Hello!
I am going nuts over here as I cant seem to get any information elsewhere. I am really sorry if this isnt the correct topic oris not worded right,etc. This is my first time using this website aside from occasionally browsing it to read about others experiences. I also apologize in advance for any typos and grammar errors. It is 2 am over here and my keyboard is all messed up.
My situation is as follows:
I am currently in America as my partner and I had planned and bought the tickets well before we received the approval. I actually got the note for first approval the day before leaving. I would have canceled the visit (because it was/is a long visit I will return to Germany on the 28th dec) but my partner and I searched the us gov website and learned that this shouldnt be an issue as the embassy works with you to schedule the interview and will extend the approval time if necessary when the interview cant be held in time. I tried to call the embassy within the week of landing to confirm the information straight from the source but they just redirected me to the website and a machine voice system with the exacat same information. Aside from that everything else worked out was fine. My family helped me by sending me any personal info I needed to fill out any other papers from over here. It did take a bit longer overall.
Now to the issue at hand:
I have applied for the I-129F Form. Approved.
Was send the approval note from the usembassy Frankfurt in Germany with a valid date until the 22nd December. So literally this coming Friday.
I filled out the DS160, received the approval email and all. Went to the website https://portal.ustraveldocs.com, paid the 251 Euro fee and schedule the appointment.
The website then said:
"Ihre Anfrage zur Terminvereinbarung wurde empfangen und wird überprüft. Sie werden eine E-Mail erhalten, sobald Ihre Anfrage genehmigt wurde."
(Your request to schedule an appointment has been received and is being checked. You will receive an email once it has been granted.)
Sorry, I dont know if this forum allows german or is english only.
It has been nearly 2 weeks now without me getting any confirmation email from the website. So I am sitting here without an interview date nor affirmation that the payment went officially through. But our approval notice from the embassy runs out this Friday!
I checked the status update on the ustraveldoc website: no status at all (I am assuming that means the request hasnt even been seen yet, much less is it being checked).
I also checked my cases status on the us gov website: Ready for the interview once scheduled! With the last update being in October from when I send out the DS160.
If my interview request is finally reviewd but the embassy approval note has run out, wont my request be immediately tossed out entirely/denied?
I am going insane. I tried emailing the websites support. No answer so far. It has been a week. Even though their website said they would reply within 2 workdays..
I emailed the embassy support team (granted the email was send out friday evening so I do not expect an answer by now of course, but my nerves are destroying me right now).
Tried calling the embassy itself (dumb idea I know, but I just didnt know what else to do anymore). The website itself only has a machine voice system to answer. Whether you call or use the live chat, it is all the same. Not helpful to me at all.
In their FAQ they claim with my method of payment I should be able to schedule within 4 hours after payment.
We used my partners credit card since my debit wasnt accepted. I wasnt sure if that would be fine as the website said clearly the fee has to be paid in Euro. But my partners bank let him specify to send the money in Euro. The website gave us a confirmation number for the payment that we had to put in the form to request the interview and it worked with no issue.
Now I am sitting here. Wondering what to do. I tried searching for a request form to prolong the approval note send by the embassy but didnt see anzthing so far. But I might have just been careless due to me getting frantic. Did I oversee the obvious? Did the payment even go through? Should I have used the original cases number as it was sent to me from the nvc or the one with the embassy case number in the interview request form? Did I do something wrong that delazed the confirmation?
Again I am very sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this, a silly question or anything like that. I just dont know where else to ask anymore.
Let me know if this isnt enough information on my end. Any information and tips would be appreciated.
I just hope I didnt waste all the work and time and frustration my partner and I already poured into this process, just because I was too complacent and didnt immediately requested an extention of our approval note time.
Thank you very much in advance for reading/replying
