Nywoek

Ours was all over the place. We submitted our i129f in late august and at first it was telling us an estimate for december 2024. Then we got sent to march/april 2025, then later I think we had february/march, and finally we received the NOA2 on January 31st. But it was still kind of a comfort. I think if I were to do it again I would do a free week or whatever after the NOA2 and then wait until a month or two before the first estimate and pay for a bit.

Thanks everyone! I was not sure where I would write about the medical, since the reviews on this site are about the actual interview process, as far as I can tell? But maybe I should just add something there.. we get like no new entires in the Stockholm one anyway, so any info is probably good and it wont spam the channel lol.. My doctor said they would mail all that to me at home. The only thing they gave me at the appointment was the CD in case I need it at the airport. ^^ I will be sure to bring it and make copies! I have never actually had a licence, so this wont be a to-do thing. XD It is terrible, I know, especially in my late 30s and moving to the US where walking and taking the bus is not as accessible and easy unless you live in a city, but maybe I will learn to drive there. The cost of a licence here is over 3000 dollars total and I have a lot of anxiety so it just never happened. XD Thank you ^^ I will do my best getting everything in order. A lot of that stuff is available online because Norway has a fairly good system for official paperwork, but some of it I might have to order to get signatures and stamps and such since anyone in the US cannot access these for me like we do here. So far I have new passports and ID cards for all 3 of us, kids have american passports/crbas and I have to send in the social security number application but it is ready to go. I got my divorce decree stamped and signed and I think it has an apostille too (and it was translated by a service for the i129f) but I have to find it...lol. I ordered new birth certificates for all of us, they are not quite the same here so I hope they will do (I was also able to order an English version of it so I do not have to pay to get it translated, it has a wet signature and a stamp I think but that is as good as it gets here - my kids crbas look SO fancy compared to them lol), I guess I should get the papers for my bacherlos degree translated, but I can bring originals at least. I have my vaccine papers since I went to my medical, but since my kids are citizens they dont have an english version in the right format, but hopefully their new doctor can help with that since I can print the one we have here in English. This is very overwhelming and a lot. O_O Good thing I like to make lists..lol. Next up is Stockholm in less than a month! I have big plans for this week, emptying a big closet and filling it up to make more room for packing. I also have to keep sorting and selling and packing, whew! My only worry now is that I cannot find information on how they will return my passport with my Visa in it to me. There is a payment system if you are Swedish, but if you come from any of the other countries that have to go to Stockholm you have to say "pickup" on the website where you register. I think I put in my address, but I doubt they will send it free of charge, at least in a safe manner. So I tried to talk to the customer support at the Swedish embassy, and they did not understand me. Also tried talking to someone online who did this last year... but they were Swedish. Why is it so hard to find people to ask my questions! XD

I am back from the medical! Went to Oslo on monday and met a friend after getting photos for the doctor and finding my hotel we went walking around the city for a few hours and then had dinner. I was back at the hotel at 8 and spent the night reading, lol. The day of I was really really nervous. My hotel was literally 50 meters from the clinic, lol, so I was 15 minutes early but they started with taking my vaccine papers. The clerk said I had a really cool last name for use in america (lol), and I had to look up what types of covid vaccines I had done, but it was no problem. Then they sent me in line to the x-ray. The technician was nice and chatty, said his birthday was very close to mine. XD He was going through my papers and thought I needed another vaccine, but then he had me log on to the norwegian health website so they got that overview instead, and it turned out I did not need it. He gave me a copy of the xray on a cd and told me to keep it in my hand luggage in case they ask for it at the airport, but that if they do not I should not make a note of it and just keep walking. XD Then I was in line to get my blood drawn. The nurse also asked me if I had a urine sample with me, but they did not mention that in the letter so I apologized and she just gave me a cup. After all that was taken care of I went back to reading in line, and was finally brought to see the doctor. He was super nice, but he kept talking about all sorts of stuff that had nothing to do with the test. He took my blood pressure, listened to my heart and when I told him I was a little nearsighted he had me check on the board there, but only one of my eyes are a little confused so he did some quick caluclations for my forms (i do not know my prescription). He did not ask me all the questions I expected, but I suppose they drug test my urine and he did talk to me a long time so he makes an overall evaluation of me as a person and with the health stats that is what makes for the thing. He did kept asking me what medication I am on, and I kept telling him none because I do not take any, even as I walked out to pay he ran after me and asked again... XD They wished me luck and said have a good trip, so I guess I passed? They told me they would mail me my blood test results and such, but I am guessing all the tests they took there were good and they would have notified me if there was a problem that would fail me. So now I feel very excited and very nervous, because this whole appoinment has been a big roadblock for me this whole time. I had a lot of irrational fear that I would fail it for some reason. So I have been holding back a little. Definitely packing and sorting and getting rid of stuff, but now I think I will do even more and be even more brutal. This is actually happening!

Our case was approved january 31st and sent to state february 20th. So it takes a little while and then they enter it in and send to your embassy depending on the backlog. It is a bit of a grueling process, but it will definitely take less time than your noa2! I agree with E&J, I would send a new PI every week or so, as long as you have gotten a response since the last time you did it. If you worry maybe every other week.

I think we have decided to ship some of our things. The furniture I will either get rid of by selling/throwing away or I will leave in the house since we are renting it out. This makes things easier as far as how much we have to ship. Currently we are looking at 1 or 5 cubic meters. There are also several storage rooms in my house, so I will lock up 2 of them for our stuff we wont want to bring. My fiance thought that was weird but it is normal here. Lol. I am in touch with a company that will come get my things and deliver them at my fiances house, shipping it with a boat. It will cost a lot, but we have factored in the cost and I think it will help the kids and me feel more like it is also our home sooner. And who knows how much it will cost to buy new things in the future. Both my medical and interview trip is booked with flights and a hotel. My medical is tuesday and I am going down to Oslo on monday. I got a new carry-on suitcase today, ready to pack some essentials for my Oslo trip. I am so nervous about it, since doctors stress me out and my anxiety is telling me I will somehow fail the medical. Why my anxiety is telling me that I do not know, so I am trying to tell that b. to calm down and be quiet so I can focus. XD Sorting and selling is going so-so, why is it so hard to get rid of stuff! Lol. Added the appointments in my countdown app. The first one is the day we met in person the first time. Hopefully after my interview I can add the actual moving date, but I am very much looking forward to my fiance visiting and helping a bit with the house! We will also be taking a trip down south to a rural island where my family has a really really old summer house. He has never been there before since it takes 8 hours or so to drive there, so I am glad to show it to him. Lucky for him we installed a real bathroom a year ago, prior to that we had an outhouse, and the shower was behind the courtain in the hallway from the kitchen. Lol. It is not easy to modernise 150 year old houses like that, lol.

What are your experiences using a moving company to move household items from your home country to the US? I have been in touch with one and since i will not be bringing any furniture we settled on 5 cubic meters, which should be ok. I think. It is really expensive, but I can't just tell my kids to replace everything they own, and we can make it work with the cost. But you have to make an itemized list and then later on customs will inspect it, but since I am moving countries you don't have to pay for it if it falls within the right categories, right? I read something about documenting that you are moving, just not sure with which papers.. Have not decided yet if we should send our stuff off a month early, or wait until we move, we will be packing suitcases anyway so we will be fine for a while. Plus I already have a good amount of my stuff at my fiances place since the move has been in the works for the past year and I have visited several times. Any advice, knowledge, something? 😅

It took me a while, but randomly there were available dates in june, so I snagged one right away! It feels pretty crappy when nothing is happening for weeks at a time, but eventually it works out. Goint to Stockholm with 3 girlfriends the weekend before the interview, can't wait. ^^ (Had a swedish bf in Stockholm in highschool, used to visit him there a few times a year so I really enjoy the city).^^

Second with the chocolate. I find that I do not like most american milk chocolate, Reeses is nice but that is mostly peanut butter. Also.. plain cheese. I like the cheese in the US, but for certain things I need my norvegia. But chocolate, mostly chocolate.

I watched a tiktok about a study that found that flatulence within a family can be beneficial for the people who aren't farting (i.e breathing it in), and now my youngest tells me she is just protecting us when she toots. 🙈

When I was doing my vaccines at a clinic they told me that even if my kids are american citizens, most schools will require certain vaccines if you want your kids to go there, including the hep b, so i got my kids that.

Thanks for the resource! My issue is that I am flying from a smaller norwegian city to oslo, it adds a bit to the cost and makes the planning harder with the connecting flights. I always get the whole trip from one airline (with partners) in case of of delays, christmas 2023 I was 25 minutes late from my first flight because of bad weather and they set me up with a hotel, free dinner and a new flight the next day with no need for any discussion or insurance involvement. But since this is a special circumstance (and we don’t have winter storms in july 🙈) if it’s cheaper to buy just the first trip the day before and then buy a night at the airport hotel+my usa trip the next day I will do that. I see your point hplusj, definitely seen some weird stuff happening with pricing at different times, just a bit concerned we wouldn’t get seats together and the kids would would get all stressed out about it. Or just full flights due to summer. But it’ll probably be just fine, I am just an anxious person. 🙈

I see all of your points. 😕 I think my biggest issue is that it is kind of like not knowing when we are moving, and things have been SO up in the air for the past year that it frustrates and scares me. But you are right. And maybe it gets cheaper. I do think the one way tickets were messing with us though, the price was like 4000 dollar for the 3 of us for one way tickets, and only a few hundred was the cancellation thing. X_X But it is what it is, this whole experience is expensive. Lol. But if we can order both ways and cancel and get either credits with the airline or money back that would help a lot.

I know this varies a lot, but I was wondering what you guys think or what experiences you have. After you finish the K1 process or at least see the end of it, when would you order tickets to move? My interview is june 16th. I am looking at one-way tickets for me and the kids in the later part of july and the prices are outrageous. I would wait until mid august, but I really want us to be able to settle in for a while before school starts. But when is it "safe" to order these? Spending a little extra, I could order tickets that can be changed, but due to the time of year I fear there wont be a lot available, especially for 3 people. I asked people on a discord, and some people say I should wait until I have the visa in hand but I mean.. that might make this even more expensive. X_X Also.. anyone have any experience with buying round trip tickets and the second ticket being like... 6-7-8 months later? I guess you just end up with the same problem because you would want to go back. Lol.

Got back yesterday, man am I exhausted. Trying very very hard not to sleep after I sent the kids to school this morning. Right now it is 11, and I am still up! Lol. Leaving was sad. I wrote a note and hid easter eggs with jellybeans all over the house so it would cheer him up when he found them. He loves jellybeans. ^^ Got my medical scheduled on the 13th of may. It was the clinic that picked the date, so there should be more than enough time before my interview. Lol. I am currently ordering plane tickets. Going the day before and staying most of the day, since the appointment takes a while and the ride to the airport takes some time too. Next I need to plan the Stockholm trip, but I have two friends who might want to come along with me, and we can make a weekend out of it. That would be nice since I probably wont see them for a while after. I now have around 3 months to pack up my house and get everything ready. Crazy! O_O

Do not get too discouraged, just keep trying. Depending on their mailing date, you might get lucky and a lot will happen rather quickly. Just keep messaging them every week or so, eventually you will have the number and see your case reach the embassy. ^^ I managed to schedule my interview for june btw, so it did not take months and months (although I guess june is still a while away and technically 3 months since our case went to the embassy.. lol)

We didnt get a specific date, but we asked the week after they told us they did not have it yet so I would not wait that long. XD As long as they have responded to the previous inquiry, I don't think there is an issue asking for another, as long as you wait at least a little. XD I am having a nice time here. Going through the passport control was a little scary, but I brought all sorts of documentation just in case. We are just hanging out and having little adventures together while setting things up at the house. ^^ My interview is the 16th of june. I could have gone for a week earlier, but I wanted to make sure I have enough time to go to my medical after my new passport arrives.

Decided to write an update for you guys since you will be using the Stockholm embassy. ^^ Basically they release interview dates in a pattern I am not sure about. I have been trying for a while and randomly I got an appointment. It was kind of late during the work day in Sweden since it was before lunch here in the US (I am currently visiting). There were only dates available in june when I checked, and only mondays. The day I picked had 2 appointments 8.30 and 8.45. I know someone who got a may appointment on the first of april so I do not understand their pattern unfortunately. So the best advice I have is to check once in the morning and once before the office closes maybe. They do not have a lot of appointments, but that is probably because there are not a lot of people needing these interviews, so don't get discouraged and best of luck to you!

I had this same problem because I am going to Stockholm even if I live in Norway. The shipping option only shows shipping payments to Sweden and I was very confused. The website's wording is pretty counter intuitive, but you have to click "Pick up" and it will let you set your address. I think i finally found instructions on this in the ftp letter. Or maybe it was somewhere else, but yeah I know it does not make much sense but if you click the pick up option it will make it possible to pick shipping to other countries outside the embassy one.

Okay, update time. My trip to Boston went well. Felt bougie using business class, it's good I'll be flying coach going home so it wont go to my head. XD No extra issues during the passport check, I mean the officer asked me a bunch of questions, but they usually do. No use for my stack of documents I had ready in my backpack, but better safe than sorry! Wonderful to see my love and his cat again. 🥰 So the tariff stuff has been spooking us a bit, so we decided to invest in a desktop pc for me since my laptop is getting up there. No matter what happens with he economy the graphics card situation has been annoying for years and most likely will stay that way anyway. It arrived the day after me and a few days later we had it set up with a new desk and everything. Apart from installing some games the first thing I did was go to the scheduling website to check for interview dates and what do you know they had some open in June! So now I will be in Stockholm for my interview june 16th. I was so excited, I ran upstairs to my fiance who was working in his temporary office (he is using the room that will be my littlest' bedroom while he finishes building some rooms in the basement) and gave him the good news while jumping up and down in excitement! It feels like such a relief, we got it the month it will work the best for us and it will give us time to still move during the summer so my kids can settle in before school starts. Still no clue how Stockholm actually does it.. because the lady who got an appointment in may said she got it april 1st. So I guess the advice is just to keep trying. At this point I had taken a few days off checking because the website did not load properly on my phone, so it felt really cool and special that it finally worked on my new computer. ^^ I still have to schedule my medical, but I have to make a plan with my parents since they are looking after the kids. For the interview I sort of felt like I did when we got Taylor Swift concert tickets: just click whatever you can and be happy with it, but I am hoping it wont be a problem with the medical. I should do it sooner rather than later though, because there are only 2 doctors in the country (at one hospital) that does the medical, so I would not want them both to be on vacation or something. O.O Not sure if I need my new passport ready for that though? I have my appointment on May 7th and it usually takes 1 to 2 weeks to get it sent in the mail. I have spent my days here putting away the 3 suitcases of stuff I brought (my fiance brought one after his christmas trip) and getting the house ready for us. This place is starting to feel more and more like home and we are both so excited to finally be together and not have to think about the fact that one of us has to go home by themselves. My fiance will make one more trip to Norway, either sometime in june or right before we move so we can all go together, but other than that it will be amazing not having to say goodbye for months at a time.

To answer my own question, I got the FTP letter 4 days after it reached the embassy. 😃 Now I am wondering if anyone have any experience with how long it takes to schedule the interview? I have been logging in a few times a day to the scheduling website, and when i talked to someone who got an appointment recently she said she got it april 1st and there were only 2 dates in may available. X_X

Thank you! You guys give so much nice support. ^-^ I must admit it is a little hard right now, logging on to the usvisascheduling website and it saying "no slots available". If the website even works. I tried last night and this morning and both times the website was insanely slow and kept timing out. I almost thought maybe it is because they put out appointments in the morning and there is a rush of people, but when I finally got in there it was as empty as always.😕 I have been trying since friday and I worry a little bit that they wont add more appointments until the first of may, because last I heard someone was able to schedule a may appointment for april 1st, and there were only 2 days available in all of may, the rest of the year was all red. But I just have to keep trying, we have made it this far so we can make it through the rest of it! Now I have to finish cleaning and packing, because tomorrow morning I am taking 3 different planes and going to Boston. I am so excited to see my fiance and his cat, and help set up the house for our little family. ^.^ My kids are going with their grandparents to Spain for a week while I am gone, and considering I am going to New Hampshire they will have much better weather than me. XD Will miss them terribly, of course, but glad they will be having fun. 😃

I called. They just had not processed my request yet. But a few hours later they did. Then I ran into some problems with the delivery of the visa. Very counter-intuitive. Lol. But I followed the cookie trail to the answer! Ended up here: https://www.ustraveldocs.com/se/en/immigrant-visa Click the right thing and it says this: If you live in Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, or Norway and want your visa package to be sent to an address in your home country, enter your address and then select your country from the drop-down menu under “pick-up”. Nice to know. Wish it was on the first page. Lol. Then I did all that, paid the interview fee, blablabla... No slots available. So now that part starts, I guess. XD I wish I could have started this on monday. 😕 But... I will stay strong. Maybe try to scope out when they release new slots? It is so hard to find info on Stockholm though.. I feel like a pioneer. May those that come after me use this very silly thread for knowledge and do better than me - have less stress - that will make it worth it. XD I will just keep myself busy packing and cleaning this weekend. Travelling to Boston on tuesday, cannot wait to see my love again.

well... i figured it out and it was not super intuitive, but then again i am also very stressed. 🙂 Anyway. In case someone else runs into this problem, you have to say you want to pick it up, and then it will allow you to pick delivery to your country. Makes perfect sense! XD Aaaaand... I did it all and paid and now there are no slots available. XD Hahahahaha. Ohwell. 🙂

Also, can I go back to this step? I mean it wont be for a few months, can I go back into the scheduling tool and pay later when I understand what to do? I just really want to schedule my interview. X_X

I am finally trying to trying to schedule my interview and i have to pay for my visa delivery but then the website says this: Please note that the passport can only be delivered within Sweden. International deliveries are not possible. Also: Premium Delivery - You must register your delivery address on our courier partner's platform and pay the delivery fee (297 SEK). The platform can be accessed from this page by selecting the Premium Delivery option. So I try the latter, but the only thing that seems like I can get delivered in norway is the interview waiver?? This is what it says: You should only use this service if you have received an Interview Waiver confirmation from your ustraveldocs.com profile or you have been issued a 221(g) letter and instructed by the U.S. Embassy or Consulate to submit additional documentation for further processing. I am so confused. How do I get the passport back with the visa in it? Do I have to wait in Stockholm?