raynlyd

It seems biometrics schedule comes pretty quick, as soon as uscis sends notice of action.

The real waiting game is however, between the biometrics and the interview. 

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knows whether the estimated duration on the USCIS accurate? 

Filed: online

Filed on: 02/04/2019

Biometrics on: 02/26/2019

USCIS office: Los Angeles

Spouse origin: Sydney, Australia

Also, how do you show those statuses and dates at the bottom of your posts? Can anyone point me in the right direction. Thanks.

Hi Julie O,

My wife is also facing a similar situation. They scheduled her interview in sydney for this upcoming dec 3.

However her middle name shown on birth certificate is longer than that is shown on ther IDs, driver license and passport.

Basically, they cut short her middle name because it was too long.

Quick question for you, hopefully you're still following this...

After the lady at the counter told you that you need name change certificate, did they still call you for the interview? I feel like I'm missing part of the story here...

Thanks for the info.

I got a notification from NVC yesterday. It says that I have to fill out DS260...

I'm getting very annoyed. I hope this doesn't push back the processing time...

calygirl,

I don't really understand your timeline at NVC, in particular here:

08/01/13: AOS Checklist - Grrr! (16 Business Days)
08/02/13: AOS Checklist Sent
08/07/13: AOS Checklist Received
08/09/13: IV Package accepted (15 Business Days)
08/29/13: AOS Package accepted (17 Business Days)

What does AOS checklist mean? How come it says AOS package received on 7/11/13, but there's another one on 8/29/13?

I'm concerned there's some steps that I missed.

Thanks

Hi, everyone...

I am yet another confused beneficiary trying to figure out this police certificate business. I went and did my fingerprint check last week at my local police station here in Sydney, but they said they don't give me the results but send them straight to the consulate. I am confused now, because from what I have read below you guys sent your police certificate to NVC?

I know exactly what you are talking about. Waited 5 months to receive a notice that the case has been transferred to TSC from VSC and then waited another month to get approved and now going into a third week after approval and the case still is sitting with USCIS. No idea what we are paying for. I have sent an e-mail yesterday to NVC inquiry and NVC Research and have yet to hear back anything. I am in process of contacting our Congressman and Senator. May be you should try that too, although not sure if they will be of any help...

My timeline:

-Our petition was approved on May 29 and they said that NVC should receive within 15 business days.

-I contacted NVC June 17 and they told me to send an email to nvcresearch.

-July 3 I received an email response from NVD saying that it takes up to 8 weeks. I immediately made the call to USCIS and they said that as of June 17 the case was still at L.A. local office. On the same day I contacted my congressman about my case.

-The congress' aide contacted me last friday (July 12) that USCIS just mailed it to NVC.

So I don't even know what the actual processing time is. Not sure why some reps at NVC said 15 while DOS website and the email response I got from NVC was 8 weeks.

Waiting sucks and I feel you guys...

We were approved on May 29, 2013 and received the NOA2 a few days after.

First I was told to wait 15 days and when I called on the 16th day, they told me to wait 30 days. It's been longer than 30 days so I called NVC, AGAIN, and they told me that they don't have the case yet.

Frustrated, I called the USCIS to find out what's going on. Here's what I did:

I called the USCIS and asked to speak to level-2 Immigration Officer. I asked them specifically when was my Case File sent or when did it leave USCIS. They were able to find out that as of June 17 the Case File was still at USCIS, and not sure where it is now.

Anxious and angry, I contacted 2 of my senators and congresswoman. Congresswoman's liaison received the request and contacted me. We'll see what happens...

Thank you so much. This is a very good suggestion...

We will try to have her come with me. As of now, she is scheduled to leave the day before the interview. We've been trying to reschedule for a different departure date, but she's been put on the waiting list. Does anyone else know what to do with this?

I'm not concerned if we can't proof marriage (I do have lots of joint accounts and financial statements), I'm just wondering why did USCIS want my wife present....

Hello all,

I was wondering if any of you had any experience with our case.

We initiated and submitted paperwork for I130 on November 2012. My spouse is an Australian and she visits L.A. once in awhile on VWP.

I submitted pictures, some joint financial resources, etc, and was worried that they required RFE. However, since I haven't heard anything from USCIS, I contacted my congressman and they contacted USCIS two weeks ago.

Today, I received a letter from USCIS that requested my presence for an interview on May 29. The notice says that I and my beneficiary must appear for the interview.

She happens to be here on VWP -- she came here on March and is supposed to leave on May 28.

The questions are:

1. Do I really need to have her with me?

2. Why are they asking for an interview?

Thanks again for the help...

On point one... if you had gone/do go the K1 route, and she happened to make it to the US in order to have your wedding in December (being honest...I don't think she would make it there by Dec)... you kinda have to AOS after that. If she didn't, and then left the country (say in March to attend a very important family thingamajig), then she would be deemed to have abandoned her application for permanent residency and you would have to start all over again with the CR-1.

Yes you got it!!

Basically we made wedding arrangements for December based on the wrong "projection/assumption." We didn't think that the K1 process would take this long. Money has been sunk for down payments and we don't want it to go to waste.

proof of ties to Australia (for example, lease, car loan, letter from employer stating date she has to return by,etc) just in case, although in all likelyhood she wont be asked for any of it.

In her previous many visits, she was never asked for it. Would she be asked for it since we're processing K1?

Even if she is getting married, stating that she is visiting her fiance, is not lying either. Of course, if they asked straight out 'Are you getting married?" then of course she needs to be truthful!

I guess if she was asked "are you getting married" she could answer "no" and in order to be consistent with her "no" statement we could do the civil registry in Sydney (or Bali). Would this pose any problems?

4. No, it shouldn't raise a red flag, During the course of my relationship, I told the CBP that I was visiting a friend, my boyfriend, my fiance and my husband (all the one person in case you're wondering lol.) And I had much the same travel history as your fiancee - 5 trips in about 2 and a half years. Just curious... had she been coming to visit you on all those previous trips too?

Yes. The past 2.5 years she's been coming to visit me.

In addition she was home-schooled with US curriculum during high school, so during 2000-2003 she and her family used to come to the US yearly for some conference and standardized test.

THERE.... I think I answered your questions lol. WIsh I could be succint and give concise answers like Pushbrk but I just can't lol.

Thank you sooo much... Your advice and inputs have been really beneficial. If you're ever in LA, drinks on us!

I honestly am confused as to why the US has to be so tight with Australians or even Canadians.

I mean, it's not like the Australians are coming here to look for job when the unemployment rate in Australia or Canada is half that of the US?

Sorry... that was just me ranting my frustration...

I voted yes coz if you are smart enough then why not, we sure could use more genuises here in USA

We already have a lot of geniuses that work for Goldman Sachs and other institutions, whose jobs are to create weapons of mass financial destruction, as evident in the collapse of 2007.

Sorry for the double post. I forgot one more question:

4. The last time she was here they asked her what's her intention and she answered that "she's visiting her boyfriend."

Now that we are engaged and processing a "fiance" visa, she can no longer say that she's visiting her boyfriend.

Will this raise a red flag?

Anyway guys, thank you very much for the advice and inputs thus far. When this is all done, if any of you are in LA, I'd take you guys out for a drink.

If this helps here are some things I did not post that could probably shed a little bit more light:

1. We are not going to apply for AOS. She needs to be out of the country in march to attend a very important family thingamajig.

2. We have made arrangements for a wedding reception and holy matrimony in December because we thought the K1 would be done by November/December.

3. She has substantial travel history to US. The past 3 years she's been here 5 times without overstay.

Questions:

1. Suppose she wants to come next month, how will the CBP view the fact that we have K1 in process and a wedding reception and holy matrimony in December? Does this show enough proof that she does not intend to stay, but intends to follow the rules?

2. Suppose she comes next month to get married (civil only) and leave, but returns in December for our wedding (church and reception). When she comes here in December, how would the CBP sees the fact that we got married the last time she came here on VWP?

3. What is this 30/60 rule that someone mentioned to me? Is it true that in order to make it look like a "spur of the moment" marriage, we'd have to wait 30 or 60 days?

Also, about coming here on VWP while CR1 on process.

Could we use my fiance's substantial travel history to US as proof of ties to Australia (about 3 times on avg the past 3 years, and without overstay)?

What does your common sense tell you?

Well I'm leaning toward number 2... that's just me. I was just wondering if anyone else has other opinions.

Anyway, I asked an immigration lawyer if she could come here on VW while CR1 is in process, and this is what she says:

The easiest way would be to stay here and adjust as an immediate relative.

If she is going back and forth on a visa waiver, there may be an intent issue if she is coming just to get married so she must show an abundance of temporary intent at the border.

The K visa would be unnecessary in that case because she will be processing abroad.

Good luck.

I'm confused now...

If I'm reading correctly, your fiancee - she is the Australian citizen right? Is she intending to change her name after marriage? It may not be a consideration for you, but just wanted to mention that if you get married in the US, and she then wants to change her name in her passport - the Australian Passport office will not accept an overseas marriage certificate as proof of name change. She will have to go to BDM (Births, Deaths and Marriages) and formally change her name in order to be able to change her passport. I found that out the hard way after I got married in the US.

Thank you for the valuable information! Yes she is the Australian citizen. I am not sure whether she wants to change her name or not. It's not that big of a deal for me, but I'll let her know of this anyhow.

Also KLS, during the CR1 process, did you come to the US to visit your spouse? If yes, did the immigration officer give you a hard time at entry?

Once again, thank you for your replies, friends.

So far I have:

1 response for withdrawing/cancelling K1 first then reapply.

1 response for just get married and file the I130, but indicate that we're withdrawing/cancelling the K1, and

1 response for just get married and file the I130 and forget about the I129F because the "left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing"

Any other suggestions on whether I cancel the K1 first, or get married and thereby disqualifying/cancelling the K1 process automatically?

He did not appear to be asking about her currently being in the US and just dropping the K-1, getting married and applying for AOS. You can legally enter the US to marry, return home and then go through the process of obtaining a spousal visa. It is only fraud if the person enters the US with the intent to marry, adjust status and stay.

Correct! She is not in the US, but she will come on a VWP to get married (kindda like destination wedding) and then go back to Sydney to wait out the CR1 visa process.

If need be, I could even fly to Sydney and marry her there just to get the marriage certificate so we could initiate CR1 process.

His decision is financially motivated. I assumed she would be coming to marry and staying since flying back and forth to Australia 2 times, canceling an already paid for petition and paying to refile another petition is going to get very costly very quickly. I guess I shouldn't assume though.

Correct! Basically I've done my math.

Even with staying and flying back and forth to Sydney 2 times, cancelling an already paid petition and paying to refile another petition, my tax return would still put me ahead - although maybe not by much... - but still ahead regardless.

Send a notarized letter to the service center processing your petition and state that you wish to withdraw your I-129F petition. I do not see why it would make it harder for you to get a CR-1 approved.

So what should I do?

Cancel the K1 first, or get married and thereby disqualifying/cancelling the K1 process automatically?

Dear VJers,

Basically as the title of the topic says. We are currently in the process of applying K1. Fiance holds an Australian passport and has come here many times on visa waiver program.

I applied June 02 and USCIS received June 04, 2012.

After a lot of thinking and a lot of weighing financial pros and cons, we decided to get married here in the US and then to apply for CR1 visa.

One of my reasoning is that getting married before the end of this year could get me a good amount of this year's tax return, which will be super helpful to pay for our wedding. That and also the fact that it's way cheaper, faster and less hassle.

My questions are:

- how do I cancel the K1 that we barely processed on June 4, 2012?

- will this raise any red flags, which potentially makes it harder for both of us to get approved for CR1?

Please help... right now we're really in a pinch because I'm not even sure if this is a good idea....

THank you so much VJers