Ruly/Geri's US Immigration Timeline

Petitioner's Name: Ruly Beneficiary's Name: Geri VJ Member: Ruly/Geri Country: Cuba Last Updated: 2022-10-10 Add Comment to Timeline Register or log in to follow this timeline

Immigration Checklist for Ruly & Geri:

USCIS I-130 Petition:       Dept of State IR-1/CR-1 Visa:     USCIS I-751 Petition:   USCIS N-400 Petition:

IR-1/CR-1 Visa Event Date Service Center : Texas Service Center Transferred? No Consulate : Guyana Marriage (if applicable): 2019-01-06 I-130 Sent : 2019-02-28 I-130 NOA1 : 2019-03-04 I-130 RFE : I-130 RFE Sent : I-130 Approved : 2019-08-28 NVC Received : 2019-09-20 Received DS-261 / AOS Bill : 2019-10-18 Pay AOS Bill : 2019-10-21 Receive I-864 Package : Send AOS Package : 2019-10-26 Submit DS-261 : 2019-10-26 Receive IV Bill : 2019-10-18 Pay IV Bill : 2019-10-21 Send IV Package : 2019-10-26 Receive Instruction and Interview appointment letter : 2020-11-20 Case Completed at NVC : 2019-12-16 NVC Left : 2020-11-18 Consulate Received : 2020-11-18 Packet 3 Received : Packet 3 Sent : Packet 4 Received : Interview Date : 2020-11-25 Submit Review Interview Result : Approved Second Interview (If Required): Second Interview Result: Visa Received : 2020-11-25 US Entry : 2020-11-26 Comments : WE WERE APPROVED!! Long post about our process. My husband and I got married Jan 6 2019, and our priority date was March 4 2019. Our case became DQ’ed and stuck at NVC since 12/16/19. At the time of the first humanitarian flight my hubby wasn’t too confident on our ability to get an interview from just showing up at the embassy. Also he didn’t have his police records available so that was a problem. When the first flight left and other cr1 cases began getting appointments I knew that if a flight came again i would take him out of the island. After weighing the cons and pros we decided to go to GEO on the next humanitarian flight. I arrived to GEO on 11/13/20 and he arrived on 11/14/20. Once he passed immigration in HAV airport i emailed the embassy to ask an expedited appointment on the basis that we were both present and met the criteria for visa priority as described on their official site. On 11/16/20 i emailed the embassy again. Before i sent that email, i went to the embassy’s website and they had changed their language around priority visas and receiving appointments. Ofcourse we panicked and i sent a new email with the screenshots i had of the previous language on their site. I started to basically build my case that because i arrived before their policy changed we should receive an interview. Also in October the embassy emailed me stating our case would be transferred from NVC to embassy. The case was never transferred but i kept referencing that email on all interactions with the embassy. Tuesday 11/17 same shenanigans—emailed embassy but we received 0 responses from them. On Wednesday afternoon me di tremenda empinga (pardon my French) and i went ahead and called the embassy. I called directly to the ACS department which was the dept that emailed me in early October regarding the transfer of my case. They immediately told me “you shouldn’t have travelled without an appointment”. I was like “Aht aht aht (literally) and told her I arrived when the website of the embassy was still encouraging applicants to arrive in GEO and email to request the interview so long as they met priority list. I also said—the embassy emailed me in October stating my case would be transferred and still to this day nothing has been done. Your word is your contract and you can’t just go back on it.” The lady on the phone knew damn well who i was she kept saying “yes ma’am, i know i know”. She tried to get me off the phone by saying “email visa George” I said no because I emailed them since Saturday and they didn’t not respond. She finally took down my full name, his full name, our arrival dates, the airlines we used, and our case number. She told me she would pass the info to a colleague and if they needed to they would call me. At that point i was ready to take my ass to the embassy every single day until they gave us an interview. 5 minutes later someone called from the embassy to rectify i was in GEO and our case details. She said “in 5 minutes i will call you back”. Two hours passed and the next thing you know our case was transferred to GEO. They literally requested the case on 11/18 at 1:30 pm and by 3:30 pm the case was at GEO. No one called back or anything. So I expected that i would receive an email with a date but ofcourse not! So on Friday 11/20 a group of Americans and I went together to the embassy to request interviews. They tried to tell me that my case was NOT at the embassy. I showed my email that i received the on Wednesday afternoon stating my case was in GEO, and then they provided me with an email and told me that the “chief” would be expecting our case info, local contact information and a request for expedite appointment. I left kind of defeated but with an email address that was not VisaGeorge. As soon as i got home i sent them the email. At 2:45 they sent us our interview letter for 11/25. On 11/23 we did medical and on 11/25 went to our interview. We showed up at 7:30 am do an 8:00 am appointment. At 7:50 am they let us in and we sat down for about 20 minutes before they called us to give our documents. We handed all civil documents and 1 picture which they returned. At around 9:45 (felt like we were waiting a full day) they called us for our interview. Our interview lasted all of 7 minutes! He asked about 12 to 13 questions (see below) (didn’t get the communist party question or any reference to military service either). He then looked at the documents and said “do you have a police certificate for me?—(I had already given it to the lady in the booth)—the one I have is expired”. I was so confused and started looking through my papers and thought “FUCK i brought the wrong one”. But then he looked and said “never mind here it is i was looking at the one online.” They did NOT ask for pictures! He then said “congratulations your visa was approved”. I didn’t even process it until Gerardo said “BABE! We got it.” I started crying and we hugged”. He gave me a paper saying to pick up on December 2nd but I immediately told him “can you please print it here today? We really want to go home and spend thanksgiving with my family in the states”. He asked if i had a flight receipt and i said “No, but if you get me a visa I will have a flight”. He went back and brought me a paper and told to pick up the visa at 2pm the same day! We went home searched for flights and as soon as the visa as on hand we bought our flights. We spend thanksgiving in NYC with our family. If y’all want more detailed about GEO, and/or the process feel free to private message me. I am so grateful to Tymika Nichelle for helping me and walking me through this when ever i had a question. I truly had no idea how i would get this done and you not only inspired me to get this done but you were ALWAYS available to answer my questions or calm us down. Brittney Stecklein we love you two so much. We honestly wouldn’t have wanted to share this with anyone else. We know you two will persevere and you will have that visa. Thank you for being our away from home and now forever FAM(ily).We are praying for you two constantly. Shoutout to Gigi Cova Mackenzie Odegaard Jessica Adamo (You’re next Jess) Chemica Danieland Andrea Safford García for the constant positivity and trouble shooting with this process. What I’ve learned in this process is simple, the type of visa doesn’t matter here; what truly matters is the opportunity to finally live with our loved ones. ***** QUESTIONS******* 1- what year we got married? 2- what year we met? 3- how did we meet? 4- how many times I’ve travelled to cuba since our relationship started? 5- what does he do for a living? 6- what do i do for a living? 7- who do i live with? 8- what do my sisters do for a living? 9- did he plan to further his education in the states? 10- where do i live in the states? 11- what did he plan to do for a living in the states? 12- did he ever traveled outiside of cuba aside from this trip to GEO? Processing Estimates/Stats : Your I-130 was approved in 177 days from your NOA1 date. Your interview took 632 days from your I-130 NOA1 date.

Port of Entry Review Event Date Port of Entry : JFK POE Date : 2020-11-26 Submit Review Got EAD Stamp : Biometrics Taken : Harassment Level : Comments :

Lifting Conditions Event Date CIS Office : National Benefits Center Date Filed : 2022-09-21 NOA Date : 2022-09-28 RFE(s) : Bio. Appt. : Interview Date : Approval / Denial Date : Approved : Got I551 Stamp : Green Card Received : Comments :

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Timeline Comments: 4



*Notice about estimates: The estimates are based off averages of other members recent experiences
(documented in their timelines) for the same benefit/petition/application at the same filing location.
Individual results may vary as every case is not always 'average'. Past performance does not necessarily
predict future results. The 'as early as date' may change over time based on current reported processing
times from members. There have historically been cases where a benefit/petition/application processing
briefly slows down or stops and this can not be predicted. Use these dates as reference only and do not
rely on them for planning. As always you should check the USCIS processing times to see if your application
is past due.

** Not all cases are transfered

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