Mozam

We were approved! Card was marked in production the same day!

We had our interview yesterday in Memphis. Nothing crazy, but the questions the interviewer started off with were! We went in armed with tons of relationship proof and she didn't ask for any of it. At the end (after we were more or less "approved"), I asked her if she wanted/needed any of it. She said that most people that have been married a short amount of time don't have a lot of shared things together at this point. Well, I gave her a copy of our lease, photos of a mini vacation, proof of shared bills/bank account, and photos of our wedding w/ invitation. She didn't even want our marriage certificate. 

Anyways, back to the questions she asked that are on one of the forms that I can't remember the specific name of. Like "Have you ever registered to vote?", "Have you ever claimed to be a citizen?", "Have you ever participated in any terroristic activities?", "Do you have any plans to spy on our government?", "Do you have military training?", I think she asked all of those questions that most people just go down the list and mark "no" on. To us these were crazy because we didn't prepare for them. I know you are likely thinking "well those are easy"..and they are when you know words like "spy" and don't take things literally as my husband has registered to vote......in his own country. He speaks English, but still needs practice in his technical English. So, those made his nerves shoot through the roof because he was so nervous about accidentally saying the wrong thing. 

After that she went on to ask a few relationship questions like "How did we meet?" "Why did I live in his country for so long?" "What was I doing there?" "When did he decide to marry me?" "When did we get engaged?" "What day did he start working?" "The address where he worked?" Etc. These were easier and the types of questions we were expecting.

He was shaky on some of it. He didn't remember the exact day we got engaged and the new office address as we just switched offices. However, all went well. The lady was nice and patient to repeat questions. We did use a translator because we had a horrible experience in our K1 interview that almost cost us approval. One might have helped a bit, but the lady also let me repeat questions to help him understand. All in all, it went well and thankful we have a break from this for a while. 

We got to celebrate this weekend a bit! At the end of last week our case changed to "interview ready to be scheduled" and that our EAD/AP expedite was approved. Now, just waiting to get the combo card in the mail. This process just got a bit easier since we know employment is in the very near future! Interested, to see how long it'll be before our interview is actually scheduled!

Hey all! I know this is a K1 thread, but just wanted to check in to say that our EAD expedite was approved. We do not have the card in hand as of yet, but are excited to know that it will become sooner rather than later. My husband literally started jumping up and down that he is finally going to start working soon!

Just now, LuFlolady said:

Gotcha! good luck with that....... and pls keep us posted on the outcome because I may try as well my husband has gotten several job offers that we have had to turn down

Will do! We were on the phone for an hour last night starting the expedite process. Just waiting for them to contact us with info of where to send our evidence. Trying to see what additional information I can provide in addition to the job offer. 

5 minutes ago, Hunter & Robyn said:

Happy to hear you're moving along swiftly! What did you get an RFE for if I may ask? I'm about to send my AOS off and am worried I don't have everything together, despite doing a bunch of research. Hope you get your EAD expedited! 

I didn’t show enough proof of my income. Which to me was valid. However, I was under the understanding that since I had a co-sponsor I didn’t need to do the whole 9-yard of proving my income. Not true. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also for his (the beneficiary) birth certificate. Didn’t understand this one. We just sent another copy. A lot of people in my month’s AOS thread got this RFIE and did the same. 

7 minutes ago, LuFlolady said:

Glad to hear things are going well for the both of you! what is your reasoning for EAD expedite..... I have seen several people trying to expedite the EAD......

We are doing it on the basis of financial loss with the subreasoning that he has received a job offer. I’m not hinging on getting it, but right now I see no harm in trying since we are pass the 100 day mark. 

18 hours ago, vistawateraz said:

How are all the SA applicants doing?  This board was going crazy for a while and everything seemed to cool down. Hope everyone is doing well!!

 

We are doing well. Married back at the beginning of March. Sent our AOS back in April and had it shot back to us to re-send again May. Also had an RFIE. 🙄 Was not on our game as much compared to the first part of the process. All is well now and we are preparing info to try and expedite our EAD card. Hindsight, I would have done the K2/CR1 process, but not the end of the world. We are making it and so happy to be together. 

On 7/23/2019 at 4:14 PM, BananaButton5 said:

RFIE was received by USCIS last week...status has not changed to ready for interview yet. We are both so exhausted by him not being able to work and the limitations it puts on our lives. It just seems so unfair. At least we have two new kittens to distract us. To everyone still waiting, keep hanging in there. 

Agreed. We knew going into it, but it is another game actually having to deal with it. Financially, things are tight, but we are definitely okay. Just hard for him to be the one that stays home. 

They should receive our RFIE documents today. They wanted birth certificate, evidence of my salary/employment, and a copy of my co-sponsors passport. More than I was expecting; however, not too hard to obtain. I didn't send too much on my employment at the time because at the time we sent it I had the job less than a month and we had a strong cosponsor. Anyways, I have a question about the birth certificate.

Our stamp is quite hard to see on the original document making it a bit hard to see on the copy. I figured maybe that's why we were RFIE'd on it? It is the same documents we used for the original interview and I-295F. I sent a black and white copy as well as a color copy along with another copy of the translation. I feel like that was the best that could have been done apart from sending the original. Any input? I think I'm most nervous about that. 

Just got an email that we are receiving a RFIE. Hopefully we will receive it in the mail before the end of the week. Wondering if it is a birth certificate since that’s what is popping up so frequently here. Fingers crossed that it is an easily accessible document that we already have. 

Anyways, glad to know they are touching our case. I know my husband is so ready to start working. 

7 hours ago, march16filer said:

I think you should just take the letter and go to the service center anyways. They usually allow walk ins before your appt date, so it’s worth trying to go after. I think you’ll be ok. It doesn’t make sense to wait 30 days and hold up the entire process.

6 hours ago, debbiedoo said:

i too would go and just hope for the best. 

2 hours ago, my&aaron said:

My office says that but accepted my walk-in anyway. I would give it a shot, it won't hurt to try!

Thanks all. I finally spoke with a Tier 2 and our date is rescheduled for the 3rd of July. If we get the opportunity to do a walk-in before that date we are definitely going to try! 

We received our Biometrics appointment letter in the mail after the scheduled date of the appointment, so we missed it. Tried calling yesterday afternoon and their system was down so they couldn’t help us. The lady said when the system works they will have to submit a letter to my field office and they will accept or reject it and give us a notification within 30days if we get a new appointment. I know there was someone else on this thread that went through something similar. Is there another way to push through this? Little bit frustrating since this wasn’t our fault. His name is on our mailing box.  

I also asked about walk-in and was told our particular field office doesn’t accept walk-ins. Our office is Ft. Smith, AR. 

Hi all! We sent our AOS packet via USPS on April 11 and it was delivered according to tracking code on April 13. Still waiting to see some action in the form of a cashed check, text, or NOA. 

11 hours ago, MozambiqueSoninha said:

Amazing - so happy it is over - So happy you guys are traveling ! 

 

I have started looking into either applying for a 60 day at the border / consulate ahead of time or, planning to fly back to Maputo for a few days in the middle of the process, just to get a new 30 day, ugh.

Very wise idea. Learn from our troubles and save yourself some grief. However, don't be afraid to remind them that you are foreigners in SA (well, more specifically your wife and stepchild) and that they are only allowed to stay for so long as they aren't SA citizens/residents. We didn't emphasize that at the interview and I think it might have helped our situation. Don't let them skirt around and say it isn't their responsibility when they can influence the process. 

18 hours ago, Pdvdw said:

Who did you call and email? Do you think it helped to get it back faster? I'm flying out this Thursday to the USA and only got my status changed to "issued" 2 or so days after yours, so it may seem like I'm going to miss my flight if it isn't handed over to DHL at the latest tomorrow.

 

Happy you guys seem to have gotten everything sorted, sorry for the rough week. Have a great wedding

I called and emailed the embassy. It did help, but it was because my fiancé was a foreigner in South Africa. I don't think it would help in your case as you are only trying to rush the process due to a flight. They clearly tell you not to make travel arrangements until you have visa in hand. We needed to rush the process as he was going to (and did) overstay his visa for South Africa because they were holding the passport for so long. 

Hey all. Just wanted to check in after a whirlwind of a weekend. I called and called and emailed. We got the passport back Friday just before DHL closed. They wouldn't deliver it to Pretoria where we requested so at 4pm (DHL closed at 6pm) they headed to DHL in Sandton through N1 traffic and retrieved it right before closing. We tried to get my fiancé out of SA on a direct flight so he didn't overstay his visa, but SA airlines had a problem (their problem not ours) and couldn't process our last minute payment. He ended up staying over by one day, but things were resolved after a huge ordeal. 

All that to say we are flying out today in a few hours. I truly wish the best for you all and hope your passports come back soon. So thankful for this group and here's to keeping in touch as we go through our first few months. We are getting married on the 8th. Can't wait!

TL;DR - We have our visa and going to America today. 

Anyone have any input to know if being "banned" from SA will influence his entrance into the USA even though he has already been approved for his US visa? 

We've called and emailed. They are basically saying "we stated the processing times from the being of the process". They have to do their "due diligence" since the visa has been printed and issued, so we should have accounted for this process. So disappointed in my embassy right now. 

1 hour ago, madameMaison said:

Ceac website says my visa is "issued"... ✨😃... 

 

I'm sorry but that felt quick for me being that my interview was last week🤷🏽‍♀️... 

I am happy for you, really. However, this makes no sense. The embassy needs to iron out its kinks. It took me almost a week to move to issued as did others. Hmm... anyways congrats on your approval and being issued!

8 minutes ago, vistawateraz said:

I've been reading a lot about delays in receiving visas, did everyone choose expedited shipping or are you picking them up at the consulate?  Our interview is on 3/14, and am really hoping we have the visa in hand the following week. 

You don't get to choose your shipping from what I understand. You can only pay more if you want it delivered directly instead of picking it up at a select DHL office. From my understanding you can't pick it up directly at the consulate or I would have already been down there knocking on doors. Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong. 

11 hours ago, Confusedtinybird said:

With regard to the ban from South Africa don't worry about it to much. You can get the ban removed. Make sure you have all your paperwork with you!! The ban was really big several years, but S.A. has eased up on it.

 

 

I've heard that, but I've heard you have to hire a lawyer. What paperwork should I have? They literally gave us nothing when we left the interview. 

4 hours ago, Pdvdw said:

I have a flight for 28 Feb booked. We didn’t expect it to take over 3 weeks to send the visa. My word looks like I’m paying to cancel this flight 🙈

 

They said I’ll have my visa in 7 - 10 working days. But seems likes this is going to be 14+. 

We've rescheduled our flight once. We might have to do it again. Thankfully the fee isn't too outrageous to change it. Hoping the best for all of us. 

6 hours ago, MozambiqueSoninha said:

Man, Mozam - you have me starting to worry that I need to plan my trip to Jozy so that we arrive on Day one of the medical.  On what day did your medical start?, What day did you arrive in SA?  Do you know is there any ability to apply for 60 day at POE to SA?  Americans get 90 days, correct?  And as a SADC country you would think there would be some flexibility 

We arrived on a Wednesday (Jan 23) and our first medical appointment was on a Friday (Jan 25). Then our interview was on Feb 7th. I have no idea about applying for a longer stay. Americans do get 90 days so it isn't a problem for me.

I came back to Mozambique today because everything has to be out of our house by tomorrow. He is still in SA waiting. I will be at it again in the morning trying to move mountains. (Help me Jesus). We are looking into what we need to do with his SA visa stamp. I've heard multiple stories of people being banned from the country for "X" number of years for overstaying even by just 1 day. The U.S. Embassy doesn't seem to care and just keep giving a blanket answer that it takes 10 days to return the issued visa after AP. I literally don't care about getting the American visa in my hand right now (since we know we are approved) I just don't want him to overstay his visa because the embassy won't return his passport like we've asked. 

2 minutes ago, JS5220 said:

Congratulations!! I honestly don't know what happens after this step, or how long it takes before we get the visas. I've been at "issue" since Thursday and no updates today. Still no tracking number. Maybe tomorrow will be kind to us all!!

We should get an email with the tracking number. I feel like I have been through the wringer trying to find out how to deal with our situation. I called DHL today and they said the would even call when they received it.

I gave up calling the Embassy trying to find out what we should do and called DHL. I was then transferred to a DHL that seemed like head office and spoke with a specific person. He was trying to locate where our process might be and I believe he called directly to the Embassy as he returned to the phone (I could hear the entire time; even rattled off our case number when I only gave him a passport number) and said that it was still at the Embassy and maybe it would be sent out tomorrow or Thursday. 

We have already pushed our flights back to next week, but this still doesn't help my fiancé possibly overstaying his SA visa which expires at the end of this week.  We have called and emailed multiple times and are getting no where fast. 

Just now, Pdvdw said:

Are you sure it is a holiday at consulate tomorrow (Monday)? What is the holiday?

Yes, it's an American Holiday. President's Day. 

9 minutes ago, Tanya007 said:

Hi! Can anyone tell me whether you have to pay Dr Hoosen in cash or do they take cards?

From what I remember you can only pay cash if you go make a deposit at the bank. I could be wrong. However, you can definitely pay by card. 

20 hours ago, MozambiqueSoninha said:

fingers crossed for you guys - seems like a good week for our group...... they FINALLY accepted all of our documents.  Our case has been marked "Documentation Qualified," now we just wait for our interview - which will be frustrating, as I understand it we dont get to log in and pick like you K1's we have to wait for the embassy and NVC to pick a date, which they then tell us when to come.  

 

But at least the guessing game with NVC is finally OVER!!!

Exciting that they accepted all of your documents! Hopefully they don't take forever to assign you an interview date!

4 hours ago, JS5220 said:

When I get a tracking # I'll post it on here. I was really hoping to get something today, but it doesn't look like we did. My fiance still hasn't received an email / SMS  and now with Monday being a holiday for the consulate, I'm afraid we wont get the visa until late next week.  Almost there!!

Our's finally switched over to "issued" too. So, we are in the same boat. I'm relieved it finally switched over, but we still need the passport. We fly out Thursday early afternoon from Moz, so I'm hoping we don't run into a problem.