dressalsl

Si, en función de lo que vi de otros países, yo también pensaba que la embajada enviaría un paquete. De cualquier manera, tal y cómo te aconsejaron, no viene de más llevar la documentación aportada al USCIS y al NVC, es lo que haremos nosotros. En este aspecto, prefiero prevenir e ir sobrepreparada y no necesitarlo, que no viceversa.
Ánimo Andressa que dentro de poco ya habréis acabado!!
Algunas partes de este proceso han costado un poco, otras no, lo bueno es que siga adelante y se mantenga en movimiento.
Un saludo.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3731.html
there's the "general" list of items they require you to bring. I checked your country "Madrid, Spain" and it says they have no other specific items they request... which is good, El Salvador had another list of 10 items they request.
as for the NVC Appointment Letter, I got mine by email, you should maybe call the NVC and see when and where you will be receiving it...
edit: make sure you get your medical exams on the 23rd when you do them since you have to report with them on the 24th, some places tell you they will drop it off themselves, I wouldn't trust them with such a short time before the interview...

Hola Andressa,
Me alegro oír que tienes una entrevista en unos días...cuanto más corto el proceso, mejor!
Sobre los documentos que tienes que llevar, todos los casos son diferentes, y nosotros llevamos todo lo que habíamos mandado al USCIS y el NVC + los originales de documentos que solo mandamos una fotocopia. Más que nada era para tenerlo todo a mano, nadie sabe lo que te van a pedir o no en la entrevista. Siento que no te puedo ayudar más, pero como te digo, cada caso lo toman como un mundo aparte.
Lo mejor que puedes hacer es ir a la página web oficial: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3731.html. Esta página te dice lo que tienes que llevar.
Espero que os vaya bien en Madrid, suerte y ánimo chicos!
Ryan

Hola Andressa,
Me alegro que todo te va bien con el proceso!
Sobre alojamiento, personalmente yo no me quedaría cerca de la embajada porque es una zona de oficinas y no hay mucho que hacer ni ver...con eso dicho, nosotros quedamos en unos apartamentos. Tiene más espacio que un hotel y tienes una cocina, nevera, salón y wifi. Se llama apartamentos palacio real, están en la zona La Latina. Es una zona con mucho ocio, bares de tapas, y hay una parada de metro muy cerca. Es la misma linea que coges para ir a la embajada (tardas unos 10 minutos en llegar). Una buena página web para mirar hoteles y reservar es booking.com, puedes elegir muchas opciones depende de lo que buscas.
Espero que esto te ayuda un poco, y si tienes más preguntas no dudes en escribirnos!!
Saludos,
Ryan y Pamela

Hola!
Cuando llamas al centro médico, tienes que decirles la fecha de tu entrevista...si no la tienes todavía, esperate hasta que tengas la carta del NVC con la fecha.
El examen médico tarda una hora más o menos. Primero hablas con el médico y rellena un cuestionario que tienes que firmar con él; seguidamente te hace una oscultación muy por encima y te pasan con la enfermera. Ahí te sacan un poco de sangre y ella revisa las vacunas. Lo más importante es que tengas las tres que te ponen de pequeña, la triple vírica (sarampión, rubeola y paperas) y el tétanos. Si alguna no la tienes, no hay problema, te la ponen ellos, pero cuesta 30€ cada vacuna.
Luego te mandan al hospital el mismo día con un papel que entregas allí y te hacen la radiografía. Como mucho esperas 10 minutos en la sala de espera.
Creo que en total nos costó un par de horas, entre estar en el médico, andar hasta el hospital y la radiografía. Antes de comer acabas.
Cuando llames al centro médico te ponen una grabación que te explica qué tienes que llevar, pero asegurate de llevar el dinero en metálico, no aceptan tarjetas.
Eso es todo. Si tienes alguna pregunta más no dudes en escribirnos. Esperamos que todo os vaya muy bien y os lo concedan pronto. Mucha suerte!!

Hello to everyone,
First of all I would like to thank everyone on this site - their information, forums, and comments really help you through the whole process. There is just so much information out there (some good, some bad) and sometimes it feels overwhelming. This site has helped us with the process and that´s why I think it´s also important to share information and personal experiences with others here - to give back and to ultimately help others who are or will soon be in the same situation as the rest of us. With that said....
Our journey was with the Madrid Embassy in Spain. I will be relating some of this post to the information already posted on the Madrid embassy on this site, and the rest of this post will be on our personal experiences and opinions....any feedback is more than welcome of course!
The interview for my wife (the Spanish citizen) was scheduled by the NVC for March 8 at 15.00, which was a Thursday afternoon. Obviously this does not coincide with the information on this site - and from what I have previously read until now - that the inteviews were always on Wednesdays in the morning.
There are 2 different places to have the medical exam done in Madrid. We decided to go with the Unidad Medica Angloamericana. We were satisfied with the way we were treated and everything went smoothly. You do need to take 2 american sized (5cm x 5cm) passport photos with you. When my wife was in the embassy waiting to be interviewed, she spoke with another couple that had their medical exam at the Centro de Radioagnostico and they said that they had problems. I would suggest going to the Unidad Medica Angloamericana, the hospital where you have to get an x-ray done is about a 20 minute walk away, but if it´s a nice day in Madrid it´s not a problem.
Regarding the interview, I have read information stating that women cannot bring in their purses, etc. My wife did not go with her purse and once in she asked if she could have brought it and they said it would be no problem. Take what you will from this...I´m not suggesting to go in with a backpack or a laptop, but I´m pretty sure you can bring a purse. They only made my wife leave here cell phone with the security guard at the gate. When I went with her to the interview, I asked if I could go into the Embassy with her. They said that I could not enter because I was not on the list. I did not press the issue and stayed outside. When my wife´s number got called for the interview, the consulate officer asked ¨Where is your husband?¨. She told him that the security guards would not let me in....to which he replied ¨he could have come in if he wanted¨. Maybe I should have pressed the issue more or showed him my American passport. My wife also saw other couples in the interview office waiting.....what I´m trying to say is that I´m pretty sure you have the right to go in with your husband/wife, you might have to press the issue a little bit, but hey, if you get in that´s the important thing.
Her interview was no problem. They reviewed her petition that they had recieved from the NVC (she took in copies of everything just in case) and did not ask for more passport photos, although I do suggest taking a few extra just in case. She was asked the following 3 questions: Where did you meet your husband? Where do you plan to live in the U.S.? What will you do when you are there? She responded to all of them, he said that all of the paperwork looked good to him and said ¨Congratulations, your visa is approved.¨ It will be sent to our house in about 7-10 days.
So that was our trip to Madrid! Had some sleepless nights the whole week of the trip, but if you have your paperpwork approved from the NVC and have nothing to hide (being a bone fide marriage) you should not worry! We´ve been married 7 years now and are moving to the states because the job situation is horrible here, hope everything works out!
I hope you can extract some useful information from this post and good luck with your journey!
If anyone has any questions/comments, I will be checking this post and will try to respond as best I can.

Make sure you inform NVC that your lawyer is no longer attached to this case and that you want the petitioner to act as agent from now on.

Another benefit of having a lawyer is that since the lawyer is automatically designated as the agent for the case, no DS-3032 has to be submitted, so the AOS and IV fees are invoiced at the same time, so you shave off a few days.
But, most lawyers slow down the process by taking their time (as they don't place the same importance as the petitioner/beneficiary), so in the end, having a lawyer isn't really beneficial, unless your case is complex.

This seems pretty typical of most people's experience. The lawyer ends up costing hundreds and hundreds of dollars and just slows the process down. After all, no one on Earth cares about your case like you do. So, people pay lots of money and then end up often having to fill out most of the paper work and do most of the leg work themselves.
In my opinion, the only point where it makes sense to hire a lawyer is if you have to fight a consulate's bad decision.

Sounds like your lawyer is just slowing your case down (as is typical with most cases with a lawyer). Honestly, I'm sure you two can handle this on your own. All that's left is to wait for a case complete (unless you're missing documents, in which you just mail back what they request). Then you wait for an interview letter, have a medical done, and attend the interview. There's not much else the lawyer has to do at this point.
IMO, I'd say drop him, inform NVC of this change, and in return, you'll save money for the medical and the move to the US

The process is not working against me. It wants to delay my case but God is powerful we will get it over!!!!

Lately, it's been taking about 2-3 weeks from NOA2 to case number assigned. Check out the spreadsheet in my signature. You can look at all the recent NVC processing timelines.

1:- while using I-130 course.Is k3(spouse) option availabe while petitioner is living in beneficiry country togather?
K3 is almost dead. Suggest you to go with CR-1/IR-1. It takes almost same amount of the time. Be honest, CR-1/IR-1 is more faster.
2:- Is affidavit of sport required before entring USA,while using I-130 course? if yes then
Yes, it is. That is stage 2nd, I-864.
3:- If petitioner living outside usa since March 2009. and not working since 3 years,Then what is the way to give affidavit of sport?
Get a co-sponsor.
4:- What these papers because some people have these things in their time lines
Example September 2, 2011: AOS invoice received, OPTIN email for EP sent
September 7, 2011: Paid AOS bill (payment portal showed PAID on September 9, 2011)
When your case has transferred to NVC, then it will generate your NVC case number, and after that invoice for AOS, then you can pay for the same.
5:- How can we pay Aos bills while living outside usa,and not having money is any bank in dollars?
Must be paid thru USA bank account only. There is no alternate option to pay. Must have an account in USA.
6:- How much is time required to complete the i-130 process till entry in usa,while both live togather in benificeries country and case is in california centre.
Average time is 5 months.
7:-If some one gets entry in usa on k3 visa while I-130 is under process.Does interview helds in benificiry country, from where they filled papers.
Better to skip K3 route, it is time wasting and alot of money wasting. It is almost dead track. Go with CR-1/IR-1.
Hope it helps.

The statement I put in bold is incorrect. An I-129F is a petition filed by a US Citizen with USCIS, in no way, shape, or form does it grant a foreign spouse permission to enter the US. The foreign spouse will still need to apply for and be issued a visa before coming to the US and the foreign spouse will not be able to apply until the petition filed on their behalf is approved.
Since 2006, USCIS has been tying I-129F petitions together with the I-130 it was filed in conjunction with (USCIS does so by pulling the I-130 from its current place in the queue and placing it with the I-129F that was just submitted).
Your petitions have been tied together and will likely be adjudicated at the same time. If both are approved, they will be sent to the NVC. If the NVC receives both petitions at the same time or if the NVC receives the I-130 before receiving the I-129F, the I-129F filed to start the K3 process will be administratively closed leaving only the I-130 active which will result in your spouse applying for a CR-1 visa (IR-1 if married for two years or more). NVC began administratively closing I-129F's filed in conjunction with I-130's in February 2010.

Hey folks, I hope we are all doing well today in the midst of our visa journey insanity...?
Just wanted to give all you I-130 applicants a heads up, for those of you whose petition is at CSC. It states on the USCIS website that it takes aprox. 5 months to process. Well for all of us beyond 5 months and without our NOA2, we know this is not the case. We were on the phone today with a lovely woman who was so helpful (i know this is not always the case). The California Service Centre current processing time is ***7 MONTHS***. I know this is a pain and longer to wait, but i was relieved to find this out and know that our petition is (1) not lost and (2) is still with in their CURRENT processing times. And yes i do understand that everyones case is different and often handled differently. Sometimes even the smallest bit of information can ease some stress though.
We are in I-129F (as K3) processing aswell and per our dates we can call back for a further update after february 1st.
Stay strong my fellow visajourney-ers. We will get through this!

If there are back logs of files uscis should have persons personally to deal with that. The files they recieve recent should not have to wait until they have finish with there back logs because this is messing with the timeline for persons. It is unfair to file my petition and my five or six months has past and i have to wait on uscis to finish with there back logs before they can deal with the recents filers.......Something needs to be done about this. This is very bad service......persons wants to be with their love ones.....this is foolishness

Hello there! I am also a August flier and praying as well that we hear something this month! Checking other timelines it seems as though we will get it by the ending of jan or first week in feb.

We filed in July 08 and were approved in February 09. It seems like CSC and VSC go in cycles. Nothing I ever did made it go faster including contacting my congressman and senator. Our whole group was approved before us.
I know waiting is miserable but I'd try to find something else to focus on together as much as possible. CSC is a waste of energy. Good luck!

Hello,
Well, have patience, I don't know why CSC is backed up. As to your second query.....go here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare .
The K1 is faster sometimes, but K3 and IR1/CR1 visas are catching up and are way cheaper!
Buena suerte!

Same here, it has been 135 days for me and still no NOA2.
Also, i don't think K3 is completely dead. I think we might get moved to CR1. I should have gone with CR1 when i was suggested last year. In anycase, i think it is moving, moving at a SNAIL PACE !

Wow. I'm REALLY sorry that this has happened to you, but before taking time to feel sadness, you NEED to PROTECT yourelf.
1) If she has an ATM card to your account - shut it down.
2) If she has passwords to any of your bank acounts, email accounts, ANY acount - change them immediately.
3) Send a letter ASAP to USCIS and notify them of the course of events. This will protect you against her saying you were abusive. She can not apply for VAWA but she can allege abuse and you'd have a diffiult time to ever petition someone else if you decided to.
4) Change the locks on your doorss. She has abandoned the premises but if she decided to return tonight and just enter your place you'd be powerless to do anything about it.
5) Do NOT be alone with this woman if she contacts you. You could be set up for a potential abuse allegation.
I am so sorry that this has happened, but it could have been worse. You could have married this woman and thing could have become very difficult for you. Time heals - believe me when I say this but for now concentrate on protecting yourself.
Goiod luck.

We had the same experience as EAbas. No online status until approved. It didn't stop me from checking constantly though. Lol. 5 months seems to be about the average. Good luck to you!

I think you mean that if the marriage is not recognized by Indian law, the husband should still be eligible to apply for a fiancee visa. If that's what you mean, then you're wrong. I covered this already. In India, if they had a marriage ceremony, they are too married for a fiancee visa, legal or not. If they have no legal marriage certificate then they are too married for a K1 and not married enough for a spouse visa. It's a "Catch 22" situation.
If they have or can obtain the marriage certificate, all is well. In either event, K1 is not an option.