Is it even worth trying to expedite?

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

1 hour ago, Gaz1a said:

I wish I could do this for London, I’ve emailed several times and nothing. Does anybody have any IV contacts?

From what I've gathered, there isn't a direct email for the IVU. You have to fill out the online form here:

 

https://uk.usembassy.gov/iv-contact/

 

I did this (because I had a general question for them) and the email response they sent me came from this email address: londoninfounit@state.gov

 

However, I do not know that they will reply to a direct email sent to that address. 

[os306 103]

19 hours ago, The4Sands said:

Well, I emailed USCIS yesterday explaining the worsening situation with my mom's cancer (and I threw in there that my brother in not able to help at this time because he's deployed in the Middle East with the Air Force, for good measure.  Which is true.) and someone emailed me back just now and said:

 

Now that we have your response to our Request for Evidence, we will prioritize completing the adjudication of your I-130. Once we have adjudicated it and made a decision, we will send out a decision notice as soon as we are able to.

 

 

Please keep in mind that if the I-130 is approved, then your spouse would need to follow the steps to apply for an immigrant visa. This is handled by the Consular Section’s Immigrant Visa Unit, a separate entity at U.S. Embassy London. More information on the immigrant visa process is available at https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas/family-immigration/how-to-apply-2/. As there are many steps to this process that could take some time, you, as a U.S. citizen, may wish to consider traveling to the U.S. before your spouse is able to join you.

 

So, that's good, I think, but it's making me nervous about the next bits.  Nothing I can do but get my ducks in a row (which we have mostly done), I guess.  But I do have a new question: who issues the LND number, USCIS or the IVU at the embassy?  Just wondering who I will need the hound next, pretty much. I've seen others saying it would take up to 5 weeks to get it, which feels like a long time to me at the moment.

 

That's great. Well done, The4Sands! Fingers crossed your I-130 is adjudicated soon.

 

One other thing to bear in mind is the availability of interviews at the London US Embassy (it looks like the earliest slots are currently in August, according to this thread: https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/738755-july-interview-dates-open-for-london/page/2/#comments). Good luck!

 

 

[The4Sands 67]

Well, I got my I-130 NOA2 letter today, so that feels pretty quick! It does indeed say that under "normal" circumstances I will get my LND number "within 5 weeks" which does not feel quick.

 

As per @Paul & Mary's advice up-thread I will try to contact the embassy next week to see if it is possible to get it sooner. Is there any chance we can get an interview date in July/August even if the ones on the website are all taken already? Anybody have an experience of getting an interview when none seemed available?

[Wuozopo 4,285]

4 hours ago, The4Sands said:

Is there any chance we can get an interview date in July/August even if the ones on the website are all taken already?

I think you will be competing with the K1s for what’s available on the website. A lot of their files are hung up at NVC so they can’t get into the system until the embassy Visa unit has their file. Maybe you will get ahead of them before NVC sets them free. But people cancel, opening spots or as they get more workers back they may open up more slots. There’s hope. 

Edited June 11, 2020 by Wuozopo

[os306 103]

On 6/11/2020 at 5:57 PM, The4Sands said:

Well, I got my I-130 NOA2 letter today, so that feels pretty quick! It does indeed say that under "normal" circumstances I will get my LND number "within 5 weeks" which does not feel quick.

 

As per @Paul & Mary's advice up-thread I will try to contact the embassy next week to see if it is possible to get it sooner. Is there any chance we can get an interview date in July/August even if the ones on the website are all taken already? Anybody have an experience of getting an interview when none seemed available?

Hi @The4Sands, did you end up contacting the IVU to see if you were able to receive your LND number sooner? Any luck?

[The4Sands 67]

10 minutes ago, os306 said:

Hi @The4Sands, did you end up contacting the IVU to see if you were able to receive your LND number sooner? Any luck?

Hi @os306, thanks for asking.  Nope, I just spent the last 20 minutes going round the embassy phone tree seeing if I could speak to a real person, but it was very similar to my phone calls to the IRS in that all the messages just said that they were not taking phone calls on any visa matters at all.  I've used the contact form on their website, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope for that one, especially as it says that without an LND there will probably be significant delays in responding.  

 

Has anyone seen movement from the Embassy at all recently?  

 

[os306 103]

6 minutes ago, The4Sands said:

Hi @os306, thanks for asking.  Nope, I just spent the last 20 minutes going round the embassy phone tree seeing if I could speak to a real person, but it was very similar to my phone calls to the IRS in that all the messages just said that they were not taking phone calls on any visa matters at all.  I've used the contact form on their website, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope for that one, especially as it says that without an LND there will probably be significant delays in responding.  

 

Has anyone seen movement from the Embassy at all recently?  

 

Sorry to hear you weren't able to get through to anyone. No activity on my end beyond my credit card being charged a couple of weeks ago....

[The4Sands 67]

3 hours ago, os306 said:

Hi @The4Sands, did you end up contacting the IVU to see if you were able to receive your LND number sooner? Any luck?

Well, I heard back from the Embassy.  It was not helpful.

 

The first reply said, "When an application is being processed by National Visa Center (NVC), any questions - including about expediting processing - are a matter for NVC. An expedite request cannot be submitted directly to the Immigrant Visa Unit in London."   

 

So I emailed back explaining that my application had never been with NVC and that my approval letter from USCIS said that I would receive a letter from the IVU with my case number and would it be possible to have the case number now instead of waiting the 5 weeks indicated in the letter. And I got this auto-reply, "If you have a question about a future visa application or an application that has been in process since before March 20, 2020, please be aware that we are unable to provide guidance at this time beyond what is offered on that webpage and elsewhere on our website. We ask that you continue to monitor our website for updates, and submit a contact form request only after normal visa services have resumed."

 

Not much I can do now except hope that's the standard auto-reply to all emails that go to that email address and hope that an actual person will read my reply and see the urgency of my situation.  But I'm not holding my breath. USCIS may be working on petitions, but this makes it seem that the IVU at the Consulate is not working on visa applications 🙁

 

Will update if I hear anything else.

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by The4Sands

[Wuozopo 4,285]

7 minutes ago, The4Sands said:

USCIS may be working on petitions, this makes it seem that the IVU at the Consulate is not working on visa applications 🙁

Probably not because visa cases are being held at NVC and not forwarded to embassies.  Interviews are halted, so no daily cases or work on or visas to issue. About all they could work on is clearing up old AP cases or dealing with your case that got sent from London USCIS. That could be good news for you if they have enough staff in place. 

[The4Sands 67]

23 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

Probably not because visa cases are being held at NVC and not forwarded to embassies.  Interviews are halted, so no daily cases or work on or visas to issue. About all they could work on is clearing up old AP cases or dealing with your case that got sent from London USCIS. That could be good news for you if they have enough staff in place. 

Thanks for the encouragement, @Wuozopo.  I'm not great at seeing silver linings and it's helpful to have opinions from outside my own head 😊

[Morgan5698 58]

On 6/16/2020 at 12:56 PM, The4Sands said:

Well, I heard back from the Embassy.  It was not helpful.

I did the same about 6 weeks ago as I'm on about week 14 now since I-130 approval. Letter stated "(Petition) has been forwarded to the United States Consulate at London (who will) advise the beneficiary in writing within five weeks....)". I emailed on week 6 and just got an generic reply similar to yours. So I also have no LND number etc. There's one or two people who are in a similar boat I think on this forum. 

[The4Sands 67]

7 minutes ago, Morgan5698 said:

I did the same about 6 weeks ago as I'm on about week 14 now since I-130 approval. Letter stated "(Petition) has been forwarded to the United States Consulate at London (who will) advise the beneficiary in writing within five weeks....)". I emailed on week 6 and just got an generic reply similar to yours. So I also have no LND number etc. There's one or two people who are in a similar boat I think on this forum. 

Oh man, that sucks.  14 weeks is a long time.  I'm sorry.  Here's hoping that they do like @Wuozopo said and start clearing their current backlog soon. 

 

[Morgan5698 58]

11 minutes ago, The4Sands said:

Oh man, that sucks.  14 weeks is a long time.  I'm sorry.  Here's hoping that they do like @Wuozopo said and start clearing their current backlog soon. 

To be honest I'm not too frustrated as everyone is in the same boat (if not tougher as we got I-130 through London in time) so it is what it is. Once it gets going things will improve. I am thinking any day now in next month or so things will start happening again, they already are in small increments like your i-130 approval so good sign things will pick up soon!  

[os306 103]

2 hours ago, Morgan5698 said:

I did the same about 6 weeks ago as I'm on about week 14 now since I-130 approval. Letter stated "(Petition) has been forwarded to the United States Consulate at London (who will) advise the beneficiary in writing within five weeks....)". I emailed on week 6 and just got an generic reply similar to yours. So I also have no LND number etc. There's one or two people who are in a similar boat I think on this forum. 

 Week 14....argh, that is frustrating. From what I recall, your approval came in pretty much the week that lockdown was instituted. I think it's safe to assume that nothing happened IVU processing-wise while the lockdown was in place. Because the Embassy reopened this week and last, I would like to hope that you will receive your LND number soon.

[Morgan5698 58]

17 hours ago, os306 said:

Week 14....argh, that is frustrating. From what I recall, your approval came in pretty much the week that lockdown was instituted. I think it's safe to assume that nothing happened IVU processing-wise while the lockdown was in place. Because the Embassy reopened this week and last, I would like to hope that you will receive your LND number soon.

Haha thanks. I guess thankfully my wife lives here with me, we don't have A need to be in the US ASAP so we've been able to just knuckle down and wait it out, I know its been much tougher for some. You're right, I think the lockdown happened about 4 days after our i-130 approval, so I figure in effective terms we are probably about 2-3 weeks into the 5 week wait!  Either that or it's sitting under someones half eaten sandwich for past 3 months, there's a thought.