MaxxumUSA

Have any December filers had an interview and had their GC approved *at the interview.* My wife and I interviewed in New York last week; the DAO said that everything was ok, but namecheck was pending, and we would have to wait for the namecheck to clear. Not counting folks who got their GCs without an interview, I am trying to figure out how many December files actually saw their namechecks progress fast enough to get approved/cleared by their interview dates (mid-March)? Thanks!

We mailed our application 12/29 so not sure - that may make us a jan filer? In any case - to answer your question:

We had our AOS interview an hour ago. We were told on the spot that her name checks were complete. Both her maiden and married name. They asked a few questions to verify facts and then told us she is approved. They took her I-94 out of her passport, took the EAD work card, and told her the green card will be in our mailbox within two weeks.

No problems at all.

So... Approved BTW!

Me and my wife just did our interview about one hour ago. They told us spot on that we are approved.

If you view my timeline I have notes posted.

Pretty painless. Make very certain you have copies of everything you have filed.

Also very important is the DS-3025 vaccination papers.

Don't worry. My wife was in a bit of a panic last night but I was not.

All will go fine as long as all your ducks are in a row. Good luck!

Hello again. I need help with employment history in form g-325A. Here's my overlapping work history:

1.I have a business which have been running since 2000.

2. I then worked for a multinational pharmaceutical company from 2001-2003 while still maintaining my business on the side.

3. and then i was with Prulife U.K., an insurance company from March 2004 till October 2004.

4. I went back to schooling and to complete necessary subject units for Professional Teacher's board here in the Philippines. Since I was already a business course graduate, it only took me 1 semester to finish the necessary requirement to be able to take the licensure exam for teachers here. it was from November 2004- March 2005... so at this period I was unemployed but still running a small business.

5. I was with Generali Pilipinas (another insurance company) from September 2005- May 2006, while still running a small business on the side.

6. After May 2006, I have focused and derived income solely from business.

*note: I was an underwriter for the two insurance companies and underwriters are not considered employees of the insurance company... we were merely agents doing business with them and for them.

Questions:

1. How should I write my business as my employment? should i just put in "self-employed" and jot down my business address? or should i put in the registered business name?

2. Should i include my short career as underwriter for the 2 different insurance companies in my employment history or should i just omit it? it will cause overlapping in my work/employment history:(

any advice you could offer will be greatly appreciated.

I am also self employed. Definitely use your DBA or corporate name.

Fill in all information for last 5 years. It is a simple form and it is always best to give all information.

When you get to the I-134 later you will also need tax and bank information - so get that straight if it is not.

Good luck.

- Maxxum

OH... and have her take more than just the birth certificate to the interview. She needs to take her child!

I have heard of many women that fail to bring their children to the interview and that is a very bad thing. No visa issued.

As for the name - you can simply send a copy of the birth certificate to the USCIS office that has your file so they can add it as evidence. I do assume you have already filed.

Good luck and keep us informed.

I used holmes and lolly. They did a good job for me. BUT... I did not find this forum until long after I filed the paperwork. They quite honestly knowing what I know now they were not needed.

The only problem you might have is if you have a criminal history. But even that you can get help with here.

Like others noted the attorney will probably only add time to your case. It did for my case. My wife would have been here probably 2-3 weeks sooner had I filed my own papers just because of the extra steps I had to take to communicate through the attorneys.

Good luck.

- Maxxum

What can i do! I recieved my NOA1 on October 2nd. I called USCIS (california) and they said i have to wait 6 months from the time i recieved the NOA1 before i can call and ask them to hurry the heck up. I've been reading other people's posts and it seems that most everyone else has recieved their NOA2's!! even people who filed after me. I want to punch a wall.. *sigh*. Its been so long already...

Is there ANYONE else waiting for their NOA2 who recieved their NOA1 in october or earlier? I think im really the last one left in the dust. I've been forgotten. great. I should have sprayed the paperwork with perfume or something right? or put little sparklies on the paper or something? anything to make them want to get back to it quicker...

so depressing.......

Dont worry so much. We received our NOA1 in October also. It takes about 6 months now for NOA2

Donato - and all others that are freaking out... just a success story here for you. Don't worry too much is my first piece of advice. Second is to schedule a visit to see your mate. This will help you focus on that instead of waiting for the USCIS.

My story: We filed last march, and she arrived to me here at the end of August. So 5 months. Of course I was at the vermont center however I had an RFE to slow things down. It was VERY stressful because we just wanted to be together. Don't let that stress weaken your relationship.

Now she has been here for 5 months and we are EXTREMELY happily married. Life is great.

This time will come for all of you also. Be patient it will happen.

- Maxxum

BTW I visited her a total of 4 times in Russia while we waited for the visa approval. This helped both of us to deal with the delays much better.

OH>>> Edited to add: CALL USCIS again! Depending on who you talk to they may give you more information. I called USCIS MANY times during my wait. It is our tax dollars and the fees that give them a job - so damnit use the number and request information. The right person can find out exactly where your file is.

Interview: Went smooth. CO was pleasant male.

Questions:

What will you do in USA?

Did you know he was previously married? How many times?

Does he have any children? How many? How old?

What is his job? What is that exactly?

How old is he?

Where does he live?

How did you meet?

When did you meet?

How many times did he visit you in Russia? What dates?

When did you get engaged?

Did he meet with you parents?

Did you know about his criminal history? (Gave her copy of the form I submitted with the I129F)

The whole interview took about 5-10 minutes and she was told she will receive her visa within a week.

Good luck to others waiting.

- David

SKINSFAN...

I have a few questions.

How long did you date her before she actually flew to USA to marry you?

How many times did you visit her before bringing her to the USA?

How much total time with her did you spend in Russia before her coming to you?

Did you have an affectionate relationship before/after being married?

Did you live with her - in her flat or home - in her home town - for any of your visits?

Just curious.

When at USCIS I called weekly and checked every day a few times for touches. Some weeks I called twice. When at NVC I called daily until my file was gone. When at the embassy I called daily until I got the interview date.

It's your tax dollars at work - check as many times as you want and call if you want also.

As for the obsesssion - yes - for me it was. Anything keeping me and my darling apart is an obsession for me to get rid of. This process is hell on those of us that are not used to waiting for what we want.

Hang in there!

I had called DOS and they told me that moscow embassy had sent the packet 4 on July 20th.

It has not yet reached yet. I am trying to find out how does embassy send this packet - DHL or

pony express or the russian postal department?

They use regular post. It will be a manilla color full size 8 1/2 by 11 envelope. My Elena calls it the "Yellow packet" just like she refers to my tan boots "yellow shoes."

She received her packet about 1 1/2 weeks after it was mailed.

Oh... and here's a picture of mailboxes in typical russian flats. They are ALL like this - on every floor.

Need some suggestions, I am not too creative ...u know its not easy making adjustment to new country my husband doesnt have any new friends yet ...dont have too much money any creative ideas for stuff to do together??? LOL! My husband insist we stay home cuz he is frugal guy from Phils but I get bored staying at home and I know he is prob being bored sometimes ......we rent lots of dvds lol any other suggestions! HELP! thanks!

Oh my...

You actually have your husband here in the country and you are bored? It IS possible to do a lot of things in LI and NYC for cheap.

Take the train to the city and window shop. There are many communities you can visit to try new food without breaking the bank.

On LI there are beaches. Get out there and get your tan on! If there are waves you can body surf.

People watching in all those cool little clicky LI communities is cool.

There are state parks - not sure which ones are in your area but you can find them on google I am sure.

I am waiting for my Elena and we are both complaining we are bored out our wits because we are not together. When we're together we are very active most days of the week. We go somewhere and do something at least once a day.

Good luck to you - and get out of the house! LOL

yeah am sooooooooooo pissed.. i dont know what will i do now.. I did called the CIS and said they already sent my papers in my consulate... they keep telling me that i insisted cis should send it in nvc, but they keep still telling me its in my consulate

nwei thanks for the comment and idea

Call the embassy/consulate and confirm they have received your file. If you have your NOA2 and they say it is at the consulate... then celebrate because packet 3 should be sent soon.

Good luck!

We use skype. Almost no issues with skype - but there are issues with the connection and the computer.

Maybe you need to upgrade your computer and get a better connection.

Skype even works acceptably with a slow connection.

I'm a huge fan of skype and use it 30-45 minutes every day.

The DS-156 is looking for information regarding US visa's only.

Don't give yourself more trouble than you need.

Ditto.

Sending them information they do not request in this particular instance may get you put in A/R as previously mentioned.

I recently helped my fiancee fill out the DS-156. I reviewed it. While it does not explicitely refer to the US in question 36 from the rest of the form it is easy to assume they are only concerned with US visa applications.

FWIW

Hey there!

I have been wondering how things went. I logged on just to check on you.

Congratulations!

My Elena has her interview Aug 21st, so I hope things go just as well.

I have originals of everything that I am sending to the Interview with Elena. We have a lot of evidence for my financial status and our communications.

My question is - does the Moscow embassy just view this and then approve? Or do they keep all of the papers?

Anyone with experience please respond. Our interview is Aug 21 so we have time to copy everything but it's A LOT of papers.

Thank you in advance.

- David

Me and my Fiancee would like to invite her mother and a few friends to the wedding in the USA. Where can I get more information about this?

Do I need to write an invite? She is Russian. Her family and friends are in Russia.

I know it is possible but where do we start?

I applied for the K3 visa last year in May. As of now it has been a year and we sill have not recived an approval for the I130 or I129F. Every time we do an inquery we get a bull ###### reply saying that we are stuck in AP or futher review or security checks. bla blah blah im on the brink of going nuts. How canit be that we are in this black whole in the USCIS level????

I am sorry to hear about your delay. I am also wondering what would cause such a delay.

Did you have a lot of evidence of meeting in person? Do either one of you have criminal history? Did you use an attorney to make sure all of your papers are in order for the petition?

I see you posted wondering about immigration reform... I'm not sure any new laws would help with your petition.

I found out supposedly that security checks are done on the petitioner at the USCIS and then on the beneficiary at the NVC. Not sure if this is 100% accurate but based on this information it seems that for some reason you are delayed and it might be your background.

I know of others with criminal history that got approved - including myself. What do you think might be cause of additional investigation?

I wish you the best.

My A/R lasted 4 business days.

It's outta there as of yesterday - on the way to moscow.

I was worried about nothing.

I am still concerned about the A/R delays that others face after doing research this weekend. I wish you all the best and you will be in my prayers.

Most NVC A/R delays I notice are for beneficiaries that have entered and left the USA in the past

Hmmm, I hope that's not true, my girl has been here twice on tourist visas and to be honest that doesnt make sense to me. From what I understand they run background/security checks before they will even give a tourist visa, I would think the exact opposite would be true, if they have already checked someone out a few times and they came here and did nothing wrong what else is there to look for?

Steven...

Congrats on the NOA2! I know it we were both waiting.

Now... I am not saying that all people who's fiancees have been here end up in A/R black hole.

I am saying that the people that are stuck in A/R review - many of them so it seems - have had their fiancees here on a K-1 or K-3 visa in the past, then they returned to home country - then on the next K-1 or K-3 visa is when it seems they have a higher chance of getting stuck.

I'm uncertain of the effect of a previous tourist visa but like you suggest I would guess it is not a big deal. A second K-1 or K-3 seems to be a bigger flag.

There was even one gentleman who had his fiancee here one time on a K-1, for some reason they did not marry in 90 days. They were still engaged and she came over a second time on a new K-1 - same people - and they got stuck in A/R for a few months.

Then there are cases like Turbo - his fiancee's second K-1 but with a different man. They have been in A/R for 4 months. There are MANY cases like his.

Women here in the USA who are bringing their male fiances to the USA seem to have a higher chance of getting some A/R delays also. While I don't agree with the delay - it does seem natural to me that a man entering the USA would get examined and checked a little closer than a woman.

I just talked in detail with my lawyer about extended Administrative Review at the NVC level. My attorney is Holmes and Lolly and they do hundreds of K-1's.

First... They told me just like NVC told me - ALL cases go through SOME admistrative review. They told me it is usually very quick.

They also shed some light on who's background check they are checking. They told me that the petitioner gets complete extensive checks at the USCIS level. At NVC the beneficiary goes through security checks. I asked twice and made my question clear. They said my fiancee gets the checks at NVC and not me.

NO - I do not think that everything that every lawyer tells me is true. But it seems to jive with the research I had done over the weekend.

Most NVC A/R delays I notice are for beneficiaries that have entered and left the USA in the past, or are from an unfriendly country. I think it's possible if the security checks are done for the petitioner at the USCIS and that takes a while occasionally, that the same would hold true for the beneficiary if NO background checks are done on him/her until the NVC level.

We will see when Elena clears the NVC. She has no problems ever from what she has told me.

I was told scary things by NVC operators, that our file was placed under an administrative review, due to 9/11, blah-blah, they can't predict how long it might take etc. I was so depressed. But!!! I asked if ALL or SOME files are placed under AR, and they said yes, ALL files. Then I called again and another operator didn't mention any 9/11 and had a different wording of the same thing.

They just have standard answers for everybody who calls or emails, because operators there don't really know what is happening to your file. They can just look in their computer system and give standard answers.

Out file cleared NVC in 7 days!!! Despite all things told to me about being placed under AR etc.

I called this morning. I kind of interrogated the lady a little and she seemed knowledgeable and ameanable to my questions.

Me: I was told on Friday my case was in Administrative Review.

NVC operator: Your case is in Administrative Processing.

Me: You are using the term Administrative Processing but I was told on Friday I am in Administrative Review. What is the difference?

NVC Operator: There is NO difference. It depends on which operator tells you this. They are the same thing, security checks.

Me: Wait a second. On Friday I was told my file was flagged and was sent to Washington DC for Administrative Review.

NVC Operator: I don't see the word flag in that conversation.

Me: I am using the term flag. I assumed from that conversation that somehow my case was special and had been sent to Washington DC. This is what he told me on Friday.

NVC Operator: No. Your case is HERE. We sent a cable to Washington DC for security checks. This is standard for ALL cases due to post 9/11 procedures.

Me: So when cleared by Washington they send a cable back and everything will be OK?

NVC Operator: Yes. Your case is being processed normally. Nothing special.

Me: Thank you so much for the information.

SO... There you go. I waited and panicked all weekend for no reason. BUT... there are still some people stuck in A/R at NVC level. So there is still a remote chance for a file to get stuck at this point.

From my research this weekend and the phone call this morning, I would say A/R is not only common - but that 100% of all petitions go through this.

A woman at NVC told me this morning that we're still in Administrative Processing.

When I asked if there was anything special about our case that flagged this, she said "no, it is due to the aftermath of 9/11 and there is no timeframe for completion of these security checks."

She also asked me to call back as often as I wanted.

I called also. I kind of interrogated the lady a little and she seemed knowledgeable and ameanable to my questions.

Me: I was told on Friday my case was in Administrative Review.

NVC operator: Your case is in Administrative Processing.

Me: You are using the term Administrative Processing but I was told on Friday I am in Administrative Review. What is the difference?

NVC Operator: There is NO difference. It depends on which operator tells you this. They are the same thing, security checks.

Me: Wait a second. On Friday I was told my file was flagged and was sent to Washington DC for Administrative Review.

NVC Operator: I don't see the word flag in that conversation.

Me: I am using the term flag. I assumed from that conversation that somehow my case was special and had been sent to Washington DC. This is what he told me on Friday.

NVC Operator: No. Your case is HERE. We sent a cable to Washington DC for security checks. This is standard for ALL cases due to post 9/11 procedures.

Me: So when cleared by Washington they send a cable back and everything will be OK?

NVC Operator: Yes. Your case is being processed normally. Nothing special.

Me: Thank you so much for the information.

SO... There you go. I waited and panicked all weekend for no reason. BUT... there are still some people stuck in A/R at NVC level. So there is still a remote chance for a file to get stuck at this point.

From my research this weekend and the phone call this morning, I would say A/R is not only common - but that 100% of all petitions go through this.

Omoba,

I think it would be very good to have a country specific A/R A/P tracking of some sort. That would be ideal but very difficult to track.

From what I have researched the only way people find out about A/R is the petitioner needs to request status. I suspect may more files go to A/R without people ever even knowing their case was in A/R.

At a minimum there should be a sticky in the some sections concerning A/R and A/P so people can post their results.

From what I have researched A/R is the term more commonly used at the NVC level before the interview. A/P is the terminology more used after the interview.

Similar to an RFE at the USCIS stage, there are very few denials.

With an RFE they give a specific date of the RFE and also a specific date the RFE has been submitted. With an A/R or A/P there is no way to know when it really starts or stops other than calling daily. This causes a problem with the tracking of A/R and A/P tracking in timelines.

If admin adds this information to the timelines there should be a notice stating this.

David, NVC and DOS has no power to deny petitions.

I am unsure if the above statement is 100% correct.

Nagishkaw is correct. If a denial is to come it will come from the consulate or the USCIS service center. NVC and DOS are kinda like information processors.

Thank you for posting.

I have added you to the list of posters here that have experienced A/R.

Do you have any idea of why you went through your A/R? If you prefer to PM me that information I will keep it confidential if you like.

- David