SantyAndAllie

Hi! Congratulations on the noa2!
I'm responding here since you sent me the link and this can help others like us who are reading this remember you can always message us and ask any questions since we've recently finished! I can't promise to be able to answer, but we're always willing to help! Have you seen my post on post noa2 steps so you guys are ready?? It's in my signature.
My personal opinion, though? Don't book your flight or make any plans without knowing. Otherwise you may be in for disappointment. I know thats probably not what you want to hear, but take it from me. We JUST finished our k1 process (literally we're getting married today lol), as you know, and spent hundreds of dollars (a good $250 fee for each change) changing our ticket.. And we had insurance on it. I know this is a typical answer that you've heard before, but you can absolutely 100% never ever be sure. Others around us got their interviews and visas right before us, and even the consulate gave us dates. Yet it took us more time. But trust me when I tell you that you cannot ever rely on the timelines or 'estimates' of others. I know you would like to in order to prepare, but this process is awful for planning in advance. It's nearly impossible to know. We definitely did not think we would hit July without the visa. At all. But things happen. We had someone tell us it would take 2 weeks. VJ said on average 2 weeks for an interview. They had nothing open for at least a month. We called literally every single day of that month to get a cancelation, since the consulate said they usually have at least one. They had none! Then we were told we could get it the same day or a few days later. We got it almost 4 weeks after the interview. Granted, there was a technical issue for a while, but it was fixed shortly after our interview. It didn't take some others as long as it took us. but ecuador is STILL clearing the backlog because we were part of the backlog, and it took them weeks to clear ours.
Again, historically it could take a month to get an interview or visa, but for you it could take less. Or it could take more. But do I think you should take the chance and book things without knowing for sure? I don't recommend it. It's up to you, but like I said, take it from us! We knew we had a risk in booking, but we were desperate for dates. We ended up paying for it big time. Listen to the cautions of others here because we only want to help prevent you losing time and money over this!
I could tell you that august would be a reasonable estimate for an interview, but I don't want to steer you wrong if that doesn't happen. The consulate, our lawyers, and other members here gave us estimates that didn't end up happening. We also checked recent ecuamerican couples' timelines. They didn't happen like ours. Check out our timeline to see how long things took for us. That can give you a rough idea!
Good luck to you two and don't hesitate to let us know if you need any help!! keep us posted on your progress!

Ps you can't schedule medical without the interview. See my post in my signature about post noa2 to see "average" times it takes to and from NVC, etc. we scheduled our dr appt (Quito) the day before, so that part was fairly quick.

One more.. TBone mentioned something that others told us.. That we could request pick up to save time. That was a no go. They don't allow it. Someone said to me that they did that recently, but when we asked multiple times, they said no. They only send via dhl. They ship them in big shipments at the end of the day. It's an expedited 24 hr service, so it's usually quick to ship to somewhere far like Quito (that was ours). But it's long to print. Once CEAC said issued, it took them over a week to print ours.

Hi! Congratulations on the noa2!
I'm responding here since you sent me the link and this can help others like us who are reading this remember you can always message us and ask any questions since we've recently finished! I can't promise to be able to answer, but we're always willing to help! Have you seen my post on post noa2 steps so you guys are ready?? It's in my signature.
My personal opinion, though? Don't book your flight or make any plans without knowing. Otherwise you may be in for disappointment. I know thats probably not what you want to hear, but take it from me. We JUST finished our k1 process (literally we're getting married today lol), as you know, and spent hundreds of dollars (a good $250 fee for each change) changing our ticket.. And we had insurance on it. I know this is a typical answer that you've heard before, but you can absolutely 100% never ever be sure. Others around us got their interviews and visas right before us, and even the consulate gave us dates. Yet it took us more time. But trust me when I tell you that you cannot ever rely on the timelines or 'estimates' of others. I know you would like to in order to prepare, but this process is awful for planning in advance. It's nearly impossible to know. We definitely did not think we would hit July without the visa. At all. But things happen. We had someone tell us it would take 2 weeks. VJ said on average 2 weeks for an interview. They had nothing open for at least a month. We called literally every single day of that month to get a cancelation, since the consulate said they usually have at least one. They had none! Then we were told we could get it the same day or a few days later. We got it almost 4 weeks after the interview. Granted, there was a technical issue for a while, but it was fixed shortly after our interview. It didn't take some others as long as it took us. but ecuador is STILL clearing the backlog because we were part of the backlog, and it took them weeks to clear ours.
Again, historically it could take a month to get an interview or visa, but for you it could take less. Or it could take more. But do I think you should take the chance and book things without knowing for sure? I don't recommend it. It's up to you, but like I said, take it from us! We knew we had a risk in booking, but we were desperate for dates. We ended up paying for it big time. Listen to the cautions of others here because we only want to help prevent you losing time and money over this!
I could tell you that august would be a reasonable estimate for an interview, but I don't want to steer you wrong if that doesn't happen. The consulate, our lawyers, and other members here gave us estimates that didn't end up happening. We also checked recent ecuamerican couples' timelines. They didn't happen like ours. Check out our timeline to see how long things took for us. That can give you a rough idea!
Good luck to you two and don't hesitate to let us know if you need any help!! keep us posted on your progress!

Congrats
Allie so happy for you!!!

Congrats...enjoy the time.

Congrats!! Us too!!!! My fiancé is coming tomorrow woohooooo!!

Congrats!! Us too!!!! My fiancé is coming tomorrow woohooooo!!

Yay congrats and may you have a wonderful wedding! See you on the AOS side of things.

Yay! Congrats. Scott is coming Sunday.

That's awful, so sorry! Unfortunately you aren't the first to be treated poorly, ugh. Welcome to the world of immigration! It's not fun :/
but no, I don't think they would give it by mistake lol!
Sorry that your consulate hasn't been helpful. It's a hit or miss with them ours usually is but they gave us the wrong info last week so it's a mixed bag. They said they'd hopefully print ours tomorrow. Hopefully you guys get yours printed this week, too. I mean the embassy can't tell you squat if the case is still in the US. Once it says issued is when they can give you info since they'll have it back.

A horror story? Ya gotta chill out. It's still taking time to switch to issued and get printed. They just recently finished fixing the printing issue, and the consulates are still flooded. Even if others have gotten their visas from your consulate, it's not going to help you. You just have to hold out a little longer, unfortunately, and call your consulate!!!! I cannot say this enough. People need to ask less here about their consulates and make more actual phone calls. No one but the consulate can tell you about your case. And asking for horror stories won't help you.Hopefully you should be issued this week if the consulate isn't too flooded, but call and check with them. Good luck!!
Ps- reminder.. The consulate isn't ALWAYS super helpful (like what they said to me on Thursday!!), but they're the ones with your case and the ones printing your visa, so if anything, they'd be the ones with information!

You've posted this in another thread, as well. Your posts will end up deleted because you aren't allowed to respond to a thread with your own questions instead of responding to the original poster. You need to either post a new thread or directly message the people you'd like to ask questions to (such as ones with the same country as you that you're seeing on these posts).

Ugh, Allie that is terrible. I hope they hope they end up issuing the visas. It's been a hard enough journey. I hope the rest gets easier.
They will be open soon Camillasofie! You will have your case number tomorrow!
They also fixed the case status part of things. I get an update now!

It was most likely your job that got you the visa. If you have been at a job for a while and make decent money, you're definitely more likely to be approved, single or not. Congratulations but try not to give too much false hope.... My Ecua family applied for tourist visas to come to my wedding and were denied even though they showed proof of work, owning a house, paying bills, etc, all because they were not married. But then I've seen single people also get approved, so it happens, but usually with a great job to back it up.
Enjoy your time in the States!

my date creation never changed.. just my status updated...

I've heard nothing this week either. Got an update June 30 (London), but then nothing else. Fingers crossed for next week! My thoughts are with you all! Like I have said, although this is really hard for everybody, at least we have each other to talk about this here rather than worry alone. Thank goodness for VisaJourney!

Agreed! We were told our wedding date would be ok per the embassy. It's the 11th. In order to legally get married, he would of had to have his visa issued by today. Well they are closed today.
On another note. Our creation date changed yesterday to July 2nd. Still says ready. I asked, but no one has really said. This is good correct?

I think you just go under the dial pad and make the call. It's toll free, so Skype allows the call to be made. Santy was always the one calling because I got sick of it after a week! It's just their regular number!(603) 334-0700

They said they expected to clear the backlog early this week. There was a one word 'yes!' Reply from them to this question. It's not about expecting them working 19 straight days. It's about their communication consistency as people started feeling comfortable checking on updates there rather than dreaming to get through anyone on the phone or checking on our email hoping for a single reply after we send an enquiry by email.
So it would have been nice if we saw another post like: 'we're not working this weekend due to holiday and we could not clear the entire backlog but we continue..........etc etc' I am sure people will appreciate more and not expecting anything this weekend. It matters they way we communicate to build trust and commitment.

No. Trust me. It was not a bad choice of words. He said tomorrow as in Friday. There is no mistaking it. The guy either lied or forgot, neither of which he should've done.Ps. You do know that there are places in the US that DONT have off today? So yeah, to wish that they would work today overseas (which today is not even a holiday they celebrate in those countries) because a ton of us have been waiting weeks or months to see our loved ones and are at the FINAL stage is really not all that selfish. Our visa, had the consulate been open, would've been printed and in our hands today. Instead we are rebooking our flight and get to spend another holiday apart.

It's a true joy to read these happy messages.
Fingers crossed that we'll soon read the same from folks who are still waiting.

Hoorah, A-Bone & S-Hueso!

Sorry about the tourist visa denials Allie. I don't have any words to cheer you up because that just plain sucks. I remember that Santy has a Spanish passport through his dad I guess? Does his brother not also have one?
Sooooo happy to hear the visa was issued and Santy will be heading your way really soon, I know! Really cool to have the first of our bunch approved and issued.

Allie it's been a long journey for the both of you. I'm so glad you'll soon be together!