EMER! Changing US embassy for interview

[Yeonju 5]

Hello guys,

 

My fiance lives in seattle and I (beneficiary) am currently living in dubai, but going back to Korea  (which is my hometown) next week.

 

At that time when we filed the petition, my current address was ‘dubai’ but we definitely identified Korea (Seoul)  as my interview embassy.

 

But today we found out our case will be transferred into Abu dhabi, not Seoul. (It started ABD) NVC call center spokesman told me ‘we can’t change or anything, you need to contact to Abu dhabi embassy to transfer the case to Seoul embassy’

 

This is so frustrating..... We’ll reach out to Abu duabi embassy once my petitioner gets an email from NVC. (that means by that time NVC already sent our case to the embassy, right?)

 

Has anyone had same experience? Anyone had transferred your case from one embassy to another? How long does it take usually? Please advise us... Thank You.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Yeonju

[payxibka 10,045]

1 minute ago, Yeonju said:

Hello guys,

 

My fiance lives in seattle and I (beneficiary) am currently living in dubai, but going back to Korea  (which is my hometown) next week.

 

At that time when we filed the petition, my current address was ‘dubai’ but we definitely identified Korea (Seoul)  as my interview embassy.

 

But today we found out our case will be transferred into Abu dhabi, not Seoul. (It started ABD) NVC call center spokesman told me ‘we can’t change or anything, you need to contact to Abu dhabi embassy to transfer the case to Seoul embassy’

 

This is so frustrating..... We’ll reach out to Abu duabi embassy once my petitioner gets an email from NVC. (that means NVC sends our case to the embassy, right?)

 

Has anyone had same experience? Anyone had transferred your case from one embassy to another? How long does it take usually? Please advise us... Thank You.

What typically is done is to contact the consulate that you want to be interviewed at.  Once you provide sufficient support for a change in venue,  they will contact the other consulate and request the file to be transferred 

[Yeonju 5]

5 minutes ago, payxibka said:

What typically is done is to contact the consulate that you want to be interviewed at.  Once you provide sufficient support for a change in venue,  they will contact the other consulate and request the file to be transferred 

Do I have to wait until NVC sends our case to the original embassy? (Abu dhabi) or Can we just contact Seoul embassy, where I want to be interviewed at, with case number and explanation? 

 

I just don't know when is the best time to do that.... because our case is still in NVC.

[payxibka 10,045]

Just now, Yeonju said:

Do I have to wait until NVC sends our case to the original embassy? (Abu dhabi) or Can we just contact Seoul embassy, where I want to be interviewed at, with case number and explanation? 

 

I just don't know when is the best time to do that.... because our case is still in NVC.

I would not wait,  I would start now 

[MelOe 187]

Something similar just happened to us, I (beneficiary) live in Germany but work in France. The petition was assigned to Paris, France, and due to the NVCs delay in answering their emails we were unable to change it in time even though it was sitting there for more than two weeks before being sent out.

As soon as our CEAC status changed to "in transit" I contacted the embassy in Frankfurt, Germany, and asked for them to request our petition from Paris. They requested I provide proof of residency in Germany, and after I sent that in they informed me that they had contacted Paris and requested the transfer.

By that time CEAC status had changed to "ready" in Paris, and remained like that for about a week and a half, until I got antsy and wrote to Paris asking them if they had already sent our petiton out to Frankfurt or not (according to CEAC they hadn't but I was hoping they would touch our petiton because of the email, see the transfer request by Frankfurt, and get it on the way). Coincidence or not, the next day our CEAC status changed to somethink like "transfer in progress" and after two days "ready" in Frankfurt.

[Yeonju 5]

2 hours ago, MelOe said:

Something similar just happened to us, I (beneficiary) live in Germany but work in France. The petition was assigned to Paris, France, and due to the NVCs delay in answering their emails we were unable to change it in time even though it was sitting there for more than two weeks before being sent out.

As soon as our CEAC status changed to "in transit" I contacted the embassy in Frankfurt, Germany, and asked for them to request our petition from Paris. They requested I provide proof of residency in Germany, and after I sent that in they informed me that they had contacted Paris and requested the transfer.

By that time CEAC status had changed to "ready" in Paris, and remained like that for about a week and a half, until I got antsy and wrote to Paris asking them if they had already sent our petiton out to Frankfurt or not (according to CEAC they hadn't but I was hoping they would touch our petiton because of the email, see the transfer request by Frankfurt, and get it on the way). Coincidence or not, the next day our CEAC status changed to somethink like "transfer in progress" and after two days "ready" in Frankfurt.

Hi!!

 

So you waited until NVC sent your case to paris, right? Our case is still at NVC, I think I will contact to seoul embassy (embassy that I wish to have an interview) soon! 

 

Thank god, your case has been transferred to germany so quickly! That’s awesome!! I hope there will be NO such delay while transferring our case from one to another embassy. ☹️

 

Thanks a lot.

[MelOe 187]

2 minutes ago, Yeonju said:

Hi!!

 

So you waited until NVC sent your case to paris, right? Our case is still at NVC, I think I will contact to seoul embassy (embassy that I wish to have an interview) soon! 

 

Thank god, your case has been transferred to germany so quickly! That’s awesome!! I hope there will be NO such delay while transferring our case from one to another embassy. ☹️

 

Thanks a lot.

The only reason I waited until our petition left NVC before contacting the embassy was that we had requested to be assigned Frankfurt via several emails to NVC and when calling them we were being told that there was a good chance they would still be able to change it before the petition would get sent out. I finally received a response to one of my emails to NVC weeks after our petiton had left it, so I'm pretty sure that there was never a chance to have it changed given the current delays of NVC responding to emails. Had I known that then, I might also have contacted the embassy before the petition ever left NVC. Luckily Frankfurt seems to be very quick, I got responses to my emails in 2-3 days. I have no idea if this is usual, or if other embassies might be slower to respond though. Fingers crossed for you that Seoul is as fast as Frankfurt! Good luck!!!

[Yeonju 5]

3 minutes ago, MelOe said:

The only reason I waited until our petition left NVC before contacting the embassy was that we had requested to be assigned Frankfurt via several emails to NVC and when calling them we were being told that there was a good chance they would still be able to change it before the petition would get sent out. I finally received a response to one of my emails to NVC weeks after our petiton had left it, so I'm pretty sure that there was never a chance to have it changed given the current delays of NVC responding to emails. Had I known that then, I might also have contacted the embassy before the petition ever left NVC. Luckily Frankfurt seems to be very quick, I got responses to my emails in 2-3 days. I have no idea if this is usual, or if other embassies might be slower to respond though. Fingers crossed for you that Seoul is as fast as Frankfurt! Good luck!!!

Alright, I’ll contact them as soon as possible.  Thank you for your reply. I was so frustrated after I found this situation. Your reply really helped me a lot. 😭😭

[MelOe 187]

25 minutes ago, Yeonju said:

Alright, I’ll contact them as soon as possible.  Thank you for your reply. I was so frustrated after I found this situation. Your reply really helped me a lot. 😭😭

I hear you, I was really frustrated as well, and sooo relieved when it was resolved! But seeing what other people here on VJ have to go through I think being assigned the wrong embassy counts as a minor hiccup at best. Reading through some of the threads here kind of puts it in perspective

[MelOe 187]

Just to revise what I said in this thread previously in case this is relevant information for anyone: Today I found out that the CEAC status changing to ready in Frankfurt only concerned the electronic version of our application, they still haven't received our paper application from Paris as of today and so we are currently unable to advance. Paris has received the transfer request well over a month ago now. Nothing to be done but wait, and because I'm not very good at that I have also just written to Paris to see if I can find out what the holdup is. Fingers crossed your transfer went much more smoothly and you are already starting on the next step

[Pitaya 2,577]

On 11/7/2019 at 11:30 AM, Yeonju said:

Hello guys,

 

Has anyone had same experience? Anyone had transferred your case from one embassy to another? How long does it take usually? Please advise us... Thank You.

It seems that at least weekly there are a couple of postings with the same topic. Be proactive and contact Seoul and tell them what you want to have happen. Keep in mind the transfer is at the discretion of the receiving embassy/consulate.

Quote

NOTE: Designation of a U.S. Embassy or U.S. Consulate outside the country in which your beneficiary resides does not guarantee acceptance for processing by that foreign post. Acceptance is at the discretion of the designated U.S. Embassy or U.S. Consulate.

REF: https://www.uscis.gov/i-129f , Instructions, page 6.

 

It is difficult, is not impossible, to determine the length of your delay as a consequence. You are talking about international diplomatic mail from one embassy to another. Heck, it is often tough to try and figure ou domestic mail delivery times.

 

Post back with the details of your successful international file transfer. Good luck on your immigration journey.

[payxibka 10,045]

1 minute ago, Pitaya said:

 

It is difficult, is not impossible, to determine the length of your delay as a consequence. You are talking about international diplomatic mail from one embassy to another. Heck, it is often tough to try and figure ou domestic mail delivery times.

 

I don't think DHL is considered diplomatic mail.  The question is how fast do they put the shipment together 

[Greenbaum 12,259]

If you wish to have your immigrant/fiancée visa file transferred from one Embassy to another U.S. Embassy/Consulate, please contact the appropriate U.S. Embassy/Consulate directly in the country where you wish to apply and follow their instructions for case transfer. Please click here for the full list of all U.S. Embassies and Consulates overseas.

 

The old Embassy will need to receive a formal file transfer request from that U.S. Embassy/Consulate in the country where you wish to apply. Upon receipt of this request, they will immediately forward the file for the New Embassy to process. (Expect up to a 30 day delay)

 

Once you contact your New Embassy you then can discuss the transfer of your fee if you have paid it prior to the decision of transferring your case to your new embassy. Be sure to have your payment receipt available.

 

If your case goes from embassy to embassy then NO you don't get a new case number. The case number will began with original alpha nomenclature ie. AAAXXXXXXXXXX. If her case comes from NVC then you will have a case number starting with the embassy that you will interview in. To make your payment using your old embassy's case number you establish your profile with that case number then you link your payment to your profile.

 

I wish you luck.

[MelOe 187]

13 hours ago, Greenbaum said:

The old Embassy will need to receive a formal file transfer request from that U.S. Embassy/Consulate in the country where you wish to apply. Upon receipt of this request, they will immediately forward the file for the New Embassy to process. (Expect up to a 30 day delay)

 

Thank you Greenbaum. In our case Paris has received the formal file transfer request more than 30 days ago now, so I guess we're just somewhat unlucky. I hope they will transfer the paper application soon. Fingers crossed that the OP has already been able to resolve their transfer request by now. This is a thread from two weeks ago, it just jumped back to the top because I thought I should update what I said earlier to reflect that the transfer between embassies took longer than just a few days for us.

[Yeonju 5]

On 11/20/2019 at 3:04 AM, MelOe said:

Just to revise what I said in this thread previously in case this is relevant information for anyone: Today I found out that the CEAC status changing to ready in Frankfurt only concerned the electronic version of our application, they still haven't received our paper application from Paris as of today and so we are currently unable to advance. Paris has received the transfer request well over a month ago now. Nothing to be done but wait, and because I'm not very good at that I have also just written to Paris to see if I can find out what the holdup is. Fingers crossed your transfer went much more smoothly and you are already starting on the next step

Hi! Thank you for update.  I'm on the same page with you now.

Seoul embassy confirmed that Abu dhabi embassy got our case from NVC and they sent an official request to transfer. They said it might take 5 to 6 weeks.... so I guess we gotta wait until they get our actual documents. Please let me know how it goes, Good luck to both of us! 🙂