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| Uzbekistan |  Review on June 5, 2008: |
Goldy
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
All of our processing went very well (all considered and in spite of the fact that our government agency still do not communicate well between each other).
It really paid off to develop a meticulous check list of our own. All of our papers were in order, complete and correct the first time. All Russian documents were certified copies with English translation certified before submitting (fees for this were very small in Tashkent). We used no attorney, simply because no attorney could give us a simple list of ‘value add’ of what they could provide for their fees that we could not do ourselves.
After a long search, checking dozens of local and national listing for legal assistance, we could not find a single attorney that had current information (real hint…if their WEB sites list old forms, old instructions and old addresses of where to send forms; they probable will only use your fees to get up to date as to what needs to be sent to whom and when.) I will say that one very nice attorney acknowledged that they would have to do all the same checks that we were doing and that what they really do is double check all forms for completeness (only you will know if the information is really correct). They have no special phone numbers or special, direct contact with the Embassy (s).
For Russian applicants, some attorneys have a legal-aid contact in Moscow (which often means they can find someone that speaks Russian to call your Fiancée but a guarantee that their Russian helper can directly answer specific questions K1 processes; these will likely be routed back to the attorney). I would have been glad just to have a good/ knowledgeable interpreter local in Tashkent, who my fiancée could talk to. I found that attorneys in the U.S. who had some support in Moscow still knew nothing specific about Uzbekistan or the Embassy in Tashkent after the first frustrating calls and emails. After receiving notice that the NVC had forwarded our approved application to the Embassy, we were shocked to hear that the Embassy showed no record of application. At that point we did not know that the NVC uses a “TH” number which they assign to your application. When we emailed and called the Embassy we were asking the Embassy to check under the “WAC” case number assigned by the USCIS (which is NOT sent to the Embassy). It was through my research on this WEB site that I discovered that the NVC assigns a new “TH” number to my application and this is the only number used to track my application after it leaves the NVC. Once we gave the Embassy the correct number for our application, everything went well for us. My fiancée (now my wife) waited four hours on her interview day before she was seen, but her interview lasted less than 5 minutes; she was asked two questions before she was told “Congratulations, and welcome to America”. We had to wait from Wednesday to the following Monday to receive the official stamp in her passport as the approval has to be registered and acknowledged back in the U.S. and it takes a while for computers to be updated..
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #2967