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jetlagged

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Posts posted by jetlagged

    Abu Dhabi Embassy Interview

    in Middle East and North Africa

    Posted

    Hi! We're expecting NOA2 in the next few months and we just want to prepare by knowing what to do next after NOA2.

    Really hoping those who had undergone Abu Dhabi interview for K1 can shed some light on the following questions.

    1. Once petition has been approved NVC will send NOA2 email to pet & bene, hard copy to petitioner?

    2. What's packet 3 or 4 and what does it contain? it will come from NVC?

    3. NVC will send the packet to Abu Dhabi or to petitioner or to beneficiary?

    4. Once received, Abu Dhabi will contact petitioner or beneficiary for scheduled appointment?

    5. Petitioner doesn't need to send required filled up forms, pay fees, etc. to Abu Dhabi.. instead, the beneficiary will just bring everything on the scheduled interview?

    Thanks in advance!

    Need help from experienced UAE VJers

    in Middle East and North Africa

    Posted

    When I started reading about your situation, I thought someone had posted the question on my behalf. This was/is our situation as well. Every detail, except my fiance , Mary Ann also has a Travel visa for the U.S. , so it added even more confusion to the fold. She came to the U.S. to visit in January not intending to get married , so we didn't. We probably would have been ok, if we had and did a AOS. The problem was trying to take a shortcut didn't feel right , and she didn't want to leave her job like that... and We didn't want to risk her getting deported . We tossed around the idea of a wedding in the Philippines, but there's a minimum 3 week wait. I can't spend more than that away from my job, so that was not an option.We talked about a Dubai wedding and about getting married while she was here in NY and then petitioning cr-1, but we don't want to be apart after being married. She would have gone back to Dubai and awaited the visa. So we filed the K1 petition and now we wait. It's the decision we made and now we're dealing with it. Make up your mind, for her sake and file . We all have to wait. Sidebar, she also has a friend that is having trouble getting approved, but it's financial...too few months on the job. They are gonna go with a co-sponsor. We hope and pray they will get approved. Just take the leap of faith and File. It will be ok...or it won't, but you will never find out debating it.

    I am the fiance and I'm currently residing and working here in Dubai. We have the same dilemma as you guys before but we eventually decided to file k1 while I'm still here working at least I get to earn while waiting for the visa. And I believe filing here in UAE would be much easier than be processed in Manila.

    Questions about Medical Exam at St. Lukes Manila

    in Bringing Family Members of US Citizens to America

    Posted

    My fiance petitioned his father and it was approved the other day. The NVC already gave him an interview schedule on June 6th and was advised to have his medical exam. He will have the medical exam in St. Lukes in Manila.

    Few questions:

    1. It's fine to have the medical exam a month before the interview?

    2. The vaccinations can be done in other hospitals/doctors and then will just have to bring the vaccination records to St. Lukes during medical exam? or vaccinations will be done in St. Lukes as well?

    3. The $223.35 fee includes all exams and vaccination already?

    Thank you for your time.

    USCIS Helpful on the Marriage Process steps

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures

    Posted

    I do understand this...I just wanted to document the experiences as well as getting as many people as possible to contribute. But thanks for your input.

    Pye

    I dint mean to say what you posted has no bearing it's just that sometimes these USCIS guys give wrong info and because of our confidence that they should know better, we will follow what they said not knowing somewhere along the process we will make a mistake causing delays, RFEs and the likes.

    Really appreciate VJ people who shares first hand experiences for us to come prepared.

    Thank you too for sharing!

    RFE Received for K1 Visa, and responded to - what we learned about how to do it better

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures

    Posted

    ooops the only proof I gave that I travelled to the US was a copy of my flight itinerary, but didn't send a copy of my passport stamps! Hope it'll still be ok! we put lots of pictures of us together though, and it is very obvious some of them were taken in Switzerland.

    I really hope so, as we can always buy airline ticket and have flight itinerary without actually flying to meet the fiance that's why we have to send passport pages with the stamps and boarding passes to prove that we actually have flown. But since you mentioned you've got photos in famous landmarks in Switzerland hope it will suffice.

    Good luck to all of us!

    Slow day

    in USCIS Service Centers

    Posted

    serioja, you are only 6 weeks into the waiting game. It's a long road. Try to practice some patience because staring at Igor's list all day every day can drive a person completely crazy.

    LOL I've been like serioja for a week now, staring at Igor's list and counting! Oh no, better stop or I might hear the voices too! I would want to receive NOA2 with my sanity intact

    NOA2 approval - How to speed up the process

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    We received our NOA2 at 2:15am today! I waited until we received the confirmation to share with all of you how we did it. I didn't want to offer up anything until I knew for sure. We filed on August 20, 2012 and waited patiently for 5 months and then began to get involved. Here is what we did and my opinion about each, now that I can look back on each step I took.

    1. Calls to USCIS: At 5 months, like many others, I called USCIS customer support and was amazed at the low quality of their call center personnel. I learned later that the people at the call center are required to read from a script. The script they read from is what you will find at the USCIS website when you enter your WAC number. Verbatim, they read from the screen, the last correspondence they sent to you. Interrupt them at your own peril. Having any discussion with Tier 1 (frontline) people is a waste of time.

    2. Call to USCIS (Tier 2): I read on VJ that it is best to insist on speaking with a Tier 2 support person and so I did that. The first time I did this, they told me that they agreed that the Tier 1 people can't do much for me as they are required to read from a script. Then they proceeded to tell me that they were within their stated timelines and couldn't do much for me and it was too early to ask for an expedite, so all I could do is wait for our case to go past the stated timeline. When I told them they had left their timeline at July 18th since December, they told me that they had no control over that at the Tier 2 level and that they could not deal with my specific case as it was within the stated timeline. In other words, more articulate, yet just as useless.

    3. I went to USCIS website and filled out an INFOPASS for an appointment with the local USCIS office. I highly recommend this step as it was the first time I received any real help from them. The case officer I met, found out that my fiance's application had been somehow connected to another application from another country for someone else seeking employment and that case had been closed and put in storage. She was able to get it out of storage by making a phone call and filling out some online form. If I hadn't gone in to see her through INFOPASS, we would be waiting still, because our case was dead in the water and never to be seen again. She told me to come back to her in 2 weeks to see what progress had been made and the result of her inquiry was a letter from USCIS telling me that they are working on our case and not to contact them again for 4 more months.

    4. I contacted a Senator from my home state by email and received a letter telling me who to call at his office to get help with a government agency. I called and spoke with a nice lady and she told me that I needed to fill out a form which she provided to me via email, giving them written permission to act on my behalf with USCIS to make an official inquiry.

    5. After filling out the form, I made it a point to be pleasant, friendly, accommodating yet persistent until I got an answer I liked. I became the nicest person in the world but would call every other day if I hadn't gotten in touch with my contact at the Senator's office.

    (The Senator assigns someone in his/her office to handle USCIS inquiries. This person is not a highly paid specialist, in my case, she makes $18,000 a year working for the Senator. I realized that she works for him because she believes in him, she is very sharp and ambitious, yet I needed to remember that she is working for very little money and that I needed to treat her with more respect and kindness, because I needed desperately for her to help me. What I found from USCIS is that the only way to get an application looked at is to have the request come from a Senator or a Congressman. USCIS assigns a Liaison from their office to the Senator/Congressman's office and the two become quite familiar with each other.)

    In spite of the fact that I now had a "new friend" helping, I learned here at VJ that it is better to provide the Senator's office with ammunition to overcome the excuses that are so readily made by USCIS when inquiries are made.

    The ACE up my sleeve came from the research done by another VJ member who put some amazing charts and graphs together. I copied them, put them together as a PDF file and sent them to my contact.

    She had been working on our case for about 3 weeks up to that point and was probably sick of hearing from me, but I was so darn nice, she couldn't get mad at me.

    When I sent the pdf file to her, she forwarded it to her contact and amazingly, she was told that our case was now being reviewed by a case officer and we would have our decision within 30 days.

    My advice is to wait patiently for 5 months from the date of your application, then make an INFOPASS appointment to make sure your files are where they are supposed to be and then contact either your Senator or your Congressman to get their help.

    Thanks to everyone at VJ for all the input you have provided which helps the rest of us on this journey.

    Thank you God for helping us to get through the past 8 months of agony and anticipation.

    I commend you for all the extra effort you've done instead of just sitting and waiting.. congratulations and I know it's all worth it.

    I hope for all service centers to just do their thing efficiently and somehow stick to the 5 or 6-month max waiting time. We will wait, everyone will wait as we all do not have a choice. No more tedious calling to follow up and getting Senators' help.. waiting alone is tiresome not to mention the hardship you have to endure from being away from your loved ones.

    Packet Sent... but feeling anxious

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures

    Posted · Edited by jetlagged

    I know it's too late that I will be posting what we already sent yesterday. I just feel like I need to know if we sent the right things or missed out important documents.

    We sent the packet March 1st and we're expecting NOA1 early this week.

    Packet includes:

    - Payment in the amount of $340

    - I-129F

    - I-129F Supplement: Part B, Question 18, explanation of meeting in person

    - G-325A and passport style photo (Petitioner)

    - G-325A Supplement Sheet (Petitioner)

    - G-325A and passport style photo (Beneficiary)

    - G-325A Supplement Sheet (Beneficiary)

    - Certificate of Naturalization (Petitioner)

    - Letter certifying intent to marry (Petitioner and Beneficiary)

    - Proof of having met in person in the past two years

    - Proof of ongoing relationship

    For the proof of having met in person and ongoing relationship, here's what we include:

    DUBAI, UAE – February 8 and 20, 2013 (Stop-over)

    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – February 9 to 20, 2013

    SINGAPORE - February 14 to 16, 2013 (side trip from Kuala Lumpur)

    ● Emirates Airlines E-Ticket Receipt & Itinerary

    ● Arrival and departure passport stamps

    ● Emirates Airlines Boarding Passes (Dubai-Kuala Lumpur-Dubai)

    ● Aeroline Bus Tickets(Kuala Lumpur-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur)

    ● Hotel Invoice and Booking Confirmation from 3 hotels we stayed in KL, SG and Dubai

    ● Batu Caves and Temple Tour from Kuala Lumpur Booking Confirmation (via Viator.com)

    ● Singapore City Tour with SG Flyer Booking Confirmation (via Viator.com)

    ● Various receipts from our stay in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Dubai

    ● Photos of us and some with friends

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

    July 6 to 11, 2012

    ● Virgin Atlantic Airways Booking Confirmation (via Webjet.com)

    ● Arrival and Departure Passport Stamps

    ● Hotel Confirmation and copy of invoice

    ● Photos of us

    MANILA, Philippines

    February 9 to 24, 2012

    ● ANA All Nippon Airways Flight Confirmation

    ● Arrival and Departure Passport Stamps

    ● Zest Air E-Ticket Transaction Receipt (Manila – Cebu – Manila)

    ● Hotel Voucher (via Agoda.com)

    ● Photos of us and some with friends and family

    MANILA, Philippines

    December 28, 2010 to January 20, 2011

    ● Philippine Airlines Booking Confirmation

    ● Arrival and Departure Passport Stamps

    ● Photos of us and some with friends and family

    PROOF OF ONGOING BONAFIDE RELATIONSHIP

    ● Order confirmation emails of gifts sent to each other

    ● Valentine card with US Postage stamped envelope sent to beneficiary

    ● Screenshots of the gifts given to each other uploaded on Facebook

    ● Screenshot of the engagement ring I gave to fiance uploaded on Facebook

    ● Order confirmation/invoice of the purchased engagement ring

    ● Facebook relationship status and wall posts declaring feelings for each other acknowledged by family and friends

    It's too long, but it will lessen the anxiety I'm feeling if I get responses or reactions if we sent out the right things or if we missed out important docs.

    Thank you VJ for all your help.. I just read and follow all the guides and what the veterans here have done!

    We hope, we'll be just like the successful ones who got approved without RFEs and delays and finally together with their love ones. Once again, thank you!

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