I just got word through USCIS Moscow that Consular sections will once again be accepting I-130s.

The official word yet may not have spread just yet to all consulates, and embassies but by early next week things should be about back to where they were before.

USCIS offices will still be doing the checks required by this Walsh law that caused this whole mess. But the delay created by this isn't expected to be very long.

USCIS will still perform checks on all the pending I-130 applications that consular sections had recieved and will be returning them to the appropriate countries for the completion of processing.



Yes sorry I did post similar news in other threads, but I wanted everyone to know the good news.

Does this apply to all Embassies/Consulates or just those with USCIS immigration offices abroad ?

There are many embassies/consulates that DO NOT have a USCIS immigration office nearby, which is the more appropriate place to file an I-130 petition. It would be very important to be very specific about this kind of information

This applies to all countries. Not just ones with a USCIS office.

posted here: http://www.usembassy.ru/consular/consular....ecord_id=ivisas

Immigrant Visas

Embassy Moscow's Immigrant Visa Unit issues visas to Russian nationals seeking permanent residence in the United States, based on certain categories of family relationship with U. S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents, or offers of employment. A significant part of that workload involves orphans adopted by American citizens. U.S. citizens interested in adopting a child are encouraged to contact their State Department of Health and Human Services to locate an agency that specializes in international adoptions and/or the U.S. Department of State's Office of Children's Issues for further information.

Please note, that the U.S. Department of State decentralized immigrant visa processing as follows:

* The U.S. Embassy in Almaty, Kazakhstan now handles all Immigrant Visa cases for residents of Kazakhstan (including adoptive children), the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia now handles all Immigrant Visa cases for residents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
* The U.S. Embassy in Moscow continues to handle all Immigrant Visa cases for residents of Turkmenistan

posted here: http://www.usembassy.ru/consular/consular....cord_id=ivspous

Where to Apply for K3/K4 Visa

For those married outside the United States, K3/K4 visas must be issued by a consular officer in the foreign state where the marriage was concluded. An alien spouse wed to a U.S. citizen in the United States should apply in his/her country of residence.

Oh my goodness. I hope that this news is really true. My husband and I were supposed to have the initial I-130 interview next Monday, but of course got a cancellation call on the cell phone and have been in limbo ever since.

I really hope things pick up where they left off and they start calling people back again. We were prostrate and afraid to make any move since I don't and can't trust anything that the USCIS and DOS come out with at the moment as they keep changing the rules.

Thanks for this bit of good news. Fingers crossed DCF really opens up again.

I'm with you on this one, my friend.

found on the website of the uscis in rome:

http://italy.usembassy.gov/dhs/uscis/default.asp

The Rome District Office has direct jurisdiction for USCIS immigration matters in the following locations:
Italy, Algeria, Andorra, France, Gibraltar, Holy See, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Monaco, Morocco, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.

http://italy.usembassy.gov/dhs/uscis/services/I-130.asp

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the U.S. Embassy in Rome accepts I-130 petitions by mail or in person from U.S. citizens who reside in our jurisdiction. U.S. citizens whose principal residence is not in our jurisdiction, and/or who have entered Italy temporarily as a visitor or on business, must file the petition with the appropriate U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service Center in the United States.

It all looks good...
of course London and Denmark haven't posted anything yet (I live in Denmark which is under the USCIS in London)

oooohhhhh

https://egov.immigration.gov/crisgwi/go?act...r.statecode=arm

The London Sub Office represents U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and has jurisdiction for immigration matters in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/uscis/i130filing.html

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the U.S. Embassy in London accepts I-130 or I-360 petitions from U.S. citizens who reside in our jurisdiction. U.S. citizens whose principal residence is not in our jurisdiction, and/or who have entered the United Kingdom as a temporary visitor/student/or with limited leave to enter and remain in the United Kingdom, must file the petition with the appropriate U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service Center in the United States.

it seems we file in London then

So basically my understanding of this whole thing is that its not DCF as it used to be. Rather we must now apply at our main offices for instance Denmark=London Turkmenistan=Moscow etc.

Is that your understanding of that too?


there are however a lot of holes that I still see for instance It doesnt explicitly say that Moscow will take Ukrainian applicants or that Vienna will take Romanian for instance.

Yeah apparently it seems (theoretically speaking if I read that post right) that most anyone can send everything to Italy but somehow I just have my doubts that the gvmnt emloyees will be competent enough to process that many files from so many different countries.

Not sure were everyone is getting this info from. I have been told and I have read that DCF's are gone currently at all embassy's except those who already have USCIS posts and you have to qualify under their residence requirements. However, if you have filed a DCF and was approved prior to Jan 23rd, then they were foward to a USCIS post.

So if USC is living in Russia, then you can file DCF in Russia. I hope DCF are coming back, but have not read or heard anything about this including in the above threads?

I agree with John -- it doesn't sound like "DCF is back." It sounds like what we've already heard -- that paperwork is sent on to a USCIS office. For those of us "in the process," it sounds like things are still very much in the air.

My understanding is that DCF, in its essence, IS coming back:
The "unofficial" official word I got when I spoke with someone at the USCIS office in Vienna yesterday is that DCF WILL be coming back, and soon, to ALL the consular posts that had it before, regardless of whether they have a local USCIS office. The only difference will be that the petitioner's name (not all the paperwork) will be sent from the consulate to USCIS to check for criminal records. So same-day I-130 approvals won't be back, but unless USCIS is very slow about the background checks the process should be reasonably rapid, depending on your consulate. She told me that there had been such a lot of complaints that the Department of State and USCIS had to reconsider. She stressed to me that this isn't 100% sure (she said 95% sure), but that that was what she'd been hearing and that they were just waiting for the official cable to go through. Your consulate should have new information within the week.

So, thank you! to everyone who wrote letters of complaint!

I hope thats true! I think the petitions in the Sydney office is meant to go to Bangkok...it would be soooo great if they provided thepetitioners name and not the whole paperwork to save time.

The Sydney Consulate is closed from 12th Feb - 23rd but I still hope they let us know by next week if that is the case!

I hope it's true too! BTW - Rep Zoe Lofgren is now the Chair of the House Sub-Committee on Immigration. She represents the San Jose, CA area. Her website says that she can only respond to mail from constituents (due to high volume) --- so if anyone out there has ties to San Jose, think about contacting Zoe!

I got my information after seeing an internal message regarding the matter. I have friends working for USCIS overseas.

I didn't think it appropriate or wise to post such a message, but I don't mind giving a summary, because it is such good news for all of us.

Consular offices. (this means Department of State not USCIS so this includes any consulate or embassy with a visa section) will be accepting I-130 petitions again.

Information needed to do required checks will be sent to USCIS offices in such a way that the expected added delay in processing will only be 1 week.

Pending petitions are having checks done and will be sent back to the originating office.

Information regarding this should have already been passed around to all offices under the Juristiction of the Rome District office.

The official notice though may not have been sent out via "cable" as one of the other users here put it.

The origination of this message did come from the second in command of all USCIS in Africa and Europe so while the 100% official word may not be out yet. I think you can rest assured that things are going to go back to how they were before very shortly.

God knows, we all want that! I'll be calling to Lima again on Wed.

I'll be a lot more happy to once the "official cable" has come out.
I'm just guessing that they are hammering out the last fine details before sending out the "official cable" to keep anymore confusion from happening.

I'll post anymore news as soon as I get it.
Be it good or bad.

Fantastic info. Thank you!

sounds awesome

My husband and I paid the Consulate in Auckland a visit today.
The very friendly woman at the window was also hopeful of good news on the DCF front and expected news next week.
She discussed with us all of the drama that ensued after foreign consulates stopped accepting I-130 petitions (increased workload for visa-processing-people in America, etc) and mentioned the option of performing background checks on the applicant. She was clear about this not being 100% yet, but seemed very bright, cheery and alltogether positive about the situation.

Its nice to hear similar news on VJ. It seems to me the good vibes are travelling, slowly but surely from country to country.

Our wedding was one week ago. It was the most amazing day of my life, but was definitely shadowed by the fact my husband and I knew we couldnt be together afterwards.
I am cautiously happy and hopeful about all of this.....

Heres to good news in the coming week.

What? Are you sure? Do you have a link to look this up? Or to which consulates (if only select consulates are now processing)????
If this news is true, I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU (for sharing this information)

OK. now i am going to read the rest of the thread

here's hoping that it'll come back

I am hoping too. I have doing this back and forth thing with my husband for 4years.

Long distance since '01...

I hope there's official word within the next two weeks.

Back and forth is just painful.
Bittersweet, I suppose. Difficult to get used to (if its something you ever -can- get used to).

I'm pretty sure there will be official word this coming week. Thats definitely the impression the woman at the consulate here in Auckland gave my husband and I.
Now lets just hope its the news were needing/expecting/wanting.

<3

Being on the verge of news regarding the matter, it might not be relevant anymore, but i neglected to mention that I also received a letter from the Auckland Consulate one day after receiving the letter telling us our appointment had been canceled.

It said:

''25th January, 2007

This notice is an update to the letter we sent you on January 24th, regarding consular processing of I-130 petitions.

USCIS and DOS are still working on the regulations governing this change of law and we are hopeful there may be another method for us to continue with the consular processing. Please check the website for any updates:
http://wellington.usembassy.gov/qualify.html ''


Did anyone else receive a letter like this?

Hello hello, I got very good news today......I went in to the Chilean consulate where i filed the I-130 to see if they had any news on the time delays with this new law and the man behind the counter told us he had VERY GOOD NEWS. That on Friday the 9th he recieved final word that all the names to have background checks would be EMAILED today to the USCIS for the checks. And that within ten days all petitioners from this consulate would have calls for their final interviews. He said little time left to wait and actually put us on a priority since we came in to ask. And he also said that this is happening worldwide. HALLLLELUYAHH!!!!!! We couldn't be happier

Goigous,

Thanks for the update! As Hannah07's other half, I'm very happy to hear this for both of us!

This is AWESOME. I hope it doesnt only apply to Chilean I-130s only, as I have been informed that my petition is actually IN Lima. Nevertheless, this is great news!!

Man that is super sweet! I filed in Santiago de Chile too. "HALLLLELUYAHH!!!!!!" Couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks for posting the good news!!

*holds breath for Sydney Consulate to post the news officially*

Same with me Elle. That would be wonderful news for people like David A. I hope it also means that they will accept I-130s from USC spouses from the states again. If it's just a matter of them sending names to USCIS offices to confirm background checks then I might have a chance.

So is DCF back? In all the consulates or just select or is it not offical yet?

It's a rumor right now for most of us. The exceptions appear to be for people that have been told directly by their consulates handling their case. I am waiting until I see it officially on the Sydney Consulate and USCIS websites before I let out a scream of joy.

just spoke to my senators office, they could not confirm this. according to all the information they had from DoS and USCIS, that all paperwork was being forwarded to USCIS offices for processing.

hopefully we will hear something soon.

just a side note, if you are expecting help from either senator from texas, forget it, both offices have staff that are less than informed and even less interested in helping. i actually had a staff member tell me that they should bar ALL immigration and that amercians should find americans to marry. i was totally astonded!

Hmmm ok thanx Vylex. I will continue to check the gov site and here on Vj...hopefully something will change?

But another quick (maybe silly) question... If I file my I-130 via the offices in the US, and then a few weeks later an offical annoucement saying DCF is back... can I refile or redirect my I-130 to my husband's consulate.... or is it just better to wait? After DCF being canceled, after a week of sheer shock and confusion, we decided to just file for the CR/IR1 visa but after seeing several people posting DCF is back.... we are even more confused. To wait or not to wait?!

Wooooaa that is just crazy considering this is the melting pot country and was founded by immigrants

Henia, I am the same exact boat! I have my I-130 packet ready to be sent off but I figure I will wait a few more weeks in hope of some good news. I would rather be visiting my wife in April knowing I can file for the DCF. If you can, give it a few more weeks. I am personally hoping to hear something about it before the end of this week. Hang in there if you can.

Because you are not yet a citizen, you are in a different boat than the others here. Are you planning on sending your I-130 now, under your PR status and upgrading it later?
Since you hadn't yet done that, I'm not current with you, but if you do decide to later file abroad, you'll simply refile and pay another fee.

This may not be the case....See the letter I received today from the US Consulate in Montreal....

Your immigrant visa petition (I-130) was previously approved at a US consulate. Congress recently pass the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a law requiring that all I-130 petitions undergo a further screening to determine if the US Citizen petitioner has ever been convicted for certain types of crimes. Because of this new requirement, the Department of state has instructed embassies and Consulates worldwide to suspend processing on any I-130 petitions that were filed through a US Consulate after the effective date of this act and to forward these petitions to the Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for further processing. To meet the requirements of the Adam Walsh Act, every I-130 petition filed since its effective date (July 27, 2006) must undergo an additional law enforcement check to determine whether the petitioner has a criminal record relevant to the act. Consular officers do not have access to and by law are not authorized to obtain petitioners criminal history records, which must be reviewed to establish eligibility under the Adam Walsh Act. Consular officers, therefore cannot run the checks now necessary to approve a petition,

You are waiting for an interview but we are required to send the petition to USCIS for their review and approval. Unfortunately, we have no idea right now how long this action will delay your case. As soon as we receive additional guidance on handling these petitions, we will inform you. Please do NOT submit any documents to us at this time because we cannot proceed with processing your case and any documents submitted may be outdated by the time your case is eligible for processing. We understand that this change may cause significant delays for some families, but it is based on legal requirements that we cannot disregard. We sincerely regret the additional delay and inconvenience this will cause you.

Sincerely,

Immigrant Visa Unit Chief

When was the letter dated?

*still holding my breath*

I just waiting for my oath letter. We are bebating whether to send now or wait a few weeks to see what happens with this new law. If I file now, time would pass... but if DCF comes back.... would it be worth it? Not very sure at all here....

That letter reminds me a lot of the letter I received when told my appointment had been canceled.

They seem to make a point of extending average wait times and delays by crazy amounts or saying they don't know how long it will take, probably just to cover themselves.
It appears that most news is good so far regarding this matter, especially for people that have actually visited consulates and spoken to someone about it.

I originally had a bad feeling about all of this, but that has changed and my gut is beginning to tell me much more positive things.

The letter was dated February 6th, 2007. I understand there will always be 'glitches' here and there, but the part that really gets me is that they do not even estimate how long the delay will be. It's peoples lives at stake - my wife and I are not in a really tight situation but I really feel for those who are seperated from there spouses, kids, relatives, etc. If processes are going to change they should be changed ahead of time so that they don't have such an adverse affect on everyone. Plan first, than implement the policies - not the other way around.

I guess we all just sit and wait patiently....hope for the best

I really pray this is true and the news comes here in Europe soon too!Although yesterday when I called the Vienna office at 3p.m. they hadn't received anything yet,hope it comes today...
I am now so concerned about the fact that our petition is not in the Consulate,as they gave it back to us-do u guys think I could sned it back to them,through DHL probably?I am calling them today,I hope they have some good news

We're getting the same response from Copenhagen. They don't know anything. We sent the G-325A to them 2 weeks ago so they could forward our I-130 to London for RE-APPROVAL!! But so far they have no idea how long it will take before it goes through. We've tried getting a hold of London but that doesn't seem to be possible. This is really f****d up especially since the Danish Immigration Service denied my husband a renewal of his residense permit so he has to leave very soon. This is a delay we just didn't need!

ahh that stinks... why are they refusing your husbands residency in Denmark?

Im not sure of her exact reason but I know a couple of years ago Denmark enacted a new law basically saying foreigners arent allowed even if they are married to Danish citizens. Its probably even harder for her because she is German.

There are of course a few exceptions but thats the gist of it.

Fofire

My husband is not allowed in Denmark for many reasons. I'm not 24, I'm only a student and cannot support him, he's lived in the US for more years than I've lived in Denmark and therefore our connection is appearently greater to the US than Denmark. It's just fucked up since he had a job here and everything. Gotta love immigration laws.

Note: I am a Danish citizen.