Akiko & Brad

We have been waiting for 7 weeks for the interview appointment in Tokyo and on the night before the interview a category 2 Typhoon Trami sweeps through Japan and over Tokyo.  Due to the typhoon and and travel disruptions I had my fiancee travel to Tokyo on Saturday instead of Sunday and stay an extra day in Tokyo.  Good thing as travel out of the Osaka airports shut down Sunday morning and her original reservation was for Sunday afternoon.  The Typhoon cleared the Tokyo area about 4:30 AM Monday morning and my fiancee walked from her hotel for a 10:30 AM Monday interview appointment.  She was done at 11:30.
 
APPROVED.  We are overjoyed.  Visa arrives in about a week.  I have saved frequent flier points and will get her on a flight the day after her visa arrives.  285 days from NOA1 but well worth the wait.

We have been waiting for 7 weeks for the interview appointment in Tokyo and on the night before the interview a category 2 Typhoon Trami sweeps through Japan and over Tokyo.  Due to the typhoon and and travel disruptions I had my fiancee travel to Tokyo on Saturday instead of Sunday and stay an extra day in Tokyo.  Good thing as travel out of the Osaka airports shut down Sunday morning and her original reservation was for Sunday afternoon.  The Typhoon cleared the Tokyo area about 4:30 AM Monday morning and my fiancee walked from her hotel for a 10:30 AM Monday interview appointment.  She was done at 11:30.
 
APPROVED.  We are overjoyed.  Visa arrives in about a week.  I have saved frequent flier points and will get her on a flight the day after her visa arrives.  285 days from NOA1 but well worth the wait.

Yes, you don't have to wait until you receive the P3 letter.  You can do it when your CEAC status changes to ready as the embassy has received it..
You must have your DS=160 complete and submitted to schedule the interview

For the medical, all you need is a copy of the email sent from the NVC stating that they have sent the the package to the embassy.  That is sufficient proof.  Due to scheduling conflicts, Akiko has rescheduled her medical for this Wednesday 8/22/2018.
 
Update, I just received a text from my fiancee that the P3 letter has arrived.  
 
Good luck on your journey.  Things happen much quicker now.

For the medical, all you need is a copy of the email sent from the NVC stating that they have sent the the package to the embassy.  That is sufficient proof.  Due to scheduling conflicts, Akiko has rescheduled her medical for this Wednesday 8/22/2018.
 
Update, I just received a text from my fiancee that the P3 letter has arrived.  
 
Good luck on your journey.  Things happen much quicker now.

My Fiancee now has her medical scheduled for 8/16/2018 and just scheduled her interview in Tokyo on 10/1/2018 which is their first available appointment.  Needless to say but we will checking often to see if an earlier appointment opens up.

@Naes
I hope your wedding plans are progressing well.
Our status just went to Ready on the NVC status site so that means Tokyo has received the package.
My Fiancee has her medical appointment next Thursday, 8/16/2018.
 
I have a question about the interview date.
Did they originally include an appointment date in the package 3 or did you contact them to request an appointment? Or did you fill out an interview request form?  The interview request form seems to be found under the immigrant visa.  Is this the correct method?  I believe you said you changed the appointment twice so you probably have some insight to pass along.
 
Also, when is the visa fee paid?
 
Thanks for all your help.

You can ignore that part of the message.  It is their standard boilerplate verbiage for all types of visas.  The date will be scheduled through your embassy. 

You can ignore that part of the message.  It is their standard boilerplate verbiage for all types of visas.  The date will be scheduled through your embassy. 

I just got off the phone with NVC.  They said I will receive an email and it can be delayed 1 or 2 days from when notification is seen on their website (they are probably batched and sent out all at once later).  I verified they had my correct email.  
Now waiting.  I hope it arrives sometime today.

You can ignore that part of the message.  It is their standard boilerplate verbiage for all types of visas.  The date will be scheduled through your embassy. 

Finally!!  
Old site 12/7
New site 12/11
RFE received 7/11
RFR returned 7/12
 
 

Congratulations  - Onward to the next part of your journey.  
We are just a little ahead of you as NVC received our case today.  Now waiting for the case number.

Be sure to call 603-334-0700.  Press 1 for English and then 7.  After a wait somebody will come on the line and you can give them your WAC number.
 
I got through this morning but unfortunately they have not received the case yet from USCIS.  July 16 NOA2 so any time now (15 days so far).  Some lucky people have gotten an NVC number as quickly as 10 days.  The agent gives the standard response that it can take up to 6 weeks to receive but fortunately that seems to rarely happen.
 
If you get a recording that all agents are busy, just keep trying.  Sometimes I get that recording and just wait a few hours and try again.  When I have gotten through my waits have been 4, 25, 23, and 15 minutes.  The 4 minute wait was when I called early in the morning.

We received our NOA2 on the new website 7/16/2018 (Monday).  Informed delivery says our paper copy is coming in the mail today 7/20/2018 (Friday).  

I receive a scanned image of my mail each morning showing what will arrive that day.  One of those scans was a USCIS envelope.
 
A person in the USA can sign up for this free service here:
https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action

We received our NOA2 on the new website 7/16/2018 (Monday).  Informed delivery says our paper copy is coming in the mail today 7/20/2018 (Friday).  

I woke up this morning to an email that said "We have taken action on your case.  Sign in to view your case status."
 
I signed in and:
 
July 16, 2018
We approved your case
Read the notice we mailed you for more information
If you do not receive your notice by August 15, 2018, send us a case inquiry and select that you did not receive your notice by mail.
If your mailing address changes, update your address with us.
 
Finally after a long, long wait it is here.
NOA1 Dec 20, 2017 (old)
NOA1 Dec 26, 2017 (new)
NOA2 July 16, 2018 (new website)
208 days NOA1 to NOA2
 
I promised myself that I would not whine on VJ before I hit 210 days and the case was officially over 210 days and beyond normal processing times.
I just called my fiance in Japan and we are so happy to move to the next steps.

I woke up this morning to an email that said "We have taken action on your case.  Sign in to view your case status."
 
I signed in and:
 
July 16, 2018
We approved your case
Read the notice we mailed you for more information
If you do not receive your notice by August 15, 2018, send us a case inquiry and select that you did not receive your notice by mail.
If your mailing address changes, update your address with us.
 
Finally after a long, long wait it is here.
NOA1 Dec 20, 2017 (old)
NOA1 Dec 26, 2017 (new)
NOA2 July 16, 2018 (new website)
208 days NOA1 to NOA2
 
I promised myself that I would not whine on VJ before I hit 210 days and the case was officially over 210 days and beyond normal processing times.
I just called my fiance in Japan and we are so happy to move to the next steps.

I woke up this morning to an email that said "We have taken action on your case.  Sign in to view your case status."
 
I signed in and:
 
July 16, 2018
We approved your case
Read the notice we mailed you for more information
If you do not receive your notice by August 15, 2018, send us a case inquiry and select that you did not receive your notice by mail.
If your mailing address changes, update your address with us.
 
Finally after a long, long wait it is here.
NOA1 Dec 20, 2017 (old)
NOA1 Dec 26, 2017 (new)
NOA2 July 16, 2018 (new website)
208 days NOA1 to NOA2
 
I promised myself that I would not whine on VJ before I hit 210 days and the case was officially over 210 days and beyond normal processing times.
I just called my fiance in Japan and we are so happy to move to the next steps.

I woke up this morning to an email that said "We have taken action on your case.  Sign in to view your case status."
 
I signed in and:
 
July 16, 2018
We approved your case
Read the notice we mailed you for more information
If you do not receive your notice by August 15, 2018, send us a case inquiry and select that you did not receive your notice by mail.
If your mailing address changes, update your address with us.
 
Finally after a long, long wait it is here.
NOA1 Dec 20, 2017 (old)
NOA1 Dec 26, 2017 (new)
NOA2 July 16, 2018 (new website)
208 days NOA1 to NOA2
 
I promised myself that I would not whine on VJ before I hit 210 days and the case was officially over 210 days and beyond normal processing times.
I just called my fiance in Japan and we are so happy to move to the next steps.

I woke up this morning to an email that said "We have taken action on your case.  Sign in to view your case status."
 
I signed in and:
 
July 16, 2018
We approved your case
Read the notice we mailed you for more information
If you do not receive your notice by August 15, 2018, send us a case inquiry and select that you did not receive your notice by mail.
If your mailing address changes, update your address with us.
 
Finally after a long, long wait it is here.
NOA1 Dec 20, 2017 (old)
NOA1 Dec 26, 2017 (new)
NOA2 July 16, 2018 (new website)
208 days NOA1 to NOA2
 
I promised myself that I would not whine on VJ before I hit 210 days and the case was officially over 210 days and beyond normal processing times.
I just called my fiance in Japan and we are so happy to move to the next steps.

I woke up this morning to an email that said "We have taken action on your case.  Sign in to view your case status."
 
I signed in and:
 
July 16, 2018
We approved your case
Read the notice we mailed you for more information
If you do not receive your notice by August 15, 2018, send us a case inquiry and select that you did not receive your notice by mail.
If your mailing address changes, update your address with us.
 
Finally after a long, long wait it is here.
NOA1 Dec 20, 2017 (old)
NOA1 Dec 26, 2017 (new)
NOA2 July 16, 2018 (new website)
208 days NOA1 to NOA2
 
I promised myself that I would not whine on VJ before I hit 210 days and the case was officially over 210 days and beyond normal processing times.
I just called my fiance in Japan and we are so happy to move to the next steps.

I woke up this morning to an email that said "We have taken action on your case.  Sign in to view your case status."
 
I signed in and:
 
July 16, 2018
We approved your case
Read the notice we mailed you for more information
If you do not receive your notice by August 15, 2018, send us a case inquiry and select that you did not receive your notice by mail.
If your mailing address changes, update your address with us.
 
Finally after a long, long wait it is here.
NOA1 Dec 20, 2017 (old)
NOA1 Dec 26, 2017 (new)
NOA2 July 16, 2018 (new website)
208 days NOA1 to NOA2
 
I promised myself that I would not whine on VJ before I hit 210 days and the case was officially over 210 days and beyond normal processing times.
I just called my fiance in Japan and we are so happy to move to the next steps.

I woke up this morning to an email that said "We have taken action on your case.  Sign in to view your case status."
 
I signed in and:
 
July 16, 2018
We approved your case
Read the notice we mailed you for more information
If you do not receive your notice by August 15, 2018, send us a case inquiry and select that you did not receive your notice by mail.
If your mailing address changes, update your address with us.
 
Finally after a long, long wait it is here.
NOA1 Dec 20, 2017 (old)
NOA1 Dec 26, 2017 (new)
NOA2 July 16, 2018 (new website)
208 days NOA1 to NOA2
 
I promised myself that I would not whine on VJ before I hit 210 days and the case was officially over 210 days and beyond normal processing times.
I just called my fiance in Japan and we are so happy to move to the next steps.