speedwell

Have you been FILING a US income tax return on the income (or lack there of) you have been earning in South Africa? If not, then the USCIS will be asking for a tax return from you as the petitioner so I would FILE a 2012 tax return or you will have to show no income and cite from the IRS CFR why you were not REQUIRED to file a US income tax return--this is the one item that trips up most people when they have been living overseas and the USCIS sends an RFE for income tax returns from the petitioner. Take care of this requirement first.
Dave

Applying for a non-immigrant visa is not the same as applying for an immigrant visa. For example, if the reason your friend was denied was because she had insufficient ties to her home country, that will not prejudice her immigrant visa because of course she wants to stay in the US and is doing it the legal way. She may still be denied for a tourist visa even while her immigrant visa is in process, though, and this will still not prejudice her immigrant visa. Two totally different things.
However, if she was denied for the tourist visa because of, say, a criminal record, that reason will also affect her immigrant visa filing. It's important to know exactly why her tourist visa was rejected.

Oh, get engaged all you want Just don't actually marry; the law says parents can apply only for unmarried children. And it might be tricky if any of you are directly asked whether he is engaged, because you must tell the truth or risk a bar for fraud. Don't bet on being able to enter into a marriage equivalent status (like an officially recognized cohabitation); by the time his visa number is available, the immigration laws may have changed to admit gay married partners, and that could affect legal cohabitants.
If you hear of a job opening for an IT analyst in England, let us know, please. We'd honestly rather move to the UK... but the UK laws for non-EU spouses made it impossible for my husband to qualify to bring me over based on his current income. Ugh.

Excellent Don't panic if you get an RFE or NOID, just make sure you send them what they need. Don't burn yourself out early with worry and stress. Your mate would want you to enjoy yourself, be active and healthy, and go out and be with friends and family. Delay is not the same as denial, so just sigh and say, "Oh that stupid US government is so slow" and go on with a smile. Most of the time everything is fine. On this forum we see all the problems. We don't see all the successes!

The idea behind the work prohibition is that they want only authorized people to work (naturally), and anything that an American could potentially receive payment for (in money or in kind) is considered work. Technically, writing for your blog and contributing to YouTube is work, since you are paid for it. You would be receiving income while you are in the US, therefore potentially incurring a US tax liability as well. I completely agree that it's stupid to disallow so much potential foreign volunteering, especially when they have a whole visa category for useless clergy.
The lottery is iffy, but you can't win if you don't play! If you want your husband's parents to apply for his green card, do not marry. He must be an unmarried child to qualify for a green card based on his parents' citizenship (I'm not certain whether he can have been married before). I think it is unlikely for him to get his green card within two years and it is likely to take even longer. It will absolutely take years longer if his sister applies for him. He can get his green card, marry you, and then petition for you to join him, but that will take a long time as well. Not that people don't do it, of course.

You're very welcome, Florentine. Your boyfriend will not qualify to request a fiance visa for you since he is not a citizen.
I recommend strongly that you allow your boyfriend's company to handle both his visa and yours, since the availability of a visa for you to live with him in the US will depend on his visa case. (If the company refuses to consider your visa along with his, you may want to speak to an attorney who has successfully handled this situation before. By the way, it is illegal for the company to charge him or force him to pay for visas that they are applying for in order to bring him over to work.) It is possible for them to request a visa for him that will result in getting a green card, but this is less likely. Even if they do this, it will take a long time, and once he has the green card he will only be able to request a spouse visa for you, and that will take quite a long time too.

Yes, it doesn't matter what order they are sent in if you have paid both fees.

That is the required order only if you send in the AOS and then wait for the IV bill to be generated. The OP got billed for both fees and paid them (they must have a lawyer). Once a fee is paid, you can send in the packet. Since both fees were paid, they can send in both packets, and it doesn't matter which one is first. If you send in the AOS first and the IV packet a few days later, you may get a "false checklist" for the IV packet. If you send in the IV packet and the AOS packet a few days later, you may get a "false checklist" for the AOS packet. So long as they both get there, you're fine.

I can think of ten regular posters off the top of my head who would have hurt feelings if they read this. I know I am thankful for everyone's help here.

AP is usually for additional background checks for criminal history or to make sure you aren't a person of concern. I doubt a period of unemployment would trigger it. They may delay the issuance of the visa until you supply a missing piece of information, but that is not the same as AP.
If your tax forms show consistent income that exceeds the requirement, that's excellent. But they will ask about your current employment at the interview, and the intending immigrant MUST NOT LIE. Get a co-sponsor in case one is needed, and make sure the new I-864 filing is taken to the interview by the immigrant. It may not cause a delay. Direct Consular Filers take their evidence to the interview, so the interviewer should know what to do with it there.

I can think of ten regular posters off the top of my head who would have hurt feelings if they read this. I know I am thankful for everyone's help here.

Where will you live when you move back? Did you keep a US driver's license or bank account open? Can you liquidate your foreign assets and wire it to a US bank account? Did you write a letter stating why you have no income for 2012 and thus why you didn't file taxes?

You might want to also post these questions in the forum for your country's location. Different countries have different requirements.

The opt-in email goes to NVCElectronic, not NVCInquiry. And before sending in documents, you should wait to receive the acceptance email for being enrolled in the EP program before sending documents as there's a chance they won't be received.
Take what the lawyer says (that they have your documents and are reviewing) with a grain of salt. I've seen countless cases on here where lawyers have lied. Keep calling NVC once a day next week to see if there's any news. Remember, the operators will probably not see the documents as being received until after the review has started.

To clarify, the US would not actually deny the immigrant benefits for which they qualify. It's just that they will seek reimbursement from the sponsor(s), and the immigrant could also sue if they are not being maintained at 125 percent of the poverty level.

That was then and this is now. Timeframes change. Your congressperson will be able to do nothing for you unless something is wrong with your case. It is not a fast track to approval. Stop line-jumping.

According to my timeline, it took six weeks.
Stop it.

You are not able to do any volunteer work for which a US resident or citizen might have been recompensed. That means you can't even accept a volunteer job that gives you a free lunch during the day. The rules are tricky. Basically you can't accept anything in return for your volunteering, and if anyone else doing the same thing does get something in return (even reimbursement for their expenses), you cannot work in that volunteer position for free. My husband looked into this in order to have something to occupy himself with while he was visiting me over the winter holidays, and we decided it was too risky.
You are allowed to look for work for yourself, but you cannot sign any agreements or do anything that might be considered work. You cannot work remotely in the US for a company overseas. Even a writer cannot write articles for a foreign newspaper without having a visa qualifying them to work in the US. It's better to assume you cannot do any sort of work and to arrange for all of your expenses to be covered while you are in the US.
You may consider continuing your studies, or visiting periodically on the Visa Waiver Program, which allows you to make visits of up to 90 days at a time (you'll be turned away if they think you are doing this to "live" in the US though). Just see what makes sense for you.

Please see the answer in the separate thread where you asked this identical question.

That was then and this is now. Timeframes change. Your congressperson will be able to do nothing for you unless something is wrong with your case. It is not a fast track to approval. Stop line-jumping.

To the UK people:
Read this page, especially paragraph 3. http://london.usembassy.gov/application_documents.html
Also follow the links given about all the documents for the interview to make sure what you sent NVC is sufficient. CR1s have gotten to their interview and found out they needed a subject access report in addition to the police certificate. Or they got an Oz police certificate without the required fingerprints. Or their I-864 didn't have all the details. Most people are fine, but read all the links in case there is some niggly little thing you didn't send to NVC. The real review of your documentation happens in London so don't assume everything is perfect if NVC passed it on.
On the left size of the same page are links for the medical, courier, security, and I -864 which are useful information.
In the menu bar of Visa Journey you will find Reviews: Embassy. Find London, then read what CR1s have said. They often tell the questions asked. There won't be anything that requires practice unless the hubby doesn't know your name, when you married, and a few simple things like that.

I suspect that I may regret asking this but where are you getting this notion that a visa is reserved for you?
Numerous seasoned VJers have advised you but you still insist on sitting on this false understanding.
Why?

Hi Ribeneme, I can read in your posts how frustrated you are and I would certainly be feeling the same way if I were going through what you are going through. The information you just posted does not mean that your spouse has been approved or that there is a visa waiting for them. They still have to get through the rest of the "journey" with success before they can be granted a visa. That information is explaining that unlike visas related to work or study, immediate family members don't have to wait for a visa number to become available IF they are approved. Some people who would be coming under different types of visas, that have nothing to do with being a family member for example, might get approved but then would also have to wait for a visa number to become available. For those of us who are making applications as spouses or other immediate family members, there is no wait for the visa number to become available once the application has been approved.
Your spouse still has to get through the NVC stage and then have a successful interview before they will be issued a visa.
I hope this helps a bit more with getting all the information together to understand the process. It is VERY confusing at times and more than a little frustrating most of the time.

so, an ISO confirmed that the petition was approved by a local office, adjudication was done at the local office.
IMO, it's the local office that's requesting it back, because they left something out of it.
To be certain - go into the local office on an infopass appointment, and inquire. There is no one else you can contact, save a human at the local office - they don't pick up the telephone and there's no way to speak with a human on the phone there.
Alternatively, you can engage with an Immigration Liason Staffer human with your Congressman's office (there are 3 for you, so pick one) but 'to engage' is not a 2 minute deal, either.

It's understandable that you're under stress (we've all been there), and it's not fun. However, anyone who's been on VisaJourney for more than 5 minutes knows that Ryan H's immigration information and his motivations are beyond reproach.