pinano

Leaving my overall experience in this thread for future reference
 
Medical: I did my medical in Brasilia (I live here). It was very easy, the doctor's secretary was very helpful and friendly, the blood tests and x-ray are all done in the same building. I was able to use my health insurance for all exams, which was cool (less money to spend). The doctor is also very nice, explained everything to me, gave me the "vaccination record" we are supposed to bring at POE. Overall, good doctor place to go, if you live around Brasilia area
 
Interview: CR-1 Interview, easy, quick, they didn't ask me many questions (when and how we met, how many times we saw each other). Embassy was very busy, but everything was organized, expect waiting for few hours. Appointment was at 8:20, arrived that 7:30-ish, left 9:30-ish
 
Visa Delivery: I paid for the premium delivery thing, it arrived 3-4 BUSINESS days after they shipped it (from Rio to Brasilia!), so if you live in a city where there is a CASV to pick it up, I wouldn't recommend it. Not as fast as I expected, for the price I paid.

We just got approved!
 
So far no paper or email notice, but I check the "new" and "old" sites daily (obsessive, I suppose?) and discovered on the new site we were approved on 8/14/2019. NOA1 was 8/22/2018 and for those who are keeping track of such things, we did not submit I-129F. The old site as well as the case tracker app still have no updates.
 
Thanks for keeping us company during this process! We've all of y'all in our thoughts daily, hoping for speedy approvals!

For most countries, the whole process is done online these days. DS-261 does not show up anymore in the online system. If you have a lawyer, they are automatically informed of any communication from NVC, as are the petitioner and beneficiary, as long as you provided them with email addresses in the USCIS application. Once NVC receives your case, you will be assigned a case number and then you will be able to log in and pay both the IV bill and AOS bill. Case numbers can take up to 8 weeks to assign, so you will have a little wait before this step. Once you pay the bills and the payments are processed (takes up to 3 days to show paid in the system), you will be able to start on the DS-260 and upload your IV and AOS documents. Your attorney, you, or your petitioner can sign in and work on the documents from anywhere. My husband uploaded his documents, and I uploaded all the AOS documents from two different countries, so that is not a problem. There are a few countries that want the documents emailed, and another small handful that still use mail, but the majority of countries use this online system.
 
Regarding vaccinations, between the ages of 18-65, they only require MMR, Tdap, Varicella (or confirmation you had chicken pox), and the flu vaccine (during the months of Oct - May). If you can't find your vaccination records, you can ask your doctor to do a titer test to test for antibodies for these vaccines in your blood. Otherwise, you can just get those vaccines again.
 
My best advice is to go through the NVC site and start gathering the documents you need. Double and triple check everything. You can start scanning them in. Make sure they are less than 2 mb per file and that they are in PDF format (JPG files can sometimes flip the document around on some computers - they are notorious for issuing an RFE for documents that aren't right-side up!) As soon as your payment is processed, you can upload everything and submit. It takes them 3-4 weeks to review the documents. If everything is accepted, you wait for your interview to be scheduled. Depending on the country, that can be a month to 6 months or more depending on your consulate. If there are any issues with your documents. they will issue an RFE and you will have to upload the correction and wait another 3 weeks for review, so try to get it all correct the first time. Reading through these forums can help you see things that have caused problems for others in the past. 
 
Above all, PATIENCE! This process takes a while and can cause a lot of frustration. This forum is helpful in so many ways, but mostly just to know that there are so many others going through this and we can support each other while we wait. Good luck to you!

It has. Noa2 was July 16 and sent Aug 9. 
 
I’m guessing it’ll be received this week, then another 3 weeks for case number. That is, if it doesn’t get lost, which seems to be happening quite a bit. 

It has. Noa2 was July 16 and sent Aug 9. 
 
I’m guessing it’ll be received this week, then another 3 weeks for case number. That is, if it doesn’t get lost, which seems to be happening quite a bit. 

Pinano,
 
It has been for some of the most ridiculous reasons. We are lucky enough to have been able to enlist the help of an immigration lawyer, and even then that has not smoothed the process. 
 
Reasons such as:
 
the document has been submitted horizontally rather than vertically... no joke.
 
2018 US tax return for my wife and father in law (sponsor) not submitted - even though he is an accountant and we flagged that an extension has been filed.
 
documents not signed or not clear - even though they were scanned in high resolution and so clear a blind person could read them! And most definitely signed.
 
It feels like they are being rejected just because at this stage. 
 
I guess all all you can do is follow every little step and hope you don’t have them assessed by someone who has a bug up their #######!
 
best of luck 🙂

Current income does not track with any calendar or tax year.  It's the income you will make in the next 12 months, at your current pay rate.  The I-864 requires "information" from three tax returns, but that has nothing to do with "current income".  It's current, not "current year".  Because the public charge concern decision is ultimately a judgment call based on guidelines and the totality of circumstances, even though you DO qualify based on current income, it would be wise to have an affidavit of support package from a qualified joint sponsor, ready to submit at interview, should it be required.
There are no questions about current year income on the I-864.

I don't remember - did you end up filing for K3? Or is this a I130's natural habitat evolution? (<- disclaimer (because sometimes needed on the internets): this isn't me hating on those who have filed for the K3 to speed up the I130!)
 
CONGRATS!

Yes i did . No it’s not a I-130 natural habitat evolution ,lol
thank you very much !
Thank you !!!!!

Actually, the exact same thing happened to us. It took an extra day or two for the website to update with the I-130 approval. 

Time to get technical.
You do not have 2 Joint Sponsors. Your father-in-law is your Joint Sponsor who files an I-864. His wife would be his House Member who files an I-864a.
2 Joint Sponsors are only possible in cases where there is a principal beneficiary and derivative beneficiary. The first JS would sponsor the principal beneficiary while the second JS would sponsor the derivative beneficiary. THIS IS NOT YOUR SITUATION.
Everyone in your case will mark "Yes" to Q1 in Part 3. This is to state they are sponsoring you, the principal beneficiary.
The only correct time to mark "No" is when the JS is only sponsoring the derivative beneficiaries and not the principal beneficiary.

It took 3 weeks for our petition to be sent to NVC. Had an updated status today on the old website saying it was sent yesterday. 
 
Maybe now things will start moving!

It took 3 weeks for our petition to be sent to NVC. Had an updated status today on the old website saying it was sent yesterday. 
 
Maybe now things will start moving!

Actually, the exact same thing happened to us. It took an extra day or two for the website to update with the I-130 approval. 

It took 3 weeks for our petition to be sent to NVC. Had an updated status today on the old website saying it was sent yesterday. 
 
Maybe now things will start moving!

Actually, the exact same thing happened to us. It took an extra day or two for the website to update with the I-130 approval. 

You shouldn’t have to go ahead being a sponsor if you are not comfortable doing so. And I agree it’s very shady your sister in law doesn’t seem to want to respect that. 
 
But it does strike me as odd that you had no idea what is involved. I’m assuming you had to sign an I-864 form. Both the form and its instructions are very explicit with regards to the financial commitment and how/when you’d be held liable. 
 
 

You shouldn’t have to go ahead being a sponsor if you are not comfortable doing so. And I agree it’s very shady your sister in law doesn’t seem to want to respect that. 
 
But it does strike me as odd that you had no idea what is involved. I’m assuming you had to sign an I-864 form. Both the form and its instructions are very explicit with regards to the financial commitment and how/when you’d be held liable. 
 
 

You shouldn’t have to go ahead being a sponsor if you are not comfortable doing so. And I agree it’s very shady your sister in law doesn’t seem to want to respect that. 
 
But it does strike me as odd that you had no idea what is involved. I’m assuming you had to sign an I-864 form. Both the form and its instructions are very explicit with regards to the financial commitment and how/when you’d be held liable. 
 
 

You shouldn’t have to go ahead being a sponsor if you are not comfortable doing so. And I agree it’s very shady your sister in law doesn’t seem to want to respect that. 
 
But it does strike me as odd that you had no idea what is involved. I’m assuming you had to sign an I-864 form. Both the form and its instructions are very explicit with regards to the financial commitment and how/when you’d be held liable. 
 
 

You shouldn’t have to go ahead being a sponsor if you are not comfortable doing so. And I agree it’s very shady your sister in law doesn’t seem to want to respect that. 
 
But it does strike me as odd that you had no idea what is involved. I’m assuming you had to sign an I-864 form. Both the form and its instructions are very explicit with regards to the financial commitment and how/when you’d be held liable. 
 
 

Update on our case: it took 4 business days to see that fees are Paid. We are filling the forms now and uploading documents.

Yikes, they’re taking forever even to send it away. This is brutal. 

We got our case number today. So it took 23 days...
 
Just recap:
Center: NSC NOA1 2018-12-19 NOA2 2019-06-04 NVC receive 2019-07-01 NVC case # 2019-07-24 I am sorry for everybody in NSC, as I saw on the USCIS website that they are processing May 2018 right now and waiting time is 11-14 months 😭

Holy Moly... they finally approved us.
 
PD : 6/25/2018
NOA 2 : 7/18/2019
Nebraska 
 
was about to jump ship.
 
even after the weekend update... there is no change online or on case tracker.. and I didn’t receive an email.. just got it in the mail today!