Precisely

Nope, it’s a separate fee after visa approval. They won’t send the card until you pay.

It is a separate fee

My wife is also from the states (married March 2018 and filed April 2018). Besides the required documentation (i.e. i130, i130a etc), she sent an affidavit from her parents and photos of our meets. That was it really. Of course if you have more, the better. Flight itineraries and tickets and anything to show its bonafide is helpful, but just reading your brief description it sounds stronger than ours.
 
The affidavit her parents wrote was pretty good, about a page long, and even threw this at the end for good measure (without me knowing), "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge."
 
Let me know if you need a hand with anything else.

This is fairly usual and completely fine.
 
I am CR1 too and am at the interview stage now. We only had 4 personal meets over a 2 and a half year period, no bank account or join tenancy. Ergo, we got i130 approval, NVC approval, and I hope this coming Monday, full approval. 

My wife is also from the states (married March 2018 and filed April 2018). Besides the required documentation (i.e. i130, i130a etc), she sent an affidavit from her parents and photos of our meets. That was it really. Of course if you have more, the better. Flight itineraries and tickets and anything to show its bonafide is helpful, but just reading your brief description it sounds stronger than ours.
 
The affidavit her parents wrote was pretty good, about a page long, and even threw this at the end for good measure (without me knowing), "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge."
 
Let me know if you need a hand with anything else.

This is fairly usual and completely fine.
 
I am CR1 too and am at the interview stage now. We only had 4 personal meets over a 2 and a half year period, no bank account or join tenancy. Ergo, we got i130 approval, NVC approval, and I hope this coming Monday, full approval. 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf    Look at page 21
 
"Select this filing status by checking the Married filing separately box on the Filing Status line at the top of Form 1040. Enter your spouse's full name and SSN or ITIN in the entry space at the far right of the filing status checkboxes (next to Qualifying Widow(er)). If your spouse doesn't have and isn't required to have an SSN or ITIN, enter “NRA” in the space for your spouse's SSN. Use the Married filing separately column of the Tax Table or Section C of the Tax Computation Worksheet to figure your tax."

Being real, proposing on the first day of the meeting your fiance likely wont bode well for approval, and Manilla can be a tough embassy for K1s in general.
 
There's a chance as you weren't apparently denied, but if you are then I would advise marrying and having several visits or, at least, meets in person before trying again.

I thought you meant I had to go in my Texas bank and give them a form. Actually I had no questions from Transferwise except how much and account numbers. I was transferring from me to me. I have been with the UK bank 30 years and the Texas bank about 9 years. Maybe I didn't raise any suspicion because these were not new accounts. I have filed FBAR and FATCA for 10 years. 
Correction on amount. I looked it up. It was $14,970 and I don't remember how much the other transfer was. 
 

Yes. I mentioned that because I forgot my son's ISA and they brought that up when I went in branch. 
 
Current account is not a problem but you need to check with your bank/building society about their t & c. Obviously as a K1 I no longer had a regular income going in. My building society were fine about that. 

It will be much easier if you walk in a bank once you're there and have a SSN. Otherwise they have to classify you as a foreigner, get forms filled out. When you get there, you will be a permanent resident not a foreigner.
 
I have used Transferwise to move money from the U.K. 
 
There's some valid reasons why keeping your UK account open might be a good idea. If I find the thread, I'll copy them. Don't have time to elaborate now.

I think you'll have trouble finding a bank in the US that will allow you to open an account without SSN. 
 
It's easy enough to manage transactions and closing an account from here with online banking, as long as you've informed your UK branch of your address in the States. Maybe transfer your savings into your current account (that's what I did), then you can transfer it once you're set up here. 

Agree it’s easier to open an account once you are in the US, then just transfer the funds over. If they are more than $10k you’ll fill in a form for the US bank to confirm source of funds  (part of anti money laundering effort) but otherwise not a hassle at all. 

If you entered on the immigrant visa and checked the box that you wanted SSN on the DS-260, things should happen automatically. 
 
Give it 4-5 weeks. If no SSN arrives in the mail, go to the SS office with your passport/visa. They should be able to tell if there is a number issued for you, or if there is a problem

If you are male then register after you get your SSN: https://www.sss.gov/Home/Registration
If you are female then its not required and the form will not accept your registration: https://www.sss.gov/Registration/Women-And-Draft

You can do it online once you come to the USA and get a SSN. The link is below:
 
https://www.sss.gov/Home/Registration

There are no arrest questions on the I-130.  Those are on the I-129f to comply with IMBRA and AWA.  They don't want an unknowing beneficiary in a relationship with a potentially abusive partner.  I guess they figure if you are married you get what you deserve!!!  LOL 😁

Goodmorning May filers, 
I just want to encourage everyone including myself, that's waiting for their Notice of Approval from the NSC. I want to urge us not be discouraged or be despaired. I also want us to know that with each day that passes by, we are getting closer to the day when we will all receive our NOA2 and ultimately be with our husbands/wives. Seems like we have 3 more people who are still waiting to hear from the NSC. So that makes us 8 now. So Hardiv, May16 and Emgee, kindly communicate with us here as soon as you receive your NOA2. Have a great day everyone. 

This is fairly usual and completely fine.
 
I am CR1 too and am at the interview stage now. We only had 4 personal meets over a 2 and a half year period, no bank account or join tenancy. Ergo, we got i130 approval, NVC approval, and I hope this coming Monday, full approval. 

I'm sure it varies by embassy but expect questions like:
 
- how did you meet?
- what do they do for living?
- how many times have you met?
- what have you done together in the past or what do you enjoy doing together?
- how many times have you been to the States?
- have you been arrested or criminally charged before?
- have you been married before?
- do you have any children?
- where do they live? Have they ever been married or had children, and so on.

I got the same email and that is considered as case complete. We got another email about 2 weeks later with a scheduled interview date, time and information about getting to the embassy, setting up a courier and getting our medical done.
 
Your longer wait may be because of interview availability. I think it is generally slower in India than in some other countries, but others from India may be able to share their experience. Or you can look for similar timelines.

We did not submit any extra photos at the NVC stage and my interview went fine.

I just had an appointment with my GP and I asked him for a summary. He printed off a two page document which had detail of my last two visits and a bullet point summary of anything I'd had in the past (and anything active if relevant).
 
Vaccination record I got from the surgeries receptionist on 5 minute notice.
 

Just the bar coded page. If you want you can print the whole thing (I did) but I wouldn't offer it unless they ask for it and make sure its easy to separate the bar coded page from the rest. Personally, I wasn't asked for it.

I got the same email and that is considered as case complete. We got another email about 2 weeks later with a scheduled interview date, time and information about getting to the embassy, setting up a courier and getting our medical done.
 
Your longer wait may be because of interview availability. I think it is generally slower in India than in some other countries, but others from India may be able to share their experience. Or you can look for similar timelines.