Lyssalou

3 hours ago, omega6 said:

Hello dear people

I also get back from the sinking. 
After 5 wonderful weeks in Colorado I arrived back in Germany on April 21st. My return flight was canceled by Lufthansa, but the reason was only that I wanted to fly original to Munich, the only flights that currently still operate to Frankfurt. Whatever, I promptly got a new flight for two days later. 
The farewell was super tearful, we will only see each other in about a year when my husband is back from the deployment. 😢 
The concern for him plus the current situation (travel ban, virus, etc.) plus the stress of flying home plus the 14 days of quarantine that I had to spend alone in my booth gave me a tooth infection right from the first evening after my arrival, which at least distracted me well from jet lag. 🥴 After 2.5 weeks of hellish pain, 1.5 packs of antibiotics and strong pain relievers and finally an operation in the clinic, I am now completely exhausted. 😞 
And now it slowly comes to me how the situation at the moment looks super chaotic with regard to visas and entries and any plans at all. 
I came home with a stack of documents so that I can now send package 3 - even if the consulates are not working. At some point they have to start again, it can't stay that way forever ?! However, I don't know: If you have the confirmation at some point and you are asked to book an interview, how long can you delay the appointment? I wouldn't have to get my visa earlier than the end of November or so. 🙄 Ah, my question strikes me as really stupid among all the other concerns I read here. 😕

What were you all doing, who were just before the visa expired and already quit your apartment and work, are you still in Germany? 
I hope you are all well, no matter whether already in the USA or still here in Germany. 
I send all of you who are still separated from your loved ones a big hug, mentally and emotionally I am with all of you and can very well understand your disappointment and despair. 😢 But don't give up hope, you can't keep the borders closed forever, virus or not. * fingers crossed for all of us * 🤞 

If it gives anyone hope, we got packet 3 on April 3rd, after all the shutdowns. We had been waiting two months for packet 3 so I'm not sure why we didn't get it during normal circumstances but got it during the Corona outbreak, but we did. Then we sent it in April 8th. My approval expired April 25th so I sent them a letter and email to extend the approval and they told me they actually are working regular cases just telecommuting. I'm sure things won't be as fast and the official word on the website is that they are still only doing emergency services but that gave us a little bit of hope. I still want to be realistic but of course you hold onto every little thing during this process. I have never experienced a deployment and neither of us are military so we won't, but we haven't seen each other in over 8 months so I'm sorry at the long wait you have a head. Best wishes!!! 

Hello all, a couple questions about packet 3 in your experience:

1. Did you provide a printed copy of your proof of delivery address in your packet? It says to print and send that then it says for K-1 visa applicants to print the appt. confirmation and just bring it to the interview. The instructions seem to mix proof of delivery documents and appt. confirmation proof so it's a little confusing

2. Did you send the DS-5540 in with the packet or just bring it to the interview?

So pretty much K-1 visa processes are at a halt, tight? If I am interpreting the message on the Consulate site.

Does anyone know what it means when ceac.state.gov puts that they have updated your application on a certain date? The Frankfurt consulate received our packet Feb. 4th, updated our status to "Ready" on Feb. 6th, then the website said they updated our status Feb. 11th, and now March 3rd. So now our packet has been with them for 1 month and we have not received packet 3. My fiance did email the embassy and they told us to wait until we hit 40 days.

Anyone else experience this or know what it means when they say they have updated your status as of a specific date?

Thanks in advance ❤️

Hey everyone. A week ago the ceac.state.gov website listed our application as "ready." The official website seems to be saying my fiance (the beneficiary) should be filling out the D-160 and paying the fees, though, others seem to say we can just wait until packet 3 comes. I'm not delaying anything by having him wait on packet 3, right? They aren't waiting for him to fill out the D-160 and pay the fees to send the packet?

13 minutes ago, MelOe said:

Hi Lyssalou,

congratulations on getting to the embassy stage The good news is that Frankfurt works comparatively quickly, so things should speed up from now on. Your fiance can already fill out the DS-160 and pay the visa fee online, and you can check the Frankfurt Embassy website for the list of documents required for the package 3 and start gathering them if you haven't already done that. Just don't send anything in yet, because they will send it back if they haven't received the paper application from NVC yet. Best just to wait for them to send your fiance the package 3 and then go from there.

Good luck, and keep us posted how it is going!

Thanks for the advice! 

I accidentally started a new thread instead of posting to this one 😁

Hi everyone! I just found out our application is headed to Frankfurt today. I'm super excited and I'm new to this thread. It's really awesome reading through all your experiences.

I did have a couple questions after reading through the documentation - I saw something about a "welcome letter" that should come to me about my next steps (the American)? I also see that my fiance can fill out the D-160. Should he fill that out and I send the documents he'll need for packet 3 or would you recommend waiting until he gets the packet? Basically, I'm unsure of what I can be doing right now or if I still just need to be waiting :).

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone! I just found out our application is headed to Frankfurt today. I'm super excited and I'm new to this thread. It's really awesome reading through all your experiences.

I did have a couple questions after reading through the documentation - I saw something about a "welcome letter" that should come to me about my next steps (the American)? I also see that my fiance can fill out the D-160. Should he fill that out and I send the documents he'll need for packet 3 or would you recommend waiting until he gets the packet? Basically, I'm unsure of what I can be doing right now or if I still just need to be waiting :).

Thanks in advance!

On 1/25/2020 at 2:20 PM, Greenbaum said:

NVC doesn't reach out to you. You follow the steps at the top of the page and you will get to where you are going. 

The document says they will let me know when they send it to the embassy? Did I misunderstand? Sorry, I just want to make sure we can prepare as much as possible :). They haven't sent me a welcome letter but I have the case number and invoice number so I wasn't sure if there was some advantage to filling out the application online before you get the welcome letter or if it is just better to wait.

4 hours ago, BobanaP said:

Yes, I know. That is how we did it when we called and found out that they received the case.  But they did tell you your number and invoice ID over the phone?

 

Were you able to log in on CEAC yet?

Yes, they told me over the phone. My fiance hasn't logged into the CEAC yet, I have only checked the application status.

1 minute ago, BobanaP said:

Hi @Lyssalou! Our NOA2 is Dec 27th and NVC received our case on Jan 13th.

 

I see we have similar dates and you got your case number. Did they tell you your case number over the phone or you still have to wait for the email?

 

We tried calling on Friday but it was busy for too long and we didn’t reach them in the end. 

I only got the number because I called them. I do have to call as soon as the clock strikes 7 am EST, otherwise I won't even get through to hold. Even then the hold is at least 25 minutes. Hopefully you find your number out soon! 

On 1/14/2020 at 7:09 PM, apellica said:

My bad Greenbaum.  I think my mind is turning to goo, been so stressed with everything lately and I’m getting my dumb moments

I just got my case number from the NVC today and I did look at the tips and tricks which says my fiance can fill out the DS-160 now? Is there an advantage to filling that out now as opposed to when the NVC reaches out to me next?

On 1/15/2020 at 8:22 AM, Lyssalou said:

I called the NVC first thing this morning and my application got there yesterday, January 14th in case anyone else checks this out. 

NOA2: Dec. 27th, 2019

NVC Received: January 14th, 2020.

I called the NVC today and they had assigned a number, though, they were not able to tell me when the number was assigned.

I called the NVC first thing this morning and my application got there yesterday, January 14th in case anyone else checks this out. 

NOA2: Dec. 27th, 2019

NVC Received: January 14th, 2020.

I'm sure this can be found somewhere else but I've been digging for a while and can't find the answer. How long did it take from the time your application was approved by USCIS until the NVC received your application and how did they notify you?