imprezaowner27

Finally got the NOA1 letter in the mail....It has a priority date of 8/1 on it.  

Good luck to you, I went to the interview with my wife and brought along 4 years worth of tax transcripts and wouldnt you know it....
they asked for the W2 at the document counter (before the interview) and i said i didnt need it due to having the transcripts right? and the man said nope they still want the W2
I ran to the nearest computer and printed it from my payroll site...when I got up to the interview window they had the green denial sheet ready and filled out due to "no W2" and said i could email it to them for review, the officer was surprised when i handed it to him and he ripped the paper up.
not to get you scared but dont stop trying to get it, do what you can and go from there

Congrats! Glad you can now move on with your life together.

I'll try to keep this as brief as possible but I feel like our case has been the most Roller Coaster of emotions that is nearly impossible to believe.
A little about us: My wife and I attended the same high school, at the same time (albeit one year apart) and had many many mutual friends, yet never met until years later when she was already abroad. We started talking on facebook via mutual friends comment sections of their posts, then it escalated into a private chat and the rest was history.
This is important, because itll come into play later on.
Our CR-1 visa process started off normally, I sent in the packet in August and it was transferred to Texas....NOOO the black hole!
Shortly after that we were transferred again to Potomac....new service center WOOO! fastest!....WRONG, we were between NOA1-2 for 7 Months essentially.
After we were finally approved and on to NVC the strangest thing happened....we were expedited without asking for it.
Apparently due to the Olympics, our case was sent to Rio de Janeiro to get processed quickly.
Interview date was scheduled before I even got news that my packet had been touched.
I fly to Brasil to be with my wife during her interview and boom...DENIED
the reason was because she had lived here before and turned 18, stayed until she was 19 and 34 days. Thats right, because of essentially 34 days she had a 10 year ban.
she had lived in brasil for 8.5 years so the officer told us to just wait out the extra time and try again
Something was right though, when she lived in the states she was in the process to get her Green Card, she had work authorization, she had a drivers license, etc, so there was no way she was illegally here. I fought it and started emailing every document I had in my possession that proved her legal status in the US while she was an adult.
IT WORKED!
fast forward 10 days and she received her passport in the mail with the sealed entry packet, the visa in her passport, the A number with the paperwork to pay the fee's
we are ecstatic and purchasing tickets etc before they call us and change their minds hahahha
never lose hope, and never trust those who tell you "its impossible" "she overstayed and now she has to pay the consequences" If you are persistent and you are right, things will work out.

WOOHOO! Just checked the USCIS case status for like the 4th time today and it says "sent to DoS" now! Looks like you questioning it sent some luck my way

I want to answer your other questions, too. If you have tax transcripts, you only have to send those, and only the most recent year is required. If you WANT to send your past three years of tax transcripts, you can do that, if you feel it's needed to prove your income stability. If you didn't have the transcripts, you would send copies of your whole income tax return + W-2s and/or 1099's (but those aren't needed if you're sending transcripts). The employer letter and paystubs is optional for you, if you want to show current/ongoing income. That's usually for people who just got a new job that finally qualifies them as a sponsor, but that wasn't reflected on their past income tax returns.
Note: You have to mail ALL of the pages of the I-864EZ, even if you don't fill anything out on the last few pages (translator and preparer's info pages).
Also, pay close attention to the instructions for which numbers to put in for Part 5, 6a/6b/6c. I got checklisted for that back in 2013.

For that section, it's 2...0..0...0...0...2 (if you don't live with/support anyone else right now). The form says not to count the same person twice, so 1b. would be 0 since you already counted her.
It has 1b there for people who live with their spouse currently (so that spouse counts toward the household) and they're sponsoring someone else other than the people listed below 1a.

Nope. It just sits there, waiting on you for up to a year.

I thought getting the tax transcripts would be difficult but i just went on the website and hit submit for the last few years (starting with 2013) and it says its going to mail them to me
pretty easy considering its a government website My ds260 isnt available yet so im not at that stage but just prepping for when i get there all the papers will be in hand.

for those wondering about NVC...
I received my PHYSICAL copy in the mail from NVC with my case number and cover sheets two days ago.... already submitted a few things online and paid some fee's. Today im getting all the other papers together like my tax returns etx (already have them just need to print it all out)
I was waiting for 30 days to go by so i could call in and get a case number but NVC/POTOMAC beat me to it! haha, so things are going very fast in my opinion. Im very please with it so far after waiting 7 months for NOA2

Congrats imprezaowner27! That's great to hear!
I'm wondering if contacting the congresswoman actually sped it up or it was going to happen anyway...debating contacting our local congressman...
I think Blondedoc asked about our appointment at the local office - apparently when we tried to book it, it wouldn't allow us on the online portal, so as of yet we do not have a date there. I saw your meeting raised more questions than it answered, I am sorry to hear about that! Good news will come soon!
S82015 - I have also been watching over your visa journey and I was wondering if you could provide us with an update (and perhaps update your timeline). I know that you have also surpassed the 6-month waiting point and I was wondering if you heard anything yet.
Thank everyone - be patient and news will come eventually!

Because yours is approved, I feel like mine will be here in the next two weeks.

GUYS just got an update..... I guess writing AGAIN to my congresswoman might have triggered something...I HAVE NO IDEA what this means though hah i guess ill research right now
"
Case Was Sent To The Department of State
On February 29, 2016, we sent your case, Receipt Number SRCXXXXXXXX, to the Department of State for visa processing. Please visit our website for general information on Consular Processing. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address."



This was updated online and i have received no letter in the mail.

OMG! This is great news. I know how worried you were. All the best from here. Hope your green card application gets processed asap.

you are welcome!!!
Ah, they are weird... Eu prefiro não escrever exatamente o que penso deles hahaha... We have to deal with them and now you have just to celebrate!
My case is becoming one... Let´s see... my PD is just 10 days after yours...
Go celebrate!!!

Looks like your NOA2 to me, never heard of USCIS forwarding your petition to the State Department if they doubted the legitimacy of your marriage between your NOA1 and NOA2. If USCIS doubted it, they'd ask for more evidence or outright deny you. They wouldn't send your petition to the State Department for the next step in processing. (Maybe you were mistaking post-interview files being sent back to the US for doubting relationship legitimacy...)

Yes it's sent to the NVC. It's going thru the normal processing path. They are not doubting the legitimacy of your marriage (So far, which is good), they might later such as at the embassy interview. If the USCIS are doubting the legitimacy of your marriage then they wouldn't approve your I-130 petition.

this is a good thing its not bad my friend got the sam e thing after 7 days her noa 2 came in the mail congrats

uhm huh. I filed in Aug, still nothing since was transferred to Potomac.

Texas is processing after my noa1 date so if I had stayed in Texas I would've had more luck. 6 months into Potomac and I'm still here
My best advice is to forget expectations and just take it as it comes. If you expect news at 4 months you will be terribly disappointed. At 5 months you'll be angry. And at 6 months you just won't care anymore hahahaha

Little bit of misinformation here. No one knows what order they are going by, approvals have been all over the place.

I feel for ya.. if my application had stayed in California, it would have been approved months ago, and I would know where it is and what is going on now.