StrawberryKiss

My husband arrived yesterday night. i still can't believe he is here. wow am very happy. he told me that he spent only 10 minutes at the point of entry, he showed them the envelope and he was processed immediately and was told to expect the SSN in the mail and the 10 years between 30 - 45 days.. But we will go to the SSN office next week to apply for one. But nevertheless i want to enjoy my time with my husband. My mom loves him so much and couldn't let go after we pick him up at the airport. We are now on our way to watch a football game.... I'm very happy

Congrats! Enjoy every minute of it!

Will a 2 h 50 mins layover be enough time for POE? I am wondering

Because the Oklahoma drving test is so much harder than the German one, can't just swap that... **irony off** It's just another bureaucratic hurdle. Thankfully, it's an easy one and the test is not as expensive as it is here

Visa in hand two days after the interview

POE will be Seattle on dec 6th

Awesome! Frankfurt consulate did not disappoint

that is great!

my appointment was that time as well, we got there around 7, nice and quiet :-)

your list sounds fine, I thought the amount was different from the immigration fee( wasn/t it 230?).

You'll be on your way before you know it.

we entered on 23 October, I had checked the box for receiving my ssn automatically, but that didn't work, I went and applied for it a few days ago as nothing had been sent and nothing could be found in the system. Yesterday on the other hand, 4 weeks after entering I got the Green card in the mail :-)

It used to be $230, but they raised the fee on 9/12.

Congrats! Must feel great to finally have the card in hand Yeah, I don't know why they offer it on the form and then it never works out in most of the cases

POE - Done!!! at Douglas (Peace Arch) US-Canada Border Crossing in Blaine, WA!

After 45 minutes, I'm finally a permanent resident of the USA!

My immigration journey has finally come to an end after 13 months.

I'll post my POE experience later.

We rented a car and drove from Vancouver (Canada) to Seattle to move our moving boxes.

But, I'm not in the US now since I had to come back to Canada to return the rental car!

I will finally move to the US for good tomorrow!

Happy, happy news! Congrats, Austin!

And your POE review better be as entertaining as the embassy one

dont worry! u'll be fine! but yea i remmber how nervous i was too haha

but seriously there's nothing to worry about at the medical thingy! =)

just relax and deep breath!

my medical examiner though kinda interviewed me haha

she asked me: "did you win the lottery?"

i ansewered: "yes"

and then she said: "ohh lucky you!"

i smiled =)

then she said: "it's so difficult to win diversity visa"

then i was like: " oh no no, i didnt win the diversity visa lottery!! i thought when you asked me if i won the lottery, i thought you meant winning my wife's heart! lol i didnt apply for diversity visa! i am married to a us setizen!" =)))

then we both laughed haha and she said obviously ur in too much love with her! haha

i smiled =)

and then she told me alright come tomorrow to get ur medical result!

good luck!

How cute is that! I am sure your canim is counting the days already

Good news for a Friday afternoon. Just before I left work the Clinic called where I had my medical. I passed!! They are couriering the package to me today. Should get on Monday. Will then email NVC again.

Our package was delivered and signed for at Sydney Consulate this morning at 10.11 am.

Hope for some good news next week.

Awesome! See I told you they don't care about the asthma at all You're almost done! Hope they give a you an earlier date next week. I admire your strength to put up with this terrible immigration process, the separation and 2 teenagers at home. It's already hard to deal with the first two.. the teenagers (my students) I could luckily send home at 5pm every day

Looks good to me

I really don't think you'll need them, but the embassy always mentions them in their IV checklists (never know in case they experience a computer glitch or something):

- bring print out of your DS-260 confirmation page (from CEAC, has a barcode)

- bring print out of confirmation of IV address delivery registration (ustraveldocs)

And yes, absolutely nothing that is electronic. Can't even bring deodorants or the x-ray CD they gave your husband at the medical!

If your case does not have any red flags (e.g. ever having been unlawfully present/overstayed or having committed severe crimes), you don't need a lawyer. I'd save the money and follow the guides on here; they're pretty helpful: http://www.visajourney.com/content/guides

Got an email from the embassy acknowleging the receipt of the contact sheet. I pray something positive is done ASAP. My patient and strength are all exhausted.

I hope you hear back from them soon! Don't give up the faith!

Kids are really enjoying their schools. My 11-year old who never touched a violin before we came can now play basic tunes and she just loves it. School was really kind to her giving her free private lessons to catch up with her peers.

We just got our GCs earlier this week but no SS cards. DMV is backed up so we won't take our driving tests till Dec 8.

All in all, we're having a blast so far.

That's so wonderful to read! Glad you guys are almost all settled in now And sounds like you overcame the suitcase trauma pretty quickly

Visa approved

Everything went smoothly. The easiest experience ever!!!

I will receive my visa like in one week, maybe less.

I will submit a review within my timelimen later when I have more time.

Thank you so much to all vjers.

Special thanks to Saylin, dwheels, Soloenta and Austin Canada

Congratulations Glad it went so well

We also forgot to make copies of our original I-130 petition and I was freaking out about it (a little bit) when the interview date came closer. But no one ever wanted to see it USCIS will receive your petition, then forward it to NVC who, in turn, will send it to the cosulate in the end Don't worry and good luck!

Ok everyone. Hubby and I have just tracked the package via DHL. It left Cincinatti early this morning, US time. Probably won't be in Oz until Monday. That is OK. I thing CEAC then changes to At Embassy. Is that correct.

At least Sydney Consulate are on the ball. Will email them again once we see it has been delivered.

It stays Ready until the interview. Only your status updated date changes whenever someone from the consulate is looking at your file...

well

My husband applied for the permit (which allows Palestinians in the West bank to enter Jerusalem legally) on Sunday for his interview on 12/15/14 and today it got denied. We kind of felt like that was gonna happen just because of everything going on in Jerusalem the past few days.

Everyone on here getting ready for their interview should be extremely thankful they don't have to worry about this "issue". Actually getting to your appointment at the consulate or embassy might be the easiest part for you.

We've been waiting 2.5 years for this interview and now he can't go.

Life in an occupied territory...

That is absolutely devastating! I am so sorry Maybe you could post in your regional forum and ask other former applicants for advice? Definitely get in touch with your embassy.

Just got back from my interview and I have to say to was easy, everybody was so nice to me and I got approved yay finally I get to be with my hubby . Thank god! I will post my review later today

Thanks again everybody for everything here this is a really great forum

Congrats to everybody who got also approved

Good luck to everybody who's interview is coming up!

cheers

Woohoo! Congrats Nadeshda! You'll have your printed visa in no time

Just to update you all. I had to go back to the London embassy today because they couldn't get my electronic signature on Monday because of a computer glitch. Wasn't happy at all. Got there early and thought they were not going to let me in. Cue tears, panic and calling the missus. But they did. Saw a different CO from Monday who took my prints again and apologised for the inconvenience. Told me they took them electronically to make sure I was a good guy and not a bad guy. I asked could I wait in the embassy until it showed AP and he said take a seat, we'll print it now and it'll be ready in 20 mins. I was in shock. When I was called back, the interviewing CO from Monday was there and told me she had asked if she could give it to me as I was so lovely and so happy when she told me I was approved that I made her day. I'm now in Oxford St. with the Crown Jewels in a Marks and Spencer carrier bag because it's too big to fit in my laptop bag and I'm terrified of bending it or leaving it somewhere. So happy right now I could cry. And it's the first time in my life I've ever been described as lovely

Aww now that's some good news! Happy you got it right then and there!

Yes, just write that A number on your (beneficiary's) G-325A that you are going to submit. That number is now assgined to you and will always be linked to your person. If your fiance (the petitioner) is a US citizen, he doesn't have an Alien registration number and should leave it blank on his G-325A (and not fill in yours)!

folks! YES VISA APPROVED!!!

I HAD THE NICEST CO EVER!!!! she was so chill and i didnt feel i was in an interview it felt more like a friendly chat!!

i hope everyone gets visa approved!

and oh flying in 3 weeks to my cutie luvvve

Congrats! I am happy you got to avoid the much dreaded AP!

The Montreal Consulate replied to one of my 4-6 emails marked as "EXTREMELY URGENT!!!".

This is what they wrote (I'm copying and pasting below):

Good day,

Thank you for your email.

We can confirm that your issued visa has left our office yesterday. We are currently experiencing technical problems andunfortunately, we cannot provide you with a waybill number at this time.

If you have any questions regarding the courier service, you may visit The Department of State has temporarily disabled hyperlinks> or contact CSC by email at contactus_en_CA@usvisa-info.com

NO WAYBILL NUMBER!!??

I called Loomis and THEY DIDN"T FIND ANYTHING under the Reference ID on the usvisa-info.com site.

I have no idea where my passport is! I can't believe how they're handling this!

Wow, so sorry to hear that! You'd think NVC was a madhouse, but this is really nuts

Won't be a problem if you follow Jawaree's advice Just be sure to provide NVC with both of your current addresses (petitioner's and beneficiary's) at all times

Then you'll definitely be fine. Just make sure you have proof coming from 2 seperate sources when you apply for an ID/DL, like letters from the government - as you mentioned - and your bank, for example.

I think it can't hurt to have a state ID. It makes some things so much easier. Particularly after your petition for naturalization has been approved, you won't have to carry around your green card anymore but can use your state ID instead.

Approved :)

Congrats, Cathy!!! Time to celebrate!

Thank you for this. Yes, I have had asthma all my life so am quite knowledgeable. It is a pain at times. Also I am a bit stressed right now with everything as you can imagine.

The weeks are ticking away for you now. Hopefully not too long now.

Xx

Same here, but really, don't worry! Just be honest with the physician... I mean s/he will be able to hear it anyway You won't fail your medical because of this. I had mine 3 weeks ago and everything turned out fine

Since I just had my medical with the same physician 3 weeks ago, trust me:

He can totally eat and drink normally. I had a big breakfast with coffee right before. Some facts in the PDF for the medical in FRA might be old, but this one is still true:

"The examination for adults includes:

Background questions, blood tests, RPR for Syphilis, urine test, thorax x-ray, preparation of a complete examination report and a physical examination. You may eat breakfast, as fasting beforehand is not required." (page 2)

Source: http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Medical/FRN%20-%20Frankfurt.pdf

Have a question for a friend.. His wife and child is in the USA and he is in Ireland still at USCIS now 7 months. He sent an I-130.

Is he required to file an I-485 once he has his interview and flys to the states or is that only for certain people? TIA

No. The I-485 is for "Adjustment of Status" and only applies to people who came to the US with a K visa or under the VWP and then got married in the US. Only if he comes over with a CR-1 (married for less than 2 yrs), he will need to file for "Removal of Conditions" (I-751) within 90 days prior to his 2-year anniversary of entering the US with that visa. But that's it.

Holy moly Before you do that, please rather consider the "wall of shame" again

2 DAYS after the interview!? You finally got lucky after 13 months!

I had my interview on Monday, but I'm still waiting for my visa!

I thought "Maybe..I'll get lucky and get my visa in 1-2 days..after 13 months..."

I was naive to "entertain" myself with that kind of crazy hope!

I was pretty shocked I guess Frankfurt is not so busy at the moment and I only live 100 miles away from the embassy, so the delivery was fairly quick. I'm sorry you're still waiting on your visa, but don't let that bring you down! Your package just has to travel "a bit" more You'll have it very soon. But at least it won't take you about 14 hours to get to your new place

PS: VJ just told me I had to reduce the amount of emoticons in my post/the quotes in order to be able to post it. Whaaaaat?!

Congrats that's awesome. Thanks for your review about the embassy in frankfurt, I will have my interview on the 19th so 5 more days and was wondering how quick I would have my visa in hand.

Thank you! My pleasure Good luck for your interview! I am sure it'll be a breeze!

Got my visa in hand! Just 2 days after my interview Was about time after 13 months...

You must not open it. We were given the same envelopes. they joined two envelopes together but on the second one was a white paper attached to it and in there was the name of the embassy, my husband name, the address, the ir1 visa category and also the scanned picture on this paper. my husband had to call the embassy and he was told that he should no open any of these envelopes and he should deliver it to the immigration officer at the POE the way they have sent it to him. So I urge you never to open it. they have already cut edge of the envelope in other to let you know what that the document inside the envelope is your information. So therefore do not open it.

So glad you mentioned that there is an edge cut off on your envelope as well I was so worried if there was something wrong with mine when I got it today.