Pausing DCF process

[Daisy&Mirko 1]

Hi guys,

I have been reading this forum for ever now and the information I found here was just amazing, especially finding out I could use DCF.

So, here is a little background.

I am an Italian citizen living in Italy and I have been married to a US citizen since February 2017 and been in a relationship with her since 2013.

We recently filed and sent I-130 to USCIS in Rome, which was received and approved on September 20th and everything was sent to the Consulate in Naples which already forwarded the email to proceed.

Now, before starting the process my wife found a job she is contractually bound to until June 2020 and we asked the Consulate what we could do in this case and we were told that we could send everything and put the process on hold for up to 1 year. The problem is we do not know how to and if we need to do anything special or we simply do not file anything else until we want to go to Naples for the interview. We tried to email the Consulate but have not received any reply from them.

Has anyone ever experienced this?

Also, how long before should we file everything considering we want to have the interview around June 20th 2020?

Thank you so much for your replies.

Mirko&Daisy

[Melc 138]

I'm not sure about the process in Italy, but when I received the DCF I-130 approval in London I emailed the Immigrant Visa Unit and received the following response:

Quote

It is not possible to keep an immigrant visa application on file indefinitely. Applicants are given 12 months from the date on which the Immigrant Visa Unit informs them of the the next steps in the case in which to proceed with the application. If no action is taken within that time, applicants are contacted in writing  on or around that date with further information about the options available.

 

So, provided the same applies to Italy, you could even wait until April/June/July to get the medical done and schedule the interview. Since the IR-1 has a validity of 6 months from the medical, that would mean you can enter any time before your medical date + 6 months, which could be after june 2020 without any issue. 

 

I suggest you confirm with them that you have a 12 month period, and hold off until about 3 months before you want to move to the US. 

(Note the the requirements for police certificates and their validity as well, so you don't order them now and find out later they were only valid for 6 months.)

Edited October 2, 2019 by Melc

[Daisy&Mirko 1]

Hi MelC,

thank you for your fast reply.

So, from what I understood, I should not file anything (including the DS-260) until I am ready to go on? I still need to wait until June 2020 for the interview so my wife can join me. I know it is not required, but she really wants to be present.

They already did confirm that we can pause it for up to one year, we just do not know what to do (or what not to do) and how to proceed from now on.

How soon were you able to schedule your interview? I am really grateful for how fast my petition was accepted, hopefully the same applies to the interview.

Thank you again!

[Melc 138]

8 hours ago, Daisy&Mirko said:

So, from what I understood, I should not file anything (including the DS-260) until I am ready to go on? I still need to wait until June 2020 for the interview so my wife can join me. I know it is not required, but she really wants to be present.

 

I'm pretty sure you can file the DS-260 already, if you want to. You might need to amend some details in the interview if they ask about changes (recent trips, for example, or a change of employer). Or even just fill out part of it, just to get it out of the way. You can save while filling things out, to leave somethings for later. 

 

I'm not sure how long it usually takes to schedule an interview in Italy. I'd recommend asking it in the Europe (not incl. Russia & UK) subforum. 

 

The best thing you can do now is figure out what documents will be required (in terms of police certificates, birth certificates, etc. etc.) and make sure you have those ready and still valid for your planned interview date. We've made a planning for things we need to do for set months, and will just follow the schedule. 

 

For all intents and purposes, since you've 'paused' for a year, you can now just take a pause and not worry about it too much. Good luck!

[givionte 138]

I'm currently in a holding pattern myself.  I handed in my petition months ago, and plan to continue the process later this month after Chinese Golden Week.  I wanted to get it complete in case the USCIS office potentially closes at the end of the year, but not too early so we can spend one last Chinese New Years here before getting on a plane.  After your I-130 is approved, one of the next letters you receive is instructions for the DS-260 and submitting additional documents, and it even says you have up to 1 year to complete this part.  I've known others who did the same thing, it's perfectly fine.  Every consulate is different, but usually after completing the DS-260 portion, you'll be able to schedule an interview not too long after.

Edited October 3, 2019 by givionte

[Daisy&Mirko 1]

Thank you for your replies, I really appreciate your time.

From what I understood I shouldn't be filling anything at all, not even the DS 260? What happens if I file It now and start collecting all the documentation later? Surprisingly enough, Italy is very fast (usually on the stop or on the same day anyway) to deliver police certificates and birth certificates.

Unfortunately our email does not say that we have 12 months and the only reply we received from the Consulate states that we have to email them and they'll ask the Consul to extend our petition.

Once again, thank you!

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

Rome uscis field office is closing at some undetermined time before August 2020, along with most other international offices. Doesn’t this mean they won’t offer DCF anymore when that happens? Suggest OP keep a close eye on announcements to get an interview in before that happens, hopefully timing will work for both interview in time and visa validity vs when they plan to move to the US.

[payxibka 10,044]

1 minute ago, SusieQQQ said:

Rome uscis field office is closing at some undetermined time before August 2020, along with most other international offices. Doesn’t this mean they won’t offer DCF anymore when that happens? Suggest OP keep a close eye on announcements to get an interview in before that happens, hopefully timing will work for both interview in time and visa validity vs when they plan to move to the US.

Visa interview isn't at the field office,  they just need to get the petition approved 

[Daisy&Mirko 1]

On 10/5/2019 at 1:47 AM, SusieQQQ said:

Rome uscis field office is closing at some undetermined time before August 2020, along with most other international offices. Doesn’t this mean they won’t offer DCF anymore when that happens? Suggest OP keep a close eye on announcements to get an interview in before that happens, hopefully timing will work for both interview in time and visa validity vs when they plan to move to the US.

The USCIS step is done. This is why we decided to file the petition, so we could take advantage of DCF instead of filing in the US and have the interview at a later date.

 

Thank you for all your replies! The Consulate finally told us that an email stating that we want to keep our case open will suffice and we can proceed to file DS-260 when we are ready to go to Naples.

 

Thank you so much again.