Together0515

To the OP. I have a child with bone straight hair..I have a child with curly(when short) or wavy hair hair.

The wavy hair is harder to manage. I am sorry that you feel that the nurses comments were do to your child being bi-racial instead of just the particular texture of her hair....which can happen in any race.

I have a friend who has a bi racial child (she is white, and the father of her daughter is black). Her daughter's hair texture is more constant with someone who is bi-racial or black. My friend had to learn over time how to style and groom that type of hair because it was something she just wasn't use to before hand. Just because something is 'racial' doesn't necessary make it racist.

Maybe you're right, but it's just the situation as a whole and some other indicators that made me think of that explanation ( ex: the sudden change of attitude).

To the person that suggested that maybe her attitude came from her sensing some negativity in me: I don't think she saw me as unapproachable, I'm a very outgoing person who enjoys social interactions, I always make it a point to be polite and make conversation. In a matter of fact, that's one of the reasons why I enjoy living here; the hospitality and friendliness of even perfect strangers.

I wish Visajourney had a "like" button, I really enjoyed some of the comments on this thread. Again, I apologize for not being able to quote every response and answer accordingly.

Thank you all for your responses and support, glad to know I'm not the only one.

I want to take a minute and address each of your questions. I'm sorry I don't post very often, so I'm not familiar with the multiquoting.

I know that health care professionals are mandatory reporters, in fact every adult in the state of Oklahoma is. My daughter's hair is not long enough to be styled, and she won't keep any head-bows on. Furthermore, the nurse described my baby's hair as "unmanageable" which means difficult or impossible to manage. In other words, if she said "her hair is a mess" , I would take it as a descriptive to my daughter's hair due at that time and day not as a descriptive to the texture itself. I also found her comment quite surprising because usually people love her curly hair.

The reason we took the girls to the ER was because their regular doctor doesn't work on Sundays and the workers on their Daycare gave us instructions that we should take them to a medical facility if some specific symptoms were to occur, it was their first week in Daycare and there's some nasty bug going around and my youngest is an infant.

I enjoyed the come backs some of you suggested, very funny! Thank you guys for making light of an uncomfortable situation.

I do agree with the posters who pointed out how nice Okies are. As I said earlier, I met some of the nicest people here, but like everywhere else, you can meet some rude ones as well. I heard some very offensive comments such as having modeling contracts and scholarships handed to me just for being a minority or the fact that I should work full time instead of planing on going to Law school because student loans are only meant for real Americans. With that kind of verbal attacks, I knew at least what to expect..... But when it's subtle ( like being ignored, treated differently or being teased), you don't know what to think, you don't know how to interpret what was said and the only feeling you're left with is guilt. Yes, guilt! as weird as it may sound, many people in the same situation experience the same post facto feelings.

I can imagine subtle racism being more prevalent in Oklahoma than elsewhere. We're been living in OKC for the last year though temporarily for my work. I have noticed situations where staff are very cordial and playful with a person and then completely change when dealing with persons of other ethnicity. My advice would be not to worry about it too much and move on. I know it's easier said than done but don't dwell on it.

You're right! Dwelling on the incident would just give them more power. I'm glad you noticed, it took time to my husband to notice how in the small town where we used to live some people would stop and make conversation with him for hours and not even say Hi to me. He wasn't native to the town either so it's not like they've known him for years, and I managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA so I don't think my English is the problem.

OR Maybe, for this specific situation, I'm just being too sensitive - as the other members pointed out- and in that case I would have to re-assess the situation and learn a valuable lesson on how I shouldn't see racism in every rude behavior.

Thank you guys for your honest opinions; I respect and value each one of them. It's just one of those situations that you have to witness as words cannot describe the situation as lived...... Maybe I am being over sensitive, maybe I'm not.

I would appreciate more input.

Hi everybody,

My family experienced a situation today and I'm not sure what to think.

While racism can take various forms, I think it's my duty as a parent to protect my children from all its forms no matter how "subtle" some can be. Unfortunately, most people think that racism can only take obvious, aggressive and direct forms. The reality that a lot of people don't know is that several people won't be that direct about it, they can express it by more " politically correct" ways such us ignoring you, making comments about the way you look or just talking to you like if you don't even speak English. Trust me, I know! Since we moved to Oklahoma, I've been called a sand-n*****, my children half-breeds and ignored or made fan of from people thinking I don't speak the language. I am a Law abiding permanent resident, I help in my community, speak the language, go to school , work and pay my taxes and I'm still not treated with a minimum of respect. Don't get me wrong, most of the people I've had the pleasure to meet here were as good as gold ( I have lately told my mom that the the majority of the people of our community here were the nicest and most courteous people I have ever met) but I find it shocking, how in 2013, some people still can't look past the skin/hair/eyes color. No, I don't want special treatment, I just want to be treated like everybody else.

So long story short, we had to take our children to a trip to the ER today. After a few minutes, the RN calls our names to her office to file paper work and do all the routine checks before seeing the doctor. I could hear her talking and laughing with the parents that she had before us, but the moment we got in; her ton completely changed and she started entering data and asking questions like if we were at the police station ( First red flag but I thought Okay, maybe she just got tired or didn't like us) then she looks at my almost 2 year old with a nasty expression on her face commenting on how unmanageable her hair was! Please let me specify that she didn't have to deal with my daughter's hair or outfit at all, she didn't even have to touch her, all she was doing was filling out paper work and asking questions. Even though my daughter's olive skin is much lighter than mine, she's obviously a Bi-racial child with a very curly hair. Yes, sometimes, her hair gets out of control but you don't walk around telling parents that their children are too dark, too pale, unmanageable hair....etc especially when you are a health professional who has ethics and a moral code to follow. First off, I find her comment to be totally uncalled for; nobody asked her her opinion on our daughter's hair and she clearly didn't mean it as a joke. My husband was offended too, even though he refrained from saying anything to avoid starting any kind of conflict. I'm not being overly sensitive here but I do think that was rude, what if it was the other way around and I tell her that her " weight is unmanageable" for example? ( I don't mean to offend anyone ; weight here doesn't have any racial connotation, it's just one of many insensitive comments that can be made by people) I'm sure by now I would have a dozen of people outside trying to burn my house down and three Lifetime movies based on the incident...

What do you guys think? I'm usually one of the people who gets offended whenever the race card is played as a political asset or a way to manipulate or gain sympathy but in my opinion, her comment was just out of line. I'm just thankful that my daughter is still too young to understand....

What do you guys think? I just had to share it. Did you guys have any similar incidents and how did you handle them?

Thanks everybody.Praise be to the Lord, I got my Visa today.

Any other opinions?

Hi everybody,

So yesterday was my CR1 interview,the CO asked me few questions and then handed me some information about legal rights available to immigrant victims of domestic violence and asked me to come back Friday(tomorrow) to pick up my passport and my Visa but not to make any travel plans until then.I call DOS a few minutes ago and the operator tells me that "my case is still under administrative processing and that the embassy did not finish processing yet". Does that mean that they placed me under AP? That was my first interview and I was not under AP before...

Please tell us what that means ,we're getting very worried here!

Thank you all for your responses . That was very helpful.

Hi everybody,

We are gathering civil documents to send to NVC for our Spouse Visa CR1,Do we need to send the beneficiary divorce decree from previous marriage as well?

Thank you

Thanks for the responses everybody,

We will translate the documents in the US,using these people : https://www.foxtranslate.com/checkout/TranslationType

Do you think NVC will accept the translations? We are going through the Nicosia embassy in Cyprus so the documents are definitely not in the consulate local language.

Hi everybody,

Is it possible to translate the documents by ourselves at NVC Stage ? (birth certificate and police record)

Thank you,

Good news! My husband just got the AOS Bill

Darnell was right , thank you all

I am not very familiar with the expedite process, but from your timeline, it looks like they are expecting the AOS forms and fees - through the agent you appointed. It looks like the IV bill should be on the way to your agent.

Take a look at the flow chart here NVC flow chart You should be on the right side of the chart, based on your post.

Because you are acting through an agent, you may not receive the bill or notice of same. Check with the agent, or call NVC about the IV bill if you are at that point. I am not sure who will have information for you, but I might start there. Members that have gone this route, please correct me if necessary.

Edited to ask, did you email the 3032, or just information on your choice of agent? If you did not send the form, that could be the hold up.

Thank you for your response, the question now is whether they will email or mail the bills. We're praying we will get the invoices by email, It's much faster!

Edited to answer:I only emailed the information on my choice of agent (To Sue) as I saw on one of the guides on Visajourney. I did it yesterday and got a response today.

I write about expedites @ NVC on occasion -

The primary thing to pay attention to -

is that each expedite intake is different, and each expedite process, what steps to do after told the expedite is approved, is different.

IMO, based on what you've received back, the IV unit wants NVC to collect the forms and fees first.. and

-- NVC has opened a pipe for you to EMAIL all scanned forms (scan to pdf please) and

-- you must pay at the portal.

Dissecting this further -

you need to get IN the pipe at NVC, they need to have their regular switch TURNED ON.

How to do that, from your side? Call, use a telephone, ask for AOS FEE BILL TO BE EMAILED to the Petitioner.

Once the AOS FEE BILL is IN the petitioner's email box, the switch is on, NVC is ready to accept documents...

For now, resend a DS-3032 via email to supervisor sue, using the method they listed for you.

If you stay on top of this, this week, you MIGHT get the invoicing started.

My best guess, is that it'll be two full weeks from today, if you start today, for the payment portal to wrap up on you sending fees in to there.

But that's just a piece of it. Basically, when you have a coversheet to download on a thing (AOS or IV), download that coversheet, make it the first page in a scanned pdf document set, and email all in to Supervisor Sue. Expect some lag inbetween each thing, but if you DRIVE, should be about 2 weeks. In the end, though, expect to show all original documents that you sent off via email, to the IV Unit on interview day.

Good Luck !

Darnell,Thank you so very much for your detailed and very helpful answer, I emailed yesterday my choice of agent and got this response:

We received the principal applicant's DS-3032 (Choice of Address and

Agent) form designating an address and agent. Instructions for paying

the immigrant visa application processing fee and all future

correspondence will be sent to the agent at the address selected on the

DS-3032.

For more information regarding the immigrant visa application fee or for

answers to frequently asked questions, please visit the following

website:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3904.html

I guess I will give them 24 hours and then I will call to ask for the AOS Bill to be sent...

No response?

Hi everybody,

After we made an expedite request to NVC, we had a first email stating it was under review, an operator telling us they forwarded the request to the embassy and it was up to them, and now this email:

The U.S. Embassy or Consulate General indicated they are willing to

expedite this petition when all of the required fees, forms and

documents are received. Therefore, please forward all forms and

documents to nvcinquiry@state.gov (please enter ATTN: Supervisor Sue in

the subject line of the email) or to the following address:

National Visa Center

ATTN: Supervisor Sue

31 Rochester Avenue, Suite 200

Portsmouth, NH 03801-2915

Upon receipt of the required forms and documents, we will review the

information and forward the file to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate

General.

We have received no invoice to make any payment and no request for specific documents, I emailed my choice of agent last week and no response.

Does it mean that our request has been approved? What should we do now? I think it's said we have the choice and that we can email the forms and documents instead but Im not sure (that would be great though). Any help will be greatly appreciated. This is very confusing! I thought when an expedite is approved the case is automatically forwarded to the embassy.

Thank you,

We called NVC yesterday and they received our case.Even though we have not been assigned a case number yet,they gave us the instructions to file for expedite by email which we did.The lady told my husband that because we have an emergency situation,we can go ahead and send the expedite request.I hope she was not just being nice and that they will review our request in the next few days.

Thank you guys for your help,having a high risk pregnancy and taking care by myself of an infant is very difficult,we pray they approve our expedite so we can move on to the next stage.

Expedite is only approved if there is a life/death emergency.

Thank you for your response,yes we believe we do qualify for an expedite,and we have all the necessary documentation and letters from our doctors, we are just waiting for a case number.We are curious to know other people experiences; how did they apply for it and how the process differs from the normal NVC flowchart.

Hello,

Has anyone here requested an expedite to NVC in the last 2 years? please share your experience.

Thank you,

Yes, you need the case number first before you can request for an expedite. Good luck with that! And with the pregnancy too!

Thank you,reginakrys

The only thing different between cases with and without lawyers is the DS-3032 or the Choice of Agent. Those who have lawyers involved in their cases DO NOT need to send the DS-3032 because it's understood already that their lawyer will be their agent. As a result, their AOS and IV fees are invoiced approximately at the same time (in contrast to those without lawyers where the IV fee is invoiced approximately a week after the AOS fee)

Are you looking at timelines of the same visa category as you? For spousal visa filers, both AOS and IV packages have to be approved at NVC before they can be assigned an interview date. Except for expedited cases - in these instances, forms and fees that are supposed to be submitted to NVC will be given during the interview.

Thank you for your response,we actually plan to request an expedite for high risk pregnancy,we have all the doctors papers and everything,we are just waiting for the right moment to make such a request.I guess we need to get a case number first.

Separate tracks meaning the AOS track is the Petitioner getting the AOS documents to the NVC. The IV Bill which is the Visa Application is what the Beneficiary gets together and gets ready for NVC. Both go through NVC. Nothing for IR1/CR1 goes directly to consulate from our hands.

Once your case is complete. You are now in the Interview queue once interview is assigned your case is forwarded to the embassy.

Thanks,i see now why they refer to them as two separate tracks.

AOS and IV package both are send to NVC before they can forward your case to embassy with CR1/IR1 visa. I'm not sure about directly sending to embassy without sending to NVC, so just confirm with NVC, call them and find out.

1. call NVC get case # and Invoice Identification number.

2. give them your and your spouse email address when you get case #

3. send Ds3023 from beneficiary's email address. (make sure its beneficiary's email address)

4. after they accept you DS3023 then they will generate your AOS and IV package ( both of them generate different, one by one)

5. As soon as you see your AOS or IV package PAID, you send them that package with bar coversheet provide by NVC. ( only after status shows PAID) (I sent AOS from here in US, and my husband sent IV package from india) they don't care who sent it from where.

6. you will get checklist from NVC, if your missing any documents (sometime they do send FALSE checklist, so just confirm with NVC)

7. After accepting the AOS and IV package, they will complete your case. now wait for your interview to be schedule)

8. NVC only forward you case to embassy after you have your interview date.

Just call NVC and confirm with them about it, "will my case send to embassy without AOS and IV, or i have to send to NVC first, before they can send to my embassy"

But they do tell you, you have to sent to NVC first, they you follow that list

Thank you very much for the instructions,we actually have an attorney but we don't want him involved anymore,all his advices turned out to be anything but helpful;if we followed his instructions and put my husband's US Legal address on the petition;we would be still waiting for NOA2.

We will try to call them this evening and do what you said.Thanks a million.