Donkey81

thinking of getting some of the immun. stuff done now at local regular GP.....

already have Tetanus and proof of it

so will be based on age...

time of year.... (flu or no flu)

I hope they have good availability to book in.......

I had mine done a couple of weeks ago - you have to get flu which my doctor laughed at because it's summer in the US! He did say though that a lot of companies are getting their employees flu shots for free so maybe look into that as you can save yourself $20! Apart from flu, I just needed MMR and I was all good to go. Good luck!

What an awesome way to find out. When it is totally unexpected, it makes it so much sweeter. The medical exam needs to be done now ASAP. Right?

Thanks LifeOnHold! We can't believe that we have been given an interview date already, it's crazy after all this time and turmoil! I'm researching what I need to do re: medical and vaccs now but I believe it needs to be done ASAP so that everything can get over to the US embassy before the interview date

yayyyyy for you!!!!!

Thanks smoddydana!

so far you are the only person who said they got the emails. Is it a Costa Rican thing?? LOL I want to know how you got your checklist reviewed in 2 days !! Send some good vibes my way.

On my way to Philly to sit with the immigration lawyer and sort out the Waiver process. I am NOT a city girl and I am very nervous about taking the train ( yea yea I have a big mouth but I'm a baby sometimes LOL) I am dragging my 14 year old daughter with me. She's not happy

LoveMyTico - I was in Philly yesterday! I would totally have come and sat with you and the immigration lawyer - lol!!

Thanks for this info! I am in total confusion over this PCC in Australia. I had my NSW police cert sent to me and I have it now, so I am waiting for case complete at NVC and then I will inform Sydney that I have it and hope that they will allow me to bring for interview. So just to clarify we do need fingerprints for the interview??

Thank you for replying Yup, I heard you get an automatic extension as well, but we filed for extension anyways, since it's more likely to be October than August when we can finally file taxes. So in all likelihood we won't have 2013 transcripts even for the interview. The embassy at least should understand this, hopefully

We decided to now add 2013 $0, 2012 $0 and 2011 0$ for part 6. and hope that the letter for 2013 explains it well enough. We attached 2010 tax transcript just in case they do want the info for that year as well. We'll see what kind of checklists we get, if we get them... fingers crossed we won't!

We did the same and our AOS was accepted without a checklist, we're overseas filers too. So you should be fine.

Hi there

I am also Australian and had too the Livescan fingerprints for my Aussie police certificate. If you look on the reciprocity table I think it says that for a US Visa we have to have the Livescan fingerprints. I hear your frustration particularly as it costs $173 or thereabouts to get them. Perhaps you can get a case complete and then reapply forthr certificate and get it sent to the Consulate. I have heard they can do. Case complete and get certificates sent to consulate. Iam going to need Singapore and Hong Kong and am really worried because those countries won't do them until they gets checklist. I don't think we get a checklist until after we submit the IV documents. Is that correct? It will add another few weeks possibly to the process. Would love to hear from you. Where in Australia are you?

Hey msc13, I'm in Sydney, although currently I'm in Philly with my husband for my brother-in-laws wedding. Yes that's correct you won't get a checklist until after you submit your IV documents. So Singapore and HK make you wait until you have a checklist from NVC before you can apply for you police certificates? In that case that will add considerable time onto your process, so my advice would be to get everything ready to send as soon as you get the checklist. My UK police cert only took around 2 weeks mind, which I thought was crazy fast and that included it being sent snail mail to and from the UK. i would hope that Singapore and HK would have reasonably fast turnaround times too? I actually don't know where my Australian police cert is because I applied at the local police station and they really didn't have a clue about what I was asking for or where to send it etc, so I'm not even sure if it will ever get to the consulate in Sydney! They will laugh at me when I go back and tell them I have to get my fingerprints done by them! They think I'm a crazy US visa lady already!!

Oh wow. I've just talked to Jack (sweet man!) at NVC, and our case just got VERY complicated. It's been reviewed, and we are going to get a checklist for what looks like TWO police certificates.

Now...my partner is from the State of Queensland. If you are from Queensland, you apply for your PCC through the Queensland Police Department. They check the Federal Police Database and then send the report directly to the Sydney Consulate.

BUT...she lived in the State of Victoria for about 20 years. In the State of Victoria, you apply for a Police Report and it is sent directly to you.

What Jack seems to say (but he wasn't sure) was that we were going to get a checklist for TWO police certificates. ONE of them has to be sent to the NVC and ONE of them is sent directly to the Consulate. This is going to delay our case by up to 3-4 weeks, which just burns me. Victoria checks the same Federal Database that Queensland does!!!!

Think I am going to write my attorney for help on this one! Of course, now we have to wait for the official checklist. But Jack seemed to think that the Victoria Police Report is going to have to reach NVC before they even contact Sydney.

Why does it have to be so complicated?????

Sukie

Sukie - I feel your pain! I have had a similar fiasco with multiple police certificates today as well. I am soooo frustrated. I got the checklist overnight for my Aus police cert and fingerprints and my UK police cert and explained everything in my cover letter to them about my NSW cert being sent direct to consulate, but NO they don't even know their own rules and checklisted me for not having it in the IV package I sent. I also didn't know about the fingerprints we have to get from having lived in australia for over 6 months. I'm so annoyed as the Uk cert was in the file I sent them and I'm in the States now visiting family so I can't go down to the police station to get my Aus fingerprints done, which presumably are the same as the fingerprints I gave a week ago when I entered the States at LAX. Now I'm no fingerprinting expert here people but I'm assuming that they are likely to be the same fingerprints I have given the US government every time I have set foot on US soil at border patrol. I swear they have about 40 sets of my fingerprints but now they need more!!! Urgh, enough with my fingerprints!!

But in answer to you question why does it have to be so complicated? I have no idea? We just keep telling ourselves that the payoff is worth this frustration and in a year this will be a distant memory (I hope)!!

THANKS COLLIE !!! GOOD IDEA... at this point I am very good at writing letters to immigration..

Just sent one off....in the subject line I put ATTENTION DR DEPT **** URGENT***** (case number)

then I explained the 3 DUMB checklist items.

then I pleaded with them to please re-review my file.

My poor husband is standing in line at the Registry getting a certified copy of his birth cert. I hated to send him down there and he is pissed because we already sent the true original.. so monday I will receive the certified copy and I guess I'll just send it to them.. all a waste of time on everyons part.. but I guess we are at their mercy

LoveMyTico sounds like you're getting the full effect of NVC incompetency - I'm sorry about that. Thanks for the advice Collie, I will do that. They really should work out a better system where you can in some way communicate with the person reviewing your file and not the person on the phone who knows jack $hit about your file. Seems to me like this would save us all a load of time. I think i'll spend the rest of the day banging my head between a rock and a hard place...

YEP, I am convinced they have chimpanzees processing the files. I feel your pain... I am so sick over my checklist.....

So much wasted time !!! Its hard to be positive.

It really is, I feel like throwing in the towel with frustration! I just spoke to a lovely lady at the call centre and she said that my UK certificate was not in the file. IT WAS!! She's put in a 'Supervisor Review' so 30 business days to look for something that was right in front of you all along #winning NVC.

So p***ed with NVC right now. I've just received a checklist for two police certificates - one UK and one Australian. And now they have introduced a fingerprint certificate for Australia which cost $170. I sent the UK police certificate with my IV package and a statement from the Australian Consulate website saying that the Australian Certificate has been applied for and will be sent direct to the Consulate upon interview. So they know this, so why the checklist? I have never seen or heard of instructions that I have to get a fingerprint certificate - has anyone else?? I'm going to call to see if I can get a case complete and then take the fingerprints with me when I go for my interview. I am so fed up with this process. ARGHHHHHHH!!

Okay, appoint myself as agent and pay to ship it to the US. Yeah, I figured the price would be expensive, but I would much rather do that and be SURE of what we are sending in and that it is okay, then leave it to someone else.

Can those things be sent in one package?

No snail mail from NVC; form is pointless. Phew. Thanks. It was really worrying me, hearing this makes me feel much better, thank you!

I believe they can be sent in one package as long as they are clearly marked AOS and IV - I am sure someone on VJ can offer some guidance here. I sent mine as two packages because I got my AOS one done first. I fretted over sending my IV package as it contained my original birth cert and marriage cert which I am just so annoyed about sending but I had no choice unfortunately.

Okay, so...

NOA 2: March 20th, 2014

NVC received the case: April 7th, 2014

I called them today and got this information. I was told it is currently taking them up to 30 days to put the case in their system and get a number and that I should call on May 7th to inquire again.

I have a question I would appreciate your help with: Must I select an agent for my case that is in the US?

I understand that I am supposed to select someone in the US, normally the petitioner, to be agent and mail in all the documents. However, my husband will visit me in my country soon and he will stay here for nearly three months. My husband is coming over because our child is due in May. He will be with us until the end of July and we will fill out a CRBA for the child at the US Embassy. When his paternity leave is up, he will be going back to the US. The baby and I will follow some time after the summer, depending on when my visa is issued.

So, the point is that my husband will not be able to mail anything from the US and we can do it from my country just fine. I would prefer it if the two of us were doing this, rather than bugging his mother to do it for us from the US.

What should I do about this? Should I appoint him the agent and then have his mother pick up mail and read it out to us over the phone? Will anything be sent to him if we use email for correspondence?

Should I appoint my mother-in-law as agent as she will actually be physically present in the US?

Do I need to appoint an agent? Can I appoint myself? :/

What do you guys advise?

Yes appoint yourself as agent. I did this (I am the beneficiary), I live with my husband in Australia so we are both outside of the US. After waiting the full 30 days for our case # to be assigned which was frustrating, we have found the process at NVC to be quite speedy. We paid, filed and sent in our civil docs in less than two weeks. My point being it's a pain to have to wait so long for a number, but once you get it if you have everything in order then you can move quick. The only time we're losing which can't be helped is the time it takes (a full 4 business days) to get post to the US from Australia at a ridiculous cost as well. But that's out fault no one elses! Good luck!

Yes I had the same issue. Although I just ignored it and carried on and submitted my form. I therefore entered no info on my education or work. If they want it they will have to ask me for it. If you have made an inquiry and they have said they can't fix well there's not much you can do really is there?? What a helpful response from NVC! They will ask for it if they want it, I'm hoping at interview stage so I don't have to deal with NVC anymore.

Just received our case number from NVC, we were I-130 approved on 18th January! Can't believe it took so long. We were at TSC and they took 3 weeks to mail out case to NVC then almost 30 business days to assign a case number. So all those still waiting for their case number from NVC who are in the same time frame as us, hold on your number should be up soon! Good luck to you all.

Hi All - just got my approval notice through now! Huzzah! It's Sunday morning here in Australia so I really wasn't expecting it as I would be surprised if they were working on a Saturday?! Anyway, my PD is June 7 and we were transferred to TSC on Dec 12. On to the next stage now. Good luck to all those still waiting, I hope you get your approvals soon!

We got two transfer emails this week, the first on 12/12 saying that our file had been transferred to ANOTHER offer and the second on 12/13 saying that it had been transferred to a LOCAL office. We filed from Australia so I'm not even sure where the local office would be. Anyway, we'll wait and see what the comes in the mail and see what that says! It's all a bit confusing really but it's nice to see that our case has been 'touched' as the last time that happened was June 11! Our PD is 7th June.

Hey - he just had to file and didn't have to pay anything (other than the service from the accountant). We had paid taxes in the UK and Australia, so it was just a case of 'filing' and acknowledging that he had filed as he hadn't earned any money in the US during the time he lived overseas. We get taxed heavily here in Aus and were taxed heavily in the UK (compared to how much we would have been in the US) so he never owed anything. If you get in touch with an accountant in the US and ask them to look into this for you, they can give you an indication of whether and how much tax you will have to pay. He won't be in any trouble.

Hi - you're in a very similar situation to us - minus the baby! But we are currently in Australia on work visas and my husband is the USC and I'm from the UK. My advice would be to get your I-130 app in as soon as possible and be prepared to sit and wait it out. Regarding the tax issues, my husband did the same, not filing since 2004! It was an oversight on our part as we didn't know that he had to file as we were paying tax in the UK at the time. Anyway when we started looking into this process we realised we needed to pay US taxes and he has been working with an accountant that has filed his US taxes for the last 3 years (through H&R block in the US), which means that we don't need a co-sponsor as we have enough savings for the minimum requirement. Anyway, maybe look into that if it's easier than getting a co-sponsor and you will have time if you haven't put your app in? It was an easy process for us as we had been paying more tax in the UK and Australia to cover any tax we would need to pay in the US.

I too need to go to the US, for a wedding next May, and it's unlikely our process will be finalised by then, so I am going to take everything I can to prove that I will be returning, even the invoice I'll get from our cat's boarding to prove that we have to pick her up from the airport on our return home! I tend to get stressed going through immigration in the States anyway but I think as long as you are calm and you have evidence to prove you will not be staying then you will be fine. But as some people have stated here, it depends who you get on the day. Some officers are so nice and some are just really nasty to deal with. We once got held aside because the officer asked us if we had any food with us and I said 'biscuits' and my husband said 'cookies' at the same time and he was like 'well which one is it? Biscuits or cookies?' we thought he was joking but he wasn't!! So we had to explain what we had and the difference between biscuits and cookies whilst there was a whole line of people behind us. He was a real jobsworth and it was so embarrassing but we laugh about it now! Anyway the best of luck with your application.

Hey Ellinora - I think we are in the same boat as you. We're also at Overland Park, we have PD of 7th June and I've checked out Case Status and the last time our case was touched was 11th June, sounds like we are just sitting in a big pile in a room and not even being looked at. I was hoping that because we're day 80 (today!) we might get some good news in the next week or so like some other overseas filers who are around this wait time but if we're all in Overland then we probably won't hear anything until after they open at the end of September. This is just the most frustrating process!

Hi all - I've been following the June filers forum for a while. I'm a fellow filer with a PD of 7th June. Just wondering if you are all in the US already without your partners or are any of you overseas filers? I'm assuming most of you are in the US as you already have you local office assignment whereas we are still at NBC as we filed from Australia (although I'm a Brit and the husband is the USC). This is a very frustrating process to say the least but I guess we must all just wait in line. I was trying to explain this to the US in laws and they can't belielve that we have to wait so long! It's sounds stupid explaining it to people who think that because you've been married for 8 years you should just be able to pitch up at the airport and get automatic entry! Wouldn't that be nice!

Anyway I read somewhere that they are trying to get all overseas filers done (from NOA1 to NOA2) in 60 days (Q4, Point C http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Outreach/Notes%20from%20Previous%20Engagements/2013/May%202013/NBC-AILA-QA-2013-05-01.pdf), we're currently at 75 days so that's not working too well for us! Anyway, just wanted to say hi to everyone seeing that we're all in the same boat! And would be great to hear from people who are also overseas filers and what experiences they have had.