Richard Purves's US Immigration Timeline

Petitioner's Name: Richard Beneficiary's Name: Richard VJ Member: Richard Purves Country: United Kingdom Last Updated: 2019-12-29 Add Comment to Timeline Register or log in to follow this timeline

Immigration Checklist for Richard & Richard:

Dept of State EB-1 Visa:     USCIS I-485 Petition:   USCIS I-765 Petition:       USCIS I-131 Petition:       USCIS I-751 Petition:   USCIS N-400 Petition:   Dept of State EB-1 Visa:     USCIS N-400 Petition:

EB-1 Visa Event Date I-129 Sent : I-129 NOA1 : I-129 RFE : I-129 RFE Sent : I-129 Approved : NVC Received : 2017-08-22 NVC Left : 2017-11-17 Consulate Received : 2017-12-11 Packet 3 Received : 2017-11-27 Packet 3 Sent : Packet 4 Received : 2017-12-02 Interview Date : 2018-01-30 Interview Result : Administrative Review Second Interview (If Required): 2019-10-01 Second Interview Result: Approved Visa Received : 2019-10-04 US Entry : 2019-12-28 I-140 Sent : 2017-03-22 I-140 NOA1 : 2017-04-04 I-140 RFE : 2017-04-26, 2017-07-07 I-140 RFE Sent : 2017-05-09, 2017-06-14, 2017-07-13 I-140 Approved : 2017-08-09 Comments : Attorney filed I-140. We did three RFE rounds despite having been told at first application that we qualified for EB-1. NVC refunded initial payment by mistake. Two weeks later payment was accepted again and they did their thing. Interview was scheduled for a few days after London Embassy moved location. Interview was hostile and finished in six minutes. 221(g) blue form was issued. Case was updated on 31st Jan, 2nd, 26th and 27th February. Marked as Returned to NVC on March 2nd. Attorney notified. NVC received my file on April 2nd 2018 and returned to USCIS on April 13th. Eventually managed to create a USCIS online account. USCIS received my file on April 27th. Waited 180 days. Called repeatedly, asked to speak to supervisors. No results. Filed USCIS access request with California Congressman Ted Lieu based on anecdotal reports. Confirmed as received on December 16th 2018. On 30th January 2019, one exact year after interview I was notified by USCIS that I have been sent a NOIR. Attorney informed and extra info sent to him. NOIR letter received on 4th February 2019. *comment redacted*. Attorney is also unhappy and preparing response based on info I'd already collected and sent in. NOIR response submitted around 20th February 2019. NOIR response received by USCIS on 28th February 2019. Enquiry made on May 10th. Reply back May 13th suggesting a response would be forthcoming within 60 days. It's been 132 days since submission. Filed USCIS access request with California Congressman Ted Lieu again. Confirmed as received on July 10th 2019. July 16th, received email from Congressman's staffer. "it is still awaiting review by an adjudicating officer." Advised to follow up again in 10 days. Followed up 12 days later on July 29th. Eventually advised to follow up in another 10 days which is August 12th 2019. Email from USCIS at 2:41am GMT 6th August 2019. Petition reaffirmed. Woohoo! 12th August 2019. USCIS sent petition off to NVC for processing. Bracing myself for 2nd pass around. Ordered new Police Certificate which arrived 4th September. Same day, I received a letter from NVC dated 29th August that they’d previously completed processing on the case and were forwarding it back to London. 11th September and CEAC reports I'm back in Administrative Processing. Same day, London Embassy sent a letter inviting me to get a new medical and to arrange another interview. Yikes! New medical arranged for 18th September. Found that AIS website is "not cooperating" with attempts to arrange another interview. See my "Reaffirm Process" thread at https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/717866-reaffirm-process/ Email received from Visa Section on 17th confirming the use of "missed appointment" to arrange my 2nd interview. This is now scheduled for 10am on 1st October. Just got out of interview. Consular Officer remarked on how good the paperwork was, we chatted about various and then he mentioned being at college with the editor of RogerEbert.com. Visa Approved! Just delivery and POE to go. CEAC was still showing Administrative Processing on 1st October. Changed to Issued on 2nd October. I received an email from the courier on the 3rd, with delivery scheduled for Friday 4th October. Someone is VERY quick these days, as that's far less than the 7-10 working days they suggest! After much dealing with personal life, tickets purchased for US move. 28th December is the date. £380 + 230k air miles and I'm flying out in style!

Port of Entry Review Event Date Port of Entry : San Francisco POE Date : 2019-12-28 Got EAD Stamp : Yes,Passport Stamp Biometrics Taken : Yes Harassment Level : 0 Comments : Landed early. Was first off the plane, but had to join the "Visitors" lane instead of using the machines. Thankfully the queue was mercifully short, compared to what it was 10 minutes later. A CBP officer opened up another couple entry lanes and waved some of us through. I was the only one to say "thank you" to him, which turned out to be a good thing as that same officer saw me a few minutes later. He takes my passport and visa packet, places the packet to one side. I was asked why my ESTA had been revoked and I was only able to say "you'd have to ask the Consular Officer about that, but his objections were overcome as you can see.". He agreed, took my right hand fingerprints then very politely informed me that I'd have to be escorted to another interview. I said "a trip to Secondary?" and he affirmed. He called out on the tannoy for an escort which got everyone around me wondering ;) I was led to Secondary. My escort placed my passport and visa packet into a folder, which then went into the in tray. I had a seat and did wonder how long things would take with the five others already in there. 15 minutes later, a CBP officer picks up my file and calls my name. I stand up, proceed forward and he basically asks me where I'd like the green card sent to. I ask for my attorney as I'd not been able to arrange secure accommodation at this point. With that, I was done and heading for my bags.

Member Reviews:

Consulate Review: London, United Kingdom Review Topic: EB-1 Visa Event Description Review Date : January 30, 2018 Embassy Review : Well that was a waste of time that might have life changing repercussions for me. Interview scheduled for 9am January 30th at the new London embassy. Got there early, but allowed through at 8.30am. Process was smooth as I was in an immigrant visa category, and I got to skip nearly all of the queues. Immigrant visa petitioners end up in a separate private section away from everyone else two left hand turns from the elevators. This is where things stopped being smooth. The process is in three parts: 1) submission of documents, wait and then 2) actual interview then 3) pay visa fee. 1) Spoke to the lady at the window. Volume on the speaker was really low so was a struggle to hear her. Find out at this point that they did not have my medical file but get through this part ok. They keep your original birth certificate at this point and don't tell you, so a few of us were wondering what was going on. 2) Get to the interview properly. Held up my right hand and swore in as required. This is where the guy behind the glass had obviously had a bad day. He discounted large chunks of my file, specifically everything to do with things I was working on right now: He only wanted completed project information. That was the first bad sign. Worse was to come when I got grilled on how I'd supported myself. Anyone who's done anything in the Entertainment biz supported themselves by other means while they established their careers, so telling him that was yet another wrong answer. Again future stuff that is dependent on this visa doesn't count apparently despite the catch-22 that puts me in. The potential job doing other things in the entertainment industry was also discounted out of hand. I didn't get to no.3 as I was referred to Administrative Processing with a blue 221(g) form. What this now means is this guy has just condemned me to a minimum 60 day black hole as my file is referred back to USCIS, assuming it ever does. The warnings of not travelling to the US because my ESTA is now invalid were bad. Worse was to come: If I fail, I will require visas for any travel to the USA in future. Because of a prior failed immigration petition, the likelihood of gaining such a visa is almost nil. This is probably going to kill my entertainment career stone dead. It's also going to have severe repercussions for burgeoning relationship I have, and for my other career path too as it's reliant on US based info and conferences. Starting to wish I'd never done this. Rating : Very Poor

POE Review: San Francisco Event Description Entry Date : 2019-12-28 Embassy Review : Landed early. Was first off the plane, but had to join the "Visitors" lane instead of using the machines. Thankfully the queue was mercifully short, compared to what it was 10 minutes later. A CBP officer opened up another couple entry lanes and waved some of us through. I was the only one to say "thank you" to him, which turned out to be a good thing as that same officer saw me a few minutes later. He takes my passport and visa packet, places the packet to one side. I was asked why my ESTA had been revoked and I was only able to say "you'd have to ask the Consular Officer about that, but his objections were overcome as you can see.". He agreed, took my right hand fingerprints then very politely informed me that I'd have to be escorted to another interview. I said "a trip to Secondary?" and he affirmed. He called out on the tannoy for an escort which got everyone around me wondering I was led to Secondary. My escort placed my passport and visa packet into a folder, which then went into the in tray. I had a seat and did wonder how long things would take with the five others already in there. 15 minutes later, a CBP officer picks up my file and calls my name. I stand up, proceed forward and he basically asks me where I'd like the green card sent to. I ask for my attorney as I'd not been able to arrange secure accommodation at this point. With that, I was done and heading for my bags. Harassment Level : Low

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