whiterabbitt

3 minutes ago, Cynolly said:

January 18th

You will most likely be in the next batch of interviews! The embassy releases interviews every mid month, so expect to hear from them no later than mid Feb. 

15 minutes ago, Gujjupat said:

Yeah this is what I am confused about.! Can’t get date for medical before visa.! And some people here suggested to go for interview and then medical and keep both date.! But not sure what to do.!

It really is up to you! Unless somebody here has experienced going to an interview without a medical completed recently that would be good to know! 

If it doesn't work out you will just need to rebook your interview to later date after your medical. 👍 

19 hours ago, Cynolly said:

Has anyone in the spouse visa category gotten an interview invite this month for February?

Yes I believe there are some interviews happening next week. When did you get DQ'd? 

57 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

I wish somebody who lives in London would test this out. Somebody who didn’t have to travel a long way to get there. I’ve never known of anybody reporting being turned away.. Now with Visa Medicals the new bottleneck, the question is the big topic around here. And I wish the embassy would check on why Visa Medicals is suddenly having a problem. They are contracted by the embassy to perform a service. Right now they are the spanner in the works. If they are understaffed, perhaps they need to hire. Perhaps the embassy needs to contract a second location. I know this is getting frustrating to visa hopefuls.

The thing that has changed since towards the end of last year 2021 is that the Embassy have been scheduling interviews about 2 weeks before the actual interview. Usually they would schedule an interview around 4 weeks giving enough time to book a Medical exam.

Yes for sure Visa Medicals is probably under staffed / possibly working through maybe limited number of people per day due to covid safety. When I went for my medical exam a few weeks ago the doctor there told me she was going in Saturdays to catch up with the backlog. No they don't open on weekends and she was working overtime out of her own will. She also managed to get my medical results to the Embassy in less than 7 days. I was really impressed.

The embassy seem to be working very efficiently, however Visa Medicals I think are struggling with the capacity. The two don't seem to correlate with each other in terms of appointment booking at all. They are probably just working individually trying to get through the backlog of people. 

To anyone who is trying to book a medical before their interview - your best bet is to call everyday for cancellations. 

6 hours ago, Gujjupat said:

Yeah but what would happens if we attend interview before and they keep our passport.? I know email from medical people says officials certified copies are valid.! But don’t know.!

You need to have your medical before your interview. The embassy will not interview with an incomplete medical exam. 

Yes you are totally right about that. And great for explaining the rest that follows, thanks! 

*The medical exam and interview are the only things that are actually processed in the UK itself. 

UK applicants are thrown into the pool of the US immigration system just like everyone around the world who are all waiting around for the same process, which is currently up to 15-18 months. Some have been lucky and can be all done within 10 months. But that is probably 1/5 cases. It really is down to the processing centre which your application falls to, that you provide all the correct documents needed at the NVC stage. There are the variables which you cannot entirely control, but patiently wait and make sure that you provide a strong case of bonafide relationship evidence and avoid any request for more evidence which can delay your case by months. 

Now that you know that there is no faster route, you asked which has a higher chance of success rate? That would arguably be the CR1. There have been many K1 denials across the board and some people argue and become quite defensive when this is discussed. I would suggest in doing your own research there. The UK is not seen as a high fraud country, but in just knowing that K1s are more prone to denials - it is up to you what you do with that statistic.

The CR1 visa was stronger during the pandemic because it was seen as a priority over K1s (which processing stopped entirely for about a year - so you can imagine the backlog) and also it allowed people to still visit their spouses during lockdowns. K1s eventually were allowed to visit the US if their petition had been 'approved'. 

Other strengths of the CR1 are it allows people to work immediately when arriving in the US. Plus they can travel in and out without having to wait for Adjustment of Status (K1). As a K1 visa holder you also have to wait for a work permit, which at the moment is taking up to 11 months. 

If you are not ready to get married then go through with the K1. It really is entirely down to you, with enough research about each visa which one is more suited to your needs. 

Good luck! 

Congratulations!

I noticed the sky pool in the opposite building too, was staring at it for a good few minutes in awe 😂

Hello!
 

So the chest x-ray is taken from the back. You press your chest up against a box and they will give you a lead shield to hold in front of your body. 
 

Do you have proof to show that your are pregnant? Such as a doctors note/blood test result. You will need this incase you are due for any vaccinations and being pregnant can make you exempt from specific ones such as MMR. 

The doctors and nurses are extremely helpful there and will make sure that you won’t be doing anything to damage your baby. 

Hope that helps! 

Keep calling up Visa Medicals for any cancellations. You have a good few weeks until your interview, some people are bound to cancel their appointments from now until then (especially with covid still around).

It worked for me and another member here on VJ, good luck! 

I-130 Submitted: November 10, 2020

Petition Approved: August 21, 2021

NVC DQ: December 8, 2021

Appointment Announced: December 30, 2021

Appointment Date: Jan 13, 2022

Hello everyone! We also received our interview date this morning at around 11am, which was totally unexpected. Seems like a few of us have received January 13th interview dates this morning (addocap and another member) I managed to book my medical for the 6th January, due to someones cancellation. It was pure luck. 

I thought the London embassy gave out interviews once a month, mid-month... so it's very surprising that they handed out more right at the end of December. We were expecting to hear something mid January for Feb interview. Hope it isn't a glitch of somesort!? Otherwise, extremely happy to be almost done with this process!! 

1 minute ago, Saqib-s said:

London has been sending invites around the middle of the each month for interview dates in the following month, so for some it feels like they get their interview letter really quickly for others who missed the mid month cutoff it will feel longer ('last month')

Thanks! That makes total sense! 😄

22 minutes ago, Trex1234 said:

Ah got it! What's the UK interview wait looking like at the moment? 

From what I'd seen recently, it takes 1-2 weeks for them to send an appointment email, scheduling an interview 4-5 weeks from that email date.

Though someone on the UK facebook group today said she was DQ'd last month and still hasn't heard anything. So maybe the London embassy has slowed down. I think we will hear soon though about any January interview dates. I'm not complaining though if I have to wait till February! Nothing worse than feeling rushed, even though I have waited over a year for this to finally happen 🤣

Keep an eye on here for US London embassy appointments dates:

33 minutes ago, Trex1234 said:

Great news!!! I wonder if less people submitted in September. 

 

For anyone that doesn't know (I was unaware), when DQ'd you receive 2 emails, the 2nd one actually states that you are DQ'd in the subject of the email.

 

I was so excited that I didn't notice that and jumped straight onto the CEAC website....silly me! lol I actually thought they sent the same email twice by accident.

Yup that is correct! There is no need to login to CEAC if you get the 2nd email saying you are DQ'd. Both emails came at the same time for us! Though I am curious and will login to CEAC now and see whats changed.

Guys!!! We got DQ’d. They emailed us at around 11am California time. 
 

First and only submission was 14th September, and we added re-scanned document on the 15th September.

Now we will wait for our interview to be scheduled at the London embassy

Good luck everyone! Looks like September is going through 🚂💨

. 

5 hours ago, MRW & NJR said:

CR1

 

I-130 Approved = 20-Aug-21

Sent paperwork, etc to NVC = 7-Sep-21

DQ'd = 1-Dec-21

Interview = ??? (who knows...)

Wow our timelines are very similar! We are about a week behind you throughout the whole process. Waiting for DQ, fingers crossed. Hopefully you will get an interview scheduled for January! Good luck. 

58 minutes ago, CG3 said:

Woot! NVC is officially in September y'all.

 

"As of 6-DEC-2021, we are reviewing documents submitted to us on 7-SEP-2021."

Oh my gosh! This is great news. We are so close, our final submission was 14/15th Sep.

Have been seeing a lot of 2-10th Sep DQs lately so this movement makes a lot of sense.

Hopefully this time next week will we hear something, fingers crossed! Good luck everyone, it’s finally our September time 🥳

2 minutes ago, TGDeano said:

You’ll be lonely in about 2-3 weeks when everyone gets DQ’d 🤣

hahaha such a harsh comment! 😂 though I do love the humour. 

3 hours ago, etrangais said:

New submission

I'm posting in this thread since I see a lot of activity here

I hope you guys don't mind 🤪

There is a September DQ thread that everyone will probably migrate to once August is over. People are already getting excited. 

1 hour ago, Suleman said:

Just got DQ’ed. 

Documents submitted august 23rd

DQ date November 18th. 
thank you to everyone who helped and best of luck to those who are still waiting. 

Congratulations!!!! 

43 minutes ago, KKOS said:

Just got DQ'd 30 minutes ago! Submission date was Aug 25th.

Yes they are reviewing documents sent on Aug 18th

Woops sorry I missed the first line of your comment, congratulations on DQ!!! 🥰

18 minutes ago, KKOS said:

Just got DQ'd 30 minutes ago! Submission date was Aug 25th.

Yes they are reviewing documents sent on Aug 18th

Dang only 3 days movement since last week... 🐌 🐌 🐌

Back to the snail trail. 

1 hour ago, TGDeano said:

Thank you!  You must be in the same UK group I’m in on FB 

Yes we must be!

Have you been able to book your medical? I saw someone comment in that group that they estimated the time that they would be DQ’d and booked a medical accordingly. They said they would have also been able to cancel and reschedule 3 days before the appointment.  

I guess Visa medicals are dealing with a lot of appointments and I’ve seen several people with the same day medical as the interview which isn’t the greatest because ideally medicals should be done at least 5 days before the interview right? 

Let us know how you get on!  

1 minute ago, ashish tailor said:

9 minutes ago, whiterabbitt said:

Congratulations! So happy for you. I’ve seen two other people on a Facebook group with interview dates on the 2nd November! 

 

What is that Facebook group ?

‘US Spousal Visa - UK Applicants’

7 hours ago, TGDeano said:

Got interview letter today!

 

NVC submission - August 9th

DQ'd - October 29th

Interview letter - November 10th

Interview date - December 2nd

Embassy - London

Congratulations! So happy for you. I’ve seen two other people on a Facebook group with interview dates on the 2nd November! 

 

17 hours ago, top_secret said:

And FINALLY,  just over 6 months from when we filed our 2020 tax return.  Our refund just direct deposited into my checking account.  By now the immigration process is complete, my wife and stepdaughter are here and both have actual Social Security numbers.  But the process is complete.  The short lived ITIN did serve its purpose and got us over $10,000 more return than I would have as married filing separately.  The process was quite simple for us really.  Just the wait time is a bit silly.  If I had it to do over again I would definitely not change a thing.  Applying for the ITIN and filing MFJ was a very sound decision.

 

Our final timeline.

• May 5, 2021 Filed W-7, Federal Taxes, and California State taxes by ordinary first class mail.
• May 11, 2021 California State acknowledged the filing in my California FTB online account.
• May 22, 2021 California State showed my return as authorized and scheduled for direct deposit.
• May 27, 2021 California State return direct deposited into my checking account.
• Aug 26, 2021 Received ITIN and original document returned by IRS.
• Oct 21, 2021 Return acknowledged "Where's My Refund?"
• Nov 5, 2021  Return Transcript becomes available online.  Account transcript shows return.
• Nov 9, 2021 Tax refund is direct deposited into my checking account.

Yay congrats! 
 

The IRS sent us a letter stating that they need to see my passport again as my name doesn’t match the forms. Our tax accountant had put my married name on the forms but my passport was verified with my maiden name. 
 

I now have a newer passport with my married name so this will solve the issue. 
 

I am flying out to the US in 2 weeks and we have an appointment booked with the IRS office so we can go in and get my passport verified again. They have made a case number for my husband’s taxes, so once my passport is verified they can continue processing my ITIN number and his tax return. 
 

Such an ordeal but good news that they are on the case.

long story short: it’s important that all names match passport to forms.