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We filed for a CR1 spousal visa on Dec 31 2021. On June 14 2022, we received a case update. USCIS was actively reviewing it. We have been in limbo ever since, until now. When I checked for case updates, it now states they are actively reviewing our case since...February 23 2023...instead of June 14 2022. The message is exactly the same, but they changed the date. Does anyone have experience with this? Did our case slip through the cracks and did they suddenly find it again?

Hi All, Just for the sake of educating ourselves, what is the roadmap for the processing of an I-130, I can't seem to find a stright answer. What i mean is, we have submitted, our application and received the first I-797C notifying us that Nebraska has our case. What comes next? Then after that? Then after that? Best, -Chris

I've just had to reschedule my medical. Not the end of the world, but just a pain. Reason was my GP surgery still haven't sent the letter over, and when I've chased it they have the attitude of "we'll get it to you when we get it to you". I looked up the cancellation policy and they need 3 working days notice or they'll charge you £100. Meaning I'd have needed the letter by 3pm today latest, which isn't gonna happen! So I pushed it back a week and a half. Fingers crossed I get it by then and it all goes smoothly. I've not had my interview date yet so shouldn't be a problem, but going by everyone's estimations of interviews etc, I don't want my medical to be any later than mid-late Feb. Also, just an FYI for anyone wanting to know about wait times for the medical - mine was originally for the 7th, I asked to push it back to the week after and asked what dates they have, the lady said "what date would you like?" so there doesn't seem like there's much wait at all, there were multiple appointment times available morning and evening for several dates. Lots of flexibility

Hi everybody :) My husband (26, who is a USC) an I (24, Danish) filed for i-130 back in July 2022. We have been married since November 1st 2021. Last time I was in the US was from July to September 2022. I am currently planning a trip to see my husband in the US in March, because it will be one year since his father passed away, and my husband and his family are having a small memorial. I am only planning on staying for about 2 weeks, because I’m worried the customs officer will be suspicious if I stay for longer, while my i-130 is pending. I didn’t really think it would be a problem to enter the US when it’s only for a short period of time and I do have a good reason to go, but now after doing some research, it looks like you need a LOT of ties to your home country, otherwise you can get denied entry. The problem is, that I basically have no strong ties to Denmark. I’m currently unemployed, staying with my parents so I own no property etc… Another thing is, I’ve previously gotten two extensions on my ESTA while visiting the US back in the beginning of covid. (First time was because my flights kept getting cancelled when I tried to go back home to Denmark, second time I got really sick and was unable to board my flight and leave the US. I have proof of both, and will bring them, if I go to the US.) I’m afraid that the extensions will also be a problem when I try to enter the US… Of course I will leave the US after my short stay, and would never try to commit visa fraud. But I am afraid that it looks like I would, with my i-130 pending and no strong ties to Denmark. So my question is: Do you think I’ll be able to enter the US? If I only stay for about 2 weeks and of course bring my return ticket? Or would it be too risky/is the chance that I’ll get denied too big? I know that it’s completely up to the border control officer to decide, so none of you can tell me exactly what will happen- but what is your guys experiences with traveling on ESTA while waiting for a visa, with no strong ties to your home country? And is a memorial a good enough reason to go? I so badly want to be there for my husband during this time. I’m also planning on going to the US in May, for my sister in law’s wedding. If I do end up going in March, will it then be harder to enter again in May, even if that is also just for a short stay? Thanks!!

Hi everyone, I'm a new member, so please excuse any non-intentional breaches of etiquette. I'm a native of and live in the NYC area, and my S.O. is a native of and lives in the GTA (Canada). We've been together and have known each other for more than seven years. The idea is for her to move down here in about 4-6 months (our timeline). She will be a stay at home wife/mom. No kids right now for either of us (we're late 20's/early 30's in age). We haven't started any paperwork yet, and our case, I feel, is pretty straight-forward - we don't have any criminal record or overstays, and have a real, bonafide relationship with years of established photos and trips. She currently works in Canada and I have a full time job as well in the NYC area. We recently did a religious ceremony in Canada that had no official documentation, or filings with the Canadian locality. This was for the sake of her customs and family, to allow her to travel freely in accordance with her own customs and culture, not for any paperwork or certs. -Based on those circumstances, what is the best route to her coming down and having some sort of status the quickest? Would that be the fiance K1 visa? -What if we got married, either in a third country or in the US (after the 90-day period), and then she just stayed permanently and we filed for the spouse visa (CR1?) -In both of those cases, would there be a gap period, mainly in terms of health insurance? Healthcare, as I'm sure you all know, is expensive in the US, and I'd want to add her to my insurance, but I don't think I'd be able to until she had some sort of legal status, right? Any insight or anecdotes anyone can share on health insurance for your partner during the wait, in case they got sick or hurt and needed to go to the doctor, or if we decided to have a baby during the "wait" period either after she came down on the K1, or after filing paperwork for the CR1 in the 2nd option I mentioned above? -How would it work if she came down, stood at least 90 days, then we got civilly married in the US and filed for the spouse visa? Would it be an auto-reject because it's considered visa fraud? Would we need to act like "oh, we weren't planning this and then it just happened"? If we got married in a third country and then went back to the US, do we tell the CBP officer that we got married in the third country (or are we obligated to)? -In what scenarios can she leave the country or travel (or not)? Can she fly intra-US while waiting for status, or is it going to come up that she's on an overstay or has an immigration doc pending? Essentially, I'm just trying to get an idea on the best route forward to unite based on our intention of her coming down by ~mid-year, and having health insurance coverage through my policy as soon as possible after coming down. Since the plan is for her to be a stay at home, work papers aren't as important at this time. Thank you in advance for any insight and advice on these points!

Hi I'm applying to bring my husband to US under IR1. My husband received a 221g slip after the interview asking for a missing tax document from the joint-sponsor. However, I noted that in this last year, the sponsor did not make the minimum income under the poverty guide. So, I'm thinking about applying with my husband's foreign income instead. He works remotely for an American company but he's in a branch, so his income is not in USD but he makes way more than the minimum. My question is: As I'm not sending what the 221g is asking for, will that be a problem? Can they terminate or send back my case to USCIS if, for some reason, my husband's income is not accepted or I get a new chance? THANKS

Has anyone ever tried to request Direct Consular Filing through Montreal? I just emailed them today to ask if they would consider our situation and attached a bunch or supporting documentation.

Hello, My wife and I filed our I-130 in August 2022 through consular processing as we are both in Korea. Our service center is Vermont. We are planning on a vacation to Hawaii, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles end of Feb/first week of March. Our trip will be for about 6-8 weeks. We will be entering together and heading back to Korea together once the trip is over. I have a business in Korea and am paying rent for an apartment. My question is what would happen if our I-130 were to be approved while we were in the US? Would there be no problem? I have heard of some cases where USCIS would automatically change it to AOS and we would have to wait for the 485 to be approved and we would not be allowed to return overseas? Thanks in advance

Good afternoon everyone, I recently submitted an I-130 via mail on Dec 2022 for my wife who is living overseas . I recently moved on 17 Jan 2023 . Do I need to update my address as the petitioner ? I tried calling the USCIS number and they provided me with a link. I tried connecting my case online using the receipt number but then it asks me for online access code which I do not have . Since I sent it via mail , will I still receive an online access code ? What should I do in the mean time since USCIS wants you to update your address within 10 days ? Thank you for you time .

Hey everyone, I've been reading posts on this site for a few months now from those with Moroccan SOs about how tough the Casablanca consulate is and people's experiences with the K1 and CR1 visas. I wanted to present my plan to those who've been through the process or are going through it now and see what you guys think. Because of how tough the Casa consulate is, I'm strongly leaning towards doing the CR1 visa instead of the K1, as if I'm correct the CR1 doesn't expire and is more likely to be accepted/taken seriously. My plan is to marry on my 3rd trip, with each trip being about 3 - 4 weeks long. And obviously while the visa is being processed I plan on making more trips, but I read that it's important to front - load the I-130 application with a few trips. Is 3 trips a solid amount for that, and would 2 trips possibly be enough to frontload the application, if it was a total of 7 weeks? We will have been chatting for a little over a year before I visit him for the first time, and I'm 5 years younger than him (he's 29 and I'm 24) so no red flags with the age part. He's divorced but he was just married once to an Algerian woman (so not a Westerner). No kids on either side. He's unemployed now and it's highly likely he will be through the visa process as well. He's always worked and completed a university degree in Graphic Design in Turkey, but the company he used to work for only stuck around in Morocco for a couple years and after that it's been difficult to find steady work. Also he needs to work a lot on his English so that's what we're focusing on now. Will his unemployment affect his chances of getting the visa? I've read before that this doesn't really affect things because the Casa consulate is well aware of the high unemployment rates in the region. Also I'll probably need a joint sponsor because I don't think I'll be meeting the minimum income requirements for 3 years before I file for the visa. Would this affect the chances of success? Again based off my research it doesn't seem like it will because they just care about someone being able to potentially be responsible for 10 years. But I have heard some conflicting stuff about that My last question for this post is, is the Casa consulate still as tough now as it was years ago, in 2015 or 2016 for example?

Hello, I'm a USC and I recently filed a standalone I-130 for my wife back in last December. I mailed my I-130 to a lockbox and I received NOA1 in Dec 15th with a IOE receipt number. When I check the case using the receipt number, it shows "Case Was Received and A Receipt Notice Was Sent". However, I know couple other cases who filed around the same time as me showing "Case is Being Actively Reviewed". I also saw someone saying that their case changed to “actively reviewed” within like a day after their submission and now I'm extra concerned. How long does it usually take to be shown as "Case is being actively reviewed"? Is my case being delayed until it changes to "Case is being actively reviewed"? Thank you so much!

Hi! We will be getting married April 2023 and after that, we will be processing our Cr1 application. We will be doing the application it online. Just some questions, what is the best way to organise the documents? This is my plan: 1. Communication and Phone calls and timeline of relationship 2. Gifts and receipts and whatever money transfer he gives to me documents 3. 1st meet up, 2nd meet up and 3rd meet up: -some receipts, photos, airline tickets, hotels accommodation, etc (*anything connected with the each meet up i will put in one pdf file) 4. Wedding plans and documents connected to wedding 5. Letters of family and friends This is what im thinking for now. Can anyone give me recommendations? Thank you so much!

Hi All, I got interview letter from NVC (01/12/23). I'm trying to gather all things I need for the interview, but I have things that I'm sure, could anyone help me on this? thank you. Do I need to bring original affidavit of support to the interview? or would it be enough just the copy. This makes me confused because I read two different thread said two different things. Meanwhile on NVC prep website they say this: "You do not need to bring your Affidavit of Support or financial evidence you submitted to NVC". any thought? On the letter said, I need to bring all documents that I submitted on CEAC. What other document that I should bring? They said, I need to register for courier / pick up passport. I tried to log in my CGI account, create a new application, enter my preference pick up / courier service and on the last step, it said The Case ID that you have entered cannot be found. any idea how to solve this ? Thank you, happy weekend

Me and my partner are looking for the best way to proceed. I'm from Italy, he's USC. Since the waiting time is almost the same, we're leaning to get married and proceed with a CR-1 visa, more than picking the K1 path. Our concern about this is the traveling while the I-130 is pending. What are the chances of a tourist visa getting denied because of this? Would this be a problem only with a pending I-130 or also with a pending I-129F? I know for this purpose there's the K3 visa, but the waiting time is the same so there's no point. We are willing to wait for the whole procedure to go through, but not being able to see each other in the meantime would be crazy. Thank you for the help!

Hi everyone, We just got our interview date today for 6/2/23. I immediately called the Visa Medical place and was told the examination needed to be done 2 weeks before the interview. They booked me in on the 19/1/23 - that’s only a week away! I have a chronic illness that requires immunosuppressants and so I immediately emailed my consultant's secretary asking for a medical report but she replied saying she 'cannot guarantee' they will be able to get it for me in time. Does anybody have any ideas on what is best to do in this situation? I will be getting a report from my gp, I have had all the vaccinations that I am allowed (can't have live vaccines) and I will have everything else - there's just the possibility this report won't be done. Is it best to rearrange the medical until I have the report? The NVC won't have my medical when I go to interview in that case. Or perhaps I should get as much info from my GP as possible and hope that's sufficient for the medical? I feel like this is a very limited amount of time to prep and with how things usually are, I assumed we would have more time. Any help at all would be really great! Thanks, Laura

I applied for K1 visa and received case number in September 2022. Currently processing time for K1 is 15.5 months and Cr1(I-130) is 10 months. I’m thinking to get married and restart the process by filing for CR1 instead. Initially I applied for K1 thinking it would be faster, but that seems not to be the case anymore. I’d appreciate any advice you could provide me.

I have a silly question, so I made it to the state feb 2021 and when I was issued my residency card I had expiration date of ten years, does that mean I'm good on removing conditions or should I still file soon?

Hello, We are looking into filing a Writ of Mandamus suit against the embassy in Cairo, Egypt. I have consulted with an attorney who quoted about $6000.00. If anyone knows if that's average or has any recommendations of another attorney please let me know. Thank you!

I couldn't see a thread for Jan 2023 filers so I thought I'd create one. We submitted ours today, 9th January 2023 and keeping my fingers crossed it goes smoothly and we get DQ. It seems like they are taking approximately 36 days to review documents currently.

Hey everyone, Our case was said to be Documentarily Qualified on December 15, 2022, and are waiting for the Interview Letter. I see there are millions of links or potential dates for interview dates for non-immigrant visas, but NOTHING for immigrant based visas. We would like to have a certain hope or something to look forwards to but the lack of information is crazy. This is a CR-1 Visa so its also very frustrating being apart for literally an unknown amount of time. We also see people commenting on the US Embassy Dhaka page on Facebook with people complaining that they either still are waiting for the interview, or they are waiting to get their passport back after the interview, which again, is crazy and very disheartening. If anyone has any inside information or just general information on how long it would take the NVC to schedule the interview for a CR-1 Visa, and the latter process, it would be very kind. Thanks

Hey, my husband is CR-1 visa category awaiting interview at Port Au Prince embassy. We filed in July 2020 and were DQ in March 2021. Haven’t heard anything since August about which priority dates are currently interviewing at our embassy. Does anyone have any clue at all which DQ dates have been interviewed recently??

Hello, -Cbp canceled my tourist visa b1/b2 at the airport because apparently i was working and they gave me 5 year bar and after a month of that situation, I got married with my wife and she is a citizen. And we start the process but we never send a waiver because a lawyer told us, the tourist visa and residency visa are two different things and i have a bar for another tourist visa, that's why we never filled out the waiver but after long time waiting for uscis and nvc, we finally went to the interview at the embassy in dominican republic and the last lawyer that we hired here in dominican republic told us that when we get to the interview the counselor, he's going to require me a waiver but they didn't ask for a waiver but we talk about my 5 year bar and he told me he needs to contact cbp because they need to confirm if i'm going to need a waiver or not and he gave me a 221g and kept my passport and told me, you just need to wait because i don't have the power to do anything without contacting cbp. (they were to people at the time of my interview so it's no way that could be a mistake of him). my question is he keeping my passport is a big chance to get my visa? has anyone heard of a pardon waiver? What i should expect from them?

Hi, everyone. I went to school in the US as a child for a few years because of my father's job. I was on the H-4 visa issued to dependents of H1 visa holders. When my dad extended his H1-B, he assumed that my H-4 would be automatically extended. It wasn't and it turns out that 9 year old me was technically overstaying my visa for at least a year, maybe more, before my family returned to India. While exiting the US, we weren't asked about the overstay on my passport at all and no acknowledgement of it was ever made by anyone from the US government, or the airline. That was the only time I travelled to the US, one entry and one exit. Now my American wife and I are about to file the I-130 petition. And I'm wondering whether this overstay will affect it in any way? Will I be forced to declare it and justify it at some point? I'm hopeful that it is fine because 1) I was a minor at the time 2) It has been more than 10 years since I left the US Any guidance would be really appreciated, thanks.

Hello, does anyone know the wait time for an interview from dq? For IR1/CR1 category. Sorry if this is not the correct forum. thanks.

My husband received the dreaded yellow paper at the interview im Egypt today. Terrible experience. First, they argued with him about ourdate of marriage. He told them the correct date 3 times and the officer said it wasn't correct. Like, it's on the marriage certificate 🙄 Then he was saying it's not right our relationship began while I was legally separated from my ex husband (we were married a year and a half after). They only focused on my previous marriages and not much else. Then they said they need us to upload more proof. If anyone can give me an idea as to what else to upload I would appreciate it. Here is was I already uploaded: Both previous lease and current lease with both our names, about 200 photos with us and friends/family over the past 3 years, chat logs from the very beginning with us, me and his mother, sister and father and him with my mother, affidavits from my mother and his parents, proof from the 6 trips I've taken (I'm in Egypt now, was hoping he could fly back with me) proof of contacting the congressman and Whitehouse for assistance, shared bank account. We've never emailed each other because we communicate via messenger. And phone bill? We call via messenger so there are no charges. I'm just not sure what else I have to upload 🤷‍♀️