penelope_Cy

POE: 06/14/2017 (Chicago)

USCIS case update that production is under way: 07/03/2017

Case update that card was mailed: 07/06/2017 

Card received: 07/11/2017 

3 hours ago, Dee elle said:

You old card is stil valid, no need for another one.... we entered last September on IR5 but had our SSN from 1980 to 1988 when we were here for work....old card is fine. 

Thanks a lot!! I figured it will but since on the application we checked reissue i wasnt sure. Will not make it into the DMV today hopefully tomorrow!

4 hours ago, swimgrl8259 said:

Question for people who have already had POE:

My husband is planning on traveling on Tuesday! For the customs form-I'm finding that he should still fill out as a visitor. Did you need to list out the clothing/jewelry/personal items you brought for your own use? Was there a duty on these items? I am having a hard time finding info on this part and trying to get him as prepared as possible. 😊 Thanks for your help!

I didn't note as visitor I noted as a resident (thinking that after stampung my passport I am considered LPR) and I had 3 large suitcases of clothing + carryon. At the POE I was asked how much luggage I have and I said the true amount. I only listed the items I brought as gifts for friends, I didn't have any food items.they still had me take my luggage through the big scanner before exiting. Hope it helps.

7 hours ago, R and KJ said:

 

 

Congrats  i hope you'd get your SSN and greencard quickly

Thank you! I hope so as well. I already have a SSN from when I was a student and I was told it will not change so I think only card reissuance is left (I have my old card too so I will try it out today for an ID application...)

7 hours ago, chamma said:

Congratulations!

 

Thank you! 

7 hours ago, Ahmed & Amy said:

My husband got approved!!!!  They said his visa will be issued in two weeks. 

 

Thank you everyone for all your encouragement. I wish you all the best of life and success.  I will write my review later. 

So happy for you!!!!! I wish you and your husband all the best! 

Dear VJ family,

Happy to report that I entered the US today through Chicago without much hassle. The only long part was the waiting part...40 minutes to get to an agent and then 30 minutes waiting on secondary inspection which ended up being a minute (passport handed over and finger printed)...Overall very good.

15 hours ago, Kumar5 said:

Hi Guys... I am new here.

 

I have 10-year multiple entry visitor visa  (B1/B2) stamped on my passport and valid till 2019. I have made multiple trips to USA in the past 2 years. Now my immigrant visa case EB5, is in final stage,  NVC review is complete and waiting for interview to be scheduled. At this juncture, can i travel to USA on my non-immigrant B1/B2 visa to USA? Is there any legal issues? I have an urgent personal travel requirement for 1 week to USA. My interview is not even scheduled yet, i can defiantly come back well before my interview date. I just want to know if i am breaking any law by travelling on my Non-immigrant Visa while my immigrant visa is at interview stage? Anybody please throw some light.

 

Thanks

I did it back in April when I already had my immigrant  interview date in hand. At the POE, I was asked to show proof of return ticket. My B1/B2 was cancelled upon approval of my IR1.

On 5/15/2017 at 7:28 PM, HessicaS said:

We currently are waiting for approval of our CR1 with USCIS and should be approved any time now as it appears that Nebraksa is now approving November filers. I'm with my spouse right now in Brazil, and we are thinking to purchase a plan ticket for her to enter with me to the US this coming Saturday while we are waiting for this process to be approved. Has anyone heard of this being an issue? We are planning to buy a round trip ticket to return in July/August to additionally show intention of her returning back to Brazil. The thought was to tell CBP that she hasn't seen the house that we have purchased and she was going to look at the place to prepare for her entry after consular processing is approved. We also have documentation of our USCIS receipt and consular processing route. Pros/Cons? Tips? Do I declare on the US side that I'm entering with no family? Or should we state that we are together entering? I'm not sure if they have a separate line for that..she already has a B visa and has entered twice on that prior to us filing at USCIS, and we've never entered together. 

On 5/3/2017 at 5:48 PM, Mkaz said:

Hi Guys,

My wife is US citizen and my IR1 is pending. Now we both are living in australia and my wife is pregnant. She is planning to birth baby in US. My question is what are the chances i can get visit visa B2 while my case is pending? And any effect on my pending case?

I applied for the B1/B2 visa at my country's US embassy while our IR-1 case was pending at the NVC stage. I was asked whether my husband would sponsor me and told that we are in the process of finalization but wanted to visit him in the US. I entered the US on a B2 visa while my IR1 case was pending. I was asked a few questions (how come I am not in the US if my husband is a US citizen) and asked to show my return ticket. Other than that I did not have major issues. As long as you have proof that you are going the legal route of immigration and intend to not stay in the US beyond the allocated visitor's visa time I think that should be enough evidence to be allowed entry.

Visa status changed first to "Administrative processing" and then to "Issued" within the same day (today). The embassy also gave me a phonecall to let me know that I could pick up my documentation. I think we dont have as many applications here as other embassies/countries so things are a bit more direct in terms of communication and assistance. So happy this is almost over.

6 hours ago, luviscoming1 said:

OMG!  that is GREAT!  so happy for you.  Have a safe flight and enjoy your new life with your hubby    Please tell you what type of evidence did you provide?

Thabk you!!! 

1 hour ago, lsu_mike said:

What type evidence? Proof of relationship? Income? Marriage? 

We provided pictures from all our years (powerpoint with 2-3 pictures/slide and  explanation of the pictures-year and who were with), common bank accounts, skype and whatsapp calls, health insureance that shows we had common coverage.

For income we had the tax returns. I was asked to provide my husband's 2016 tax return at the inteeview since when we filed we obly had up to 2015 at the time.

Just had my visa interview today and got Approved!!! I am so ecstatic to being almost ready to go back to the US and reunite with my husband! 

The status still says ready, it hasn't been changed to Administrative processing but I was told that my passport should be ready next week for picking up.

Good luck to the rest of the VJ family waiting on interview dates/interviews!

5 hours ago, Ahmed & Amy said:

Thanks. We still have not received any notification from the Embassy here in Cairo telling us that they have received his documents from NVC. So I will call the Embassy tomorrow just to be sure.

Please also note that I had callwd the embassy on 04/25 and they hadn't rexeiced anything nor could they telll me at that point their ETA based on the NVC dispatch date however the documents were received the next day. The embassy was nice enough to actually give me a call to let me know they arrived (I needed to change my interview date...)

32 minutes ago, Ahmed & Amy said:

Ahmed had his medical today. Went really smooth and easy. Super excited that we're almost to an end of this journey. 

 

One question.  We got scheduled the interview on May-5 for June-15. Since May-6 it's said on CEAC 'In Transit', until now it has not changed. Is this normal, should it have changed by now? Should I contact the US Embassy in Cairo? I contacted NVC two days ago and they said that it's no longer with them and that sometimes it can get delayed by customs... I just know the reputation of calling the Embassy in Cairo too much and really do not want to if we do not have to.

 

Any thoughts?

Dear @Ahmed & Amy I don't remember the timeframe for the "In transit" but I have the following timeframes:

P4 letter received: 04/14

Contact with NVC and confirmation that they dispatched the package to the embassy: 04/18 (dispatch date 04/18)

Embassy in Cyprus confirmed receipt of the package: 04/26

Hope it helps...

@Ahmed & Amy I am so happy for you you have been waiting for a while!!!

To all the other foks keep going strong!!

1 hour ago, Thesmiths2016 said:

But travelling with a 9 month old baby and risking begin denied wasn't a gamble I wanted to take.  I will make it on time if I can, but my husband leaves 8th May regardless.  It sounds like you got a good officer on a good day, I'm really happy for you :-)

Thanks a lot! I also think I got a good officer on a good day. I was prepared to be extra screened having heard different stories for harder POE procedures nowadays so I had all possible paperwork on the reason I had to be in the US (our lawyer had said to take anything that shows the reason for visit eg wedding invitation if that was the case). At the end of the day if you are sincere and have significant proof for return eg. a P4 letter that shows all intent to follow the legal immigration route it should be taken into consideration. I also had many prior student visas with no overstays/violations so maybe that factored in.

But I completely understand your worry, if a child were ti be involced in my trip as well it would be very hard to decide such a move.

1 hour ago, Michael2017 said:

How long did you plan to stay? How many days in the past 365 days did you spend in the US?

Two weeks only. I don't have any other prior visits since we filed our petition. It should be also noted that i had lrior student visas for many years with no overstays/violations so i am not sure if this was taken into consideration.

Also my interview appointment is a week after I return and I made sure to mention that i have to return to my country because I have a US embassy appointment for our petition.

As a follow up to my previous post here is my POE experience with a B1/B2 visa:

Who are you here to visit?

How come your spouse is here?

If the spouse is a us citizen how come you dont have citizenship?

How long are you staying for?

How much money are you carrying?

Any gifts/food for your spouse?

Where is your spouse?

I received a repeat of the questions concerning where my spoyse is, money and gifts similar to other reports  for duplicate questions and asked to show my return ticket. Other than that all went well! I was so worried but if you answer truthfully and consistently I dont think there is a problem. I also had with me the P4 interview appointment letter to show my intent of return home just in case but i was not asked for it.

Hey all, just wanted to drop a note to this forum and will post in the forum for travelling too: had to come to the US for an important event for my husband and had obtained a B1/B2 visa while the IR-1 is pending. At the POE the officer asked me how come I didnt have a citizenship yet if my husband is a US citizen and I mentioned that the petition is finalizing. The officer only asked to see my return ticket but was prepared with all info for our IR-1 application. Just as an FYI.

On another note medical exam went well I had a good recoŕd of all my vaccinations and it lasted for about 1 hour in total including xrays.

Ok my status now says ready! The embassy also very nicely confirmed the receipt of my file ( it took 6 business days). Appointment successfully rescheduled !!! Waiting on medical exam results and then good to go! Good luck to the rest of the VJ family members on securing an appointment soon.

6 hours ago, sparker42 said:

Post NVC question: I was curious if anyone has checked there 3 N/A's after having received interview date and status read Ready ..unnn I went back and I seen the magical 3rd N/A turn back into Paid again ..thoughts? 

Mine changed also but status still says in transit.

26 minutes ago, Mbha88 said:

Case completed on 4/20, haven't received any e-mail from NVC.  And status is still "AT NVC".  When will nvc status change and what will be new status? 

Mine took 1 week for the email and then another week for the interview assignment. The new status will be in transit but only after interview assignment.

4 minutes ago, Thesmiths2016 said:

Mine was case complete on the 14th, and arrived at the embassy on the 21st.  Once it said "in transit" I think it was 3 days?   How long do you have til your interview?  I would say give it another day or so then call the embassy.  Once your CEAC login says "ready" it means it has arrived in their mailroom

Thanks! I have another 2.5 weeks to go but I have to travel end of this week. I think it should arrive this week but I worry a lot! I emailed the embassy and they confirmed they don't have it. I will give them a call tomorrow to see...

Dear VJ family,

Please help! I need to change my interview date due to an international trip I cannot miss, and I can't reschedule prior to my file reaching the embassy. It has been 4 business days since NVC informed me that they sent it. I tried the dhl website but it didnt work for me. Our case status says in transit still and I was wondering how long it took for the other members with an interview to change to ready?

Thanks!!!

2 hours ago, Mike vowell said:

Yes it can be  nightmare ,, luckily I had a lawyer so all of my paperwork is in order only thing we are missing a police report which we have to travel eight hours for ,, but other then that I think we are good but  nervous hoping and praying we have everything  lol

2 hours ago, cordoba2015 said:

Anyone else with an interview date overwhelmed by interview preparation haha? Trying to find time in the day to plan the trip to the embassy, hotel, searching for flights to the US, making sure all the paperwork is there etc. 

I too had a lawyer (best money spent on this process hands down) and the only thing pending is the medical exam and additional evidence of relationship since the time we had filed. I have also asked the hubby to provide me with his 2016 tax return as additional financial support evidence in case they ask for it. Thankfully my country is super small so travel times are short! I will be taking my green binder with me (color coded for a reason )! 

1 hour ago, Iwantmymom said:

Hello Everyone, 

This is my first time posting, but i have been following this threat for a few days and I can only thank you for all the information and support you guys provide, 

I recently called the NVC for any case status. They told me that it was delivered to the department for review and they don't have a time frame in that department. What does this mean? Is this normal? Is this a supervisory review?  My scan date is February 3, 2017.

Hey there,

A week after I was told over the phone the same thing our case was completed (confirmed by phone).

7 minutes ago, parsha said:

 

my case took around a week to arrive in my embassy

but usually u don't need to worry too much, ur document will be in the embassy when u do ur interview!!

2 hours ago, Thesmiths2016 said:

I asked NVC how long it takes for the embassy to receive my file .... they said its hard to say as each is different but many get it within a week. I also know for my embassy that they receive it within a week, from others who have been ahead of me in this process.  I guess NVC sends it within a few days, and its up to the embassy and their incoming mail how fast they "receipt it"

Thank you both for your feedback! I still can't believe that this journey will be over not even 2 months...!!!

Hi all,

A question to the other VJ members with an interview date: has your case status changed from "at NVC" to "in transit" and if so how long after the interview assigment? 

Do we also know how long it takes for the embassy to receive our file from the NVC?