A_F

1 minute ago, A_F said:

 

 

 

This made me check my local office, Baltimore. It says that the estimated time range is 8 - 64.5 months for I-485... How could the range be less than a year to over 5 years?

 

But then it says that Family Based AOS is 7.5 - 21.5 months?

9 hours ago, Marzena & Stephen said:

Holy smokes 

I just read the new timelines on the new website and they are insane 

 

Aos for Chicago says:

 

11.5 months to 32 months 

Makes me want to clench my teeth even more..

8 hours ago, Ghmorrell said:

Yep same LA county 12-30 months. 

This made me check my local office, Baltimore. It says that the estimated time range is 8 - 64.5 months for I-485... How could the range be less than a year to over 5 years?

@ScorpioSun 

Based on my experience, I would suggest finding a co-sponsor to be safe and not leaving anything to chance.

My wife and I also went through the K1 process and are currently working through AOS. We applied in April, and she had her visa interview in October. We were both recent graduates, and I had started working in February with an annual salary that pays well over the minimum requirement. I had also already earned enough in that year to exceed the income requirement in the 7-8 months I had been working. So, I was adamant that we wouldn't need a co-sponsor because I qualified on my own merits even though I had very little income on my previous year tax return as I was still a student at that point. My wife was still apprehensive of me sponsoring her on my own, so we asked my mom to co-sponsor, which she did. We were lucky to have done that. Otherwise my wife's visa would have been denied. The CO told her that it was a good idea to ask my mom to be a co-sponsor, or he would have denied the visa because of my lack of work history, regardless of my salary. 

2 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

 No, mine said also, DHS she doesn't need a new card until/if she

1. Changes name

2. Gets her GC 

If she down the line becomes a citizen, that's the last time she'll need to go back. 

Thanks for the clarification. I found slightly different bits of info on the USCIS (mentioned both DHS and INS) and SSA (only mentioned DHS) websites so I wanted to double check.

Hi all,

I was reading the K1 flow chart and the process for applying for an SSN card. Here is some background. My fiancee has previously been in the US for college on a J1 Visa and got an SSN while here. She has already been issued an SSN, so that shouldn't be an issue. I see in the guide that the SSN card for a K1 will say, "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH INS AUTHORIZATION" however her card currently says, "Valid for work only with DHS authorization". It is my understanding that DHS vs INS authorization has to do with the type of stay, with DHS being temporary. Given that a K1 has immigrant intent, we will need to get her a new SSN card that has "INS authorization" rather than "DHS authorization." Am I understanding that correctly?

Thanks!

Anyone have any POE experience at DTW (Detroit)? My fiancee will have her POE there on the 13th. 

7 hours ago, Martella&T said:

Congratulations! Any chance you could share the questions they've asked her?

Sure. The CO started off by asking her the infamous (lol not really) how we met. Then he asked what I do for a job. He asked about where we will live and then also if we're ready to be married. We're both young. I'm 23 and she's 22. By the end they were joking and laughing and talking about where we went to school. All in all I think she thought it was a very pleasant experience.

Disclaimer...I very heavily front-loaded the file though, so that probably helped her out a bit. Anyone else have experience with front-loading or not that can speak to if it makes a difference?

On 10/2/2017 at 4:18 PM, Melodica256 said:

wont let me as it says we are within processing times there too

Try the other option for "Did not receive notice by mail." It will let you fill that in. I called way back in August. That's what tier 2 instructed me to do. Of course I got my NOA2 before they responded, but they give you a date for when they must respond by and there are text boxes where you can explain your concerns.

When they say your medical will last from 8am - 2pm but it finishes before 10am...

Just got the text my from my fiancee. She's out of the medical. That was quick lol.

As for the travel ban talk I just saw. I'll just say that I didn't vote for Trump. Never will support that man, ever. I'm gonna put that out there. At the beginning when I applied, I too was freaking out like you were @prince1364. Trump was prepping for the immigration travel ban and even though Indonesia wasn't on the list, I was still worried because my fiancee comes from a predominately Muslim country. In fact she comes from the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. But that didn't help anything. All it did was create additional stress and add to the fear of the unknown that comes with this process. I put my ill feelings toward Trump to the side and looked at the facts. Indonesia wasn't on the list, and then later we found out fiance(e)s are protected. I will not lie it sucks being this close, not knowing what will happen. My fiancee has an interview on Oct. 4, only 12 days away. It would crush both of us if the new ban affects us, but all we can do for now is keep pushing forward and wait to see what happens. I think it's important to note that the family-based visas that were protected last time, that sets a precedent. As @AnJ Co and @LabOz said, we just need to wait and see what happens. Then we can all determine the necessary course of action. Another thing to consider is if the ban will affect future applications only, and applications currently being processed will still be processed (similarly to DACA apps). There is a lot that can happen and there are a lot of scenarios for how it could play out. All we can do is plan for the worst and hope for the best. 

Haven't gotten a chance to hop on in what feels like forever. I think it was only like 4 days tho. Hoping to see lots of approvals and cases forwarded to NVC or Embassy as I go back and try to catch up, hopefully even a few visas granted!

And update. My fiancee is currently in Jakarta undergoing her medical. It started at 8 am, and the doctor doesn't think she'll be done until 2 pm. I knew it would be long but not that long.

41 minutes ago, hkiss31 said:

Hmmm  that's interesting that both are not working. I'm sure you tried closing and reopening your browser. i used Chrome when I did it, but i don't think that matters whether you use Google Chrome or Internet Explorer. 

48 minutes ago, fishereb said:

Hey! Yeah!

 

The DS160 form isn't loading either...I want to "Start a new Application" and it's not letting me...

I tried going to the CEAC tracker about a minute ago to see what it says now that my fiancee has her interview scheduled (curious to see if it changes from "Ready" to something else), and I can't get it to load either. DS160 app is on the CEAC website as well isn't it? If so, they must be experiencing difficulties for whatever reason.

1 hour ago, KeriAn said:

Total applicants

Wow. That's an impressively low amount of applicants. That's got me interested and now I'll have to do some research this weekend to see if I can find the breakdown by country.

32 minutes ago, KeriAn said:

Less than 10 ppl do k1's from here each year so its not much info on the requirements floating round the web, so ill only know when they tell me, Ill keep ya posted tho

Is that just VJ users or is that total applications? 

Received Packet 3 yesterday, responded today saying all documents are ready to go. Embassy emailed back with Interview date of Oct. 4 and some instructions about picking up passport and what not, so I guess we got Packet 4 already??? Jakarta doesn't need anything prior to interview luckily.

2 minutes ago, KeriAn said:

Ohhh. My embassy just told me they'd send instructions, not sure of what it entails yet because they havent emailed me yet , maybe tomorrow they will. 

Ah ok. It'll be interesting to see what you get. They just gave us an email with some links, instructions, required docs, and the I-129F as PDF, and requested you email them back to get interview appt. Jakarta doesn't need anything prior to the interview.

10 hours ago, Keith & Monica said:

In a sense yes.  They just send the file through like email, but not.  So it takes no time at all for it to get from place to place.  Remember, they scan every page of the packet when it comes into them in the beginning.  The person assigned to your case at USCIS does work on the hard copy of the case because they make little check marks on the form (I know that because of the RFE that we got).    

@KeriAn

Yup the embassy sent my fiancee a PDF of our I-129F and the 2 pages about how we met as part of the Packet 3. It had a few check marks and comments on it. I noticed they hand wrote in the A number (probably USCIS worker) and the NVC number (must've been NVC worker).

So the embassy asked me for my fiancee's contact information yesterday and then sent her packet 3 today! 

2 minutes ago, fishereb said:

Good morning Aprilites!

 

Ok, so I got the NOA2 on Sept. 5..when oh when can I start calling the NVC? I was going to wait until Monday, but maybe it's already there! What do you guys think?

Go ahead and call! 

Woke up to an email from Jakarta Embassy asking for Beneficiary's updated information. Thought it was a mistake because I'd emailed them to inform them that my case was in transit. I immediately checked the CEAC Tracker and there it was, Ready. Nice little shot of excitement and energy to start of what's going to be a long day after a sleepiness night! 

Now hopefully the American doctor will release those medical records soon. 7-14 business days they said, but we can apparently mail a package 13,000 miles away in 3 days...interesting.