Congratulations, nannygirl. Things seem to be moving along for you, I'm glad.

Congratulations Kimmy!!!

I always called them. I asked if they knew at least what month my interview would be in and they told me. I also asked when they would know my exact date. They said in 2 weeks so I called back and they had the date. I know calling suxs cause it takes for ever to get anyone.

Wow, I can't wait for that day. Welcome home to your hubby and enjoy the rest of your lives together.

My hubby didn't like the Science and Industry museum in Chicago. At least it was a free day and all we had to do was pay for parking. So we went shopping downtown and the apple store for IPOD items. It was more like window shopping. His favorite spot was the Chicago Outlet mall were he picked out a pair of puma soccer shoes. He was in shock that he could get a pair of shoes for 20 bucks which would of cost him 80 bucks in JA. I told him he better make the college soccer team or join a park district team. He loves all the soccer fields here. He wishes his friends were here so they could play soccer until 9pm (because the sun is up all day). So far the first week is going very well.

Congratulations!

Are you counting the days down until your interview. He will be with it before you know it. After the interview the waiting flew by. I bet you are getting very excited. Are you going down for the interview?

I am counting down the days. As of Tuesday, we have two weeks. I need to go over everything and make sure that we're not missing any documents. I'm going to stress about that right up until the interview is over. I can't go down for the interview because I just came back from there, plus it's in the middle of the week.

I used to get checked and harassed all the time coming back into the U.S. I was going to JA soooo often they thought I was trafficking drugs!! I guess 4 different trips in 5 months set off their alarm bells! One time I got thoroughly checked in JA before they would let me on the plane to come home. My luggage was already on the plane and they made them take it off so they could search it for drugs! I almost missed my flight - I was so mad They were really treating me like a criminal.

It's about time you showed your face around here woman

Jamie, I know you haven't been on lately but Thank you for reminding me that the fees were going up on July 30, 2007. I just sent out I-751 package to remove conditions and it cost us $275. After July 30, the price will go up to $545 I just can't believe how they're ripping everybody off. Here's some of the other new fees that will go into effect:

I 129F
Fianceé Petition
General fiancée petition:
$ 455

I 485
Adjust status and become a permanent resident while in the U.S.
All others: filing + biometric=
$ 1,010

I 131
Reentry permit, refugee travel document or advance parole
Reentry permit or refugee travel document
$ 305

I 765
Employment Authorization /Employment Authorization Document (EAD)
$ 340

She only questioned me so extensively because I look like a Jamaican. I had the wedding dress bag and all that and was with my grandmother who isn't from JA and my suitcases was full of favors and wedding stuff, I've seen a lot of couples and brides at the airport and they didn't get questioned like me, she tried but like I said there was nothing she could really do but try and trip me up. She kept on asking where I was getting married, it was at a hotel and I had proof, my wedding program was on a fan and she ended up asking if she could have one because she never seen that before.

I lose my reservation slips all the time and when they ask, I'm born in england and give my father's island as to where both my parents are from. They can only go so far in their questioning.

agreed, I sent bags to my family and had them bring them down, a lot cheaper...I did gift bags, I did tolietries within a small cosmetic bag, and put stuff like trial size lotion, razors, toothpaste. they liked it because some of my guests forgot stuff, they even ended up trading.

the embassy had my paperwork since 4/4, I sent an e-mail and got no response, and then called them, they told me that the ds-230 was missing and without that they couldn't give an interview date. luckily I was going down to Ja the next week, u can find the form and this site. I took it down, he filled it out and sent it my courier to the embassy. I called them yesterday and they had a date....now lets see if he gets the paperwork this time. If he doesn't get it by friday, he'll be making an appt and going to the embassy to pick it up...is this considered packet 3 or 4?

All this questioning talk stresses me out!
I am heading to JA for six weeks in a couple of days and we are just staying at his house and I was already worried about that (questioning me for staying so long)
any pointers?

Just pick the name of a hotel and tell them that. After my second trip, I never stayed at a hotel. It's really none of their business.

It will be $1000+ for the AOS and 300+ for the EAD as of 7/30 since his date is 7/17 and they have a way of holding on to visa's. I think just going for the Cr-1 will be a better and cheaper option since I don't have to pay for advance parole.

six weeks - pick the name of a cheap hotel, and then ask them if its nice

Honestly, I don't know if you can anymore. Last year (or back in the day, as I like to call it---HA!) once I got the NOA2, I UPS'd the original to Andre. He took that original and used it to gain access to the Embassy. He picked up his packet, dropped off the DS-230 we had downloaded, paid his $100, and they gave him an appointment for 3 weeks later. While in Kingston, he picked up his police record. He then went home and called to make the medical appointment. After having made the medical appointment, he went to the clinic with his shot record, told the nurse he was getting a visa medical, and took the shots she recommended he still needed. Saved money.

Since you cannot get into the Embassy without an appointment (and someone told me they just called for an appointment to drop off the DS-230 and they got a July 3rd date), I'm not sure you can speed things along anymore.

My advice would be anything you can download and/or use a courier for would be helpful. Waiting for the mail in JA was useless in our case. Andre didn't even get the first packet they had mailed out until after he had already left JA.

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What are some of the things I need to be doing now to speed up our appointment date? I know that having the DS-230 part 1 ready to turn in when packet 3 is picked up will save a few days. Thank you Jomo's girl for staying back to help.
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thanks ladies. i think i will go ahead and call them this afternoon and make an appointment for my fiance to drop off the ds-230. he's had it filled out and ready to go since april. we were just waiting for the i-129f to get approved.

this whole fee increase has me anxious. that's a lot of money to put on top of our wedding expense. needless to say i'm looking for a summer job. unfortunately i live in a small city and the job market is very fickle. i tried a few years ago to get a summer job and no one wanted to hire a temporary worker...i even went to a few temp. agencies and even they wouldn't give me a job assignment. i'm saying a prayer and getting started on the job search today!

Jomo's girl


they are going to wait a month to drop off the ds-230. I would courier it in, they could have an interview date by 7/3




does the embassy have his case?

yes the embassy ought to have our case by now. it should have arrived last week.

so you think that things can move faster if we get a courier to drop off the ds-230?

yes, its your preferance, hubby is a 2 hour drive from kingston, so he preferred to use courier

that's an option my fiance and i should explore then. kingston is several hours away for him too. at this point i'm willing to try it if it'll give us a earlier interview date. the first day of school for me is august 14th, i'm cutting it pretty close right now. thanks for the tip jengles.

Just an FYI, one of my clients did not take my advice and the Beaches Resort's wedding coordinators advice NOT to ship wedding favors ahead of time. I flew with the bride and groom, took her almost 3 hours to get her stuff and they wanted to charger her $400 US ...I was able to get them to charge only $20. It's because they consider it importing and exporting and you have to pay taxes both ways.

I told her to ask a few wedding people (and myself) to take items down in their luggage before....we were there 5 days before the wedding.

Thanks girl...finally....

I am getting anxious. My case should arrive at the NVS this week. Is there something that I should be doing now? Can I go ahead and send in the DS-230 part 1 to the embassy? Do I need to wait for a NVS case number first?

Donna lives in Kingston. Would I get our interview date sooner by calling for an appointment to have Donna drop off the DS-230 or having a courier deliver it? From what I’m reading having a courier deliver the paper is the best option. Things do move a little faster at this stage.

Jay,
You and I are in the same boat! I am still waiting for NVC to receive my information. I will have Marlon send the DS-230 via courier and I would suggest that you have Donna do the same. Who knows which is quicker? I will call Marlon today and give him the options he has. I know that someone on VJ called the embassy and received the date of July 3 for her fiance to drop off the packet. I just want an interview date!

To all other Yardies: does Marlon NEED his NOA2 at the time he submits the DS-230?

We did, Sarah. But, I told you why.

Glad to help I am still around daily...just lurking not always posting on this thread.

Also FYI with the new AOS fee the EAD(I-765) and AP (I-131) are included so the total cost is $1,010. The sucky part about that is now you have to apply for the EAD & AP whether you wanted to or not.

Jomo was lucky then because they have completely restructured the K1 process in Kingston! I am hoping that courier will be faster than calling to set an appt to drop the form off. I am worried about sending the NOA2 original as it costs $200.00 to get a replacement copy!!!!!!

CONGRATS

CONGRATS Kim

I never heard of that mall. Where is it?

what? it costs $200 to replace the NOA2? that's just crazy. i made a copy of it and mailed the original noa2 to my fiance like 3 weeks ago. he went to the post office last week to see if it had arrived and i was shocked to find out that it wasn't there yet. it BETTER be there this week or we're gonna have some problems!

i'm thinking we're also going to use the courier service to drop off the ds-230. how reliable are they?

What is taking your mail so long to get there? Are you sending it AIRMAIL through the post office? 8 days was how long it took everything to get to JA from here. Still does cause we still send cards to his mom and a few others in Mo Bay.

I hope for your sake that it gets to him!!!! As far as I know the courier service is MORE relaible than the Jamaican postal service! lol How did you send the stuff to him, by which service?

Yea that's too much. I would send a copy and bring the original down for the interview. It's not worth the risk of paying that later. Just my two cents!

i just put a whole bunch of stamps on the envelope and stuck it in my mailbox. i didn't use those airmail envelopes. maybe that's why it's taking longer?

so what courier service is typically used? i imagine airpak is the way to go since that's what the embassy uses to send visas back to their owners.

only thing is...i'm wondering how much time can actually be saved using the courier service as opposed to waiting for an appointment to drop it off because don't you still have to wait for the embassy to mail out packet 4 before you can schedule the visa interview?

jengles did the courier thing way back in the beginning of april and still waited 2 months for an interview date to be issued. what really is the quickest way to go?

remind me jomo's girl...wasn't jomo able to pick up packet 4 at the same time that he dropped off the ds-230?

No, my husband never got the ds-230 which was mailed from the embassy on 4/13 and he still hasn't gotten it. He did the courier thing on 5/21. He did it at around 10:30 he said if he got their before 11am, it would be same day delivery, I'll ask him how much it cost. and when I called on 5/25 they told me they had recieved it and it was in their system.

So I waited 2 weeks for an interview date. could have been sooner but I never called last week to check.



agreed

I won't be attending Marlon's interview, I wish I could but I can't afford any time off of work. I will just send him a copy of the NOA2 then!

Jengles: Please do let us know! I am on pins & needles waiting for Marlon to receive my package. I sent him the DS-230 (both parts), the I-134, and some additional information regarding the embassy and all he has to do. I will have to re-send the DS-156, 156K, and 157 forms again as I did not realize a couple of them must be in duplicate. I am hoping that I will mail ALL that he needs this Friday that way the ball is in his court! Now we can hope that his UK police certificate gets there before his interview!

BTW, I emailed the embassy asking them if it is quicker to send the DS-230 via courier or to schedule an appointment for him to drop it off. I will let you know what their reply is.

You don't need any special envelopes....just write (or stamp) AIRMAIL on it and put the required postage. Used to be 84 cents for a card. I think I put an extra 11 cents on the last card I mailed a few weeks ago.

Yes, he was able to pick up packet 4....and then mailed him another one too, which got to his house after he had already left Jamaica.

From what I understand, there is not that much of an increase in the combined AOS package from filing for them all separately before, right?

It depends how you look at it. Currently the filing fees are I-485 for $325, I-131 for $170, & $180 for I-131. However, not everyone files for AP & EAD. So if you did it would be a $335 and if you didn't it would be more.

I didn't realize that the EAD was part of the new AOS package.

Exactly Before you were able to choose whether you wanted to file EAD or AP. Now you have to pay for all of them regardless if you want/need them. The total cost for all three now is $675 and the new fee is $1,010 so it is quite a jump. Most people only filed AOS and EAD for a cost of $495...now you are paying double. Also if you were filing AOS for any children you are having to pay the $1,010 even if they don't need the EAD (someone correct me if I am wrong) so that seems a little crazy.

The other side of it is that if your AOS isn't approved within the year that the EAD is valid you have to file to renew (I know a couple of the ladies had to do this) so now instead of the $170 you are paying $340 - exactly double. I just hope that for all these fees the process speeds up.

I have a question for my yardie family. Marlon is in need of some money, he did not ask I offered. He has been having some pain in his jaw and he had been waiting for a mate of his to send him some money to go to the doctor but that fell through. He found out it would cost $3000.00JA for a doctor visit plus price of medication. I will be wiring him $50US tonight via Western Union. Or is there another route to go?

Yes you also have to file for the child. I know some ppl would choose not to b/c the children won't need a ss # to attend school so they wait until they recv the green card. But w/these extra security checks and Administrative Reviews I think it's wisely to apply b/c you never know when it will happen.

Money gram is much cheaper....it's about 8 dollars vs. $40 western union. I no longer use western union. It works outs...especially when he send money my way. :-)

So does anyone know how I can check to see if a packets has been sent from the NVC to Kingston? I know somewhere they were saying look on the DHL website. Any thoughts?