Jump to content
Jamie06

Starting CR1 Visa Process from Australia

 Share

10 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

Filed: Other Country: Australia
Timeline

Hey Guys so my wife (US Citizen) and myself (Australian Citizen) got married Friday. Wife has been living in Australia for 3 years now and we are about to apply for our CR1 Visa soon to move to Seattle. We are both anxious as we have a dog to fly over but we are also both excited to start our next chapter. This forum has been extremely helpful, so hopefully things go smoothly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hoping and praying for the process to be fast :) Cheers

ROC

March 3, 2019    90 days window open

March 12, 2019. Package sent via USPS Priority Mail

March 15, 2019  12:08PM Delivered as per USPS Tracking / USCIS website too

March 21, 2019  Text message from USCIS - MSC****

March 21, 2019  cashed check

March 25, 2019 received NOA I-797,  extension letter, notice date 03/20/2019

April 5, 2019 received biometrics schedule 

April 19, 2019 biometric schedule

June 5, 2019 Case is ready to be scheduled for an Interview

Sept 29, 2020 received letter of appointment for interview]

Oct 7, 2020 interview - approved (uscis tracker saya new card is being produced)

Oct 8 , 2020 - uscis updated to Case Completed

Oct 12, 2020 - received hardcopy - NOA case completed
Oct 13 2020 - card was mailed to me expected delivery Oct 19

Oct 16, 2020 - received 10yr Expiration - GC 
 

N-400 Honolulu Office

April 04, 2021 - filed online paid using CC

April 05, 2021 - online says notice was emailed, biometric reuse 

April 12, 2021 - received the hard copy of notice and biometric reuse

May 21, 2021 - online update, interview scheduled

June 28, 2021 - interview and ceremony Approved

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome! All being well I will be finally joining my husband in Seattle at the end of the year.

Timeline in brief:

Married: September 27, 2014

I-130 filed: February 5, 2016

NOA1: February 8, 2016 Nebraska

NOA2: July 21, 2016

Interview: December 6, 2016 London

POE: December 19, 2016 Las Vegas

N-400 filed: September 30, 2019

Interview: March 22, 2021 Seattle

Oath: March 22, 2021 COVID-style same-day oath

 

Now a US citizen!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Hi Jamie06,

 

I am just now starting the same process!  I am American and my husband is Australian (married 1.5 years, living in Brisbane) and we were looking at filing the CR1 visa.  Also hoping to be moving to Denver by mid-year. How did your immigration process go? Where did you file your visa?  It looks like our closest USCIS office is in Bangkok?  Could you share any tips?  We're also bringing our fur baby. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, dandydee said:

Hi Jamie06,

 

I am just now starting the same process!  I am American and my husband is Australian (married 1.5 years, living in Brisbane) and we were looking at filing the CR1 visa.  Also hoping to be moving to Denver by mid-year. How did your immigration process go? Where did you file your visa?  It looks like our closest USCIS office is in Bangkok?  Could you share any tips?  We're also bringing our fur baby. Thanks!

Hi @dandydee
Thought I'd join in here.  I filed from Australia last year in March.  My hubby is american but I'm a kiwi, we were living in melbourne for 6 years.  Now I'm back in NZ for a little bit while we wait for our visa to process.  I just thought I'd give you some of my experience.

You'll file to the chicago lockbox, by mail.  You don't file to Bangkok.  Make sure your check is from a US bank account, as western union etc aren't accepted. 

I'll be realistic with you ... there is no way you'll be in the US by mid year.  I started the process last year in March, it took 133 days to get through the USCIS part.  Your NVC stage will be faster as you'll have electronic processing where as I had to go by mail only here in NZ ... but still, the 133 days for the first part that I experienced seems to now be longer for some service centres.  Make sure you read the process wikis on here as they'll help you a lot ... read them several times for them to make sense :-) 

While my whole process is likely to take about a year or 13 months all up, you "might" get through the whole thing by the end of this year (around 9 months) because of your electronic processing, and because we had some paperwork delays that pushed us back a bit.


PS:  I'm moving to Denver too :-)

Got married: 26th Sep 2013 

I-130 Petition Process:

Sent petition to USCIS Chicago lockbox (via in-laws to put check in US$): 11 Mar, 2016

NOA1: 24 Mar, 2016 (email notification 30 Mar. Hardcopy 11 Apr)

Service Centre: NEBRASKA

NOA2: 3rd Aug 2016

Petition sent to NVC: 18th Aug 2016

NVC Stage

Case number assigned: 8th Sep 2016

Paid AOS Fee: 9th Sep 2016

Paid IV Fee: 14th Sep 2016

DS-260 submitted: 25th Jan 2017

AOS & IV Package sent: 25th Jan 2017

Expedite requested: 25th Jan 2017

Expedite approved (consulate only): 1st Feb 2017

Scan Date: 31st Jan 2017

Case Complete: 14th April 2017 (10 weeks 4 days)

Full expedite approved (bypass NVC to send file to embassy), however too late as I already had case complete 17th Apr 2017

Case arrived at Embassy: 21st April 2017

P4 letter received: 26th April 2017 (expedite at embassy stage so this came from the consulate, not NVC)

Medical date: 26th April 2017

Interview date: 4th May 2017 APPROVED!!

Visa received: 8th May 2017 

POE (entered the USA): 15th May 2017 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yay more people to my neck of the woods.  Not that there is a lot of woods here until you get into the mountains.:ph34r:

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.  - Dr. Seuss

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/27/2017 at 7:39 PM, Thesmiths2016 said:

Hi @dandydee
Thought I'd join in here.  I filed from Australia last year in March.  My hubby is american but I'm a kiwi, we were living in melbourne for 6 years.  Now I'm back in NZ for a little bit while we wait for our visa to process.  I just thought I'd give you some of my experience.

You'll file to the chicago lockbox, by mail.  You don't file to Bangkok.  Make sure your check is from a US bank account, as western union etc aren't accepted. 

I'll be realistic with you ... there is no way you'll be in the US by mid year.  I started the process last year in March, it took 133 days to get through the USCIS part.  Your NVC stage will be faster as you'll have electronic processing where as I had to go by mail only here in NZ ... but still, the 133 days for the first part that I experienced seems to now be longer for some service centres.  Make sure you read the process wikis on here as they'll help you a lot ... read them several times for them to make sense :-) 

While my whole process is likely to take about a year or 13 months all up, you "might" get through the whole thing by the end of this year (around 9 months) because of your electronic processing, and because we had some paperwork delays that pushed us back a bit.


PS:  I'm moving to Denver too :-)

Thanks Thesmiths2016!

 

After posting my initial question I started to realise that mid-year wasn't looking realistic :(  Thanks for sharing your experience so far and thanks for the tips!

 

I have also read up about the K-3 visa that allows you to wait in the USA while your applications are processing - have you heard about this?  I've heard mixed reviews on it.  Also, I'll look up more on what the electronic processing is as well as looking up the process wikis, thanks :) I'm sure I'll be posting more questions soon!

 

Go Broncs! (amiright??)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
Didn't find the answer you were looking for? Ask our VJ Immigration Lawyers.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
- Back to Top -

Important Disclaimer: Please read carefully the Visajourney.com Terms of Service. If you do not agree to the Terms of Service you should not access or view any page (including this page) on VisaJourney.com. Answers and comments provided on Visajourney.com Forums are general information, and are not intended to substitute for informed professional medical, psychiatric, psychological, tax, legal, investment, accounting, or other professional advice. Visajourney.com does not endorse, and expressly disclaims liability for any product, manufacturer, distributor, service or service provider mentioned or any opinion expressed in answers or comments. VisaJourney.com does not condone immigration fraud in any way, shape or manner. VisaJourney.com recommends that if any member or user knows directly of someone involved in fraudulent or illegal activity, that they report such activity directly to the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. You can contact ICE via email at Immigration.Reply@dhs.gov or you can telephone ICE at 1-866-347-2423. All reported threads/posts containing reference to immigration fraud or illegal activities will be removed from this board. If you feel that you have found inappropriate content, please let us know by contacting us here with a url link to that content. Thank you.
×
×
  • Create New...