Hi, my wife and I are going through the CR1 route which we started back in September. We sent off the Affidavit of support a few months back, got it returned for errors and sent it back to them after fixing them about 3 weeks ago. I've been told that I need to start e-mailing the US embassy asking if they've received my case etc as soon as possible, but as I don' t really want to keep emailing them before they even get the case I was wondering if there was a rule of thumb as to how long to wait?

My wife is from the US and I'm from the UK so it will be the London Embassy it gets sent to. Am I waiting on them to send her some notification to say it's been sent on with various details like a case number or something or will we not receive anything like that? We start the K-3 method and that got transfered to London really fast but as the I-130 got approved a few weeks after the I-29F we decided to go the CR-1 method instead so we could get the majority of the paperwork out of the way whilst I was still working. Kind of regretting it now as we've been apart so long

Any advice would be most appreciated.

From my impression on these boards - and not personal experience, as you can see from my timeline - people seem to call the relevant embassy/consulate for info without much hassle or repercutions -- as long as you aren't callig every day, it seems very reasonable to me to call them at this point. Good luck!

I think you should have your wife call the NVC to find out when they mailed your case to the Consulate. Once they mail it, it takes 1-2 weeks to get there. Then you should start mailing the US Consulate. Anyways, that´s my opinion...my experience. And always use your NVC case number when e-mailing the consulate, so they know who you are. They have it all on their system.

She will receive written notification from the NVC when your case is sent to the Consulate, but you can find that out by phone. Don´t trust the automated voice system...always talk to someone.

I hope other CR1s from London step up....they can give you more advice on it!!

Alix

London wont tell you when they recieve your case, the next thing you will get from them is the interview letter (pack 4), NVC will write to you to let you know they have sent your case to London, once you know its been sent, then email away in the subject line put your case# LNDXXXXXXXX
Has your wife booked her medical yet? as she will have to do that soon too!

Have yoiu even received the 'case complete' notice yet? No point in contacting London til you know the NVC is done with it. Then allow a couple of weeks... a few is more realistic.
Then, you don't call, you email. But they WILL send your "packet three" as soon as it is your turn.

It's really quite a remarkable system all on its own.

CR1/IR1s don´t get packet 3 anymore, only K visas. Unless there is something missing from their case. Otherwise he will be getting the former packet 4, with the interview date, etc...

Hello,

Your case number will be written on the fee bills you received - hopefully you have a copy so you can enquire at the NVC with the Case number.
How did you abandon the K3 ? Officially, by contacting the Visa Unit at the US Embassy? or have you just not responded to any K3 paper work you've received?

I'm in the situation that the K3 has just been sent to London with the I130 approved but still in processing at the NVC.

Best of luck to you both.

[Please update your timeline - it really helps]

Hi all, thanks for the info.

I guess I'm waiting on a case complete form then to say it's been transferred.

As for the K3 we just didn't send off the form to say we've gathered all the information required for the interview to be set, so I guess it's not officially abandoned just not going to be used as I'd rather get all the paperwork done whilst I'm over here working rather than sitting in the Us looking for a job.

Your CR-1/IR-1 case must be completed at the NVC before NVC will send it to the Embassy. So you can only contact the Embassy when you know that your case was sent from the NVC to the Embassy. NVC also sends out a letter to the petitioner or choice of agent informing that the case has been complete.