malico89

Check if your mom’s visa says “IV DOCS IN CCD”, this means all docs are electronic and there is no physical package for her to take.

1 hour ago, SusieQQQ said:

All those docs are in the electronic packet. Passport and visa is all she needs.

Thanks!

Question for those who have already traveled into the US - what documents does CBP ask for other than passport and visa? 
 

My mom didn’t get a package from the embassy (“IV DOCS IN CCD”), but we are just wondering if they will ask again for anything else (I-864, DS-260 confirmation, etc).

4 hours ago, Bzegurl said:

Love it thank you!

In addition to this I also had my mom bring:

- a copy of my naturalizaron certificate (proof of petitioner being USC)

- certified translations of any documents in Spanish (had to get them translated for NVC stage anyway)

i also had her review all the documents we submitted to NVC (like, all the answers in the DS-260) as a refresher since it’s been a while since we put all that together.

7 hours ago, Vzla90 said:

How do you know when you are DQ and waiting for the interview?

You get en email from NVC saying you became DQ and a message shows up in the CEAC dashboard 

On 3/18/2021 at 11:19 AM, Nateuzky said:

Good call! I better do that then

Thanks for the information. Haven't received an email about that yet

Check your inbox. They sent it when you submit the DS-260 on the CEAC website.

Just now, Milasa said:

Congratulations!!! Hopefully all our parents will have their interviews before the end of this year.

Indeed! Having parents far away when they are not getting any younger is tough.

1 minute ago, bubblyheather said:

That's awesome! Congratulations! How long did you wait to get a schedule for the medical and interview?

Interview notification came on March 12 (interview date and time were set for April 7 10am), and my mom scheduled her medical for March 23. She had to get some follow up vaccines, an x-ray, and blood/urine tests she got done in the same week and sent to the doctor’s office.

On 3/12/2021 at 1:03 PM, Milasa said:

Please let’s us know about the interview experience, your mom would be one of the very few people to have ir5 visa interview this year. 

My mom had her interview this morning, and everything went great! She said she got asked some biographical questions (where I work, where I live), as well as some questions about her past history in the US (she had studied and worked on an H1B here in the past). She brought all the documents in the interview checklist and was asked to show them (example checklist from our embassy here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/ASN-Asuncion.html), including a copy of my naturalization certificate. I also gave her our 2020 tax returns just in case, which were not uploaded/sent to NVC.
 

Her medical was forwarded directly from the civil surgeon to the embassy, so she didn’t have to have that packet with her. In fact she didn’t even need the passport photos for the medical exam, they just took a cell phone photo at the checkup 😂

They expect to return her passport via courier in the next week or so.

There’s a whole section dedicated to travel specific to the US in the last 5 years

1 hour ago, Gar9 said:

Is this email about appointment for interview for IR-5 immigrant visa ? 

Yes, for the consular interview 

It was surprisingly quick, I submitted everything on May 12 and was DQ’d by June 8. 
 

Even the USCIS I-130 stage was quick, priority date was Feb 11 and case was created at NVC on May 1. Then the executive order came along grinding everything to a halt.

Wanted to post an update and give hope to those of us anxiously waiting.

My mom (IR5) became DQ’d at NVC June of 2020, and today we got an email from the NVC about her appointment at the Paraguay consulate on April 7. This was such good news!

@Vikingoutwest oh wow, sorry to hear about your travel woes! That sounds brutal  

And yes, we laughed about the sign for a while, I joked that everyone in that line could probably spell those words in their sleep!

Oh, one more thing, we DIDN'T need to sign the N445 in front of the officer (I did just to be safe). It just needed to be filled/signed that same morning.

And arriving early might help, but they don't start the ceremony until everyone is inside the building.

@Vikingoutwest that is a pretty accurate account! I remember the whoop whoop  It feels so good to be done!

The whole thing was a logistical mess getting in -- how can they not expect 220 people + 1+ guests each, and ONE metal detector NOT to be a massive bottleneck?! 

I arrived about the same time as you and had to wait 3 hours to get in the building. The only other thing I noticed is that as I was getting in, some people were already leaving with their naturalization certificates, so it looked like they maybe had an earlier ceremony (so 2 batches of oath people). I think that helped everyone fit into the auditorium by the time we got in (our ceremony ended up being at around 12:15pm).

Ah ok, maybe ours on Thursday will be longer since I assume it's a bigger venue.

@Crazely was yours also at the 911 Federal building? Or at USCIS?

I'm wondering both these things myself  

Been closely following this thread, it looks like I got the same oath ceremony date/location as a few people here! Feb 6, 8:30am, in some 911 Federal building on the east side. Interview was on 11/27. Finally!

Update: on Friday 1/17 I got an online notification that my oath ceremony had been scheduled. It will be on February 6 at 8:30am (Portland, OR). So a little over 2 months from interview to ceremony. So close to the finish line!

@Emma Huang Still no notice for the oath ceremony  MyUSCIS still claims February 2020 completion date/2 months wait time. I'm curious if there are other Portland, OR people on here to get an idea of oath ceremony timing.

However, I have heard/read that if your interview is early enough in the day they can get you into a ceremony in the same afternoon, so maybe you'll get lucky. Not in my case, though. Good luck with the interview!

3 minutes ago, Shady123 said:

what questions were you asked specifically for i751 ?

I don't remember all the exact details, but nothing very surprising, mostly biographical: where do we live, any new documents (we had more photos and newer financial statements), any kids, how many marriages.

As I mentioned, she made a comment about having everything she needed, so I don't think there was anything missing or that she needed to question further about our case.

Hi all, I wanted to share my experience as a combo filer since so many of these posts have been helpful to me during the wait!

I filed for I-751 June of 2018, N400 June 2019. Biometrics for N400 happened around mid-June, and a little after that I got a notification that my I-751 was transferred to NBC (likely to combine cases). I never got a notice that my I-751 was transferred to my field office, but then again my I-751 notifications have been very wrong/inconsistent in both USCIS tracker systems.

Late October I got a combo interview notice letter (local office is Portland, OR), and just had my combo interview on November 27th. The letter itself never showed up on the USCIS system. Check-in was fairly smooth and we got in a little bit earlier than our appointment time to see the IO. She was very polite and friendly. My husband (USC) was in with me for a bit of the I-751, but not very long. She just asked a few routine questions (where we live, any new documents to add). She had both my I-751 and N400 in front of her, looked like 2 reams of paper. She scanned my husband's US passport and state ID and then told him to wait in the waiting area. After that she checked a couple more things on the I-751 but also told me "I think I already have everything I need to approve this."

She then proceeded to the N400 portion. Asked the civics questions (I honestly can't remember them all anymore) and the reading/writing test, passed all. Then she asked additional questions about where I live (again), where I work, and stepped through all the yes/no questions from the application. At the end she handed me a checklist looking sheet that said I was recommended for approval (yay!). She mentioned she would not mail me my 10-year GC since N400 was approved. Only thing pending is oath ceremony (still waiting on that notice, seems like Oregon/Washington are getting somewhat combined and there's a long line?). My USCIS went from saying estimated completion of December 2019 to February 2020. I really hope it doesn't take 3-4 months to get my oath ceremony... Does anyone have insight into Portland oath ceremony wait times? Although the hard part is done, I can't wait for all this to be official

During my interview the IO asked about my travel plans, and because I was cutting it close with I-751 expiration (January 2020) and she didn't know about oath ceremony timing, she got me a I-551 stamp on the spot (good for 6 months), which was super nice, saved me another trip/infopass appointment.

1 hour ago, delisyus said:

Got an email update for N-400 interview yesterday now waiting for the actual letter in the mail. Online it shows the letter in the document tab already but it doesn’t say anything about ROC/N400 combo interview. Is that how it was for you too? I really can’t wait for the letter to arrive. 😅

Oh man, that document tab never updated for me before the letter arrived. The letter itself was very explicit about it being a combo interview. The format of the letter itself was very different from all other NOA letters though, so maybe that varies from field office to field office?