What's next after NOA2? 2017

[lcfreshful 8]

Well if the title didn't already reveal the good news, Our I-129F was approved on April 26th and I've received the hard copy in the mail today. (05/02/2017.) I know I'm pretty excited, especially since I've assembled the packet and got approved, without an Immigration Lawyer, and on the First Try. (Thanks to this lovely site and all the helpful people here.)

After reading the the contents of NOA2's letter, it says

Quote

"The NVC will create a case record with your petition information. NVC will hen send the petition to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate where your Fiance(e) will be interviewed for his or her visa. (You) will receive notification by mail when the NVC has sent your petition to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. The notification letter will provide you with a unique number for your case and the name and address of the U.S. Embassy or Consulate Where your petition has been sent."

When they say (you) are they referring to /Me/ as in the petitioner, or are they talking about my Beneficiary? Because I am aware that eventually they'll have to send a letter or package to my Beneficiary with a detailed checklist of documents required prior to coming to her interview.

I just want to clear things up and make sure I'm not misreading anything; or perhaps it is /they/ who should be a bit more clear.

Thanks guys.

~Chris

Edited May 2, 2017 by lcfreshful

[Scandi 4,168]

You, the petitioner, will receive a letter from NVC. But many people never get it and in most other cases it takes weeks to receive it.

 

I have no idea where your fiancé is from but most people never need that paper. Most of us just call NVC to get our case numbers so we can continue the process with medical appointments, DS-160 etc.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Scandi

[inna1995 0]

5 minutes ago, Scandi said:

You, the petitioner, will receive a letter from NVC. But many people never get it and in most other cases it takes weeks to receive it.

 

I have no idea where your fiancé is from but most people never need that paper. Most of us just call NVC to get our case numbers so we can continue the process with medical appointments, DS-160 etc.

Hi! Could I ask you?

We just got NOA2.

 

Is the number of case that we got 3 months ago with receipt and NOA1 the same?

We shouldn't call NVC??

Just use previous number of case?

 

Thanks in advance!!!

Edited May 2, 2017 by inna1995

[Scandi 4,168]

Receipt number and case number are two different things. You get a receipt number from USCIS when they accept your case (there's a difference between accepted and approved). Once your case is approved it's sent to NVC which will create a case for you, that's when you get a case number (you can call NVC and they will give you the case number if it's available).

[inna1995 0]

3 minutes ago, Scandi said:

Receipt number and case number are two different things. You get a receipt number from USCIS when they accept your case (there's a difference between accepted and approved). Once your case is approved it's sent to NVC which will create a case for you, that's when you get a case number (you can call NVC and they will give you the case number if it's available).

Thank you! 

My case was approved 13 of April (I checked by Receipt Number). Can I see more changeso there?

Should I call NVC now and ask for case number or wait for some changes???

[lcfreshful 8]

16 minutes ago, Scandi said:

You, the petitioner, will receive a letter from NVC. But many people never get it and in most other cases it takes weeks to receive it.

 

I have no idea where your fiancé is from but most people never need that paper. Most of us just call NVC to get our case numbers so we can continue the process with medical appointments, DS-160 etc.

Ah, so I'll just wait a couple of weeks and just call the NVC then to see if they have a Case Number or at least Received my case. I remember seeing that in the timeline flowchart thingy. Thanks for the help.

[lcfreshful 8]

1 minute ago, inna1995 said:

Thank you! 

My case was approved 13 of April (I checked by Receipt Number). Can I see more changeso there?

Should I call NVC now and ask for case number or wait for some changes???

According to what Scandi said, if I were in your situation; I would go ahead and call the NVC and see if they've received your petition in order to continue with your Visa Processing. Good luck to you!

[inna1995 0]

1 minute ago, lcfreshful said:

According to what Scandi said, if I were in your situation; I would go ahead and call the NVC and see if they've received your petition in order to continue with your Visa Processing. Good luck to you!

Thank you!

 

I understood! 

 

I wish good luck as well)

[Ashley Scott 180]

5 minutes ago, lcfreshful said:

Ah, so I'll just wait a couple of weeks and just call the NVC then to see if they have a Case Number or at least Received my case. I remember seeing that in the timeline flowchart thingy. Thanks for the help.

We got our approval on April 4.  The NVC received our case on April 21st.  We called and got our case number from them on April 24.  I (petitioner) received the letter from the NVC yesterday, May 1.  So everything went pretty smoothly on our end and just as everyone had said it would.  I would give it 2 weeks and then start calling the NVC to get your case number.  Call them every other day or so.  Once you get the case number you can start doing the DS-160 and scheduling the medical and all of that.  They will also tell you when they sent your case to the Embassy if you call and ask them.  Good luck to you.  Hope your case moves quickly and smoothly from here and congrats on your approval!   

[Scandi 4,168]

When we got the i-129f approval the wait time for NVC to receive and create a case was around 30 days, it might be different now. I bet you can start calling NVC around 2 weeks after the petition approval to see if they have a case number for you.

 

Once you get your case number you can check the status here https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattracker/status.aspx

 

The earliest status you can see there is "at NVC", simply meaning NVC has your case and still hasn't sent it to the embassy. The next status would be "in transit" and then "ready". Ready means that the embassy has received your case.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Scandi

[lcfreshful 8]

11 minutes ago, Ashley Scott said:

We got our approval on April 4.  The NVC received our case on April 21st.  We called and got our case number from them on April 24.  I (petitioner) received the letter from the NVC yesterday, May 1.  So everything went pretty smoothly on our end and just as everyone had said it would.  I would give it 2 weeks and then start calling the NVC to get your case number.  Call them every other day or so.  Once you get the case number you can start doing the DS-160 and scheduling the medical and all of that.  They will also tell you when they sent your case to the Embassy if you call and ask them.  Good luck to you.  Hope your case moves quickly and smoothly from here and congrats on your approval!   

Wait a second. So You guys did the DS-160 and medical examination before the Embassy sent you the packet with all the required documents and such? I'm asking because I thought the DS-160 was apart of the 'Packet'.

Thank you btw.

[lcfreshful 8]

13 minutes ago, Scandi said:

When we got the i-129f approval the wait time for NVC to receive and create a case was around 30 days, it might be different now. I bet you can start calling NVC around 2 weeks after the petition approval to see if they have a case number for you.

 

Once you get your case number you can check the status here https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattracker/status.aspx

 

The earliest status you can see there is "at NVC", simply meaning NVC has your case and still hasn't sent it to the embassy. The next status would be "in transit" and then "ready". Ready means that the embassy has received your case.

Thank you so much.

[Ashley Scott 180]

1 minute ago, lcfreshful said:

Wait a second. So You guys did the DS-160 and medical examination before the Embassy sent you the packet with all the required documents and such? I'm asking because I thought the DS-160 was apart of the 'Packet'.

Thank you btw.

We submitted the DS-160 online.  Every country is different but we were able to get on and put our case number in and submit it.  We also called and scheduled our medical when we got our case number (only scheduled, not attended).  We will need the proof of the case number from the embassy for my fiancé to take with him but we left plenty of time for that to come.  If not, we have the proof of the scheduled interview that shows everything (which we had to submit a "readiness" form to schedule).  We have all of the required documents for the medical and interview ready so we were able to get that done.  I am not sure if the London Embassy sends something or not but they do offer everything online. 

[Scandi 4,168]

13 minutes ago, lcfreshful said:

Wait a second. So You guys did the DS-160 and medical examination before the Embassy sent you the packet with all the required documents and such? I'm asking because I thought the DS-160 was apart of the 'Packet'.

Thank you btw.

It's country specific so you would need to ask in the regionals subforum so you can get answers from people who went through it at the same embassy as your fiancé.

 

The DS-160 doesn't require a case number so you can fill that out at any point now, however, I wouldn't submit it until I know whether that particular embassy wants it already or if they want you to wait for a response from them first. I personally waited to submit my DS-160 until the status said "ready" as that's when I knew the embassy has received my case. That doesn't work for all embassies, that might be too early for some.

 

Same goes for the medical. I booked my appointment before I even had the case number, while in other countries they require you to have that number before you can schedule an appointment. 

[SparklePony 238]

A lot of people get confused with the receipt number from the NOA and the case number from NVC. Basically, when you file for the I-129f you're asking USCIS to allow your fiancé to apply for a visa. That's the first step of the process, it comes with its own receipt number and approval - the NOAs. But that's all it is - an authorization for the alien fiancé to apply for a visa. They can't apply for a fiancé visa on their own, there has to be this authorization in first. Once that's handled, USCIS sends the paperwork to the NVC, which creates a case through which the alien fiancé can then apply for the visa. That's why it's a separate case number. It's embassy specific (the first letters refer to the embassy where the visa will be handled), if there are K2 children involved they get their case numbers too, and it is then sent to the specific embassy which will process the visa. That's also why you then use a different website to track your case - it's now a different process, handled by a different branch of the government.