Visa Interview Next Week and Post Office(s) Has/Have Lost My Packet! Also, Do we pay fees now for kids who will follow later?

[Ohemaa 0]

Hi Everyone,

Two main points of confusion here, which I'm hoping you lovely people will help me to resolve:

After much toil and patience, my fiance's I-129F was approved, and things began to move very quickly (hooray!). He received an interview date of September 4th less than two weeks ago, and had his medical examination last week. On August 16th, I used USPS (upon recommendation of a friend who used USPS for her now-husband's visa interview) to send my I-134 and other supporting materials to Dakar so that my fiance would have all the necessary materials for his interview. Nothing. Senegal's post office is saying they haven't received the packet, and the USPS is saying that the packet left New York on August 17th. One customer service agent claimed it was still in transit, but how can that even be possible--it's only an 8 hour flight from New York to Dakar, and it's been 11 days! USPS has launched 3 urgent inquiries with the Senegalese post office, to which the Senegalese post office has not responded (they have told my fiance that they haven't even received an inquiry). USPS is directing me to give the Senegalese post office 5 days to respond, and they say I need to wait 30 days before I can file a lost mail claim. And still, the big visa interview is exactly a week away. ARGH.

What would you advise I do? Pay twice as much as I did the first time to re-send everything via FedEx or DHL? And if so, any recommendations? This whole thing has completely traumatized me. I've used the post to send and receive international mail all my life and have never had an issue until it really counts.

Or, should we attempt to re-schedule the interview for, say, mid-September? Or, should we do both (re-send the documents and re-schedule the interview)? Has anyone had a similar experience?

My second question pertains to my fiance's lovely son. While filling out the DS-156/156K/157, we realized that we could apply for the son to follow my fiance to the country within a year, and we definitely want to do that. We have all of his paperwork with us, but does this mean we should also be paying for his visa fee next week, and should he have also had a medical appointment? Or, is all of that for my fiance at this point in time? If the son needs a doctor's appointment, we will definitely need to reschedule. In the alternative, we can just re-file for him separately later on, but will this cause problems at the embassy, given that we have him listed on the paperwork already?

Please, guys, would love your advice here! We are both so desperate and drained at this point, that it's hard to think straight.

Many, many thanks.

[JohnR! 5,495]

What would you advise I do? Pay twice as much as I did the first time to re-send everything via FedEx or DHL?

Absolutely. Cut your losses and send the copies of the documents he will need via FedEx, DHL, TNT or any other courier.

Either that or your fiance will have to reschedule the interview if the papers you sent him are required.

Good luck!

[Ohemaa 0]

Absolutely. Cut your losses and send the copies of the documents he will need via FedEx, DHL, TNT or any other courier.

Either that or your fiance will have to reschedule the interview if the papers you sent him are required.

Good luck!

Thanks for the message! We went ahead and rescheduled, just to be safe. We are now scheduled for the 13th. Even if I sent DHL today, there is no way to guarantee anything, what with the long weekend ahead of us. That being said, I'm giving it one more day and then re-sending everything via DHL.

I am waiting for a reply from the Consulate regarding the kid question. If anyone has insight into this, that would be much appreciated, too. Thanks so much, everyone.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Thanks for the message! We went ahead and rescheduled, just to be safe. We are now scheduled for the 13th. Even if I sent DHL today, there is no way to guarantee anything, what with the long weekend ahead of us. That being said, I'm giving it one more day and then re-sending everything via DHL.

I am waiting for a reply from the Consulate regarding the kid question. If anyone has insight into this, that would be much appreciated, too. Thanks so much, everyone.

Anytime... I hope all works out well this time!!!