TheChheavFamily

Today is day 530 for us. Still pressing on. 

Interviewed today, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I went with my husband. Approved. Pick up passport on 3/13/2020. 
 
We uploaded the DS5540, 2019 tax returns, 2019 W2, bank statements and new paystubs, his health insurance that will go to the USA. They didn’t ask us for the originals since we had already uploaded. We asked if they wanted the originals, they said no they have the scans and that was enough. 
 
The interviewing CO didn’t give any sign that the process was going well or not, we established no rapport at all. The questions just came fast. But then she surprised us with approval. We hugged and I cried. 
 
Day 566 of waiting! 

I just want to give some hope with a CR1 and overcoming an interview with a forceful CO. We went the K1 route and withdrew our application to get married in my husband’s country (where I have been living for the past 8 years) and make our life in his country. A few months later some things changed with my employer and we ended up having to file CR1 to change our plans to move to the USA. Very long story short, during the interview I was present and the CO continued to tell my husband that he looked like someone who had applied for a visa before and accused him of lying. She was very forceful and threatened lifetime ban 4 or 5 times. He continued to be steady while I was a wreck inside. We told her that we applied for the K1 in 2017 but nothing else. She accused him of looking like someone who applied with someone else before that. We knew this wasn’t the case because over the last year he gained a significant amount of weight from stress and he doesn’t even look like the same skinny guy that I was with over the last 5 years. She said that he looked like someone else and took his fingerprints a second time. When seeing that they didn’t match, again, she finally let up and said we were approved. We leave for the USA next week.
 
Before our interview, we could hear her interviewing another man, the American wife was not present, she also accused him of lying about the timing of his wedding ceremony (he told her they had 2 ceremonies) and he wasn’t able to overcome it and she sent him away with a request for more evidence and DNA tests. 
 
Spend as much time together as possible, go over the petition again and again with your husband and make sure that he knows the exact details before the interview so if they are forceful he doesn’t get flustered and can answer honestly with confidence. She CO didn’t care about any evidence that we brought or photos either. She actually laughed at one of our evidence. She just asked questions very quickly and didn’t even give a moment to answer completely before asking the next one. I don’t know if every interview is like this but prepare your husband for this kind of interview and he’ll be ready if it’s like this again or an easier one where the CO tries to build rapport and understand the relationship. 
 
Blessings and good luck to you! 
 
 

I have emailed my local embassy and asked wether the already issued visas will be affected or not and this is the response i received.
 
“Thank you for your inquiry.   If you already have an immigrant visa, then you will not be impacted by the new executive order (which has not yet even been signed).     As long as you have the letter* from the Embassy and your valid immigrant visa, you should be able to travel without problems.   Thank you.   Regards,       American Citizen Services Unit  U.S. Embassy.”   *Letter from the embassy : since we are in lockdown we are required to have a travel letter from the embassy*

Our attorney said don’t upload and see what they say at the interview. I’m not a fan of the wait and see approach and didn’t want to be sent home to
upload. They thanked us for uploading. They didn’t want proof of anything, she said I’ve got it all here. They never even asked about taxes W2 or money in general. Never mentioned the DS5540. Now, if something had not been acceptable I’m sure that they would have brought it up. 
 
I’ve been living overseas so we’ve had a global policy that covers everywhere. It’s with Aetna. I also uploaded proof of the quotes that we got for permanent coverage in the USA which we will get within 2 weeks of his arrival. Arrive by 15th and it’s covered on 1st of the following month. That’s when this other policy would expire anyways. 
 
generic questions - Where did you meet. Tell me about his family. Why didn’t you have a big wedding. Are you having a wedding in USA? Why not? Tell me about the NGO that you work for. What is his job now? He goes to church? Do you speak his language? (Haha my whole family does even though we aren’t from here weve all worked here before my parents have been here since 1999) They asked about our age gap (I’m older by 10 years) His passport photos triggered some kind of facial recognition to some other person and she kept asking him again and again if he ever applied for a visa before and if he is lying right now. She kept threatening lifetime ban. We withdrew our K-1 in early 2017 and had been open about on all our documents and at the interview, but this was some other guy completely. She checked his fingerprints a second time and confirmed it wasn’t him. 
 
Overall it was alright. We sure weren’t expecting the grilling on him looking like somebody else. 

Interviewed today, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I went with my husband. Approved. Pick up passport on 3/13/2020. 
 
We uploaded the DS5540, 2019 tax returns, 2019 W2, bank statements and new paystubs, his health insurance that will go to the USA. They didn’t ask us for the originals since we had already uploaded. We asked if they wanted the originals, they said no they have the scans and that was enough. 
 
The interviewing CO didn’t give any sign that the process was going well or not, we established no rapport at all. The questions just came fast. But then she surprised us with approval. We hugged and I cried. 
 
Day 566 of waiting! 

Interviewed today, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I went with my husband. Approved. Pick up passport on 3/13/2020. 
 
We uploaded the DS5540, 2019 tax returns, 2019 W2, bank statements and new paystubs, his health insurance that will go to the USA. They didn’t ask us for the originals since we had already uploaded. We asked if they wanted the originals, they said no they have the scans and that was enough. 
 
The interviewing CO didn’t give any sign that the process was going well or not, we established no rapport at all. The questions just came fast. But then she surprised us with approval. We hugged and I cried. 
 
Day 566 of waiting! 

Yes, the financial documents under the petitioner/sponsor optional documents click on the little link that says add a new document. It will let you select the i864, W2, paystubs and the tax returns all separately and you can write an explanation about why you’re uploading new things. I figured I wanted to make the embassy’s job as easy as possible. 

Interviewed today, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I went with my husband. Approved. Pick up passport on 3/13/2020. 
 
We uploaded the DS5540, 2019 tax returns, 2019 W2, bank statements and new paystubs, his health insurance that will go to the USA. They didn’t ask us for the originals since we had already uploaded. We asked if they wanted the originals, they said no they have the scans and that was enough. 
 
The interviewing CO didn’t give any sign that the process was going well or not, we established no rapport at all. The questions just came fast. But then she surprised us with approval. We hugged and I cried. 
 
Day 566 of waiting! 

Yes, the financial documents under the petitioner/sponsor optional documents click on the little link that says add a new document. It will let you select the i864, W2, paystubs and the tax returns all separately and you can write an explanation about why you’re uploading new things. I figured I wanted to make the embassy’s job as easy as possible. 

Yes, the attorney was dumb and uploaded the original i864 that they sent with our I130 petition in 2018 so it only had 2017 taxes done on it. They kept telling me you don’t need a new one but I wanted to be as prepared as possible and I made a new one myself and uploaded it. The NVC sent a notice that my income was insufficient but it’s much more than the minimum so I think it was the old documents and not the new ones. I told them that I am not a fan of the wait and see approach. I would rather give more than I need to give than to be sent home and asked to upload something, but that’s just me, I don’t know the exact right or wrong way. I just wanted to be more in control of what they could see ahead of our interview. 
 
His visa was ISSUED today and updated online. We have an appointment to go to pick it up next Friday March 13. 
 
I hope this help!! 

Interviewed today, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I went with my husband. Approved. Pick up passport on 3/13/2020. 
 
We uploaded the DS5540, 2019 tax returns, 2019 W2, bank statements and new paystubs, his health insurance that will go to the USA. They didn’t ask us for the originals since we had already uploaded. We asked if they wanted the originals, they said no they have the scans and that was enough. 
 
The interviewing CO didn’t give any sign that the process was going well or not, we established no rapport at all. The questions just came fast. But then she surprised us with approval. We hugged and I cried. 
 
Day 566 of waiting! 

Interviewed today, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I went with my husband. Approved. Pick up passport on 3/13/2020. 
 
We uploaded the DS5540, 2019 tax returns, 2019 W2, bank statements and new paystubs, his health insurance that will go to the USA. They didn’t ask us for the originals since we had already uploaded. We asked if they wanted the originals, they said no they have the scans and that was enough. 
 
The interviewing CO didn’t give any sign that the process was going well or not, we established no rapport at all. The questions just came fast. But then she surprised us with approval. We hugged and I cried. 
 
Day 566 of waiting! 

Interviewed today, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I went with my husband. Approved. Pick up passport on 3/13/2020. 
 
We uploaded the DS5540, 2019 tax returns, 2019 W2, bank statements and new paystubs, his health insurance that will go to the USA. They didn’t ask us for the originals since we had already uploaded. We asked if they wanted the originals, they said no they have the scans and that was enough. 
 
The interviewing CO didn’t give any sign that the process was going well or not, we established no rapport at all. The questions just came fast. But then she surprised us with approval. We hugged and I cried. 
 
Day 566 of waiting! 

We interviewed today. I went along with my husband. I uploaded the DS5540 into CEAC for my husband this weekend and I asked if they needed the original, was told no because it’s in the system now. Approved. No questions on health insurance, but proof was also uploaded with the DS5540. We are 250% of poverty line so I’m not sure if that was a factor or not. My husband has a job offer letter that we also included. I think each case is going to be different. 

Interviewed today, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I went with my husband. Approved. Pick up passport on 3/13/2020. 
 
We uploaded the DS5540, 2019 tax returns, 2019 W2, bank statements and new paystubs, his health insurance that will go to the USA. They didn’t ask us for the originals since we had already uploaded. We asked if they wanted the originals, they said no they have the scans and that was enough. 
 
The interviewing CO didn’t give any sign that the process was going well or not, we established no rapport at all. The questions just came fast. But then she surprised us with approval. We hugged and I cried. 
 
Day 566 of waiting! 

The email just came - interview set for for Phnom Penh, Cambodia March 3, 2020! 

Hi everyone , 
 
I am soooo happy !! 
i just received my IL 🎉🎉🎉🎉
DQ : 01/23/2020
Interview : 03/04/2020 
 
hihaaaaaa!!!!! Let’s go to the LAST step !!!  

The email just came - interview set for for Phnom Penh, Cambodia March 3, 2020! 

The email just came - interview set for for Phnom Penh, Cambodia March 3, 2020! 

The email just came - interview set for for Phnom Penh, Cambodia March 3, 2020! 

The email just came - interview set for for Phnom Penh, Cambodia March 3, 2020! 

Welcome to my life. I was just thinking how this is such a safe forum where everyone is so helpful and cheers for one another. It's pretty much a place to go to commiserate and to celebrate and everyone will just understand. Keep on fighting everyone!

I am the US Citizen currently living and working overseas and petitioning for my spouse. 
 
I sent these to the NVC - 
 
letter from my US based employer stating that my job is transferring me to the US 
 
my son’s US school registration forms
 
bank statements from the last few months with US based bank and US address. 
 
letter signed that I will be returning to the US concurrently with my spouse when his visa is approved 
 
application and approval with deposit confirmation for an apartment in the US with both mine and my spouse’s names 
 
I tried my best to follow - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/collect-and-submit-forms-and-documents-to-the-nvc/establish-financial-support/i-864-affidavit-faqs.html
for keeping domicile and establishing domicile 
 
I was DQ this week with the exception of my Income, the NVC said they could not make a determination on my income and will forward to the embassy for the decision to approve or reject. 
 
 
 
 

I said this above. However if you feel you need extra evidence, then those are items you can bring. 
Sure we know the legitimacy of our marriages but we still have to prove that to a third party who is going to be as objective as possible.