dreambig

ok, thanks all.

Cuba Portal VJ'ers - Can you provide any insight as to whether this applies to K-1 Visa Applicants? I got this straight off the U.S. Interests Section Website found here: http://havana.usint.gov/immigrant-visas-consular-fees.html

just to help ease your mind, it took about 3 weeks for mine to reach the NVC. So i think yours is imminent...it's just that the waiting game is tough at this point, i know. Hang in there.

hi Katie,

What worked for me was to email him the letter of Intent & G325A Form so that he could print them, sign them & then send them to you via DHL. DHL works great from Havana to the U.S. In our case, i received his docs in 5 business days. Hope this helps.

Hola! I called today & got a July 23 interview. So chances are pretty good that you will also receive an interview date in July. They also had several other dates a few weeks ahead to choose from, but the 23rd was the earliest available. Good luck!

i just called the NVC yesterday myself. To obtain your case #, they will ask you for the following:

(1) Beneficiary's name & DOB

(2) Petitioner's Name & DOB

(3) Your Email address

(4) Your primary phone number

(5) The receipt number on your NOA2

Good luck & plan to be on hold for about 20 minutes or more!

i too have been calling the NVC daily for the past 4 days. I received my NOA2 on 05/23 & the NVC still hasn't received it. Be persistent...but temper it with patience.

Wow Rose - I officially nominate you the K-1 superhero! This is such an invaluable resource, i cannot say it enough!! thank you, thank you, thank you!!

wow, that must be some kind of record - you were approved in 56 days! Congratulations to you!

I feel your joy. Congratulations! What strength to hang on for that long. I filed in March (last month) & this wait is already excruciating. I wish you much great fortune on the rest of your journey.

we're going on 6 months now...i filed five months after having met. As to the 2nd part of your question...about "how we cope," now that's the more challenging answer. My soulful partner lives in Cuba & I in Los Angeles. The embargo makes things very challenging. Skype is banned on the island (or unavailable), there is no WIFI & phone calls cost 85 cents a minute, from LA to Havana. We have both attempted to snail mail each other on 10 separate occasions however neither of us have received the other's mail. He is a beautiful dancer and poet, so his original compositions of poetry are all lost somewhere in oblivion. He emails me once in awhile, after having stood in line for an hour & a half at an Internet "cafe." It's an excruciating separation, however inexplicably, our connection has deepened throughout. I don't understand it myself, except to simply accept the beauty of it. On a daily basis we both get to practice much patience and foresight. All will be well. We're building a great story for a memoir one day

May peace be your journey.

Great news, congrats!! :dance:

Well I recieved my Noa2 today. I checked my status online this morning and it still had September 4, 2012 as my last update. Around 5 I checked my phone and I had a text message that instructed me to check my status online. When I did it says my application was APPROVED! God is good. I was heading on 8 months on the 29th of this month. I did write my congresswoman but I mailed the letter off last Friday and I'm not sure she has recieved it yet. I don't want anyone to give up. I know the feeling, I was at the point of giving up and thinking of getting married instead, but God came through right on time. He knows best and did it on his timing verses mine. I expected a RFE but he sent me an approval instead. I encourage everyone to keep the faith and hold thier head up

Excellent! Much good fortune to you on the next stretch of your journey!

Okay, i spoke with a friend of a friend of a friend who works for the California Service Center. Please consider the multiple degrees of separation here. I didn't like the answers i received and neither will you. She said the backlog is horrendous & the pile of K-1 Visa apps are stacked on the floor, creating a near fire hazard. Reason? They have been asked to drop everything & work on the H1B apps. For the first time ever, USCIS met the 65K cap in the first week of its filing period & they have a crazy internal deadline to get these H1B's approved. For those of you that are familiar with it, there was some glitch in the "lottery" & thus trying to wrap their heads around it.

She said "don't kill the messenger, we're all doing our best." Just wanted to pass this a long, even though it doesn't appease nor alter our particular situation.

Hi everyone!

We're fairly new to visajourney and have just gotten started on this whole process! Our names are Amber and Peter. This is Amber typing right now. I'm the American citizen and petitioner residing in Orange County, California, and Peter is the beneficiary who is currently living in a smallish town in Wales, UK. We have been engaged for nearly 8 months now (August 22, 2012) and just sent off our petition on March 30th. Why we waited so long, I have no idea! I guess I decided to post today cause today we received our NOA1 (via email, hard copy still to come), so our process has officially started! I must confess, we've been lurking on these boards for the past month or so and you all have already helped more than you know, with putting the packet together and specific questions on the I129F and such. It's a shame that it seems the CSC is beginning to lag; that's our service center.

Nice to meet all of you,

Amber + Peter

Hi Amber - Welcome! I am also the USC residing in Los Angeles, being served by the CSC. It can be discouraging when you consider their poor timeline, but hang in there & keep connected to VJ, because that has helped temper the anxiety & uncertainty. And these service centers seem to take turns in processing times, so CSC could pick up the pace soon...or at least let's keep hoping so. Good luck on your journey!

Wow i truely feel for u!! Just when u think ur situations the worst, sumone out there always has it tougher! But u have a positive attitude and that will take u far!!! Ur strong! Keep ur head up! And if i can help, let me kno! Im always online lol.. I will for sure send prayers your way! And it sounds lime u have a great connection between ur hearts n souls keeping the fire burning!! Its doesnt need to b defined or logica based! I have a connection to my partner as well i can not explain!! Its a bridge God builds between 2 people and only those 2 people may pass.... My man and i close our eyes sometimes symotaniously and just reach our hearts n souls to one another... And unexplainably can feel eachothers warmth and comfort... We can sense desperation from eachothers hearts at random times and feel urges to contact one another.. Its similiar to a mothers intuition.. We just kno wen sumthings wrong... We have actually met in our dreams only to realize after discussing it the next day, that we both had the same dream and same experience, feelings and all on the same night... Now explain that!? Lol nobody can.. Your soulmates is the best suitable explanation... We always just say, no matter the time away, no matter the distance, this is only a moment compared to a lifetime we are goin to share!!! Stay positive... We all need a little care n helping hands! God bless your Journey!

Thank you for the encouragement & words of comfort. i don't know what i'd do without VJ & the connections built herein. How lucky we are to have each other...i mean how did the folks before the advent of the internet get by??! I sometimes say being in love is a terrible privilege...if that makes any sense at all

Staying strong & hopeful.

my heart is torn here. Torn in the sense, that i feel happiness for your ability to connect with each other, yet sullen at the obstacles i'm facing. The love of my life lives in Cuba, & therefore communications are extremely difficult at best. Skype, Facebook, Whatsapp are all unavailable on the island & there is no WIFI readily available. I call him every other day at 79 cents a minute & it's practically killed my budget. We have attempted to write letters to each other (via snail mail) however neither of us have yet to receive the others mail. Mail between the U.S. & Cuba are notoriously inefficient. Email is also spotty, but we do get to send each other emails once in a while. But i must admit, there are moments within the day, that i feel an inexplicable ethereal connection to him, that defies explanation or logic. So with that, i find some peace...a moment of joy.

So, any words of kindness or advice is greatly appreciated here, because i feel i have exhausted all my options. Perhaps a few Cubanos can relate.

Keep holding on folks. These moments of separation pale in comparison to the deeper connections we are building through the soulful bond we share with that special person. Keep strong.

i'm viewing this at a small cafe & uproariously laughed out loud to a lot of stares. Thank you so much for giving me the perspective i so needed right now. Gotta laugh this s*** off sometimes. i mean quite frankly, i'm not enduring World War II Germany, separated from my loved one under dire & extenuating circumstances. In the words of Richard Bach, "...If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?” But if you would like to create a satirical youtube clip of Fidel, i'd love you forever.

Well We will have to compare notes then, lets get started and see you in Havana at the interview.

Drinks are on us!

Arturo

Yes! Hopefully we will be drinking Havana Club & smoking a couple of habaneros together on the Malecon, haha. Good fortune to us both.

I am just a newbie myself so see if others have better advice. But from what I have read and understand, it needs to be in English. If it is written in Spanish, you need to get it officially translated.

Best of wishes!

I submitted both my letter of intent & my fiance's letters in English. But you need original signatures on both. If the beneficiary's letter will be in Spanish, ensure that it is translated by a "competent person."

For any of you that are going through the Visa process, I have a question. What is the best way to get signed, original USCIS forms back to the US from Cuba reliably?

There are service providers out of Miami, but I dont want to guess, I want to know for sure from someone that has done it.

Notably the biographical information form, G-325A that will have to be sent back signed with passport photos.

Thanks everyone, this is the first step of the journey for me.

Arturo

I just began this long, arduous journey myself & successfully completed this part of the process, by using DHL. It cost 25 CUC from Havana to Los Angeles, and although they estimate a delivery time of 3 business days, i received the package within 5 days. Nevertheless, it worked out well. Good luck on your journey.