How long did it take for London to recieve your case?

[RUSSandRACHEL 3]

We have been advised that NVC recieved our case from USCIS on November 9th and then NVC sent it to the London Embassy on the 12th. Since then we have called NVC every working day to see if London have recieved it yet. It is almost 2 weeks since they said they have and today, they are still saying London hasnt recieved it!

We followed some of your advice on here and when we were told our case had been sent, we attempted to track it on DHL's website. A package we we hope was ours was sent from NVC on 12th and arrived on 16th! Could this be ours but London still havent got round to logging it in the system yet? Its now the 24th!!!

We are getting a little worried now... and thinking that maybe our case has got lost?? A lot of timelines we have looked at show only a 2 day or 3 day period for transit to London.

How long did yours take to be recieved and how long was it before you heard anything from London Embassy?

Should we be worried?

Edited November 23, 2009 by RUSSandRACHEL

[DIARD 1]

Ours was 6 days from being sent from NVC to london to packet 3 showing at DOS as printed. That was fast though. I think it can take some time for London to input into the system. They were holding them back a few months ago to catch up on interviews but I thought they had stopped. Not sure what else you can do aside from continue calling DOS.

[Nik+Heather 121]

I think most people put arrived in London according to the DHL tracking -- That's what I did.

Now that it has left NVC, you need to call DOS, as that's a different department. Going by what I remember of the other threads London does seem to do things in little bursts, a lot of people didn't have their cases logged, and then all of a sudden they did, and then a lot of people didn't have their P3s logged, and then suddenly they all did, interviews...suddenly they all did...etc etc etc. Could be they just update the system in batches and it's not filtered all the way through yet. I don't think it's been long enough to worry yet, but I know that's hard advice to take - of course you're going to worry!

[RUSSandRACHEL 3]

I think most people put arrived in London according to the DHL tracking -- That's what I did.

Now that it has left NVC, you need to call DOS, as that's a different department. Going by what I remember of the other threads London does seem to do things in little bursts, a lot of people didn't have their cases logged, and then all of a sudden they did, and then a lot of people didn't have their P3s logged, and then suddenly they all did, interviews...suddenly they all did...etc etc etc. Could be they just update the system in batches and it's not filtered all the way through yet. I don't think it's been long enough to worry yet, but I know that's hard advice to take - of course you're going to worry!

Thanks everyone for replying! We are getting a little but anxious now

I thought NVC was the Department of State? If not, then does anyone know what is their phone number is and how do they know any different to the NVC number we have been calling every day? NVC have advised us to keep calling back every day... I don't want to call London as judging by the amount of calls we've already made, it'd be like paying for our I-129F all over again! lol

Edited November 24, 2009 by RUSSandRACHEL

[Sherri and Matt 1]

We too experienced a lag once our case left NVC. I got absolutely nowhere calling London, it's just a waste of money. The only information I ever got at this stage was that I just needed to wait, and it was maddening. It was like calling USCIS here and getting standard replies regarding processing times. London just said "it takes 8 weeks, call back in a month". It took us over 2 months from NVC to interview, while I would see others sail through in 2 weeks. It makes no sense, a lot of it is about as predictable as rolling dice.

I doubt it is lost though, probably just has not been logged into the system. I don't have the phone number for Department of State (DOS) in front of me, but if you do a VJ search it will come up. NVC is National Visa Center, just one part of the system. DOS can check online using your case number and tell you what has been logged in, and it's a free call, no credit card needed.

[pdcvcc 0]

I think most people put arrived in London according to the DHL tracking -- That's what I did.

Now that it has left NVC, you need to call DOS, as that's a different department. Going by what I remember of the other threads London does seem to do things in little bursts, a lot of people didn't have their cases logged, and then all of a sudden they did, and then a lot of people didn't have their P3s logged, and then suddenly they all did, interviews...suddenly they all did...etc etc etc. Could be they just update the system in batches and it's not filtered all the way through yet. I don't think it's been long enough to worry yet, but I know that's hard advice to take - of course you're going to worry!

Thanks everyone for replying! We are getting a little but anxious now

I thought NVC was the Department of State? If not, then does anyone know what is their phone number is and how do they know any different to the NVC number we have been calling every day? NVC have advised us to keep calling back every day... I don't want to call London as judging by the amount of calls we've already made, it'd be like paying for our I-129F all over again! lol

You can call DOS and ask them if they've received your checklist response and if an interview date has been assigned. The number is 202-663-1225. Press 1 then 0. .... Is this the number you have called?

[SunDrop 59]

You can call DOS and ask them if they've received your checklist response and if an interview date has been assigned. The number is 202-663-1225. Press 1 then 0. .... Is this the number you have called?

Hmmm, but they're not enquiring about their packet 3, since London hasn't logged receipt of the petition file. Packet 3 won't have been sent yet...

[DIARD 1]

You can call DOS and ask them if they've received your checklist response and if an interview date has been assigned. The number is 202-663-1225. Press 1 then 0. .... Is this the number you have called?

Hmmm, but they're not enquiring about their packet 3, since London hasn't logged receipt of the petition file. Packet 3 won't have been sent yet...

DOS will also tell you if your packet from NVC has arrived in London and if your packet 3 has been printed. (That's how I found out our packet 3 was printed, beofre we received it in the mail)

Edited November 24, 2009 by DIARD

[SunDrop 59]

DOS will also tell you if your packet from NVC has arrived in London and if your packet 3 has been printed. (That's how I found out our packet 3 was printed, beofre we received it in the mail)

And once you know it's been printed, you can actually go ahead and print off all the forms/checklist from the embassy website, complete them and be ready to post them as soon as 'packet 3' lands on your doorstep, theoretically?

Out of interest, are beneficiaries allowed to contact the DOS? My USC is a complete paperworkophobe, so makes more sense for me to be handling the process and doing follow-ups!

[Amanda and Tony 0]

DOS will also tell you if your packet from NVC has arrived in London and if your packet 3 has been printed. (That's how I found out our packet 3 was printed, beofre we received it in the mail)

And once you know it's been printed, you can actually go ahead and print off all the forms/checklist from the embassy website, complete them and be ready to post them as soon as 'packet 3' lands on your doorstep, theoretically?

Out of interest, are beneficiaries allowed to contact the DOS? My USC is a complete paperworkophobe, so makes more sense for me to be handling the process and doing follow-ups!

That's what I did. We downloaded and completed the forms as soon as we got NOA2. Then when DOS told us that P3 had been printed we mailed them to London. That's why London received my completed forms before I recieved my P3 (hence my crazy timeline). We thought it would save us a couple of weeks. I'm glad I did now as it probably made the difference between a December and January interview.

I'm the beneficiary and I called DOS. Actually I think I hounded them

[RUSSandRACHEL 3]

Thanks everyone for replying!!

That is the number we have been calling every day. So I guess that is the DOS. Russ has been fantastic calling and he calls them whilst we're on Skype so I listen in too. So theres no need for me to really call. But NVC are still saying that London hasnt recieved it yet. When we call, they say "Good news!" and we say "Yes?" and they say "NVC has recieved your case" And we're like "Uh, we KNOW!!!!!".

Its the same old story - its sitting on a desk doing nothing. I find it hard to believe that it hasnt been recieved. Why would a package with our exact dates have been recieved, but ours hasnt? This is so frustrating!

I just wanna ask how long was it beore you heard anything directly from London? Did you recieve a letter or anything saying they have recieved and are processing your case, before they sent out packet 3?

Thanks for your advice everyone about doing things in advance. We're definitely on the ball with that one and I have my medical scheduled for December 21st anyway. Hmmm... we'll see

[RUSSandRACHEL 3]

Would anyone mind telling me the link for us to download the forms so we can start completing them and have them at the ready to send?

[SunDrop 59]

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/iv/iv_15.html

[Jay&Jo 4]

Its the same old story - its sitting on a desk doing nothing. I find it hard to believe that it hasnt been recieved. Why would a package with our exact dates have been recieved, but ours hasnt? This is so frustrating!

I just wanna ask how long was it beore you heard anything directly from London? Did you recieve a letter or anything saying they have recieved and are processing your case, before they sent out packet 3?

Thanks for your advice everyone about doing things in advance. We're definitely on the ball with that one and I have my medical scheduled for December 21st anyway. Hmmm... we'll see

im pretty sure it wont be lost!!! i dont know that that has ever happened before...

so packet 3 is the first item of correspondance you'll receive from london. calling the DOS is the best way to find out if they have received your petition. from my experience of calling the dos, it sounds like your case will be at the embassy, they just havent got round to opening it up and imputting into their systems.

(someone correct me if thats wrong)

i waited 24 days from my case leaving NVC to receiving packet 3. at some point, around the 2 weeks mark i called the DOS and i was told the embassy had received my case, but packet 3 HADNT been sent out yet. i was among a group of people who all had their packet 3s printed on the same day. it really feels like london does things in bulk, as someone mentioned before... printing off a bunch of packet 3's, assigning interviews etc...

i know it sucks, but it really cant be too much longer now before you hear something!! got my fingers crossed for you!

jo

[FrostyMist 1]

I kinda lost track of our timeline a bit after we got our NOA2. I just checked though, and we received a letter on July 23rd from NVC informing us that they'd received our case and would forward it on to London within one week. We received packet 3 (from London) about 4 weeks after that.