JasMi

Hi TexAg,

My husband (American) and I relocated from Frankfurt area to Texas last year. Because of my husband's work orders, the Consulate accommodated my interview before his scheduled date of leave. Our CR1 visa process was quite lengthy, but eventually I got the interview scheduled 2 weeks prior to our intended leave. My passport with the visa was ready to pick up the day after the interview. The Consulate was quite co-operative in this regard.

As for medical exams and other documents to send in, we were informed about it in person, on submitting our I-130 form. So, we pretty much knew the time frame for the next steps. Also, once issued, the visa (CR1 in my case) was valid for 6 months.

I hope your visa process goes smooth! Let me know if you have any questions.

JasMi

I wired quite an amount of Euros (converted to US Dollar), which were my savings, to my husband's account in the US. There was absolutely no problem with anything. Other than a transfer, I don't see how else one could safely bring their savings into the US.

I live in Austin. I don't think lack of spanish has anything to do with it. In some places it might be considered a plus but rarely a requirement

Good to know! For quite a few jobs I came across and I was interested in, it was required, or as they tend to put it in a job spec: 'Bilingual preferred'.

I have been looking for a job since end of May 2013 and still have not been successful. I live in San Antonio, TX. My main fields of experience are in marketing and PR /market research and business development. I am educated to master's, and have nearly 10 years of work experience. I apply for full and part time jobs, making sure I meet the position's requirements. However, I feel that having no work experience on the US market is what is hindering me and I am also not a Spanish speaker. I could be wrong but it is hard to determine the real reasons of not being able to secure a job yet in the field I want. I try to stay positive and will keep on looking..Good luck to everyone looking for a job!!

My husband and I filed in Frankfurt last August. Unfortunately, our DCF took a long time (7 months). We are still not sure why so long, as our case was straight forward and we lived together. They misplaced the documents I sent in, never informed us about our I-130 approval, and poorly communicated over email. They eventually scheduled my interview 2.5 months after my husband's scheduled move back to the US (he was on orders). We suspect it was a mistake as they eventually re-scheduled it to a week later.

Otherwise, the interview went very smooth and we were able to pick up my visa a day later.

Good luck with your interview

It depends on where you are based and your flexibility and budget.There are quite a few airlines which fly to Cancun directly from Europe. It is a popular destination among German people so Lufthansa has flights from Frankfurt via Mexico City, airberlin too. Also Condor has flights from Kiev via Frankfurt to Cancun. Check out KLM from Kiev/Amsterdam as I am sure they have flights that don't transfer in the US. I would look for direct flights from Spain too, maybe on Pullmantur Air from Madrid.

Your Polish passport should be fine. I used my passport when traveling inside the US as I had no GC at that point. They did not check my visa.

Congratulations! I just moved to San Antonio but still have a long journey to naturalization

I encountered no issues at POE when traveling with my husband (USC) to the USA. We filed I-130 and three weeks later had a trip planned to see family. Although my husband had a copy of his orders confirming residence in Germany, the Immigration Officer did not want to see it, nor did not ask any unusual questions other than the purpose of the trip and how long we were staying in the US.

On April 2, 2013, we mailed the new card directly to the address we have on file. You should receive your new card within 30 days. If you do not, or if you move before you get it, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

Does anyone knows how long its take to get GC in my Mailbox after they mailed it?

Thanks

My sister in Oklahoma received her GC a week after the interview.

Congratulations! My husband (USC) and I also did DCF filing for my immigrant visa. We filed in Frankfurt Consulate. Altogether it took 7 months to get the visa in hand, and the process was slightly different.

Hi,

So I contacted both the doctor's office and the USCIS in Frankfurt about this, but I have not got an answer. The secretary at the doctor's office said the doctor will need to tell my wife and the USCIS says I should contact the doctor.

I mainly want to know if the Tdap she got in 2011 is still valid. The physicians office told me she needs to get all her vaccinations before going for her medical because they don't give them there.

As far as I'm aware, the vaccines an adult is required have are: 2 doses of MMR in lifetime, Tdap within 10 years, Varicella and Influenza if it's flu season

My wife already had MMR 2 times in her life, had the Tdap in 2011, has already had chickenpox (will they take her word for it?), and it won't be flu season when she goes for her medical. So from that I conclude she needs no further vaccinations.

Are we good to go?

Thanks a lot!

You should be fine. Also, they do give vaccinations there if you ask, and if they have it available. You just pay for it on top. I got two vaccinations when I went for my medical exam (MMR and Td). Indeed, everybody is very friendly there, my examination together with tests and the wait time took about 2.5 hours.

1. Country USC resides in: Germany

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? Yes

3. When did you file the I-130: August 2012

4. How long had you been living abroad: 5 years

5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes

6. What is the reason for your residence: Work with US Government

7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes, but I was told to list US address too

8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? Yes, filed in person

9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? Yes

10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? No letter but I spoke to the USCIS officer in person

11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? I never got either officially, NOA1 received on filing in person, NOA2 took 33 days but I found out about it nearly at the end of the visa processing.

hi everybody, we are still at the NVC stage but i would like to know if i could delay the interview appointment once i get one. im just curious because my mom wants to go on a last vacation with me before i will leave and im worried the interview appointment will be set for that exact time i would be gone.

my embassy will be frankfurt,germany if thats important.

Thanks in advance!

I rescheduled my interview at Frankfurt Consulate to an earlier date so, they could consider the date change if you ask them. I used this link to contact them:

http://germany.usembassy.gov/visa/iv/contact/form/

Thank u for ur reply.

Are you under AP?

and for how long? For which reason they put u under AP?

I am not under AP, just 'Ready' for the interview which is scheduled in a few days. We sent a lot of messages to the embassy and saw the case status date updated every time we sent a message or got a reply.

Hi every one

My case status still indefinite Administartive Review in the amabassy.when I checked my satuts today online in CEAC I saw that my Status Updated Date chanbed.it was Feb 14th2013 and. Now it is March 13th 2013.

I see that. Date changed since my Fiance emailed the ambassy in march13th 2013.they said that becouse of no employees they can't. Process on my case.

Please what does that it mean.

Why the status Updated date CHANGE?

why it took time to finish Administartive review for a woman.and why they kept for my passport and they don't work on my case

Sorry I asked much questions. :help: :help:

The 'status updated date' changed probably because either someone worked on your case or just logged on to your case once the email from you was received. Maybe they log all correspondence? I am not sure but my 'status updated date' always gets changed once my husband or I send an email to the embassy.

Great news! My husband sent an email to the Consulate to explain our situation again, and they changed the interview date. I am now scheduled for March 21! This is a difference of 2.5 months! Hopefully the Consulate will be able to process the visa quickly enough for me to fly with my husband on April 5 as scheduled, but if not, at least I would only fly a week later at most.

So, any of you who get scheduled for an interview further in the future than you had hoped, try sending a message to the Embassy or Consulate. It just might work!

JasMi

Hi,

I'm trying to get more information regarding Croatia, here goes. My wife is Polish and we currently live here in L.A. and I have kind of made of my mind that I'd to leave the U.S. and settle in Europe for several reasons, one of which is my wife's mother is getting older and she owns a big house in Sandomierz, Poland. She is very close to her mother and eventually her mom will need some care. I also want to move to Europe because there is so much to see and eventually traveling by plane to Europe will get more expensive. I should say that I will probably be retiring in 5 or more years with a good pension from a gov't agency so I'm not worried about finding work. Now to Croatia, we spent some time in Montenegro but on our way we stayed in Dubrovnic for a short time. I really like it there because it seemed warmer, (we were there in September) and well I thought it be nice to buy a small place there to spent in the summer months in Poland where it's beautiful and all during that time traveling around when we aren't at either place. I fully intend to try and learn the language and assimilate into the culture in both Poland and Croatia. I'm just wondering I am way off base and should not attempt this. We also thought we could try it for 6 months and then see. We currently don't own property here in the U.S. so moving won't really be a problem. I also wonder about being able to stay in Croatia as my wife is part of the EU she would have to do anything but what about me being a U.S. citizen if we decide to stay. Any advice tips would be great I love finding out about new cultures and aren't typical America.

Bernie

Dubrovnik is a beautiful place indeed. I believe Croatia is joining the EU this year. In general, if you plan to reside in one of the EU countries for over 90 days, you need some sort of registration/residence permit. Your wife, as a holder of a EU passport will need to apply with the relevant authorities for a residence card for a non-EU family member. I am not exactly sure what documents you need to produce other than a passport, proof of relationship, and her proof/registration as a EU national...

Thanks JasMi, sent everything to get ACPO and now contacting german consulate in Barcelona to get my spanish "Certificado de Antecedente Penales"...I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins...

Good Luck Etta&James I had 5 police clearances to get and in my case the UK one took the longest, approx. 4 weeks total.

My wife and I are about to start DCF and going through the requirements, they ask for police/criminal records from all the countries you have lived more than 12 months since the age of 16.

Is that absolutely necessarily, even though I've lived in the UK for the last 3 years? previously I was in Spain for 1.5 years, USA for 2.5 years and Chile for the previous 25 years - I have double citizenship (German/Chilean).

helps please! getting all those records might take me ages!

It is necessary. I got my UK police clearance by applying to ACPO, here is the link: http://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx

Good luck

That is just bizarre. Our embassy, Stockholm, was willing to offer us the first available date, but we had to hold off for a little while due to the medical. We sent in our DS-230 on March 4th and our interview is on March 20th.

I would definitely ask them to move you up, it is soo weird that they'd schedule you for June.

That is absolutely false for spouse visas.

You are so lucky Nola123! We contacted the Consulate by email (the only way to approach them) to expedite the interview, and I hope our email won't stay unanswered. I seriously wonder what happened to my case since the I-130 approval in mid Sept, 2012. Besides, DCF filed cases are supposed to move faster than cases filed in the US anyway.

Are both you and husband out of USA?

Thats what I hear as well, that if both the spouses are together in a foreign place it delays the application.

And people have advised me that the petitioner should be in US when applying for the visa etc.

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, we both live in Germany, where my husband is stationed and has worked for the US Government for the last 5 years. It was his permanent duty station and he has both German and US address so, it should not be an issue. Actually, my I-130 was approved within a month of filing it, and DS-230 form was filed on the same day as I-130, medical exam was completed over three months ago too. So, it is discouraging to wait three more months just for the interview

Hello everyone,

Today I received an interview appointment letter from the Consulate and much to my surprise it is scheduled almost 3 months from now, on June 5. My husband and I filed for my immigrant visa through DCF in Frankfurt 7 months ago. The Consulate was aware of my husband’s travel orders to move back to the USA on April 5th. Unfortunately they did not accommodate my interview to ensure I have the visa issued in time for his scheduled travel. Also, when we were at the Consulate months ago, two different State Department personnel told us that ‘we had plenty of time’.

Has anyone had a similar situation with a visa interview being scheduled so far in advance? Has anyone been able to get a Consulate to expedite an interview after it has already been scheduled?

JasMi

Hi,

That sounds quite worrisome. I did not have an issue at all with my submissions to the Frankfurt consulate except that there were no clearly defined timelines. I sent in the original documents only after receiving the request from the Consulate and like you, I tracked it online. We only had to wait one week until we received the interview date.

I would ignore the timeframe of one week as being relevant in your case, since when you fill out the required form on their website and which is mailed to you requesting the documents, you are required to give the expected date that you will be flying to the US. I assume that they prioritize the interviews to coincide with the date you added on this form. For me, I planned to fly out one month after sending in the original documents (sent in end of November, planned to fly to the US end of December). We received the interview date within one week which was in enough time to fly at our scheduled departure date.

If this date has changed, you are to contact the Consulate again and inform them of the revised date. However, be certain that you have everything in order by the proposed date: for example your Medical Examination.

One surprise for me was that I as the filer (USC), I was not allowed into the Consulate for the interview-so my wife went in on her own.

Hi,

Thanks for your input, much appreciated! My husband is moving back in exactly one month, so hopefully I will get the interview date in the next few days. We also provided the date of travel on the form. I did medical exam nearly 2 months ago and the Consulate confirmed they had received it. It is the only feedback on my case so far.

Interesting, as we both planned to go the Consulate for my interview...now I will have to confirm with them, whether or not my husband could go in with me.

One more question, how do they send the interview date, by email or post it to a mailing address or both ways to make sure it gets to you on time?

Of course, to add more fuel to this annoying process, my fiancee and I have lived in various developing countries for more than 1 year. It is my understanding that HE ONLY has to obtain police clearance reports from the countries that he has stayed in for more than 1 year, and I do not need to provide any police clearance, correct? Both of us have no records, but the problem is getting those records. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to obtain a police clearance record in a country that he is not a citizen of and doesn't currently reside in? We still have friends in Egypt, but can he obtain a police clearance record without having to go back to the country with whom is requesting the clearance? I believe that we read that the USCIS or other body provides you with a letter to give to the police, but is it best to start just trying to obtain this clearance while waiting for the documents to be processed? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I am not sure about Egypt but I went through the process of getting a few police reports from European countries. In some cases, I could apply through the embassy in my current country of residence, other requests were mailed directly to the designated authorities issuing such reports in each country.