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If it does have an impact (yet to be seen - as processing times have sped up recently, not slowed down) then maybe. Personally if I was a spouse visa applicant I'd be far more annoyed about other factors i.e. employment based green cards being processed so much more quickly, or lack of funding and staff to process existing applications, than I would about people risking their lives to try and better them.

Being married to a USC confers no automatic right to enter the US. Lots of people are married to USC's but can't enter the US, perhaps they have a ban from a previous overstay, or they have a drug conviction that makes them ineligible to enter etc.

Maybe start a new thread without the anti-immigrant stuff in the relevant forum and then hopefully you'll get pertinent responses. But as I tried to say above, the online processing timeline thing has always been inaccurate, it's best to always stick to the USCIS processing times quoted on the website which are usually more accurate (I'm sure that the online countdown is just somebody having a laugh most of the time). That says 14 months which would be about right for most people. And you can search timelines and see how much quicker it has been recently compared to the past, it used to take much longer. Good luck.

As a UK citizen, don't apply for a B visa. You have the VWP available to you so it's not worth risking. If your B visa application is refused then you'll always have to declare that on any other visa or ESTA application, and you may find it scuppers your chances of visiting for a while as any ESTA app is also likely to be refused as a consequence. I have to ask, have you visited the US before?

Ah, you're still super young then! Plenty of time to work toward a move. As above, any of the STEM fields would be a good option (I work in energy/engineering). EB2 NIW is an employment based route to a green card that doesn't need employer sponsorship (I did the EB1 which is similar). Full details here - https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-second-preference-eb-2 You need to tell your friend that his plan won't work! Remote/online work in the US is absolutely not permitted on a B visa, he'll be working illegally and runs the risk of being refused entry/being banned if he tries.

What do you actually do? You've not said and without that info it's impossible for anybody to know if you would be eligible or not. In my experience, both as an employee (headhunted from the US) and employer, if you need to apply for jobs then generally speaking you would be out of luck. No employer is going to go to the cost and hassle (not to mention waiting months or even years for you to be able to start work) of hiring you, when they'll have other US citizen applicants that can start tomorrow at no cost. To be in with a chance, you need to have specialist skills, and ideally a degree as a minimum (masters preferred), and then the job offers will find you. Headhunters will be tasked with finding people with skills they need on LinkedIn, and will often search outside the US. I would only consider somebody that needs visa sponsorship for a fairly senior role, or one that requires skills I can't find locally. Plus if you are headhunted, you'll likely be in a very strong position to negotiate a seriously good expat package (house, car, cost of living, etc all paid for by the company, it can be very lucrative). So ideally you'll look at this as a long term plan, figure 10 years or more. Get yourself in a good industry where your chances are high, get a degree, work your way up (ideally in a multi-national company to increase your chances, a transfer is much easier than a brand new job). It's absolutely possible if you want it badly enough. Or if you're happy to just do a short stint, and don't mind what job, then have a look at H2B jobs i.e. ski seasons, Disney etc. Best of luck to you.

It's notoriously inaccurate, just search the forum and you'll find most people end up with 'your case it taking longer than expected' once they get to the overly optimistic date on it! But you never know. Work on 18 months for the whole process as a rough guide and then be pleasantly surprised if it's quicker. Good luck.

OK, so that's wrong - you don't want to make it worse by making a mistake on the DS-260 as well! You need to make sure you put the right name on it.

As long as the names are correct for what they are asking then that's fine. But are her surname at birth and her maiden name not the same??

What was her surname on the day she was born? That's what you put.

As I said above, that’s not the your case number that is relevant. For both the form I’ve linked to, and the status check, it’s the receipt number from your IV payment that you need - it will start with IOE, not LND. Your LND case is closed now, they’ve done their bit. So use the IOE number first to check the status and see what that says. Phone is fairly pointless, once you’ve checked the status and know what that says, if there’s no sign of it arriving anytime soon you need to fill out the form I’ve linked to above.

What are you using to track the status? Just checking it’s definitely the receipt number from the GC fee receipt and not your original case number receipt? And that you’re not putting it in CEAC? If so, and you still can’t see what’s happening with it, then you just need to fill this form in. https://egov.uscis.gov/e-request/displayNDCForm.do?entryPoint=init&sroPageType=ndc#:~:text=You can create an inquiry,the My Case Status Tool. You may need to redo biometrics or your photo but fill that in and they’ll get back to you to confirm. Your SSN card should have been delivered ages ago (assuming you ticked the relevant box on the DS-260 of course), so for that you’ll need to go to your local office to apply in person.

The interview wait will depend on the consulate but as above the best info for where they’re up to is on the VB - currently for below 12,000 for Europe.

Correction - I meant country of citizenship!

When you do, ignore it completely - notoriously unreliable! Figure about 18-24 months for the whole process if Manila doesn’t have a big interview backlog. Good luck.

It gets paid in to our UK bank account. We are lucky enough that we don’t have housing expenses in the US, so we leave it in the UK and it then covers our mortgage payments there (which come out of the same account), and the remainder stays there for us to pay extra chunks of the mortgage off every so often when it builds up. It also means we have a safety net there if we had something major to pay out for i.e. if the heating system suddenly went kaput. I’m not sure you could have rent paid in to a US account anyway (as it would cost your tenants each time to transfer it, so not sure they’d be thrilled with that idea), but for us it just makes sense to leave it in the UK as that’s where the money is taxed first and where all expenses are paid from. We have tax advisors and are quite happy with our strategy. Obviously we’ll have to declare our UK property income on our US tax returns but for us personally, there will be no US tax due on it. You are definitely best to get good advice on that though as it will depend on your own circumstances. Good luck.

My guess is it's to do with your country of residence, but it is only a guess. Only they will know why they want to you to go for an interview unfortunately.

Depends on many factors (which consulate, how long the I-130 takes to be approved, how quickly the applicant pays the fees and submits docs, how quickly NVC are working at that stage, etc). But figure about 18 months to 2 years as a rough guide for most people. HTH.

What was your previous visa, and why do you need a B visa from Canada?

Oh that's good, we only did ours in July and they were adamant we needed an IL, maybe they were backed up so just weren't letting people book that didn't have interviews lined up. For Ghana personally I'd take the £100 hit as that could end up being a lot cheaper in the long run, I'm a very risk averse person! 😂Hopefully it will all be ok and you'll have an interview next month and get the visa shortly afterwards. Best of luck to you.

By the time you've paid to courier the missing docs that will reduce the extra to pay though. And isn't IL is required for the medical? I booked ours before we had our IL but when I asked about it I was told that I could book it before the IL came, but the IL was absolutely needed for the medical and it was on our checklist for documents to take. So I'd double check that. Plus of course, your visa will only be valid for 6 months from the date of medical. Hopefully if you're a UK citizen and haven't ever visited or lived in any of the countries that can trigger it you'll be ok and won't get put in AP, but it's a risk.

The UK doesn’t think Varicella vaccines are important either, and that requirement is waived for those immigrating from the UK. So it’s possible they’ll do the same for the Covid booster if people really can’t get it.

Should be fine IMO.

You don’t need to go in person to your GP, a phone call or email should do it. I sent a request for ours (myself, spouse, two children) via their website and had them sitting in my inbox 2 hours later. If you can’t get it then it may be better to delay your medical. When’s your interview?

Top tip - if you click on a username you can see their timeline (if they’ve completed one) and details of country etc.