Neon Strelitzia

Thank you

Does it count when provided alongside a pay stub? The wording from the London Embassy is: What types of documents do not show that I was physically present in the United States? Income tax forms without pay stubs or W-2s (taxes can be paid from anywhere in the world). [https://uk.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/204/2025/05/Providing-Proof-of-Physical-Presence-for-a-Consular-Report-of-Birth-Abroad-Application.pdf] Could I pick your brain a little bit please? We are struggling to understand what the CRBA website is asking for. My understanding is you need to provide evidence of living in the USA for 5 years, two of which are after the age of 14. The form asks you to enter the dates you were physically present in the USA, along with proof and the name of the city lived in. If you don't have proof for some years, should you still enter them without evidence? Or should they be left off entirely? Or do we need to find proof for every single year my husband has resided in the USA? My husband has lived in the USA for over 40 years, but other than school transcripts, we are really struggling to find evidence for him that is over ten years old. My gut feeling is the more evidence the better, in case some isn't accepted. Should we aiming to prove every single year he has resided in the USA, or just the 5 years they require? It feels like the website doesn't line up with the question being asked, but we may be over thinking it. We asked the embassy to clarify but they just pointed us back to the FAQ.

How did you go with this?

Congratulations on your approval! Both the petitioner and the beneficiary got emails from the NVC. I actually got another reminder email from the NVC already! We're still waiting on a few bits of paperwork we need to proceed. Police certificate went out of date while we were waiting etc

Congratulations! That is great news Are you prepared for the next stages? We got notification the NVC had received our case already. That was a pleasant surprise!

Approved today! So surprised, we didn't even think about how to celebrate. Felt like we would be here forever, the counter was still at 5 months. It's actually saying 11 months now, but we have the approval notice.

We got back down to "taking longer than expected" again. Uploaded some additional evidence and now it's gone back up to 9 months. I know it doesn't really mean anything much, so not stressing it. Activitly reviewing date hasn't changed at all yet. I hope we do hear something early next year, but even the VJ estimate has slipped from February to April.

I'm sorry to hear that, I hope the counter changes it's mind to a lower number. We're at 5 months now.

Changed to 6 months.

I've recently travelled over on an ESTA. I was asked why I am visiting (visiting husband) when I am returning and then they told me to have a nice trip. Thankfully very straightforward.

February 2024 filers and 2024 filers in general, how's your progress going? I realise it's pretty early for this thread, 10 - 12 months before our cases would reach the average processing time. I also understand that "My Progress" isn't accurate for the majority of people. But even so, I would love to hear how others are doing to pass the time. Ours changed to "Case is being actively reviewed by USCIS" the day after it was submitted online. Our "My Progress" tab on the USCIS website gave a much faster estimate than expected. Now we've just gone into "you're case is taking longer than expected to process". I was chatting to someone else who filed in March, their My Progress count also started at 3 months. I'm wondering why initial estimates are so low, given the average processing times. This is our My Progress status timeline so far: 6th Feb - 3 months 16th Feb - 2 months 28th Feb - 5 weeks 1st Mar - 4 weeks 8th Mar - 3 weeks 15th Mar - 2 weeks 22nd Mar - 1 week 29th Mar - Your case is taking longer than expected to process. I thought maybe the count would drop into days, but it never did. It went straight to taking longer than expected, where it still is now. I've heard a few people mention USCIS are actually looking at the petition when you get a second "Case is being actively reviewed by USCIS" message. I'm not sure how you know it's the second time though. Does the status change to something else first? Are you notified of it somehow? Good luck to everyone, may your journeys be as quick as possible

Tricorn hat

We filled at a similar time. It said 3 months at first, then it changed to 2 months after ten days. It would be nice to think things are moving faster these days, but all the evidence online would suggest it's just not accurate. I would be curious to hear when the time estimate changes for you @Penguin_DE and @jmalelkamel I can't help wondering if there is any pattern. Did you file online?