DCF Mexico

[lucasrk 0]

We did my husband's exam two days before, because that was the advice we got from everyone. He did the exams on a Wednesday morning, and then we did have to go the next day (Thursday) to get the results. Thursday afternoon we also had the appointment at the processing center. Then Friday morning was the interview. We were done by like 11:00 with the interview, but had been advised to stay until the next day, just in case they call you back in for more info. Turns out we could have very easily left Juarez and been back in DF that evening.

[ctracyjr 0]

Hi All,

This has been one of the most boring, yet stressful weeks of our lives. As I posted earlier, we are in Juarez with my wife's interview scheduled for today. The good news is they were approved. Boring because we have been hanging around the hotel with not much to do. Stressful because I made a bunch of mistakes in the process which ratcheted up the stress level. I'll post my stupidity here in case it helps someone else in the future.

The first fly-in-the-ointment came during the ASC appointment. My step-son was not in their system. Looking back, this was my fault as I did not include him as an additional applicant on my wife's appointment. My youngest son and I were waiting outside the ASC office when my wife came out and told me the news. We immediately drove back to the hotel and I entered him into the system. The bad news was, he couldn't get the same appointment dates as my wife. We decided to soldier on and "act as if he belonged" and went back to the ASC office. We ultimately decided that if he couldn't get into the system, then we would complete my wife's appointment and return on the date we were forced to schedule for him separately. They went back to ASC and the people inside were really great. They took my stepson in with my wife and even changed the date of the interview to coincide with my wife's. They both were out of ASC in about 15 minutes. So we were feeling really lucky.

Today, we arrived at the Sala de Esperas at about 7:10 for my wife's 7:45 appointment. I saw them through the check-in and then went back to the hotel to wait. At 9:00 AM, I drove back over and settled into wait when I got a call from my wife saying that she needed 10,000 pesos in cash in order to complete the transaction. She was calling me from a payphone outside the consulate. I told her to wait there and walked over to see what was going on. When I got to her, she told me that the system for taking credit cards was down and that they would only take cash and she had about 1 hour to get it. She said they tried swiping the card twice and it wouldn't go through (this is apparently true as I checked with my credit card company and they did not have a record of an attempted charge.) We asked one of the guys hanging around if there as an ATM close and the directed us to an Extra convenience store. We went in but could only pull 6,000 pesos from an HSBC machine there. I was able to get another 2,000 from a different account that I have, but the machine would not recognize a 3rd card. By this time, there was a pretty significant line at the ATM so we decided to go to a Banorte branch (where I have my Mexican account) and were able to draw the rest of the money there. (The Banorte branch is in the mall across the street from the consulate.) I drove my wife and step-son back to the Consulate and they made it in in plenty of time to pay. Talk about stressful!!

After dropping them off, I returned to the hotel to check on the status of my credit card. They said everything was golden on their end, so after about a 1/2 hour, I drove back to wait in the little plaza between the consulate and the Clinica Medical Internacional. After sitting there for about 10 - 15 minutes, my wife and stepson showed up and gave me the news about approval. We drove back to the hotel and collapsed out of exhaustion.

Here's my wife's story. After they entered the Sala de Esperas, she waited about 15 minutes and they called for the 7:45 am appointments. They walked those people over to the consulate down the sidewalk outside. Upon entering, she verified her papers and received a number. After a short wait, her number was called and she took her papers to get reviewed. Since our son's appointment was changed, they didn't have all of his papers ready and needed a few minuted to find them. She sat again and was called back to let her know that they had the papers but needed to enter from data for him into their system. After another wait, she was called to the cashier to pay. That's where the debacle I wrote about above took place. Once she returned to the consulate, they let her back in and she was able to pay. She was then told to sit in the green chairs. After about 10 minutes, she was called to be interviewed. The interview was very simple and easy for her. They took copies of our original birth certificates as the ones we sent them were a little dark and she answered some questions. They asked her where we met, what I did for a living, who was sponsoring her and about our co-sponsor (my parents). There was a little confusion about my stepson, but she ironed that out easily (Both he and our youngest's first names are John - we call them by their middle name. The baby is a U.S. citizen and the confusion happened because they thought the older boy was the baby.) After that, the women told her she was cancelling their tourist visas as the permanent visas were approved. My wife was given information about how to check on the DHL delivery and a pamphlet about domestic violence and rights for female immigrants. The woman told her it could take up to a week to get the visas (I hope not that long.) She left the consulate and found the baby and I outside in the plaza. Overall, except for the stress caused by my stupidity and the card card system going down, she said that everyone she talked to was very friendly and even happy. She entered the Sala de Esperas at 7:10 and left the consulate at 11:00 - and that includes the 30 minutes we ran around getting cash.

So now we're waiting to get the visas. I'll check the website frequently throughout the day to see if they change her status and give us a waybill number. Frankly, I'm glad that this is over and hope we can get the visas tomorrow afternoon and make our way back to our hometown. Let me know if you have any questions.

[rxn6093 0]

ctracylr,

Congratulations and thanks for the update. We will be going for an interview next week.

[panda1983 1]

How long did it take you all to hear back from Juarez about setting up your appointment date? I got an email from Mexico City on March 23 saying my I130 had been approved and that they sent everything to the Immigrant visa section at Consulate Juarez and to wait to hear from them.... But.. I am getting impatient and I want to make our appointment..

I filled out the information request thing online and it said they would respond within 10-15 business days. It has now been about 12 business days.

Sorry, I know I am impatient but I want to make the appointment

[rxn6093 0]

We filed in Mexico City on 2/19/15 and we received the email that the I-130 was approved on 2/20/15. We received the letter to schedule an interview by mail on 3/30/15. However, the letter was dated 3/5/15 and the case number had been generated on that same date. I scheduled the interview on 3/31/15 for 4/17/15, but we could have done it on 4/10/15. Once, you receive the letter, I think you would be able to schedule the interview within a week and a half to 2 weeks.

[Eric & Idalia 56]

We file in Monterrey Consulate on Oct 9, 2014. We received an email on Oct 14, 2014 with the Approval notice. At the intended address to live in US, we received a letter on Nov 7, 2014 and we got the same letter (now address to me, the immigrant) like a month later.

We haven't schedule the interview. We plan to do it for June.

Btw, my husband went back to US last week to get a job (his work permission in Mexico was denied) so he is now domiciled in USA. But he is still looking for a job. We have a joint-sponsor and I wanted to ask you guys if you consider prudent for us to schedule the interview even if he is not working yet. He said the companies told him they will call him in a week.

I have learned to be patient, but I really want to be with my husband soon (I told It was gonna be easier to be separated) and be done with migration process for a while.

[ctracyjr 0]

How long did it take you all to hear back from Juarez about setting up your appointment date? I got an email from Mexico City on March 23 saying my I130 had been approved and that they sent everything to the Immigrant visa section at Consulate Juarez and to wait to hear from them.... But.. I am getting impatient and I want to make our appointment..

I filled out the information request thing online and it said they would respond within 10-15 business days. It has now been about 12 business days.

Sorry, I know I am impatient but I want to make the appointment

I think I called about two weeks after I had confirmation that they received the packet. Once you get approved, you can schedule as quickly as they have openings.

[Eric & Idalia 56]

For the interview in Ciudad Juarez:

Police certificates

Do I have to get one from every state I lived since I was 16 years old? Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and New Mexico?

or for USA I just get the FBI background check?

[Eric & Idalia 56]

Did your husband take police certificates from Mexico or USA with him?

Here you go! Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions. I got a TON of help from people on this forum and would love to repay the favor.

---------------------------------------------

Subject: Documents to accompany CR-1 Immigration Visa Interview from [Petitioner] and [Applicant]

To whom it may concern:

I am an American citizen currently residing in Mexico with my Mexican husband. We wish to move to the United States together, and therefore are applying for a long-term/permanent residence permit for him. Please find the attached forms and supporting documents attached for Jesús Alberto Reyes Herrera and myself:

1. 2 visa size photos of [Applicant]

2. Confirmation page for form DS-260

3. Documents proving identity of [Applicant]

   1. Copy of Mexican passport bio page

   2. Copy of birth certificate with English translation

4. Documents proving US citizenship of [Petitioner]

   1. Copy of United States passport bio page

   2. Copy of birth certificate

5. Marriage certificate proving legal marriage of [Petitioner] and [Applicant]

6. I-864 support documents

   1. I-864 from [Petitioner] and supporting documents

   2. I-864 from xxxxxxxxxxxx (Petitioner's mother) and supporting documents

7. Approval letter from the United States Department of Homeland Security approving I-130 petition

8. Evidence of bona fide marriage

   1. Affidavits from friends and family

   2. Photos documenting relationship with descriptions on the back of each photo

   3. Document of text and Facebook message history

9. Approval letter from the United States Consulate in Ciudad Juarez informing us that [Applicant] is eligible to schedule an interview.

10. Confirmation page with interview appointment schedule

Copies of the submitted documents are exact photocopies of unaltered documents, and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to the Consular officer.

I appreciate your review of these documents.

Sincerely,

[Petitioner]

Contact Information for [Applicant]

Contact Information for

[MexiCheyenne 1]

I cant find much information regarding DCF. Unfortunately we live in a small town in Mexico and the only internet I have is on my cell phone and I think thats really limiting what I can do. I need up to date info on DCF for Mexico. Does it still exsist? Do we have to go in Person to initiate the I-130? How can I tell which office I should use? Are the states assigned an office here or do we go with the one we like best? I know this info is probably here but trying to investigate with nothing but a cell phone really sucks.

[MexiCheyenne 1]

Also in the guides section here in VJ it talks about 2 separate interviews taking place. 1 for the US citizen petitioner and 1 for my husband the mexican national. Does this mean 2 separate trips we need to budget for? This is turning into a nightmare. We couldnt be any further away from the embassy and even traveling once is going to a financial burden. But 2 trips?

Edited April 24, 2015 by MexiCheyenne

[Eric & Idalia 56]

I cant find much information regarding DCF. Unfortunately we live in a small town in Mexico and the only internet I have is on my cell phone and I think thats really limiting what I can do. I need up to date info on DCF for Mexico. Does it still exsist? Do we have to go in Person to initiate the I-130? How can I tell which office I should use? Are the states assigned an office here or do we go with the one we like best? I know this info is probably here but trying to investigate with nothing but a cell phone really sucks.

DFC is when the USC lives in Mexico with his/her husband/wife.

We file the I-130 in person in Monterrey consulate, and was approved before a week.

We went to Monterrey consulate because it has jurisdiction over where we live (Saltillo, Coahuila), but we sent them an email before to confirm they would accept the I-130 form.

So you have to check which consulate has jurisdiction over the city you live and ask if they accept filling the I-130.

Some people file by mail others in person. You should ask the consulate.

Here the link to check the American consulates in Mexico:

http://mexico.usembassy.gov/eng/edirectory.html

Edited April 24, 2015 by Eric & Idalia

[Eric & Idalia 56]

Also in the guides section here in VJ it talks about 2 separate interviews taking place. 1 for the US citizen petitioner and 1 for my husband the mexican national. Does this mean 2 separate trips we need to budget for? This is turning into a nightmare. We couldnt be any further away from the embassy and even traveling once is going to a financial burden. But 2 trips?

The interviews are in Ciudad Juarez consulate.

The interview is for the immigrant. The USC husband/wife doesn't have to go, but can go if he/she wants. The USC husband/wife will have to wait for the immigrant in a waiting room because Ciudad Juarez consulate people don't allow them to go inside.

Source:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/dcf

'4- The US Citizen's spouse will have their Immigrant Visa Interview. The US Citizen Spouse does NOT have to be present at the final interview. Once all paperwork and background checks are complete and assuming the interview goes well, the Immigrant Visa will be issued and attached inside the beneficiaries passport. The time delay from the interview to the visa being issued is typically a few days. Immigrant Visas are typically valid for six months and can in some cases be extended (you must request this in advance of the visa expiration and receive approval by the embassy -- do not assume this is possible unless confirmed by the consulate). The first entry into the US must be made before the expiration date on the Visa. This is very important."

Edited April 24, 2015 by Eric & Idalia

[rxn6093 0]

Did your husband take police certificates from Mexico or USA with him?

For Mexico, I don't believe you need police certificate, unless you have a prison record. If you have lived in the US, I am not sure. Here is a link to the document reciprocity by country: http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/fees/reciprocity-by-country.html

[Eric & Idalia 56]

Hi everybody.

We finally made the appointments for the Medical exam in Clinica Internacional, also the ASC and Consular appointments, but I was not asked to pay anything.

Did you pay at the moment of the exam and interview?

Thanks for any information.

Edited May 8, 2015 by Eric & Idalia