NVC Filers - March 2012

[Trav&Shell 83]

The spreadsheet is linked in my signature. And I just added you

Thanks for the help - checking out your wiki and the spreadsheet now

[Saylin 1,605]

Thanks for the help - checking out your wiki and the spreadsheet now

Hehe If you have any questions after reading, don't hesitate to ask here or PM me

[Trav&Shell 83]

Hehe If you have any questions after reading, don't hesitate to ask here or PM me

Good to know I'm banging out paperwork today (read: now, lol), so that we're ready to go. I'm sure I'll drop you a message somewhere at some point!

**Adding something - whoops, just remembered! With my police certificate, I saw the agent search my aliases, but my former surnames didn't show up on the form even though they were searched. I was fingerprinted though. Think I'll run into an issue with this at NVC?

Edited March 3, 2012 by Trav&Shell

[StephanieM 60]

In Line 13, where it says I, the sponsor of the I864A form, is it MY name (the petitioner) or the household member's name filing the I864A that goes there. I think it would be my name but I am not sure. Just double checking.

[foobaz123 39]

A couple months ago I remember searching the DOS website and finding a memo sent to all visa issuing posts (I don't know how that document could be accessible from a regular search!!), with some remarks and guidelines regarding immigrant visas. What struck me from reading it was:

- COs have to provide a valid reason to deny a visa. I guess "not bona fide" is an easy one but they still have to give details about what makes them think it isn't. So theoretically at least, they can't deny just because they had a bad day.

- the general aim of DOS is to reduce the number of denials and eliminate 221G given for lack of one or more documents (for security reasons, because people have to come back to the embassy thus increasing the number of visitors entering into the building or complex). Since issuing a visa when documents are missing is prohibited, they strongly advised on improving information given to the applicant on what exactly is needed. I guess USEM Paris missed that part... (K1s get a list of what is needed in their packet 3 but us IR1/CR1 must magically guess that we have to renew birth certs and the likes...)

The general impression I had when reading was: they're not actually trying to keep you out. They even want to give you your visa as smoothly as possible.

Of course when I read posts here about horrible experiences at embassies I'm thinking that something got lost in translation to CO behavior...

Oh dear Laure, you give them both too much and too little credit...

I am a VO who (doesn't like you|has had a bad day|denies 90% of visas to people with brown/blonde/purple hair) and as such has decided not to give you a visa. So, as you noted, I just whip out the all purpose handy dandy "not bona fides" and plug in a few of the standard justifications for that reason. Not enough evidence, bad evidence, pictures are staged, logs are faked, no common language (easy if her english isn't near perfect) blah blah blah. I, the VO, still get to deny whoever I want. I just have to do a bit more of a write up on it. As always, this reflects my view of GUZ and almost certainly doesn't apply to anywhere else in exactly the same way. It all comes down to what is a 'valid' reason and since the "not bona fide" is such a broad and easily interpreted reason they can still deny for any reason they like and just cloak it in that. After all, it'll be two years or more before you get back to the point where they have to face you again and they'll likely be long gone to some other post by then.

Communicating better with an aim to eliminate 221G would be nice.

[alizon 77]

A little off the NVC topic, but...

So much for anecdotal evidence.... hahaha...

Sorry about that

We haven't been denied, but we have been pulled into secondary screening 3 times trying to cross (which makes it significantly more than a 2 minute border cross): I was pulled in on the Canadian side once before we were married, and my husband was pulled in twice coming to the US after we were married. The only reason he wasn't denied those second two times is that we had read VJ and knew to bring proof of ties. In fact, that first secondary screening was called for AFTER we showed the border guard Max's Canadian lease! It was only because we got to speak to a different officer in secondary that he was allowed through. Denials definitely happen for rich, Western countries, and they want to make sure you know it.

And this is probably why denials happen...

A friend of mine got denied while trying to travel to New Orleans to see her then-boyfriend for lack of ties. She worked for about two months, tried again, got through and hasn't been back. She got married and filed for AOS from the States and has been living there happily since.

Edited March 3, 2012 by alizon

[foobaz123 39]

SuperDuper Congratulations!!

To celebrate, please practice making Venison jiaozi and the 11 different flavours of poutine gravy.

You realize this is embassy and country specific, yes?

The I-130 instructions never reflect the LOCAL guidelines for an IV unit.

Well... I can always walk out on the back porch and pop a deer for that.

[foobaz123 39]

The spreadsheet is linked in my signature. And I just added you

Like Laure already said, nope, NVC does not work on weekends. They're government employees, no way do they work on Saturday or Sundays

And I don't think I've ever seen a case that had an IV bill invoice over the weekend, for the above reason. Yes, you might get an email, since they're generated early and then takes awhile to get to you. For example: I found out my interview date on a Friday afternoon, yet only received the email at 6am on Saturday.

Or holidays, or Tuesdays, or any time after 1700 local time....

I imagine the cases where emails come out on the weekend are due to batch mode processing. I doubt very much all their stuff is in real time, especially PDF generation and email creation.

[foobaz123 39]

A little off the NVC topic, but...

We haven't been denied, but we have been pulled into secondary screening 3 times trying to cross (which makes it significantly more than a 2 minute border cross): I was pulled in on the Canadian side once before we were married, and my husband was pulled in twice coming to the US after we were married. The only reason he wasn't denied those second two times is that we had read VJ and knew to bring proof of ties. In fact, that first secondary screening was called for AFTER we showed the border guard Max's Canadian lease! It was only because we got to speak to a different officer in secondary that he was allowed through. Denials definitely happen for rich, Western countries, and they want to make sure you know it.

And this is probably why denials happen...

That's exactly why denials happen. It was once proposed to eliminate that issue by nuking the ability to easily do AOS here in the States. Of course, that would have the unintended side effect of punishing those who weren't just skipping the system.

My preferred solution would be to reform the entire system and thus eliminate any "need" to skip it in the first place.

[Laure&Colin 331]

That's exactly why denials happen. It was once proposed to eliminate that issue by nuking the ability to easily do AOS here in the States. Of course, that would have the unintended side effect of punishing those who weren't just skipping the system.

My preferred solution would be to reform the entire system and thus eliminate any "need" to skip it in the first place.

Talk about that... I just happened to have an unpleasant encounter in another forum here with someone from a Western-European country bragging about marrying after entering on the VWP and adjusting status successfully, they received their green card within less than 3 months.

I wish AOS from tourist visas/VWP was just automatically denied... I feel like such a fool for going through the long and painful process when I see that. I'm not jealous, I wouldn't want to be stuck not knowing what's gonna happen during an AOS process, but it kind of makes me CRAZY that cheaters get along with it, and that they cause nice honest people to be denied at the border

[foobaz123 39]

Talk about that... I just happened to have an unpleasant encounter in another forum here with someone from a Western-European country bragging about marrying after entering on the VWP and adjusting status successfully, they received their green card within less than 3 months.

I wish AOS from tourist visas/VWP was just automatically denied... I feel like such a fool for going through the long and painful process when I see that. I'm not jealous, I wouldn't want to be stuck not knowing what's gonna happen during an AOS process, but it kind of makes me CRAZY that cheaters get along with it, and that they cause nice honest people to be denied at the border

Indeed. Imagine how we feel knowing our chances for a visa are seriously damaged by cheaters and we have no other option. If we fail, I move to China because they won't let her visit even for a day. I get extremely angry thinking about people who just hop over here on VWP or from those countries where B2s are given out like candy and then just AOS. But honestly they didn't intend to do that... they just had a sudden change of heart at the luggage pickup....

[oabdelra 2]

Hey guys I have a question...i'm worried! Basically the I received a checklist for a birth certificate dated yesterday March 2nd. However, they generated a letter on february 29 for that checklist. I sent in the item and it was received yesterday at 10 30 am their time. The AVR was saying yesterday that a letter was sent/generated on feb 29. Now it is saying March 2nd (yesterday). I;m confused, did they review the birth certificate yesterday or did the AVR just update with the date sent?

[foobaz123 39]

Hey guys I have a question...i'm worried! Basically the I received a checklist for a birth certificate dated yesterday March 2nd. However, they generated a letter on february 29 for that checklist. I sent in the item and it was received yesterday at 10 30 am their time. The AVR was saying yesterday that a letter was sent/generated on feb 29. Now it is saying March 2nd (yesterday). I;m confused, did they review the birth certificate yesterday or did the AVR just update with the date sent?

Roll of the dice which it was. The AVR isn't always the most reliable thing. Don't stress out about it over the weekend, you can't do anything about it anyway, and call them Monday for more information.

[oabdelra 2]

do you mean you think they reviewed it yesterday that quick?

[Laure&Colin 331]

Indeed. Imagine how we feel knowing our chances for a visa are seriously damaged by cheaters and we have no other option. If we fail, I move to China because they won't let her visit even for a day. I get extremely angry thinking about people who just hop over here on VWP or from those countries where B2s are given out like candy and then just AOS. But honestly they didn't intend to do that... they just had a sudden change of heart at the luggage pickup....

I don't understand why USCIS lets that happen.

It's unfair that embassies can be so tough to go through but on the other hand, USCIS approves AOS so easily. The system is flawed and people take advantage of it. The worst part is that the people who have an opportunity to take advantage are the ones who would go through smooth visa processing anyway...