RobinAtAileen

RobinAtAileen has passed! Thank you Lord.

Aileen said the interview was about 3 minutes. When he noticed our ages were close, both in our 30's, the consul said "This will be quick."

If you're self-employed, I recommend getting your IRS Tax Transcript. The consul took that and not any of my business-related certificates; although, I would still bring them. (For those reading this with future interviews.)

Thank you to EVERYONE that have supported us through this board either directly or indirectly.

God bless you,

Robin

first question in NBI , they usually have the stamp for that thumb print mine has , but if she did have computer finger printing ,it maybe ok too , by the way where did she applied her NBI ? second about DS 156/7 , wat i did is that i had the two DS 156 print online coz of the bar code , the one with the packet dont have and the DS157 i had one print online and one from the Bank Receipt coz the form is being validated at the back beside the receipt they gonna attach to the form . Just make sure u have two copies of DS156 and DS157 , they dont get my DS156k though coz they said its for K1, and make sure u glued ur pictures already coz many have to come back in line for that when they have to get ur lucky ticket nub. Goodluck to ur interview, and that day is my b-day so im sure u will approved lol ,

Irene,

Thank you. My wife got her NBI in Mabalacat. I don't remember the specific branch, sorry.

Thank you to all that have helped and offered advice.

-Robin

My wife has her interview 11/28.

Question. How many 2x2 photos are required for the USEM interview?

Thank you,

Robin

You will need 2 photos for the DS forms. Don't forget to attach them to the forms in advance.

Thank you.

A few more questions, please.

For the NBI Clearance, do you need to have your thumb print (or finger print) on the clearance form? I believe my wife's document has a place for a finger print, but they didn't have her add it. She did say they scanned her finger print on a computer or something.

Second, what do you do with the $100 payment receipt DS form given by BPI? Can that be simply attached to the pre-printed out DS-156/7 form that my wife already filled out, or does she have to fill out and use the blank form she received. I heard you can just attach it like a receipt? Is this correct? Also does the US Embassy prefer the DS-156/7 (and receipt) need to be paper clipped or stapled together?

Here is a little advise for those reading this thread. There is a great hotel near both the St. Luke's Extension and the US Embassy. It is called Cherry Blossoms. They have a room for only P1,515 which includes hot water shower and a simple breakfast included. Also there is a wonderful Yahoo! Group called MAG-ANAK that has very knowledgable members. They stray off topic a lot, but are very helpful when asked specific questions. There is a guy on there named Ray Bacon that is excellent.

Thank you very much,

Robin

My wife has her interview 11/28.

Question. How many 2x2 photos are required for the USEM interview?

Thank you,

Robin

Can you just show up early for the St. Luke's medical exam, or do you need to call them first to let them know. My wife has all documents, etc. I just want to double check if showing up early without warning is acceptable.

Thanks,

Robin

hey guys! i have a new question for you... What is the minimum income required for affidavit of support? I mean i will need information for I-864 form. Does anyone know about that minimum amount required?! Or is that calculation really important!?

Meeting the 125% of poverty is important. If it is just you and the spouse, the sponsor's income needs to be at least $17,112.

This PDF gives the the amounts specified by USCIS:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-864P.pdf

Sometimes assets can be included, such as having money in the bank.

Correct. And I was told to use the AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) from your 1040 tax form.

Our K-3 application left the NVC on 10/3/2007. I have been checking the Manila US Embassy web site schedule. Does anybody know if they have yet updated it for mid-October yet?

If they have, we missed this update.

How do most of you find out your Interview date? Is it from the packet letter or through the web site?

Thank you. We're hoping to spend New Years Eve together. She will stay for Christmas regardless of Interview date, so she can be with her mother for the holiday to make the transition easier on her mother.

God bless,

Robin & Aileen

How do I find the phone number to the NVC? I filed 130 in march and 129f also, both approved and I am stuck, dont know what to next and my wife is jumping up and down. I would like numbers and ideas as to what is next. Should I give up on K3 and do cr1/ir1??

Thank you All

NVC # 603-334-0700

Hit Option #1 for English

Hit Option #5 to be transfered to an operator

It should say there is about a hold time of 3 mins. If it says this you got thru, anything else try calling again until you hear that message.

Call between 7:30am and 8:00am that is the best time to reach an operator.

Good Luck

The dialing directions above are correct. I would like to add what I found to be a time saver, too.

After you press "5" there will be a pause. If someone speaks in Spanish, HANG UP. You are about to be bounced around and eventually hung up on.

BUT, if you hear the same women say she is sorry for the delay, blah, blah, blah, smile -- you are now in line (on hold) and will get through in a few minutes.

I found calling early in the morning was the fastest throughput. Longest was evening "Prime Time."

I averaged about 3-5 hang-ups per attempt to get through. The shortest was in the early morning getting through on the first try. The longest was Prime Time taking about 10 tries.

Good luck,

Robin

Our I-129F K-3 paperwork left the NVC for the US Embassy in Manila on 10/3/2007. That means there was a 2-day turnaround at the NVC.

Good evening,

Robin

THIS ABSOLUTELY SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope tonight they make up for the lack of K3 approvals in the month of September.

are there still lot of april filers left or have majority of you guys gotten approvals.

neel06,

According to VJ timelines for those that sent their K-3 applications during April, 2007, I find the following numbers.

A total of 33 applications were SENT in April, 2007.

CSC - 24

NSC - 1

VSC - 8

As of this post, 18 applicants have received their K-3 NOA2.

K-3 NOA2 Received:

CSC - 15

NSC - 1

VSC - 2

Therefore 15 applicants are still waiting for their K-3 NOA2.

CSC - 9

NSC - 0

VSC - 6

There are 2 K-3 applicants that have their interview.

CSC - 2

NSC - 0

VSC - 0

By the way, I found out last evening that my paperwork has made it to the NVC. It took 27 days for our paperwork to go from NOA2 status to showing up in the NVC database. (See signature or VJ timeline for specifics.)

Good luck to everyone waiting. It is tough. It has been more heartbreaking than anything to me on so many levels like missing my wife, wanting to get going with my life and future family, and lesser issues such as how disappointed I am in the USCIS and my government and their absolute real lack of any accountability whatsoever. Talk about job security.

It looks like they haven't done anything with k3s for the past two weeks. I hope I'm wrong

Thats so true... valticp

Check this out: I just compared the K1 vs. K3 NOA2 from CSC for the period of 09/15 thru 10/02...I saw 35 K1 NOA2 versus ONE K3... Ofcourse unless, K3 filers here are getting their NOA2 and not updating their timelines but I am pretty sure thats not the case...Oh well...

Good Luck to all

pkewl,

To supplement, if you don't mind, I have some more numbers that seem to prove your point with the caveat that everybody may not be keeping their timelines up to date.

All NOA1 received from 4/1/2007 through 4/30/2007:

Total: 116 (100%)

IR-1/CR-1: 7 (6.0%)

K-1: 76 (65.5%)

K-3: 33 (28.5%)

then...

NOA2 received from 9/15/2007 through 10/2/2007:

Total: 36 (100%)

IR-1/CR-1: 0 (0%)

K-1: 35 (97.2%)

K-3: 1 (2.8%)

There is definitely a bias towards K-1 visas for some reason.

Whenever we see numbers comparing results of K-1 versus K-3 visas, we need to allow for a 76 to 33 ratio (about 2.3 K-1 visas for every single K-3 visa).

Therefore there SHOULD have been a distribution of approvals more along the following.

Total: 36

IR-1/CR-1: 2

K-1: 24

K-3: 10

Five weeks to the day my I-129F was approved the NVC just got it. I hope everone that is waiting gets in soon. Good luck.

Congratulations.

SHAME SHAME SHAME... CSC.

Monday will be four (4) full weeks for us...

I posted this initially in the March thread waiting for transfer to NVC. I'm posting to this thread to hopefully allow you to set your expectations on the step following approval. Sadly, once again, it is best to lower our expectations.

I spoke with USCIS CSC just a minute ago. Like others I'm very disappointed at yet ANOTHER significant delay in my paperwork. I wanted to understand why it is taking so long to ship the I-129F to the NVC. This is what the kind Chinese lady told me.

For an I-130 application, they can simply send the application "as is" to the NVC. Therefore, shipping the I-130 is pretty quick.

For an I-129F, K-3, application, the paperwork has to be physically manipulated by hand by pulling certain documents and putting them into new file pouches. Then the I-130 application has to be filed and stored to be held for the AOS. This is what they are referring as the staging area.

I asked how long this should take. She replied saying they don't have a good estimate, since they are new to this process. (As we all know by now.)

So it looks like we are being held up by the huge backlog or surge in applications. We just jumped in at the wrong time for "quick" processing. She said it's been taking about a month.

It now doesn't seem to me that we are just sitting around waiting to be shipped. Instead we are again finding ourselves waiting on low resources to deal with the surge they have experienced. Funny, you would think they could keep up with the pace of adjudication. But that would be too logical of an assumption.

Hope this helps. For me, IF THEY WOULD SIMPLY EXPLAIN THE SITUATION AND TRUTH OF THE MATTER, I wouldn't have been as frustrated. Although, I have thankfully handled this much better than I anticipated.

As my mom says, "Don't pray for patience. The way you learn patience is by waiting." I have not been praying for patience, but I still received a nice, long wait.

Sorry if this is common knowledge. I don't remember hearing these specific handling details.

I spoke with USCIS CSC just a minute ago. Like others I'm very disappointed at yet ANOTHER significant delay in my paperwork. I wanted to understand why it is taking so long to ship the I-129F to the NVC. This is what the kind Chinese lady told me.

For an I-130 application, they can simply send the application "as is" to the NVC. Therefore, shipping the I-130 is pretty quick.

For an I-129F, K-3, application, the paperwork has to be physically manipulated by hand by pulling certain documents and putting them into new file pouches. Then the I-130 application has to be filed and stored to be held for the AOS. This is what they are referring as the staging area.

I asked how long this should take. She replied saying they don't have a good estimate, since they are new to this process. (As we all know by now.)

So it looks like we are being held up by the huge backlog or surge in applications. We just jumped in at the wrong time for "quick" processing. She said it's been taking about a month.

It now doesn't seem to me that we are just sitting around waiting to be shipped. Instead we are again finding ourselves waiting on low resources to deal with the surge they have experienced. Funny, you would think they could keep up with the pace of adjudication. But that would be too logical of an assumption.

Hope this helps. For me, IF THEY WOULD SIMPLY EXPLAIN THE SITUATION AND TRUTH OF THE MATTER, I wouldn't have been as frustrated. Although, I have thankfully handled this much better than I anticipated.

As my mom says, "Don't pray for patience. The way you learn patience is by waiting." I have not been praying for patience, but I still received a nice, long wait.

Sorry if this is common knowledge. I don't remember hearing these specific handling details.

I understand many may not have been approved in this thread yet; however, I wanted to share some information on the next step after approval, so you will know what to expect and hopefully not be overly disappointed at yet another month delay.

I spoke with USCIS CSC just a minute ago. Like others I'm very disappointed at yet ANOTHER significant delay in my paperwork. I wanted to understand why it is taking so long to ship the I-129F to the NVC. This is what the kind Chinese lady told me.

For an I-130 application, they can simply send the application "as is" to the NVC. Therefore, shipping the I-130 is pretty quick.

For an I-129F, K-3, application, the paperwork has to be physically manipulated by hand by pulling certain documents and putting them into new file pouches. Then the I-130 application has to be filed and stored to be held for the AOS. This is what they are referring as the staging area.

I asked how long this should take. She replied saying they don't have a good estimate, since they are new to this process. (As we all know by now.)

So it looks like we are being held up by the huge backlog or surge in applications. We just jumped in at the wrong time for "quick" processing. She said it's been taking about a month.

It now doesn't seem to me that we are just sitting around waiting to be shipped. Instead we are again finding ourselves waiting on low resources to deal with the surge they have experienced. Funny, you would think they could keep up with the pace of adjudication. But that would be too logical of an assumption.

Hope this helps. For me, IF THEY WOULD SIMPLY EXPLAIN THE SITUATION AND TRUTH OF THE MATTER, I wouldn't have been as frustrated. Although, I have thankfully handled this much better than I anticipated.

As my mom says, "Don't pray for patience. The way you learn patience is by waiting." I have not been praying for patience, but I still received a nice, long wait.

Sorry if this is common knowledge. I don't remember hearing these specific handling details.

I received a "Touch" today for my I-130 at the CSC. Both applications have been approved. I am in the waiting period for CSC to bulk ship to the NVC. Does anybody have an idea why there would be a touch at this point on the I-130? One of my thoughts was to store that particular application as CSC now holds on to it. Thanks, Robin

I received a "Touch" today for my I-130 at the CSC. Both applications have been approved. I am in the waiting period for CSC to bulk ship to the NVC. Does anybody have an idea why there would be a touch at this point on the I-130? One of my thoughts was to store that particular application as CSC now holds on to it. Thanks, Robin

I called CSC, DOS and NVC today. CSC pretty much confirmed they wait for a batch of applications to pile up and then send them in one shipment. It is not based on timing, but instead quantity.

Why would they do this? Having been involved in corporate cost savings programs, one can look really good saving millions of dollars a year. Consider this.

I'm not sure how many applications are approved and shipped from CSC to NVC in New Hampshire. Let's say it is one million. If they save $1 in shipping per application, they just saved the CSC $1 million. Just think how good the Director will look now. I'm sure he/she will receive a fat bonus check. Sadly at our expense -- time with our families and significant others.

So if CSC is slow approving applications, they will be slow shipping to the NVC. Wow.

I'm so ticked, I'll stop while I'm ahead.

I just called NVC...they've got my stuff now What a relief to finally know that my paperwork is out of CSC's hands!!!! 21 days between NOA2 and NVC receipt for me...sounds about the norm these days

EH,

Congratulations!

Umm...

Have you seen the new mailing addresses for the Adjustment of Status? By the looks of your local office, you will be submitting your AOS to CSC.

I think I'm laughing only at the irony. I will be stuck there too. It's like a horror story. Just when you think you killed him -- HE'S BACK... and we thought waiting for the K-3 was tough... isn't the AOS even worse?

Anyway, enjoy getting your loved one here. I think the AOS will be easier to deal with once we have our spouses at our sides.

Good evening,

Robin

Robin, Thanks. I think the NOA2 have Priority Dates printed on the top in one of the boxes. I was wondering what the date is for the I-129F NOA2 to if it reflects when they originally received your petition at MSC or when CSC received it after it was transfered.

There is no Priority Date listed in the I-129F box. There is one only for the I-130. I believe the reason for this is the Priority Date is related to an Immigrant Visa application; whereas we know, the I-129F is for a Non-Immigrant K-3 Visa.

OKAY, wait. I have all the NOAs in front of me. Here we go...

I-129F:

NOA1 (Receipt Notice): Receipt Date: April 22, 2007 ; Notice Date: April 25, 2007

NOAT (Transfer Notice): Receipt Date: April 25, 2007 ; Notice Date: May 11, 2007

NOA2 (Approval Notice): Receipt Date: April 25, 2007 ; Notice Date: September 4, 2007 ; Valid from 09/04/2007 to 01/03/2008

I-130:

NOA1 (Receipt Notice): Receipt Date: April 2, 2007 ; Notice Date: April 9, 2007

NOA2 (Approval Notice): Receipt Date: April 9, 2007 ; Priority Date: April 2, 2007 ; Notice Date: September 4, 2007

It appears the I-130 NOA2 Approval Notice's Priority Date reflects when they first received the application. I believe that is on there due to visa number issuance at NVC.

On the I-129F NOA2, there is no Priority Date. It is blank in that box. The Receipt Date on the NOA2 is the Notice Date from the NOA1. (Same for the I-130 -- The Receipt Date on the NOA2 is the Notice Date from the NOA1.)

I give...

Good evening,

Robin

G&A,

I received both NOA2s in the mail today.

Dates are for both I-130 and I-129F, K-3

9/4/2006 - Approved (Notice Date)

9/6/2006 - Post Marked (Mailed)

9/10/2006 - Received in mail

For my I-130, it states the "Priority Date" was 4/2/2007 for a Receipt Date of 4/9/2007.

Thanks,

Robin

Robin, good news. This is awesome. Happy for you. btw, does your 129F priority date show the April date when you filed it with Chicago or the June date when it was accepted at CSC?

Good luck with the rest of the process and keep us posted as usual.

G,

Thank you. All the dates I can gather are in my signature. I didn't quite get what you were asking. I think the Priority Date has something to do with authorization or eligibility for NVC to issue a visa number. The Received Date in my signature is(are) the dates that USCIS physically received my application in the mail and signed for it from Express USPS Mail. I hope that answers your question.

-Robin

G&A,

I received both NOA2s in the mail today.

Dates are for both I-130 and I-129F, K-3

9/4/2006 - Approved (Notice Date)

9/6/2006 - Post Marked (Mailed)

9/10/2006 - Received in mail

For my I-130, it states the "Priority Date" was 4/2/2007 for a Receipt Date of 4/9/2007.

Thanks,

Robin

I just called NVC and they said they have not received my case yet.. I said my case has already been approved since 4 weeks and the lady said 'We have not received it yet. If you want call back after 2 more weeks'. If you want???? You idiots, I am going to call you and bug you every freaking day until you receive it. I really wish these people were in our shoes.. then only would they understand our situation.

Right after that I called USCIS and the person there said that my case was forwarded to NVC on Sept 6th (but NVC has no idea of it). Thereafter I called DOS and they said that NVC got my case today and that I should give them a week at least to forward to Consulate/Embassy (we know that's not happening in 1 week!).

Honestly, I don't know who to believe and who not to. As far as NVC is concerned they do not have my case yet!!!

Ras001,

It is unbelievable how horrible CSC is compared to VSC. The director should be gone for allowing blatent differences against their own policies of adjudicating in order received.

Question. What is the difference between calling NVC versus DOS? Do you learn more from one versus the other, or do you receive one piece of information from one and different info from the other.

Thanks,

Robin

I just called NVC and they DO have my case now yayayyaya!!!

Jade2004,

Congratulations!

Do you have to talk with a person or does the automated line work for I-129F's? I'm on Day 6 after approval, so I'm getting ready to check in on NVC on Day 14 -- well really to see if the bonehead system at CSC sent it to NVC. Once NVC gets it, they seem qucik. Then it's waiting for the interview time. Fun, fun.

Also what info is available to them when you called? Will they help you determine receipt date and send dates for our timelines?

Thanks,

Robin