DCF - approval routed to consulate but stuck at NVC

[Mikey010 0]

OK now that my situation has been cleared up I thought I would leave a word of advice to other folks considering going that route:

If you are considering applying for DCF when your spouse is in a jurisdiction of a different consulate, DON'T.

Two better options are as follows:

- Move your spouse to your country, or move yourself to the spouse’s country. If a visa is required it is prolly an order of magnitude faster to get than the US spouse visa, e.g. UK spouse visa takes 4 weeks. Then do a proper DCF. Plus you will be together while DCF is being processed.

- File with Chicago lock box. Sure it will take longer but at least you will know exactly where you stand with your processing.

Doing what I did creates several problems. Overseas USCIS offices will not know what to do with your approved I-130, mine just sat there until I started inquiring. They will not have issued a case number because it is not needed for DCF. NVC will also not know what to do with your case and it will sit there waiting for a supervisor to look at it. And since you don’t have a case number NVC won’t help you. All of this will result in extra waiting. It took me over 3 months to locate my approved I-130 at NVC. So in summary doing a “DCF” when your spouse is not in your country will be ~3 months slower than the Chicago lockbox.

Good luck!