Our journey has started

[Thesmiths2016 117]

On 25 March 2017 at 9:17 AM, Mr&Mrs G. said:

Thank you both for your replies. 

 

We were hoping to be able to head out before October, is it safe to travel out before final approval? A lady on the USCIS helpline suggested filing a different form while my case is pending and this would allow me to work in the US until everything is finalized. My fear is that if she is wrong then I would have to keep leaving every 90 days and then return, also I read that my medical would be in Ireland so I would have to return for that anyway. That all seems very expensive and a waste of money on flights going back and forth.

 

Honestly I assumed it was just a formality because we are married for 9 years and can easily prove that the marriage is valid, it never crossed my mind that there was even be a possibility of refusal. My wife got her Irish citizenship with less fuss.

 

We will initially be living with my wife's parents or maybe move in to one of their rental properties. I don't understand the issue with "domicile", what would one gain by applying and not taking up residency surely that would be a waste of time and money.

 

I paid $535 by bank draft, I believed that was all the fees other than the cost of a medical, are there other fees I have missed? 

with regards to domicile, she needs to show intent to re-establish.  My husband is the USC in our case and we've been out of the US for 7 years now. He showed the following:
* US drivers licence which he has kept current

* Emails to and from real estate agents about properties in the USA

* Emails and research about daycare options for our daughter

* Permanent address in the USA (had some official school documents and voting documents sent to his parents address)

* US bank account with funds being transferred recently (our house savings) ensuring it shows his name on the account paperwork

Basically anything to show that she didn't just grow up there then leave, but kept her ties to her country and intends to return. In the cover letter you can also explain the reasons why she was unable to return until now (deaths in the family, etc).  

With regards to fees, yes there are fees at the NVC stage but they'll send you emails about these when they happen. And a fee when you go to the interview.

 

As mentioned by the other posters here, expect a year to 15 months. I'm just past 12 months and am awaiting case complete at NVC to move onto medical and interview stage.

[Thesmiths2016 117]

Regarding travelling in October, if you're still at USCIS stage (which is likely with current timelines) then they "should" let you travel.  The border immigration people always have the right to say no, but make sure you have proof of a return flight, ties back home in ireland such as job, bank account, car lease, rental lease for your property if applicable etc. Basically proof that you have reason to go back.  If they think you might be trying to come into the country and overstay or illegally immigrate this is where it can cause issues. All that evidence will help your case if they as questions.
I'm at the next stage (week 8 at NVC) so for me personally my husband is travelling to the USA for a wedding in 6 weeks and I can't go unless i have my visa by some miracle.  I'm too close to the end for them to let me in, its too suspicious in their eyes apparently. 

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

On 3/25/2017 at 4:24 PM, laulholley said:

My children and I are going to move in July, and hopefully my husband will be coming with us! It is a big risk to move back before the visa is approved, but I need to get the kids acclimated and enrolled in school before August.

That just seems ridiculous and very unfair, why separate a family for any amount of time. I don't see the risk, your married and you have kids that are entitled to live in the US and so is their father.  It's like the system is stacked against US citizens living abroad. 

 

Fingers crossed everything is approved in time.

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

7 hours ago, Thesmiths2016 said:

I'm at the next stage (week 8 at NVC) so for me personally my husband is travelling to the USA for a wedding in 6 weeks and I can't go unless i have my visa by some miracle.  I'm too close to the end for them to let me in, its too suspicious in their eyes apparently. 

Again this seems another senseless restriction on a US citizen and their spouse. Being so far along in the process why would you risk over staying, can they not apply common sense and allow you attend the wedding also?

 

 

We spoke with my wife's parents last night about the possibility of needing a sponsor and were surprised they just said that they will all do whatever is needed. We were not aware but they have been going through it already with my wife's grandfather, he was living in Canada most of his life but his parents never registered his birth in the USA. At 90 years of age my wife's family applied for him to stay in the US but it has been bounced around so much that they just gave up on the process. He is now 95 living in a residential home in Georgia and has lost most of his memory, at his age now they say it's not worth proceeding with it anymore. Somehow I can't see immigration putting him out at his age, his estate is paying $6000 per month to the residential home to look after his needs.  

 

We will head out sometime around August or September to set up bank accounts and keep some cash deposit. We will also arrange my wife's driving licence. As for contacting the embassy regarding my pension and I-864, it would be nice if they ever answered their phones. My wife has to go tomorrow regarding her social security number so maybe she will be able to ask in person.

 

Reading the majority of cases on the site you can see that they will all eventually be approved. Are they intentionally slowing the cases down so they can control the flow?

[Thesmiths2016 117]

8 hours ago, Mr&Mrs G. said:

Again this seems another senseless restriction on a US citizen and their spouse. Being so far along in the process why would you risk over staying, can they not apply common sense and allow you attend the wedding also?

 

 

We spoke with my wife's parents last night about the possibility of needing a sponsor and were surprised they just said that they will all do whatever is needed. We were not aware but they have been going through it already with my wife's grandfather, he was living in Canada most of his life but his parents never registered his birth in the USA. At 90 years of age my wife's family applied for him to stay in the US but it has been bounced around so much that they just gave up on the process. He is now 95 living in a residential home in Georgia and has lost most of his memory, at his age now they say it's not worth proceeding with it anymore. Somehow I can't see immigration putting him out at his age, his estate is paying $6000 per month to the residential home to look after his needs.  

 

We will head out sometime around August or September to set up bank accounts and keep some cash deposit. We will also arrange my wife's driving licence. As for contacting the embassy regarding my pension and I-864, it would be nice if they ever answered their phones. My wife has to go tomorrow regarding her social security number so maybe she will be able to ask in person.

 

Reading the majority of cases on the site you can see that they will all eventually be approved. Are they intentionally slowing the cases down so they can control the flow?

no I think they genuinely have too few staff and too much work.  And there's a freeze on government workers which may affect it. Part of me wonders if some staff were pulled to go through and weed out files from travel ban countries, but I'm not sure if that happened.  

Are you travelling over just to set stuff up, or were you going to visit anyway?  We're waiting to see if we get asked to have a sponsor, but I think we may be ok with our funds.  We're doing it purely on assets/cash in the bank.

 

Personally regarding my visit, i just decided that travelling back and forth with a baby is a huge task on its own... to risk being turned away after such a long flight is just not something I want to imagine. And having to fly all the way back (18hrs of travel at least) just for an interview that may or may not go through to a complete visa .... then fly back again.  It's just more stress than we want. 

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

24 minutes ago, Thesmiths2016 said:

Are you travelling over just to set stuff up, or were you going to visit anyway?  We're waiting to see if we get asked to have a sponsor, but I think we may be ok with our funds.  We're doing it purely on assets/cash in the bank.

 

Personally regarding my visit, i just decided that travelling back and forth with a baby is a huge task on its own... to risk being turned away after such a long flight is just not something I want to imagine. And having to fly all the way back (18hrs of travel at least) just for an interview that may or may not go through to a complete visa .... then fly back again.  It's just more stress than we want. 

We normally holiday over there around September but this year we were going to skip it because we would be moving permanently. We assumed the process would be shorter but now that it's going to be about a year we may as well take a holiday and get some other bits sorted also. 

 

We have US preclearance in Dublin so if I get turned back it will be in Ireland which is not too bad, not too sure I'd take a risk with an 18 hour journey. 

[laulholley 28]

Regarding the slow down on processing: supposedly it is a myriad of factors. The slowdown began in October/early November - going from <30 days to 6 weeks. Then it became 6 weeks + up to 6 weeks on supervisor review. Then it became 8 weeks + several weeks on supervisor review. Currently it is 11 weeks but they do seem to be finishing most cases on/before the 11th week.

 

So the slowdown started before the presidential election and before the immigration ban. Originally NVC stated that they received a larger amount of cases, then there was a supposed wage strike, government worker hiring freeze, immigration ban, snow days etc.

 

When I submitted my case in November I thought it would take 30 days as the cases in the previous months had taken 30 days. We planned to move after New Year and enroll our kids in school in the US for the spring semester.... needless to say that did not happen .

 

I personally think that the visas should be processed differently.  I think that IR-1 visas and employment based visas should be processed with preference as they are the most secure and least likely to be fraudulent. I'd personally like to see them cancel the k-1 visa all together but that's just me being annoyed with k-1 visas being finished so quickly (and they are the most likely to be fraudulent). That's just my 2 cents!

[Thesmiths2016 117]

3 minutes ago, laulholley said:

Regarding the slow down on processing: supposedly it is a myriad of factors. The slowdown began in October/early November - going from <30 days to 6 weeks. Then it became 6 weeks + up to 6 weeks on supervisor review. Then it became 8 weeks + several weeks on supervisor review. Currently it is 11 weeks but they do seem to be finishing most cases on/before the 11th week.

 

So the slowdown started before the presidential election and before the immigration ban. Originally NVC stated that they received a larger amount of cases, then there was a supposed wage strike, government worker hiring freeze, immigration ban, snow days etc.

 

When I submitted my case in November I thought it would take 30 days as the cases in the previous months had taken 30 days. We planned to move after New Year and enroll our kids in school in the US for the spring semester.... needless to say that did not happen .

 

I personally think that the visas should be processed differently.  I think that IR-1 visas and employment based visas should be processed with preference as they are the most secure and least likely to be fraudulent. I'd personally like to see them cancel the k-1 visa all together but that's just me being annoyed with k-1 visas being finished so quickly (and they are the most likely to be fraudulent). That's just my 2 cents!

agreed! I personally think employment and IR-1 visas should take priority.  And as for "most likely to be fraudulent" I agree for the K1's ... I personally have two friends in the film industry who are "married" to friends of theirs for greencards and it really bugs me.  One of those "couples" is now together which is awesome, and the other "couple" are living together but just friends..... but it still bugs me the way they went about it.