Changing embassy after filing

[elizanbnt 1]

Hello all,

I thought I would share this information in case it is useful to others as well. We have to change the embassy that my fiancé will interview at because he moved a few months ago. We initially thought he'd be in Italy where he was living and working and he's since moved back to his home country of Colombia and will need to interview there. When he moved I sent a letter to the USCIS informing them of the change (I called first and they told me to send a letter) but we never heard anything from them and I have no idea if my letter even made it into our file.

We received our NOA2 last week and I emailed the NVC immediately about this (just asking them what I should do) and haven't heard anything. Today I called and got through after 75 minutes of waiting on hold (arggghhhh), and the operator told me to send an email to asknvc@state.gov with our receipt # in the subject line. In the body I am to put the petitioner name and DOB and the applicant name and DOB, and a "request for a post-change," explaining why. She told me to attach a copy of my fiance's passport (presumably to show that he's eligible to interview in the country we're requesting, though it's the same passport we included in the original petition in this case) and to sign it with my name and "petitioner."

I am still going to keep calling them--I want confirmation that they'll send it to the right place once they have it (they say they haven't received our case yet) and before it gets sent out. Fingers crosses that this works. According to the forums in these cases the applications often get sent to the original embassy anyway...

Eliza

[elizanbnt 1]

So to update this:

We kept calling the NVC regularly (the Spanish line seems to have a slightly shorter wait time, by the way), and found out yesterday that they had received our case. It took several more calls, speaking with a supervisor, and another email but we successfully got the embassy changed. They gave us a new case # with the correct three-letter code at the beginning. Persistence during the short window the application is at the NVC seems to be key here-- keep calling and don't take no for an answer (we were told several times that it was impossible to change the embassy). The original email alone would have done nothing, but they did need all of that information to make the change.

It was not a fun couple of days of being on hold, but we are very relieved that we likely won't have to wait through a long embassy transfer after our 6.5 months at TSC.

Best of luck to anyone in the same situation,

Eliza

Edited August 19, 2015 by elizanbnt

[Pitaya 2,576]

~Moved from K1 Process to NVC Forum~

~Inquiry/commentary about NVC processing~

[0725 0]

Hey there! Glad it worked out!

I have a few questions;

1) is the passport you submitted as proof a passport from the country you wanted to change the embassy to?

2) Did they manually change the embassy over the phone once you sent in proof? After you requested to speak to a supervisor?

3) how long did that process take overall? (Changing embassy)

Thanks in advance!

[elizanbnt 1]

1) Yes-- my now-husband moved back to his home country (Colombia), so his passport was all he needed as proof of residency/eligibility to interview in Colombia. If your fiance/e is moving to a country that is not their home country, I assume you will need further proof of residency other than the passport. I don't know offhand what that would be (some kind of residency permit?)

2) Yes, a supervisor did it over the phone, and I believe gave us the new case # over the phone too.

3) I don't remember how long it took exactly-- I was very persistent about calling over a period of a few days. It's really important that you speak with the right person at the right moment (before they send off the petition, but once they have it at the NVC). I suggest you keep calling as much as you possibly can during that window until you get someone who can help. Be polite but insistent!

Good luck!