0725

Yes it's normal. It usually says "Ready for interview" until the visa is actually being processed. When they start processing it, your case will change to "Administrative processing"...then within a few days it will change to "Issued". It won't be ready for pick up the same day it changes to issued, but it's supposed to be ready soon after that. Our interview was November 18th (approved). Our case changed to administrative processing a couple days later, and on November 22nd in the evening it changed to issued. We're still waiting for the passport to be available for pick up.

When 6 weeks are up, it is put on "supervisor review". That name is poorly chosen, as the supervisor will not be reviewing it. All it means is that the supervisor for the department that would handle your case (I don't know how the departments are split up but I assume geographically) was "notified" that the case was late. Since essentially all cases are taking longer than 6 weeks, it doesn't really do anything since the supervisor can't make their department work any faster and they need to finish the ones they have ahead of you.
 
Then at some point your case will be moved to that department. Doesn't necessarily happen at 6 weeks because if the department is still full, they won't call for it. Some people on the phone will give you a date for that move, but others will tell you they have no way of knowing that (which makes you wonder if the people who give you a date are lying, or is the person who tells you they don't know?).
 
Once it's in the review department it still has to wait "its turn" to be reviewed. When you ask them they tell you cases are reviewed in the order they receive the mail. Now there are people getting cases completed with December scan dates, while some of us in November still have not. When I've brought that up with them they say "Well I can't speak to that" or "We can't talk about other cases because it violates privacy". All I can guess is that each department works at its own pace so potentially one geographic region/department has moved on to December while others are still in November. I don't know if that is true.
 
As far as I can tell the only time a supervisor will actually review it themselves is after 12 weeks, or in some unique circumstances where they will pull up your case. I've heard of people getting a checklist beacuse the NVC lost paperwork. In those cases I believe the supervisor will personally look. Or if you just get lucky.

I finally saw 3 N/A's on Friday and talked to someone who said my case was complete, so they definitely worked on Friday!! Here are the details of my "fun" at the NVC:
July 18 - Received welcome letter from the NVC
July 20 - Paid AOS and IV fees
July 23 - Submitted DS-260
Aug 2 - Scan date for the initial submission
Sept 9 - NVC sent a checklist - 5 weeks + 2 days from scan
Sept 20 - Our case was sent to Supervisor review at 7 weeks after scan.. not sure why they did that given they were waiting on a checklist
Sept 28 - Scan date from our response to checklist
Nov 10 - Put on Supervisor review - 6 weeks + 1 day from scan (I called them to ask them to put me in Supervisor review)
Nov 25 - Saw 3 N/As so called the NVC. They said case complete and to wait for the email with directions for the interview, etc - 2 weeks + 1 day after supervisor review which is 8 weeks + 2 days after checklist scan date
18 weeks + 4 days from welcome letter to case complete... wow... 4+ months.
Hope everyone gets a CC soon too!!

1) Yes-- my now-husband moved back to his home country (Colombia), so his passport was all he needed as proof of residency/eligibility to interview in Colombia. If your fiance/e is moving to a country that is not their home country, I assume you will need further proof of residency other than the passport. I don't know offhand what that would be (some kind of residency permit?)
2) Yes, a supervisor did it over the phone, and I believe gave us the new case # over the phone too.
3) I don't remember how long it took exactly-- I was very persistent about calling over a period of a few days. It's really important that you speak with the right person at the right moment (before they send off the petition, but once they have it at the NVC). I suggest you keep calling as much as you possibly can during that window until you get someone who can help. Be polite but insistent!
Good luck!

I'm not sure how expedited cases work, but I'm assuming NVC doesn't check for completeness of the paperwork anymore; they just send everything off to the embassy. Just make sure you have copies of all the paperwork you sent to NVC and of course the originals of the civil documents for the interview. Good luck!