Nywoek

Well to put an end to this tale, it ended up working out, but it was a bit of a pain in the ###. We needed all sorts of proof of residency to get her into school, however it was mostly from my fiance. We went to UPS and got a notarized letter saying I live with him, and from there we could use his mail to prove residency. They are very strict about it here, apparently. Also went to a urgent care and got her a physical. Poor kid was terrified, she has never had to go to the doctor due to school before. XD But it was fine. We have a meeting on Thursday with her guidance counselor and some other people from the school for information and so she can pick her classes. Happy to have that sorted, it is a lot easier with the younger one, I just have to send a letter saying I intend to homeschool her. And well then I actually have to homeschool her which is 20 times harder, but at least one part is easy. =p

Yes, you absolutely must do this. They will not approve your visa if you do not. My medical paperwork took a long time to get to the Swedish embassy, and I had to get a denial paper (but they told me as soon as they had the paperwork we would be approved). That being said.. lower your shoulders, take a deep breath and I will tell you it is going to be ok. I am a very anxious person, and I absolutely do not like doctors. I have to be /REALLY/ sick before I go (which was dumb.. I used to have free healthcare before I moved to the US! lol) and this whole ordeal was terrifying to me. I had to order tickets with a plane, get a hotel, find the right doctor, have the right papers and most of all do all the things required. I dreaded this part for months at end, it was probably the worst part for me, the interview made me a bit nervous but thinking about doing this was super scary. But then I did it. And it was over before I knew it; everything was fine and now I am living in the US with my soon-to-be husband. So believe me when I say you can do it, and it is going to be ok. 😃

Stockholm is very quick about stuff, the only thing I had trouble with was finding an interview slow, but other than that they are great so best of luck to you guys!

Honestly, I feel like a walking disaster when it comes to this part, but if I actually end up with all my stuff and no giant hidden scary fees I can write more about this part. But in short we just googled and found a company from the Netherlands who was willing and able to come pick up my stuff in the north of Norway and move it to New Hampshire, it is super expensive and honestly kind of dumb, but it was important for my kids and I got to bring a lot of my own stuff. However, it can take 8-10 weeks and we still do not have our things, so I only packed things I did not need for a while, and we brought 2 extra suitcases of clothes to get us through it. To be fair most of the clothes we sent off were for winter, we certainly do not need those right now! Most of the things are honestly personal items and toys... which is silly considering that we could probably buy everything in the shipment for less than what we paid for it, but whatever what done is done. XD I have emailed the company a lot and they are quite helpful, and my experience with the movers was positive (two dutch guys came with a GIANT truck and they would have packed everything for me, but I had already done that because how else would I know how much 5 cubic meters is??? Although they were happy because that made their job a lot easier.. anyway they came, wrapped up some of my boxes - apparently you cannot use clear plastic boxes- and took the stuff away). I sent them a LOT of money, a scan of my passport and my visa, and there are some customs papers but it doesnt seem like I have to fill them out much, really, I am just horrible with forms and my anxiety wont let me complete things. XD But I did most of them this weekend, and will finish tonight with the help of my fiance. I hope. I hate waking up and having some email asking me to PLEASE SEND THE DOCUMENTS (they are always so nice about it, I am just horrible at this). Lol.

Aaaand we are here! On the same side of the world as a lot of you! Woooot! Our trip was pretty chill. We went to Oslo on monday the 28th, met up with my aunt for dinner, stayed at the airport hotel across the street and went to Iceland and then Boston the next day. I had custody papers ready for Iceland, but I got a Norwegian officer ("Oh, you are norwegian? Then we do not have to speak English!") who did not ask for that. I think he was a little confused by the kids' passports, since they traveled with their US ones. They had no other stamps and I think he might have thought they were born in the US. No problem though, just had to explain the situation. We were seated on row 12 on the plane to Boston, and it was not a full plane at ALL. So when we finished the plane ride we were one of the first ones off, and when we got to the passport control area no one was in the non-us passport line at all. Usually I have to stand in that line for 20-40 minutes (but to the fair other than my one brush with greatness when I flew business last trip I always pick the seats all the way in the back lol). I had considered asking someone which line to get in, since I was on a visa and the kids have american passports, but I just made the decision to go to the front of the line. I did not even have time to put my phone away before we were called over! We had a friendly officer, he asked for our passports and as he was looking at mine he said he could see I had a lot of paperwork with me. I said yes, sir, got a whole K1 packet for you and handed it to him. He had to ask the guy in the booth next to us if they do K1 visas there, and the guy was like yeah sure. He also had to help him find the right page in my papers. I cringed a little watching him tear open my "DO NOT OPEN" envelope, lmao. But he was the one who was suppose to open it! XD Anyway he did not actually ask me any questions, he was mostly just asking how to process the visa and the guy next to him helped. He could not find a pen, eventually he asked me for one, and as the stationary nerd I am I handed him one from my purse. After stamping my visa and passport and taking photos of us he sent us on our way and I was so excited to see my fiance! He had a friend come help us pick up our stuff since we were traveling with a whopping 5 suitcases, 2 carry-on suitcases and 3 backpacks and my big purse lol. We had to wait a long time before getting our stuff and I was annoyed at how people act around the carousel. I think I have been to too many countries where they mark an area right next to the carousel for no standing, so that everyone can just step into it when they see their suitcases come towards them. Here people were standing next to each other like a bunch of sheep and I had big and heavy suitcases and was probably coming down from an adrenaline rush lol! My kids were like "Chill mommy!" XD But we eventually made it out, made it home (always get some Sonic 20 min from the airport as a snack!) and now we LIVE HERE!!!! It has been an adjustment. The kids are a bit bored without friends, and there is a girl who lives next door who is my youngest same age, but it has been so hot most days she cant just like... hang out in front of the house, lol. They have talked a couple of times though. Now we are planning for stuff, trying to get the oldest into school. She needs a medical and lots of papers and it sucks, but we are hopeful we can get it all together before school starts for freshmen september second. I will be homeschooling the little(r) one, and I have been doing research and found some people from the area I can talk to. I have an appointment to get my SSN on the 25th, I did that online a while ago but that was the earliest appointment. We are waiting to get married until after that. I am happily typing this from my gamer girl setup right now, while the kids are playing on the couch behind me. Excited for our future here! Only real hiccup so far has been that I have been super slow to send my customs papers to the movers, so they are a bit stressed lol. I also just noticed that the border control officer stamped the wrong date stamp in my passport (it says July 28th, we arrived July 29th) and I am hoping that does not cause any issues.

It is a bit wild going from free healthcare to paying almost 7000 kroner for a relatively simple visit to the doctor. Lol. XD I am reporting from the trenches (my house, where I am not done packing or cleaning or sorting) 2 days before we leave for Oslo! Fortunately my parents have agreed to take on the job of cleaning the house.. mostly because they were supposed to help me but then a miracle happened and we actually had some nice summer weather. Nice for them and my kids, not so fun for me when I was cleaning out our upstairs with slanted walls from the roof and no aircondition. Lol. But.. who needs sleep when you have your paperwork and you are about to leave the country for who know how long! XD I will update once we arrive in New Hampshire. I cannot wait to see my fiance and maybe take a week off to relax. The past several months have been madness!

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.