irwinwill

Hi Everyone,

I was fortunate enough to get my visa approved today  so I thought I would share my experience with you all to help in anyway I can.

I arrived at the embassy at 6am. To be honest it was a little early and if your appointment is at 8, then I would say get there no earlier than 6:45. There’s two benches once you arrive, one for immigrant visas and the other for Non-immigrants.

At about 7:15, the security guard came out and got us to line up. I was first in line and headed to a window I was asked to show my appointment letter and passport.

Once that was checked I headed through security where it’s like an airport scan, handed over my phone and car keys and was moved into the initial waiting area.

After about 10 minutes, me along with a few others were called into the embassy where we were given a ticket number each. We then sat down infront of the designated window numbers for US visas (they will tell you) for about 15 minutes until it got to 8am and the officers started to appear at the interview windows.

The first time I was called up, I was asked for my passport, interview letter, original police, marriage, birth certificates and passport pictures. She kept hold of the originals and said I would get them back later. She asked me a few questions like where is your wife, how long have you been married, where did you get married...nothing to worry about. She told me please be seated and we will call you again.

Once called, I headed over to another window for my finger print scans which took less than 3 minutes. After that I waited another 10 minutes before my number was called again. She told me this was my interview and asked me to swear everything in our package was true and swear on oath. She then started asking me more questions like: when will you move to the US, what will you do there, what does your joint sponsor do for a living. All this time she was going through documents we sent to the NVC and typing things into the computer. She handed over my original certificates back and said “We’ve got all we need, congratulations your visa will be issued”.

All I would say is be prepared with your documents, I saw a lot of people there panicking and rustling through hundreds of pages that weren’t organized. Get there as early as you can and you’ll be done a lot quicker. And don’t be nervous, everyone was friendly and as long as you have all the documents, it will be a breeze.

Please feel free to message me directly if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to help!

Good luck to you all.

Will

Hi everyone,

Do you think this folder will be alright to take to the embassy?

Appreciate any help or advice.

Thanks

Hey guys, how long after receiving your interview letter email were you able to register your appointment on the embassy system? Mine keeps saying my case number isn't ready for an appointment yet. I got my letter on Saturday... just wonder if i need to be a little more patient.

2 minutes ago, AAA333 said:

NO,

I went to the mentioned address to print out an ORIGINAL CERTIFICATE for me. 

Ok thanks. I think your case is different though as I live in Dubai, not Abu Dhabi.

On 3/14/2018 at 1:26 PM, dady12 said:

there is something which people keep asking and it seem no one answering that ...the poster was trying to asked if he get the email version from dubai police and if it is going to be acceptable to the embassy 

This is what i want to know too!!

8 minutes ago, AAA333 said:

I ordered my Good Conduct Certificate through MOI UAE app, 

I got it by email, then I went to the following address in Abu Dhabi and had a print out of it.

Security Media
Sheikh Zayed Bin Sulthan St,

Building number 26
4th Floor

 

Next to Khalifa Park,

Ministries Complex - Abu Dhabi

They are cooperative and nice people there

Good luck

Thanks for your reply - So you just printed out the emailed copy?

Hi Everyone,

I know a few people mentioned it, but i couldn't really find a clear answer.

Is the embassy accepting the emailed Dubai Police Certificate as the original one? I can't find anywhere to get an original, it even says on it you don't need a stamp.

It's about to expire now after submitting my documents to NVC, so I may get another one for that reason, but it still won't be the original...

Appreciate if anyone who's had their interview can enlighten me.

Thanks,

Will

Hi Everyone,

I may be overthinking this completely, but i sent off my AOS and IV packets just over 3 weeks ago and I already got an email from them saying they've reviewed my documents and will be scheduling your interview, but there is a document missing. Now the document they require is a W-2 for 2016 tax year, which is strange as i submitted 3 years of tax transcripts....

It says i can just bring this to my interview rather than re-sending it to them (which is great news), but with everyone saying it takes up to 11 weeks for them to review documents, I'm doubting if this is genuine or not? The email came from "AskNVC@state.gov and had an attachment with my case number and correct names of everyone involved.

Am I just incredibly lucky it took such little time, or are there fake emails flying around out there? And is there anything I need to do, or just wait for them to arrange my interview now?

Appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Will

Hey everyone,

I just noticed after sending off our AOS packets that our joint sponsor missed to put the year on the date by his signature. The form asks for DD/MM/YYYY and he wrote 2/1 but missed out the year 2018.

Do you think they’ll send an RFE because of this, or am I just panicking?

Appreciate any help.

Will

Hi,

It's not really that you have to convince them, it's more proving that your wife always considered the US as here country of domicle, i.e her living abroad was always temporary. OR she will need to prove that she is willing to re-establish her domicile to the US. This process starts when you're submitting your AOS package, not at the interview stage.

Take a look at this - http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_Process

Go down to where it mentions domicile and it will give you examples of what you need to include. I was in a similar situation with my wife living abroad with me and we used her dad as our joint sponsor. We gave them proof of her bank account in the US, driving license, job opportunities etc to show her domicile is the US.

Hope this helps!

Hi Everyone,

I was hoping to get clarity for my case. I just got a 'Good Conduct Certificate" (Police Clearance) from Dubai Police and noticed it's only valid for 3 months. I'll be sending off my packets to NVC shortly, but the certificate will become invalid/expired by the time my interview date arrives. My question is, do I need to obtain a new certificate again in time for my interview so i have a valid one, or will they still accept the expired one i originally submitted to the NVC?

Appreciate any help.

Will

Yes you can use an address in the US for a mailing address as I know the mailing system in Dubai isn't the best. We did the same for our I-130 and had no issues at all and the Notices were sent to the US address easily.

Thanks @aleful for your response, that certainly clears up my question about the household size

With her salary, we're just not sure what to put down as I've read if it's not continuing from the same source in the US once we move, it might as well be $0 on the form. Just wanted to make sure this was correct before we did it?

Hello Everyone,

My wife (Petitioner) and I (Beneficiary) are in the middle of the Affidavit of Support stage and have a few questions regarding this and the I-864 form, appreciate any advice or help from those is similar situation to us:

- As we're both living and working abroad, and the work will not continue in the US, do we put my wife's income down as $0, or should we still state how much she's earning out here and convert from AED to $?

- My wife's dad is being a Joint-Sponsor for us and comfortably meets the income requirements. With regards to the household size, he has: himself, his wife and daughter currently, do we need to include myself as the intending immigrant and my wife, the petitioner on the household size as well making it 5 instead of the original 3?

Thanks for anyone who can help, this forum has been a great help so far!

Best,

Will

Hello Everyone,

My wife (Petitioner) and I (Beneficiary) are in the middle of the Affidavit of Support stage and have a few questions regarding this and the I-864 form, appreciate any advice or help from those is similar situation to us:

- As we're both living and working abroad, and the work will not continue in the US, do we put my wife's income down as $0, or should we still state how much she's earning out here and convert from AED to $?

- My wife's dad is being a Joint-Sponsor for us and comfortably meets the income requirements. With regards to the household size, he has: himself, his wife and daughter currently, do we need to include myself as the intending immigrant and my wife, the petitioner on the household size as well making it 5 instead of the original 3?

Thanks for anyone who can help, this forum has been a great help so far!

Best,

Will
 

@nightingalejules - Thanks so much for your response, that absolutely makes sense and puts my mind at rest a little now.

Appreciate your help.

Best,

Will

Hello Everyone,

I'm sorry if this has already been answered, but I wanted to ask you guys about the affidavit of support forms regarding my specific case.

My wife (US Citizen) and I are both living abroad and we are at the stage of filling out the Affidavit of Support form. As she doesn’t meet the income requirements herself, we are going to use her dad as a joint sponsor who does meet the income requirements quite easily even with his wife and daughter as dependents in the same household.

I understand that my wife and her dad both need to fill out their own I-864 form, but my question is who needs to fill out the I-864A form? Does his wife and daughter as household members fill one out, even though he meets the income requirements on his own? And does my wife have to complete one as well?

Appreciate anyone’s help, apologies again if this is a stupid question.

Kind regards,

Will

Hello,

For anyone living in Dubai will know that the mail system is almost non-existent.

I wanted to find out from anyone who has filed from the region what they did to receive the hard copies? On my status it says that the post office returned a notice to the USCIS because it was undelivered. I'm guessing this was my NOA1, but there's no way for me finding out, which is really annoying!!

Any advice moving forward?

Thanks,

W

The AR-11 form has both a physical address and a mailing address. I'd say put your current address for the physical address and your wife's mother's address in the U.S. for the mailing address.

The downside of not receiving the NOA notices in the mail is that you're not going to receive the RFE notices, either. Or any other paperwork they send you.

*Technically*, you could also be found in violation of the rules by not having "valid" addresses on file with CIS, but I don't think they'd really care.

Yes, update your addresses and use your mother-in-law's address for the mail.

Regards,

Bill

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your reply.

The problem is we haven't changed address, we both live in Dubai. There was never an option on the initial forms for a mailing address in the US. I don't want to fill out the AR-11 form because there shouldn't be need to.

I'm just a little unsure of how to proceed. And a little frustrated.

Hello,

I recived my NOA1 by email in October but never received the hard copy in the mail. Today I checked the status of my case and It now says 'Notice was returned to USCIS because the post office could not deliver it'. I've requested a copy of the notice through the e-notification as it asks you to do, my wife and I both live in Dubai and receiving mail by post is almost impossible, so i put down my wife's home address in the US for her mom to receive it.

My question is, even though we haven't moved, do I need to tell them my mailing address is that one in the US so any further notification doesn't get returned by the post office? I've read a few people say it's not important to receive the physical NOA notices as you don't need them for later down the line.

And also, is this likely to be an RFE notice or the NOA2? I'm a little frustrated there's no way for me to find out...

Any help or suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks,

W

I'm in the same boat. My husband is awaiting interview in Abu Dhabi since September and I'm petrified!

I think if he's at that stage you'll be fine. Even if he does make it hard for spouse's to get visas, it will definitely take a little bit of time to take affect, by which time your husband would have had his interview.

I'm still waiting for my NOA2, so i'm a little nervous. I'm hoping it was all talk!! And he will look at bigger issues first.

When did he say he was going to stop green cards for one or two years? In March, he said he would like to see H1B paused for a year or two because there are Americans looking for work who could do the jobs the people on H1B are doing. These people don't have green cards. They are temporary workers.

Remrmber he was just saying what his supporters wanted to hear. Many of them don't actually realise that he alone does not have the power to do any of this. He won't even be in office until January and even if he decides to change immigration policies it will take years. Nothing will change overnight.

*~*~*moved from "CR-1 spouse visa process and procedures" to general immigration news and discussion*~*~*

This is what it says on his website: "Suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur, until proven and effective vetting mechanisms can be put into place."

Surely that doesn't only apply to the HB-1 visa?

I sure hope you're right that we wouldn't be affected.

Hello Everyone,

The unthinkable happened and Trump will be the new president and now the panic starts to kick in.

My wife and I have recently submitted our CR1 Visa in Dubai, UAE and are worried after reading a lot about trumps immigration policy, that he's going to pause all green card applications for 1 or 2 years and also stopping the processing from "terrorist activity" countries.

Should we be worrying? Is this all talk? Or is this something congress would have to pass, and probably won't end up doing?

I'm looking for a little re-assurance it will be ok i guess haha.

Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks.
Will

Did you attach the I-1145 form with your application?

Once they have assigned the case number, call them with your email address and everything will be done by email. Much easier.

Thanks for your reply.

So how will I know once the NVC have received my case and assigned a case number?

Thanks,

W