Hello Arla,

Nadia here - I've been away for a while but I'm back. Yes, the way I understand it if you make yourself the agent all communications from the NVC will be forwarded to you instead of your husband. Considering that he is in Iraq, that would definitely be the better option.

Some good news on my side, our I129F was received and left the NVC already (25 March) and has already been received by the US Consulate here in Johannesburg, South Africa. I'm just so excited!! I agree with Sarah Jane on the issue of the USCIS making our guys wait yet again to be reunited with their loved ones. My husband is going crazy in the US (he's a US Marine.......... Every time I say that I literally glow!!!).

Here's a funny story: before I was a military wife I never paid much attention to the war in Iraq, US foreign policy, etc. Since marrying my man (Nick), I've been exposed to some serious education (not one sided I might add), both sides of the story and the "human face" of the situation, a side the world DOES NOT see. Last week a colleague criticized the US, the war in Iraq and the country in general. I wanted to thump them full on the nose (I do kata-boxing....very difficult to control myself when fired up)!!!!! I was not upset, oh no ma'am......... I was livid!!!!! I chose, however, to chastise them verbally with: "How does it feel to criticize a situation of life and death from the safety & security of your emotionally detached armchair?" They felt 2-feet small, I excused myself gracefully and with 'guns smoking'. Here's to military spouses everywhere

I'm praying for all of us, that our journey to our loved ones is speedy & safe, and that wherever our loved ones are deployed, may they find favour with God and rest under the wings of His protection.

Cheers,
Nadia

Hi there,

My apologies, this post was not in response to Arla (nothing personal Arla ) but to Jamerican Love. Hope it helps

Nadia

Hello All,

Here is an issue I am comtemplating. Maybe some of you can add to it. Have found some answers, but still more question. Read on........

Hello everyone.

I was looking ahead into the future time and came to the realization that me and my spouse will be in Germany on military orders at the time of our 90 window to file for permanent residence with the I-751 form. She has a conditional residence green card which is good untill June 2009.


How does this work for those outside the United States on military orders? And at what office do we file?

Thanks for the help.

Adam


Hi Adam,

Please call the US Military Immigration Helpline

USCIS has established a toll-free military help line, 1-877-CIS-4MIL (1-877-247-4645), exclusively for members of the military and their families. USCIS customer service specialists are available to answer calls Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. (CST), excluding federal holidays.

They will give you all the information you need, and are extremely helpful. You will speak with USCIS directly and there will be no 'messing around'.

Once you get your information, can you please post it on the Military Spouses Thread, so that it can help those in your situation in the future.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=111988

Goodluck,
Sarah x




Sarah,

Your an angel thank you. Thanks to everyone else as well.

Talked to them at USCIS. I was told that we will go ahead and file the I-751. At that point my wife will be issued an paper that will give her temporary green card a one year extension. Upon approval of the I-751 of course. I was also told to send a copy of my orders bringing me to Germany along with the rest of the supporting evidence. At that time the USCIS will make a choice as to if we or just my wife has to travel back state side for an interview.

Does anyone know if the interview process for this is ever waived or is it necessary every time for being granted true permanent residence? Its a pain to have to travel back to the United States upon getting to Germany and I am not sure if my chain of command would allow me to do that. Hopefully the USCIS will work with us.

I am sure I will cooked up more question and give those folks a call.

Adam

Hi there.. My husband is in the Navy.. I just wanted to add that the 1-877 # Military help line is very helpfull. WE had to call them today, and they gave us more info today about my GC and my case than I have ever gotten in the last 2 years dealing with the NVC. She read me updates, notices, notes documented when I ever called in... My GC has been returned to DHS twice now, marked "undeliverable", so we were calling about that. They were very nice.

Hi everyone,

I'm so happy I found this thread.
We were married in Feb of this year and have filed a K-3 application in March.
My husband is also serving in the US Army. He just returned from a tour in Afghanistan and will probably be redeployed to Iraq with his new unit in the course of 2009, which makes waiting for immigration processing in the meantime particularly gruesome.
Difficult to explain to someone not in the situation, which made me real happy to read all of your posts, you know exactly what I mean.

Take care,
Cat

Hey All,
Happy to have found this thread... Just got married on March 20th.. Husband is getting deployed to Iraq soon.... Keep in touch... Good luck to all of us!!

THATS FUNNY....

im already read all the post and it looks like its always the man who leaves the woman...

im married with a reserver soldier and SHES being deployed in june for 400 days, and when SHE receive the order to deploy we call right away immigration and with the order we being faster without them, but the thing its, only we have 2 months for everything before SHE leaves overseas... we are currently in NVC IV Fee bill, but takes to long for them to answer back... i send the paperwork on express mail and they send it in regular mail and that takes to long... the time its ending...

how can i make them, maybe, to they send the paperwork faster or something like that...


thanks ladies...


and to be honest, its weird being one out of all of you who its the men who stays and the women who is leaving...

Hi all,

My husband called the special USCIS military line about possible faster processing of military spouse cases.
They told him that unless he has actual deployment orders, it won't be expedited.
I don't understand this. Isn't the whole point of giving soldiers a minimum year pause between deployments, meant to have them spend time with family and relax before going off again? How relaxing is it to have to spend exactly that time stuck in immigration procedure, only to have to leave again when you finally have your spouse with you.
I think this sucks but oh well.

Good morning all. Yes apparently the soldier has to have deployment papers in hand for the expedite to be granted. It doesn't matter if he/she is about to go or gone already, just that deployment is in the mix. Hope this helps.

Hi Eloko,

Please call the US Military Immigration Helpline

USCIS has established a toll-free military help line, 1-877-CIS-4MIL (1-877-247-4645), exclusively for members of the military and their families. USCIS customer service specialists are available to answer calls Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. (CST), excluding federal holidays.

They will give you all the information you need, and are extremely helpful. You will speak with USCIS directly and there will be no 'messing around'.

They will be able to help you with your expedite.
Let us know how you get on.
Best wishes to you and your wife during this difficult time.
Sarah x

Hi to All!!!

Im a fiancee of a US Navy. He is station now in Japan. Im applying for K1 Visa. We are planning to get marry in USA then go to Japan. Do u think the Consular Officer will deny my application because after getting married(K1 visa) in the USA, ill go to Japan? Our plan the wedding, we will have the Adjustment of Status. He might leave me in the USA while waiting for AOS. Is there any case here that they left USA before AOS? Im confused and nervous now. I hope the Consul Office wont take this against me.

Angel

Oh, Hi, Sarah, I am so excited for what I see on your page here. I read what you wrote, and it's so amazing that I met my husband online when he was in Iraq too, and he was sent back to the states in 2005 too - September!!! And now he's going to start his activaty soon in 2 days and about to be sent overseas again soon ... Mmm, I don't like the idea to send the U.S. soldiers to overseas, and now I am just praying that he comes back home saftly after the deployment. I am waiting for my visa to go to the states here ... so frustrating that I am still here in China, just wish I could be there for him before he is sent to overseas again ...

We filed I-130 and sent it in Jan 22, 2008 and got the receipt number back in Feb 19, 2008. Our case still pending in Vermont ... One of friend here Edp333 introduced me to check out this link http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=120162 and then I found your this page, it's just so helpful for us!!! Thanks so much!!! God blesses U.S. Army!!!

Hi Everyone

Just dropping by to say hello. I hope everyone's journeys are moving along nicely. Looks like after all the trouble we've had filing we're finally in the queue to stay. Hoorah.

Best Wishes

Bex xxx

Hi, Rubby, I am Ling. I met my military husband online when he was in Iraq, 2005 too. He came back in Sep, 2005. and now he is going to be deployed again soon, it's a long waiting, I hate the waiting too... We've been online for 2 years and finally last year we got married in June. Your baby looks so cute , I can't wait to have one of our own

I read what you typed here, I agree with Sarah, file I-130 and when your husband gets home, you'll in the states for him!!! But I don't understand What is FRG ?

Take Care
Ling

Hi, Sarah, I am ling. May I ask what is NOA1 and NOA2 ? We filed our I-130 in Jan 22, 2008 and got the receipt number in Feb 19, 2008, now case is pending in Vermont.

take care
ling

Hello all and welcome to the new posters. A quick update on my journey: I've completed packet 3, have my medical on 16th April (next week ) and am waiting for my interview letter from the consulate. I'm excited but nervous at the same time :-)

Nadia

hello!

nice to meet you..

FRG(family readiness group) its a group of military wives, my husband gave them my email add so every now and then i get emails and newsletter from them, i am updated on whats happening over there.

Hi Ling,

Welcome to our little thread. The NOA1 is the I-797C 'Notice of Action' .... which gives you your case number and tells you which service centre your paperwork was sent to. Your timeline is similar to mine and I'm also at Vermont. The next one will be the NOA2 and is your approval from USCIS and your case will then be forwarded onto the NVC etc.

However, I noticed that you posted your Husband is being deployed again ..... does he have orders for this deployment yet ?? or is it just something he's been notified about before the orders come ???? ..... if/when he has orders, you are entitled to a Military Expedite and your waiting changes, from months to weeks.
There is then a process which you follow to speed up your process, considerably. I'm pretty sure someone kindly posted on this thread how you go about expediting your paperwork under these conditions. If in doubt, please call the Military Immigration Helpline, the number is posted on this thread in a few places.

Goodluck Ling, and please let us know how it goes.
Sarah x

Hey Nadia,
Well done for such a speedy journey following the miserable wait which was USCIS.
Medical? I'm praying all will be well, you sound super fit and so should pass with flying colours
I bet your interview letter will arrive quickly too .... I soooo want to see you on a plane and reunited with your Husband within a matter of weeks.
Nerves are understandable, the process has been very long for you, and now you're reaching the end it can all look a bit daunting ..... but, you've come this far and all will be good.
There are many places on this site where they post a lot of the questions these people ask at interview, it may help if you glance over them .... to be honest, they look quite straight forward. Is there a thread for your consulate on this site??
However, please let us all know here how it all goes.
Prayers are with you both .... life is too short to spend sooo long apart.
Sarah x

Hi guys....I saw that someone from Iraq got their I-130 approved in 11 days!! Now that is amazing. If I can keep my time at USCIS under a month I would be happy...but 11 days is out of this world!

I can only guess, that they filed for the Humanitarian 'we're in the middle of a war' Expedite ..... I suppose expedites can go so fast, that they don't appear to touch the ground.
Hopefully yours will be that fast too Jamericanlove

Hi Sarah,

Very nice to hear from you again. Yip, I've read through the questions, compiled all the documents (it weighs a ton) and praying for our journey and those of the US Spouses here. I told Nick about this thread, he read some of it and thinks we're (the "threaders/posters") are pretty cool! I will definitely keep you updated with progress - you guys do the same
:-)

Regards and well wishes to all,
Nadia

Hi all!
Great to see a thread like this! I am excited to find similar cases!
Maybe someone out there knows - is there a way to expedite the process thru the NVC?

Hi,
The paperwork trail itself will still have to be done through NVC, so do look into the James' shortcuts via the search box at the top of the page .... however, the Military Immigration Helpline suggested to my Army Husband that once the case reaches NVC, he was to call either the NVC or Consulate (in our case, London) and request a faster interview date due to being military .... I presume from that phonecall, the interview and medical can be done concurrently while the case is at NVC, so cutting out the extra wait time.
I don't know how it works as yet, as we're nowhere near that stage, but I'd certainly give it a try if I were you.

Do let us know on here if it works and if you get an expedited appointment and medical.
Sarah x

While I remember, I want to add this website link for the 'Battlemind' section of the US Army website. This link is specifically for spouses and deals with the impact of deployment, before and after and obviously the subject of PTSD.

As there are quite a few of you who have Husbands/Wives on deployment, I thought it may be helpful for you guys, especially for those who are new to all of this Military Malarky

http://www.battlemind.org/spouse_battlemind.html#

I hope everyone is well x

Hi Sarah, we have the order and we're now applying for experdite petition and still waiting answers from USCIS... Thanks for the helping. Plus, I just got to read a notice from www.army.com which mentioned about keeping military safe, and I think in order to keep the ones we love safe, we military spouses should check this out http://www.army.com/articles/item/3305

have a nice day !!!

Ling

Hi, Rubby

I am kinda new here, not sure the exact way to check out the replies here, so it took me a few days to figure out this until now. Thanks for the helping Could you get updated News about your husband from FRG? Is it a service that is set up for military wives to get touch with the military units that their husbands are in? Sorry for so many questions, but I am really cuirous about this cause my husband never metioned that to me... makes me feel bad...

Have a nice day!

Ling

Hi Ling,
Thankyou for the link about keeping the military safe. It's a shame that we don't have our own forum on this site yet .... as this is really important and should be pinned at the top for all new military spouses to read.
I have asked for our own forum .... like they have the K3 and K1 and CR1 forums, but no luck as yet.

I'm pleased you're preparing for your expedite, and I pray all will go well.
Sarah x

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the advice! I'll try that! Best of luck on your case too! Talk to you soon

Hi my fellow Military Spouses

I have a question??!! what's the average wait time to get an AOS interview after filing?? (married to a USC) file date March 26th arrived at Chicago Lockbox on the 28th. My husband will be deployed August 1st and I want to know if I would get the AOS interview b4 he goes he'll be gone for 15 months ......

Not sure if I can go to the interview without him and if I do they probably deny me on the spot!! Im worried at this point because I know he most likely wont be here when that time comes.

Any advise will surely help....

Thanks in Advance!!

Personally I have no idea about AOS as I went back to England after we got married ..... silly me ... however, if you call the Military Immigration Helpline number which is found in my signature section, they may be able to give you a good idea ..... I'm under the impression that interviews are normally sped up for military spouses .... especially where deployment is involved.
Goodluck to you, and do keep in touch.
Let us know if they can make it quicker for you, as deployment normally equates to expedites across the board on these matters.
Sarah x

ummm,..I adjusted status from overseas In germany,....as hubby got orders a few days before we married to move to Germany from the USA. I had to fly back for an Interview while he was deployed, and I had a copy of his orders, and a letter from his command stating he was deployed. he deployed to Iraq 3 weeks after we got here to Germany. (We lodged AOS and EAD as a walk-in application .Did an info-pass appt, but was allowed to walk in applications as opposed to posting. EAD was approved the same day. That was in February 2004.) I lodged a AP in March 2004, 2 weeks before we left, and it was approved same day too. I flew back to the USA in July 2004 for my interview. Good thing is interviews are rare these days unless there are real mitigating circumstances that warrant an interview.

I did this in Los Angeles, but they no longer do walk-ins.

Hey Ruby, I asked my husband about FRG, he said he doesn't like it. Not sure why ... But I said I wish to join them, and in order to make me happy he said OK, but doesn't sound like he like doing that ...

Ling

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for supporting topic about keeping the military safe. I agree with you and I wish more military spouses could read this too.

The lady works in USCIS told my husband they will contact him about the expedite by Tuesday this week, but we still hear nothing from them yet... not sure what's going on ... feel really frustration ...

Ling

Ruby, thanks for the link about FRG I just checked it out, it seems just as helpful as you say it, now it doesn't make any sense to me that why my husband refuses to let me know about it and join it ...

Ling

LOL ok, the only reason i like it is i get so much information from them, but im not friends with the other wives, they havent met me.. as long as they know i exist then thats ok with me!

i hope you will get in touch with your FRG so you can subscribe to the newsletter.

Hey guys I figured I would ask you all since you are military. On the affidavit of support for the annual income, if hubby got a re-enlistmen bonus this year should that be included? I ask because it's a one off thing and it won't be happening again next year.

We are a bit confused by this....any help would be appreciated.

I hope all you ladies are doing well

Thank you guys for the info I really appreciate it!!

Hi, Sarah, VJ sent me email notisfies me you added me to be your friend, I am not sure if that required my approve or not, I am now just trying to figure out this ... But I am glad that you added me as one of your friends ... have a nice day ...

Ling

Hi Ling,
Yeah, I'm trying to get round to adding you guys as friends so that I can send you stuff via the PM route if it's stuff that can't really be put on a public forum.
Unless you clicked the box to have to approve everyone that adds you as a friend, you don't need to do anything.
Hope you're well
x

Hi Jamericanlove,
Sorry for not getting back sooner, but I've asked Hubby about the re-enlistment bonus and he said as it's a one off, it's probably best not to add it, but if you have I wouldn't worry too much. It would certainly make it look better for your finances, but you'll need a letter from the base stating his pay etc and unless they add that in there, it may confuse USCIS.
You could always add the letter (if there is one) that came with the re-enlistment bonus .... so that they can see it's a one off.
I agree it's a bit confusing but the way it's looking, it's probably best to keep it simple for USCIS.

Hope you're well, and the paperwork is looking good
x

Hi Everyone

Just thought I would stop by and see how your weekends are going. Hope yall are having a good one. I'm missing Alan a heap this week. The last time we were together was Jan 3rd - its past that 100'd day mark now and I think psychologically that’s a bit of a kick. I'm having one of those days where nothing is getting done but VJ, facebook and half hourly USCIS checks. Oh well I'm sure it wont be long till we get NOA2 now, the K1s at VSC are going pretty quickly.

Hope this finds everyone safe and well

Bex xxx

Ahhh, I see... ok, feel free to send me anything ...

Ling

Hey Bex,
Yeah, that 100 day mark is always a bit yuk. However, I thought the K1's were flying .... I've seen a ton of people getting there's in around the 4 week mark .... where's yours???
Us I-130 people are always having a moan about how you K1's seem to just wizz through, whereas us I-130's have to sometimes wait over 6-8 months most of the time for an NOA2 alone
Hmmmm .... that's quite crap.
Do send me your email on a PM and I'll add you to my Facebook .... awfully addictive little site at times isn't it? .... it's getting to the stage that I'm actually not ready at all for my NOA2 at all .... I've so much to do to prepare to move, and I'm getting sod all done at times due to all these websites, even with lists

By the way, what phone company do you use? ... I'm on Talk Talk, and they have a package that includes all calls to the US for free 24/7 including broadband (super for webcams) and your line rental for $40 a month ..... we wack the hell out of it .... anything else would be just too expensive and I don't understand Skype

Sarah x

Hi everyone,

I just found this forum and thread about 3 weeks ago when everything seemed to be out of control. I got into that situation because my hubby (a marine) and I were too lazy when we first got married two and a half years ago. We filed I-130 last Wed. and I just received my IR1 yesterday. As I am writing this, I am getting ready to go to the airport when i get up in the morning. It took only 9 days for everything to be done! And we did not have any of the documents 9 days ago. I am really thankful because I did not know I would have a chance to see my hubby before his deployment. I hope all of you will have your cases done smoothly and fast. I will post my unbelievable, at least to us ^o^, experience when I arrive in the US.

9 days!!! That's amazing!!!! ..... how fantastic is that?! ..... all you guys looking to expedite due to deployment, I hope you read this post !!!!
This totally shows me that USCIS, NVC and Consulates can work as a well oiled machine when they want to.
Congratualtions MarineBabe, and we look forward to hearing how you did when you log back on.
Enjoy your time with Hubby.
x

Wow....9 days for your entier process!! Congrats



Thanks Sarah! We are going to leave out the bonus and put a notation there to show that that is what it was.

Congradulations!! we are entitled to apply for the expedite and we did that a week ago, but still see nothing yet ...

I believe I will ... he already agreed that ... but with the same time he still nags, I could tell you everything from the base myself ... yea yea, that's also required too !!!

Take Care
ling