Rukavetchka

Update: I decided to take a chance before requesting the passport to be returned. Since we did DCF, at one point I was given a personal (work) email of one of the consular officers, to whom I should CC when we write to schedule the interview. I would generally consider it unprofessional to contact any personal email for any reason unless requested to do so, but I decided now it can't hurt to try. I wrote to this email and simply asked if there was a problem, we did everything they asked and the status still says ready for interview. Within hours the case was 'updated' (meaning viewed) and within the same day, the visa status changed to ISSUED! Now, it's fairly obvious what happened in my opinion. We WERE NOT in administrative processing. They either misplaced our file or forgot to follow up when they received the documents in the mail. Literally what people fear (our application is lost, they forgot about us) was the situation, I believe. I'm frustrated. If I hadn't chosen to act a bit unprofessionally, we could have been waiting in limbo nearly indefinitely or at least until we had a lawyer to start working the case after the 180 days ended. Of course, I'm also relieved. Well, that's another story to give people anxiety attacks when they read the forums! But I'm glad it's over!

My wife is going to ask for her passport back on Friday, this will be 92 days since the interview. does anyone have any recommendations for wording of this request, to make sure it’s clear we are NOT withdrawing our application? I don’t trust the folks at us travel docs to manage the communication if it’s not explicit.

Thanks! We will plan a trip together for December, and if the dates are getting close without any visa being issued, we will probably request her passport back. My boss is really understanding of our situation luckily.

Yes, I did relocate. I’ve started my new job, bought a car, etc. however, I don’t want to stay separate from my wife. We want to plan a trip together in December, somewhere in Europe.

Does anybody he have any idea whether asking the consulate to return the passport to my wife could have any negative outcome? Since she’s not “issued” yet, my wife and I might like to travel somewhere together. i assume they would just ask us to submit it again when her AP is finished? Since I relocated for my new job, I have no connections to Georgia so would prefer to spend time somewhere else.

I wrote to USTraveldocs again, and they obviously didn’t even read my message and just replied with “you should schedule your interview” since our status says “ready for interview” I wrote them back to remind them we already had the interview and we are now 60+ days in AP, then just received a boilerplate response about AP. The incompetence isn’t surprising but it is frustrating.

Monday will be 60 days of admin processing. I’m going to write them again and ask my senators office to inquire once more as well. There is no way I’ll stay separated from my wife for more than a couple months so I’ll have to make some decisions soon

I’m just curious, does anyone have any speculation about what could be the reason for the long AP? a little more background my wife is Ukrainian, she’s traveled to US twice before. Once for work many years ago, maybe 2016, for 2 weeks. her sister is a naturalized citizen living in the US for 10 years, although her sister did stay illegally before later becoming a citizen in 2022 she came to the US under U4U along with both her parents. Both parents now hold green cards. in 2023 we were married in the US, and changed her name on her social security card to match my last name, but all other documents are still in her maiden name. at the end of 2023 we flew together to republic of Georgia, planning to live our lives there (not in US) for the next few years. Life circumstances changed at home, and also the political environment has become worrying a bit, so we decided to relocate again applied for U4U, travel not authorized. Applied once more just to see if it was related to the sponsor or the name change, no response. Then I got the job offer which is the basis of our DCF filing. She never violated any laws in the US. Has a completely clean background. never married before. She’s a dance instructor and a yoga teacher so it’s obviously not career related. the only things I can think of: - the name change, and the mismatch between name on passport and name in SS card? - the fact that her sister had an illegal stay a decade ago? - or finally, perhaps it’s something related to me? Though I’m not sure what.

I arrived in the US alone to start my new job - Case hasn’t been updated on ceac since the 16th. Now at about 40 days since the interview and they still have her passport. of course no explanation of anything, only the original request for the police certificate from the interview. my wife is starting to get very nervous that she won’t be approved, or that approval can take 6 months or a year in this unknown condition.

We heard back from our senator: They just received boilerplate about the case being in administrative processing. The case has been in AP for over a month already it looks like I have no choice but to leave the country without my wife and there is no telling how long AP could last. I don’t think it’s about just the one missing document, but I have no idea what it could be. My wife lived in the US before for more than a year - she had no interactions with the law, always stayed legally, worked, paid taxes, etc - we were married inside the US, neither of us have ever been married before. They haven’t asked us for further interviews, or questions, or documents. at the interview the officer stated that she just needed to submit the one document and it shouldn’t take long. I guess something changed.

Looks like we will have to delay the start of my new job - there is no way I’m going to fly to the US and leave my wife here in a foreign country without a visa and without a passport! I emailed my senator to contact the state department as well. Hopefully his team can manage to get some answers why they have kept her passport for 3 weeks just to process one simple document!

Thanks! We have filed in Tbilisi, not in the UK. This is our third week after the interview listed as “ready” the officer in the interview told my wife “it won’t be long”, but who knows what that means in government terms!

Update - tried to email the consulate to at least confirm the receipt of the documents (after seeing how the ‘FedEx’ office in Tbilisi is operated, believe me you would want to check also 😅) just received a generic response about administrative processing and nothing else. now the actually start date for the job is quickly approaching (September 15) and it looks like I’ll have to ask my new boss to delay my start - I’m definitely not going to travel without my wife. Not ideal; and very frustrating considering that the consulate seems to know very well that this is a common issue with police certificate in Georgia, but make no special mention that 2 different types are actually needed from police here, either on the local consulate website or in the interview preparation email.. so, we have no choice but to wait and hope that we move quickly from AP to issued.

Hi! Did everything turn out well with your DCF? We have the same situation - almost 2 weeks since final interview. Consulate has my wife’s passport and visa status remains “ready for interview”.

Update: still haven’t heard anything from the consulate since delivering the passport to them. With DCF process will the visa status usually still be updated on the CEAC website? Ours still just says “ready for interview” even though we already had the interview. today is the 7th business day since they received it.

Update! My spouse attended the interview today. She was in the consulate a total of about 3 hours. seems everything has gone well, except that they asked us for one more documents. apparently, Georgia is peculiar in that there is more than one police certification that needs to be requested - this information isn’t listed on the embassy website. They gave us back my wife’s passport (because we would need it to get a copy of the second police cert), and instructed us to send the police certificate along with her passport by courier. we managed the certificate within a couple hours and sent everything to the consulate. Only one thing was strange: I sent my wife with enough cash to cover all the fees plus some extra. But they only charged her for the i130 and the family-based visa app. So only around 1000. Is that normal?

Update: we received a case number and the invitation to schedule an interview! now, I have some questions. I’m confused by the order of operations here. what do I do first? Complete ds-260? Schedule the interview? Schedule the medical exam? the email I received tells me to email to schedule a visa appointment once I’ve “reviewed” the requirements - I guess that will probably be the first step?

Quick question: Has anyone had experience like ours where they were asked to mail the i-130 and other docs instead of deliver them? If so, how long was it before you receieved the next contact? I would expect it should take them at least some days to review the i-130 and make sure everything is clearly approvable, and it seems like with the people who hand-delivered documents that was about a week.

Update! The consulate sent me a request to submit the i-130 and all documents to the consulate (by mail). I assume this means unless there is some major problem, we will be allowed to file locally. It's a bit nerve-wracking to send the original copy of my wife's birth certificate by post! Aside from that, I think I have most things in order. Only one thing, they wanted a notarized translation of the birth certificate, not just a translation. So we made that and sent the packet today. We've been together less than a year, so we don't have a lot of shared assets and things like that for the evidence of bona-fide - just a joint bank account and a lot of photos with friends and family, wedding photos, etc. I don't think the legitimacy of the marriage will be in question, especially since we got married in the US! my wife had an easier path to residency if she just stayed there Now we move on to checking over all the documents we will need before the interview.

The job starts on Sept 15. I hope they will view my status favorably! My bank accounts, business, car, everything is here. Georgia is pretty unique with the 365day visa-free policy.

Update! I managed to secure a really amazing job offer, and requested DCF based on the offer! It's kinda funny, realizing that my current situation probably wouldn't qualify for DCF put me on the job hunt and I actually got lucky and got offered my dream job! I sent the request to the embassy and within a few days they replied asking me to send copies of my passport stamps for Georgia, as well as my residence card. I'm a bit worried, as I don't have a residence card, since georgia allows US citizens to live and work for 365 days without any kind of documents (and to renenw just need to leave country and reenter). I sent the passport stamps to them on friday and I'll be hoping to hear from them again this week with a positive answer, fingers crossed. I have a business here and I've spent the majority of my time over the last 5 years though, and I've been here continuosly for the last 6 months, so hopefully that will be enough! I've prepared all the documents, and I had one question. Since I was actually offered the job (during the interview) before I received the formal offer letter, some of the documents like I-130 have an earlier date than the offer letter, by a few days. Does anyone think that will be an issue?

That’s what I think too, probably no harm in just letting my mother write the i864 either way I guess

Yes, I do, as well as for filing taxes. however, I clearly live abroad as I’ve spent about 75% of my time here over past 5 years.

Hi, I'm currently completing form I-864 as the petitioner for my wife. We plan DCF in Tbilisi, Georgia. I've been living abroad on a shoestring for many years, so I don't meet income requirements based on assets or foreign income (which will naturally not continue when I return to US anyway) I'm including evidence of my intent to reestablish domicile in the US, in the form of my job offer, bank statements from the US, up-to-date driver's license, and already purchased airline tickets, as well as a letter from my mother that shes inviting us to live at her home. QUESTION: Since we plan to reestablish domicile at my mother's house, should I consider as my principal residence that resience where we plan to reside in the US, already? In this case, my mother should be listed as household member and file form I-864a instead of form I-864. Our current residence abroad is just a monthly airbnb we are staying in until we get an answer.

Thanks, we will follow up with my senator in the US. Until then, formulating plans b-z.