Newbie question on Parents application

[SAtoUSA 2]

Firstly hello all I am new to this forum which I found while searching for help on my Mother and Fathers application, me I am a US citizen and trying to bring my Mother and Father over to the US from South Africa. To date I have been doing the application on my own but have recently hit a few roadblocks and I fear I am running out of time on the 1 year rule for the DS260 and need some advice from some experienced members.

Here is the summary so far:

I-130 application filed - Aug 2020

I-130 approved - June 2021

DS260 application filed with all supporting documents and fees - July 2021

DS260 rejected on December 2021 for 2 documents need original marriage certificate and military records

 

For clarification the marriage certificate I sent originally was in English and was the copy my parents received form the church they were married at in South Africa and not the Home Affairs marriage certificate (this was the same one I submitted for the I130 application which was accepted), also the military records for my Father for which he had only completed the required 6 months basic conscription required by all South African males at the time could not be located.

We applied for both the official Home Affairs marriage certificate and military records in December 2021 in South Africa and have been following up every week with the Home Affairs and South African Defense Force for an update on the status of issuing the official documents and to date 05/09/2022 the South African Home Affairs and SADF have not responded with any documents or the status of the applications.  We have the official application requests and payment for the applications dated Dec 2021 when we applied for the documents, however we are now getting very close to the 1 year rule after the DS260 application which could mean the application is cancelled because we have not submitted any additional documents after the request in Dec 2021 because we are still waiting for the documents to be issued 5 months after the applications in South Africa.

 

Any advice from fellow members, should we submit a hand written letter signed by my Mother and Father explaining the last 5 months and include the application forms for the marriage and military documents and the weekly email correspondence showing no updates? Will this help or hurt our case, what are the consequences of exceeding the 1 year post application date without submitting the corrected documents if we have no control or ability to get the corrected documents?

Any input advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. I wish I had found this forum sooner 🙂

[Redro 4,611]

11 minutes ago, SAtoUSA said:

Firstly hello all I am new to this forum which I found while searching for help on my Mother and Fathers application, me I am a US citizen and trying to bring my Mother and Father over to the US from South Africa. To date I have been doing the application on my own but have recently hit a few roadblocks and I fear I am running out of time on the 1 year rule for the DS260 and need some advice from some experienced members.

Here is the summary so far:

I-130 application filed - Aug 2020

I-130 approved - June 2021

DS260 application filed with all supporting documents and fees - July 2021

DS260 rejected on December 2021 for 2 documents need original marriage certificate and military records

 

For clarification the marriage certificate I sent originally was in English and was the copy my parents received form the church they were married at in South Africa and not the Home Affairs marriage certificate (this was the same one I submitted for the I130 application which was accepted), also the military records for my Father for which he had only completed the required 6 months basic conscription required by all South African males at the time could not be located.

We applied for both the official Home Affairs marriage certificate and military records in December 2021 in South Africa and have been following up every week with the Home Affairs and South African Defense Force for an update on the status of issuing the official documents and to date 05/09/2022 the South African Home Affairs and SADF have not responded with any documents or the status of the applications.  We have the official application requests and payment for the applications dated Dec 2021 when we applied for the documents, however we are now getting very close to the 1 year rule after the DS260 application which could mean the application is cancelled because we have not submitted any additional documents after the request in Dec 2021 because we are still waiting for the documents to be issued 5 months after the applications in South Africa.

 

Any advice from fellow members, should we submit a hand written letter signed by my Mother and Father explaining the last 5 months and include the application forms for the marriage and military documents and the weekly email correspondence showing no updates? Will this help or hurt our case, what are the consequences of exceeding the 1 year post application date without submitting the corrected documents if we have no control or ability to get the corrected documents?

Any input advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. I wish I had found this forum sooner 🙂

So sorry you're dealing with slow SA service. 

seekingthetruth has a post up on how to keep your case active at NVC after submission of DS260. 

 

 

I suggest you send a message to NVC (AskNVC portal) and explain you are still waiting on documents. 

Alternatively. you can upload statements and documentation showing you have applied for the documentation needed and will try to produce them at the interview. 

Best case they DQ you. Worst case you receive another RFE. 

Edited May 9, 2022 by ROK2USA

[SAtoUSA 2]

Thanks ROK2USA read the post and I do login to the CEAC portal frequently just to check if there is any messages or status updates so this should not be problem hope they track the login times so they can see I am using the portal 🙂.

Any advice on submitting a written letter and the supporting applications and emails? I guess it couldn't hurt right?

[Redro 4,611]

14 minutes ago, SAtoUSA said:

Thanks ROK2USA read the post and I do login to the CEAC portal frequently just to check if there is any messages or status updates so this should not be problem hope they track the login times so they can see I am using the portal 🙂.

Any advice on submitting a written letter and the supporting applications and emails? I guess it couldn't hurt right?

The might not. So the advice is to contact NVC through the portal so you have tangible proof if they ever close the case by mistake. 

NVC Portal: simple statement. I have applied for unabridged marriage certificate and military records. I will upload them as soon as I receive them. Please do not close my case. 

 

Uploading statement in place of the actual documents:

A simple signed statement summarizing what you wrote in your OP. 

We've reached out to Home Affairs for the unabridged marriage certificate but have not received it yet. Here is proof of application. I will provide the correct documents at interview.

 

Hopefully you can get the documents soon. I think it took Home Affairs 1 year to send my birth certificate. 😑

[SAtoUSA 2]

1 minute ago, ROK2USA said:

The might not. So the advice is to contact NVC through the portal so you have tangible proof if they ever close the case by mistake. 

NVC Portal: simple statement. I have applied for unabridged marriage certificate and military records. I will upload them as soon as I receive them. Please do not close my case. 

 

Uploading statement in place of the actual documents:

A simple signed statement summarizing what you wrote in your OP. 

We've reached out to Home Affairs for the unabridged marriage certificate but have not received it yet. Here is proof of application. I will provide the correct documents at interview.

 

Hopefully you can get the documents soon. I think it took Home Affairs 1 year to send my birth certificate. 😑

Awesome thank you good information appreciate the response, and yes I can easily see the application taking 1 year or more with the delay being attributed to COVID and other issues.

[Redro 4,611]

7 hours ago, SAtoUSA said:

Awesome thank you good information appreciate the response, and yes I can easily see the application taking 1 year or more with the delay being attributed to COVID and other issues.

*whispers*

I applied for my unabridged birth certificate in early 2019. 

Edited May 9, 2022 by ROK2USA

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

i hate those agents because they are part of the problem, but sometimes you need to be expedient and use them.

 

Or you could be cheeky like me, and send an indignant letter to the minister, cc’ing the regional manager of home affairs for your province. I got responses  from both offices and the birth certificate in question a week later. (Different minister then though.)

[SAtoUSA 2]

21 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

i hate those agents because they are part of the problem, but sometimes you need to be expedient and use them.

 

Or you could be cheeky like me, and send an indignant letter to the minister, cc’ing the regional manager of home affairs for your province. I got responses  from both offices and the birth certificate in question a week later. (Different minister then though.)

We have taken this route recently and contacted the necessary ministers for assistance, the military documents worry me the most as the SADF archives are very confused.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

2 hours ago, SAtoUSA said:

We have taken this route recently and contacted the necessary ministers for assistance, the military documents worry me the most as the SADF archives are very confused.

This is the first i’ve heard of issues with old SADF records. My husband got his records pretty quickly, but that was a few years ago.

[Redro 4,611]

4 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

i hate those agents because they are part of the problem, but sometimes you need to be expedient and use them.

 

Or you could be cheeky like me, and send an indignant letter to the minister, cc’ing the regional manager of home affairs for your province. I got responses  from both offices and the birth certificate in question a week later. (Different minister then though.)

Got to be careful with the agents, too. 

Just one agent was issuing forged PCCs and charging people R5000. 

[SAtoUSA 2]

9 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

This is the first i’ve heard of issues with old SADF records. My husband got his records pretty quickly, but that was a few years ago.

The first request to the SADF was returned in about 4 weeks however the records determined my Father was in the military from 1985 to 1987 for 2 year basic training, however this was incorrect as my Father only served 6 months of basic training required in 1965. We requested the SADF to review the information and provide the corrected records but to date some 4 months later we have heard nothing back from the SADF.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

10 hours ago, ROK2USA said:

Got to be careful with the agents, too. 

Just one agent was issuing forged PCCs and charging people R5000. 

I meant agents for home affairs… I didn’t even realize there was an issue with getting PCCs, is that new?

[SAtoUSA 2]

7 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

I meant agents for home affairs… I didn’t even realize there was an issue with getting PCCs, is that new?

Not that I am aware of, my parents got there PCC however it did take a long time to receive them around 3-4 months from the date of application. When my parents originally applied they were told the processing is backlogged and could take as long as 6-8months currently.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

26 minutes ago, SAtoUSA said:

Not that I am aware of, my parents got there PCC however it did take a long time to receive them around 3-4 months from the date of application. When my parents originally applied they were told the processing is backlogged and could take as long as 6-8months currently.

Sheesh. When we did ours there was a strike at the records office and it took us about a month to get them, i believe normal processing times then was about a week. Luckily DoS now allows 2 years validity for PCCs, i guess issues like this have been happening in a lot of countries. 

[Redro 4,611]

15 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

I meant agents for home affairs… I didn’t even realize there was an issue with getting PCCs, is that new?

Some people need their PCCs super quick for jobs here in Korea. 

This agency was claiming they could get the document in 3-5 days with premium processing. 

News came out that Korea is discovering some of the PCCs are forged.

Apparently they are working on cases submitted end of January/start of Feb right now... 

Most of the agents I see handle several different processes. So, you can get your PCC, your birth certificate or help with the retention of SA citizenship. 

/sorry about the tangent. 

Edited May 11, 2022 by ROK2USA