KhoaKim

23 hours ago, carmel34 said:

So my husband arrived in the US on a CR-1 visa on August 19th.  One reason we both agreed on the spousal visa over the K-1 was so that he could work right away after arrival.  In order to work he needs a Social Security number.  He checked the box on the DS-260 that we uploaded back in mid-April with an old address where we were going to live, but since then I bought a house and moved.  We gave the CBP officer at the POE (Miami) his new address in the US on August 19th and I also changed my mailing address online with USCIS, hoping that everything would be sent to the new address, green card and social security card.  The CBP officer recommended going to the nearest social security office within a few days to speed up the process of getting a social security card, so we did that on August 23, four days after POE.  The lady there said that she could not start the process in her office until 10 days after POE, and that if we filed a new application it would delay the issuance of the card because we had also checked the box on the DS-260 so a new application could confuse the system and cause a freeze for his number.  She said it would take three weeks after POE to get the card if we did nothing and just waited, and that if we came back and filed a new application ten days after POE it would be three or more weeks to get the number if there was no freeze.  So we left and decided to wait, disappointed that he would have to wait three weeks to work, obviously much less than what K-1 visa holders have to endure but still not able to work "right away."  Then on Monday, a pleasant surprise, his Social Security card arrived in the mail, only a week after POE!  So now he's looking at jobs and getting his resume ready to go.  Thankfully, it appears that our address correction was made in the USCIS system so hopefully his green card will arrive soon as well.

 

Just an update for others who may be going through a similar phase of their US immigration journey on a CR-1 or IR-1.  Good luck to you all!

Congrats! We were in the same month filing in 2018 and both of our spouses are finally here! Time really flies by! 

He got his ssn but no green card yet. He arrived on 7/25. He is the process of getting his driver license.

My husband has limited English skills. We have been trying to find him a job but no luck. Do you have any advice where we could start? 

42 minutes ago, Musicsaves said:

Yes, we'll go this week, my husband entered on June 3oth...I just wish I knew this sooner 😕 Good luck!

I recommend you make an appointment first before you go in or go near closing time 3:45 pm. Not sure about your local ss office but mine closes at 4 pm. They will close the door at 4 and will handle everyone's cases before 5 pm. I was there at 2 and had to wait til 4:45 pm for my number to be called. I didn't make an appointment so yeah I wish I knew it before. 

On 8/6/2019 at 1:51 PM, Musicsaves said:

We still don't have green card...is there a different process for the social security card??

Green card can take up to 120 days. Some people got it at 60 days or less and some were over 120 days. It's a mystery. 

For the social security card, some people received it within a week after POE and some got it after 1 month. And there are people who never received it so they had to go to the Social security administration office to apply in person. A lot of people didn't want to wait long so they went to apply after 2 weeks of POE date and some even went after a few days of POE date. 

My husband immigrated to the U.S. on 7/25 and no SS card or green card yet. We are going to the social security administration today to do his ss.

My husband had his interview on 6/27 and we passed! The CO only asked me, the petitioner, 6 questions in English.

How did we meet? 

When did it turn romantic?

How many times we met each other after our wedding? I only went back to Vietnam 1 time after our wedding which is this trip to attend the interview with my husband. A year after our wedding. I met my husband in January 2017 during my last week in Vietnam. I hired him as a driver to drive to a shrine. After that we talked on Facebook for 1.5 year and we got married on 6/10/18. I stayed 6 weeks in 2018. So basically we only met 3 times in real life. First marriage for both. Husband is 3 years older.

What was the purpose of my first trip where I met my husband the first time?

Did anyone introduce him to me? No

How long am I staying in Vietnam this time, until when and where am I staying? Then she told me to sit down and wait while she interviewed my husband with a translator.

How did we meet? 

Did it turn romantic when we first met or later/when?

Did we communicate in Vietnamese?

What is my job in the US?

How many siblings do I have and what states are they in?

Then she asked if we have any trip pictures and our Facebook messages. He gave her the evidences. She then said "congratulations! Your visa is approved" and she signed a pink slip. They kept his passport and return all the original documents to us.

Our interview was the quickest on that day. Maybe 5 mins. Other people's interviews were like 10-15 mins. We sat there seeing people with blue slip which means requiring more evidences and not approved. It was so nerve-wracking.  My husband and I already knew we passed because at the beginning where we had to give our original documents to the staff, we saw a pink slip in our folder. It means our case is approved. The process might be different for other countries. We bought original documents that we submitted to NVC, but the staff only took my husband's birth certificate, identification card, family registry book, marriage certificate, and medical exam certificate. They didn't take my financial documents. Our CEAC status is shown issued the next day 6/28.

1 hour ago, Kartinee23 said:

Guys! Anyone who has ACCEPTED DOCUMENT (W2) who got REJECTED all of a sudden? Ours was ACCEPTED APRIL 17 or 18. Now it is showing REJECTED AGAIN! I caaaan’t! 

Gosh...reading this makes me feel upset for you. Like what the hell are they doing to people's cases? I will be so stressed if this happens to me. I am praying for you! Hope everything will be sorted out asap this week so you will get DQ email.

3 minutes ago, Kimi31 said:

What country? 

And was it definitely I-130

It is definitely i-130 cr1 petition. Her country is Vietnam.

I know someone whose petition was received on 1/18/19 and got approved on 3/28/19. Her service center was Nebraska. She is currently at NVC stage. It's shocking that she got approved so fast. No expedite. They are definitely not reviewing cases by oldest date. It must be random.

1 minute ago, nicedamsel said:

This people don't want to issue interview date today? 

I know right? Gosh...just give us the interview dates already. I am tired of waiting every day. Let's pray it will be today!

Congrats to everyone who got their interview letters today! I hope I will get mine soon too. This is exciting! 

4 minutes ago, Musicsaves said:

YAY CASE COMPLETE!!!! My NVC process has taken a bit longer for no apparent reasons, they received my case on 1/22/19. Does anyone know how long it takes for them to notify you of an interview date? (Not how long for actual interview) Just wondering if we'll find out soon the date or it could be a week before the interview...

Congrats!!! I think NVC will start to schedule June interviews next week. It depends on how busy your embassy is 

4 minutes ago, Musicsaves said:

What does documentaruly qualified mean? Case complete? May I ask how you were notified?

It means case complete. You will get an email sent to your email address with documentarily qualified info and how they will work with the embassy to schedule your interview.

8 hours ago, Musicsaves said:

ANYONE get case complete at NVC yet??

 

I got CC yesterday. I submitted my documents on 4/13. 

They are having a monthly maintenance from 9 am Eastern to 5 pm Eastern today. Maybe that's why it's unavailable right now.

4 minutes ago, Kartinee23 said:

Hey I saw someone who submitted april 16th and got CC last Friday or Saturday. So this is not a first in first out? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I saw it too. I don't know what's going on with NVC. Definitely not first in first out. I kept on checking my emails and CEAC for messages...but nope nothing...everything shows as submitted. 

19 minutes ago, dxb_Indian said:

Any updates? I am hoping they will finish most doc reviews today and tomorrow  before the month ends.

I submitted my documents on 4/13. No updates yet. I hope we will get some updates this week. Gosh, this is taking so long! I hope the maintenance today doesn't impact anything. 

29 minutes ago, W & J said:

Thank you for the responses! I called today- though to get through but I did- the person that responded said the case had been received but that no case number or invoice number were issued yet- his advice literally was to keep calling back periodically (he suggested weekly).  Out of curiosity, how long after approval did it take for you guys to get the case number? Was it the 6 weeks?

I was told that it would take up 8 weeks to get the case number after they received it. Mine was less than 6 weeks. I recommend you to go get your civil documents and tax transcripts ready so you can upload them to CEAC after you pay your fees and fill out your DS-260. 

NVC case received on 3/12

Case number received on 4/10

6 minutes ago, Kartinee23 said:

I am really mad! It wasn’t their (NVC) fault actually. It was our lawyer’s fault or her assistant whoever uploaded that W2 where they are asking for TAX RETURN?! Like... why did we even pay them just to delay us? Because for sure if i did it myself I WILL NOT UPLOAD SOMETHING ON A SECTION WHERE IT IS NOT BEING ASKED. Makes me wonder if they are even real lawyers. IMMIGRATION LAWYERS? Even the note she wrote for the HONGKONG POLICE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE because her note doesn’t make any sense! These lawyers are all for $$$$. So incompetent! 

 

I wish i found VJ earlier. ☹️

Omg that's even more stupid! You paid them money to do it yet they can't even do their damn job right. I am mad just reading your post. I hired this agency to do mine and he only uploaded my tax return and i864 and nothing else. Like ???? I had to go in and submitted the other documents on my own. Fingers crossed that everything will be fine for all of us! 

1 minute ago, Kartinee23 said:

Same. Because of the W2 that the attorney uploaded on the TAX RETURN section, they did not check the rest of the papers so idk now if there will be another problem after 2-3 wks!

Smh at how NVC is reviewing these documents. So stupid! I would be so mad if they only review one of my documents and then the rest later extending this stupid process for a whole month. Hope it will go smoothly for you after resubmitting your w2.

I tried calling them at least once a week to get my case number. It was a waste of time. I remember calling them on Tuesday around 5 pm eastern, and they said no case number yet then the next day Wednesday around 2 pm I got an email with my case number and invoice id. I guess just wait for the email because it's not like you will get it early by calling. I believe they will email you once they have the number all set for you. I wasn't able to log in right away maybe because it was still new in the system. I was able to after 3-4 hours later. So don't freak out if you can't log in after getting the email.

15 minutes ago, carmel34 said:

NVC sent an email today with our NVC case number!  We are very excited and will start to upload documents and pay fees in the next few days.  NOA2 February 20, NVC received file March 7, NVC case number assigned today April 9!  Every little victory is worth celebrating!  Now on to the document scanning and uploading process via CEAC.  Best of luck everyone!

Yay! That's awesome!!! Congrats! I am still waiting for my case #. Hope it will be this week!

4 hours ago, carmel34 said:

NOA2 Feb. 20, but still nothing from NVC.  Is it worthwhile to call NVC?  I've heard that it takes a month or more for the file to arrive at NVC and then another two months for a case number to be assigned.  Does this sound right?  Not sure if calling will do any good, just curious what others have done and if calling makes a difference.

I think our approval dates were around the same time at TSC. I got an email from USCIS on 3/5 that it was sent to NVC. I called last week Thursday and I waited 30 mins to speak to a rep. He said my case was received on 3/12. You could call and ask to be sure. 

I think it's good to call to see if they have received your case and when so that you will get an idea of what dates NVC are working on. I think NVC are assigning numbers for people who received their cases on February 25.