RFN

I have received a mail letter for the biometric, but did not get any email from uscis. Is that normal? I have never received any email from them. When i receive my appointment date for the aos interview, do we also only get it in mail and not email?

I applied EAD, AP and AOS early April this year, went for biometric around a month ago, but received another letter asking me to do another one next week. Is this normal?

And how soon do we usually get AOS interview date after the application? I was looking at the AOS timelines, while some went for interview in less than 6 months, some took way longer than that. I had always thought it'll take a year or more. While I haven't received my AP yet, I'm hoping to get soon and plan to go back to my home country for a month or two in October or November. I just worry that the interview will happen then. I've read that rescheduling is only applicable if you are sick or for emergency. 

Almost a month ago I picked up my passport along with the brown packet that I'm supposed to carry with me when I fly to the US. There's a small cut on one side of the packet, but I don't see any x-ray, just a bunch of papers. From my understanding there should be an x-ray right? Or is this packet enough?

18 hours ago, ram1009 said:

The State Department website says 6 months.  What is the source of your information saying one year?

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/collect-and-submit-forms-and-documents-to-the-nvc/step-5-collect-supporting-documents.html

It states on the site "12 months or more". And this is the email I received from the embassy:

7.             Police Certificate

Each applicant aged 16 or older must have police clearance from any country where the applicant resided for one year or more

I also originally thought it's 6 months or more and was frantically trying to find out how to get police cert from China and Taiwan, until my brother pointed it out that its 12 months or more. I have done the interview and was never asked for them. But I'm not sure if it varies embassy to embassy. 

If your fiance lives in those countries for less than a year, she doesn't need a police report.

From my understanding, you only need one if you ever lived in a country for 12 months or more after 16 years old. I've lived in China and Taiwan before for 10-11 months each and I didn't need to provide police certificates from these countries.

20 hours ago, gaski said:

it happened to me too lol i was so happy and excited and cried like a baby in front of everybody..and the CO looks so happy and forgot to do one of the most important thing of her job.. she gave me the slip but never tell the the oath 😂 a few minutes later she announce my name and tell me to come back to her how embarrassing 😂i never like my name to be called haha

 

anyway.. best you can do is call the embassy and tell about your situation. they usually give you the slip and tell you to call a number to confirm your delivery address..

 

congratulations and good luck

lol thats funny 😂 Right before my CO congratulated me, he asked me why I stayed in Korea, cause I had a Korean Police Cert. I told him I studied Korean, he was giving this confused look, and was like "whhhyy?" and then suddenly he spoke Korean to me (He's a Korean American apparently) , I guess that's when I was shocked and went blank lol.. I just checked the CEAC website and its on administrative process. I'm gonna give it a week or so, if nothing happened I'm gonna give them a call. Thanks!

21 hours ago, gsdc23 said:

I’m sorry but this story made me chuckle 😂. You basically just blacked out and left? That’s funny. Check your status on the CEAC website. 

 

https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?eQs=WwjqOlbeRYzCYubaSQI+RA==

 

Usually they give you a slip saying congratulations or a 221g requesting any missing important documents. They’ll give you a quick estimate of how long it’ll take to get your passport and sometimes tell you how. 

 

Check your countries portal/forum thread to see how everyone else did it.

Yeah I guess I did lol 😅. Thanks for the tips. I checked and it says its undergoing administrative processing. I'm guessing it's a good thing?

I just had my interview yesterday and it went smooth. The interviewer congratulated me and by that point my mind went blank because I was too excited. I think he told me my passport and x-ray will be sent to me in a week, and that they will email me about the process or something. He then stood up and went to the back, I assumed it was done and I left. So now I have a few questions.

- I chose to pick up my passport at a specified location instead of getting it delivered. But how do I know when to pick it up?

- Also, am I supposed to get a paper slip? I didn't get any.

- The stack of evidences that was sent along with the application is now in my hand. It was given back to me right before the interview by a lady who was collecting my documents. She told me to show to the interviewer if asked. I did give it to the interviewer but somehow it's back with me again. So this is for me to keep now?

- The lady also gave me my medical-check up result, but it was't sealed, its in a file. Is this the so-called sealed envelope that I shouldn't open and bring with me to the US? Or will I be given a different one?

I might be overthinking this, but I can't help but think that the interviewer was only going to the back to get me something and that I shouldn't have left too soon. 

1 hour ago, tiggermuffin said:

Thank you so much for the information! I will get the COC only from Singapore then, good luck for your K1 interview!

Thank you! I will get only from Singapore then, good luck for your interview!

I'm not sure if you're going to need one from Indonesia since you'll be doing the interview in Singapore. But this what they sent me: 

7.             Police Certificate

Each applicant aged 16 or older must have police clearance from any country where the applicant resided for one year or more

Please note Indonesian Police Certificate is not required

I too am an Indonesian, studied in Singapore and US before and they only require one from Singapore.

36 minutes ago, Loren Y said:

Yes, for my K1 she had worked in South Korea over 6 years ago and the stamps we're even in her old passport, and when she was at her interview they took her certificate, but didn't seem too concerned about it. Maybe because it was a long time ago or something, but she was there a little over 6 months working on her Visa. We only needed that one and one from Thailand of course, but it was easy to obtain. I think it is if you are in any country over 6 months you need the certificate, so hopefully no problems for you. But if they ask at the interview make sure you can show proof you tried to obtain a copy of the police certificate, that way you can show them you tried to obtain a copy, but I don't think they will hold it against you too much, but that's up to the CO I would guess.

If it's 6 months, I will have to get police certificates from China and Taiwan too. But both embassies here said they don't issue such document and that I have to go to the police station in the cities I lived in myself. Which means I will have to apply visas for both countries, fly to Shanghai and Taipei, get the certificates and get them notarized. As if not complicated enough, i found out that my China visa that I used at that time was a multiple tourist visa. I already have the visa from previous trip. When I applied to be a language student through an agency, they told me that I can just use it and that I don't have to apply for a student visa again. Problem is China would not issue a police certificate to tourist visa holder. While worrying about all this, I realized that on the email the embassy sent me it says a year and over, not 6 months. So I emailed the US embassy, and their reply is pretty much a copy and paste of the first email in bold. My stay in both countries were around 11 months each. I'm just so relieved I don't have to worry about these two countries anymore. Hopefully I will get good news from the Korean embassy.

1 minute ago, Loren Y said:

My fiancee didn't need that as far as I know. They just wanted to see entry and exit stamps in her passport. I guess for proof of when she was there. Hopefully they will take care of you.

They didn't even ask to see my stamps. They only took a copy of my passport and visa. Finger crossed.

1 minute ago, Loren Y said:

My fiancee also had to get a South Korea police certificate. It was really easy to get. She went to the local embassy in Bangkok, filled out the form and gave them copies of her entry and exit stamps, and they mailed it to her a week later. You can also do it via mail, but it might take longer.

I actually already went to the Korean embassy here in Jakarta, but the problem is I don't have a copy of my arc. It was taken by the immigration when I left Korea and I never took a copy of it. They told me they will try but could not confirm that I will get it. So I'm still waiting to hear from them.

1 minute ago, Loren Y said:

Your visa (the “entry permission” document), at the time of issuance has an expiration date. For K1 Visa holders, the expiration date is tied to the medical exam date. This is usually 6 months from the date of the Medical Exam. 

 

this is what I found, and my fiancee K1 expires 6 months from medical exam also.

Thank you for the info. I originally thought of doing it asap, but I'll just wait until I'm ready for the interview.

3 minutes ago, Loren Y said:

Usually it is best to wait until you have the interview scheduled. They set them up 2 to 3 weeks out usually. Then you go get your medical done about a week before the interview. Reason for this is your Visa expires 6 months from date of the medical exam, so you don't want to get the medical done too early so your Visa is valid as long as possible in case of unforseen circumstances.

I see, I thought it expires 6 months from date of approved visa.

7 minutes ago, AmandaandChayne said:

ok yes you'll get the visa interview confirmation letter to take to the medical. Don't think it really matters which way .round you book them as long as your interview is after your medical, allow time for the interview confirmation before having your medical.( unless someone else tells me you can print it off when booking)

Will the interview confirmation be sent by mail?

2 minutes ago, AmandaandChayne said:

1. I would get one for South Korea to be on the safe side, others may disagree.

2. medical first, the interviewers need your medical results as part of their approval decision. having the other way around will delay your application.

What I mean is the booking of the interview, not the interview itself. it says that i need to bring the visa interview letter to the medical examination. I'm guessing the letter will be given after I book the interview. It's just that I'm not ready to book the interview yet but I'm ok with doing the medical exam now.

I’m in the process of gathering my documents for my k1 visa interview and I have a couple questions.

1.     While trying to get police clearance certificates from a few countries I’ve lived in, I realized that on the email that the US embassy sent me it stated “Each applicant aged 16 or older must have police clearance from any country where the applicant resided for one year or more”. I had originally thought that it was 6 months or more as what some have said here on vj. I entered South Korea on March 4, 2014 and left on March 2, 2015. Technically it’s only 363 days but would it still be considered a year? Would I still need to get a police certificate?

2.     Should I book my interview date before booking for the medical examination first? Or the other way around?

Thank you.

12 hours ago, meiliani said:

Hi, 

 

I asked my husband and he said he only have his old passport that showed the visa and the immigration stamp and a copy of his resident card. He didn't have the original. 

HI Meiliani,

The thing is I dont have a copy of my resident card. I never thought I've ever need it.  Thanks for asking you husband!

3 hours ago, tpmd said:

I did it without my arc and it came back no problem

i hope there wont be any problem too..finger crossed

15 hours ago, usmsbow said:

 

Yuck, that sucks. I'm surprised they said they need that since immigration takes everyone's ARC when moving from South Korea. Perhaps they thought you were still a resident in South Korea? Maybe go to the embassy in person (if you are in or near Jakarta) and try. You probably will have better luck that way. 

I know right.. When I emailed them I mentioned that I lived there between 2013-2014. I might just have to visit all the embassies because only South Korean embassy replied to me so far. But I wonder if I should do it now, because we are just only going to send the k-1 application this week. 

On 2/2/2018 at 3:57 AM, meiliani said:

Hi, 

 

My husband used to life in south Korea for 6 years. Getting a police report from South Korea is easy. he went to the SK embassy in Jakarta, filled out the necessary form. If I'm not mistaken only took about 2 weeks or maybe less. 

 

Hope this is help...

 

Thanks

Hi Meiliani, 

I've contacted them and they said they'll need a copy of the arc. I pretty much ransacked my whole place looking for it and then remembered that the immigration took it back when I left the country and never made any copy. I haven't asked them about it yet, but did your husband had his copy?

Thanks

55 minutes ago, J/G said:

Yes, I second USMSBOW, you are NOT required to submit Indonesian's police clearance cert. And don't bother getting one. The embassy officials won't ask. Focus on something more beneficial for your case (i.e. other countries' police clearance certs). 

 

For what it's worth, re: obtaining clearance while you're not in the country, here's my experience. When I tried to obtain my Australian police clearance cert. I was living in Bali, Indonesia. I visited my state's police department (Victoria PD) website and it's all just a matter of filling out forms online and a few clicks here and there, payment by credit card and that's it. The only thing is I used a friend's mailing address in Australia for the PD to mail the clearance letter rather than having the PD mail it internationally using a standard AustPost. My friend then mailed it to me using DHL. The whole process including DHL shipping was done in 10 days. 

 

Good luck. 

J/G

 

PS. As of now your MOST reliable source of information re: what documents to submit would be the US Govt's issued I-129F form (and its instruction). READ and RE-read the form / instruction often the case the answer is right under your nose. And WHEN you have ANY kind of doubts / questions, send an email to the US Embassy in Jakarta. From my experience, they were VERY quick to respond (within the hour) and were VERY clear in responding your queries, as long as your question is also VERY clear.  

Thanks J/G! I'm going to call all the embassies and find out what I should do for each country. Hopefully everything goes smoothly.

9 hours ago, usmsbow said:

 

While I realize it is the probably the easiest for you to get, you do not need a police certificate for Indonesia. It seems to be the one country in the world that the State Department does not require that certificate. A rare "benefit" from Indonesian corruption I suppose. 

 

Edited to add: as for your name, I think you should be OK. It seems to be a common issue for Indonesians, and I can't think of one instance on VJ where it ended up being a problem (beyond the stress & worry you're currently experiencing). 

 

 

 

 

I actually read under the consulate review that they don't require police cert from Indonesia, but I wasn't sure about it. At least now there's one less thing to worry about. Thanks for the info usmsbow.