littleichiban

Once you get your NOA2, your file gets sent to the NVC. How quickly you move through the NVC mostly depends on you and when you submit your paperwork. It can be 6 weeks or much longer than that. Once your case is completed at NVC, that is when you receive your interview date. I got my NOA2 at the start of December, and had case complete and an interview date around early to mid February. My interview is March 7th. The NVC schedule your interview, this happens before they send your paperwork to the US Consulate in Auckland. I received an email with my interview appointment letter, I imagine the same would happen for you if they have your email address on file. If the date doesn't work for you, you can reschedule with the Consulate in Auckland but they have limited spots, usually quite far in the future.

I recently went through this with my husband. I had to send him my driver license and my birth certificate plus a W7 form so we could obtain an ITIN for his taxes this year. We looked into filing married but separate so I wouldn't have to submit anything but apparently for either Federal or State taxes, we needed an ITIN regardless. Unfortunately for me the list of accepted identifications is limited as NZ doesn't have a couple of the forms of ID mentioned (I imagine this is true for many countries) and as far as I am aware my government doesn't issue certified copies of licenses or passports. I don't understand how someone could feel comfortable sending off their passport to the IRS, it's the single most important personal document I own and they may not return it for months. Plus I need it for immigrating! I was far too paranoid for that. Legally, some countries won't allow you to even post your passport offshore. Luckily I don't actually drive and need my license, or I would have been very stuck. We have one or two acceptance agents here in NZ but they are all in Auckland, which is over a thousand kilometres from where I live. We thought about getting an extension then filing in a few months time once I have entered and obtained an SSN which may be an option for some (as long as you don't have to worry about owing any tax). I am not sure on the legalities of this though, from all the reading I did it didn't seem too problematic.

I know this seems like a lot of whinging but for a supposedly simple process it has caused a lot of worry. My husband assures me once I am there it will be simple.

Now that I've had my case completed at NVC and my paperwork is on it's way to the US Consulate in Auckland, I know that I need to submit my authorisation for my Police Clearance. As there's only a few weeks between getting my interview appointment and the interview itself, I'm trying to get everything sorted quickly. I have printed out the form but am not 100% sure where to send it. I know it gets sent to the Consulate, but is it the physical address (Citibank building) or the private bag address? Also, for any Kiwis who have been through this process recently, are there any fees to pay on the day of the interview (CR1 visa)? I keep reading conflicting stories in regards to this. And do you have to take a prepaid courier bag with you? Thanks!

Some shipments picked up on: Thursday - February 14, 2013:

Waybill: 8905866185 - AUCKLAND - AUCKLAND CENTRAL –NEW ZEALAND

Think this must be mine. Thank you so much for doing this, I couldn't get the DHL tracking website to work so this has been really helpful for me.

I wouldn't delay the interview, you never know what can happen to delay having your visa in your hands. The visa is valid for six months and so you've got time after you have the visa in order to make travel arrangements and everything.

Oh, definitely, I am only trying to delay it by a couple of weeks though so I think I will be ok. Gives me time to get my medical and buy some plane tickets and get the time off work is all

Thats a few months of waiting, eh?

Auckland seems to be quite quick on assigning interviews. If only NZ Post would take a lesson or two!

NZ Post are the bane of my existence, couldn't deliver or send anything on time if their lives depended on it. I would take USPS over them any day.

Love to hear about Kiwis getting interviews "too soon"

We'll take your interview date! hah

Haha! It seems so silly to be putting it off with other people desperate to be interviewed as soon as possible. I can't leave NZ until July anyway so I'm more than happy for other people to jump the queue ahead of me.

Case must have completed at NVC as I got an email with my interview date today. Quite pleased, all went very smooth and quickly, no RFEs. Interview is set for March 7th, which unfortunately is too soon (flights at such short notice would be expensive, and getting time off work would be complicated) so I'll have to reschedule with the Consulate. Happy though!

Thanks Saylin. I woke up to an email this morning acknowledging my DS3032 so I'm very happy. Every bit of progress is a reason to celebrate at this stage.

Hi everyone. Was wondering how long other people have had to wait for acknowledgement of their DS3032 'choice of agent' form? It's my understanding that once they've received it and processed the information, we should get an invoice for the immigrant visa application. I emailed it off on the 11th of January, and re-sent it the other day just to be sure. Not very keen on sending a hard copy as it's taking an age for things to travel from NZ to USA at the moment, even via courier. Thanks.

Actually, if you're organised, maybe not that long. My husbo and I married in July, we filed our petition in September and we're already submitting documents to NVC. If everything goes ok, thinking we may get a March interview. That would make it about a 6 month process. But this is best case scenario, of course.

Finally received NVC case number today by email, along with the AOS invoice and the DS-3032 'Choice of agent' form. We received our NOA2 on the 5th of December, our case was received on the 17th of December and case number finally generated on the 10th of January. Have already emailed off the Choice of Agent email I had prepared, hopefully my husband (USC) will pay the AOS bill and send off the paper work in the next couple of days and then we'll receive the other invoice we are waiting on.

Hi everyone. Just sharing that we got our NOA2 today, via email. We filed near the beginning of September, were sent to California then re-routed to Missouri. As far as I am aware, we never moved from there. If we had, it would have been the Albuquerque Field office as my husband (USC) lives in NM. Quite overwhelmed when reading about the next part of the process, hoping to get most of it sorted before Christmas. Would be nice to get a February interview, though luckily we have no deadlines and aren't in any particular rush.

Good luck to everyone still waiting on their NOAs.