Gretch

You've never had a blood test in your whole life??? How is that possible? Spoiler alert: it isn't interesting at all. They stick a needle in, a tube or two or three fills with blood, done.

"I never once got the feeling when we were first together that she was into the relationship just for the financial benefits. She did not ask for presents or gifts, nor did a give her any but a few little things."

I understand this, but everyone has the same feeling. Almost nobody is going to be upfront that they're looking for money. The marriage (or even just girlfriend/boyfriend) game is a "long con" and the other party knows it. They first have to convince you of their sincerity before they go in for the money. Not asking for presents or gifts is exactly what they do.

Unfortunately, it's also what someone who is sincere will do, of course! But in general, I think the other person will "drop" you if they realize you're not going to give up the money and look for an easier mark. Someone who is sincere will stick around.

I don't mean to say that all of these men and women are cold-hearted con artists, though some are. (Also, in many countries there's no stigma to marrying for money; it's considered a smart move.) They might be an average person who thinks "this is a nice guy/nice woman, and it would be great to see some of that American money". If both parties have the same understanding, no harm no foul. But expecting a regular salary is DEFINITELY too much. Actually, saying "I can't afford that, sorry" is a good test of the person.

I notice that you met her through church, and while you didn't say anything further about that and I don't want to make assumptions, some people do have the idea that someone who is religious (especially of the same denomination) is automatically going to be a "good" person and won't treat a fellow church member badly, but that's the wrong assumption to make--people are people.

Good luck with your new relationship but as others have said, be careful. And I don't know anything about you--and will freely say that before my husband, I also had a boyfriend in a (different) foreign country--but you may want to do some self-searching and ask yourself why you're looking for a wife in Russia. What's preventing you from having a relationship with a woman who's already in the US? (I'm not asking for an answer, just throwing that out there.)

Congratulations! I recognized your name from "Interviews today", I'm there too. Been waiting a long time to see our names there, right? Hope this is a good omen for me, my husband's at his interview as we speak.

so happy for you!

My husband's interview is tomorrow and we are DYING. I used to read posts from people who were so anxious about the interview being within a couple of days and I thought, it's all over basically, they shouldn't be anxious... I'm still here waiting for CC! Well, I get it now! I just keep going over it and over it in my mind... did I make any mistakes or leave anything out? The physician seemed so incompetent, did he mess things up somehow? Did I forget to pay anything?

Yes, that's the right form. Thousands of people have done it, don't worry! And I believe (someone else who filed with a co-sponsor please correct me if I'm wrong), your brother only has to qualify for a household of two people, himself and your spouse, because it's assumed you are self-supporting; your brother isn't agreeing to take care of you as well!

I wouldn't worry too much about that. My husband's ex-wife's birthday is different on different documents, so what could I do? I just wrote the truth (or at least what my husband thinks is the truth) on the forms I filled out. As a previous poster said, I doubt anyone notices. Don't point it out, and if it's brought up at the interview, just say simply that the lawyer made a mistake.

You are still doing just fine, actually. The process is expected to take about a year, start to finish. If all goes well at my husband's interview, it will be 11 months from when I first filed to his arrival in the US.

It's correct that priority date has no bearing on a CR-1 case, other than to communicate with others about how long your process is taking. Priority dates affect those cases that don't just move ahead--immigration visa types that have quotas, etc.

I'm sorry about the backlog at NVC, but you really aren't that far behind, if at all. I tend to agree that a congressmember couldn't do much in this case as it stands. I contacted mine because there was an actual mistake that NVC had made in my paperwork that needed to be corrected; it sounds like your case is just waiting in line, and there's nothing they can or will do to make someone jump the line.

If you had cancer, can the CO denied you the residence?

No, unless the beneficiary is very sick still and might become a burden to the US.

For those asking about "extra" vaccines: find out if you can get lab tests in your country that prove you're already immune to the disease, either from previous vaccination or because you've had the disease in the past (not every disease confers future immunity, though). These are called "titers" or "titres". I recommend this especially for Hepatitis B, which requires a series of three different shots.

I don't know why someone else said there are no shots that need updating because people are moving to the US and not a third world country... we still have many required vaccines in the US. And our vaccine schedules are different. For instance, in the US we advise (or require, in some professions) people to get updates on measles/mumps/rubella and diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis, because those vaccines wear off or because the old version wasn't as good as the new version; in other countries this isn't required or people may not comply, so additional shots for those may be needed.

I have a question about the vaccines for the medical exam. I tried searching and I wasn't able to find an answer as most of the posts on this on visajourney were a few years old.

The medical letter shows a whole bunch of vaccines that are needed. But it also says the doctor will determine which are necessary based on age and medical condition. More research shows that they will only require the ones that are appropriate on the CDCs age schedule. So, here's the schedule I was able to find from the CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/downloads/adult/adult-schedule-easy-read.pdf

The way I read all this is that my wife, who is 39, would not be required to get anything that's highlighted in blue unless she has other risk factors. Am I reading this correctly or does she need the whole list?

Thanks,

Here are the actual instructions given to the panel physicians: http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/exams/ti/panel/vaccination-panel-technical-instructions.html

However, the doctor in my husband's country is telling him he needs vaccines that he does not need according to these directions. He either doesn't know what he's doing or is outright cheating people. We decided to let it go and just do whatever the doctor says in order to get the approval; but after my husband has successfully immigrated, I'm going to make a complaint to the embassy. (My husband, not being a self-righteous American, rolls his eyes and doesn't see the point, but I can't let this slide.)

Where the petitioner lives doesn't affect which service center your case is sent to--they're sent out according to how many cases each service center is working. My husband and I are both divorced and it didn't seem to affect our processing at all, so I don't think it's that. Good luck!

My husband's is about $220 US (and yes, price increase from September). They won't even schedule his appointment until two weeks before the interview, and in the list of vaccines there are things I know he doesn't need--I've read the bulletin for physicians. Yellow fever, for instance. My assumption is the clinic makes a lot of money off people who can't protest. I plan on writing to the embassy... AFTER my husband has successfully immigrated! It's also possible the doctor isn't reading the instructions correctly or has been misinformed. In any case, I'm not going to argue.

It's so weird to have nothing to do as the petitioner anymore. No case statuses to check... no need to compare timelines... no calls to make to the NVC. (I used up more phone minutes last month than I ever have!

Now I'm getting a little more anxious about things I've put out of my mind for a while... namely, red flags at the interview. (Before we started the process the interview seemed like the most difficult part!). My husband and I are close to the same age, similar enough religious backgrounds, and we met while I was living in his country so we had daily in-person contact for almost a year before we got married. I think all that's good. But my husband had been separated from his wife for several years, and only finalized the divorce about a month before our wedding (almost the last possible moment, since we had to register three weeks beforehand--the divorce court process took about six months). I know how bad that looks! Luckily there's typical oversharing in the divorce decree, and if the CO reads it, it will be clear that my husband and his ex have been estranged for years. And everyone who looks at our wedding pictures laughs and says something about how the embassy isn't going to need any convincing that this is a real marriage. We also didn't have a traditional wedding, just a courthouse one, but hopefully they'll understand that it didn't seem appropriate with us both being divorced previously.

I've been throwing the most invasive interview questions I've read on VJ at him so he won't be startled or annoyed if they ask him some of those.

Hi everybody

I'm new here I was hoping to find out more about the NVC process and share my VJ with you guys. So I'm try to make it as simple as possible.

I130 sent on November 13

1st Noa: on November 16/2015 thy received my i130

2nd NOA: on May 26/2016 that my case was transferred to a 26feadrl plaza N.Y and I have to show up for the uscis interview was for me the petitioner witch I head to go back to the US for.

3rd Noa: July 5/2016 case was approved

July 24/2016 I requested for Expedite

July 27/ 16 I received notification that the us embassy or consulate are willing to expedite my case once the NVC has received all required documents and fees

July 29 I received my welcome letter

August 1 I paid AOS fee and completed ds261choice of agent and address

August 10/2016 I called NVC and I got ds261 reviewed on the phone I was told to wait 3-7 days for IV fee to show up but nothing happened so after the 7days pass I started calling avery other day sense .

I sent AOS package and iv package together August 18 bye ups it was received on 19th I received notification from NVC that thy received on 23 and the my scan dat is the 19 of August

On September 2nd I was put under supervisor review I was told to what 60 day but I didn't I kept on calling daily

On the September 19th I received a checklist for the DS260 and that the NVC will not review my documents till its submitted September 21 I was able to pay iv fee 23 I submitted my ds260.

That's my story till this point I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how much can this tack and how does this willing to expedite means or its just BS thy tell you ween they really just want to get read of me ....

I don't understand what the USCIS interview was for.

Have you read the NVC process guide? It should have helped you avoid the mistakes you made here--not filling out the DS260 promptly and not paying the IV fee before. I'm not sure why your IV fee wasn't unlocked but that's what you should have been focusing on; unfortunately you weren't here then or we would have told you nothing would happen until you paid the fee and did the DS260; that's more than a month wasted. Except for the original NOA dates your case is moving fairly quickly, though.

Yes, the expedite is real. Your documents may have already been sent to the embassy.

But i called NVC today they told i need to send translation and original so im confused..

They mean the translation (a copy of it) and a copy of the original-language document, not the original piece of paper itself.

Scan date 8/4, case complete 9/26

I got an email with interview scheduled yesterday... November 14! We'll miss spending our first anniversary together, but hopefully my husband will be in the US for Thanksgiving.

It doesn't look like you have applied for expedite. I haven't done that so I'm far from an expert, but they do list keeping a family's cases together as a reason for expedite, so I think I would try that first.

I am from Denver. Which US representative I can contact ?

You'll have to google it.

6. I was going through DS260, haven't done it yet, but I noticed a question about getting a medical license as a foriegne medical graduate sends in the line next to felony, crimes, prostitution etc. Is it something bad they wouldn't want me to do?

They just want to know. My husband is a nurse and I answered that yes, he hasn't been through any part of the US licensure process yet; I added a note to say that he's in the middle of having his degree evaluated. There's fraud on both sides with healthcare-profession immigration, mostly people in the US recruiting people from foreign countries to work here illegally (valid work permit, no valid license, being held basically as indentured servants). Just answer honestly. It's the same as the question about vaccines: if you don't have them when you fill out the application, don't say that you do, just explain you got them afterward as applicable.

Hi everyone,

My scan date is 08/16/16 I ve been calling NVC almost once a week and their answer were amlays still reviewing and it's gonna take up to 6 weeks, I called them yesterday the agent told me that I should call back tmorow to get an update.. so I just called them the operator asked med when I submitted the DS260 (JUL 28TH) then she said I'm gonna report your case to my supervisor..

Do I need to Wait another 6 week!!

Please help me out what should I do?

I'm sorry to say, yes. The clock has started over again. Most people haven't had to wait the full six weeks for supervisor review, but some have. I got my case complete a little over three weeks after it was sent for supervisor review, but some have gotten it much faster.

I doubt if you call they will say anything besides "it may take up to six weeks from when it was sent for supervisor review", but of course you can try.

One more quetion i want to ask. Do i also have to send cover sheet from nvc welcum email. Or i could just send my own written cover letter?

And i printed aos cover sheet twice. But for iv do i have to remove aos from cover sheet?

Thankyou!!

No, you need to send the cover sheet from your welcome letter. You can also send your own if you want to.

I saw a reference above to someone saying you have to go to the documents page and print two copies... I don't think that's right. I was emailed the cover sheets. The process has changed sometime during this year.

I went to point out that almost every question asked here in the last day or two is covered very well in the NVC Process Wiki. It isn't 100% up to date (I put in some suggestions but they haven't been addressed yet) but it will serve you very well. There's nothing wrong with asking for clarification but the process is much more clearly explained in the NVC Process Wiki than in questions scattered throughout this topic. Hundreds, maybe thousands have used that advice, so you know it is well-vetted.

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_Process

Call and ask when your case was sent to supervisor review; when it's sent there, another six weeks starts over again and it doesn't matter what your first or second scan date was. Honestly, what we have seen is that it's possible for this to become a seemingly neverending cycle; something isn't reviewed within six weeks so they send it again for supervisor review which starts another six weeks. However, it seems like the majority of cases are decided before the six weeks of the first supervisor review is up.

I finally got 3 N/As! I'll call in the morning to confirm. No idea whether my congressman did anything on my behalf. SO relieved. 53 days from scan date.

Well, NVC just opened for this last week of September... really hoping I hear something this week! I sent a request for help to my congressman last week, haven't heard anything from them yet. It seems like some people hear from their senator/representative office very quickly, and with others it takes a couple of weeks (or not at all).

More than seven weeks past my scan date now.

Very few people get a case complete for CR-1 in two weeks. You may have seen K-1 people moving faster through the NVC but that's a different process. You can look at the spreadsheet (in the progress reports/CR-1 forum); most people seem to be getting it in 30 days lately. A few have gotten it in 18 days. I've been waiting about seven weeks now, with no checklist, and there are a few others who have gone over the time too.