zaiddiaz

34 minutes ago, misshepburn said:

 Just wanted to update you all -- I got an RFE   although I technically haven't received the checklist yet -- I just found out about it via phone today.
 

As a heads up to everyone with joint sponsors -- I got it because my joint sponsor (my father) filled out an I-864, instead of the I-864A (he lives in my household). I was under the impression from countless other posts on here that if you have a joint sponsor they fill out the I-864 even if they are in your household, unless you are married (filing jointly) or if one is claimed a dependent (as far as taxes are concerned). Neither of those applies to my case. But here I am. RFE! Grrr....

 

So now I'm just waiting for them to send the checklist because I don't want to miss something and get a second checklist. 

OH NO!!!!!!! I'm probably going to get it too, then. No frikken way!!!! And I'm only in for 3 weeks right now since the scan date. I have a joint sponsor (mom) and i moved back in with my mom last September. She never claimed me in her tax so i did the 864 as well. I can't. I just can't.

10 hours ago, Aissatou20 said:

Hey, one question I have a letter sent from immigration stating that i need to submit passport style photos. I want to know if i can also a few other documents along side with that knowing that they were not asked for????

As being one of the two people who received and RFE here and was approved, I will go with the unpopular opinion of: send everything they need plus more. If you think they might ask for it later, send it. Bear in mind we are talking about USCIS and this is not the case for NVC checklists. I would do the opposite if it were the NVC-they tend to delay if you send more than what they ask.

The thing is, USCIS is notorious for sending RFEs only one at a time. So you may get one for the photos now, but they might decide they want something else again, giving you a second RFE which is not that uncommon, unfortunately.

This is the RFE in my case: They wanted certified government copies of my marriage certificate, when I originally sent the original copy from the city hall.

This is what I gave them: The certified copy they asked for, copy of my naturalization certificate (which might have been a just in case-since I sent them copies of my US passport), and a few pictures of our wedding, honeymoon, etc, just to prove a bonafide marriage. This was all included with a cover letter (you can find a template of some good ones online).

After we got the "Recieved RFE" case status, we got the NOA2 update after only 3 business days.

Hope this helps you decide.

3 minutes ago, Wizzle said:

Ok, good to know there are no increase. Thanks. So the fees would be  $120 for both petition & $325 each respectively? Just trying to make sure I sendon't the correct fee.

It should be. Although if you are paying through ceac, it won't let you pay an incorrect amount, since it's electronic and all, not like uscis, where you send a money order or cashier's check.

On 1/9/2017 at 3:38 PM, Wizzle said:

I heard there were some fee increase.... I searched on uscis website, but could not locate the correct fee for :

IV Fee and AOS Fees . Any ideas how much NVC now charge in 2017 ?

As far as I know (just checking the NVC site today), there is no fee increase. Are you talking about the USCIS fee increase? If so I think since the NVC is under the Department of State, the increase does not apply at this time.

2 hours ago, onek said:

Thanks for the information.  Looks like the lady that you spoke with at NVC was discouraging people from contacting a supervisor? 

 

The lady was pretty nice actually. So i just asked her if all cases go into supervisor review (since i noticed this on the NVC thread). She said they shouldn't. At least you would want it not to go into review because they only review it if you are beyond the time already.

Guys so my packet arrived to the NVC on 1/3 and got scanned on 1/4.

I've been reading all the horrible remarks that the NVC thread everyone has been posting about the NVC review taking forever. uhuhuhuhu I once read somewhere that NVC stage is the easiest stage but it looks like as of late, they are really dropping the ball. Most people's cases there go into supervisor review. And most are taking 8-10 weeks to get a case complete at NVC before they even submit to an embassy. I really don't want to get discouraged but, it really sucks. It's looking like USCIS is easier to talk to and better with paperwork than NVC.

Good luck to us all.

p.s. called NVC yesterday, and the lady told me it's better if a case doesn't go to supervisor review (it can add like another 40-60 days). But she said that supervisor reviews happen when a case has fallen out of the expected time frame (in this case 6 wks between scan and case complete).

Hello everyone Happy New Year! Hopefully this is the last holiday without our loved ones.

My packet just arrived at NVC today. No scan date as of this afternoon. I will call again every morning to harass them about my file.

And yes to everything, the whole "So when's your husband coming?" is getting real tired.

Congrats Wizzle!

The packet arrived one day early, so I'm calling to see if they got my packet at NVC. Now it's a waiting game.

Hey Everyone! Happy New Year!

Updating for my case. Just sent out my packet to the NVC yesterday, the expected delivery date for FedEx is Wednesday 01/04.

Great you are from the Philippines too! Thank you so much that's a relief . It's hard for me to call NVC from here . Do i still have to wait for any email from NVC before we can start the payments? Or any instruction from them?

As long as you have the NVC case number and the IIN, you will be able to access the fee paying pages. If the fees can't be paid yet, it means you just have to wait a bit more.

Go to ceac.state.gov to check. This also where you can file the DS-261 (choice of agent) and DS-260 (IV application)

Guys i need your help please ? just got d nvc and iin and the csr was d one who processed the ds 261 choice of agent, right then i tried the payment system and it shows a statement of something like d case was terminated and payment is no longer available. Nobody from both parties terminated d case. What is happening ? Do i have a mistake on this that supposedly i should still wait for an email from NVC to begin payment?

Hi I had the exact thing happen to me. The termination thing is a false message. They are trying to input your information in the system, and the alert should go away shortly. Then you can pay your fees i freaked out too and called them right away, so that's what they told me.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!

Editing the to update my status. I am also adding Foxof24. Welcome!

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Questions: Once married did you get your Philippines passport in your married name? What name did you use for the I-130 petition and visa application?

What name is on your green card?

It appears that after marriage you did not change your name? ...

(Just to clarify, I am a US Citizen, it's my husband who is undergoing the petition and still lives in the Philippines.)

Once married in the Philippines, I did not get my passport in my married name. I still don't have a passport under my married name. I actually went to the immigration office as well as asked social security about this. It turns out, I am allowed to travel under my maiden name passport even if I changed my name recently. The passport is valid until expiration. I had my name changed when I went back to the states to get my social security card and driver's license.

For my husband's I-130, I used my married name. since I waited to get my cards before filing.

Since I'm a US Citizen, I do not need a green card.

No, I chose to wait until I went back to the States to get a name change after a month of being married.

Good question. I recently got married in the Philippines and decided I would take my husband's name. I go back to the States and I try to change my name with social security first (since they require the new name on a new card when you ask for a NV drivers license). I tried to make my maiden last name into the new middle name at first, and Social Security said okay, and gave me a card. HOWEVER when I went to the DMV to get a new drivers license, they had a problem with it. They said that Social Security is under the Federal Government and doesn't care about middle name changes, but the DMV is operated by the State Government, and they would need a court order to change the middle name.

In the end, I ended up going back to the Social Security office to get my middle name reverted to my old middle name (basically the only change I was allowed was the last name). And DMV gave me my new license after I had that.

I could have gotten a court order, but I didn't bother.

Oh and we just filed the DS-261 online since they managed to give us what we needed to login and do it online. Does anyone know how long it takes for the link of the AOS fee link to show up after the agent has been chosen?

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Hi guys updating again. Called NVC and they said they assigned me a case number yesterday. So i got that. They asked for an email address, so I gave them mine but I haven't got an email from them. Are you supposed to get one right away?

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Just updating here.. called NVC this morning and finally they said they received my case on 12/15.

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Huhuhuhuhuh

Still stuck between the USCIS sending my case to the NVC and the NVC actually getting my case. I call twice a week and still "We haven't got your case yet. It has only been 2 weeks since your case got approved. It can take up to 6 weeks, so in 4 weeks call us if you haven't received it yet".

Got most of my paperwork already, including employment letters, tax transcripts, and pay stubs (for both myself and the joint sponsor).

Hoping we will be received at the NVC this week or very soon.

Updating, today I got a text saying my status changed. So i checked it.

It says "Case Was Sent to the Department of State"

"On December 9, 2016, we sent your case, Receipt Number LINxxxxxxx, to the Department of State for visa processing. Please visit our website for general information on Consular Processing. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address."

So i guess they are sending it to the NVC now?

zaiddiaz -- not a newbie thing at all!!

For you and others who may not have seen this post from me back at the end of September -- below is a link to my guide about what to prepare while waiting for your NOA2.

You can prep a lot before you get to the NVC -- this is especially important because they are quite back logged at the moment -- let me/VJ community know if you have any questions!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/608358-september-2016-i-130-filers/?p=8327482

misshepburn.. OMG this is so helpful! thanks so much!

Hey everyone, finally got the NOA2 in the mail today, so I'm updating the list. Where do we find "Date case sent to NVC"? Is that another thing that comes in the mail?

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Unfortunately, this is what I have been observing as well. I have been monitoring the NVC threads (even though we haven't sent out our packets yet) and it seems like there's been an ongoing backlog problem. HOWEVER, I still can't stress enough how important it is to have all your documents ready by the time you get your NOA2 and NVC case number assigned (which could be any day now for most of the September filers). My husband and I didn't expect to embark on our NVC timeline so soon so we were taken aback by the NVC document requirements and the time it would take to colllect them. Admittedly, we would have been able to send out our AOS and IV packets by today had we started RIGHT AWAY on our NVC preps after sending our I-130 packet. It is always prudent to be ready with NVC documents by the time you get your NOA2 so you can send out your packets right away and have some waiting time shaved off your NVC timeline in case this current NVC backlog carries on into the New Year for everyone still waiting for NOA2's.

This sounds like such a newbie thing, but I have no idea which documents to prepare first. I know there is an NVC thread but I was so lost when I went there. What should I do now? At this point, we are already approved at USCIS, just waiting on the NOA-2 in the mail (which I'm hoping comes in today).

Thanks, any help would be greatly appreciated (we plan on using my mom as a co-sponsor, if that helps).

Congrats zaiddiaz!!

Thank you!!

Congratulations. Yes, that's super fast for you.

Thanks onek!

Hello Everyone! Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Just got an update today and we were approved! Guess we just wait for the NOA-2 in the mail. I'm pretty surprised actually since technically it only took 4 business days to decide on an RFE.

So I finally got the RFE in the mail today. It's asking for a photocopy marriage certificate, one issued by the local PSA (formerly NSO) office in the Philippines. Lame, because I sent them photocopies of the original certificate we were issued the day we got married (from the local city hall). Their argument is that it did not have a seal (it did, just raised or perforated seals do not show up on photocopies). Anyway, the reason I didn't send them an NSO/PSA copy to begin with is that the office claims you whave to wait 3 months after marriage to order a copy. So I just sent in the copy of the original one. Easy fix, just gotta order it in the Philippines and send it here. Anyway the deadline for me isn't until February 4.

Another interesting piece of information. After sending my I-130, I scheduled an appointment at my local Immigration office here in town. I spoke to a lady who used to work for the embassy in the Philippines. She asked me why I didn't just file the petition after marriage while I was still in the Philippines. I was like...??? I didn't really know you could. She says to me, "I worked there for a few years. And the process is so much faster, like 1 month, 2 month tops from the day you file." I was like, oh no, can I refile there? She said I just gotta wait the petition out since I had already filed it. Too bad.