Stand alone I-130 for stepchild(ren)

[MOMOE 1]

hi all ,

My daughter (applicant ) received this in email today :

(We received the principal applicant's DS-3032 (Choice of Address and Agent) form designating an address and agent. Instructions for paying the immigrant visa application processing fee and all future correspondence will be sent to the agent at the address selected on the DS-3032.)

Does this mean the DS-3032 was accepted ? How many days until they will let me pay the IV fees?4

Thanks so much for everyone's help.

[Eric-Pris 1,602]

Is it ok to send two I-130's in the same envelope? I was going to send two I-130's each in it's own Manila folder, but in the same apriority Mail envelope.

Thanks.

[katraska78 6]

Congratulations to all of you making progress on your cases

So I've been calling the NVC and every time I called, they'd say they don't have our package from the USCIS, and that I have to allow 15 business days for it to arrive; but I have kept calling nonetheless.

Today I was told that, since the package hasn't arrived, I should make a copy of our approval notice, and send it to them (NVC), so they can make an inquiry to the USCIS regarding the whereabouts of the package.

So I decided to go by the NVC's frequent Q&As from the shortcut, and I called the USCIS and asked to talk to an immigration officer. Long story short: after waiting on the phone for 1:30 hours, I was asked by this guy to read our approval notice which says that we should start contacting the NVC after A MONTH of our approval, then nice officer added: "If I were you, I would add a week to that". Sooooo what do I do at this point? I'm totally lost!!! Please help! thanks!!!

Edited May 8, 2013 by KataandFreddy

[lucy4 11]

hi all ,

My daughter (applicant ) received this in email today :

(We received the principal applicant's DS-3032 (Choice of Address and Agent) form designating an address and agent. Instructions for paying the immigrant visa application processing fee and all future correspondence will be sent to the agent at the address selected on the DS-3032.)

Does this mean the DS-3032 was accepted ? How many days until they will let me pay the IV fees?4

Thanks so much for everyone's help.

Yep. IV bill should be coming any time new, if you haven't received it already. Keep checking the payment portal.

Is it ok to send two I-130's in the same envelope? I was going to send two I-130's each in it's own Manila folder, but in the same apriority Mail envelope.

Thanks.

I don't see any problem with that. I think most people who petition multiple ppl do it that way.

Congratulations to all of you making progress on your cases

So I've been calling the NVC and every time I called, they'd say they don't have our package from the USCIS, and that I have to allow 15 business days for it to arrive; but I have kept calling nonetheless.

Today I was told that, since the package hasn't arrived, I should make a copy of our approval notice, and send it to them (NVC), so they can make an inquiry to the USCIS regarding the whereabouts of the package.

So I decided to go by the NVC's frequent Q&As from the shortcut, and I called the USCIS and asked to talk to an immigration officer. Long story short: after waiting on the phone for 1:30 hours, I was asked by this guy to read our approval notice which says that we should start contacting the NVC after A MONTH of our approval, then nice officer added: "If I were you, I would add a week to that". Sooooo what do I do at this point? I'm totally lost!!! Please help! thanks!!!

It's hard to advise without knowing your details. Update ur signature. When did u get NOA2. It seems to take about 2 weeks if ur lucky. It takes about a month or more if coming from NBC. Where were u approved? If its been over a month, I'd do what NVC suggested. Otherwise, just hang on a bit more. Edited May 8, 2013 by lucy4

[Eric-Pris 1,602]

I don't see any problem with that. I think most people who petition multiple ppl do it that way.

Thanks.

[SerenityNOW 11]

lucy4 - any interview date yet? Have you been calling? This part is the only stage where I am going crazy! So close. I need to start making a lot of plans, depending on whether I am going to pick up my stepson or not, if my husband's trip there for the interview doesn't coincide with the end of the school year ... I don't even care how soon the interview date is, I just want to know WHEN. There are a lot of things that must be scheduled around this magical date. Including that my husband is working on an inaccesible Caribbean island just to complicate things.

I gave up on calling NVC. They have assured me that the notification e-mail is sent out as soon as the interview date is set (not a week later like every other notice in this process). It does appear that the Visa Status Check changes from "At NVC" to "In Transit" or "Ready" when the interview date is set, so I keep checking there, too.

MOMOE - congrats on your Choice of Agent accepted! IV bill should appear within two days - note though that the portal has been having problems recently. Lots of folks were reporting the status after they paid as "IN PROCESS" for a long time. Not sure if this has been fixed yet, but I think you can still print the bar code sheet and mail off the package, and you can see the money come out of your bank account so you will know that it was actually paid.

EricPris - yep, load them up in the same envelope. I sent my NVC AOS and IV packages in the same envelope too.

KataandFreddy - if your case was sent to a local USCIS office, these are unfortunately taking much longer to arrive at NVC. Several folks with spouse petitions have had to get their senators involved. Apparently these local offices often either send the files to NVC in batches like once a month, or worse, send them off to the wrong place (one case had their file sent directly to their embassy without going through NVC...). I'm not sure how people find out if their files were processed by a local office. If it just went to NBC in general (which I think our case did - we have no information about it ever being at a local office), they seem to be pretty efficient. Ours took 2 weeks (10 business days) to show up at NVC, but then another 2 weeks/10 days to generate the case numbers - this seems about average. Definitely do what NVC recommended but they will probably tell you "20 business days" after that (that is their response for every step apparently). You could also go to the May NVC thread in the spouse forum and ask the experts there what to do/what is reasonable/who to get involved. There was someone else there who contacted California senators, so they might be able to help you if it comes to that. Good luck, and I hope your file arrives without you needing to do anything else!

Edited May 8, 2013 by SerenityNOW

[lucy4 11]

lucy4 - any interview date yet? Have you been calling? This part is the only stage where I am going crazy! So close. I need to start making a lot of plans, depending on whether I am going to pick up my stepson or not, if my husband's trip there for the interview doesn't coincide with the end of the school year ... I don't even care how soon the interview date is, I just want to know WHEN. There are a lot of things that must be scheduled around this magical date. Including that my husband is working on an inaccesible Caribbean island just to complicate things.

I gave up on calling NVC. They have assured me that the notification e-mail is sent out as soon as the interview date is set (not a week later like every other notice in this process). It does appear that the Visa Status Check changes from "At NVC" to "In Transit" or "Ready" when the interview date is set, so I keep checking there, too.

I haven't received a date yet, and I'm in the same boat as you. I have given up calling, and am trying to wait for the email. I too would just like to know. I need to get plane tickets and hotels etc. Its soo much planning, and so much expense, I need to at least have an idea. If we do get to go for the interview, as I'm hoping, I will not be able to go back to bring her here. So it kinda sucks because she is going to have to travel alone to the embassy country, and we meet her there, then come to the US alone also.

[thegordons2009 1]

hi everyone.

My hubby (USC) filed I130 for my Children, age 8 and 6. Received NOA1 April 19th. Patiently waiting for the next steps. I actually called USCIS tonight, and agent said they received application April 29th and to give it 20 business days.

[katraska78 6]

KataandFreddy - if your case was sent to a local USCIS office, these are unfortunately taking much longer to arrive at NVC. Several folks with spouse petitions have had to get their senators involved. Apparently these local offices often either send the files to NVC in batches like once a month, or worse, send them off to the wrong place (one case had their file sent directly to their embassy without going through NVC...). I'm not sure how people find out if their files were processed by a local office. If it just went to NBC in general (which I think our case did - we have no information about it ever being at a local office), they seem to be pretty efficient. Ours took 2 weeks (10 business days) to show up at NVC, but then another 2 weeks/10 days to generate the case numbers - this seems about average. Definitely do what NVC recommended but they will probably tell you "20 business days" after that (that is their response for every step apparently). You could also go to the May NVC thread in the spouse forum and ask the experts there what to do/what is reasonable/who to get involved. There was someone else there who contacted California senators, so they might be able to help you if it comes to that. Good luck, and I hope your file arrives without you needing to do anything else!

As always: Thanks so much Serenity! You're our angel! Thanks for everything. I sent the letter this morning with the copy of our approval notice. Our case was sent to the NBC (it has the MSC-xxxxx numbers on it) so hopefully it will arrive to the NVC with no problem... I'll keep you posted

Edited May 9, 2013 by KataandFreddy

[thegordons2009 1]

I sent email to ncv for choice of agent last week using only the receipt number. got it back today stating they received the petition....hope this means things will go real fast

[SerenityNOW 11]

hi everyone.

My hubby (USC) filed I130 for my Children, age 8 and 6. Received NOA1 April 19th. Patiently waiting for the next steps. I actually called USCIS tonight, and agent said they received application April 29th and to give it 20 business days.

WELCOME to this oh-so-fun little party! I find it interesting that for recent I-130 applications (say since last October), the NVC stage is taking as long, if not longer, than the USCIS stage. NVC used to be much quicker and USCIS could take months and months.... Hopefully you will have your numbers by the beginning of next week - seems like 2 weeks from case received to number generation is about average now. AOS invoice is usually a day or two after that.

I sent email to ncv for choice of agent last week using only the receipt number. got it back today stating they received the petition....hope this means things will go real fast

You might have just gotten the auto-reply? It can take up to a week for even that to arrive. Was it signed with a person's name? Our acceptance e-mail had a person's name at the bottom (took 2 weeks for that) ... I am curious if your method worked! I did hear it rumored that this could work, but I never heard definitively from someone who tried it and accomplished it. Report back, of course!

[SerenityNOW 11]

I haven't received a date yet, and I'm in the same boat as you. I have given up calling, and am trying to wait for the email. I too would just like to know. I need to get plane tickets and hotels etc. Its soo much planning, and so much expense, I need to at least have an idea. If we do get to go for the interview, as I'm hoping, I will not be able to go back to bring her here. So it kinda sucks because she is going to have to travel alone to the embassy country, and we meet her there, then come to the US alone also.

I am surprised at how annoyed this last step is making me. Maybe because it is finally so close and I do feel like I should actually be DOING something about making plans. Plus I have complicated work scheduling and I have to keep telling people that I am waiting to hear about an interview date, which could occur any time over about a 2-month spread. Non-immigrant folks are always shocked to hear about all the waiting and uncertainty and expense we have to go through!

OK lets hope we are the rare "interview date received in the middle of the month" people!! (If you look at that interview thread, almost all of the "Received" dates are at the beginning or end of the month. BOOOOOOO)

[thegordons2009 1]

the letter said this exactly :: The NVC recently received this petition. The appropriate agent
(applicant, petitioner, or attorney) will receive instructions for the
further processing of this petition within 6 to 8 weeks.

I emailed the Choice of Agent to NVC and did not sign anything, just said it was for each one of my kids, and my hubby will be person to contact and that I as their mother sign off on it.

I am like you, where I want to get money together, get plans made, hotels booked, medicals lined up etc....I hate this waiting game.

[evoria 19]

I wanted to thank everyone for their help through this process. The kids interview is on June 6th and my husband heads home May 12th to prepare them for that day. I pray I have put together everything so they go through a smooth interview. Thanks again for the support and answers from everyone here. I pray everyone will get through this process and their families here soon.

[SerenityNOW 11]

I wanted to thank everyone for their help through this process. The kids interview is on June 6th and my husband heads home May 12th to prepare them for that day. I pray I have put together everything so they go through a smooth interview. Thanks again for the support and answers from everyone here. I pray everyone will get through this process and their families here soon.

Woo hoo! Such exciting times! What kind of things are you sending for the interview? I am only - so far - sending photographs, and I will include tax transcripts (we filed the I-864W but I would NOT be surprised if our embassy asks for the tax information anyway... better to be prepared, as that would be a total pain to try to get those from abroad).

I noticed you were approved on April 23. lucy4 and I were approved right after that, but are waiting and waiting with no interview date assigned yet. Apparently the cut-off for this month was something between the 23rd and 26th.

lucy4 - did you ever request the expedite for the interview? If not, I say now is the time! If you have been reading over in the June Interview thread, it looks like the only cases assigned interview dates in the middle of the month were expedites - according to recent trends. We are probably going to be waiting until the very end of May/beginning of June for a date to be assigned - which means that we may receive end of July interview dates! Or even August. Of course I hope this is incorrect and we hear something soon...