soon2bmarried!

With the Adam Walch Act, the Embassy's abroad have to run a background checks on the Non US. Citizen in America. They do this via email and can get a response very quickly.

When I DCFed, the Embassy had already run the background check before the interview. We were approved and were able to pick up our visa the next day.

I think in some countries run the check after the interview. This is a brand new process and I am sure different countries are trying different procedures.

Hope this helps! I don't think this process will add much waiting time for you.

Lauren

I'm just sharing news that I was given from a Congressman's office in Washington and they were aware I was referrring to wedding plans. Like I said, every case is treatly on an individual basis. Different people get different treatment, fair or unfair!

It is not our place to judge on this site. We are here to support one another! Lots of peple make wedding arragements prior to getting visa approval because of different situations or reasons. That is one reason all cases are treated individually!

I was in contact with a friend I have in Washington and was told that you can have your case expedited if you will suffer "extreme financial loss". If you are having an average American wedding, I bet you've paid thousands in deposits already and have the contracts to prove it.

In my eyes its worth the try! The worst thing they can tell you is no. If your case isn't approved in time, it sounds like you might have to travel to the U.S. and then back after the wedding. Technically you can't sign the paperwork to be 'legally married' but different people have different definitions of marriage. To me, my marriage is when I take vows in front of my family, friends and in the house of God... not when I sign a document with a particular state or country.

What is the most important to you? You can make it work even if it wasn't what you expected.

Good luck! I sympathize with your situation!

UK - California K1 Application, NOA1 received 2/2/07. No further contact.

Well, it is coming up to 30 days now since NOA1.

I hope I pre-empted an RFE by submitting the correctly signed G325A for me with a covering letter marked with my receipt number and contact details.

HOWEVER - We have the wedding all arranged for the 28th July 2007 (booked it, packed it etc), and I really dont think now that it will all come through in time - it seems to me generally to take 90 days to the day for interviews etc which would put us inside of August.

SO - does anybody know if there is an effective way of contacting the consulate. Is it worth telling them this - I have evidence of all of the arrangements? Is there a chance of pulling forward the interview assuming all other things run smoothly?

Otherwise, would I have to leave the USA after the wedding and sit through another 6 months of isolation awaiting a spouses Visa?

Thanks for your help!

YES...this is the part no one spoke to, if you get married, it is no longer a K-1. Then you are changing horses mid stream. Good Luck with the project, just dont come and get married and act like it didnt happen. A few bucks lost on deposits is not a big enough loss to jeportize this.

Bobbie

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share the good news! Today is a happy day... we have our visa (or will after we pick it up on Friday)! Reading other posts was helpful along the way and I wanted to say thank you to everyone! This group is SUPER supportive and has been an great source of useful information.

Here is our story, I hope you can take something from it. The biggest thing I have learned in the DCF process is that every country is different. This is our DCF "journey".

January thru April we started requesting documents and completed the several steps of the physical exam

April 12th-mailed I-130 and supporting documents to Embassy (no fee was requested at this time)

April 13th- Embassy emailed me to say "everything looked fine" scheduled an interview for May 2nd.

April 16th- request for a copy of benif. passport and DS230 part 1 and 2

We were never mailed ANYTHING from the embassy or asked to submit more docs other than those just listed. I had to email the embassy and ask what docs I should bring to the interview.

May 2nd: Our interview, payment of fees and Approval!

Details of our interview for those interested!

Our interview was scheduled for 9:00am. We showed up early, went through security and enter a waiting area. A woman who'd I been in contact via email and phone many times before called me to the window (I guess she recognized me from the photo) and asked for our paperwork. I handed her everthing, photos, and she asked us to pay the fee. We paid $570 total, this was one payment for everything.

She looked over the docs and called me back to the window. I had filled out the wrong affidavit of support. (How this happend... I DON"T KNOW!). I was really nervous because I am a student and my father had to fill out a joint sponsor form and his must have been wrong too. I filled out the new document and nothing more was said.

In less than 10 minutes we were called to the window for our "interview". The woman was SUPER NICE! She smiled, laughed and even joked with us. She took my husbands finger prints and began asking questions about how we met, were we moved, what we were doing in Norway. What we would do in the States (workwise). She asked if either my husband or I had jobs linned up. Our answers were no. She made a reference to my father being the joint sponsor and that was it. It took less than 10 minutes. She told me everything was approved and explained what happens at the point of entry. It was great to hear "you have your permenant residence card, you can work right away!"

She told us they could have it ready for us today but since we aren't headed to the U.S. until mid-June we let them know we could pick it up later. They said they could mail it to us but we didn't feel comfortable.

Our experience was smooth and everyone was very helpful at the Embassy along the way!

My Norwegian husband and I will go to our interview this week! Please keep us in your prayers!

I will be sure to update you on our progess after the interview!

He has already had his medical and we are hoping the have already completed his background check with America before we go.

We are hoping for a visa in hand within a couple of weeks!

Can't wait!

Husband....Husband! Funny, that is the first time I wrote the word...strange! Guess I'm not used to it yet. No cold feet...we got married

In order to directly file with the consulate abroad you and your husband/wife must have lived in the country abroad for at least six months. If you met these requirements, you can file directly in the country where you live. You can find more info on the DFC forum.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. Guess I am still confused! I mailed our I-130 yesterday and the embassy contacted me today to schedule an interview. I guess every embassy can operate differently. We haven't gotten anything in the mail yet with required documents for the interview...maybe they will sent this to me. I did send an email to my contact at the embassy confirming the interview and asked what we needed to bring.

I THINK I have gathered all the needed docs... just need one more that should be here soon.

Thanks!

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know my fiance and I decided to marry in Norway and go through the immigration process here in Norway. That is one less petition in front of yours!

You'll be happy to know we heard from the embassy today... the day after we mailed the petition... and have an interview scheduled for May 2nd!

Good luck to everyone!

I've read in a couple of posts and timelines about checklists. Not really sure what exactly is being referenced? Does this have to do with the Adam Walsh check? Can someone shed some light? I am new at the DCF process as we filed for a fiance visa and decided to DCF instead recently.

Thanks!

Thank you!! You answered my question! The American Embassy in Norway had no clue how long it would take to hear back on the Adam Walsh check. I was told they were hoping for less than a month. If you were advised two weeks, that is great news!

My fiance and I mailed out our packet to the Embassy here in Norway yesterday and heard back already today to schedule an interview!!! I can't believe it!! We are hoping to move to the states by Mid-June...it's starting to look like a possibility!

I will keep everyone updated on how quickly things move after the interview! Keep your fingers crossed!!

Hi All,

Not sure if anyone knows the answer to this. My fiance and I decided to marry in Norway and cancel our pending fiance visa. Does anyone know what we should do? I have drafted a letter to mail to USCIS with a copy of our NOA1 but didn't know if this was the right procedure.

I tried to call the help line and couldn't get beyond the menu of options.

Thanks!

Lauren

My situation is not the same as yours as I have never been married changed my name but I will still share my info. I have decided to keep my maiden name until we are back in the U.S. When we are there, I will start the process.

The main reason I decided to do this is to avoid having to get a new passport, social security card, ect. until I am back home. For me, it was less confusing.

I do not think having different names will cause any issues or alarms to go off when you DCF. There is no law that you must take your husband's name and many women choose not to do so now-a-days.

I have no info to share on your situatuation with residency in the U.K. Can you wait and change your name with the U.K when you are back in the U.S. and no longer dealing with all of this?

Lauren

Hi everyone,

My fiance and I are getting married tomorrow and will DCF here in Norway. I know we will be one of the first ones to do this in Norway after the new Adam Walsch check started.

I was advised it used to take a week to get the everything sorted out and now they are expecting wait times to increase but believe they will be less than a month to get the background check from the U.S.

Just wondering if anyone can share their experience of DCF after the Adam Walsch Act? I realize each country will be different but wanted to see how long it will take for the U.S. to hold up their end of the bargain.

Lauren

Thanks!

I think that is what we are going to do. I spoke with the Embassy in Norway. It used to take a week start to finish here but now they are expecting things to be slowed down a bit since the Adam Walsh check.

Nothing like being the first to try out a new process. Cross your fingers for us! I would have to cancel our other petition and spend all the time getting paperwork ready for the I-130 and have it take the same amount of time or longer than the fiance visa!

I will keep everyone posted on our progress.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

For Immediate Release March 21, 2007

2007/

Media Note

CONSULAR OFFICES ABROAD RESUME ACCEPTING

I-130 IMMIGRANT VISA PETITIONS

As of January 22, 2007, consular offices abroad were instructed to cease accepting certain immigrant visa petitions because consular officers lacked the means to perform the required criminal background checks on American citizen petitioners, as required by the Adam Walsh Act.

Subsequently, the Department of State and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) worked to develop a mechanism whereby USCIS will perform these required “Adam Walsh Act” checks for any petitions accepted abroad by consular officers.

Effective immediately, consular posts abroad will accept petitions for immediate relative immigrant classification from American citizens who are resident in their consular districts, including members of the armed forces, as well as true emergency cases, such as life and death or health and safety, and others determined to be in the national interest.

Examples of family emergency include minor children who would be unexpectedly left without a caretaker. Examples of national interest include facilitating the travel of United States military and other USG direct hire employees assigned overseas who are pending transfer on orders and need to petition for immigrant classification of their spouse and minor children at posts overseas.

To demonstrate residency in a consular district, American Citizen petitioners must be able to show that they have permission to reside in the consular district and that they have been doing so continuously for at least six months before filing the petition. Individuals who are in the country on a temporary status, such as student or tourist, would not be considered to meet the residency standard.

All lawful permanent residents, and American Citizens resident in the United States or with a permanent address in the United States, must file I-130 petitions at the USCIS Service Center having jurisdiction over their place of residence (as indicated on the USCIS website: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-130.pdf).

I'm an American living in Norway with my Norwegian fiance. We've been here for two years. We were going to get married here and file I-130 in Norway. Then... they stopped accepting these petitions. We went ahead and filed for a fiance visa in the U.S.

Now they are accepting petitions again.

We would much rather get married here and file in Norway than go through the fiance visa waiting game. What should we do? Can we cancel our I-129F that is being processes?

Advice needed!!

Lauren

So... here is my story.

I live with my fiance in Norway. Orginally, we were going to get married here and file for a I-130 at the American Embassy in Norway. With the passing on the Adam Walsh Act, embassies abroad were no longer able to accept these applications. Well... now they are.

My question is... can we cancle the fiance visa we filed in February?

If so, how do we do this? We would much rather go through the process here since it is supposed to move much faster.

Any advice?

Just wondering if anyone else dreams about your Immigration process?

I dreamed last night that I got an email from USCIS requested proof of the level of proficiency of my fiance's French. Well... he doesn't speak French! Anyway... in my dream he did speak French but I couldn't get back on-line to send them the information. I remember being excited that they had been working on our case but was so frustrated because I was unable to get internet access.

I got all excited when I woke up to see if our case had been touched but....no luck.

Just thought you might have some funny dreams/nightmares to share too!

To be honest... this makes no sense to me! Why would someone who was taking the time, money and energy to immigrate legally and marry...by filling for a fiance visa would want to stay illegally in the U.S.?

To me, having filed for this visa shows that you do not intend to stay. For one reason, the interview back home. Doesn't seem logical! Just my view point though.

There is always a risk of being turned away when non-residents attempt to enter the U.S as a tourist.

It is good news to hear that it doesn't matter where you stand in the K1 process when visiting as a tourist. His country is part of the visa waiver program so perhaps that will help. Do you think it is worth it to pay an extra $800 bucks to enter a small airport like Cincinnati rather than somewhere like NYC or Chicago?? We are thinking it could potentially help...hoping that it could make things easier.

Thoughts??

So... I've read other threads on visiting the U.S. while your K1 is being processed. I realize it is possible but if someone is having a bad day at the point of entry, your loved one could be denied entry.

BUT.... does it make a difference where you are in the K1 visa process? What if your NOA2 has been issued? The reason I am asking it that my fiance has A VERY IMPORTANT trip planned this summer. We don't know where we will be in the process but need to make this visit happen. There is a possibility we will have our NOA2 at this time but one never know!

Please help! Advice from people who've done this before would be GREAT!

Hilsen,

Lauren

Thank you for the information!

I'm not sure how many companies out there will like the idea of hiring someone who could potentially have to take a break from working if their green card doesn't make it before the 90 temp expires.

yuck. That will be no fun to explain in interviews! This process seems never ending right now...sigh.

What about your fiance traveling AFTER a NOA2 has been issued? My fiance has a very important trip to the U.S. planned for June. We could potentially have our NOA2 by this time but one never knows!

Advice? Experience?

Hello everyone,

Can someone please clarify what happens in terms of work permits once you enter the U.S.? A previous post from today mentioned that your temporary work permit expires once you get married and then you'll have to wait to work while your AOS is being processed.

I am a little confused. What does this actually mean?

Thanks!

Lauren