Ptitchou

If you do a forum search for "nvc ceac error", you'll find many posts from people experiencing the same issue. If you are seeing this type of thing, it's a problem with their crappy servers (see linked post). It took me a few weeks to get everything uploaded, regardless of which browser or OS I was using. I found I finally had better luck uploading late at night when less people were hitting it. 

10 minutes ago, YellowDuneBuggy said:

Hi. Approved today (the 5th of May 2020). NOA1 was the 19th of February 2020. 75 days in total. 🙂

Now, I'm wondering. I've seen people still waiting from July 2019. Do you think they are giving priority to some jobs? (Is an engineer considered more valuable than a bartender?)

I'm a software engineer, I live in Holland and moving to Texas.

I am as well and it still took 247 days for my July Potomac IOE approval. 

On 4/25/2020 at 6:49 PM, darth vader said:

Are the interviews being conducted currently? If not, do we know when the interviews would start to be scheduled?

No they are not, and no one knows when they will resume. 

It took me days to upload my docs, it was so frustrating. Kept getting various errors on their server side. I tried Firefox, Edge, Chrome on my Win 10 pc, then someone's trick of uploading via mobile (Android Chrome) and that seemed to work the first time, then the next day it didn't work. So I went back to my PC, tried again on my browser (Chrome) and this time it worked. 

Looking at the errors returned, the issue is definitely on their server side, so while it's incredibly frustrating, you have to just keep trying. Late at night you might have more success with fewer people trying to connect. 

On 4/17/2020 at 9:42 PM, vincentamosa said:

I sent my I130 application to phoenix lockbox on March 9, 2020 (recieved NOA1 soon after, sent to Potomac center) and today I recieved an email from NVC and checked the status, it says approved as of April 16, 2020. Has anyone else had such a quick approval? I was expecting 7-12 months. Is this virus related...

Wow, that's nuts! But congratulations!

Mine was a IOE # that went to Potomac but it took 242 days. There was a major slowdown between December to March when Potomac got a pile of Nebraska transfers, but looks like they sure have sped up now. 

1 hour ago, Jmeleecur said:

There are some passport photo apps!

Thanks, I just tried one out and hope I managed to meet all the criteria with it. 

Submitted! 🤞

So I have everything together and uploaded, but the one outstanding thing is my passport photo. I can't get one due to everything being on lockdown. I wonder if they'll accept a note that states I'll bring it to the interview? 

1 hour ago, Alix64 said:

Hi Ptitchou,

My husband and I are both remarried. So, you need to upload :

- your actual marriage certificate;

- and both your divorce decrees. If they are very long documents, try to get a 3 pager or something. My husband (US citizen)'s divorce decree was over 30 pages long (I know...) and he managed to get a 3 pagers that was clearly stipulating that he was divorced.

Remember that each docs must weight maximum 2Mo in a pdf format.

 

To be clearer, no need to upload your previous marriage certificates. NVC just wants to make sure you are probably divorced and remarried.

 

Take care,

Alix

Thank you! You didn't need your first marriage certificate at all for either of you, just the current one to your spouse? 

Hi all, I'm just in the middle of getting my civil documents uploaded and have read some confusing checklists in different places. 

Does anyone know if I need to include all previous marriage certificates for both applicant and petitioner on top of the divorce decrees? (My husband and I were both previously married.) I have a photocopy of my first marriage certificate but the original was filed with the divorce court and my husband can only find his divorce decree. 

A representative from CBSA Twitter account said a spouse is only exempted if they are a resident. My USC husband wouldn't be allowed to come into Canada. I believe the Canadian border guards are being much stricter than the US side, as we have far less infected. 

It's really difficult being long distance already, but being apart in the middle of a global crisis and not knowing when you'll see each other again is so stressful. I keep telling myself though, that as long as I know he's staying safe and healthy, I'll wait however long it takes. 

13 minutes ago, Alix64 said:

Welcome Ptitchou

And yes, the Police certificate is totally compulsory.

It is long to get it from Canada ?

Great, thanks for the clarification. If you have nothing to show on your record, it takes approximately 3 days for the check itself, then however long to mail you the document. I just called a place that has a location open for now, so time to gear up with all the Lysol and make a run for it! 

1 minute ago, Quarknase said:

no DQ without police certificate - we're in the same situation at the moment that we can't get it and it's the only missing piece for NVC submission

 

Gah, well these are certainly challenging times in many ways!

Hi all, finally time for me to join this thread. Got my approval & NVC case creation on the same day, so it was rather unexpected! We're awaiting the processing of payment now, but I'm gathering up all the documents we'll need and I'm concerned about the police record part. Everything is closed down due to COVID-19, so I don't know when I will be able to get my fingerprints done. My husband has transcripts for 2016 through 2018 (he's self-employed, so we read we would need 3 years to be safe) but hadn't filed 2019 yet. Hopefully we only need that for the interview, given the extension right now. 

Does anyone know if it's possible to defer the police certificate to the interview stage or will they require it now? 

I thought we needed the RCMP/background check for the supporting documents at the NVC stage? Or did I misread that and we only need it for the interview? 

Hello,

I need to get my criminal check done in Toronto, but I'm concerned that everything's been shut down due to COVID-19. My local police station is not allowing anyone in. 

Has anyone tried to get theirs done recently? I'm going to try calling around tomorrow to see if any of the third party places are open. 

1 hour ago, bpg123 said:

They will still continue to permit people going to work, trading or visiting family. 

Do you have a source for the allowance of visiting family? I haven't been able to find anything about today's update in regards to this exemption.

You're lucky you're already there. The borders are closed to US/Can travel now too. I wish my husband had stayed up here last week. 

I don't think anyone really knows what's going to happen with interview scheduling. This is pretty unprecedented. It's a lot of "wait and see" and news changes by the hour. 

Which airline were you with? I have a flight from YYZ to the US booked for a few weeks from now with American Airlines and they haven't cancelled it yet. (Though I probably will cancel myself while we wait this out... )  So far land borders are still open. My USC husband drove through this morning. 

Potomac has been on July since December, yeesh. So at this rate, I am expecting that we'll need 2019 tax documents for NVC but I don't think we'll have transcripts in time. My husband isn't able to file until close to the deadline since his accountant is swamped. Does anyone know if NVC will accept the three previous years and a letter explaining 2019 will be brought to consulate? (We're doing 3 years because he's self-employed and it's not as straight forward as bringing W-2s.)

Meanwhile there are transfers to Potomac with August PDs that just got approved.

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

This is new but by the sound of it your interview is some way off so things will be much much clearer. My thought at the moment is to take details of what you will be buying for the interview.

True, it is a long way off, but since the DS-5540 is now also uploadable at NVC stage along with the other documents, I'm trying to figure out how to fill this out at the NVC stage. 

2 minutes ago, ayestaci said:

The two on FB were not transfers.  

That gives a little bit of hope, thanks

Yet another DS-5540 question that I haven't seen many answers for.

We filed the i-130 from abroad and will need to upload the DS-5540 at the NVC stage. Most people seem to be going with letters from their spouses' work insurance, saying they can be added, but my husband is self-employed and uses the VA, which his spouse cannot be added to. I will need to purchase my own private insurance until I land a job with an employer in the US. However, I have absolutely no idea when I'll be approved and able to move (the Montreal consulate has a wait of 6 months for interviews) so how can I offer proof of future insurance at this stage? 

I have health insurance for travel with my current employer, but I don't expect that meets the criteria since it will no longer apply when I become a US resident. Is there a temporary immigrant insurance option that people recommend?