goobies

6 hours ago, Louie1988 said:

My cc was on May 23rd

Wow, that is extreme. As soon as NVC answers, tell them you need to speak to a Supervisor. Also, we would always call NVC at night time. If they still refuse, I suggest emailing them about an expedite because you are Well over the normal processing time. I'm so sorry to know you are going through that.

Our interview is on the 5th of September!!! We are a medical expedite, so our case was not reviewed by the NVC, but we followed all the wonderful advice available on this website, so I am sure that will be no issue.

Good luck to you all!

2 hours ago, Louie1988 said:

Do anyone here has experience talking to a supervisor at NVC? Do they really can help at something? I called there today and they said the same old thing, that they will be in touch once they schedule my interview. I'm start thinking that they lost my case, that's why they not scheduled me yet.

Louie, how long has it been since you got a case closed? I'm sorry it is taking so long.

20 hours ago, Elleandeff said:

@goobies, when you emailed the expedite did they send you a confirmation email? I sent it to nvcexpedite@state.gov Saturday, but havent heard back or received confirmation that they even got the request.

It did take about 4 days for us to get a response. On the 23rd of July, I emailed in the information and request. We received a generic "We have received your email and will inform you of the decision, blah, blah, blah" email on the 25th. The 27th they let us know the decision. So I would count today as day 1, then tomorrow evening, you may get the generic receipt confirmation. If not tomorrow, by Thursday. And then I would be safe and say maybe Monday you would get the final decision.

Good luck to you!

7 minutes ago, KaurN said:

That is great @goobies! I hope you get an earlier interview date. My husbands interview was exactly a month away from the day we scheduled it.

Thanks so much! We called at 1 and they allowed us to pick any date we wanted, so we decided to give ourselves some time to prepare everything and go for medical. We chose the first week of September!!!! Now it is like crunch time is finally here, after all these months. We are so grateful.

11 hours ago, KaurN said:

I really don't know what the consequences would be.

KaurN,

Thanks so much for your input. We were planning on doing what you said first thing this morning, and then guess whaaaaaaaa???? They emailed us and told us to go ahead and schedule our interview! So now we are going to call at 1pm and see if there is a way to schedule it sooner than the ones on the website. The earliest is the middle of September!

Thank you so much for the advice, and we appreciate you and everyone else who gives assistance here on VJ. Without this community, we couldn't have made it this far. Be blessed.

5 hours ago, cleon86 said:

I hate to have to come on here and say this, but I will because I want the dates for my case to be correct. Unfortunately, yesterday when checking the status of our case I accidentally typed in one number incorrectly without realizing and was looking at a case complete for someone else and not us.  And being so excited I didn't double check the number I entered and told everyone here and all my friends and family that our case was complete . 

 

After going to review to see if our AOS disappeared  I noticed it was still there and went back to re-enter our case number and saw that it still said submit documents. 

 

Its a devastating blow to think you're done and have a CC only to realize a few hours later you don't. I feel completely ridiculous and hopefully I'll be sharing the ACTUAL good news of a CC very soon. Thanks everyone  

Oh nooooo! I'm so sorry to hear that! I can imagine the disappointment as we faced something similar. Hang in there!

9 hours ago, Elleandeff said:

So we are sending in the second round of documents after getting a checklist. They made us get our ENGLISH marriage certificate translated into Bangla language, per the request of the Embassy. God knows why. I've only seen them request translations into English, not the other way around... but whatever. I personally think the Embassy has no idea what to do with a special marriage certificate rather than the Nikah nama they normally see. It's a bunch of nonsense in my opinion and who knows what they will demand next. Maybe a trip to the moon to have it endorsed? Super frustrated!

I'm so sorry to hear this, Elleandeff. We pray that all goes well this time round. I have heard of people calling to have their documents reviewed over the phone after a checklist, and some even get approved for an expedite if they can prove that the NVC was not timely in requesting documents, processing them, or not giving all required documents in the initial checklist. I would try my luck at asking for a supervisor to review over the phone, and if it doesn't work, apply for the expedite. If you aren't approved an expedite, nothing is lost. If you are approved, weeks are gained.

Best of luck to you guys! We are in a similar situation in that we were approved a medical expedite, and they don't happen often with the Nairobi embassy, so it threw them off their comfortable routine. Fortunately, today we got an email saying we can schedule our interview, after many very confusing and contradicting emails and conversations with various gov bodies. It seems anything out to the normal is totally chaotic to them!

We will all get through this! Be strong and keep the faith!

2 hours ago, KaurN said:

See the thing is we were dealing with a different consulate. When I was going through the process I was really confused too because NVC stopped answering my questions and told me to contact the consulate directly, the consulate had no clue what there were doing. I did schedule the interview online and when I called to confirm if the interview date is valid the rep at the call center at the consulate said "Who told you to schedule your interview when you don't even have a P4 letter?" There was a lot of going back and forth. I spoke to a supervisor at the consulate and he also said that if we don't receive a P4 letter before the date of our scheduled interview we will be turned away. But after following several VJ members whose cases were expedited I figured that none of them got a P4 letter and they all scheduled their interviews and everything went fine. So I just went  ahead and followed that as well and everything went fine.  When my husband went to the interview the guards at the embassy asked him for an interview letter, he showed them the interview confirmation page that we had gotten online after scheduling the interview and explained to them that our case was expedited. They let us in without any issues. Also what you posted above is talking about rescheduling an appointment, it doesn't say anything about scheduling your initial appointment.

What can happen if they don't allow us in on the day we schedule ourselves?

On ‎8‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 5:24 PM, KaurN said:

@goobies  Yes go ahead and schedule your interview. Print out the interview confirmation page and that should suffice for you to go to the interview and  to get your medical done. You don't have to wait for your P4 letter. Make sure you bring originals of all your civil documents and copies of financial documents to the interview. I am sorry you are going through this.

KaurN,

Thank you for replying to us. This has been extremely stressful. We called the service center and she told me to not schedule online because it wouldn't show up, and it also says on the ais website that if we schedule before getting our interview date, they will not allow us to enter the embassy on that date. This is copied and pasted from the "official instructions" :  You should NOT reschedule an appointment unless you have already been given an initial appointment date by NVC/KCC. If you reschedule an appointment through the website without having received an initial appointment time by NVC/KCC, you will be turned away.

I am not trying to invalidate what you are saying. Can you just give us some secondary evidence that this is okay? Quite frankly, we don't think they know what the hell they are doing, and if someone out there does know, we would love to hear it, but only if 100,000% sure that it won't ruin or jeopardize our process.

Please let us know what you have to say. Thank you so much. 

Hello,

We were approved for a medical expedite at the Nairobi Embassy on the 28th of July. Up to now, we have not gotten an official welcome letter from the embassy, or any official communication from them.

The NVC letter of expedite approval told us that we must wait for the embassy to contact us with the interview date. It said it can take several weeks. Well, it has been almost 3 weeks now, and we emailed them to see if they had just at least received our file. We got a generic email back saying they are aware that there aren't any dates available, but that we should continue checking the website for an opening! But this is contrary to the info the NVC gave us! So now we are extremely confused as to what we should do.

I logged into the scheduling system just to see what would happen, and it is allowing us to select any of the open dates. The nearest is September 19th! So what is the point of a medical expedite if it takes practically as long as normal processing?

Should we just go ahead and schedule ourselves an interview date on the website, or should we wait for the P4 letter and other docs to come? My foot is just getting worse as the weeks go by. We don't understand why everything is slowing down and there isn't any communication as of yet.

What are your suggestions? When we call the embassy lines, they don't even go through, so email is the only way we have been able to get any sort of action, though just computer generated. We are really frustrated and almost wish we hadn't applied for the expedite as at least the way forward would have been known.

Sorry for the rant and exasperation, but this is just silly!

Thanks in advance,
A very grouchy Goobie

Congratulations to JBMG! We are so happy for you and your husband. Have a wonderful life together in the USA!

Well, I wrote too soon! We just checked the Ceac site, and it says our case is "Ready"! However, we did not get an email informing us of this or the interview date, but we expect to get it within the week. I have emailed the embassy just to make sure there wasn't a missed email or anything like that. We will keep you all updated. Good luck!

We have been given a medical expedite, and our case was put into transit on Friday to Nairobi. We are just wondering how quickly they might schedule our visa as we need to make plans for travelling, since we live in Uganda, not Kenya.

Does anyone have an idea of how soon we should get our P4 and how soon the interview could be? Also, what is the recommended minimum amount of time between the medical exam and interview? We know that the med exams take two days, so we are planning to make our exam be like 3 or 4 days before the interview so we don't have to stay so long in Kenya.

they are preparing for elections in Kenya, and the past two have been  very scary, so we pray we don't get caught up in that!

Thanks to JBMG and all of you who have made this process much easier to understand. We wish all who are going for their interviews the best of luck.

-The Goobies

We just got notification that our case is being immediately forwarded to the Nairobi Embassy. We have been looking to see what is next, but it isn't so clear...the email stated all correspondence must now be through the embassy as NVC is no longer in charge of our case.

Just FYI, we filed a medical expedite because I, the petitioner, was involved in a motor accident in my husband's country, Uganda, that crushed the bones in my right foot. We sent medical reports, x-rays, and proof that the doctors here have not given me the proper type of care, and that my condition is worsening. We also sent a scientific journal article stating that the average time between an accident and first aid being administered to a patient presenting a fracture is 56 hours....it took us 31 hours before I was seen by any doctor. My point was that it is imperative that I travel back to the USA for proper treatment, and it would be really difficult to travel alone with such an injury.

I pray no one gets such an injury, but if you do, I hope this information can help you.

If anyone does know the current flow (the most recent I found was from 2015, and not our country...) of what happens after an expedite is approved, please inform us or link us to that thread.

We are trying to figure out how soon we need to be prepared for the interview.

Thanks,
The Goobies

P.S. Our cat is getting her rabies vaccine this week...do you know if there is anything else we need to do for her to be admitted entry to the USA?

I'm asking this again because I didn't see any response...does getting denied an expedite have any negative repercussions for your visa?

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 1:42 PM, Beatriz and Luis said:

Hey! 

We are also halfway through NVC, sending package sometime this week! 

Anybody knows how long are they taking to finish cases at NVC? They told me up to 11 weeks! But hopefully less.... thanks! Best wishes to all and we'll be reunited with our loved ones soon!!! 🙌🏾

IT depends on your country, but the average is 9 weeks...some take less.

On ‎6‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 3:29 PM, josephjia said:

Please help. Can Anybody tell me what I can submit as "Proof of Domicile"? I have no utility bills. Thank you.

Hello there, I know this is very old, but just incase no one answered you yet....for me I also had no utility bills. I used my library card, my local bus system card, my driver's license with my home address, some mail that was addressed to me, a bank account, other bills I am paying, and my voter's registration card. We got approved at USCIS and now we are half-way through NVC, and no problems yet.

Good luck to you!

My husband is worried that if they do not approve our expedite it will have some negative effect on our whole case. Is this possible? I hope not, as I don't think they are allowed to discriminate like that and as long as our relationship is found to be 100% solid, there isn't anything that can cause them to deny him. Especially not because we requested for a genuine medical expedite. However, I think if more members can give their opinion, it might calm him down a bit. He is really worried.

Thanks in advance. And CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who has recently gotten a CC! We are so happy for you all!

18 hours ago, Roor.M said:

Hey, this is the right email. You've to use it as it is, it's NVCExpedite@state.gov 

We sent in couple times. First time the NVC sent an email saying the request is under review after 46 hours. And then one day later they emailed us the embassy's denial. The second time the NVC didn't say it was under review but the reply came in after 4 days with again a denial. Ours wasn't for medical reasons, they accept expedite requests for medical reasons more. Also, it depends on the embassy (they decide to take the case or not).

Hope this was helpful, best of luck!

Hi Roor,

Thank you so much for the information. I am sorry that your expedite requests were not approved.

Fortunately, we got an email this morning, letting us know that our request is under review. We will let you all know the decision they make, and the details we sent in if they do approve it so that future applicants know what might help their case.

Good luck for the rest of your journey.

The Goobies

20 hours ago, Noor881 said:

If you send an email to nvc that take about a month to reply. That's what happened with mine. 

Where does the petitioner live? Ask them to contact their county's congressmen and have them call nvc on your behalf and request to Expedite. U will get a faster response from them.

 

I am the petitioner, and I am living with my husband in his country, Uganda. So if I call, which option do I select on the phone menu? Thanks for the info. We appreciate it.

Hello, we tried posting yesterday but I think our internet connection was not good.

So we have sent off our medical expedite request to the email that we found listed on the website JBMG linked us to, and we also saw many people on VJ have used that email address.

Now it has been two full days, and we are wondering if it was the correct email after all? Can anyone confirm for us which email to use?

Thank you,
The Goobies

10 hours ago, applerose said:

How long do they normally take to change status 

Actually, they never changed our case status on the USCIS website or on our apps....we only found out through calling, and eventually getting the letter in the mail. No email or text messages, either.

NVC is taking an average of 9-11 weeks, so don't worry. After ten gruesome months, that time will fly by.

Best of luck to you!

P.S. There is a wonderful group called something like NVC (Enter your month here) Scan Dates. Make sure you read the helpful post about how to avoid a checklist at NVC Stage....for instance, the country specific embassy page for our embassy has outdated info about the correct documents needed....they list a now useless police clearance letter from the local police (it is actually got from INTERPOL now), and the wrong form of birth certificate (we recently got National birth certificates). Make sure you are following people from your country who recently were approved or who are a few steps ahead of you. Join the most current NVC Scan Date thread

.

I am so happy to see some of the October and previous months finally getting your approvals. It has been paining us to come on and see that some of you are still waiting.

We are in the process of filing a medical expedite because I unfortunately got into an accident here in Uganda, and we have not been able to get good medical care. It took us over 30 hours just to get 1st Aid. We will keep you all updated on the process and results.

Stay strong. <3 The Goobies

We read that providing some proof from printed sources can help. This article is what we plan to refer to. Should we save it as a PDF and highlight the relevant passages? Or would that be considered tampering with the source, and instead we just provide a link?

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X16300829