E&W

15 hours ago, Jody and Misho said:

And every Embassy knew this - so why is Cairo (for example) continuing suspension of all but emergency services through the end of September?  This makes no sense!

Might be because there is suspicion that the Egyptian government isn’t reporting the true numbers. And that the numbers are still pretty high. If they can’t get accurate information, they just don’t know if and when it’s safe for them to open up. At least that’s how I would interpert this. I’m sorry in any case, it is unfair to be suffering because of other people’s actions.

There are already several threads on this topic

posted on the US embassy in Croatia website yesterday 

I was on such a high yesterday when I read this. No mention of K1s but still movement. I really hope we get to the point where K1s are also processed and issued. Waiting has been hard and painful.

If so many people are getting confused by the wording of a petition and if so many people can interpret it in different ways the logical conclusion is that the petition is worded poorly and needs to be changed to achieve the intended goal. I doubt any official will come to the visa journey website to seek an explanation of what the petition wants to achieve and what the signees thought they were signing. They will just read it, see that it’s not clear and deny it.

And for those wondering which visas in Croatia can be granted without interview (or rather can submit a waiver to not have an interview), here is the link. Maybe that will help with the confusion: https://hr.usembassy.gov/visas/interview-waived/

1 hour ago, stech786 said:

it says Routine visa services suspended

It says much more then that in the image, if you bother to read it. Namely that they are now issuing visas that can be issued without interview. Which they haven’t been doing since the Coronavirus started. Meaning they are also slowly opening the embassy up. Routine visa services are indeed still suspended, because they aren’t issuing visas that require interviews. 

News from the embassy in Croatia, they are open for US citizens and this was posted the other day. 

18 hours ago, Anna Pg said:

Hi!
I saw that at the end of June a lot of flights are going with Turkish Airlines from Croatia and I was considering it too..
but if you are coming from another EU country they won't stamp your passport.. so I really don't know how to prove my stay beside the booking of an hotel or similar..

maybe once you enter Croatia, you can go to the police and register your presence???

Mexico too is an option, but right now Covid is raising and I'm afraid that Trump will block them too like he did with Brazil..

Per Croatian law any hotel needs to report any foreigners that are staying with them, when they arrived and when they will leave to their local police station. Private citizens are also required to do this (I had to when my fiance was visiting and staying at my apartment). Ask the hotel if they can provide you with a copy of the Form 8a “Registration and cancellation of residence or registration of change of address“. Of course you want the copy that has been signed and stamped by the police station. It’s an official document, we used it to prove that my fiance visited me in our K1 petition, so I see no reason why it should not be accepted. If you want, I can send you the link to the form so you can see what it looks like. Won’t even need to do a translation, because it’s both in Croatian and English.

Emailed the Croatia embassy since our i129-F petition was valid until May 21, they extended it for another 4 months, no documents needed to be sent. Nothing else to do, really.

Hope everyone is healthy, staying safe and strong as much as they can. I send virtual hugs to all of you.

Get married, apply for spousal visa. With the world being as it is, if your partner is already your spouse means they have a higher chance of actually getting to the US. Plus with everything being closed or having reduced staffing, the wait time will probably end up being the same.

This is a multilevel problem for a lot of us. You need the US to open embassies and borders, you need your country to open up for business so you can do your medical and interview (I couldn’t do any of it right now even if the embassy was running, because there are restrictions for travel between cities), and you need the country you might be connecting through to allow foreigners to fly in.

Really nothing for us to do but do our part to lower the numbers and be patient. 

34 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

You expressed a good response to our current world situation and to what part we play in that. Thank you.

No problem, just trying to help out where I can, since this forum has helped me out so much. Plus, I've been a moderator, I know how helpful it is for everyone when others chime in with different perspectives. 😄

I’m too am of the opinion that we still have some waiting to do. Plus, the response to the situation from an epidemiological perspective has been much better in my country then in the US. It does give me a certain sense of security in such a crazy time. So in a way I am grateful to be stuck here for now, I know the stress of moving to a new country would have been that much worse because of the situation. 

As painful as the separation is and as impatient as I can get, there are silver linings here. 
 

Today is an impatient day for me. Just wish the virus situation was over already and we could go forward in the visa process. Ahhhhhhh.

Deep breaths, there are worse things then waiting for a visa. This too shall pass.

54 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

With the on slot of embassy's reducing their staff and day to day functions, couple that with no VJ member is reporting that their case status went to "in transit" yesterday, I can only guess that there will be no shipments until further information is available. This is my opinion and has not been confirmed from any governmental agency, so I put it out there for your edification. I'm heartbroken that I have to report this grim news. Stay strong as we move further into the COVID-19 stages. 

Thank you Greenbaum for keeping us up to date. Things will slow down for sure for a time. As I saw someone write today, these are historical times. And those are always cause of turmoil in most aspects of life. Let us hope that they do not last long.

1 hour ago, LegalAlienn said:

Did they inform you about that, or you contacted them?

They posted about it on their FB page, and it says so on their webpage.

US embassy in Croatia has suspended visa services, except for C1, D transit and crewmember visas for the time being. 

Pfff, at the end of this we'll be champions in patience. 😄 Stay safe, folks!

14 hours ago, LegalAlienn said:

Well I feel we can still schedule our interview and get the visa but just wait on buying the tickets. Or also, you can get the connection through London or maybe Istanbul if you are really missing your love 😊

I’m just collecting all the documents, so hopefully next week I’ll have everything and go ahead and see the availability for the interview.

We probably can, but my gut is telling me to wait it out. Croatia is putting it’s own measures up, and both London and Istanbul can be banned any moment. Plus my fiancé works with people that are at higher risk, I would rather not be the one that possibly picks up the virus somewhere along the way and causes his clients to be sick. 

32 minutes ago, Senad and Anna said:

My fiancees interview was canceled a few hours ago. 

I understand that this feels heartbreaking, I woke up to the news that there is a ban for EU countries and while Croatia is not on the list right now, my routes out of Europe go mostly through banned countries. We’ll soon be added to the list anyway, I don’t doubt that. But in the long run it’s probably better they did cancel his interview, because they can easily extend the validity of the petition for a whole year, while the visa itself is valid for half that. So in the event this last much longer then a month, you will have room to still go on with the process. 
But for people with visas already in hand, I sincerely hope they do something about extending those if needed.

Stay strong, stay healthy and know that this too will pass, we waited before, we can do it again.

Welp, granted Croatia isn’t on the banned country list yet, but I think I will be waiting out this 30 day ban to have my interview. I would need to switch to a connecting flight somewhere in EU anyway, so not like I got too much choices here. Ahhhh, lets hope this ban lasts only 30 days. 

4 hours ago, Nishris said:

Can someone help with the processing stages.

 

Our K1 application was mailed via USPS on 28th Feb and reached the Dallas lockbox on 4th, when should I be getting some acknowledgement of receipt?

Is this the NOA1, the first stage of the processing steps? When should I expect to get this.

Would our file be processed at California centre as the petitioner is from California, how does that work.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Select Menu in the top right corner and go to Guides>Immigration Guides. There is a guide for K1, a flow chart and a bunch of other info.

2 minutes ago, LegalAlienn said:

Same here.. hope to hear from the embassy soon.. 

Did you or someone else who’s in transit try the DHL tip/hack from the PDF file? 

I just tried and got no result, but it's probably still too early, it does say it will take 24h for the system to work.

I got a question to anyone who knows. I am filling out the DS-5540 as a precaution, in case they ask for it. I'm stuck on question 9 about the assets. I own an apartment in Croatia, I know I have to list it here, what I am wondering is what type of asset, as there is a drop down menu to select from (in picture). Is it "Gross Cash Value of Real Estate Holdings"? 

Oh yes, we received the email with the case number, CEAC says it's in transit. I am so excited, one step closer.