bck86

Hi all. Just want to get a quick sanity check. After we are DQ at NVC, we just sit tight and wait for an interview letter (IL) email from the Embassy, right? We don’t have to do anything on our part to send it that way? Just checking, as we’ve now entered the second dreaded wait between DQ and IL and when I check the case status on CEAC, the status shows “At NVC.”

We were DQ this morning, too! Things seem to move quite quickly in the NVC stage. Timeline: January 17, 2023 - Priority Date December 14, 2023 - USCIS approved December 20, 2023 - NVC Welcome Letter received & paid fees December 25, 2023 - Fees show as “PAID” December 26, 2023 - Submitted AOS, DS-260, and all docs January 2, 2024 - Documentarily Qualified Now just waiting on the interview letter from the Phnom Penh (Cambodia) Embassy. I’m here in Cambodia for the next 12 days. Could we be so lucky to have it scheduled in the next week and a half? 🤪

Just submitted AOS, DS-260, and all supporting docs to NVC. Hoping for a quick and painless DQ. 🤞🏼

I got a notice of case creation from NVC a few hours ago (Dec 20). My USCIS approval was Dec 14. I was able to log in right away and pay the fees, now I’m just waiting for the fees to show PAID before I submit my docs.

AHH got our approval today! PD: Jan 17, 2023 Approval: Dec 14, 2023 Almost 11 months exactly, which was our very original estimate when we submitted! No email, just logged in and saw the "actively reviewing" date was updated to today. The myProgress tab still says "taking longer than expected" but approval was in the Documents section. 😄

I’m also Jan 17 PD and taking longer than expected (for the second time) for the past month. Happy 10 months to us. 🥲

Update: 4 weeks passed faithfully counting down like clock work... only to turn back to "longer than expected" again. 🫠

Yeah, mine just went backwards, too. Was at “longer than expected” since July 9 and now it’s at 4 weeks. Honestly, I’ll take 4 weeks if it’s accurate compared to the nothingness of “longer than expected.” Here’s to hoping! 🤞🏼

If you scroll up, someone was approved a few weeks ago but is still waiting on another approval before moving forward. I'm in the same boat as you—been stuck at "taking longer than expected" since July 9. ☹️

Thank you for confirming. With your emphasis on NVC, I have to ask: is it also not needed during the interview?

At the risk of sounding really obtuse because it appears pretty clear, the DOS website states the following on Step 7 about collecting civil documents: I have searched the forums and am mostly finding questions related to translation certification. What I’m trying to find out is if a translation is even needed. We didn’t submit any translations with our I-130 because our marriage certificate is in English. I’m trying to prepare for the NVC stage and am wondering if my husband’s police certificate and birth certificate need to be translated. They are not written in English, but they are written in the official language of his country (Cambodia, the country from which he is applying). Does this mean that we don’t need the translations? I’m confused because I see people mentioning translation all the time (even when documents are in the language of their country), or that they brought the translated copies/certificates to their interview… but was that a precautionary measure or a requirement? Thanks in advance!

To be fair, this is one of the main reasons I would like if our marriage could be registered in his country, so I understand. But the other reasons for marrying via Utah outweighed this particular reason. If you're absolutely leaning on joint ownership of that property to make your case, then I think you have your answer. But if you have an otherwise strong enough petition, it doesn't seem worth the effort, in my opinion. Just go for the easier route.

I, too, initially filed an I-129F (November 2022), then decided to switch to I-130 (January 2023). Lost a couple months, but feeling so much better about all of it. Getting married via Utah was easy and now there are no questions as to whether we are "too married" or "not enough engaged" to be approved for a fiancé visa. I sent a withdrawal letter for the K-1 in February and about a month later, I got an "acknowledgement of withdrawal" notice. We haven't been approved yet but so far everything seems to be going smoothly and I feel so much better about our situation. I wouldn't want to spend the next 12+ months being anxious about it.

For me, getting married in Utah was quicker, easier, and significantly less expensive. To get married in my husband's country, I would have had to get an FBI report from here, go to the US Embassy there to get a copy of my passport notarized, go to the Ministry of Interior/Foreign Affairs so he can apply for marriage to a foreigner, wait for the approval (sometimes months, but if you have $$$ it can be faster), submit it to the village chief, wait for a 30 day "announcement" period, etc. Then when I called my local county clerk's recording office to ask if my international marriage license would be registered/accepted here in the states, first she said I would just get "re-married" here (which I think was wrong) but then backtracked and said that I would need to file something like a "recognition of marriage," I can't recall the exact name. It was way too much hassle, time, money, and uncertainty. With the Utah ceremony, we had our license and ceremony in a matter of a week for a little over $100, and it's fully and automatically recognized in the US, which was the most important factor for us since this is where we will be living. We were both physically together for the ceremony, which meant that within days after our wedding, we were able to file our I-130 with our digital marriage certificate that was emailed to us.

So is the advice here to simply wait until it's time for the medical exam to get any needed shots?

Ours dropped again, this time from 2 months (May 31) to 5 weeks (today, Jun 10). Previously it went from 7 months (May 22) to 2 months (May 31).

Our processing time dropped yesterday, too! Was 7 months just the other day, 2 months since yesterday. The note on the USCIS website sounds promising! USCIS service centers are now prioritizing the processing of Form I-130 preference petitions for which an the Department of State Visa Bulletin shows that an immigrant visa is available. The visa bulletin, published monthly, lists available immigrant visas by priority date. USCIS uses the visa bulletin to determine the current visa categories and priority dates before processing a Form I-130 preference petition. Service centers have prioritized our adjudication efforts so that we can focus on those cases that have visas available.

I asked Emma which service center my case was at. She told me Texas but my Receipt Notice said Nebraska, so I just surmised the phantom "action on my cases" a day after I submitted was a service center transfer.

I'm sorry I don't have an answer to your question, but I just want to say WOW at the fact that your estimated time was given as 5 months since you filed so recently. I have heard many anecdotes that the estimated time is not accurate at all, but it probably still feels good to see it. My guess is that no status change for 6 weeks is pretty normal, as many people don't see a status change for many months.

If it was officially withdrawn, you should see "Withdrawal Acknowledgement Notice Was Sent" when you check the status on the website (as seen in the screenshot I attached). I recently withdrew my I-129F. I mailed the withdrawal request on January 19 and the status updated online on February 15. I received a paper copy in the mail several days later. But as everyone else mentioned, you don't have to be so concerned with whether it was officially withdrawn or not. It will eventually expire if you guys don't go through with it.