rachealwsw

My friends and I applied for J1 visa last year (non immigrant). She wrote her English and Chinese name together as the first/given name.

eg:

first name: Amanda Lee Yin

Last name: Ng

Not sure about immigrant applications but I'm sure it applies the same for any other applications.

If your English name was given in your birth certificate, your first/given name would be Cxxx Nxx Cxx. Surname/Last name would be Pxx. Your Chinese name is a given name, not a middle name unless stated otherwise in your birth certificate.

Yes, the sequence will be different when and if you follow another country's name sequence because Chinese names (well, most Asian names) will always have the surname/last name shown first. But by right, your English name and Chinese name is a given name (Cxxx Nxx Cxx). I have friends who filled up the form (not DS-261) and they wrote their name accordingly as well - Just make sure that the spelling is exactly the same as the passport.

But that's just my 2 cents

Hi Racheal,

Thank you for your kind reply.

1) My company allowed me to fully utilise my annual leave for 2017 and brought forward annual leave from year 2016. I will do some work from home (at my boyfriend house), approximately 10 days at the beginning of the month. Since my work is a system based, so, i can use Team viewer application to do my work from States. Other than that, i will utilise my replacement leave.

2) When my boyfriend is at work, i will do my work too... Basically, checked and reply job related email. Other than that, I will spend time watching movies, doing some crafts (since I have an small online business for crafts and origami) and workout. Maybe I will spend time with his parents too.

3) There are few reason why I need and I will go back to Malaysia.

• My family (parents, siblings and relatives) are all here in Malaysia.
• I still have my work here and I don't have an intention to quit from this company yet. It is because I love the working environment and working time is so flexible.
• If we decided to apply to K-1 visa, automatically I need to return to Malaysia and wait for the petition to be approve.
• I had gone through few surgeries on both of my knee since September 2015. The latest operation I had is on July 2016 and the latest admission is on October 2016. I need to go through follow up treatment regarding my knees and usually my doc appointment will be once every 2-3 months.

Despite all these reasons (family, no intention to quit, etc), you will still need to provide hard copy evidences that you will be returning to Malaysia. Just solely relying on your words isn't enough for the CO. You still need to show an employment letter from your employer stating that you are granted leave and will be resuming employment on so and so. You will also need to show your past 3 months payslip, any property/business ownership, and all other evidences that shows you still have ties to Malaysia.

4) I put my boyfriend as my financial supporter because he earn more than me and his savings is much more than me.

The DS-160 asked on financial supporter for the trip, not in terms of who's savings is more. It is definitely kind of a red flag when your boyfriend is paying for your trip for tourist visas.

5) I was thinking to re-apply again for tourist visa or maybe will go to vacation together in the third country (not US or Malaysia). But, is it enough if we just meet once (going to vacation together maybe for one week)? Or my K-1 visa will get rejected just because we only meet once? Appreciate your opinion on this

- Yes, you can try to re-apply again but I have a strong inkling it will still be denied. It is better (and easier) that he comes to Malaysia or both of you go on a vacation somewhere else.

- Yes, in terms of meeting the K1 visa requirement, it is enough so long as you both meet within the 2 years before filing the petition. But in terms of deciding to get married? No, meeting only once (and if its just one week) is definitely not enough.

Thank you,

Best Regards,

Dyana

Hi Dyana. I am not sure about the tourist visa application in general where the purpose is visiting boyfriends/girlfriends in Malaysia, but based on my personal experience - my application for tourist visa was also denied because my reason was visiting my fiance (who was at that time my boyfriend).

Basically the general line is that if you can't prove that you will be returning to Malaysia after your trip to US, you will be denied of your tourist visa. So you're gonna need an employment letter, bank account details etc. Are you working now? Because 2 months is a long time to be away from Malaysia and there isn't any company in Malaysia (unless you're a freelance worker/part time etc, anything that is not a permanent job) that would allow you to take a 2 months leave. The question that's gonna pop up is what are you going to do during the 2 months while your boyfriend is at work? On top of that, I've heard from my friends who are working freelance and their purpose is to just visit US for only about a week, yet they were denied because freelance is not a proper and stable job. Secondly, it's already a no-no when your boyfriend will be your financial supporter for the visit as that is another indicator that you don't have ties/reason to return to Malaysia.

Of course if there isn't the option of you going to US, there is always the option of HIM coming to Malaysia.

Had my interview this morning and... VISA APPROVED!! Omg I'm so happy that I'm actually crying from happiness for the first time. One more step closer to being with my other half!!

Thank you VJ for all the knowledge and guidance! And to all those still in this journey, good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Just to ease your thoughts - I didn't include any receipts either when I sent my I-129F. My fiancé didn't think that it proves much so we decided to exclude it.

All we sent were the passport stamps, flight itineraries and our W-2s to prove that we were working in the same company during the same season. We also sent a postcard that I sent to my fiancé when we were apart. As for pictures, we only took selfies so there weren't any specific landmarks in the pictures but we did wrote the name of the place we took selfies at at the back of the photos. We were approved 1 and a half months later

Done with my medical examination today! It was a really quick and straightforward process I was done in like about 30 minutes. The doctor didn't ask me any personal questions, just the typical medical history related questions. Thankful for the smooth journey in this K1 process so far. Hoping it stays until POE!

Can everyone fill out the ds160 as soon as they get the case number? Or is this country specific?

I'm guessing its country specific because when I fill up my DS-160, it asked for my USCIS Receipt Number instead of the NVC number.

My fiance and I never received any email or text notification, but we did receive the NOA2 letter a week after our approval. You can call NVC to follow up on your case number, but give some time for your case to be sent from USCIS to NVC and for NVC to create a case number for you. NVC would give the generic message that it would take 6 weeks, but seeing the recent timeline, you can call them 2 weeks later.

Have you received a NOA2 letter from USCIS? My fiance and I didn't receive any email either, but we got the NOA2 letter a week after the approval. Monday was a public holiday, so the letter might probably come in a day or two later. Wait for a couple more days

I would say you can leave it blank. My fiancé left it blank and we didn't receive RFE or any other troubles with it

As the question states - select only one box. Since your fiancé was born and raised in USA, so just tick 'Birth in the United States' and go straight to the next question

Yes of course. I haven't attended the interview yet but I'll try to help with whichever areas

What do you need help with?

^_^Thank you very much! I am clear now.Yea according to my friend's case, In China we have to wait till P4 to schedule medical and interview..

Well on the bright side, the process should move along quicker now and you're one step closer to being with your fiancé! May the rest of your journey runs smoothly!

Hey everyone! Checked my case with NVC case number it shows "ready",stutas was updated on Oct.6th.Now what's next? Does"ready"means they already sent packet 3 to me or?I am Chinese.Thank you for any respond in advance.

Ready simply means your case has arrived and received by the embassy. It doesn't necessarily means that they have sent you Packet 3 on the same day. Now just make sure you have all the required documents (such as I-134 and supporting documents, birth certificate and its translation if its not in English, police certificates, etc) with you so you can schedule for the interview without any speed bumps.

From this point on the K1 process is more embassy-specific as different embassies in different countries go about to scheduling their medical examination and interviews differently. In some countries you don't need to wait for Packet 3 to schedule for medical examination and interview, whereas in other countries you need the Packet 3 in order to proceed. As for Malaysia, I received my Packet 3 via email a week after the embassy receives my case.

Here's the link to the embassy info in Guangzhou - http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=China&cty=Guangzhou

Nope, still can't find it. Our case changed to in transit on Oct 4, so what do I put in date range shipping 'to.'?

Is my shipping reference EXP 04OCT 2016A?

Your shipping reference could either be EXP 02 OCT 2016A or EXP 03 OCT 2016A

The date and month should have a space in between. Like '02 OCT', not '02OCT'

The date range shipping for FROM should be the same date as you typed for Shipper's Reference. As for TO, it can be today's date, it doesn't matter.

On the DS 160 form there is this question, 'Has anyone ever filed an immigrant petition on your behalf with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services?' The answer to this is yes right?

Based on the past forums I've searched on VJ - you should tick no if there hasn't been anyone filling an immigrant petition on your behalf prior to this K1 application.

What number do we use to track our case to the embassy? All we got from the NVC was an NVC case number and an invoice number..

In the DHL link that Tieary provided,

Shipper's Reference: EXP 07 OCT 2016A (the shipping date is usually 1 or 2 days before the day your case status was changed to 'In Transit'. So if your case shows In Transit on Oct 7, then the shipping date should either be Oct 5 or 6)

Date range for shipment - From : (put in the date that you used for Shipper's Reference)

Shipment Destination: (the country of the embassy that you/your fiancé will be interviewing at)

I know that for those in Philippines, they can schedule for their interview and pre-register for their medical examination once they have their case number from NVC. I have read before on one of the forums where someone from the Philippines said you make the payment and schedule for the interview first before you schedule for the medical examination.

I don't want to give out the wrong info because at this point, it is embassy-specific. In my country, I need to have an interview date first before I can schedule for my medical examination, and it was all included in my electronic Packet 3. Perhaps you can try looking at the embassy info for Philippines or hopefully someone from Philippines will give you a more detailed and specific answer

DS-160 is a non-immigrant visa application, and all K1 visa applicants are to fill out this form.

K1 visas are actually a non-immigrant visa but with the intention to immigrate. So while you are checking for your case status via the Immigrant Visa Status in CEAC, you will have to fill in a Non-Immigrant Visa form (which is DS-160) instead. NOT DS-260.

thanks, im trying to its just that checking the status everyday and seeing it stuck on case was approved and not "being sent to the department of state" stresses me lol. . i guess ill just wait and hope for the best

USCIS case tracker doesn't say anything else than "case approved" after approval. That status doesn't change from now on, it won't tell you when your approved petition is sent to NVC.

Exactly what Scandi said. My case in the USCIS tracker still says 'Case Approved' but my case is already with the embassy and scheduled for interview. So there's really no point checking USCIS tracker from here onwards. Just give yourself another week or so before you check with NVC if you case has been received by them

Thanks! I'm not going to purchase them yet, just want to see if this can be an option. and thanks!!

Hi! I'm not sure if this is the right place for what I'm about to ask so I would like to apologise in advance if its at the wrong place.

I've tried searching for something similar in the forum but I didn't have any luck, or maybe I'm just not putting the key words in right.

Anyway, my fiancé (USC) is living in Colorado but his family lives in Pennsylvania. His brother is about to have a wedding in November and I am invited. Of course, I would love to attend their wedding provided that my visa is issued in time. So right now I am planning if I should fly straight into PA to meet my fiancé and his family for the wedding, instead of flying to CO first since my interview date is pretty close to the wedding day.

So for those who has/had a similar situation as me - I was wondering out of curiosity if it would raise a flag with the POE Immigration Officer later when he/she sees my flight ticket that my last destination is PA instead of CO? Since CO is the address (that I've been putting in all of my K1 application forms) where I will be staying with my fiancé in the future.

Good night everybody.

Our packet left NVC today!!! FINALLY!

and would like to ask if anybody here knows how tl track your case with dhl webpage.

I already try the way that is posted here on Vj and it didn't work. It's still possible to track it this way?

I would be grateful if anybody reply. We feel kind of ignorated everytime we come over here.

☺

Thank u since now!

Yes it still works. I've tried with mine and I didn't have any problems with it. Have you tried playing around with the dates? My case left on Sept 14, and in the DHL page I set it as Sept 12