Ben and Jen

Thanks @JeanneAdil! I'll look into it

Thank you @arken

Hello all,

I have a question about applying for a FAFSA (Free application for federal student aid). I received my green card 7 months ago. I started a one year teacher credential course this summer, and the education department said that I can apply for a $5,000 scholarship from the California State University if I submit a FAFSA.

Will submitting a FAFSA look bad when I go to remove conditions on my green card in the future? According to the FAFSA website, green card holders are eligible to apply. Also, looking at the I-864 I wouldn't be considered a public charge by receiving it, right?

Maintaining my green card and ability to stay with my wife is more important that receiving a $5,000 scholarship, so I'd like other people's opinions. If there is no conflict of interest, I will consider applying for it.

Thanks!

On 12/22/2021 at 4:57 AM, molehills said:

Any early August filers have interviews yet? We filed July 30, and have NOA from Aug. 2. I am seeing updates coming in from a few people around the middle/end of July get interviews scheduled for early next year. Our biometrics have been done and we already responded to an RFE for the I864.

 

Yes, here's our timeline:

August 2nd - filed

August 9th - NOA

November 3rd - Biometrics

December 9th - Interview

December 17th - Greencard received (best Christmas present we could have asked for!)

I suspect it depends on how busy your local field office is. I hope you get your interview scheduled soon 😃 Happy holidays!

11 minutes ago, rodneyp48074 said:

I know our appointment in April was cancelled, now we have to wait until August.

I also had to get a new medical for my interview because my original medical expired. The embassy emailed us in December 2020 to say that our case would be interviewing soon so I got the medical done in January 2021. Because of government lockdown in Ireland we didn't actually get the interview until March.

If you know you will probably get an interview in August I would probably get your medical done in July to be ready. I know it's risky in case your interview is delayed again, but I think it is worth the risk so you will be ready to interview.

1 hour ago, Jenn2020 said:

Congrats! 🥳🥳🙌🏻We have very similar timelines, I hope my interview comes soon. It’s been so long I wasn’t sure if this thread was still active since no one posted any updates anymore. Soo happy for you!😊

You'll get your interview soon! Make sure your documents are ready to go. I know some people here in Ireland only had 1 week notice before their interview. We had 1 month notice so that was useful for getting a new police certificate.

Best of luck when you get the interview 😃 We hope you do great!

Not sure if there are any September 2019 filers still waiting on an interview, but if you are then hopefully it will be soon.

We just had our interview last Friday (26th) and we were approved. We will wait for the visa to be issued and hopefully be together in a few weeks.

If you are still waiting, hang in there! You'll get your interview!

On 3/26/2021 at 7:24 PM, Jenn2020 said:

Any filers with Noa2 from December 2019 still waiting on an interview? With an expired case? 

We just had our interview last Friday (26th). Thankfully we were approved. Now we will wait up to 10 days for the visa.

15 hours ago, Thewander said:

I’m curious though as this time the lockdown is different than the others. This one allows retail to stay open as well as gyms. So maybe we have a glimmer of hope? I emailed and called today to ask but never got through or a reply 🙄

Yeah, I've heard it's hard to get through to the embassy. I think we'll know more coming closer to Jan 12th when the government reviews the situation and decides if we are going to lockdown until the end of Feb or not. I'm hopeful for interviews to get started again after the lockdown, so trying to be realistic for a March interview maybe.

24 minutes ago, SIRE said:

Another lock down in place, just saw this news headlines https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/level-5-restrictions-likely-to-stay-for-two-months-says-varadkar-1.4443995 

 

Not sure if we will ever get our appointment  

I just saw this too. Looks like late February or March before interviews will be on the cards?

3 hours ago, Thewander said:

Do you know if they’ll continue interviews during the next lockdown coming up? I saw retail & gyms are allowed to remain open this time so curious if interviews can continue 

I'm not sure, but judging by previous lockdowns, the embassy will probably not do interviews during lockdown.

16 hours ago, Thewander said:

That’s strange considering they still have a long line of marriage visa interviews and they’ll close down again in a couple of days for the next lockdown. 

Looking at the statistics it seems that they are getting through quite a lot of marriage visas every month recently. They may be trying to schedule more interviews for when they clear the marriage visa backlogs. The lockdown won't affect us personally because the medical will take a few weeks to schedule and another couple of weeks after that to receive the results, so we should be good to interview shortly after the next lockdown finishes. 

Hi everyone, 

We just received an email a few minutes ago from the US Embassy in Dublin. It looks like the wheels are starting to move again for K1 applicants in Ireland! 

2 hours ago, MelanieD said:

Hello everyone. 

So after a long wait, almost 1 year, 223 days to be exact. We finally got the letter today from NVC stating they have sent our information to the Consulate in Dublin to complete our K1 processing since being open on DEC 1 from lockdown there. I am wondering if anyone knows how long it takes for Embassy there to receive the information and send the Welcome letter? Does anyone have an idea? and how long until interview is scheduled at that point as well. Thanks! And best of luck to all of you waiting !

Hi MelanieD, 

NVC sent our information to the Dublin Embassy on 2020-02-04 and the embassy received it on 2020-02-07. The embassy contacted us the same day they received it. We completed our medical and sent back the packet three to the embassy on 2020-03-19 (at the time we weren't rushing but kind of wish we did now). Since then we've been waiting. We received an email from the embassy on 2020-03-20 saying this: 

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for your notice of readiness submission. We can confirm receipt. As of March 16 2020 the United States Embassy in Dublin has cancelled routine Immigrant and Nonimmigrant visa appointments. We will resume routine visa services as soon as possible but are unable to provide a specific date at this time. Our office will contact you directly when we are in a position to provide you an appointment. The MRV fee is valid and may be used for a visa application in the country where it was purchased within one year of the date of payment.

Kind Regards,
IV Unit

We haven't heard anything from them since. From the State Dept. statistics (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/immigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-immigrant-visa-issuances.html) we can see that Dublin is not processing any K1 visas over the past several months. It seems they are only issuing CR1 and others at the moment. We don't really know when they will start to issue K1 visas. We just have to sit tight and hope that it begins early in the new year.

P.S. By the looks of things we will have to get our medical and police records done again to be up-to-date. If you have yours done you should check their expiry too. 

30 minutes ago, Liam&Marce said:

Me!!!

I had my interview canceled and last week I could schedule a new one for August  

Good to know you have a new interview lined up

11 hours ago, StellaRaMona said:

Hello all! I received my K1 visa yesterday! My heart nearly exploded out of my chest as I cut the courier packaging - issue date 14th April!

In light of the new EO and the upcoming non-immigrant revision in 30days, I was terrified my issue date would be 23rd April. 

Will be arranging my flight to arrive in Seattle by May 20 or earlier (May 22 will be 30days from April 23) - please wish me luck!!

This chat has gone really quiet, and I hope that means most, or all of you have your visas, or already in the US? For anyone out there still waiting, please don't lose hope!

p.s: Which forum/thread should I follow next?

 

@Greenbaum Thank you so much for your support! This community has been a huge help and I'm so so grateful! 

Congratulations @StellaRaMona !! Best of luck with your future in the US  

We're stuck waiting for our interview. We sent in our Notice of Readiness on March 19th but have to wait until interviews resume.  

Anyone else here in the same boat as us?

20 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

Playing devils advocate. Let's say you let the medical expire and the world hasn't ended. Now you begin the process and you are now racing to meet other deadlines; one being the NOA2 validity date. Only your embassy can authorize the continuation of the NOA2 past each 4 month approved period. Your playing with a "hot potato" and maybe moving forward with the progressing of your visa would be the best choice. A bird in the hand is better then two in the bush. Just saying.

Hi Greenbaum, 

Thank you for the very good reply. We never thought about the NOA2 validity as an issue. We will move forward with the visa processing with that in mind. We are still finalizing our paperwork before submitting the Notice of Readiness, so your advice has helped us before we make the next step.

Hi everyone,

My fiance and I are looking for some advice based off of the current pandemic.

My fiance just completed the medical exam 2 weeks ago (Feb. 28th) and we're wondering whether or not to proceed with scheduling the interview (we haven't submitted the Notice of Readiness or DS-160 yet). We thought we could wait out this craziness but realized that the validity of the medical exam is going by each day that we're waiting. So, we've come up with 2 options:

Option 1: We continue as planned and schedule the interview, assuming they're still being held. If all goes well, we'll have to enter the US 6 months after Feb. 28th. We're crossing our fingers the travel ban will be lifted soon.

Option 2: Don't schedule the interview knowing that the medical will expire in 6 months and do the medical again if needed.

Your thoughts/advice? Thanks so much in advance!

On 2/26/2020 at 10:28 PM, Sarge2155 said:

Has everyone about gone on here meaning had their interview and gotten their visas?

I just had my medical today  I'll wait for the results to be ready for collection before completing the DS-160 and submitting my notice of readiness. The results may take two weeks so I'm guessing I won't interview for approximately another month.

9 hours ago, Marielle & Eddie said:

Hi guys!  is there anyone here who can link me to the the thread for october 2019 I-129F filers?  It's been pretty quiet these weeks.  I just want to hear some news from co-october filers.  Thank you 😊

 

@Marielle & Eddie Here's the link: 

6 hours ago, Liam&Marce said:

Finally I got approved!! 
 

NOA1: September 11

NOA2: December 30

 

Anxious of what it’s next!

 

Congratulations!

1 hour ago, Greenbaum said:

If you find anything not up to date or the information is wrong, please share your findings.

@Greenbaum Thanks again, and we will let you know if anything is different once we get to the P3 stage.

@Greenbaum We received our NOA2 notification online and are waiting for the physical copy to arrive. 

In the mean time we are looking over your PDF and this thread to stay informed and prepare. 

Just one question - do you have a copy of the P3 for Ireland? 

Thank you for all your help and guidance.

35 minutes ago, Brazasian said:

I never got any notifications. I was checking my case on the USCIS website and saw the approval. 

We got it on December 17th and the NOA2 letter arrived on December 21st. 

If you don’t want to rely on official notifications, download the Case Tracker app as @Trese said.

We second that Case Tracker app. It's really good. That's how we first found out about the NOA2 and then checked the USCIS website to confirm.