shippingforecast

I wonder if ucsis would take that. I have to included with our I601a

OP, does it at least give you the option to email your receipt?

Which section of the CEAC site are you logging in to when you land on the homepage?

I've been through the five stages of mourning in relation to the NVC backlog; now, I just accept that it takes as long as it takes. They simply do not have the resources to handle the amount of approved petitions from USCIS. Either not enough was done at the time to prepare for the influx, or nothing could be done for whatever reason. That's happened now, and no amount of balling and getting red in the face can change it.

What CAN be changed is the attitude of some of the workers there that make unreasonable decisions placing families in dire circumstances and further bloating the frankly abominable processing times - either because they don't understand the consequences of their decisions, or simply are too apathetic to care. Like I said above, I'm just plain sick of things like this keeping people apart, and I think we need to stand up and fight our corner to effect change and fair treatment.

Just thought I would share some information I came across whilst trying to research the NVC backlog for my immigration blog. Firstly - apologies if this information is old hat, I did a fairly comprehensive search for similar threads but couldn't find anything specifically pertaining to the below.

We sent our IV and AOS paperwork into the NVC thirty-one days ago now, and like other users riding out their sixty day wait, are absolutely terrified at the thought of receiving a checklist and having to wait a further sixty days, which we can ill afford. We are mostly worried about the I-864 and supporting documentation for AOS, despite having checked the form several times over, with a fine toothed comb so to speak.

Whilst researching for a future blog article, I came across the minutes for the most recent meeting between the American Immigration Lawyer's Association and the National Visa Center, which was held on November the 4th, 2014. The minutes were revised by the Department of State and uploaded to travel.state.gov in December. The minutes don't really provide any information on the backlog that hasn't been discussed ad nauseam on this site before - but the following points around the I-864 make an interesting read, as I recall seeing a fair amount of posts in which users have been subject to the same issues.

Hopefully, the below answers given by the NVC to questions posed by the AILA might be able to assist some users that have reported AOS checklists for minor discrepancies - chiefly leaving non applicable fields blank, total income not matching income on tax returns, etc. I am of the opinion that if we do indeed receive a checklist for something along these lines, I will take the time to contact the NVC, ask to speak to a supervisor and cite the below points to them, as applicable, as well as contacting our state representatives.

Why? Because I am tired of logging into this forum and seeing families kept apart longer than necessary for small mistakes such as leaving non applicable fields blank that have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the outcome of the case.With that in mind, arm yourselves with information and challenge the NVC when they fail to follow their own purported policies and guidelines. If we can alter the way in which even one overly narrow-minded pencil pusher approaches their work in applying common sense and reasonable judgment, we may spare thousands of families the agony of being placed at the back of the queue for next to nothing at all. In the NVC's very own words, below - all the sponsor needs to do is prove that they make enough to support their household and the intending immigrant, and nothing more.

The more salient points are highlighted. Though this meeting pertains to cases with lawyers attached, it is a reasonable assumption that processes and procedures discussed below are applied to all cases. The minutes in their entirety can be found here; http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/AILA/AILA%20NVC%20November%202014.pdf

Happy reading and good luck.

We were in the same situation as yourself (married, but never lived together). We included the following as evidence;

Text/email/webchat transcripts - we had around 2,000 pages of these, but only submitted 30 pages from different periods of our relationship

Photographs - from the wedding, trips taken together, with different members of each other's family and friends, etc. We included a brief caption of where/when the picture was taken and who was in each photo

Travel documents - boarding passes for flights, car hire documents, etc

Sworn affidavits from family members and friends

Written correspondence to each other

Greetings cards received jointly

Receipts for wedding rings and gifts

A letter from my employer confirming my wife as my next of kin

That list isn't exhaustive by the way. Anything you can find that ties you together should be included. As Ryan H said above, they won't expect you to have any kind of joint finances or leases as you live in different countries.

Terrorism has no religion.

Hi everyone

After 2 years of wait (1 x K1 application cancelled after almost a year due to impending wedding and approval came too late) I have finally have my CR-1 interview on Monday in London and just want to settle the nerves and make sure I have everything. I've had two years of reading these fantastic forums and guides and I'm pretty certain I have everything but you know how it is....!

- Interview confirmation letter

- 2 US size passport pictures

- Passport

- DS260 confirmation print out

- Copies of civil documents (police certificate, marriage certificate, birth certificate, passport) We sent NVC original police cert, marriage cert and birth cert but still going to bring the copies as requested.

- Courier print out from usvisa-info.com

- Copies of Affidavit of Support wage slips, tax info etc (in case lost in mail)

- Additional evidence such as more boarding passes, joint bank account statements, a few more photos etc

Anything I've missed? Thanks guys you are as always a great help.

You're all set. I'm so looking forward to being in your circumstances! Let us know how it goes and the very best of luck to you.

Phillipines people, please stop bragging about your short approval times. It is irrelevant to the rest of us since we are not being expedited like you are. And it makes us feel crappy and angry.

What you should keep in mind is that although the typhoon hit late 2013, the Philippines will more than likely still be feeling the negative economical fallout. Take comfort in the fact that we at least have somewhere comfortable and safe to wait - unfortunately, some people don't.

It may be hard to stay positive and you may even feel like the process can be unfair, especially when those that filed after you are approved before you. As a fellow Brit, when I get down over things like this, I remind myself that I do not have a divine right to a green card - it is a privilege that I am being considered for and therefore however long it takes until I reach POE is just how long it takes.

Please don't take any of that the wrong way; I've been through the same range of emotions (at one point, I even felt angry about the K1 process being much faster than the CR-1 process, but that's before I gauged the positive and negatives of each visa type) and it took me a while to reach the above conclusion - I felt a lot better when I did. Good luck to you. We'll all look back on this period of our lives one day and laugh.

Negative

Really? Judging on recent timeline data the overwhelming majority of cases with beneficiaries in the Philippines are being approved within roughly one to two months. Source below, gauging the dates between the NOA1 and NOA2 column.

www.visajourney.com/timeline/k1list.php?cfl=0&op1=i&op2=d&op3=&op4=1&op5=5,6,8,10,11,13,14,15,16,17,18,20,21,22,25,26,27,28,108,110,111,208,210,211&op6=All&op66=All&op7=Philippines&dfile=No&adv=

They have to be taken within the last six months to reflect your current appearance. Further information here;

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/general/photos.html

Ok, This would allow me to follow up on anything via email?

If you mean send in documents via e-mail, I don't think it will. The G-1145 just means they'll send you an email once your petition is received.

Dear All,.

My I-130 was approved on the 20th November and sent to NVC.

I am still awaiting for my NVC case number. There has been no correspondence from NVC.

Tried calling them yesterday on 603-334-0700 but no luck getting through.

Usually how long does it take to get NVC case number ? Will I receive any letter ?

Will they reply if i send them an email to ask about my case number ?

Cheers.

Call, call, call. Don't give up if you get a busy tone - put the number on speed dial and keep redialling until you get into the queue. Our case was approved by Nebraska on September 24th and we received zero unprompted correspondence from the NVC until December. We obtained our case number by calling and asking in late October. Emailing is pointless as it takes them over a month to respond.

Don't rely on them or wait for them to contact you before taking action - it will add weeks or even months onto your processing time if you're not proactive enough.

NLR, do you know if there is any time table in visa journey for i-130 processing time for members please ?? I've been looking for it but i couldn't find it !! if you can get me a link to it that would be great ?!

I-130 processing times can be found here;

http://www.visajourney.com/content/ir1cr1historical

TSC - NOA took 52 days.

As far as I'm aware cases with beneficiaries in the Phillippines are still being prioritised at USCIS due to Typhoon Haiyan in late 2013.

Hi,

We were done with the AoS thing ( including the DS-261 ) We just submitted the checklist..and in the CEAC portal, the IV fee is already there saying NOT PAID...I assume we can go ahead and pay it already, since the Letter form the NVC says we can pay it already too.

Yes, if you've received your invoice from the NVC go ahead and pay it, and send in your documents with the cover sheet provided if you haven't already. As a handy hint, make sure you're extremely familiar with each stage of the process so you know what to do and when - waiting on the NVC to contact you will add a lot of time onto the processing of your case. The NVC wiki on here has helped us immensely, as has calling the NVC themselves and hassling them for information when required.

We're already done with the AOS ( we received checklist but sent the NVC the docs they need )

In my understanding, I can pay the IV fee correct? As it appears anyway in the CEAC the amount and say NOT PAID. So ones I pay it, Do we have to do the DS 260 first before sending the NVC the IV Packet? As a petitioner, we can do the DS-260 online right? - Is there anything that needs to be printed out DS-260 and sent to the beneficiary?

I also, read about DS 261 in the VJ http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_Process

In step 5: Submit DS- 260 there's a statement that says "As with the DS-261, print out the confirmation page at the end. But make sure to bring this one to the interview as NVC states it's required."

Can we do the DS-261 too and just sent the print out to the beneficiary?

Thank you!

You won't be able to pay the IV fee or fill out the DS-260 until you've filled out your DS-261 (choice of agent) online (unless you have a lawyer attached to your case). Once the NVC have reviewed and accepted your DS-261 and it has been added to your case file, the IV fee should become available to pay through the payment portal on the CEAC website. It will take some time before the NVC review it, and different users have been quoted anywhere from 20 to 60 days. In our case, it took around 30.

Once your fee has been paid and you have completed the DS-260, you can email the confirmation page to the beneficiary to print and take to their interview.

We sent our IV package BEFORE paying the fee as we knew NVC were slow in reviewing the DS-261/generating the IV fee. We included the same bar coded cover sheet generated after paying the AOS fee with a cover letter explaining we were instructed to do so by an NVC operator over the telephone. Hopefully, that will have saved us some time rather than just sitting on the IV package until the fee became available.

I've been in the UK the last couple weeks, so I made the payments about 8:00 am UK time on Sat, and I noticed the change Tues evening, so I'm assuming it might be something to do with them "closing out the books" for the day that they run in the afternoon when all of the payments actually post.

Thanks again, it cleared a few hours back as expected. DS-260 submitted; now we play the waiting game...

I paid our IV fee on a Sat, the money left my checking account on the following Monday and the status changed to PAID late on Tuesday. I would guess that yours should change today sometime. The AOS fee followed exactly the same timeline the week before.

Thanks mlh. Was that late EST or GMT?

Has the money been removed from your account?

Did you pay using IE or a different browser?

Hi NLR. Yeah, the money left the account the following day (Christmas eve); browser is Safari. I figured we wouldn't see any movement until tomorrow with the holiday season.

Hi all, just a few questions relating to online payments made via the CEAC and the DS-260. Does anyone know whether they are manually or automatically processed once the payment has been made? I paid my IV fee on the 23rd (last Tuesday) and it still shows as IN PROCESS. I've taken into account the holiday season, so I anticipate it should display as PAID shortly after NVC staff return to work. However, I read a thread in which someone said that their payment status changed to PAID on a Saturday (which I assumed was a non-working day for the NVC), so I'm a little bit curious as to how the payment is processed behind the scenes. Does anyone have any insight? Secondly, does the current NVC processing time of 60 days apply to the DS-260 also, or just submitted documents? I'm just trying to gauge when to expect a case complete by. Many thanks for your help, as always, and I hope you all had a pleasant holiday season.

I received my NOA2 approval on Nov 15, 2014. The letter said that I will be contacted by NVC, but over a month later, I have yet to receive anything from them. Are they typically this slow or do I need to contact them?

They provided an email address for NVC, but do they have a phone number I can call instead?

Thanks!

Call them (if you haven't already). We didn't receive anything at all from them following our NOA2; I obtained my case number and IIN by speaking to an operator. They didn't actually send us any form of correspondence until December when I called again and told them. Only then did they send us our welcome letter and first packet of instructions; but by then, I had already paid the AOS fee and submitted the DS-261. Had I have left it to the NVC to email me instructions, I'd probably be a good six weeks behind where I am in the process now.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

You certainly chose the right username!

Good luck with rest of the process.

Congratulations! I hope you're assigned an interview speedily.

Yikes, I didn't know that and that is definitely not what I wanted to hear! Can you submit the paperwork for AOS and IV while you wait for IV fee to be invoiced? I was really thinking we'd have it all paid for and sent off in a few weeks!

I sent the AOS packet in once that fee had been paid, because we didn't receive anything from the NVC til I called in (no welcome letter, no instructions, nada). When I called in a few days later the operator I spoke to told me I could send in the IV documents whilst I was waiting using the bar-coded cover sheet generated when the AOS fee was paid. I was a little skeptical about it, because I've seen other users quote different advice from other NVC operators, so I wrote a cover letter explaining what I'd been instructed to send in (alongside the date and time I called in).

I don't expect that we'll receive our IV fee before Christmas. Again I've seen different timescales quoted for DS-261 reviewal; anything between 20 and 60 days.