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We have been trying to schedule an interview with the ais system that our consulate uses since January 16th, and get system is busy, please try again later every time. It allowed us to pay the visa fee and customer service at the consulate says there is no interview slots.

Does anyone have any experience with this or advice? We have continually been trying every day.

Hello all my name is Erik (United States/Reno/Nevada/Washoe County) and I'm with my fiance Gisell (Dominican Republic/Santo Domingo) and we are starting the K1 Visa process. I really want to make sure that I do everything correctly because we only want to do this once as I'm sure many of you share that sentiment and in doing correctly it will be the fastest. I am legally disabled but do not collect SSI, I collect Survivor's Benefits which I understand do count towards my income. We met on a secure dating website called Boo. I should say she found me and took a chance on me and we fell madly in love. I already spent 34 days with her in the Dominican Republic and will be going back in May to spend 8 months with her there while the process plays out. I will be using a co sponsor on the application as my income is just shy. My Mom will be the co sponsor, but she is also legally disabled and of retirement age, owns her own home and will be using that as collateral for me under the public charge rule. Gisell is not a public charge under any means. Her health is fine and looks that way for the foreseeable future. I just really want to do this correctly and will do anything I need to make sure it is processed correctly. Any help and forwarding of knowledge will really help us out. It's been extremely hard being apart and we just want to be together as soon as possible in the United States.

Thank You very much

Erik and Gisell

This morning my wife had her CR1 interview in Manila and she was told specifically by interviewing officer that:

Petitioner needs to have enough financially to support

Joint sponsor not acceptable because they are retired

Here is a quick overview of case details

30 year old petitioner currently unemployed but has individual brokerage account valued at $85,000 at time of interview

71 year old father as joint sponsor and 68 year old mother as household member of father, current income (going by their combined social security benefits as well as pension) of $64,000, which is decently above the minimum needed for household of 3.

My wife then was explained by a separate person before leaving about the 221G and was told the proof of domicile is about letter of intention to work and support wife. I am somewhat concerned that there is a disconnect on the specific reasoning from the interviewing officer and how that other person explained the letter to my wife. My wife felt stonewalled at the interview as she tried to show financial documents. The interviewing officer even asked who these two names were (implying that they didn't go over the overall evidence and joint sponsors i864 and i864a?).

From what I understood learning about this process, the petitioner being unemployed is not a problem as long as they have a joint sponsor and or assets that meet requirements. And I also had the understanding that social security and being retired for the joint sponsor is not a problem.

I had sideloaded to ceac a lot of evidence a week before with updated statements,and my wife had it all ready for the officer to look in person as well. They have petitioner brokerage full statement from a year ago, 6 months ago, and then the latest month as well as current balance letter a week before interview date. Current social security benefits letter were uploaded for the joint sponsor parents of the petitioner. I also had included proof of domicile (as petitioner has been in manila for almost a year now on temporary stay visiting wife and supporting her through process while waiting) with a detailed letter of intention for myself as well as my parents that is notarized that they are close with their son and allow petitioner and the beneficiary to live with them at their primary owned home as well as the secondary owned home if desired. They have petitioner valid state ID, and local bank account statement. They also have joint sponsor birth certificates and proof of domicile. Also two pdfs with extensive relationship evidence showing family pictures and the extended stay.

I have considered contacting the embassy using this page: https://ph.usembassy.gov/contact-us-visas/ in an attempt to clarify my case situation as my opinion is that the officer didn't really consider the totality of the situation as well as closely look at the documents and perhaps going by incorrect guidelines unless I am entirely mistaken on the retirement thing being a new problem for the joint sponsor. And I would also add that I believe petitioner asset amount is very close to the needed three times amount of minimum. At the very least it's close and it's not like the petitioner has nothing or plans to live in a big city.

Check out the 221g itself and give comments to provide insight. Is it possible to have a second look at this from a different officer who would hopefully go over the full evidence more closely? Do people view this also as the only option is that the petition needs to work immediately? Obviously if they toss aside the joint sponsor then it is understandable that even with that amount of assets it's not a particularly large amount over the guideline amount.. though it's obviously better than an unemployed petitioner who has close to nothing as well as not a close relationship to her parents and no reliable home. I would have thought the totality of the situation would have been enough here compared to plenty of other cases.

Thanks all.

Hi,

Recently we received the message that my 21-years-old nephew's ESTA application was denied no reason was given. The notification mentions "You are not authorized to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. You may be able to obtain a visa from the Department of State for your travel."

He has never been to the U.S. before and currently he is in a military pre-enlistment program in his country. He wanted to visit me together with his sibling (who has a visa and visited the U.S. 6 years ago) for about 2.5 weeks. I wrote my Congressman, but know that's a longshot. Is there even a point to apply for a tourist visa after an ESTA refusal?

Thanks,

V.

Hello, we are in the "Case Ready" stage of of NVC. I followed the instructions on the VN embassy website to register the address and complete the DS-160.

We paid for the Visa registration and registered the address on USTraveldocs but the website still says payment not received. Have you all completed this step and how did it go? Are we supposed to receive Packet 3 in the mail or via email?