Hello everyone,
My Mother filed for me and my Family back in April 1999. At last after 8 long years our wait is almost over! Our case has been completed by the NVC and was forwarded to the US Embassy in London on March 22nd 2007. Our priority date is April 22nd 1999 and the current date being given by April's Visa Bulletin is March 22nd 1999, so we are a Month away. (I'm hoping it moves forward by one Month when May's Visa Bulletin is released)
My question is... Is it odd that I have not heard anything from the London Embassy 3 weeks after the NVC forwarded the case, or will I have to wait until my Priority date has become "Current"? I would like to know when to book my medical and expect an interview.
After 8 Years, once you get this far you want it over with!
Thanks for any help.

Hello

I'm afraid I don't know the exact aswer to your questions, sorry. My guess is that you'll have to wait for your priority date, but it's not that often that we hear about adult children getting approved and being processed or what their timeline would be. It would be really helpfull if you could add a time line as I personally woud be interested in your journey and I'm sure others would be too.

I also wanted to say well done for hanging in there, I know how hard it must have been for you all with such a long wait. I petitioned for my daughter a couple of years ago and it's so encouraging to see that progress does get made eventually. Good luck to you and your family and the exciting adventure in ahead of you.

Maggie

Hi Maggie,
Thankyou for your kind comments. I was beginning to think I was the only person in this situation.
I also think it appears I do have to wait until my priority date becomes "current". I have been asked by other members exactly what this means, so I shall try to explain..... Certain Family members of US Citizens, like Unmarried/Married Children, Brother's and Sister's are subject to numerical limits on the ammount of Visa's that can be issued each Fiscal Year. Every Month around the 15th, the State Dept. issue a visa bulletin. You scroll down this list until you find your category and then you check the date alongside it which is the date of applications they are now working on. Last Month they had reached March 22nd 1999, so I was hoping when the list was updated yesterday that it would have moved forward my a whole month to my "magic" date, but unfortunately it just moved forward by 10 days to April 1st 1999. This is so frustrating because we are only 21 days from being current but to get that far forward this late in the fiscal year could take another 4 Months! Our Case has been finalised and forwarded by NVC, our house is up for sale, our Children need to plan their further education and we are all in limbo waiting for 21 days on paper to progress! It wouldn't be so bad if you could have your medical/Interview and them just say we will issue the Visa as soon as your date ebcomes current. But no, you have to waste another 2 Months doing all that once it does. It makes you feel like saying To Hell with it!
I will try and post my timeline Maggie if you think it might help others but it will take some working out going back that far. One question though... What do you all mean when you say "touched"? lol.
Thanks again for your interest and good luck to you and your Daughter.

You have 6 months once you have the visa to activate it, so I think you are ahead of the curve.

Depends on the housing market where you live of course.

Hello again

Most people on the family immigration forums are fiance's or spouses or children/step children under 21 and aren't subject to the visa limit allocation. For those who can't stand the wait to be with your loved one, have a look at the wait times for the other family categories, it's many, many years. For anyone who is interested, here is a link to the visa bulleting.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin...letin_3219.html

It can be very demoralising when your own priority date is years after the date that shows up on the visa bulleting. For a long time I stopped looking at the dates as there was no movement for a couple of years, but as you are so very close after so many years of waiting I think I would be doing the same and looking every month!!!

In USCIS terms I think "touched" is when your file is looked at or moved or "touched" in any way, which gives people encouragement that something is happenning to their case. Was that the context it was meant?

Best of luck.

Maggie

Hi again

I noticed on one of your other posts that you were asking about changing the interview date at the London Embassy. I had to do this for my IV although that was in 2005. When I received the packet with the date we realised my husband was going to be out of town so I couldn't travel back to the UK because I had children/step children to take care of. (On a K3 with K4 visa at the time) I e mailed the Embassy to ask for another date and they were very helpful. They moved my date forward by 4 weeks which worked out perfectly.

Maggie

Oh that's useful to know. Thanks Maggie. I was only wondering if it were possible incase my Children have exams on the eventual day of the interview.
Hopefully Immigration reforms will change the Family allocation so that your Daughter won't have such a long wait. Meanwhile, can't you find her a nice American Guy to marry, or is she already married?

Arnie.

Right now is a perfect time of year to sell a house. Six months from now, the market will slow down both because of the time of year and the inevitable interest rate hikes.

That's right. and also not forgetting that fantastic exchange rate and the drop in house prices in America.
It's a job to know when best to take the step of selling your home. 6 months from issue date of the Visa seems a long time, but it's not really when the inevitable delays and problems arise with lengthy chains etc. We have already had the house on the market for 3 Months with no buyer.

Exchange rate yes

House price drop not so much

Varies of course, some have gone up.

The ones you hear about are in areas where it was inevitable, and usually not where you would want to live.

We put our house on the market in mid-November and just accepted an offer about 10 days ago. We had an offer in Jan. that we turned down; the house was on at 195k and the offer was 175k. We lowered the price in Jan to 185k and accepted an offer of 180k...their initial offer was 170k until we threw in all the appliances and furniture in the house. Luckily they've already sold and we have no onward chain, so yay us!

As for home-buying in the States...you'll find it hard to do with no credit history so I'd wait a year or two to build up a credit rating. You'll get a much better interest rate. My credit rating took a dive when I left the US...don't really know why...and my husband doesn't have one, so we'll be renting for a year or two before we can get a decent mortgage. It's no biggie; just something that has to be done.

Also, house prices won't drop in some areas of the US; a lot of markets are still seeing increases but the drops in some areas have been so massive that they've dragged down average and median values for the US as a whole. If you're on your way to Tucson, prices are supposed to drop there this year; but by the time you're ready to buy they could have risen again.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/09/real_estat...eymag/index.htm

You can get an International Credit Report for Mortgages

It takes time and you need to work with someone who knows what they are doing.

But best to rent anyway initially so you get a good feel for the lie of the land.

Oh really? That's great; we both have sterling ratings over here.

Thankyou Homesick America and Boiler for your advice. We are frequent visitors to Tucson and in general prices have fallen modestly there. I think that as usual the press here have seen that prices have fallen in some areas and just grabbed the headline. We will probably rent initially to make sure we buy in an area that fits in with our lifestyle, jobs, colleges etc.
Good job with selling your house. Looks like the timing has worked out perfect for you. Don't forget to ask for a preferential exchange rate before transferring any collateral.
Good luck.

Hit 2 to 1 yesterday.

I did a transfer and was not far from it.

No probs...good luck with your move. I'm sure you'll be OK.

If you want any house-showing tips, let me know; the major issue with our house was not the decor but the non-traditional layout and the fact that it doesn't have a garage. It's magnolia, magnolia, magnolia. It's like living inside a meringue...but that's what the house-buying public seems to like.

Hello again

Yes, hoping for immigration reforms but not building up my hopes, it is what it is right now, but if the wait gets less that would be wonderful. She is single and would love to meet a nice young American guy but she will only marry for love and at the moment isn't interested in marriage anyway! She's having far too much fun being a single girl! She is also going to take some time out in July and travel and work around Australia for 6 - 12 months so that the wait for a visa no is shortened and she's having a great time in the process.


Good luck selling your house.

Maggie

Just thought I would add this little bit, we had no credit history when we moved over 2 months ago but we got a mortgage, OK not a big one but we needed one because the house we fell in love with was really more than we wanted to pay, but what the hell Anyway our realtor had a brother who just happened to be a mortgage guy in a bank and he got us a good deal. It also helps if you have a good amount of money to put down, which we did and also my pension goes directly into my US bank account, so it can be done.

As my daughter said (who also works in a bank and they too offered us a mortgage) if you have a good amount to put down they will rip your hand off. Just got to be careful and go with one of the good banks and not a fly by night who advertises cheapo mortgages. Good luck to you and your family, hope that things go quickly for you from this point onwards, you have waited a long time

Thanks Munchkins. How are you enjoying life over there? I can't say I'm going to miss England much. It seems such a depressing place to live these days. So much has deterioated that it's going to take forever to put right. I also get fed-up with all this political correctness. Is it any different over there?
Credit rating seems to have a lot of impact on many things over there, so how do you build up your rating?

Well they say it hit 2 to 1 but that's the business rate. Tourist rate is 10 cents less. How much do you need to transfer in order to get the business rate, and where have you found is the best place to do it?
I opened a bank account in Arizona last year with Chase Bank, and by the time Barclays in England and Chase in America have taken off their charges you end up losing a fair bit.

Thanks Maggie, we have someone else viewing our house this afternoon so fingers crossed!
I would try and encourage your Daughter to spend the time she was going to spend in Australia visiting you. If She's a fun sociable Girl like She seems, She might meet and fall in love with an American guy.
I know she can only stay on a visititor visa for 3 months but they might let her extend it.
Mother's and Daughters need each other and it's going to be tough being apart. I know my Mother is desperate for me to be near her again. She has just fought breast cancer and is not in the best of health. I'm looking forward to being able to help her out again. She went to the States in 1987.

What's a good amount? $30,000? $50,000? What do you mean they'll rip your hand off? Is that good or bad?

90 days

And you can not extend it.

Hello

Unfortunately, like Boiler says, the VWP is not extendable and she isn't entitiled to visitors visa. We have already been apart since 2003 but couldn't I couldn't apply for the I-130 until 2005 because of the wait to process my IV. It used to take a couple of years at that time, hence the K3. I applied for her the day I arrived back in the US with the stamp in my passport, before I even got my green card in the mail, so that her process had begin and we had a priority date. I will upgrade it when I receive US citizenship which I will apply for in 11 months time.

She has always wanted to travel around Australia and it's a good way to forget about the processing times for the visa number. We see each other a few times a year and I will probably visit her in Australia at some point. I just hope some Ozzie doesn't sweep her off her feet!! We do miss each other but we talk on the phone almost every other day which is more than some families here in the US do! Also, I realised that with the huge distances between states, I actually see her more often than some people here see their children/parents! My hair dresser hasn't seen her mum for over a year. She is in Illinois and her mom is in Florida.

So sorry to hear about your mum's illness and I hope she gets you and your family near her very, very soon. It must be extremely hard for you and your mum to have to go through this so far apart.

Best of luck

Maggie

Hi Maggie,
Some good points there. America sure is a vast Country. It never fails to amaze me how miniscule and insignificant you feel. Especially when in Mountainous desert landscapes like Arizona.
Some distance apart often helps relationships anyway. My Mum does have my 2 Sisters living in Tucson and Casa Grande but they still seem to find time to have arguments and not talk for a few weeks! Families huh? Try not to look too far forward. The time has gone quite quick for us now looking back. You will soon be together I'm sure.

Hello again

Thanks for you well wishes. It's appreciated. Yes, I can relate to mothers and daughters arguing... did it yesterday! But we always take the time to talk it through afterwards and make things right! It's good to hear of someone like you and your family who have actually waited years to get to the stage you are at, which is now very close. Keep us informed of the rest of your journey as it's wonderful to hear of families actually getting to the end of this process.

Best wishes
Maggie