New here :). Would someone mind giving some advice?

[PearlyLemons 13]

Hello VJ.

I'm Emmy and my fiance (U.C citizen and petitioner) is Jeff.

After 6 months of debating I have finally joined up to VJ!. My fiance and I have found VJ to be such a supportive enviroment - we hope we can help others once our long journey is completed (or even along the way).

Jeff just received a hard copy on the NOA2 in the mail on Friday, after filing in Dec 2012. I have yet to receive anything in the post - is this normal? I don't really know what to do next. Can I apply for a police background check without having heard anything back from the U.S embassy in London? Do you book the medical before or after you get given an interview date? Do you get given an interview date or do you have to book it?

I just have no idea what is supposed to happen next. I have read the guides and have some idea of what to expect but not in a particular order. I think I am struggling because I am in the final month of my degree at univsersity so I am feeling a little stressed!

I hope someone can help

Thank-you

[annerobin12 9]

Congrats on your NOA2 and welcome to VJ

You can order your police certificate now, it's usually good for 6 months so you can go ahead and order it as soon as possible.

Did you call the NVC to receive your new case number? i dont know about the UK but in Germany you can schedule your medical without the new case number. So getting your medical done would be the next step.

After your petition has been forwarded to your embassy in the UK, you will receive your packet three in the mail.

You can already start preparing all the forms they will need (DS 230 etc), your fiancé needs to send you his documents (I 134 and supporting documents)

So your next steps are:

Call the NVC and ask for your new case number

Schedule your medical

prepare all forms for when your packet three arrives

make sure your fiancé sends you the I134 and all supporting documents

Good luck!

[PearlyLemons 13]

Thank-you for your help and promt reply

Where is the National Visa Centre? Is that in the U.S or U.K? We have a case number we used to check our status online? It started with WAC but from what I gather for the U.K it should start with LON? I think like yours is on the way to Frankfurt, the petition is on its way to London now - so should I wait?

Thanks!Good luck to you also!

[canadian_wife 1,791]

The National Visa Centre is in the US, your WAC number is your USCIS case number. You may call NVC and use your WAC number to get your case number that starts with LON

good luck

[EmMatt 2]

Congrats on such a fast NOA2!

As above, send for your Police Certificate asap, you need someone official to sign the back of your passport photo (teacher, solicitor etc that has known you for last 2 years at least) acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx (mine took about 2 weeks to get back after mailing)

Go to your doctors and ask at the reception for a copy of your immunisation/vaccine records for visa purposes (mine took a week at least, but some will print it there for you)

Go to the US Embassy in London website to print and prepare all your forms london.usembassy.gov/iv_15.html (the letter you will eventually recieve will just tell you to do this, so you might as well have it ready to go!)

If your fiance just recieved the hard copy, that means it has probably just about reached NVC, by my studies of the timelines (I've become kinda obsessed with being over prepared & knowing how long each step will take...ahhh!) it will then take another week to get to London Embassy, then around another week at least until they get round to mailing you packet 3.

Make sure you read the checklist of documents needed for the interview, these include the original of your birth certificate, any past marriage/divorce certificates and very importantly your fiance needs to get the Evidence of Support (Affidavit of Support) to you in the mail along with tax reports form I-134. (all this is one the US Embassy London website).

So if you print and fill out the forms (except the date to do once your recieve the letter) you should be able to mail it back to them the same day you recieve it (to save time).

You need to have your police certificate & vaccine records for the medical, so once you have them in hand and have the LON case number, then you can ring and book your medical.

Looks like it takes a month from you sending your forms in until receiveing a date for interview. Generally from NOA2 - Interview its 2-3months average.

Annoyingly we got an RFE for a very silly mistake - my fiance missed writing his name on the back of his passport photo! But I am all ready for the next stage and hoping things speed up!

[PearlyLemons 13]

Thanks for clearing that up for me canadian_wife .

EmMatt thanks for your informative post! I think I will wait to hear from the NVC because atm I am trying to finsih my dissertation and prepare for a final exam. Jeff has started a new job this week also and is currently trying to find a new place to live and so we will have to inform USCIS about his change of address. This is such a long winded and complicated process. Oh that sucks about the RFE but hopefully they'll sort it out soon enough for you guys!

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

Thanks for clearing that up for me canadian_wife .

EmMatt thanks for your informative post! I think I will wait to hear from the NVC because atm I am trying to finsih my dissertation and prepare for a final exam. Jeff has started a new job this week also and is currently trying to find a new place to live and so we will have to inform USCIS about his change of address. This is such a long winded and complicated process. Oh that sucks about the RFE but hopefully they'll sort it out soon enough for you guys!

There is a pinned thread for K1s at the top of this forum. Post #1 has a list to follow. Post #6 tells the three things that must be at the embassy before the interview will be assigned by London.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/350185-london-2012-k1s-from-noa2-to-interview-thread/

Jeff doesn't need to inform USCIS of his address change. His petition was approved so he's basically graduated from USCIS for now. He and you can give the new address on your forms for the embassy (Dept of State) and all will be fine. Later you will return to USCIS to start another process, Adjustment of Status.

[PearlyLemons 13]

Thank-you Nich-Nick - that was very helpful and reassuring! I'll let him know.

[Anna Grant 169]

You can order your police certificate now, it's usually good for 6 months so you can go ahead and order it as soon as possible.

Actually, the police certificate is valid for 12 months. Not that it's relevant in this circumstance but I thought I had better recheck this as I got mine in October in the mistaken hope that my NOA2 was just around the corner:

http://london.usembassy.gov/faq-imm-proc.html#iv041

I'm now in AP at NVC - I just hope it's not for long :-(

[annerobin12 9]

oh thank you for that! and good luck with your journey!

Actually, the police certificate is valid for 12 months. Not that it's relevant in this circumstance but I thought I had better recheck this as I got mine in October in the mistaken hope that my NOA2 was just around the corner:

http://london.usembassy.gov/faq-imm-proc.html#iv041

I'm now in AP at NVC - I just hope it's not for long :-(