DavidBoston

Congratulations RUSH !! Yes, as long as you two are together, the wait for everything else should be easy by comparison.

Best of luck to you both!

I have to echo Bogi and Nick and their post. We have been totally absent from this forum for a long time and my fiance just received the visa today and he will be flying here tomorrow on Thanksgiving Day! We have been totally absent from this form for a long time and my fiance just received the visa today and he will be flying here tomorrow on Thanksgiving Day! What a great Thanksgiving gift for me!

It seems like it has been 8 months of nothing but waiting waiting and waiting! Waiting for the NOA1, waiting for the NOA2, waiting for the RFE ....waiting for a case number, etc. Etc. Well finally the wait is over at least for this phase!

Thank you everyone on visa journey and especially all of the April filers who were tremendous help especially early in the process. We will continue to update all of our timelines through the marriage and I485 filing etc...

Best of luck to those who are still waiting! No matter what you waiting for just remember it's going to pay off in the end!

David

WE GOT THE VISA. ?????

Hey thanks very much for that information. Does anyone know at what point in the process they change the status to issued? I thought I read that it was after printing the VISA.

And I would think that they would certainly have done all background checks before declaring it issued. So maybe just those last couple of steps are left.

I am also thinking that maybe the courier doesn't leave from Bogota to Medellin daily, but only once a week. Who knows? So all we can do is wait!

Here's a sort of catch-all thread for applicants from Colombia. If you look at the timelines of the participants in this thread you can get a good idea of the waiting time. Some of us were caught in a 4 week system outage for printing visas and it took up to 5 or 6 weeks from CEAC Issued to visa in hand. A more normal waiting time is around 2 weeks. Good luck!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/546895-colombia-are-you-waiting-for-scheduling-of-interview-in-bogota/

Thanks for the information. I remember hearing about the system outage.

But I am surprised that it takes 2 weeks from "ISSUED" to receipt of Passport/VISA. It seems like I read a lot of postings in VJ where some people are getting their VISAs in 2 or 3 days after the CEAC changes that status to ISSUED. This wait is torture !!

Thanks again.

Can anyone from Medellin Colombia please tell me how long it took from the "ISSUED" status until you received the email from the ASC in Medellin? Our CEAC status changed to "ISSUED" last Thursday, November 19th. Was hoping to have fiance here for Thanksgiving, but not looking that way now!!

Thanks very much !!

David

Thank you for the information. We did receive an email this morning stating that the VISA had been issued and that we just needed to wait to receive another email and to see the link on the Bogota Applicant Summary webiste.

My fiance is in Medellin and the passport/visa is getting delivered to the ASC office in Medellin. Hopefully he can get it the same day it arrives there.

Thanks again !!!

Thanks very much for the information. ..... and yes in fact, the status just changed to Issued this afternoon.

Very happy here!

Yes, Congratulations !

Thank you !! I hope you are right !!

Hello,

After receiving necessary documents following our interview, our CEAC status went as follows:

Administrative Processing October 23, 2015

Ready November 16, 2015

Ready November 17, 2015 (with new creation date of November 17, 2015 and new wording)

Administrative Processing November 18, 2015

Does this mean the VISA will be issued soon? Really hoping that my fiance will be here before Thanksgiving !!!!!!!

Thank you !!!

Wow.... that's incredible. So ours went from Administrative Processing to Ready on Nov 16th, then to a new Ready on Nov 17th with different wording and new creation date and then BACK to AP just now....... what the heck????

Hi,

My fiance and I have been waiting for VISA approval since October 23rd, when the embassy in Bogota received the final documents requested in Form 221g (provided to us at the interview).

Can anyone in Colombia who recently received their VISA approval please tell me how long it took following the interview (or receipt of additional requested information requested in form 221g).

Also, please tell me if the status changed from "Administrative Processing" to "Issued" or did it go from "Administrative Processing" to "Ready" and then to "Issued".

And I know this sounds like a strange question, but did the change from "Admin Processing" take place early or late in the day or was it just random? We are just going crazy checking the CEAC status every hour. And I just wish we could actually talk to somebody at the Embassy who could tell us if it was going to be another day, or another week, or another month. Very frustrating.

Thanks so much for any information !!

Hi, never mind i just got the link, and now am going to be checking it every second, lol,

Yes, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and check it. Still says "Administrative Processing". LOL. I think the most frustrating thing is that if you call, they just look up the same website that we see. They can't go track down your VISA or anything like that. Very frustrating!

Best of Luck.

Hi everyone, so i am starting to get abit worried, my daughter did her interview last week monday oct 26th they requested additional documents which was sent and dilivered to the embassy the following friday. I had booked her flighted about a month ago for next week sunday the 15th, is there anyway i can speed up the procees fo her getting back her passport. or does anyone have any idea how long it normally takes after they request for more documents?

Thank you.

Hi kryssy,

I can certainly feel for you. Yeah, although it states "do not book flights ..... ", we did the same thing. If you were right on, then you probably would have saved money, because flights are cheaper the further in advance you can book. So it's a gamble!

As far as your question. It is very frustrating. We required additional documents which were received by the embassy in Bogota on October 23rd. Still waiting for that status to change from "Administrative Processing" to "Issued". Just trying very hard to NOT check the website more than once per hour. LOL.

Best of luck.

Thanks for this thread. We will be in a similar situation when my fiance gets here next week or the week after. Filing jointly is going to save us a lot in taxes. And yes, as far as the exchange rate, it's great if you are going to Colombia and spending money.

And as far as the stamp, I hear that it is hit or miss as far as whether the agent will provide it. We will know soon.

Thanks NAB-400. Finally somebody knows what I am talking about as far as the "employment authorization" stamp at POE.

And hey, everyone, please chill. I bring this point up only as a matter for debate and to show the inconsistencies between 2 departments of the SAME government.

If I have my way, my fiancé would stay at home and not work. So you have all definitely helped my argument.

And to the visa journey member who helped educate me on the role of the SSA, thanks.

All great points!

Thanks.

For the I-9, I am sure you could provide a copy of the Arrival/Departure record and K-1 Visa, along with the SSA Official posting RM 10211.420 and specifically RM 10211.420G1 which includes K-1 Visas as an eligible DHS category, who are, again "Authorized to work in the US without specific authorization from the DHS. It can't get much clearer than that. (from the SSA standpoint).

I am sure that if your employer had all this backup, and there was ever an audit, the govt would understand, the documentation would prove that there was no intention to do anything illegal......... And it takes just two weeks to receive a Social Security Number and 90 days to get the EAD, so if you arrive here and are anxious to work, I think you would be OK with just the SS #..

And to me, the SSA rulings are more clear than the USCIS rulings on this topic !! But that is just my opinion.

Thanks very much for those links. WOW, yes, I guess there has been a lot of debate on this. And the USCIS and SSA seem to be saying different things.

I also read that you can request at the POE for the Customs Agent to stamp your VISA with an "Employment Authorized" Stamp. It seems that it depends on the POA location and even the specific agent.

David

There seems to be different opinions as to whether or not a K-1 Visa Holder can begin work before receiving their EAD. According to the Social Security Administration, a K-1 Visa Holder is included in the list of "Aliens employment-authorized WITHOUT specific DHS aurhorization:. See link to the SSA website below.

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0110211420#g1

I think this is important information for those who want to work right away, and before receiving their EAD (which generally takes 90 days). If I am missing something, please let me know.

Thanks.

Congratulations guys, and best of luck!

I have these questions about what to file first after my fiance arrives in the United States and how the married name will affect the filings.

1. My fiance wants to work as soon as possible after arriving in the US. So we want to file for the Social Security Number and Employment Authorization Document right away. Do we file these documents together?

2. We won't be getting married until 45 days or so after his arrival in the US. So do we file for SS # and EAD with maiden name? And then change the SS# once we are married? Or should we NOT file for these documents until after we are married so we are only filing once and using the married name? Or can we file these for these documents right away using the married name even we are not legally married yet?

3. When we apply for the I-485, will it matter if the name on the application is the married name even if the SS# was under the maiden name?

I have been stressing about this so any advice is appreciated.

Well we did it! Interview was yesterday, and VISA was approved!!!!!!!! It was a long day, just sitting and waiting, but then just 5 minutes in the interview! So relieved! Best of luck to everyone from the APRIL filers group!

I used the envelope supplied, it got to California pretty quickly, even from PA.

Hi, I sent ours overnight, through the United States Postal Service, which delivers to PO Box numbers. I guess it depends on whether a day or 2 makes a big difference to you.