usbridetobe

Just wanted to post that I had a tremendous friendly professional experience with the embassy here in Sydney.

I had my interview today at 8 am and I left the building APPROVED at 8.45 am !!

They accommodated a request of mine to bring forward my interview by a week. They emailed replies within minutes and just made the whole experience a pleasure to deal with.

Couldnt ask for more.

I will post a review on the embassy review page as well but wanted you guys to see it.

Question. My fiancé has his medical in Sydney this Thursday. The results do not get mailed to him from what I understand. About how long does it take to get to consulate? Can he send off his packet 3 right away or will consulate notify him that they received it via email?

The Doctor told me it takes 4 working days .

I had my interview exactly a week after the medical and they had them .

Pamala , thank you so much for the fantastic information.

I really appreciate it.

I have sent in DS-230 Part 1 seperately as rereading the form it says to send that immediately and then send the other documents later. I am going to send everything on Monday.I will make sure i have copies and triple checked everything as per your list.

Much thanks

Hi

I have just received my packet 3 from the embassy requesting Documents.

I have 3 questions as I am really confused.

1. Do i send the DS-230 Part I separately or together with the other documents required?

2. Also do i send all the following in another envelope ?

I have DS-230 Parts 1 and 2

DS-156K

DS-156

Form I-134

Form DSL 1076

Police certificate for Australia and Uk

Birth Certificate

3. The packet 3 doesnt mention paying for the Visa.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Just FYI:

Our NOA2 is also July 10th. I have collected some data from the VJ database and this is what I found:

Percentage of cases received by NVC reported as waiting time from NOA2 to NVC:

7 days :: 28%

14 days :: 71%

21 days :: 92%

28 days :: 96%

35 days :: 98%

So by 5 weeks 98% of the people have had their cases received by the NVC, putting us in the bottom 2% of the population. This information is limited though. It is based only on the VJer's from their timelines (643 couples) so only represents a small portion of all the cases the NVC gets; the data is for NOA2's from April through August, and is only for the CSC (although I believe the VSC and TSC data would be similar).

That's really interesting. We were approved on July 26th, I just called NVC and still no sign. We are California filers.

Looking at your statistics it looks like we may hear next week.

Thanks for doing this .

Yup. My NOA2 has the same text. If you check your case status online at USCIC, what does it say?

It says : post decision activity

We mailed you a notice that we have approved the I-129f petition for fiancée.

It then has in smaller print, for approved applications post decision activity may include uscis sending notification of the approved application petition to the national visa centre or dept of state.

Ok, it is so frustrating that even though I have received the NOA2, the USCIS website still shows a case status of Initial Review. So, when I call the NVC they tell me they still haven't received it and that I should check with USCIS regarding the case status, and then when I call USCIS they say that it might take up to 30 - 60 days for it to be transferred to NVC and for them to update the case status. Sigh. I don't understand why every case is handled so differently. I'm just gonna keep calling every week until I get a different outcome

What does it exactly say on your NOA 2 Receipt?

My NOA 2 from California was July 26th and says "The above petition has been approved and forwarded to the listed consulate. "

I called NVC today and they said they havent got it yet . So no idea when or where it is. I dont know if its gone directly to the consulate or to NVC.

I agree with everything said. Its just so inefficient but we have waited this long ..

Hopefully i will get my SYD number in the next week or so and I will book it then.

I will update here as soon as i have any info.

Yep that's fine.

Though it's incredibly risky (though I should mention it's NOT immigration fraud) I would call and give them a number that seems right, then when you go in for the appointment I would tell them that the person on the phone must have told you wrong and hand them the letter with your actual number to "correct" the mistake. Risky and personally I would wait (and I did) but it's up to you.

Its all a bit risky really as you say.

Im going to wait and hopefully this week i will get my SYD number and can then book it assuming they have availability .

Thats great about Brisbane.

If the Sydney Drs cant fit me in once I get my NVC case no I will try the Brisbane or even Melbourne Drs.

I assume its ok to get it done outside of Sydney and they just send it to the consulate?

As you say thats crazy!

Anyway i will keep trying and hopefully NVC will give me my number shortly.

For Sydney, they will not budge. We tried to call several times and were only able to get an appointment once we had a case number. Even with the case number, they made us call back for 3 days in a row until they would schedule us. I'm not sure if this is the norm for them, but they were really back logged. Sry It is really frustrating

Thats really inefficient isnt it.

Just out of interest why did they make you call 3 days in a row once you had the number?

Also was it a 3 - 4 week wait?

I was approved on Friday evening . Bearing in mind the possible wait times for the medical exam i attempted to book an appointment and the receptionist will not make one without a SYD number.

I explained that i would have the number from NVC prior to the appointment but wanted to book one for 3 or 4 weeks time but she wouldn't.

Anyone have any experience or suggestions with this.

thanks

Just got approved !!!

CSC 25/3 filer

Just got a text from USCIS with Approval of NOA2

25th March filer at CSC

Delighted beyond words .

All in all very stressful but only 120 days.

Good luck to everyone else waiting.

CSC has certainly slowed this week.

Just seen that there was 1 approved today and 1 on weds though.

They seem to approve at different paces week by week.

Just to let you know i spoke to a tier 2 officer .

She was very polite but as i am a late CSC March filer she cant issue a service request until 5 months are up.

She would only speak in detail to the USC but couldnt help any further apart from saying "everything looks good as you havent had an RFE yet ."

I have to say she was very friendly and I believe she would have helped further if she could.

Do any of you guys know if the fingerprints are required with the police certificates? Should my Fiancee get fingerprints done as well or just the police certificates? I do not see anything mentioned on the Canberra site for fingerprints but just want to be sure.

There does seem to be some confusion on this.

I got mine fingerprints done just in case and have the full certificate. It was expensive but i didnt want to have a problem at the interview etc.

I am waiting for a call back from a Tier 2 .

Can they speak to either of us or does it have to be the USC ?

I called to ask about the TSC and the transfer I got.

Oh ok that makes sense.

I am a March CSC straggler left behind but cant call for 4 weeks

I have never had that issue. I give them my receipt number and information so they can pull up my file (they have to enter the call into the database on their end), then I tell them I have case-specific questions and ask to be transferred to a tier 2 immigration officer -- they transfer all the case details to them via computer service, including receipt number, so the T2 IO doesn't have to ask the same questions. If they offer you a call back in 3-5 business days or the opportunity to wait, tell them you'd rather wait.

Then I opt into the "automated call back" typically you get a call back in the time they specify your wait will be. You won't lose your place in line, they'll just call you back right before you're transferred to a T2 IO.

Im surprised that they will give you any information though as your NOA 1 is April. I thought we had to wait a minimum of 5 months?

I am a Jan filer so I am not sure how that works if you just filed in April--my understanding is that they will not help if you are still within normal processing times

Thats exactly what i was thinking. As i understand it we cant call until 5 months of torture is over.

However it seems some earlier posters on here who are April filers were calling and getting through to a level 2 i think ?

I thought we could only call them after the 5 month deadline is reached?

I see some people are calling who are April filers . Am i misunderstanding this?

Well, just to update: My fiancé went in to the birth/death/marriage offices and got a certified copy of his birth certificate within an hour. Easy peasy. So that's done, and aside from his mum freaking out about having to be in Sydney in under 2 weeks we are good to go! It's funny because just yesterday she was stressed out because we hadn't heard from them yet, haha. This means he might be able to come earlier than we planned! Yay!

Fantastic news. I thought it wouldnt be a major issue but as we are all finding out things are never simple..

Keep us updated with the interview etc . Good luck with it.

Excellent news, a 2 week interview date is something i dream about!

As for a certified copy I think its possible to get it done at a lawyers/ notary with his passport . Check it out in case i am mistaken though.