USUK8

I just got back. I took my test in the states and had no problems at all. I bought the insurance as well but the customs officer didn't ask to see it, only if I had it. When I tried to pull it out of my bag, he just said I was ok and waved me through.

 I got tested in one of the local labs before I came back home within 72 hours. $35.00. They definitely check this, even at connecting airports, so be ready and get there a little earlier than usual. Lines are obviously way slower and things are still busy. My planes were packed.

Have a great trip!

I'm going to be flying to Ukraine in another month or so. Where are you guys finding the most current info? Does the Schengen ban apply to connecting flights? The only information I can find about connections is that it's ok.

51 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

Learning to trust the process and not be on the phone, emailing, texting or such will not move your file any faster.

 

We decided early on in our immigration journey that the only petition that we needed to be concerned about was our own. We were happy for other folks having good fortune on their immigration journey. We are all stuck on the same leaky boat, the USS USCIS, some of the folks have longer sojourns than others, some have shorter, that is the way it goes. We never had the time, energy, or inclination to worry about what other people were doing, we have our own life to live. Each step of the way we weren't on the phone, texting or emailing. We sat and waited till it was our turn, and our turn did come. C'est la vie !

 

Good luck on your immigration journey.

 I have to respectfully disagree with this. If I didn't call and email, I would still be waiting for a response that the embassy said was delayed, and who knows for how long. I still haven't gotten anything. I wouldn't have known any better and would already have wasted almost another 3 weeks. Instead we're cranking along and our file will be going through at least 3 weeks faster than it would have if I waited. 

 I'm sure the process is the same, but I think we might need to be a little more hands on the get the information that we need to move forward right now. Whether it's calling somewhere or someone, or asking someone here(running the risk of someone here making you seem like a dope for not knowing every detail about your specific process).

 We still don't know how much time we have left to finish everything and I'm not going to sit around waiting to trust the process and see what happens when I can make a call or send an email and possibly get an answer.

I emailed the embassy because I knew something was up. Here is the response:

4 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

The Kyiv embassy has been good, especially compared to other embassies.  All of us are lucky that our significant others are Ukrainian.))

Yeah, it sounds like the interview won't be that far out once we're ready. If we can make it happen like we want, our whole process will have taken a year. November to November. Not that bad with all things considered.

17 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

If it says Ready, you can go to the traveldocs site to enter your details, fill out the DS-160 and schedule your interview.  Use the case number from the NVC, per the guidelines that @Greenbaum posts in the K1 progress tracking forum:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nfin98c33IEpB0T0FlURERriblYmlm5O/view

 

DS-160's are done, we're collecting reports and scheduling medicals now. I actually got a personal response from the embassy with what to do next instructions! I was surprised.

Hopefully we can get the interview scheduled soon.

35 minutes ago, qwer123we said:

It's my first scheduled interview. Does your case status show "ready" on DS-160? 

It says "Ready" on the CEAC page. Is that what you're talking about? 

It's good to hear that interviews are relatively quick.

20 hours ago, qwer123we said:

Good news! I just scheduled the K1 interview on 10/20. My case was arrived to embassy and ready since March, but I didn't have the chance to schedule a date. Now I figure all of cancelled interviews are scheduled and embassy is beginning to process the backlog!

Is this a re-scheduled interview or your first? I'm curious to know how far out ours could be. We're hoping to schedule ours in the next few weeks.

We are officially in Packet 3 gathering mode! We had most of it together and should be complete soon. Should have our interview date scheduled soon. Man, it's so great to be moving forward finally.

I'll add that I had to email the embassy to get the response that we we're really ready. They said their "notifications have been delayed" so who knows how long we could have sat and wasted time. They emailed us the information that we needed with their response luckily.

13 minutes ago, emma24 said:

I’m not 100% sure but I think Ready is after In Transit. 

Ready is after in transit, but the first ready doesn't really mean ready apparently! We are in ready mode, but haven't heard anything from the Embassy yet. Our ready says we're ready to schedule an interview, but I haven't paid for or submitted any documents yet. It looks like the are 7 more steps for us to go before we can schedule an interview.

Hopefully we'll be really "Ready" soon!

1 minute ago, Greenbaum said:

Have some patience. Things take time. Everything you have experienced is normal except the longer wait time because of the pandemic. Did you study the PDF as I address this issue there.

Yep, re-reading everything right now. Thanks!

Now I'm a little confused. Checked the CEAC site and we went from In transit to READY! This is great but we haven't gotten any communication at all as far as a package, email or notice to pay any fees. We don't even have the NVC invoice number yet. Is this normal?

Finally got our email from NVC as well. We are IN TRANSIT!

We finally got our letter from NVC. We are "in transit" to the Embassy! Hoping for very speedy mail.

12 hours ago, Gilili said:

I  don't see anything on the embassy's website about resuming K1 visas. Are they expecting to have an announcement about that ?

https://ua.usembassy.gov/visas/

They started on September 2nd. Hopefully they are going fast because I still haven't heard from the NVC.

46 minutes ago, Zaichik&Miska said:

Yeah, foreigners are banned from entering until 28 Sept. Adaptive quarantine extended until 31 Oct. 

 

Yes, confirmed. My fiancee was called and asked if she was available on X date. She said yes and was instructed to show up. They are rescheduling all interviews that were cancelled in March and April and will work forward from there to clear the backlog before allowing the rest of K applicants to schedule their interviews via USTravelDocs site. Also, the Diversity Visa categories have been added to that workload recently as ordered by the courts. Hopefully it doesn't affect interviews already scheduled. Good luck to everyone, at least things are moving again.

That's awesome, congratulations on the progress! We're still waiting to get a notification of some sort from NVC, we've been stuck there since March.

The Embassy updated their site,. It says they started to process K1&K2's on September 2nd. Awesome news. Hopefully in a few weeks they catch up to our case.

I hope they really got started today and I'll see our application get in the mail soon. Tired of being at NVC!

26 minutes ago, Zaichik&Miska said:

Yeah, it was 3:30pm Ukraine time. Happened this morning for us. If your interview got cancelled in March and April, they will prioritize you first, then move down the list to clear the backlog, then move on to cases received from NVC. They are still not operating at 100%, K visa resumption is presumably because of the announcement from DoS yesterday. 

I feel like a dope for not realizing the time! This is really great news at this point and hopefully there isn't a huge backlog. I'll really feel like things are moving when we get out of the " at NVC" phase.

1 hour ago, Alyssa920 said:

They will begin resuming K1 visa interviews starting with cancelled interviews in March and April. Beginning on Tuesday September 8th.

It already happened?? I was waiting for 3:30est! What else did I miss?

Thanks for the information.

56 minutes ago, eirinlinn said:

Does anyone know if you can extend it while it’s stuck at the nvc? 

When I called the NVC a few weeks ago, they said it would automatically be reinstated. We've been stuck there since our NOA2 March 23. I've never gotten a letter or an email from them. I had to call to get our KEV#. We filled out DS forms and have been stuck there since...no invoice to pay, no letters, notices...nothing.

We need "At NVC" to change to whatever is next!

2 hours ago, jandn_ukraine said:

Not sure about other embassies doing similar, but US Embassy in Ukraine is having a virtual town hall on Sept. 2, when US citizens can ask Visa related questions.  Assuming their doing this due to the lack of information and progress in regards to K1's and other non-processed visas.

 

https://ua.usembassy.gov/message-for-u-s-citizens-reminder-for-u-s-citizen-virtual-town-hall-on-september-2/

 

 

I already registered. Hopefully there will be some clarifications on K1's. This show needs to get on the road.

Welp, Ukraine extended the quarantine until October 31 and banned all travelers. Not good.

The adaptive quarantine in Ukraine expires on August 31st, so there will be some announcement about conditions in the next few days I would assume. If Kiev becomes a green zone, there should be no reason that the embassy isn't back to 100%. They should be 100% now in my opinion, but according to the rules of " Embassies rely on local conditions" to paraphrase, if Kiev goes green, nothing should stop them from opening. They need to open.

Most of Ukraine is green so I hope things continue to get better, or at least not get any worse. 

4 minutes ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

Hi @USUK8! Turkey had no test required to show or screening on arrival. You do fill out a card with your information about where you’re going in turkey and stand in passport control for about 20 mins. They didn’t ask me any questions,  just stamped my passport. Masks everywhere in turkey and lots of places take temps before you can walk in (restaurants, hotels, grand bazaar). 
 

My return to the US was easy too. No screening or tests needed. I did quarantine at home for 10 days to be safe but it was not required. I recommend Turkish airlines if you do turkey, they were amazing. Safe travels!! ❤️

I appreciate it very much!

Thanks!