, or that you've immigrated to another country. However, depending on the conditions that make you exempt, the varied means of documenting that the license doesn't apply to you is ridiculously complex, and seems to be ignored--unsurprisingly.

So, I'd love to hear from Saffers who have immigrated to the US. Did you successfully cancel your license? Have you heard the nightmare scenarios, and just continue to pay the ZA government from abroad just to avoid the headache? Would love to hear what everyone else has done, to mitigate this red-tape nonsense.

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadcasting/542491-how-to-cancel-your-tv-licence-4.html

Hi everyone:

I'm trying to get my state senator's help with our case being stuck at NVC but I keep being told 'only expedites and only in life or death situations'.

We just want some assistance in investigating reasons for the delay. Has anyone talked to their state/district reps to get assistance other than an expedite, or even an expedite OTHER than a medical emergency? How did you go about it?

Thank you so much for your advice.

NO idea if this applies to our situation, but someone planted the bug in my brain so I have to ask:

Our case is seated at NVC now for 15 weeks and during that time, we were issued two NOA2s, the dates updated in the second issuance two months later. Someone suggested to me that this might be grounds for expediting the case, if USCIS made some kind of error. I have no idea how that would be applied to a case at the NVC, but I am curious if this theory has legs. We are looking for any reason to get our case picked to go to the consulate. Been over this so many times on these forums that I feel like a broken record, but watching other K1s head to our embassy after shorter times at NVC, has set me on wanting to explore every possible option to move this along.

FYI, our first NOA2 expires next week, and the later NOA2 is through mid-September, so I don't even know if I need to contact the embassy to extend. It's just a weird situation but if there's a legitimate expedite request in there, we want to submit it.

Long story short, my fianc and I have our approved K1 petition sitting at NVC with a case number issued. It has been almost fourteen weeks (over three months) since it arrived there. Our consulate in South Africa/Johannesburg has been requesting cases and receiving shipments every fortnight, many of these cases being sent only having sat at NVC for 3-4 weeks. Speaking with the approved couples (also K1 visas), they do not meet any expedite criteria, and are simply being selected before us.

My question is, in pursuing communication with the NVC through their inquiry form, is there a recommended way to convey to them that if there is no issue with our case, we would like ours sent in the batch next week? I am thinking about how to construct this so I can send it out tomorrow, and would love other members' feedback on their attempts to move their case from NVC and what (potentially) worked for them.

Currently, I am thinking case number + principal applicant name + date of NOA2 issuance (5 March 2024) at the top. The rest of the text would be something like:

"We were informed that our consulate in Johannesburg is requesting shipments from NVC. We request that our case be added to the next shipment, and a K1-FTP letter issued to the petitioner, <insert my full name and email>.

The principal applicant, <insert his full name> has all supporting documents and is ready to schedule a medical appointment. He is also ready to travel to the appointment in Johannesburg at the earliest convenience of the consulate. Thank you for your assistance in advancing our case."

Thoughts? We appreciate any constructive feedback. The inquiry is being submitted, unless someone can provide proof that it might hurt our chances of our case being sent for some reason.