anamaral

+1(603)334-0700
Keep trying, its always hard to reach them. I usually get in about the 20th - 30th time. Don't give up!
Best hours to call are early in the morning (they open at 7am EST) and late at night (they close at midnight).
Good luck!

Yeaaaa
ceac website Just worked for me! Filled DS261! (we mailed the check for the AOS fee, so I'll call them on monday and see what should I do)

Yeaaaa
ceac website Just worked for me! Filled DS261! (we mailed the check for the AOS fee, so I'll call them on monday and see what should I do)

Case number and IIN assigned here as well
Although having issues with ceac website, couldn't log in/choose agent
Hope they fix soon!
Good luck for everyone!

I'm gonna give my opinion of my experience. I have been here in the states for almost 3 years similar like you (at the moment in the middle of ROC, I'm married to an USC). I'm only child and my mom stills lives in Argentina. She is retired and over 70. Last year we did the process for a tourist visa in Argentina and I even went there to give her support with the papers, etc.
Let me tell you I was 98% sure that she would be denied for many reasons. She did not have great finances ties or other children there (she does have other relatives there though). She got approved after 30 minutes waiting inside the embassy. I was surprised as I really thought we did not stand any chance and that me being her only child would play against her. My mom said the interviewer lady was very polite and made her feel comfortable.
I believe that my mom's age played an important factor here. But also that they checked she has lived in the same place for the last 14 years and that she (and we) never tried for her to get a visa since I moved to the US. She was asked many questions about her background and why she would like to go to US. She said to visit her daughter that lives there (me) and would like to visit for the holidays or for when we can not go to Argentina.They gave her the visa for 10 years.
They never requested to see any of the documents my mom brought, which leads me to the suspicion that they do make the decision prior the interview actually. They only request to see evidence when they have doubt. They know when you lie or not. They even asked my mom if she had airline ticket already, my mom said NO because she did not know if she would be approved. The interviewer responded "Very good".
A few years ago a friend of mine planned a trip to Disney with her 7 years old daughter (her husband would not travel with them) she brought to the interview tickets reservation, hotels, papers of their properties, car etc. The interviewer requested to see all this papers. And for some reason she was given a visa ONLY for 1 year. And this girl (married to a guy that has a very high paid job) has MORE finances ties than my mom, and has no family in US. To me, what played against her was that she DID buy airline tickets BEFORE knowing if her visa would be approved. The embassy clearly states that people should not make travel arrangements until visa is in hand.
This 2 stories show that sometimes its not about how much money or properties you have. They are looking for some sort of stability or that the applicant does not show too much interest in visiting that place. My mom is not rich or anything but she has her life already set up in Argentina. In my opinion they saw that my mom, a retired person in her 70s with one daughter LPR in the United States who is a potential citizenship's applicant in the future, is not gonna be jumping illegally anywhere... When her migration could be done easily when I become citizen and petition her (in the case my mom wanted to come to live here in the future).
You mentioned your mom has a job in Brazil, so that means your mom is still in a working age. An ex acquaintance of mine, wanted her mom to visit her in Boston and her mom's visa got denied the first time. She had to use a congressman of her district. Her mom got approved in the second try after a couple months. Her mom was still very "young" (in her early 50's) so probably that was used against her in this case and the fact that her mom emigrated from Paraguay to Argentina decades ago and now had a daughter in US (naturalized citizen), they probably thought she would be emigrate to US and work there illegally.
I guess each embassy is different and each case is seen under different lights. Give it a try in couple of months. Maybe you can use a congressman and explain that embassy that your mom has no intentions of staying in US illegally. That you are gonna be USC soon and you would not risk your mom safety to make her stay illegally when you can totally petition her in the future (if your mom wanted to move here of course.
I wish you good luck for the next time.

It was quite a pleasant surprise. My mother got approved for a U.S. Tourist visa yesterday. According to her, she wasn't asked to show any documents or proof of ties. She was asked 4 simple questions: 1) Which State are you visiting in America? [Northern Virginia] 2) Who is sponsoring your travel? [My daughter and son-in-law] 3) Does your daughter work? What's her job? [Yes. She is a Communications Manager at ***] How long are you planning to visit? [A month, around September, in time for my birthday.]
Her interview lasted for less than 3 minutes and the consul said her application is approved.
Note that my mom does not have a fat bank account, she is a widow, I am her only daughter and I have immigrated to the States last year. She has 1 property under her name and that's about it.
Hearing a lot of horror stories from other applicants made us feel skeptical as to whether she'll get approved but at the end of the day, I guess it's a mix of prayer, determination, honesty and luck that made her first attempt a success.
My husband and I believe that the Consul, after all, is emphatic and the US Gov't would be more than willing to bring families together. As long as your purpose of travelling to America is legit and you've answered all the questions directly and as honest as possible, there should be no reason to fear denial.

Hi,
I'm in the US right now, visiting my husband under the visa waiver program. As I cleared immigrations at Newark Airport so fast, I asked to speak to a supervisor to clarify the rules and regulations regarding traveling while having a pending immigration visa and here's what he said.
CBP's job is to ensure that people visiting the US fulfills the requirements of the way they are trying to enter US. E.g, if a visitor arrives on the visa waiver program or on a tourist visa, it is CBP's job to ensure that the person before them are only coming to visit the US on a temporary basis and plan to leave within the alloted time frame.
The supervisor said that there are no US rules or laws that prohibit people from visiting the US while they have a petition or visa pending. In fact, he told me that CBP don't have access to USCIS's system and have no way of seeing if someone has filed a petition or not. He said that of course, informing an immigration officer that an I-130 petition has been filed may mean that the officer will scrutinize the entry request more thoroughly and therefore, he recommended that anyone coming as a tourist while having a petition or immigration visa pending bring proof of ties to homecountry, such as mortgage papers, rental agreement, letter from employer and so on.
Hope this helps anyone who's still worried about visiting as a tourist during the petition phase.

Just came back from visiting my husband in the state for 5 days. POE: LAX, CA. Immigration officer was very nice. Only things he really asked were the purpose of my visit and the length of stay. Good luck everyone !

Hi all, this is my first post.
I visited my wife literally as much as I could during the application process:
I went to the States in May 2013 on a J1 Visa and we got married during that time, June 10th. The J1 visa was a summer exchange programme that students can take for the summer and work. I had just graduated from University that May so was still applicable for the visa. Essentially it was something we did so that we could spend more time together.
We sent the I-130 off as soon as we were married. The J1 visa lasted till October 2013 at which point I stopped working at the summer job I had been at and returned to the UK for 1 week. I then went back to the states under the VWP and stayed for 89 days. I was barely questioned at all at the POE.
After the 89 days I returned for a week again and once more, flew back to the States for a further 89 days. The border control questions were a bit less relaxed but I just told the truth, that my permanent residence remained in the UK and that I was simply visiting. When this 89 days were up, I returned to the UK with my wife and it coincided nearly perfectly with my interview date at the US embassy.
Visa accepted, now waiting to fly back with my wife in hand!
It did feel that I was cheating the system a bit, but as far as I am aware, no rules were broken. I think my wife and I have spent no more than three weeks apart since we were married...
Hope this helps someone

Hey guys.
Just wanted to tell everyone about my experience. I entered the us on VWP 3 days ago at Chicago O hare. Totally smooth. I hadn't had any problems at all. Didn't even had to show my return ticket. The officer only asked for how long i'll stay and how I met my husband. He also asked if I am still in school in the USA (I have a valid F1 visa in my passport still from when I went to college in California) which I denied.
I am pretty happy that it was so easy because the last time I entered in December in LAX it was pretty much like an interrogation. I wasn't married then and I had to show all kinds of proof that I will leave again but I was not taken into another room or anything.

Okay so long story semi-short: my fiancé had his 3/3. He was approved and told to bring his medical results to the VAC once he picked them up. He did not have them in time for the interview but they would be ready after the interview was conducted so this is why he was advised this.
He picked up the results and brought them to the VAC and then the waiting game began for us to get ready for the email that stated his visa was ready for pick-up. Three weeks later and we were still waiting for that email. I made numerous calls to USTRAVELDOCS and all they told me was that we were in AP and to wait for further instruction and it should be over in 60 days. When I asked why I wasn't able to track the passport they said "you can't? well you should be able to." ?
Finally I took the advice of another VJer (ILoveMyMan) and emailed my Congressman directly. Luckily we already have been working together since the USCIS stage (thanks to my weekly emails complaining about the TSC/CSC timeframe discrepancies) so I didn't have to worry about filling out a release form or waiting for someone to respond.
When I emailed her about being in AP she said it's normal for some cases and she can't inquire on my behalf until the 60 days passed. I was so tired of hearing this so I took a different angle, I also mentioned to her I didn't mind waiting but the fact that I couldn't track the passport ("there is no status update for the passport number submitted..") I asked if she could at least get me a location of the passport while I "wait". Since before it said it was still at embassy/consulate and now it said "no status".
She emailed me back two days later with the response from the embassy. The told her that on 3/10 they contacted me to tell me that my fiancé needed to bring his birth certificate. This makes sense because on the CEAC site it said last updated 3/10 however, I WAS NEVER CONTACTED FOR THIS! I asked my fiancé did he bring it to the interview and he said yes but now we think he didn't bring the "Acta Extensa (long version" they were looking for and this was causing the hold up. My congressman said go bring it and let her know so she can call her contact and let them know its been delivered so we can have him here ASAP! Maybe within a week!
All in all, I am happy I did not settle for this AP status because sometimes the embassy needs something from you and have "contacted" you but of course you never heard anything from them. Now I know some people have real reasons for being in AP (security checks, background checks etc) but make sure you don't wait a long time before finding out exactly why. You never know, they could be missing something as simple as a birth certificate. I would've waited 60 days and still have not heard anything from them...and would've been waiting in vain!

First of all you have to read the Guides to figure out how visa process is going and what visa you need.
http://www.visajourney.com/content/guides
If you are married and your USC husband lives with you abroad, you can start the process while you both are abroad. I mean, start by gathering papers for I-130 and mail the packet to Chicago Lock Box from your country you currently live in.
If you get auto expedited (most likely), this first step may take a few days or a month (instead of 6-8 months).
By the time your case is shipped to the NVC for the next step, your husband can start figure out on how to reestablish his Domicile in the USA (read, read and reread all guides!). He may need to leave to the USA alone to get settled. In this case you will finish the NVC step staying in your home country. You will be apart for some time (NVC process may take around 3 months if you are proactive and won't do no mistakes); read the guides again!).
Good luck!

i-130 (i-e IR-1) is way better than k3 ..so apply for that.. for i-864 u need a joint sponsor PLUS to establish a domicile of your husband he need to seek help
from a lawyer ..

correct. you on a pc? click the word 'guides' up at the top, review GUIDE1 - it's the steps to file the I-130 .

sorry, shift to I-864, and learn about joint-sponsers, co-sponsers,
unless, somehow, you are actually interviewing for a K-3 visa (which needs the I-134 on interview day)
re: start the process - eh - no - can file the I-130 now, knowing it will be 5 to 11 months before approval, knowing it will be yet another 45 days after I-130 approval until NVC starts it's doc intake, then you two have another 2 years to get all Visa Application docs/fees into NVC. He doesn't need a job, today, to file the I-130. His income, job stuff, even joint-sponser stuff is reviewed at NVC for completeness and thresh-holds, then carefully adjudicated at the IV Unit in Brasil on your visa interview day.
So, you two have some time. He doesn't have to move or work in USA anytime soon.
Now, with all of that said, study the usa domicile requirements in the I-864 instructions, and understand that you must be able to prove-up steps taken to re-establish USA domicile by Visa Interview Day - a date in the Calendar, far far away, and the last bit. Don't shove 'the last bit' into 'the first bit'.
Go Get Em, and Good Luck !