TanguyAndJuliet

Central PA

Where to not go:

There are NO civil surgeons in North Central Pennsylvania who will do the transcription of vaccination records without doing the whole medical. The office of Dr. Jeffrey Baker at Penn State Hershey Medical Group at Windmere Center in State College, PA will not do the vaccination worksheet. If you go there for a full medical anyway, the staff felt a bit impersonal and slightly rude (but of course, since you'll be giving them more money, it might be a whole other story).

On USCIS website, Dr. Lawrence Levinson in Altoona, PA is listed as civil surgeon with USCIS. He is NOT doing medical examinations at all anymore. In fact, he has retired.

That only leaves CS in the Harrisburg area who are willing to do that. I have an appointment with Dr. Abdulai Bukari in Harrisburg next Thursday and they accepted to only do the vaccination worksheet part. I will update this post after the appointment to let you know if it was worth a visit.

Okay, knowing that is a possibility makes me feel a little better. Delaying the interview a month or two and taking into account the 6 month validity period of the K-1 should give us the appropriate amount of time. Thank you for your assistance!

Thank you for the responses. How could we go about extending the petition validity? Would sending a written letter directly to the consulate be best? Or should we submit everything Packet 3 asks and schedule the interview for a later date?

Hello everyone!
My fiance and I are waiting for packet 3 from the embassy in Paris. We have been very stressed due to this whole process and just made plans to see each other later this month. We are debating the possibility of just getting married this month and canceling the K-1 application and starting over with the CR1 visa. We're both at a time in our lives where his emigration here will cause some financial hardship and would be okay with starting over with the CR1 route so we could both save up more money. We have not made a decision yet since we are already so close to getting his visa, we're just looking at our options. We are aware that we will have to be apart longer while it is processing, and we are okay with it. What are your thoughts? Would canceling the K-1 this late in the game be detrimental to obtaining a spousal visa?

Thank you.

Hi everyone,

Not sure if I'm posting in the right place. We just got our NOA2 and I'm gathering the documents for my fiance's interview in Paris. I am currently unemployed and don't have much in the way of savings and assets. My mom is our co-sponsor and I'm trying to figure out what we need to do to prove my fiance will not be a public charge. My mom has tax returns and proof of income, but isn't sure if she'll be able to obtain a letter from her employer. Is this going to be enough? France-specific advice would be very helpful!

Yep, he was here last August and left September 7th if I remember correctly. I wrapped up the paperwork, and it was shipped off on September 18th, with our wedding set for this September 12th. At the time, it seemed so far away.

We didn't want to risk any issues with visits in between, so we decided that we would use that as time for him to save some money, especially since he will have to travel to London twice - once for medical and once for interview.

It was hard to go through Christmas without him, as we've been together 12 years and he has been here every Christmas. Though, the waiting was livable until we hit about the 6 month mark in TSC, the next two months were difficult. Mostly because as we waited and waited, the wedding date was creeping closer and becoming more in question. Even though we have NOA2, I will feel better once we get out of TSC permanently.

Here's hoping that the end of this week brings good news for everyone still waiting for something

My fiance and I usually see each other every four or five months; we are now going on six months and don't plan on making the (expensive) trip until he immigrates here, which we are expecting to be September because he is finishing a contract with his employer. At that point it will have been nine months. It's comforting knowing we are not the only couple being apart for so long; most of my friends are so shocked that we can go long and sometimes it almost makes me feel like a bad person for not being physically together more (even though we are constantly in contact via Facebook and Skype). However, we are both young and don't have a lot of money, and the visa process makes it very difficult and risky to plan trips overseas. I'm with you on this, it take a lot of strength to get through this but I don't have to tell you that it will be so worth it in the end.

OMG GUYS

I JUST GOT OUR NOA2!!!!!!!

I am so so so so so happy and relieved and ready for what comes next!!! Now I can't wait for my fiance to wake up on the other side of the Atlantic with some good news, finally!

Nothing for us. I might be wrong but it seems like they are approving people who had an RFE, as far as I know, we haven't been processed at all. Case still marked as "received" since September 16th.

I'm gonna randomly throw that here, would anybody on this thread be interested if I'd do a Facebook group (closed) where we could share a bit of our lives about the post-TSC? I've got to known a couple of you personally and it would be awesome to see your weddings/littles ones. I'm suggesting a group because it's allow us to show limited things, for those who wishes to keep their personal Facebook.. Well.. Personal!

Yes, I would love a FB group!!!

Hey ho, is there some people here from september waiting for NO2. Am I the only one ???

You are not alone! September 17 NOA1 here, and I'll be here until everyone in this thread gets approved!

Approved. I received the email at 9:06 pm edt. My NOA1 date was Sept 30th. TSC received by RFE documents on May 6th (Initial RFE notification on April 24th). NOA2 on May 20th. Oddly ... no text update.

Congrats

Nobody should feel bad about sharing their good news on here. It doesn't bum me out, if anything it gives me hope and makes me smile

crossing my fingers for all of us tonight

Same here! I just called customer service and put in a service request because I am officially out of the processing timeframe. I refuse to hit the 8 month mark!

Is anyone else having trouble viewing their case status on the website? I tried to log into my account and the website says it's been locked due to either "account inactivity" or "too many unsuccessful login attempts".

So if I'm looking at Igor's list correctly, everyone else on VJ with the same NOA1 date as me has either gotten an approval or an RFE. So that makes me feel fantastic

Man, these last few months have been so awful. I want some good news, and soon. Seven months ago I believed an RFE would be the ultimate failure, but at this point I don't even care anymore. I will give them whatever they want. Just do SOMETHING with our case.

LOL!!!

That made my day.

What is the group? I'd love to hit that up. Might as well p!ss and moan in TWO places.

I am in three. One is called Visa Journey, another is Visa Questions Answered-K-1/I-130, and the third one is National Visa Center Stage Group (for future reference, hopefully ). They are all closed groups but they accept most requests to join, if Facebook is your thing!

I'm in a couple Visa Journey-like Facebook groups and recently someone posted something like "waiting for NOA2. 20 days in right now, ugh."

And I'm just over here like ....bro.

Today is also a holiday

Best of luck to my fellow Frenchie Same NOA1 too.. let's hope for a quick approval!

No kidding! I'll be creeping on your timeline quite a bit over the next few months

Seven months today! Back in September I scoffed at an April NOA2 date. Yet here we are

Your situation is almost identical to mine. My fiance has a masters in engineering, so once he gets work authorization and finds a job we won't have much to worry about. I am graduating from college in May and because I was a full-time student, I was only working part-time. I've spent plenty of money on trips to see my fiance, so I have hardly any savings. My mom adores my fiance and understands this is the best way to get us together, so she is co-sponsoring him and letting us live with her until I nail down a job.

Since I'm going through the same thing right now I can't give you many answers, but you are not alone I don't think we will have a problem as long as our co-sponsors meet the income requirements.

that, right there. I explain it as - so far we are waiting for the petition that will allow us to apply for a visa to be approved. Usually people get confused enough to stop asking...

This. I have explained the whole process numerous times to all my friends and family, and I don't even know how many times I've been asked, "how's the paperwork going?" What paperwork? I haven't had paperwork in months. All that paperwork is sitting in a box somewhere, waiting to be looked at, just like it's been for the past six months. I know people ask because they want to show they care, but if they really cared they would either try to understand or just not even ask. I post to Twitter and Facebook that everyone will know any news the second I receive it, but I still get asked questions I cannot answer. It's frustrating but I look at it as a way to help people understand how flawed the immigration system is.

I sent in bank statements showing purchases made in my fiance's town. While it doesn't prove you were with him, pairing it with pictures and other secondary evidence makes your case stronger

I did, and I still do, question if maybe I put a "N/A" where I should have left a blank, or if there was some minute detail that I messed up. Don't beat yourself up over being thorough- follow the directions to the best of your ability. Worst case scenario is an RFE.

Cards and letters are good for proof of ongoing relationship, but that is not of the utmost importance at this stage- that might be better for the interview. USCIS wants to see proof of having met within the last two years. Photos are good, but they are "secondary" evidence. Give them primary evidence- things that irrefutably prove you have met, such as passport stamps showing entry into each other's countries or receipts in their town (photocopies are fine, but make sure you have original documents in case they ask to see them).

Your table of contents will be sufficient to explain what is in your packet. They know what they are looking at and what is missing. If you'd like, you can put post it notes on documents explaining what they are. Post its should be pretty easy for the person reviewing your case to remove. I did this with basically everything in my packet, just to make myself feel better haha.

Like everyone else has said, nothing is certain until the visa is in your hand, so don't make any concrete plans.

My wedding "dreams" have changed several times since I started gathering our documents in August. I was hoping for a Christmas wedding (lol), then a summer wedding. My fiance just got a job with a six month contract, which he really wanted and needed. Now I'm back to planning for a late fall wedding- we are most likely going to go to the court house and celebrate together before we tell anyone. Easy, inexpensive, and very romantic

Time will tell and you'll end up figuring out what will work best for you. Be flexible depending on what is going on in your life at the time! It's perfectly fine to have something small or private and have something "bigger" later- lots of people on here do that!

I thought it would vary, but the August approvals have consistently been receiving theirs after 8PM. In fact, many reported getting an email/text at 830 specifically. Weird.

Does the "My Cases" page get updated before a text and/or email is sent? I'm assuming this is the case, which is why I check our case status on the USCIS website multiple times a day

Our response to the RFE was received yesterday. We are back in the TSC process. Not a good place to be (lol) but sitting on the sidelines was much worse.

You'll probably get a decision soon! At least you know someone is looking at your case and it isn't in a box somewhere