Immigrant visa wait

[brbk 0]

I post here in a hope of reassurance, and information from people who have been in a similar situation. I searched this forum, but could not find anything relevant. To contribute back I promise to post update however way the things will be resolved.

I am a U.S. citizen, living with my wife in U.K., planning to move to U.S. very soon. We filed I-130 for my wife with the Embassy at London. She had her interview on 25 June, was told that all is well. They took her passport (to put the immigrant visa), saying it would take 7 days. We went ahead and bought travel ticket for my wife to USA for September. There is no sight of passport or visa yet. When we e-mailed the Embassy (after having obtained the e-mail code from their payline outsourced to some company), we received a response that "Embassy records show that further processing of Mrs. XXX’s application is awaiting confirmation of what Mrs. XXX’s address in the United States will be." (it is the entire text of the response, except "Dear" and the signature).

We are confused what this means. We clearly put on the application that we do not have an address in United States yet, and explained why in supporting documentation. We understand they cannot mail Green Card to non-US address, but what that has to do with the passport and the visa is unclear. My wife has to travel abroad (not US) in a slightly more than a week, which adds to the anxiety.

Given how slow e-mail responses from the Embassy are, is it worth trying to simply go to the Embassy in person (I should be able to enter, being a citizen, right?), or is it just waste of time and money (we are not in London)?

Any and all information is appreciated.

[Thomas&Cleofe 358]

I post here in a hope of reassurance, and information from people who have been in a similar situation. I searched this forum, but could not find anything relevant. To contribute back I promise to post update however way the things will be resolved.

I am a U.S. citizen, living with my wife in U.K., planning to move to U.S. very soon. We filed I-130 for my wife with the Embassy at London. She had her interview on 25 June, was told that all is well. They took her passport (to put the immigrant visa), saying it would take 7 days. We went ahead and bought travel ticket for my wife to USA for September. There is no sight of passport or visa yet. When we e-mailed the Embassy (after having obtained the e-mail code from their payline outsourced to some company), we received a response that "Embassy records show that further processing of Mrs. XXX’s application is awaiting confirmation of what Mrs. XXX’s address in the United States will be." (it is the entire text of the response, except "Dear" and the signature).

We are confused what this means. We clearly put on the application that we do not have an address in United States yet, and explained why in supporting documentation. We understand they cannot mail Green Card to non-US address, but what that has to do with the passport and the visa is unclear. My wife has to travel abroad (not US) in a slightly more than a week, which adds to the anxiety.

Given how slow e-mail responses from the Embassy are, is it worth trying to simply go to the Embassy in person (I should be able to enter, being a citizen, right?), or is it just waste of time and money (we are not in London)?

Any and all information is appreciated.

It was my understanding that the petitioner of an I-130 is required to have domicile in the USA.

[canadian_wife 1,831]

Have you called the consulate? There are parts of the US consulate a USC may not be able to go, you should figure that out before you venture to London to be simply turned away

It may be a domicile issue, as in if you moved TODAY, where would you sleep your first night? With friends? with family? Not knowing where you would live might be concerning to them, can you give them an address?

Good luck

[brbk 0]

I am traveling to US in a week, staying a hotel, going for appointments to see rental places, and will have a place rented by her arrival to USA. It was all explained in supporting documentation on the application that was approved (as far as we understood). What confuses me is the fact that they retained my wife's passport. It would be understandable if they denied an application, if they believed that there are any problems. Perhaps, I am confused.

Calling consulate appears to difficult at best. There is a line which takes you to the outsourced company (which I called), and there is an emergency line, which I presume goes to actual consulate. Calling the outsourced line gives after explanation a code that one can use to put into an e-mail, so that when one e-mails the consulate, the e-mail is not deleted without reading. Answering an e-mail for the consulate is a many-day process apparently.

Edited July 27, 2012 by brbk

[Julie y Pat 67]

I am traveling to US in a week, staying a hotel, going for appointments to see rental places, and will have a place rented by her arrival to USA. It was all explained in supporting documentation on the application that was approved (as far as we understood). What confuses me is the fact that they retained my wife's passport. It would be understandable if they denied an application, if they believed that there are any problems. Perhaps, I am confused.

Calling consulate appears to difficult at best. There is a line which takes you to the outsourced company (which I called), and there is an emergency line, which I presume goes to actual consulate. Calling the outsourced line gives after explanation a code that one can use to put into an e-mail, so that when one e-mails the consulate, the e-mail is not deleted without reading. Answering an e-mail for the consulate is a many-day process apparently.

I'd give them an address of a relative or friend, where you could actually pick up mail from. I'm sure it will be easy enough to file a change of address form at the airport when she is at POE and turns in her brown envelope. And I have called the emergency number at the US consulate in Bogota, it was about a US passport issue, not my wife's visa, and I said right off the bat, you may not consider this an emergency, but I do and you can decide. They stayed on the line and answered my questions

[Penguin_ie 6,001]

I'd give them an address of a relative or friend, where you could actually pick up mail from.

This. Sounds like what they want is a place to send the greencard to. You can always change the address once you arrive, many people do.