Sohamahmoud91

From my understanding the medical exam is good for one year, is it okay to get it done now before our package ships to the Cairo embassy? I had my fiancé call the office that does it and they said wait for the letter from NVC. We’re hoping ours gets sent out with the 3/19 shipment. 

2 hours ago, Qwerty87 said:

Hi everyone,

 

So when I check my NVC number on the CEAC website it says my application is at the NVC but I need to follow six steps before the NVC can schedule my appointment, and that I have to submit various fees and documents to the NVC. Is this just a generic message or have I missed something?

If I am not mistake this has something to do with the strange overlap of the K1 visa as a Nonimmigrant and immigrant visa at the same time. See Greenbaums post above. Nonimmigrant visas require the uploading of documents whereas the K1 in this particular scenario does not follow these steps and does not submit the ds260 and all forms are not submitted online but taken to the consulate or embassy for interview. 

1 minute ago, Greenbaum said:

The K-1 process is quite strange. For a time, it is both a non-immigrant and immigrant visa type. That is why the links (what you received in the email) will send you the process for immigrant which would be the I-864 and DS-260 even though it truly is a non-immigrant visa requiring I-134 and the DS-160. As you go through the stages, within the NVC system you look up your file under immigrant (ceac.state.gov/). It stays that way until after your interview and the approval and your visa is ready for issue. At that point, it changes over to non-immigrant. It truly is a non-immigrant visa with immigrant intent.

 

Thank you so much for the explanation your expertise is so reassuring in this process and in general I just want to thank everyone who shares bits of their own cases and makes it easier for those who may have not crossed that bridge yet. I honestly am so grateful that I have everyone here as a resource! Thank you to all 🙏

At this point I’m just waiting for March 19th to be able to do anything so of course I decided to check my status on the CEAC tracker and then I got myself very worried. When I look for my case by selecting Nonimmigrant visa (K1 is Nonimmigrant right?) entering my location and ds160 application ID I get that the status is “NO STATUS”. But when I enter my NVC case number in the applicationID/nvc number field instead of my DS160 application ID I get invalid application ID or case number.

so I tried selecting immigrant visa instead of Nonimmigrant visa and entering my NVC case number and then the status reads “At NVC”. Does anyone know why it shows up as an immigrant visa? I’m worried somehow my cases aren’t linked correctly or are misclassified 🙈

3 minutes ago, celie&joseph said:

My sub-forum is lacking in members haha and our P3 letters says nothing in regards to this so we are kind of at a loss.

 

However.... I just logged in right now to try to get a screenshot to show you and it actually let me through. Perhaps they need to receive the digital file before you can proceed.

 

@Sohamahmoud91 The number they are asking for is the NVC number but you may have to wait until your case is in transit or they receive the digital file of your case. (Idk what stage you're on)

4 minutes ago, celie&joseph said:

My sub-forum is lacking in members haha and our P3 letters says nothing in regards to this so we are kind of at a loss.

 

However.... I just logged in right now to try to get a screenshot to show you and it actually let me through. Perhaps they need to receive the digital file before you can proceed.

 

@Sohamahmoud91 The number they are asking for is the NVC number but you may have to wait until your case is in transit or they receive the digital file of your case. (Idk what stage you're on)

My sub forum is lacking too haha I just got my case number yesterday so I think if all goes well I should be on the 3/19 shipment. I submitted my DS-160 yesterday after getting my NVC case number. Currently my CEAC status shows “NO STATUS”. I just went back to the travedocs site and read it again very carefully and it says “please ensure you have been notified that your IV case number is ready for scheduling” so I guess we can’t pay the visa fee in advance for the Egyptian consulate at least only when it is in ready. 

1 minute ago, Greenbaum said:

Normally it takes 24 hours for the before the bank update the Embassy. You may want to try the confirmation number found on the DS-160. Some are saying that is what they have used.

We haven’t actually made the payment. From my understanding once you do make the payment it can take up to 24 hours to show up that you paid. But my problem is occurring before thisndtep. for the egypt consulate you have to use the online applicant system on ustraveldocs to create a profile and print out a paper with the $265 visa fee that my fiancé can then take to the bank and pay the fee. The online applicant system is asking me for an IV case ID number to get this but I’m not sure what that number is. I tried NVC case number, invoice ID, and DS-160 confirmation # (ended up being the same number as my application ID). None of these were recognized by the system. I only submitted the 160 yesterday would it take time between the submission and when I can sign up to make the payment? Sorry if my question is convoluted 

For those of you who have already paid the MRV fee for the DS-160 did you have to register and print your fee paper online before your fiancé could take it to a bank to pay? I’m trying to do that but it’s asking me for an IV case ID and I tried my NVC case number and my invoice ID number but nothing seems to work for that. Do you know what the IV case ID is? 

I was reading through what to do now that the NVC has my case and I’m confusing the steps with the Immigrant visa steps that is on the department of state website which says to submit financial and civil documents online through CEAC.  Are we also submitted our financial and civil documents online through CEAC or is that just for immigrant visa petitions? It seems that for K1 since it’s a Nonimmigrant visa the NVC portion isn’t as lengthy and the consulate really is the one that does the processing portion is that correct? 

The DS160 is probably the most annoying application ever. aside from timing out constantly which I’ve been able to work around I’m now having issues with the photo upload I’ll upload The photo it passes the quality assessment is 600 pixels by 600 pixels and under the size limit but when I hit upload it says sorry something went wrong try again later. Anyone find a trick to getting past this? 

6 minutes ago, celie&joseph said:

YESSSSS 😭 and the first time we forgot to write down the application number so we had to start over. I would suggest to write down the application ID so you can retrieve it if it times out.

I took a pic of the application ID at the beginning and also sent it to him so it’s saved in our messages in case we have to go back and when he logs in to review and submit. I guess this is a system glitch since so many people are experiencing it I’m now at a standstill where it just isn’t letting me in to finish it at all so I’ll try again tomorrow what a pain! 

25 minutes ago, celie&joseph said:

That's what we ended up doing since internet in Lebanon is very unreliable.

Ya that’s what I think I’ll do too. Has anyone had issues with the application continuously timing out while working on it? It’s so frustrating to fill it out in parts and keep logging in, I read online it’s an ongoing issue. I tried with several different internet browsers and it just randomly times out while I’m working on it.

13 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

Your observation is correct. The problem comes, and I have never heard of this happening, when "you" are asked "were you the one who submitted your DS-160?". Then that question requires a truthful answer. Now the CO at the interview are very good at "interrogation" and they can listen and judge if the "person" is telling the truth or not and so most would fail if they were to offer the wrong answer. But, of course occasionally someone may be a good "liar" and not get called out. But here is where "you" have to be careful.

 

Other people can assist you with your visa application. Note that under U.S. law (22 C.F.R. 41.103) you must electronically sign and submit your own application unless you qualify for an exemption. Even if someone else helped you complete the application, you (the applicant) must click the “Sign Application” button, or your application may not be accepted. The Form DS-160 shall be signed by the applicant, with intent to be bound by all statement in the NIV application under penalty of perjury.

 

Here is my advice. As a couple you work together answering the questions. Once you are complete and you believe it's ready STOP! Now, each of you look through the copy that is ready to be submitted. Look for blanks or unanswered questions, look for spelling errors and look at dates. Once BOTH are satisfied then the beneficiary is the one to take the oath and submit the document. They can do so from anywhere in the world as I cannot site any procedure that is available to indicate otherwise.

 

 

Read my entry above. That answer is no.

I’m thinking then in that case since from my understanding you can save the application and log into and out of it, perhaps I can fill it out for him and have him log on from there once everything is filled in and completed and have him do the submitting portion. It seems like a minor detail but the whole process creates a sense of paranoia that anything you do that’s not 100% by the book can lead to a delay in your processing.

Does anyone know if it matters where the DS-160 gets submitted from? Internet is pretty unreliable in Egypt where my fiancé lives so I was hoping I’d be able to do on his behalf here. Idk if that would make any difference. 

Called NVC today NOA2 February 4 no case number yet 

1 hour ago, UAtoUS said:

Question. 

 

Do you guys know if they ever look at social media to prove a relationship? The reason why I ask is because me and her we don't have any pictures of us together on the FB. I visited her 3 times and we took many pics that we will bring them to the interview. But for personal reasons we don't have any pics of us together on her or my FB. She has her status as single and I have my as single as well. I wonder if they ever look at that and if that can be a problem when proving our relationship is real. 

My friend had her K1 visa interview about a year ago and was asked for her and her fiancé’s Facebook account names, I agree Facebook isn’t the best tool to assess the relationship but they did ask. 

35 minutes ago, Fjsiodn said:

Well, 28 days so far that the NVC hasn't received our case. NAO2 date of 1/29/2019. Go figure. At this point, as an American Citizen, I know I'm not the only one who would love to throw more money at this process so different agencies can either have proper staffing or buy more stamps. K-1's could easily be a three to four month process total with all parties willing. In the digital age, most of that time would probably be getting medical reports, in-person interviews, or physical in-house police checks. It's easy to get frustrated with the current procedures in place. I don't know how many more times I'm going to have to hear the "USCIS TECHNICALLY HAS 90 DAYS TO SHIP YOUR FILE OUT" or "IT CAN ACTUALLY TAKE UP TO 6 WEEKS FOR THE NVC." Well, too bad...everyone is going to keep calling. You want to know why? Because with these timelines there's zero accountability, transparency, and trust in the process so people continue to use up call agents and various other resources. It's a vicious cycle.

I really feel your frustration this whole process is so draining both mentally and emotionally and it seems it’s just not an ideal process and could be run so much better and the timing could be cut in half is there was more transparency. Everything takes forever I can’t believe it would even need 6 weeks to send an approval notice to the NVC. Why is there even a different system why can’t it be continuous since they’re both on the US side? And there still a whole other process afterwards with adjustment of status. Anyways my point is I think we’re all feeling that excitement and anxiety simultaneously but I hope we all make it through the process. On the bright side the longest waiting portion has likely passed with USCIS processing. Good luck and hang in there! 

Just now, Shiran said:

We used NVC number to do DS-160, but some people use WAC number from USCIS. I believe either is fine. You do need NVC number for medical though. Keep in mind your local embassy instructions trump all of that. Ukrainian ones seems to be pretty lenient with timing of things. 

Yeah I’m not sure what the Cairo embassy requires there’s no available P3 letter for the embassy just my luck but I’ll be sharing when we get it. It just seems out of order to do it with the USCIS case number, I’m torn regarding if I should wait for the NVC case number or if I should get an extra step out of the way and do it 🤔 my noa2 was February 4 so I’m waiting til Friday to call the NVC again, although I might get impatient and call on Wednesday lol 

I see several users mentioning already filing the DS-160 with their USCIS case number? Is that applicable to everyone? I thought I needed the NVC case number to take any further action? Just asking so if I can do something in the meantime other than waiting it would be great. 

Does the i-134 need to be notarized? 

7 minutes ago, celie&joseph said:

It's not required at time of filing, no. Its required at the embassy stage and your Packet 3 will state that.

 

If you're at NVC stage, you can go ahead and sign and sent it along with your financial evidence. 

Oh that’s so good to know I wouldn’t have sent it. Thanks everyone for your replies! This group is awesome. 

This is what it says on the website so is it not required by NVC but required for the interview? And does it have be signed close to the date of the interview? Can I fill it up and send it to Egypt to my fiancé now? 

On the uscis website it says affidavit of support isn’t required for fiancé visa applicants because they submit it when adjusting status with form I-485, is that still the case? Because I see people preparing that now, can someone clarify? 

4 minutes ago, Mousey said:

when was NOA2?

NOA2 February 4 so it’s been about 16 days but who is counting 😬

Called the NVC again yesterday and still no case number but I did talk to a very pleasant representative who said when I call back ask for the 1) case number 2) invoice ID and 3) beneficiary ID if they’re available.