kiny

I had sponsored my spouse to move to the US. He was put in AP for a long time and finally got the visa last year and he has been living and working in the US since the past five months now. I recently got laid off from my job and just filed for unemployment benefit. Now we are concerned that it might affect his status in anyway even though he has his green card and is also working. Also, could it affect his citizenship application in the future? Could it have any effect on my credit or job history etc. in the future? I just submitted the application but I can cancel it as nothing has been processed yet. Any reply would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

My husband's security checks/AP is finally over. He has been stuck in it since Feb 2007! Anyway, the Montreal embassy sent me a letter saying they need his meds, police cert etc as they have expired but no mentioning of AP that it was finished. Anyway, I just called DOS yest and they told me it's finished. So, now after we send them the docs we are hoping they will send us the visa soon. Just wanted to know if anyone has any idea if the embassy is going to issue a visa soon as they are asking for his meds/police cert or will they waste more time now? It was a long long journey for us and we are still under shock that the AP is finally over...

Do you have a link to the story/report? I claim ignorance and have not heard of it yet.

go to the news section on VJ and scroll down and you should see the news there. I have also seen read the news on various immigration-law related newsletters and websites including the shusterman...

My husband has been stuck in AP for over 15 months now. Since we are so discouraged by this spousal visa process that we are taking this news of FBI and USCIS passing a new law to eliminate name checks with a grain of salt. According to the news they have given deadlines based on the age of the security checks..so according to that ours should be done by november 2008. Just wanted to know what people's opinions are and if this is in fact something true?

I completely agree with all the posts. I am myself going through the same situation and even worse. I moved back to the US and started from scratch more than 1.5 years ago. Now, after everything was finalized my husband got stuck in administrative processing and has been stuck in it for over 8 months now without any timeline or guarantee as to when he'll get it. Contact DOS, Embassy, letters to congressman, Laura Bush...nothing has helped. My weekdays and weekends are all same to me...i keep myself so busy that i don't have time to think about the good times i had when i had a life with my husband...it's so painful that it's not even funny...i don't feel like US is my home anymore even though my entire family lives here...home is where the heart is and my heart is in Canada...why should I call this country my home anymore when it doesn't even allow my spouse to enter while i see illegal immigrants in every nook and cranny of this country hanging out with their families? Every day i feel more displaced and unsure of why we started this process in the first place. I am definitely moving to Canada in January if he doesn't get his visa by then...sometimes enough is just simply enough!

Today I got some sad news, a dear friend of mine who has been going through this visa process has decided to give up the journey. I couldn't believe it. She told me her and her husband has agreed to go there seperate ways because she's tired of waiting for a visa to be issued to her husband. She told me this could go on forever and she is not willing to go on like this indefinitely. She has been waiting for two years. I was so sorry to hear this news. I'm wondering does this happen quite a bit during the visa wait??? I can't seem to wrap my brain around this process causing the divorce of two wonderful people. Any thoughts anyone?

Well, what can I say? We are going through this living hell ourselves but the only thing that keeps us going is our strong bond. Maybe, your friend doesn't share the same bond with her hubby which comes after a lot of patience, maturity and understading of each other's worth...

If it makes your friend feel better, let her know other ppl are going through it too...we literally turned our lives upside down for thsi visa and even after the interview and visa approval we haven't received the visa as it's stuck in s.clearance for over seven months now..so we have been stuck in this process for more than 2.5 years now...For this visa, I moved back to the US, found a job, worked like an animal, made a position for myelf, studied hard for everything and now that I am financially independent and doing good, the visa is still not in sight. SO, fianlly, we have decided that we'll not ruin our lives due to this visa anymore and I am moving back to Canada to live with my husband in January...of course I'll have to start all over again but we are both willing to do anything for each other...splitting apart is not a solution...love conquers every hardship...

6 months on AP after interview????? That sounds fishy -- if you don't mind me asking: What was the reason for AP? This goes beyond MTL's usual wait.... hmmmmm.

Whatever the reason I wish you good luck. Have no wise advise for you, but all my best of wishes.

There's no reason except for the fact that my husband has a common last name which is what we are assuming...they don't give us any reason...DOS just replied back to us in ref to the letter i wrote to Laura Bush saying that every person entering US needs to be scrupulously checked and go through a level of clearances! what can i say? I feel discriminated that's all i can say....

6 months on AP after interview????? That sounds fishy -- if you don't mind me asking: What was the reason for AP? This goes beyond MTL's usual wait.... hmmmmm.

Whatever the reason I wish you good luck. Have no wise advise for you, but all my best of wishes.

There's no reason except for the fact that my husband has a common last name which is what we are assuming...they don't give us any reason...DOS just replied back to us in ref to the letter i wrote to Laura Bush saying that every person entering US needs to be scrupulously checked and go through a level of clearances! what can i say? I feel discriminated that's all i can say....

also, my dad was already my co-sponsor...

My husband is stuck in AP for over six months now. We have already contacted the congressman and Laura Bush and done everything possible on our end. Now, when we started this visa process I was with my husband in Canada and then moved back to the US to find a job so i can file for this affidavit of Support...now since the visa is taking way too long and we are not sure if it's going to be done within a year...two years? who knows so I am wondering if I should just leave my job and move back to Canada...i might be out of work but at least I"ll be with my husband....My question is if i do leave my job and go to Canada could they ask us for a new affidavit of support if his visa finally arrives (if it ever does!)

I don't want to keep on living this confusing life anymore...want to be with him no matter where it is on this globe....

My husband's visa has been stuck in AP for over five months now. We have been banging every door possible, the embassy, the DOS, Laura Bush...u name it and we have banged it, but still no luck. We were told at the time of his interview that he'll get the visa within a week and here we are after five months now, still waiting for the visa...out of frustration and desperation we have started a blog and would like people to read it and share their own stories and or comments...

Here's the link for our blog:

www.stillwaitingforthevisa.blog.com

I am sure .. I am not the only one.. And I know, that there are many more people out there who have it worse..

But, I am at witts ends. I dont know how to coupe anymore.. I am seriously DESPRESSED and very ALONE. I am slowly decomposing.

It has been over a YEAR since we have filed. 1 year and 8 days. We are under CR-1 DCF. WITH PAKISTAN. I have contacted Congressmen/FBI.. everything.. We have been in AP since March!

I feel that I am living at the IMMIGRATIONS BECKING CALL. When ever they say JUMP I SAY HOW HIGH SIR! AND, its getting to me .. I am tried of jumping..

I dont know what to do.. I am seriously melting at work thinking/writing about this. I have lost most of my "FRIENDS" due to my melting depression.

ANY ADVISE... Anything HELPS.

One Love!

Lilah

If it makes you feel any better, my husband is in AP since February i have contacted the consulate, DOS, congressman everyone...we went through the Montreal embassy in Canada as he has canadian citizenship but he was born in Pakistan...if you want, you can send me a message...i am in deep depression too and going through a lot of other ####### due to this immigration nightmare...

If it makes you feel any better, my husband is in AP for almost four months now and he was told at the time of the interview that he will get his visa in two weeks and they just put him in AP without telling us, in fact they lied to us...anyway, we are completely fed up of this process as i basically changed my whole life due to this visa thing....I was happily living with him in Canada on a long visit befoer we decided to move to the US, so i sponsosred him and moved back to the States, found a job and God knows how many other hardships i went through (just had a surgery with major complications) and other experiences where i could not have him on my side...after hte interview we were so happy that our probs were fnally over but then the actual nightmare of the AP started. The consulate never tells us anything and we are sick of contacting the department of state as they always give us the same reply that it might take a few weeks, months or up to a year as know one knows when all the agencies will complete the clearances...also, unfortuantely my husband has a very common last name...now I have contacted my congressman and they are doing their congressional inquiry and will give us a reply in a few days so lets see wut happens (even though we are not counting on it), but all i can say to u is to be strong...no one can understand wut u are going through but i can, cuz every second of my life revolves around this visa and the wait for my husband to come here so we can also start living again...I don't feel like iam really living anymore, feels more like just surviving for the heck of surviving

Good luck and just hang in there...we are here to share if u need any help...

My husband had his interview on feb 21st, the visa was approved and they told us it's going to be isssued the following week but it's been five weeks now and no visa as of yet. Contacted the montreal consulate a couple of times and all they tell us is to wait and if i ask them is the visa in security clearance or something they just say that we can't disclose that info to u...then yest I called the DOS as advised by someone here on the forums and she told me right away that your visa is pending security clearance and it's in AP. I asked if it was something common or something I should be concerned about, she said it's pretty common and our case looks good so we should be done soon...but since my husband was born in Pakistan i am taking it with a grain of salt....any guesses if we'll get it within three months...I've been hearing stories from people that they had to wait for years if that's the case then i'll have to leave my job and move to Canada to be with my husband...normally how long do security clearances take if the case is good...do u think it's agood idea to ask them next time who's doing the checks meaning the FBI or the consulate? Aren't they supposed to give us a pink slip or say something during the interview if the visa is going to be in checks for a long time? they never said anything ot my husband.

My husband had his interview on feb 21st, the visa was approved and they told us it's going to be isssued the following week but it's been five weeks now and no visa as of yet. Contacted the montreal consulate a couple of times and all they tell us is to wait and if i ask them is the visa in security clearance or something they just say that we can't disclose that info to u...then yest I called the DOS as advised by someone here on the forums and she told me right away that your visa is pending security clearance and it's in AP. I asked if it was something common or something I should be concerned about, she said it's pretty common and our case looks good so we should be done soon...but since my husband was born in Pakistan i am taking it with a grain of salt....any guesses if we'll get it within three months...I've been hearing stories from people that they had to wait for years if that's the case then i'll have to leave my job and move to Canada to be with my husband...normally how long do security clearances take if the case is good...do u think it's agood idea to ask them next time who's doing the checks meaning the FBI or the consulate? Aren't they supposed to give us a pink slip or say something during the interview if the visa is going to be in checks for a long time? they never said anything ot my husband.

My husband had his visa interview in montreal on feb 21st. The CO told him he'll get the visa by the end of next week but the week passed and two weeks passed we contacted them and they were like our admin work will take a min. of two more weeks, so two more weeks passed and i called them today and she was really rude to me, told me they are still doing admin work on our visa and can't tell how long it's going to take, can be a few weeks to a few months i requested her to tell me at least something why it's taking so long.. are they doing some sort of security checks etc. and she was like sorry we can't disclose that info to u...i feel really discriminated against just cuz my husband was born in Pakistan even thoug he's a Canadian citizen they are probably treating him like he's a terrorist whereas the poor guy has a record as clean as slate....most ppl are geting their visas within a week and they are keeping us in the dark i am very depressed and am thinking of leaving my job and moving to canada for good...I should'nt have asked him to move here in the first place...at least Canadians don't take forever to process spousal visas as they have some feeilngs and compassion towards ppl in our situation and they want us to live together and not seperately...we have waited for this long enough already and I dont' think i can take it anymore...plz any suggestions in this regard would be helpful...can my husband sponsor me for Canada now since his visa is already approved but if they keep on taking forever wut can we do we have to live together...

Does anyone know what a 221g is? My husband wasn't told of any such thing the consular officer just said he'll get the visa by the end of next week so now why are they saying that their administrative work is going to take a minimum of two weeks? I am going to call the embassy again this week to confirm what they are doing with our case..aren't they suppose to tell us if they are putting our case in security clearances or if it's going to take some time..why would the consular offcier lie at the time of the interview? we are really stressed out

Not sure, the others that had MTl approved Visa's seem to get them in a matter of a few days. Just may be one of those random ones they pull aside for further security reviews. Hopefully you hear some info soon.

So, does this mean they might have pulled it aside for security checks? Can anyone please share more of their stories?

By the way I just wanted to clarify that they said administrative work and not administrative process. But who knows maybe they meant the same thing?

My husband had his interview in Montreal on 02/21/07 and his visa was approved. The consular officer who interviewed him told him that he'll get his visa by late next week, but he still hasn't received it. We called them two days ago and they told us that it hasn't been issued yet. Then my husband emailed them today and they replied back saying they still haven't finished working on his case and their administrative process is going to take a minimum of two weeks. Now what does this mean? We are getting really worried as to why they are taking so long after everything is done. All they have to do now is issue the visa. Has anyone else also experienced this kind of delay especially from Montreal? Does this mean they are doing some sort of security checks? Any help in this regard would be appreciated. Thanks.

My husband had his interview in Montreal on 02/21/07 and his visa was approved. The consular officer who interviewed him told him that he'll get his visa by late next week, but he still hasn't received it. We called them two days ago and they told us that it hasn't been issued yet. Then my husband emailed them today and they replied back saying they still haven't finished working on his case and their administrative process is going to take a minimum of two weeks. Now what does this mean? We are getting really worried as to why they are taking so long after everything is done. All they have to do now is issue the visa. Has anyone else also experienced this kind of delay especially from Montreal? Does this mean they are doing some sort of security checks? Any help in this regard would be appreciated. Thanks.

My husband's interview is on the 21st in Montreal. We have been reviewing people's stories and some people had problems with their bags etc at the consulate and they had to leave them behind. Now, my husband has already prepared and compiled all his documents in a big binder which has all the documents inside plastic proctected sheets and can be closed by a zipper. The question is, is it ok that he takes that kind of a binder or should he go with an accordian binder? We don't want to take any risks. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

My husband's interview is in Montreal on Feb 20th. We have been trying to prepare for everything and leaving no stone unturned. I have a question: When I filed for his affidavit of support about 3-4 months back I was a contractor for a company and we also used my dad as the co-sponsor...since January my situation has changed, I have been hired as a full-time employee by that company and also got an increment in my salary. Now, do I need to file a new affidavit indicating my new position and salary and if yes, is it a good idea to do my taxes before he goes for the interview and show that on the form as well? Also, the form version we used earlier has an expiration date of 09/30/06, so does my dad also have to file a new I-864A? I checked the USCIS website, and this what it says: "Edition date: 11/01/06. Prior versions other than the 1/15/06 edition are not acceptable." Please guide as to which one should we use? Thanks.

We sent out our ds230 checklist without a copy of the police cert. from my husband's country of birth and his original birth certificate. I got a letter from them saying that we don't need to send the police cert right now we can bring it at the time of the interview as it takes upto three months (thats' the reason why we din't send it with the checklist as we are still waiting on it). Now my husband has mailed me his original birth certificate and i'll be mailing it out soon. So now my question is how long do they take to give an interview date after they receive the complete checklist? Can we expect an interview date in a couple of weeks or months? Also, my husband will be interviewing at the montreal counsulate in Canada. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I am about to send the I-864 docs out but I don't know if i should include the "Authorization for release of federal tax data" form along with the other I-864 forms or should it be mailed seperately? Also, i didnt work for the last three years as i was a student..i am using my dad's income (form I-864A) and also i just recently started working. Do you think in this case I even need to send the " Authorization for release of federal tax data" form out? What if I send it out but just write "none" where it asks for the tax years included with affidavit of support section? Any help in this regard would be appreciated.

Yes, include the Authorization for release of federal tax data with the I-864 otherwise your documentation will be incomplete. Even if your salary was none they can verify this. Definitely send in the form and just fill in the form as best you can. If you didnt have any income simply state "none". Send one for you and one for your father.

If you have just started work, you may want to show evidence of this, such as pay stubbs and a letter from your employer stating, emplyment dates, position, salary, etc.. (make sure this letter is on company headed paper.)

Good luck to you !!

Yes i am including letter from my employer and paystub, ill also include one federal tax release form for my dad...I also wanted to know if I should send an original copy of my letter's employer or a copy is fine too? since u mentioned it should be on office stationary...

I am about to send the I-864 docs out but I don't know if i should include the "Authorization for release of federal tax data" form along with the other I-864 forms or should it be mailed seperately? Also, i didnt work for the last three years as i was a student..i am using my dad's income (form I-864A) and also i just recently started working. Do you think in this case I even need to send the " Authorization for release of federal tax data" form out? What if I send it out but just write "none" where it asks for the tax years included with affidavit of support section? Any help in this regard would be appreciated.

I have a few questions regarding I-864 and I-864A:

1. Can I type these forms from the internet instead of filing them out by pen?

2. It says on the instructions that the case number should be written on the top right hand corner of all the docs...does that mean I have to write the case no. on top of every page of the forms or just the first page?

3. In the sections where I have to mention my individual income and tax returns I have written a letter to explain why I didn't file taxes as I wasn't working and since I just started working I am also including a letter from my employer..so my question is can I just put a note in those sections somewhere saying something like "see the attached letter for more information" or should I leave it like that and they'll figure out once they read my letter?

4. It says in the instructions that if you are using a household member's income then you need to show the proof of his/her residence...how do I show that?

5. On form I-864A Part 1 it says "Information on the Household Member. (You). Does that mean me or my dad (who's income I am using as my household member)?

Any help in this regard would be appreciated.

My dad is going to be our co-sponsor so does he need to fill out an individual I-864 form or do we just need one I-864 from me and one I-864A from both of us? Since he's a member of my household I don't think he needs another I-864 but I just want to make sure...any help would be appreciated.