Nywoek

Yeah, they sent it with UPS and it was very quick! Don’t have to pay for it either, I went through so much trouble researching the Stockholm embassy and how they handle shipping with non-swedish beneficiaries. Even bought a postnord shipping thing and brought and she told me I did not need it. 🙈

Cheeky TB. 😜 So today WAS THE DAY! Visa officially in hand. We are celebrating with french toast, my fiance is making it because im busy selling kids toys on fb marketplace. 🙈😂 I feel so much better! This is unreal! Made it here 2 weeks after my interview! 🥰🥰🥰

Thank you so much! In general I love documenting stuff, and like my kids say I tend to be a yapper (especially over text), plus I overexplain everything so this is all very.. me. xD However I think a lot of it came from how hard it was to find info on Stockholm and how alone I felt on the big internet during this process, so I decided to just go for it and document it. What’s the worst that can happen, someone wont bother to read my thread? That’s fine! 😅 But then lovely people like you and others come by and say that it’s helpful and comforting and that makes me really really happy. Thank you for your well wishes, and I hope that USCIS picks up the pace do you can be with your loved one soon!

I got a notice in my mail app, my visa is on it’s way and will arrive monday! 😍😍😍😍

And today when I logged in (even if I figured I should give it a few days) it says Issued! 💃💃💃 Stockholm worked FAST for that one! xD

Guess Stockholm also got mail yesterday or today. 🥰🥰🥰 Was so fun looking it up and getting approved instead of refused! Now I need to look up what the thing will say for each step, after they ship it it says issued I think? lol xD

I renewed mine after filling out the ds160 and it was no problem, they probably see it a lot. i am unsure about renewing before your noa2 though.

I had my interview monday last week so I am still waiting. 😅

I got my medical papers in the mail today! Stockholm is technically closer in distance to my hometown, so hopefully they got it too. CEAC still says refused, it is so depressing every time I check lol. I hope my passport does not take forever in the mail after they process it. >_> We have tickets july 28th, lol. My fiance is visiting us for 2 weeks on wednesday, so I would LOVE it if I got my visa in the mail while he is here. But knowing my luck.. maybe not lol. As long as it comes a few days before we are set to leave, pretty please, universe! I am a bit scared after reading the posts from a norwegian either from last year or 2023 who was waiting weeks and weeks for the mail. x_x

No, that means getting your NOA2 takes 9 months on average, and then NVC processing takes another 2. But that sounds kinda short, because we got approved in january at the end of the month and we did not get sent to the embassy for 2 months. So maybe they mean it can take closer to 4 months now. But not nine, that’s the USCIS part. Sounds stressful about your son, but there is not much you can do but wait.

I went to my medical a month before my interview, and they still did not manage to send it there in time. 😒 The officer just told me that he would approve me once they got my medical, that it would take about 2 weeks and gave me the 221g papers saying I had been refused. My CEAC is also stuck on refused a week later, so don’t let it bother you. 🙈

Technically, yes. But considering I do not understand why creating two new lines would not count, I feel like we might end up paying like 100 dollars to set up new phonelines and then try to change them over and run into an issue getting the new phones comped. But I have delegated that to my fiance, I have enough ####### to deal with right now, lol.

Yeah people were having all sorts of conversations and I was doing my best not to listen, while also listening for my name. My own interview also contained a lot of personal info, but I guess I did not really care that much about it. XD Oh, and the line got long, I was just there early. The security guy kept telling people to move the line up the hill, and not down from the glass building, lol. I just walked quickly from the bus and was there right after they opened for the day. XD And the sign just said American Citizen services/Immigration Visas, otherwise I would have stood in it. The other one said Non-Immigration visas. But I remember reading about this exact thing after already getting in line, I just felt too self-conscious to move from the line, lol. Had I been wrong they would have placed me at the end of the first one as well, and since only like 6-7 people were ahead of me I just stayed put. XD My CEAC status says Refused now, really curious to see how quickly my papers make it to Stockholm and how long it takes to process the visa.

The times varies greatly, in early 2024 people were getting NOA2s in a few months, and by the time I applied in August things had slowed down quite a bit. We ended up getting ours in 5 months. Then it hit another stall a few months later. It is really hard, but try not to think worst case scenario, processing has just slowed down, it does not mean you have been forgotten. Good luck!

Thanks. I will go get it sorted asap, and since I am not planning on changing my name (at least not now) that wont give us more problems. 🙈

My fiance bought a house last year so we are living with him, but since he is not her legal guardian he couldn’t do anything. 😕 I will attach a photo of the letter the school gave us. Could he write me a contract, like a renters agreement? Even if I am not renting, I don’t know, trying to be creative here. 🙈

I am cautiously optimistic that we will be moving to New Hampshire at the end of july, as long as my visa arrives in time. My oldest daughter is 14 this year and is supposed to start high school in the fall, but we contacted the school and they said I cannot do anything until I actually move there. I want her to get the best start possible with all the other kids, so I am worried she will be delayed. Getting her immunization records and CRBA is no problem, but they said I have to show proof of physical and legal residency. How can I get that fast enough? Anyone have any tips? I plan to go get my social security number as quickly as I can, because I assume I might need that to be put on the mortgage or any bills? I would really hate for her to start late because of this. >_< Anyone know if any documents stating I will be living with my fiancee might work?

So I am back from my interview! Had a lovely weekend with two of my friends in Stockholm first. We stayed in sort of a dingy hostel, but were out walking around, seeing and doing stuff most of the time so it was all good. Sleeping in bunkbeds made me feel like I was at camp, and two of us have kids so we got to be young and free and only responsible for ourselves for a weekend. It was a great distraction since I did not really start getting nervous until Sunday night. I did had to ask chat gpt a few things I was nervous about and my friend asked me some interview questions during dinner just to get some practice. My most legitimate stressor was the fact that I called the clinic I did my medical at on the friday before the interview, and they had no trace of my papers being sent to Stockholm. I told them I was concerned since my interview was that monday, and they said Stockholm sees this all the time so no worries. I told the clerk to please remind the doctor, at that time it had already been a month since my appointment, and a week from the 20 working days they had said it might take. Not cool. Other than that I had read something about someone in Stockholm being asked about a form or paper to extend the NOA2. Mine expired in late may so we were just a couple of weeks out, and I also brought updated photos from trips we took after the i-129f was submitted, and updated intent to marry letters, but I had never heard of this and got worried. Chat gpt said I had done everything right, and not to worry.. lol. I was also a little bit worried about my DS160 because I got a new passport after submitting it, and I did not update the form. My old passport got its corner cut, but I still brought it, plus a scan of it before it got destroyed. In other words I am generally just an anxious person and did not actually need to worry about anything, lol. The last thing was the most confusing, which was the whole waybill ordeal. I read online and asked chat gpt about it, and I did what I could which was pay for an envelope from Sweden to Norway with tracking, and then getting a physical envelope and having them print the postage and info for me at a postnord store. I was worried this was not correct. I had also registered my address with the usvisascheduling website, the one where you have to choose the option to pick it up in person, and then it lets you put in an address that isnt swedish, since swedes can pay for premium delivery. But I did what I could before my appointment. I am not great at finding my way around new places, but one of my friends is a literal travel blogger so she helped me map out the best route with a bus from our hotel. My friends are amazing, so we all got up at 6.30 that day and walked 15 minutes to the central station an hour later after checking out from the hostel. We did run into problems because the bus stop was not where we expected on the map, and considering my friend is very experienced we basically left as late as we possibly could (if it had just been me I would have been there 30 minutes early lmao. That or I would have walked there the night before and scoped it out). I felt a little panicked at that point. The appointment was not until 8.45, but I knew the embassy opens at 8 and the lines start to form then too so I wanted to catch the 7.49 bus. It ended up being ok because we left the suitcases with one of my friends and me and the other went running for the bus. It was upstairs from the main entrance of the Centralstasjon, route 69. There are escalators on the side of the building kinda, and then you see a bunch of bus stops when you get up there. As I got up the escalator I saw my bus and people were getting on it, so I hugged my friend goodbye and got on it just in time. XD I saw some people with folders on the bus and wondered if they were going there too. It was 7 stops from the central station, with the very apt name "Ambassadorna" (swedish for the embassies), so it was easy to figure out where to get off the bus. I also did not need to transfer, so I recommend this mode of travel. A lot of people were on the bus going there, so I walked quickly across the road and the fairly large embassy was right there. At this point it was a little after eight, the bus took about 15 minutes and left 7.49 from the station. They had a line for Americans and immigrant visas, and another line for non-immigrant visas. I know that the K1 is technically a non-immigrant visa, but that they treat it like an immigrant visa during this part of the process, but my brain is very stubborn and I got there early enough that even if I got in the long annoying line inside what looked like a very long glass house bus stop, it was still ok. There were also posters inside the building saying to not worry, as long as you are in line you will not miss your appointment. Since I was there pretty early, I still made it inside before my scheduled time anyway, but had I taken the next bus the line would have been insanely long. People in the very short immigration/american citizen line got to just go almost immediately, and I do believe I was supposed to go there, because the security guard who looked at my DS160 confimation page and my passport was like "What sort of appointment do you have" and looked a little confused. He had called me over from the non-immigrant line. But technically I am right, so.. whatever. 😛 They call you up, make you show your DS160 and passport through a window, and then call you inside the little security house. Then you walk through a metal detector and your things go through a scanner. The welcome letter says you can bring a small purse, but I had read that you cannot really bring anything so I just took a totebag for my papers and folders (in case it rained) and stuck my bankcard into my phonecase. It says in the letter that they have storage for your cellphone (no other electronics allowed), but they let you keep it with you, telling you no recordings. This felt nice since I had nothing to do in there. The lady at the scanner asked if I had been there before and when I told her no she told me where to walk to get to where I needed to go. I just followed some dots and then walked into another building further up the hill. Inside I was met by a security guard who asked what sort of appointment I had. I told him a K1, and he asked if it was immigrant or non-immigrant. Again my brain makes this hard for me, but I tried to tell him that it is sort of both? But he made it easy for both of us and asked "Are you staying in the US for a long time?" and when I said yes he was like "Well then it is an immigrant visa". Lmao. Everything was in a single long room, in the front where I walked in there were some windows with clerks and officers and several rows of chairs and people standing in line. In the back were some booths on the wall and a regular table with some chairs. There was an american guy and a family sitting at the table. The security guy told me to sit down, and that I was second in line after the family. And that when the family finished at Windows 7 I needed to walk over there. If I did not "you are not here". Lol. Basically he was saying to keep an eye on the people ahead of me because no one would call my name at that time. Then he left me at the table and the wait started. Someone was already at Booth 7, but once they finished the family walked over and I paid attention to what was happening while trying to give them privacy. Everything is in one room so you can basically hear all the conversations. They were giving the lady in the window a bunch of papers and stuff and it took a little while. After they left I got up and walked over. She just asked how I was doing and took my passport. I had put my folders on the side, but she then proceeded to tell me to go back to the table and sort my papers. Lol. It was just another wait, my papers were already very organized inside their folders. 🙈 After that I just sat at the table again, and we kind of circled back around the people who were there for immigrant visas. There were not enough chairs, so the first officer told the family that 2 of them could go sit in the waiting aread instead. The people from the waiting area kept getting called up to the booths on the side of the room, being asked about visas and the like. I was happy to have my phone as a distraction, it felt kind of intrusive to sit that close. Eventually the lady in the back window called my name, which is always funny because my surname sounds like I am a pirate when you say it in english. This time she told me this was not the interview, but she would collect my papers for the officer who would be doing it later. She asked me some questions about the kids, since that had been a whole thing, and then she said her notes suddenly made sense. I guess it is a little confusing that my kids were on the application, but they are american citizens. Also their dads first name and my fiances first name happens to be the same so that did not help. XD But I clarified that my kids are american, but they are not the children of the person I am doing a K1 with. XD This is also where I was told spending 40 dollars total on the envelope + postage to Norway was not neccessary. So that kinda sucked. Money wasted and all that. Also I do worry the free delivery service they have will take forever.. Ohwell. But she said she would make sure to look into it when I asked, and she had me write down my address, so I am assuming it all went ok. She collected my original birth certificate, police certificate, the kids birth certificates (but she got copies of these), DS160 confirmation paper, and my original divorce decree + the translation (I asked for this back because I do not want to pay for it to get translated again, so every date on it needs to the the same. But this means if you want your papers back you have to specifically ask for it. In norway it is free and very very easy to get an original birth certificate so I let her keep that one). I think that was it? Oh, and 2 photos. I made a template in photoshop and printed that on a miniprinter myself to save some money and that was no problem. I used the same photo I took for the DS160. She asked if I had done my medical and I told her yes, and that it was done over a month ago. That seems to have thrown her a bit, because normally it should have been sent by now (I KNOW RIGHT?!), but she said that they would probably get it soon. After that she told me to go sit down at the table again and an officer would call me up to one of the booths/windows. So the waiting began again, I suppose 85% of the time spent there was waiting. It took a while but I got another smile hearing my last name pronounced. I do not plan to change it once I get married (I have done enough paperwork already!) so that will be normal for me soon! I got called up to an officer who had me swear that my application was true to the best of my knowledge. I worried I would do the wrong hand - obviously I did not. XD Then I put all my fingers on a pad and he took my fingerprints. Now, I see that a lot of people ask what they asked me, so I will do my best to remember the questions. I am very comfortable speaking english so that is never an issue or causes me any kind of stress, but it was sort of a surreal situation so I was a bit out of it. Also talking to strangers is kind of scary? To be honest it is actually easier in English than in Norwegian, it is like I get a more outgoing personality when I use English. Lol. While I sat at the table waiting for my turn I also tried to tap into the excitement of it all: I had everything I needed, everything was ok and I was finally doing this last part. So I was sort of out of it to be honest. He also kept typing a bunch while we talked, but here are the questions I think he asked me. -How did you meet your finace? -So you are both gamers? (I told him we met on discord playing games.. lol) -Have you visited him? And how many times. -Has he visited you? And how many times. (He seemed impressed that we have met 13 times over the past 2,5 years lol) -What does he do for work? -Do you have any degrees? -When did you meet? -When did you get engaged? -So you met in 2021? (It was 2022, so I corrected him) -Why have you not gotten married yet, if you have been engaged for a year and a half? (This was the only question that threw me a bit, I was not expecting that. I told him the truth - that we have not been 100% sure where we wanted to live, so this was the best way to do this and keep our options open. We have both looked at opportunities in both countries and landed on me moving there for now). -I think he asked if we would be living where my fiance lives, although he never asked me where that is or anything. Like I mentioned earlier i brought the i134, tax papers, employment letter and paystubs from my fiance - plus a folder with old and new photos and evidence in addition to new and signed letters of intent - and he did not ask for any of it. XD I am still glad I brought it though. I think that is it? He did not really ask about my kids or anything. Then he spent a bunch of time typing something up, which I knew would be my white slip, my refusal letter. He told me he was going to approve the application, but that he had to give me the 221g because they did not have my medical yet. He said that it would take about 2 weeks. This stressed me out. We have refundable tickets at the end of july, which is a month and a half away. I know we were advised not to do this, but they are refundable and we got some good prices so we figured we would give it a try, and make sure to double check that I had all my documents when I went to the interview. So it was upsetting that I did everything right and still got refused. He did keep my passport though, so I guess that is good news. I thanked him and walked out of there. A bus was pulling up as I walked down the street from the embassy, so I got back into town really quickly. One of the first things I did was call the doctors office again, asking if my papers had been sent. He said no, I told him to please remind the doctor. He said he would, but then again he said the same thing two times already. A couple of hours later they texted me and told me my papers have been sent to Stockholm though. So yeah. That was it! What a crazy morning. Everyone was professional and friendly, you just have to listen and follow directions. By the time you reach the interview stage, if you bring everything you need, you should be fine if you have a real relationship. Just be honest and answer what they ask you. I spent the rest of the day with my friends going around Stockholm. I did not bring very good shoes and we were walking like 20k steps every day so my feet kinda hurt. XD But it was a nice weekend. I am back home now, and looking at everything that I need to pack and do. Like with my medical, I suppose there was a tiny voice saying that I might get rejected so I was holding back a little, but now I have a literal countdown to when we will be MOVING!!!! (Well.. if my passport makes it back in time) It is very exciting and scary, all at once. I also checked my mailbox when I got home, and my kids social security cards were waiting there. So now they have evrything they need: norwegian passports, american passports, crbas, social security cards.😃 If you have read this massive text.. you are nuts, but thank you for following my journey. ^^ I will be sure to write a review for the embassy, and try to make it a bit shorter, lol.

I believe the petitioner gets checked out by uscis when you send in the i129, and then once the case reaches the embassy the beneficiary needs to get a police clearance from their home country (plus any other country they have lived in for more than 6 months). So they are not done together. The beneficiary should time this with the scheduling of the interview, it can take between a few weeks to a month depending on the country - I sent an email to the police in my hometown and asked in advance what sort of wait to expect.

Well I certainly had a productive evening! Printed out the I-134, 1040, W2s for 23 and 24, paystubs and a letter from my fiances employer and made a neat folder with tabs for it. Arranged our old proof of relationship in a binder and added new pages for the trips we have taken after we sent in the i129, also with updated intent to marry contracts. Copied and printed all the originals; birth certficiates, divorce decrees, police certificate, my old passport and even a copy of my custody agreement because it details how I can bring the kids with me when I move. Also put the originals at the back of the main folder with the DS160 confirmation page, receipt for the payment, NOA2 and FTP letter.. Even managed to print 4 copies of a 2x2 passport photo. It says I need 2 in the letter from the embassy, but hey it cannot hurt, right? I have to fill in some blanks in the I-134, like with a lot of these forms, some of them wouldnt work when he tried to fill it in, but that is all good. I think that is everything? O_O I am leaving with 2 friends really really early this friday to go to Stockholm. Very nervous and very excited!

Let me know if you got a good deal, we are getting both my girls new phones and the problem has been that had they jumped over to a new provider they would get free phones, but since their stuff right now is norwegian that wont work. My fiance is considering setting up 2 accounts for them on his current plan and changing over to the new one with included phones to save 30 dollars a month for 2 years, but I feel that it might not work because of some fine print somewhere, lol. Good luck with all the preparation! How exciting. ^-^

Whole wheat bread with liver pate. Like a true Norwegian. What a lunch. Lol.

Also, did you buy and bring a paid envelope through Postnord so they could ship your passport to Denmark? 😃

Congrats! I am going to Stockholm in less than two weeks! What version of a police certificate did they require? I only know of one type, so that is what I ordered. X_X

i have a norwegian character in my surname (å) and my passport has a part where that is spelled aa so see if you guys have somethinh like that so all the different spellings are consistent. that being said my fiance used one a in the 129f but i changed it to aa in the ds160 so i think that part is the most important.