I have read the whole 20 page thread but my brain is too fried to remember everything so I may have missed it. Aside from calling the Embassy directly, is there any place on the net where we can get the most up to date info with regards to if we will be able to submit an I-130 at a USCIS post if we do not live in that Territory. For instance I live in Romania and it falls under Vienna's territory. Currently Im not allowed to file my petition in Austria unless I actually live in Austria. From what I understand they are currently discussing whether they will expand that or not so that persons living in its entire jursidiction will be able to apply there as well.. Does anyone know where that type of news would be announce. And when I say that I mean a specific page or section and not a generic site like www.uscis.gov , because www.uscis.gov is hard enough to navigate through.

Thanks

The best bet in checking whether or not you are eligible to file with a certain embassy would be to check that embassy's website and either contact them through email or phone. They should also have instructions on what to do if you are an american citizen residing in their jurisdiction and wishing to marry. I know that for Seoul, they have a whole section for American citizens wanting to marry Korean citizens (with separate sections for marrying in the States or Korea)

There are definitely certain requirements that make you a "resident" of that country. You should check to see whether or not you are considered a resident depending on your status with the country's immigration service. I don't know how they do it in Romania, but in Korea, if you stay here for longer than 90 days, you are required to register yourself as an "alien resident", which changes your status from "visitor" to "resident". If you've been staying in Romania for a long period of time, you should check to see whether or not you're considered a resident by now.

so to make matters short, just contact the embassy itself. Phone is probably the best way, but fax, email, and snail mail also works as well

as always I agree with aussiewench - I entered with visa waiver 2 months after abandoning AOS - piece of cake man - just explain whats happening truthfully and convincingly and show all your return tickets and anything else - I reckon the POE folk don't want all the messing around with a refusal and if you can give em paperwork to cover their bottoms - they want to stamp your passport in... I would if I was a POE - wouldn't you ?

alan

More news from Sydney Consulate.

I emailed them asking what will happen to my I-130 since my wife has already had her final interview. They told her at her interview that they will be sending my I-130 to Bangkok. Well, the email that I just got from them states that they haven't even recieved instruction from the Department of State. So what am I to think? Did they just want my wife to go ahead with her final interview so they can take her 400$ and throw us to the curb? I'll keep doing some research, if that's the case, that's poor practice and I'll definitely pass that down to the Department of State. If they haven't even gotten instruction, why did they go ahead and take my wife's money?

That's frustrating, but maybe not surprising. I've also heard from the Paris consulate that they're still unclear on exactly how to proceed. It sounds like others have heard similar uncertainty from their consulates. I'm guessing that when things are straightened out, your wife will receive her visa, and at least won't have to wait for a new interview date. I still recommend calling your elected officials, both to complain and to get help. Mine have at least been able to contact people at the Paris consulate whom I can't.

What if you contacted Bangkok and asked if they have your I-130?

That's a sort of ambiguous reply from them. They're not going to kick you to the curb and keep your money.. don't worry about that, really.

Hi all,

I am new to this so sorry if I seem un-informed. I've bene reading through the K3 visa section and thought I fell under that blanket. I was just told I am part of the DCF side of things and that there are some law changes lately that could affect my case. Here is our story - could anyone offer some information as to what has transpired and if Canada immigration to the US via a USC spouse?

This summer I got married to my girlfriend who is a dual citizen (Canadian/American). We went to the consulate in Toronto and filled out all the paperwork and submitted the petition. We were sent the case # and a checklist of all documentation we had to obtain - we gathered all the documentation and send the checklist back (couriered it). So now we're waiting for the Montreal interview to be scheduled and nothing has happened. We sent the checklist back in mid-October 2006 and it is not mid-February 2007. I called the Visa office in Montreal back in December to make sure they got the checklist (they did on October 23rd) and to find out when we might hear back - the guy on the phone said it would 'probably' be January when we'd receive the letter with the interview date and the interview should be in February. We still haven't heard anything about the interview. Does anyone know how long this usually takes? We are left hanging with our lives kind of in limbo...My wife wants to move to the US for family reasons, my company wants to move me to the US for a promotion...but none of this can happen until we get the interview.

Also - what happens during the interview? I've read somewhere that there is a medical evaluation? Is the interview a long process? Once its done when do you get the Visa? When could we move to the US?

So this is our current situation -all documentation has been submitted but no interview has been scheduled. Do anyone know what the next step is or if we are affected by these new law changes?

Thanks a ton everyone, this board is really helping us understand the process and that its "not just us" that is going through these issues

Thanks

Darryl

All petitions still in process that were filed after July 26, 2006 are affected by the new law.

So do you know what will happen to our petition and how long it might take to get the interview?

Thanks for your reply

Hello, all,

My approved petition in Tokyo got caught in the re-approval net. No updates in 2 weeks on the Tokyo embassy site, (they charge $16 for a 15 min. phone call and $13 to answer one email.) so I I'm very grateful for a forum like this.

I greatly appreciate and respect everyone who posts on this forum, especially the veterans like fwaguy and meauxna who selflessly answer our questions and post info.

I'd like to explain my position as a DFCer. I wholeheartedly agree that we shouldn't expect we have any rights to the fast-track we've had access to up until now. And I'm well aware that it's not wise to make any big life changes before a visa is actually issued.

But unfortunately reality forces many of us to do otherwise. People like me who had petitions approved were looking at very clear upcoming dates for getting our visas. I'm transplanting my whole family (I, my wife and 2 kids). That's no easy move. I have to start making arrangements months before I intend to leave. That has severe consequences for my employment, income and housing situation. I completely understand that we have no right to complain about being put in the same line as everyone else or to think DFC is a God given constitutional right. Conversely, I hope everyone understands what it means to go from "visa within a month" to "indefinite delay" for those of us who, by necessity, had to start making irreversible plans.

I can't seem to edit my post, so please excuse the DFC mistake for DCF

"I'd like to explain my position as a DFCer. I wholeheartedly agree that we shouldn't expect we have any rights to the fast-track we've had access to up until now. And I'm well aware that it's not wise to make any big life changes before a visa is actually issued. "

When you say that I think that you are overlooking the fact that there are a lot of us that live in lesser countries developed countries where if I have to do this whole thing via America it will be a nightmare. I cant trust the post here in Romania to deliver me anything so how can I trust them with extremely important documents. For that matter if I want to mail anything internationally here I have to wait til the 2nd tuesday of the month to go to the post office unless I wanna make the trek down to Bucharest. To receive international packages I can pick them up twice a week.

I dont think that DCF should be considered a right but at the same time I think we have a right to demand a higher standard and for our needs to be taken into considerstion. If for instance we lived in America the way I have to with the post office here nothing would ever get done. Think of being able to mail stuff internationally once a week and be able to receive packages twice a week.

I am sure that the other folks that live in former communist countries and probably in other developing countriess will understand these remarks.

Hello, Maiki. It's nice to see a fellow Japan resident here. My wife and I had been preparing since December for filing our I-130, and mid-January had received an embassy appointment for March 5th. As we were in the process of putting our stuff together, we got the e-mail from the embassy on January 25th that our appointment was cancelled. We decided to go ahead and send our package to California because we had already made plans as you mentioned. My teaching job here finishes at the end of March since that is the end of the Japanese school year, so we need to move back to the US. So I will be going back in April ahead of my wife and daughter to look for a job and housing. They will stay until the visa comes, hopefully not later than August (in time for the new school year)

As it is now we have no idea how long it will take for my wife to get her visa. It's still unclear what the process will be, i.e. will USCIS send the approved petition to NVC or will they send it to the Tokyo embassy for the remainder of what was formally known as DCF.

I don't know about you, but I'm really mad about their e-mail/telephone inquiry service. I don't know of any other embassy that does this; from what I've read on these forums, other embassies seem to be friendly and have an open system where you can send them an e-mail anytime about anything.

yoroshiku

John in Machida

Oh yeah I wanted to add:

after all not demanding higher standards is one of the main reasons why the communist system failed.

Agreed. I'm very displeased with the Tokyo embassy, too. How they would charge us just to answer inquiries while other embassies do this for free is beyond me. Like you a huge chunk of my work ends in March. We most likely would've gotten the visa by then, but now I'll be hard pressed to set up some temporary income during this indefinite delay. I originally planned to go back ahead of my family like you are, but circumstances prevented that. Good luck to you, John, and your family.

I agree with Maiki, it sucks living in Japan and they wont help or answer basic questions unless you pay almost 20 bucks..I live in osaka where we have a US consulate and they wont help you if you any immigrant visa question.They would say call tokyo but they dont tell you there is a fee. Plus, i have to go to tokyo for my interview so thats an extra 200 bucks.

Yeah, all in all with transportation for interviews, fees, medical exam, paperwork expenses ... I figure we'll have spent more than $1500 by the time we get the visa.

Just got this form letter email reply to my inquiries from the Tokyo embassy:

"Thank you for using the U.S. Embassy Visa Information Service.

Please allow us to inform you as follows:

Due to the recently passed Adam Walsh Act, there has been significant
changes in the I-130 procedures for American citizens resident abroad.

1) Where has the petition been sent for re-approval and when was it sent?
If petition is still in Tokyo, when will it be sent and where? (Bangkok,
California, etc.?)

Your petition which was initially approved by consular services was
forwarded with top priority to the appropriate USCIS office by the
Embassy for screening on January 31st. The USCIS has advised the
Embassy to direct applicants wishing to know the office responsible for the
screening to the USCIS website overseas office locator.

http://www.uscis.gov

2) Approximately how long will re-approval take for an average petition
with no problems? (3-6 weeks? 3-4 months?)

Responsibility for the acceptance and approval of immigrant visa petitions
rests solely with USCIS. The Embassy cannot predict the time it will take
for screening at the USCIS.

3) If re-approval wait is very long, is there any way to track the progress
of my petition?

Due to the change in the petitioning procedure, currently there is no
system to track screening of consular approved petitions. The USCIS is
trying to process the cases as early as possible and kindly requests
applicants wait until they are contacted by the USCIS or the Embassy
regarding their case.

4) It's been more than 2 weeks now without any further updates on the
Tokyo embassy website. Will you update those of us waiting for re-
approval via the website, via another method or will you only contact us
after our petitions have been re-approved or denied?

We will update when information becomes available. For information
under USCIS jurisdiction, please see the USCIS website.

When a petition is approved by the USCIS, it will be returned to the
Embassy. Once we receive it, we will contact you to inform you that you
may request your visa interview.

We understand the inconveniences these changes may cause, however, the
law is clear and we must process cases accordingly. We kindly ask your
patience and understanding."

I'm confused about the line "applicants wishing to know the office responsible for the
screening to the USCIS website overseas office locator". New petitions from Japan
must be sent to California, but they say nothing about whether petitions waiting for
re-approval will be sent to California or an overseas field office. The overseas office
for the Asian region is Bangkok, but there's a sub-office in Seoul that covers Korea
and Japan. I'm going to try emailing Bangkok and Seoul and see if they can tell me.

Anybody out there with new updates on their re-approval situations?

Thanks Maiki for sharing this. This situation is crazy. However at least you now know that your case is "top priority" (if that has any weight) and that your approval will come back to the embassy for you to continue the DCF process. I fedexed my petition package on 1/31 to CA per the Tokyo embassy instructions, but I don't know if my approval will come to the embassy or go on to the NVC (where they are very slow and charge $70 to file the I-864).

If it's any consolation, my wife thinks that you didn't get your money's worth for this e-mail response. Her word was "Hidoi!"

John

Hi Maiki and John,

I'm in Osaka and in the same situation: I have to pay $15 to hear that there is no update to the situation yet. Very frustrating.

A quick question: I sent my application to the Cali USCIS after the DCF laws changed and I included a $190 US money order from Japan Post. My application was returned yesterday with a letter attached saying that American banks could NOT accept that money order. I'm thinking of going with a Citibank money order when I re-send it. What kind of money order did you send with your petition?

Cheers,

Peter

[quote name='iluvmymac' date='Feb 15 2007, 10:49 PM' post='725979']
Thanks Maiki for sharing this. This situation is crazy. However at least you now know that your case is "top priority" (if that has any weight) and that your approval will come back to the embassy for you to continue the DCF process. I fedexed my petition package on 1/31 to CA per the Tokyo embassy instructions, but I don't know if my approval will come to the embassy or go on to the NVC (where they are very slow and charge $70 to file the I-864).

If it's any consolation, my wife thinks that you didn't get your money's worth for this e-mail response. Her word was "Hidoi!"

John

Peter,

I sent my package to the Cal address as did you, and I also sent a Japan Post money order. No problems here. I guess you could try a Citibank money order instead.