Looking for some positive encouragement

[Sanderson3 0]

My husband & I have been married since August 1st, 2014 & I have spent basically the past 3 months away from him we started our process in Ocfober 2014 & our I-130 petition was approved in just 21 days (beginning of Nov) which from what I've read, is quite fast... but since then we have not heard anything from NVC! I make myself crazy reading horror stories online of people waiting over a year or years for the process to be over... also I'm feeling conflicted as to if we should hire a lawyer or just do everything on our own like we did with the I-130 package? I just don't even know what to expect. Really wishing there was a way to speed things up...

[Dualie 185]

Hi there, and welcome to the site!

First of all, it's awesome that you guys were approved in just 21 days. That is not the norm. But I have learned in the last year that I have been involved in this process, that the process can be pretty random. First of all, if your case is straight forward (meaning no criminal records, no overstays, etc) you can do the whole thing yourself by researching the forums and information on this website. Lawyers have a way of complicating things in this process, and they can't and don't make the process any faster. If you take the reins and control your own case, it will go much faster than if a lawyer has it, because you would be just one of many clients cases. Trust me, many of us on VJ have navigated the process without a lawyer. If your case is straight forward, save yourself thousands of dollars and do it yourself.

There are a lot of different things that factor into how quickly you can get through the process, and believe me I am no authority. Things like the beneficiary's home country, for one, whether or not it is considered a high fraud country. Also whether or not the petitioner's or beneficiary's names draw a red flag in background checks, etc.

The average time span now I believe is 12 to 16 months - give or take, from the time you file the I-130 until the visa is granted. Some are shorter, lots are longer, it just depends. My advice would be to research this site thoroughly, ask questions, follow instructions, and you will be fine. There are so many knowledgeable folks on this site to help you through, and the step-by-step guides and wikis are extremely helpful tools!

Also, please fill in your timeline, as this will help the folks on here to understand your process better and answer your questions, should you ask for help.

Once again, welcome to the site and good luck on your journey!

Edited January 2, 2015 by Dualie

[Sanderson3 0]

Thank you so much I think you're right, I could always ask questions here if we're lacking knowledge or confused on how to fill out any of the forms. We had spoke to a lawyer in up state New York for just an idea as to what we were getting ourselves into earlier in the summer & she saw my husband in his military uniform & told us she wanted $2500 to help us LOL... What a joke that was. we decided to try to do the package on our own & kinda slacked on how quickly we sent it out because I wanted to be able to visit him because he recently got out of active duty & moved back to VA, his home state to be in the reserves & possibly go back to school... since all his family is there we thought it would be best for support reasons & he did spend most of the past 5 years away from them being active. But doing so, he also moved 11 hours away from me I am Canadian & reside in eastern Ontario... (I definitely will update my profile once I figure out how to do so). I want to go visit him so bad for a couple weeks because I haven't seen him since October but Im afraid it would mess the process up & I don't want to do anything to jeopardize this. Today my husband called NVC & still no case number! I feel so torn I understand it's a season of holidays but we've been waiting since November 5th & have heard absolutely NOTHING yet...

[Pitaya 2,580]

~Moved from Introducing our Members to IR1/CR1 Visa Progress Forum~

~Inquiry/commentary about case status~

[Dualie 185]

Thank you so much I think you're right, I could always ask questions here if we're lacking knowledge or confused on how to fill out any of the forms. We had spoke to a lawyer in up state New York for just an idea as to what we were getting ourselves into earlier in the summer & she saw my husband in his military uniform & told us she wanted $2500 to help us LOL... What a joke that was. we decided to try to do the package on our own & kinda slacked on how quickly we sent it out because I wanted to be able to visit him because he recently got out of active duty & moved back to VA, his home state to be in the reserves & possibly go back to school... since all his family is there we thought it would be best for support reasons & he did spend most of the past 5 years away from them being active. But doing so, he also moved 11 hours away from me I am Canadian & reside in eastern Ontario... (I definitely will update my profile once I figure out how to do so). I want to go visit him so bad for a couple weeks because I haven't seen him since October but Im afraid it would mess the process up & I don't want to do anything to jeopardize this. Today my husband called NVC & still no case number! I feel so torn I understand it's a season of holidays but we've been waiting since November 5th & have heard absolutely NOTHING yet...

Keep on them, you should have your case number soon. I am from Winnipeg, and very lucky that my husband lives in Fargo, ND. You can visit him during the process, just bring lots of proof of your ties to Canada. I crossed the border 2 to 3 times a month for the past year with no problems. They hardly ask me anything anymore, lol!! I always bring my NOA1 and NOA2, I had the HR department where I work write me an employment letter which I bring, my car lease, apartment lease, bill payments on bank statements, anything that proves that you must return to Canada. I never once had to show it all (was asked for the NOA1 only once - I guess they entered it into their system). It's better to have too much proof than not enough .

Once you have your case number you can keep an eye out for your fee payments and the DS261. Get all your documents ready - scanned into PDF format if you are doing Electronic Processing. We did EP and had no issues. Check out Saylin's NVC thread for January filers. She has all the links there, and feel free to ask questions at the Canadian portal as well!