dleewo

My brother's oldest child is 14 or 15 so that should not be an issue. He was single when I applied for him, but now he has a family with 2 kids,

As an update. TODAY we got an email fro the NVC talking about documents that need to be submitted so we checked the CEAC website and the link to pay the fees is working . Perhaps the NVC just needed a couple weeks for the website to catch up to the welcome letter . After waiting 17 years, it's a relief it's now working

no, the link to start the ds261 application is disabled. He's not able to do anything. I posted on another forum and an immigration lawyer said that the Final Action Date needs to be current and until that is current, he can;t do anything. This is despite the visa bulliten saying that once the "Dates for filing" is current ,you can pay the fees and start the application. I guess the process has changed??

OK, we'll just wait for now. I just wish there was a wait to get clarity as to what is going on. If the NVC had responded and said something definitive like you have to wait X more months. Or you have to wait for the final action date to be current. Or as you said, it takes a while for the website to work or catch up - it would at least help. The other concern is that the welcome letter said that if nothing is done without 12 months, it would be treated as abandoned. I can't imagine we'll have to wait 12 months to pay the fees, but that deadline is also in the back of my mind.

For the FEES link at the top, the HTML for the page is: <a class="main" style="width:253px; display:inline-block;" disabled="true" id="FEE" title="">FEES</a> For the NOT PAID link under the applicant info, the HTML is: <a id="ctl00_SiteContentPlaceHolder_ucApplicants_gridApplicants_ctl01_hlPay" title="Please pay the IV fee for this applicant." class="aspNetDisabled">NOT PAID</a> They are disabled and have t=no target or href. so they are definitely disabled.

The final action date I quoted of 01Jan08 is from the May bulletin which was released late last week. The links are definitely disabled as is the FEES link at the top. He tried it and I also tried it, logging in both as the petitioner and as the applicant. So my understanding if the priority date timing is correct and all we can do is wait? Would hiring am immigration lawyer help? I mean, can immigration lawyers talk to an actual person at the NVC to find out why they can't proceed? Or would hiring an immigration lawyer not provide any benefit and all my brother and sister can do is just wait and periodically login and check until such time the link to pay the fees is enabled?

Trinidad and Tobago

I am the petitioner for my brother and sister. Their priority date is March 2008 and that is now current as of last month. They both received the welcome letter from the NVC just over a week ago with their case number and invoice ID number along with instructions to go to the CEAC website to pay the fees. But when they login, the links to pay the fees and start the application are disabled and there is the message Are they not able to proceed with their fees and application? I sent an inquiry to the public question system and all I got was a generic reply that didn't address my question. Has something changed and they must wait until the Final Action Date is current? My understanding is that they could pay the fees, do the applications then medical etc, but that can all be done in advance while waiting for a visa number to be available. The "DATES FOR FILING FAMILY SPONSORED APPLICATIONS" in the visa bulletin is now 01JUN08 for F4 category. The "FINAL ACTION DATES FOR FAMILY SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES" is 01JAN08 for F4. Am I misinterpreting what can be done based on their priority date?