dvd

My spouse will have the CR1 interview in Mumbai, India..I saw posts that mention VFS. I do not understand how VFS comes into the picture here. As I understand, on the day of interview, my spouse takes all the necessary documentation along with interview letter and shows up at the US consulate. Is it required to go to VFS office in Mumbai and submit any kind of forms before the interview. I have seen posts where the documents were submitted. Can anyone clarify? Our case is not DCF and is I-130 applied and approved in USA and then processed and transferred to consulate via NVC.

Yes. I did file with just a marriage certificate. Got approved and no RFE. Like I mentioned before, the photos and additional evidence is still required but it will be shown at a later stage (during interview). I have heard cases where the photos and "extra" information was returned back to the petitioner by USCIS since it is not really required at that stage. For peace of mind, if the petitioner wants to send the pics along with I-130, there is no harm in doing so.

Nothing is more superior than marriage certificate for Bonafide marriage evidence atleast for I-130. Hence providing a copy of certificate along I-130 pkt is good enough..the pics are required to be shown at a later stage anyways.

Actually, you do not need to send any pics for I-130. You will have an opportunity to show these during the interview.

Chris: You mention 5/2/2013 in your timeline as "Receive Instruction Package"..what is it? Did you receive something?

Let me all so add that like mentioned by Nick, consulate doesn't care..all it needs is a PCC

At Passport office, we took a chance, declared as married (did not add spouse name to previously issue passport), asked to show marriage certificate and the officer did not bother much. He gave PCC.....so it all depends on the officer at the desk.

But the consulate packet 4 info says that the PCC validity is 1year...

so you think it's valid for 1year? I have read some other posts where it says 6 months...since you finished your interview and approved...CONGRATS...how old was your PCC at the time of interview?

You can pay AOS fee once available and then print the cover sheet and send the AOS pkt. Likewise, once 3032 is accepted, IV fee will be generated, pay the fee, print coversheet and send the DS230 pkt (assuming you have all the necessary docs in hand)...Do not wait for NVC to email you..if you have the invoice ID, fees generated and all docs in hand, you can send the packets.

Hi,

I have already been through what you are going right now.

Best Solution (as per me):

1. Send DS 230 to NVC without PCC

2. NVC will complete your case without PCC so don't worry, not a big deal.

3. Apply for PCC right now

Depends upon different cases, getting PCC is tricky!!

Case 1 : Your Passport is OLD and It doesn't have your spouse's name on it.

PSK (Passport Seva Kendra) guys will NOT give you PCC and will ask you to have your spouse's name onto your Passport.

For so, you will have to apply for re-issuing of the Passport for reason - Adding of Spouse Name

Case 1.1

You are applying for Passport in Normal Scheme

Wait for Police Verification to happen, once it's finished, wait for Passport to arrive in your hand. Once you get the Passport, apply for PCC and you will get it within few hours

Case 1.2

You are applying for Passport in Tatkal Scheme

You will get the Passport, then wait for Police Verification to happen, once it's finished, check with Police (I guess 1090) if your Police Verification process has finished, once it's finished, apply for PCC and you will get it within few hours

Case 2 : Your Passport is NEW and it does have your spouse's name on it.

Apply for PCC and you will get it within few hours

Hope it helps...I know, getting PCC is big thing!!

Reply/PM if need any help.

I will add case 3 here for the sake of completeness..

Case 3: WIfe already has a passport but without the spouse name and the PCC is already obtained inspite of spouse's name not being in the Passport.

The PCC can be submitted along with DS230 to NVC (or bring it to interview if NVC allows it) and I am pretty sure a NEW passport is not required with spouse's name for visa aprroval/stamping.

Vishal: Is this a request from the US consulate that the passport should have husband's name on it? OR is this a convenience/process that the passport officer told you and hence applied for new passport?

Any other recent experiences?

I have already paid and sent the AOS and DS230 forms for CR1 and NVC phone operator acknowledged that they did receive two packets from me. But why does NVC send emails that the payments have been made and now I need to download, fill and send the forms. Is it just a normal "NVC left hand doesn't know what right hand is doing" situation?

This means someone at USCIS has touched your case file and has recorded it into the system via an assignment of A# and scheduled it in the queue for further processing steps. This could be the final A# of the beneficiary when the petition and visa is eventually approved. Just wait for more time as the case will be processed taking its usual processing time.

After CR1 interview at Mumbai Consulate, does anybody know how to pick up the approved visa & passport? I have heard one way is to register with VFS beforehand and then it will be delivered to our choice of location in about a week after the interview approval.

I have also heard that we can wait and pickup the same evening. If so, is it from the consulate or from VFS in Mumbai? I would like to do it the same day and get done with it. Any recent experiences? How about the sealed packet?

Yes there is no need to add husband's name in the passport. However, when the PCC is issued, you can ask the officer to add husband's name behind wife's name (like xxxx, w/o yyyy) on the PCC. I already submitted the PCC to NVC with DS230. How long is it vaid for? Any idea?

I submitted them along with 230. Why do you want to not submit. They will return them during the interview anyways.

I sent the forms last week.

I see some of the posts here that their AOS pkt has been accepted. I have submitted AOS and DS230 and waiting for case complete. How do I know which one is accepted?

Once NVC sets up an interview date for CR1, does anyone know how quickly they send the case related CR1 packet (I-864, DS230 and I-130) to the consulate in preparation for the interview. Do they send immediately after interview assignment or for example 1-2 weeks before the interview? I have seen a few posts about tracking the package via DHL, but was not sure how the tracking is performed.

Yes finally ....thanks

If your priority is time over money, K1 stands a better chance to get your fiance to be with you faster. However, keep in mind that there is always a doubt in the consulate officer's mind about the validity of the relationship compared to CR1. If for some reason, it gets rejected, you have to marry and then file for CR1, adding more delay. The CR1 time frames are not too bad but you should probably estimate 7-8 months from the time its filed to the interview date. The K1 is probably around 6 months. This estimate is valid if your files/records are in order and there are no RFE's and bottlenecks.

I am in the process of submitting DS230 and talked to the nvc. He suggested to use the same cover sheet that I used to send AOS since all they see is the barcode of the case. However, the cover sheet on AOS has the following address:

National Visa Center
Attn. CMR AOS
31 Rochester Avenue Suite 100
Portsmouth, NH 03801 -2914

Anybody know what the address is for sending DS230?

Yes they are done only in mumbai and delhi

Yes even I am curious to know if an email is sent stating the AOS acceptance.

Ya..seems logical.