Any experience with interviews in Auckland?

[EKT 116]

16 minutes ago, rycilla said:

@EKT I just saw your question about my location! I'm in Auckland! Yeah that sucks that you can't even do medical in South Island. Also I would have thought that people out of Auckland would have been able to go to the Wellington Embassy? But I guess not?  

Ok! We asked about Wellington but it was a hard no. Inflexible bureaucracy lol. I just emailed the immigrant visa unit asking for clarity about reopening. I have a feeling people in Auckland will be able to go earlier simply due to the border restrictions (and fair enough given the megalockdown you guys have been through!). Will post again when I get a reply.

[JoshandSarah 52]

2 minutes ago, EKT said:

Ok! We asked about Wellington but it was a hard no. Inflexible bureaucracy lol. I just emailed the immigrant visa unit asking for clarity about reopening. I have a feeling people in Auckland will be able to go earlier simply due to the border restrictions (and fair enough given the megalockdown you guys have been through!). Will post again when I get a reply.

Yeah so I think only "Consulate Generals" of each country can process visas and the others are for citizens, example would be: 4 U.S. embassies in Australia but only Sydney can process visas cause it's a "Consulate General" 

That's what I take away from what I've seen anyway...I worry for people like you and I who live outside the Auckland boundary and how we can cross, Jacinda has committed to NZ'ers that they will have Christmas and will be able to cross freely by Christmas which is a plus if any for anyone who might not have seen that as well..

[Jovany&Divya 6]

Hi guys i am in my k1 progress also and living in auckland i submited my ds and stuff and they said they progress that and contact me for the next steps, i think maybe we have an way to get an interview hoping they open in phase 2 but with people living outside of auckland this brings no certain on when people will be able to come to auckland. the govt has confused a lot of us.... 

[EKT 116]

Well, this was fairly depressing from B this morning 🤨

 

“Good Morning,

I cannot predict when we are able to open interviews. I can assure you that ******* is on our list of people to notify when an appointment can be scheduled.

 

As soon as the Department of State and the New Zealand government allow, we will let you know.”

 

Hopefully Auckland people will have a shot next week at the very least! Who know what was going on with the contradictory emails from last week??

 

[rycilla 14]

1 minute ago, EKT said:

Well, this was fairly depressing from B this morning 🤨

 

“Good Morning,

I cannot predict when we are able to open interviews. I can assure you that ******* is on our list of people to notify when an appointment can be scheduled.

 

As soon as the Department of State and the New Zealand government allow, we will let you know.”

 

Hopefully Auckland people will have a shot next week at the very least! Who know what was going on with the contradictory emails from last week??

 

I also sent an email, and even quoted how they said they would begin at level 3 step 2. But it was completely brushed off and I received nearly the exact reply this morning sans the “as soon as the dept…” section. 

[EKT 116]

3 minutes ago, rycilla said:

I also sent an email, and even quoted how they said they would begin at level 3 step 2. But it was completely brushed off and I received nearly the exact reply this morning sans the “as soon as the dept…” section. 

Grr… wot. Maybe we should try following up with the New Zealand Government 😅 Honestly I think they’ve kind of shot themselves in the foot by trying so hard to keep Covid contained in Auckland. Roll on 90%

[kas & jewel 8]

Bumping this, has anyone heard anything after the announcement yesterday? Not sure if they are only going to open once the traffic light system hits. I was really hoping they would open once Auckland moved down to Step 2, but I can't see anything on their website 😕 very frustrating  

[Vamp.nz 23]

24 minutes ago, kas & jewel said:

Bumping this, has anyone heard anything after the announcement yesterday? Not sure if they are only going to open once the traffic light system hits. I was really hoping they would open once Auckland moved down to Step 2, but I can't see anything on their website 😕 very frustrating  

Yesterday I received a couple of emails from them, after them ignoring all my fiancé’s and my correspondence over the last month or not answering our questions by giving us generic or copy paste answers, we actually got personalised responses. 

I’ve been waiting since august for packet three. Turns out their incompetence is amazing. They failed to email it….🤬

they couldn’t give me an ‘open for interview date’ but from a previous email I received I was told once they were closer to opening they would be contacting people to line up interviews.

Yesterday  they contacted me out of the blue so I’m hoping this is a sign things might get moving very soon. 

fingers crossed for everyone waiting. 

 

[Vamp.nz 23]

On 11/2/2021 at 9:17 PM, rycilla said:

I also sent an email, and even quoted how they said they would begin at level 3 step 2. But it was completely brushed off and I received nearly the exact reply this morning sans the “as soon as the dept…” section. 

Yeh that’s just a cop out. The dept of state has been dealing with covid since beginning of 2020 they have consulates open around the world, they have an operating procedure for every issue that arises. It will be Nz govt keeping them shut I’m sure 

[JoshandSarah 52]

1 hour ago, kas & jewel said:

Bumping this, has anyone heard anything after the announcement yesterday? Not sure if they are only going to open once the traffic light system hits. I was really hoping they would open once Auckland moved down to Step 2, but I can't see anything on their website 😕 very frustrating  

Yeah I got an email back yesterday, I've already done everything required, just waiting on them now, read below...

 

Good afternoon Joshua,

 

Under the current alert level settings, our office are unable to resume normal operations.  It is yet to be confirmed by the State Department in conjunction with the New Zealand government guidance, at which stage of the incoming "traffic light system" we will be able to resume, but in the meantime we help to ensure your case file is prepared and ready to go, so that when we are able to go live, we have all we require from you.

 

If you have not yet submitted your documents as requested in packet 3 & 4, we encourage you to work on getting these to us in the meantime.  If you are yet to have your medical completed, please leave this until we have reopened as your medical is valid for six months from the date it is done.

 

If your I-129F petition has or is about to expire, we will require a signed email statement from the U.S. citizen petitioner requesting such an extension and still wishes to pursue the K1 application by confirming that you are both still in a relationship together. 

[EKT 116]

Well, that’s promising people are finally getting unsolicited emails! They should start interviewing Auckland-based people this month at the very least to get things moving. Bring in Nov 29th 

[JoshandSarah 52]

9 minutes ago, EKT said:

Well, that’s promising people are finally getting unsolicited emails! They should start interviewing Auckland-based people this month at the very least to get things moving. Bring in Nov 29th 

Totally, can't wait!

[MelanieR18 29]

Hi everyone, I got an email from B this morning! Great news, sounds like the embassy is opening up soon. They must be getting things lined up for when we go to the red traffic light setting

 

Good Morning,

We have just been advised that soon we will be able to schedule an interview for your visa category.

 

In order to schedule an interview we must have all of your original civil documents and other items scanned into your CEAC profile as advised by the NVC. If you do not remember which items need to be sent to our office, you can review the information on the Travel.state.gov website.

 

Upon receipt of the original documents as well as completing the scanned documents required, when we are able to start scheduling appointments, we can include you. You will need to send a courier envelope with the original documents. This is so we can return the passport to you after the interview.

 

Regards,

B

Immigrant Visa Assistant

IMMIGRANT VISA SECTION

UNITED STATES CONSULATE GENERAL

PRIVATE BAG 92022

3rd Floor, CITIGROUP BLDG.,

23 CUSTOMS STREET EAST

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

[EKT 116]

3 hours ago, MelanieR18 said:

 

In order to schedule an interview we must have all of your original civil documents and other items scanned into your CEAC profile as advised by the NVC. If you do not remember which items need to be sent to our office, you can review the information on the Travel.state.gov website.

 

Upon receipt of the original documents as well as completing the scanned documents required, when we are able to start scheduling appointments, we can include you. You will need to send a courier envelope with the original documents. This is so we can return the passport to you after the interview.

Awesome! Does anyone know if financial documents need to be updated? All of the bank statements and mortgage statements (proof of assets for I-864) in our CEAC portal are from April 2021 when we submitted our documents to NVC. 

[JoshandSarah 52]

4 hours ago, MelanieR18 said:

Hi everyone, I got an email from B this morning! Great news, sounds like the embassy is opening up soon. They must be getting things lined up for when we go to the red traffic light setting

 

Good Morning,

We have just been advised that soon we will be able to schedule an interview for your visa category.

 

In order to schedule an interview we must have all of your original civil documents and other items scanned into your CEAC profile as advised by the NVC. If you do not remember which items need to be sent to our office, you can review the information on the Travel.state.gov website.

 

Upon receipt of the original documents as well as completing the scanned documents required, when we are able to start scheduling appointments, we can include you. You will need to send a courier envelope with the original documents. This is so we can return the passport to you after the interview.

 

Regards,

B

Immigrant Visa Assistant

IMMIGRANT VISA SECTION

UNITED STATES CONSULATE GENERAL

PRIVATE BAG 92022

3rd Floor, CITIGROUP BLDG.,

23 CUSTOMS STREET EAST

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Sounds like they are processing people based on their visas, so it’s visa specific depending on priority etc, so for anyone here who doesn’t know yet, just make sure the person you’re comparing to is on the same visa as you, as interview slots will be different based on the visa you’re on 😊