US Immigration from South Africa

Hey all:

Can someone clarify the best way someone immigrating can deal with existing prescriptions? My fiance has a blood pressure med he takes, and is going to see his GP this week in advance of his visa medical. He'd like to know what kind of refills to ask for, if any.

I will be adding him to my medical plan after we get married of course, but will he be okay bringing a couple months' supply overseas to tie him over until we can get his new doc/prescription set up stateside?

Hey all!

Big props to @XCindyX on brainstorming shared knowledge to come up with this little additional search method.

In the Google Drive information for each monthly timeline post, it was shared how to dissect NVC case numbers. Please correct me if I've misinterpreted this for cases later in the year with three digit Julian dates, but the formula seems to be this: Embassy code + year of case creation + Julian date the case number was assigned, plus 500 + case position.

To put into an example, if my case was assigned for the Johannesburg embassy in 2024 on April 1st (Julian date 92), and my case is first to be assigned a number on that day, my case would be JHN2024-592-001 (minus the dashes, just showing how the formula breaks down).

Why is this useful to know? Well it may help to understand that all visa cases sent to the embassies from the NVC, fit this formula. It's not just K1/CR1. Since we have the visa statistics from the Department of State website to show just how many visas of each type are processed monthly at each embassy, we can estimate how many a given embassy will accept and issue.

Granted it is entirely a guessing game to figure out which days the NVC issued case numbers for any particular embassy but at the very least, I was able to easily figure out what the statuses were for other cases on my day alone. Thinking I was in a good position in eighth for my day (008 at the end of my case), a quick search showed me that there is not 009 or above, meaning my case was in dead last for my date.

Searching my case number and altering the last three digits to 001-007, I additionally learned that I'm not alone in waiting. Initially our three month wait at NVC made me think that there was something specifically wrong with us; at the very least, this confirmed that there were a variety of statuses for the same wait time. Of the eight of us, three cases were ready and two were in transit. Our case and two others (positions 003 and 004) were still sitting at NVC.

Again the whole process is incessantly opaque, but what this at least attempts to do is demonstrate how complex the selection process can be. Factoring in all the visa types/priorities/regional quotas, it is difficult to read when a visa case will move out of the NVC. But we're all in this process together, and where our case sits ultimately is at the whims of many factors, all requiring patience and hope that we'll break the line soon.

Hey all:

I just got another NOA2 in the mail. We received the first one the first week of March, Notice date 3/1/24, valid from 3/1-6/30.

The new one has a new notice date of 5/8, valid until 9/7.

Is this normal? What does it mean? Is there a duplicate case at the NVC? Is this just them getting a jump on an extension, halfway through the validity dates for some reason? How does this affect our timeline? No other updates have been sent from USCIS or NVC.

Thanks for any info.

Hey all:

I sent the Johannesburg consulate an email today, after waiting ten weeks "at NVC"; South Africa has a notorious reputation for its government agencies taking forever to process forms. I understand that the consulate is run by Americans, but I have my misgivings about how things are going in Jo-Berg. I kept it simple: status inquiry, any word on backlogs for K1 visa interview times or needed extensions beyond the four month window on the I-797. Case number, petitioner name, beneficiary name, our emails.

Been doing the DHL hack and saw something move to Jo-Berg at the end of April; nothing for this week, sadly. Which is what prompted me to poke the consulate. GENTLY.

Anyone work with Johannesberg who can give advice on communicating with them? Can poking go too far? I want to avoid any setbacks to the process if our case is blackmarked for us being nags lol! I did search similar timelines but nobody using Jo-Berg for K1s who got their NOA2s in this calendar year have reported an interview date. The last one was December 2023* (with the interview in March, but I digress).

Even if it's been a few years, I'd love to hear from folks who have successfully navigated Johannesburg.

I just filed for my n400, Who can be sure of the wait time line.. What is the amount of time to wait for the interview and what are the interview questions. Any help will go a long way. Thank you guys...