Joschka

7 hours ago, Cleo_C said:

Hi! How do you know if your case was transferred? 

If I knew what an EAD and an AP are, I would be happy to answer your question.

2 hours ago, missileman said:

I didn't think the Affidavit of Support part of the NVC fee was optional......

The certainly make it look like it's required. But AFTER you pay it, they explain that it was optional. Well, optional for people who will be interviewed outside the US. My wife was interviewed outside the US. They state that if your AOS is evaluated inside the US, OR if you simply WANT your AOS evaluated by the NVC, then you must pay. If your AOS is evaluated outside the US, you don't have to pay.

A confusing rip-off if you ask me.

7 minutes ago, Ryan H said:

 

Link to the page that has that text please.

Now that I have paid the AOS fee directly to the NVC, the information I referred to is no longer visible.

Believe what you want to. It really doesn't matter.

8 minutes ago, missileman said:

Also in your review you said you were having difficulty in paying the $220 GC fee.  Did you get that straightened out?

The web site advised us to wait a few days, and we did.

The next time I tried, the payment when through just fine.

14 minutes ago, geowrian said:

NVC only does an initial review of the I-864 to ensure it meets the minimum requirements to file. The CO at the embassy/consulate makes the final decision on the public charge concern based upon the totality of the circumstances. Nothing is ever "settled" at NVC...they are just a middleman to take in and prepare a case for the embassy.

That's what you say, but that's NOT what the NVC website says.

Where to you get your information from?

12 minutes ago, missileman said:

I've never heard of that..........the local consulate ALWAYS has final say on the I-864, I'm pretty sure.

Where did you get that information? I read carefully and I never saw anything official that supports your version.

5 hours ago, missileman said:

I have a question, please.  In your review of AIT, you said "Even though we had paid to have New Hampshire review our i-864, Taipei insisted on doing their own review. "  What does that mean, please?

Thanks,

When our case was first sent to New Hampshire (NVC,) their web site advised us that we had two options with the AOS. Option one was to pay $120 to have New Hampshire review and evaluate our AOS. Option 2 was to have our local Consulate (AIT) evaluate it at no cost. We chose option one.

According to the NVC web site, our AOS was APPROVED before my wife's interview. Nevertheless, at the interview, they raised some questions and gave her an information sheet that suggested some further evaluation was required.

In the end, there was no delay, but it was a little upsetting to have them raise questions about a matter that was already settled.

2 minutes ago, ZakMrak said:

 

That's a negative. Once again, if your case was processed electronically by the NVC/Foreign Consulate they will not send you a sealed packet to provide at the POE nor will you be asked to provide it. Only your passport with the visa page added and your original/civil documents that you had provided during the case will be mailed back to you in an envelope that is meant to be opened.

 

We just entered this past Saturday with no sealed packet, our case was processed electronically. No problems at all.

Thanks, we are now expecting the same experience you had. We appreciate your help!

31 minutes ago, John & Rose said:

You will need a sealed package to deliver to the agent at POE.  I don't think you have that yet.  It will be attached to the passport with the visa in it.

We got my wife's passport back almost two weeks ago.

Nothing like what you are describing.

28 minutes ago, John & Rose said:

Was it with the passport?  There are two manila envelopes.  One is for medical and the other is for POE.  The POE envelope has huge letters on it stating DO NOT OPEN.  If yours didn't have that it was the medical envelope.

 

We got only one manila envelope. It was an ordinary letter-window envelope and on it, hand written in Chinese, was "returning the documents we kept"

After the interview, they kept a few or our 'Original Documents' such as our Taiwan marriage certificate and a few of the health examination papers. Presumably, they returned them all. There was nothing about 'DO NOT OPEN' so I'm now pretty sure our papers were entered into the electronic system.

8 hours ago, ZakMrak said:

If your case is processed electronically at the NVC stage then a sealed packet isn't carried to the POE.

 

We only showed the Visa/Passport, my wife then had her fingerprints and a picture taken. The passport was then stamped and she was allowed to enter. The doctors did give us some supplementary items in addition to the sealed medical packet that we provided during the visa interview but it was not requested at all at the POE.

 

If your case is processed via mail by the NVC, after the Visa interview you are supposedly provided some kind of sealed packet needed at the POE.

Thank you! I think yours is the definitive answer. Our case was processed electronically by the NVC so we do not need to worry about a sealed package.

8 hours ago, John & Rose said:

The "DO NOT OPEN" package will be with her passport when it is returned.  The passport will be in a plastic bag.  It is OK to open that bag to get the passport.  DO NOT open the manila envelope.

Indeed, there was a manila envelope. Someone wrote in it in Chinese, that it contains our documents that they are returning. Nothing else.

We already opened it. If it was not to be opened, it should have said something on it about that.

5 hours ago, TNJ17 said:

If the envelope says do not open you DO NOT open. Simple as that. 

And, the envelope does NOT say DO NOT OPEN. Simple as that!

1 hour ago, JFH said:

The medical packet that she took to interview would have said "do not open" because it's not to be opened by the applicant. The embassy officials can, and should, open it to check she is not medically ineligible. Once the visa is issued those medical documents, along with a bunch of other stuff, is re-packaged and given to the immigrant to hand-carry through the POE (where hard copies are still used) or transmitted electronically in the case of the embassies that have joined the 21st century. 

The Doctor who did the examination told my wife not to open the packet. But the packet was NOT labeled with anything about not opening.

Further more, at the Consulate, they retained some of the medical pages and returned those loose in the package with my wife's visa. They did not reseal the medical package.

Most likely, it's all been done electronically.

Just now, geowrian said:

That's yours to do whatever you want with. They do not collect that at POE (nor would they have a way to view it there).

That's really odd! The gov web site has detailed instructions on how you must 'hand-carry' the x-ray and must NOT put it in checked baggage! (I seem to remember you are not to put it in carry-on baggage either.)

1 minute ago, missileman said:

It is very likely that AIT now electronically transmits the case to the CBP system.  Many consulates are doing that now.  In those cases, the immigrant needs only the passport with the CR-1/IR-1 visa inside to enter the US.

That sounds great!

But there IS the matter of the chest x-ray (which in our case is a CD containing the digital x-ray and a program that will display it on a computer screen.

4 minutes ago, geowrian said:

If you open the medical packet that says "DO NOT OPEN" then they won't issue the visa. You could have tampered with the documents. A new (sealed) copy of the results would be needed.

The same applies for the sealed envelope presented at POE. The embassy/consulate can reseal it if it is opened.

Not sure what's crazy here...they don't want people tampering with documents. The only crazy part is that they don't have everything sent electronically for everybody...it's 2018.

The medical packet DOES NOT have anything on it about DO NOT OPEN. At the Consular office, the OPENED the medical packet to took out a few items.

My wife did NOT receive ANY sealed packets from the Consulate. She only received her passport and a few documents that they kept at the interview.

6 minutes ago, missileman said:

Was your wife's passport delivered to her after the interview at AIT?

They kept a few of our original documents and said those and her passport would arrive after three days.

That is exactly what happened. (Actually, we have no way of knowing exactly what they kept, but I'm assuming we got everything back.

On 7/1/2018 at 9:36 PM, NikLR said:

The CBP will have the packet.  She will have to notify them of her travel plans (where she intends to enter) and they will send the info there. 

What is a "CBP" and how does one 'notify them?'

3 minutes ago, p-ana said:

The sealed medical is supposed to be opened at the embassy/ consulate during/ before interview. How would the consulate officer know the applicant is cleared to get a visa if it the medical stayed sealed?

The do not open envelope is supposed to have all paperwork gathered from sending the petition to approval of visa. Nowadays most embassies and consulates are online so there may or may not be a sealed envelope. The applicant should get a letter explaining it. This has been discussed recently so you should be able to find other threads talking about this

Another website had a direct statement that if you have opened the medical packet you will not be admitted to the US. It seems crazy.

We were not given any 'letter explaining' so I'm not sure what I should do now.

Can you suggest some search terms I could use here to look for more discussion?

Thanks

I have seen two statements on various gov and non-gov websites.

1. The health examination records will be in a sealed envelope that says ‘DO NOT OPEN’ on it. But the envelope does not say ANYTHING about not opening AND the Consular officials in Taipei (location of interview) opened the health examination packet.

2. At the interview, you will be given a sealed packet to bring with you to the POE. But my wife was NOT given any sealed packet.

Are these problems for us or are the instruction outdated?

36 minutes ago, oceaninspired said:

Hey guys, news anyone?

my case is finally 'Ready To Be Scheduled For An Interview' but no news about EAD yet ;-/

The news here is I bought our tickets to fly from Taipei to Tucson, AZ. We depart on December 20.

I cannot comment on your message because I don't know what "EAD" is...

Just now, ssgg said:

Oh so that means they don't ask about the exact dates of studying and working and all the lengthy details. But off the topic, do u think being a high school dropout affect the case?

I do not think being a high school dropout will affect your case.

The Consular offices have very little leeway to deny a visa to the spouse of a US Citizen. (This was just told to me by a retired diplomat who was, at one time, responsible for the Taipei, Taiwan office.

36 minutes ago, ssgg said:

My spouse has not completed her high school..and never worked. Have not completed the ds260 yet but was wondering if leaving the details blank would make our case weak. Has it really been changed?? Won't they ask about the beneficiary's educational and employment details? In that case, we would be relieved..

The on-line form asked if there was any education at the high-school level or beyond. Initially, I marked "yes" and looked at the form which asked for all education from high-school and beyond. Then I marked "no" so I could continue to browse the form. Then It asked about occupational experience so, initially I marked "yes" and it asked for all work experience. Then I changed to "no" so I could continue. When I came back and changed each answer to "yes" the questions had changed for both education and occupations.

In the end, for education, I listed only my wife's college degree and the university. For occupations, I listed one, and the last job she had in that occupation. Then I added a second occupation along with the last job she held in that occupation. That was all I had to provide.

The on-line system accepted the form SB-260 that way and the local consular office (Taipei) also accepted it that way.

My wife has her IR-1 Visa in hand!

3 hours ago, Ben & Katy said:

I noticed the samething when we did the DS 260 back in June.  We were all prepared on a word document for exact dates of education, jobs and in the end it wasn't even needed.  

Thank you! This is good to know.

I've been worried that my wife will arrive at her interview and discover that they want that extended information and were unaware that the online form did not ask for it. (I prepared detailed lists for her to bring but advised her to not mention them unless asked.)