NinjaCookie

Interview was today - ALL APPROVED!

Apparently I'll get my passport back next week Tuesday, and can start finalising the details for the move then!

This is so scary but so exciting!

Ok, so I need a sanity check over all of the documents for my CR-1 Interview in Auckland, New Zealand.

Please tell me if I'm missing anything super-critical?

In my "Interview" folder I have:

1) Appointment Letter

2) Passport (Original & Married name passports - original has my entry/exit stamps from USA on VWP)

3) Marriage Cert (Original)

4) New pay slips and tax information for my husband and my joint sponsor (changed employer) for AOS

5) My resume & proof of liquid assets (proof I can support myself over there as well)

6) Letter from my life insurance provider showing husband and my mother as 50/50 beneficiaries (Bona-Fide relationship)

7) Photos of our wedding (not annotated, but I can name everybody who was at our wedding if asked to point them out) (Bona-Fide relationship - that it wasn't a "secret" wedding)

8) 6 months of Skype logs from early in our relationship (Bona-Fide relationship).

9) Screenshots of phone & iPad FaceTime logs showing our video calls and phone calls since August 2014 (Bona-Fide relationship)

10) Chat logs from Google Hangouts (just shows the date of the conversation and how many messages were exchanged, not the content) in 2013 (Bona-Fide relationship)

11) Emails to/from hubby's family (his mum and dad) (Bona-Fide relationship - again, that I have a good relationship with his family, and it's not a "secret marriage")

12) X-Ray CD (I'm told they won't need it though) (Medical)

13) Tickets & Receipts for activities we did when I visited (Bona-Fide relationship)

14) Receipt for my wedding dress and hubby's wedding ring showing that we only bought that stuff AFTER we got the marriage license (I'm trying to show that we married on impulse - wasn't pre-planned when I visited, as I was only on VWP) (Bona-Fide relationship).

15) 4 extra passport photos just in case

16) Tracked courier bag - A4 size

I called the Consulate and they advised they have:

1) Original birth certificate

2) Original Police Clearance form

3) All AOS information

4) Original Marriage Cert (we were issued 4 by the courthouse when we married for some reason)

I'm worried about not having enough consistent evidence - we changed communication forms throughout our relationship a LOT (various apps, various phones, etc) and a lot of the records got lost during that process.

Sadly, getting the checklist like that is quite common. Frustrating, but common! I would have preferred that though. I waited the 60 days for my case to be processed at NVC, only to get a checklist for a police certificate for which I had to wait another 60 days for it to process!

I've only just found this part of the forums. Wow.

Anyway, I'm a Kiwi and will be moving to the USA with my husband.

And I also got a police clearance checklist, which took about 55 days to get processed from when I sent it to them. Longest 55 days of my life, but totally worth it when I got the case complete letter!

Wow you got the letter already ! Congrats.

It just got emailed to me. So incredibly exciting because one of my colleagues has been totally rubbing it in my face that she got her L2 interview scheduled for the day after she called, and got her visa the same day. I've been thinking terrible, terrible expletive-filled thoughts every time she opened her mouth!

Just got my letter to say interview scheduled for 15th January 2015!!!!!!

I think I just woke my entire apartment building at 11:30pm by screaming for happiness!

What's your scan date?

6th of October the last documents were received. I'd been expecting to hear back on the 5th of Dec.

Can someone clarify this for me because I was always under the impression that no matter what if you were there under visa waiver you could not adjust your status unless you left?

Congrats to the OP though, I know that feeling because my situation was similar (though we had at least communicated before I went!)

This may seem like a silly question and I'm not sure whether this is the right place to ask it - if not, please direct me to the right place.

Background:

Here in New Zealand, both my Married and Maiden names are technically my "legal" name. I am welcome to use either name where-ever and whenever I choose. I have a passport issued in my maiden name which I previously travelled on and submitted to the NVC when they requested the passport copy, but driver's licence and all other identification is in my married name.

I originally submitted all of my applications/paperwork to the USCIS and NVC under my married name (except the passport), but they have been communicating with me and listed me as a beneficiary by my maiden name - they seemed to switch it up part way through the process.

The Situation:

I am wanting to get a new passport in my MARRIED name so that I don't get stuck in the USA having to use my maiden name everywhere. Bearing in mind I will still have the original passport in my maiden name, it will simply be invalid for travel - but I can happily present this at the interview.

The Questions:

1) Will getting a new passport part-way through the process cause problems at interview - ie: will they suddenly decide it's not valid and make me go through this whole process all over again with submitting new documents?

2) As the NVC have been communicating with me under both names at various points, but are currently using my maiden name, will this force them to issue the visa in my maiden name, and into a passport with the same name? Or do they have discretion to issue it under my preferred name.

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can give me some advice in this situation. It's not a dealbreaker - and if it's going to cause problems I'll obviously just suck it up and deal with my terrible maiden name for a while!

Thanks guys this is great news - better than I'd hoped for.

So my husband and I received an email this morning stating that all documentation necessary to complete the NVC's processing of our case has been received and that as soon as an interview date has been scheduled we will be notified.

a) does this mean the case is complete at the NVC?

b) what are the next steps from here?

c) how long should we expect this to take from now to "Visa"? We were delayed 60 days because our attorney had said we didn't need the criminal background check until the next step, but she was incorrect. Needless to say, I don't really trust her advice any more.

I'm expecting the interview to be scheduled at the embassy in Auckland, New Zealand.

Many thanks in advance!