BOS_LHR

And another for good measure. I can't believe how utterly screwed up every step of this process is.

After an hour spent at CBP Deferred Inspections he was told it should be all set, but we'll find out when we make our second attempt at the Social Security office on Tuesday.

Oh my goodness what a mess. Do they have his Green card correct or is that what they are trying to fix. And it's humans they make mistakes. So sorry. Goodness he is here and still craziness.

I guess fortunately(?) his green card couldn't be issued in the incorrect name because he was filed under a K1. Since they didn't have him entering as a permanent resident the SSN and green card procedures never kicked off. He spent an hour at Deferred Inspection today getting name and visa type sorted out with a very helpful woman who said it should be all set... we'll see what happens when we try SSA again on Tuesday Green card is allegedly going to arrive in November but I'm not sure I believe the 4 month time frame she quoted, just because the ELIS thread here on VJ seems to be moving a bit quicker. Who knows anything about any of this anymore

I'm sure plenty of people have gone through Dublin pre-clearance as their POE without any issues, but for anyone here who might be considering doing so, I'm now submitting my vote against. Not only is my husband's name incorrect in the DHS system, he's down as having a K1 visa. Thanks a bunch, Dublin!

I remember you mentioning there was some confusion on the part of the dude at the Dublin airport when he got pre-clearance. I wonder if what's when this happened? UNREAL!

I should've moved to England

Officially would not recommend Dublin for preclearance.

I posted recently about my husband's name being entered incorrectly in the DHS database, and how it prevented us from getting him a SSN. He's at deferred inspection at CBP today to try to have it fixed and found out something much worse: he's in the system as having a K1.

WHAT.

The visa in his passport is correct so I don't understand how this could've happened.

Do you currently have a work visa? I think the employer can get in trouble if they offer you a job before you're a permanent resident. Not 100% sure on that, but I'm not sure if going to a job interview on a VWP entry is a great idea.

I think it'll be ok. The VWP is for pleasure and limited business use, info below from the DoS website:

The following are examples of activities permitted while in the United States on the VWP.

• consult with business associates
• attend a scientific, educational, professional, or business convention or conference
• attend short-term training (you may not be paid by any source in the United States with the exception of expenses incidental to your stay)
• negotiate a contract

OMG 30th September!! 2 months!!! i had a CC not the 15th July!

Time to channel your inner bdrew Keep an eye on CEAC and as soon as it's showing "ready" start emailing the London embassy for an earlier date.

September 15th 2014 is our interview. Gonna move that baby up if possible!

YEAH!! :dance: Finally something happened in a satisfyingly timely manner, huh? Barely any time between CC and interview assignment, so happy for you!! Good luck moving up your date!

Thank you! How's life treating you now?

Things are great thanks! Settling in and really feeling at home will be a long process, but he's doing so well. Life is pretty wonderful and all the challenges left seem so manageable now that we're together. I'm keeping an eye out for more good news from you soon Look out Disney, here you come!

Case complete!!!!!

We received a checklist in error on June 13th, and they finally removed it!(Business day 31). Don't lose hope for those who are still waiting, it's hard but you can all make it through!! Going to celebrate this weekend! This bloody journey is almost over!!

Oh finally, congratulations!!! So incredibly happy for you!!

There's been a couple posts here from K-1's. It looks like they got pushed to the back of the line. Quote from a K-1 person: (member from Brazil and Germany received this e-mail.

"Dear Applicant,

The Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs is currently experiencing technical problems with our visa system which are affecting operations globally. We recognize that this may cause inconvenience to travelers, and apologize for the delay.

Although we have completed adjudication of your visa application, we are unable to take final action on the visa at this time. We hope to have our system fully operational again soon, but currently we do not have a timeline for when this may happen. If you have travel planned in the near future, we would suggest adjusting your travel arrangements accordingly.

Again, we recognize and regret the inconvenience this may cause. If you would like your passport returned to you (without the visa) please let us know and we will return it for later issuance.

We appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this matter."

I did see that immigrant visas were being prioritized. K1s don't fall under that umbrella

Just another potential stumbling block to be excited about thanks for the heads up though. Hopefully in 2 weeks I'll at least have the chance to be upset about Pony Express...

All I can say, really - aren't relationships are fun?

It's indescribably better dealing with messes together rather than with an ocean between us, but it would still be nice if something would just work as intended for a change At least they're consistent...

If applying for jobs will improve his contentment, he can and should apply for jobs, even if he doesn't have his SSN.

He has his work authorization, which is all that's necessary. They aren't required to verify his SSN until he begins work, and if he still doesn't have it, he can say that's he's applied for it and keep working. No problem.

In fact, my wife got a job offer here without even having done her interview yet.

Yeah, I've said as much more than once. He knows he's authorized to work, knows he doesn't need an SSN to apply. We worked on his resume together and he's started a collection of job postings he's interested in, so really he's ready to go, but he wanted this sorted before submitting applications anywhere. I'm not sure why, since being able to work immediately after arriving was one of the few things we liked about the CR1 process. Just a new thing outside his comfort zone I think, he wants T's crossed and I's dotted to make sure all is well before moving ahead.

Good lord. Does this mean his green card might have his name spelled incorrectly? Or is there likely to be another delay there because of that?

Hopefully they haven't started production yet and we can get it fixed first. I need to sort out my ELIS account so I can track status for the green card. SSN is the much more pressing concern, he doesn't want to start applying to jobs or anything until he at least knows the number is on the way =\

Ugh I'm so sorry! Turns out my husband's name is wrong as well, but it's not a huge issue. They put him having two first names instead of a first name and a middle name. It's not a big deal and we're even debating whether we want to go through the hassle to change it.

I know when we went to the office they said "if you want to change it you have to go through USCIS, or we can issue it as is" Of course I picked as is because if it were up to me I'd never deal with USCIS again!!

That's what happened to us, but my husband has two middle names, and having three "first" names makes his name too long for the data entry fields. It's all so impossibly stupid. SSA advised me to call USCIS as well but I've seen Darnell recommend going to a deferred inspection point for CBP to sort it out. I have a lot of phone calls to make

Ugh... I'm so sorry that happened. Btw, I was reading your Blog a couple of days ago about how your adjustment and changes now that he is home. I will be experiencing that too soon so I am buckling my seat belt for the ride.

It's been nice to read some of your Blogs and experiences and honestly, no one else understands my frustrations better than all of you.

It really is great to still be able to share our stories with people who understand. He said "I hate this country" on our way out of the social security office this morning... feeling pretty low at work now. It's not as if bureaucracy in any country is perfect, and I'm just as sick of all the mistakes, delays, and absurdities as he is, but things like this really underscore the different angles we're coming from. It's good to be able to work out my thoughts in writing.

Sigh sigh. Thanks for hearing my rant, guys. Back to feverishly Googling and making phone calls...

I took time off work this morning to bring my husband to the social security office because he hasn't received his card in the mail yet, despite opting in for it on the DS-260 and going through POE three weeks ago. In keeping with tradition, nothing can be easy or work the way it's supposed to. Turns out the Department of Homeland Security entered his name into the system incorrectly, so the SSA can't issue him a card until his name is corrected with DHS. Now I'm at work 2.5 hours late and get to look up what the process is to fix this ridiculous, unnecessary fk-up. Our paperwork was filled out flawlessly. They must have his name on record on half a dozen forms. How could they not enter it properly?!

Hello everyone,

I just called NVC and spoke to an agent, I think his name was Todd. My AOS was scanned in on June 11th, and the business day calculator that someone had shared on this site claims that makes 29 business days today. But he told me that 29 business days would be next Saturday. Does anyone have any thoughts on that discrepancy?

Also, he told me that I would get an e-mail notifying me that it had been reviewed, either a real checklist or a false checklist for the IV docs(scanned in on July 9). But I had understood that false checklists were kind of hit and miss. Anyone have any thoughts on that? Should I call again in a couple of days? Maybe on Monday if I don't have an e-mail? I don't want to clog up the phone lines for others.

Good luck on everyone's case

By definition Saturday can't be a business day o.O Go by the calculator and definitely keep calling. I wouldn't count on receiving the false checklist as evidence your AOS has been accepted, although it does seem to happen to a lot of people. Even if I received a false checklist I'd be calling to confirm

Got this interesting email from the embassy today. I sent an i-864ez with my 2013, 2012, 2011 tax transcripts and didn't send any W2s since the instructions say just send the tax transcript...

Dear Petitioner:

We have received aforementioned petition for an immigrant visa from National Visa Center (NVC). While preparing this file for the visa interview we have observed that below mentioned documents are missing in the file. We request you to kindly inform your relative in this petition to bring the documents listed below at the time of interview to help us process this case expeditiously. Failure to submit these documents at the time of interview may further delay your case. Required documents are :

· Please either provide the W2' of the petitioner or I-864. Because with form I-864EZ, W2 is must, or otherwise form I-864 is required along with the tax returns

That's new! Embassy/consulate specific issue maybe? I've just gone to read the checklist section on the EZ instruction page and it says required documentation is "a copy of your individual Federal income tax return, including W-2s for the most recent tax year, or a statement and/or evidence describing why you were not required to file." Transcripts aren't mentioned at all in that section, only under the instructions point for number 19 where you're asked for Federal income tax info Maybe that's the cause of the confusion?

Hahaha, I had the same thought!

If you weren't suggesting opening it up to edit the spreadsheet, what'd ya mean then by "open source effort"?

Ah sorry, I was referring to Yoda Sheet 2.0. So for instance, you maintain your existing spreadsheet as always, then for members who want to track additional info, there's Yoda Sheet. You could always handle both, but for folks who are calling NVC to get all the required dates, that's probably the kind of group that could collaborate successfully with minimal oversight. You could have people submit requests to have the doc shared with them and do a quick check that their profiles/sigs have sufficient data before granting access. Just a little less work for you, as it sounds like the submission form for the new sheet might require a study guide based on the troubles people have with the existing one Randomly throwing out ideas while I overhaul some chaos in our content management system at work, so I might not be making sense

Yeahhhh, I've got trust issues I don't ever see myself letting others edit the spreadsheet.

Haha yeah not suggesting you open up the existing spreadsheet to anyone, that would be completely bananas Also a good way to age prematurely!

Hmm, good point.

Gah, don't know what to do know

Maybe a more sophisticated sheet could be an open source effort? The members who contribute to such a thing are bound to be pretty reliable with upkeep, since they're likely to be the ones most invested in following the process and attuned to details I'm thinking as a supplement to the existing sheet, so that interested members could opt in to more rigorous tracking if they'd like, but you don't lose out on data from the less OCD among us

Thanks for the input! Hmm, does anyone else feel this way? Don't want to put all this effort in if most people find the old layout better.

I think you're probably catering to the highest common denominator with the new design, and while there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself, I do think there'll be a huge reduction in people who contribute data and consequently in how useful the sheet is. Having more data points is awesome but I'm not sure you'll end up with enough data sources to get the most out of your hard work. Knowing how often you post about people incorrectly submitting their updates now, and knowing that's just a fraction of all the instances you actually see, I tend to think adding and maintaining layers of complexity will be an uphill battle.

I sent three years of tax transcripts and pay stubs from Dec - Feb (I was paid monthly, so only three stubs) when I submitted my I-864EZ in March.

Quick one, how quickly does the CEAC site change from "at NVC" to "in Transit" or whatever it is once you have case complete?

You don't switch to "in transit" until the interview is assigned. Generally it'll be within a day or two of receiving your interview date that your case is shipped out to the embassy.

Visa APPROVED!!!!!! Everything went well. I was super nervous and my husband was not lol. They allowed me to be with him at all times, except when it was time for the interview I couldn't say anything.

Initially they spoke to him in Portuguese, except once again when it was time for the interview itself, which was in English. She asked my husband strange questions. She wanted to know how long we had been married, how we met and when my husband said that our parents were friends and we knew each other since we were kids, she wanted to how long we dated for. My husband didn't explain himself very well and she started to get frustrated by wanting to know if I ever moved there, if not then how come we started dating. Then my husband said he had our wedding album and started showing her pictures. She wanted to know why he had pictures alone in his bedroom (Umm Portuguese tradition lol) and she wanted to see pictures of my parents. When he showed her me with my parents on our wedding day, she wanted to see all of us together as proof he was there. So then he started pointing out pictures where we were all together. At that point she started to type some stuff on the computer and he was said that he also had pictures of us dating and she said, "It's not necessary, I'm fully convinced." She also asked how many times he had been in the US and if he ever over stayed his Visa. He said never had and that he had been there 5 times for a month each time. And she asked again, "So you have never overstayed or stayed more than a month?" And he said, "Well maybe I stayed 31 days." Lol. It was a cute response because he was trying to be politically correct while not falling Into a "trap" answer. She laughed and told us we would get the Visa in the mail in 10-12 days.

I would like to write a full review, but I have no idea where to do that. If you guys could just let me know.

We are celebrating today by doing a River cruise on the Sienne River at dusk.

Thank you so much for everyone's support, guidance, and help. I'll be back to let everyone know how long it takes to receive the Visa in the mail.

Wishing all the best for upcoming interviews.

Wonderful news, congratulations!!!