vinzer

22 hours ago, MaureenH said:

IR2 NVC sent the case to US embassy Manila. What’s next? NVC sent us a message that the expedited my sins case and sent it to US embassy Manila. We still didn’t get any mail or phone call. We don’t know what to do next, do we need to just go to St likes for medical without any notification? What papers need to be completed... thanks for the help 

I'm still waiting for an interview schedule myself (I'm probably low-priority since I'm an FB-1 applicant), but my understanding is you do need your visa interview letter with you when you have your medical exam (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/MNL-Manila.html#medical_exam_instructions), so you probably have to wait for that. But yeah, that's just my understanding of the guidelines in the site I linked.

I am. DQ'd last March, but I guess pushed back in the line thanks to COVID. Haven't logged in here for a long time as there's nothing to update on my end.

This is really just unfortunate for those affected by the order. Not all immigrants are seeking to take jobs. In my case, I would have been coming in still employed with my current employer (we do work remotely even before the crisis), so it's not as if I'd be coming in to compete with other US citizens for work, it's really more of just changing who I pay taxes to. But it is what it is, and I'll just see if the government actually lifts the order in 60 days, but I have my own suspicions it would be extended well into Trump's next term (assuming he wins in November). The economic fallout from COVID-19 is vast, and two months is a very small amount of time to make a call that the economy has recovered enough to resume immigration application processing.

That said, I'm happy for those who were able to get exempted from the EO. Don't waste the opportunity given to you. 😄

P.S. Apologies if this sort of reactionary post is not allowed in this thread. The original megathread got closed, so I figured reactions should go into this one. I did my best to keep this post civil.

1 hour ago, J.B said:

Hello everyone,

 

I had my DQ yesterday (1st April). 

 

1st submit 2019-11-02: Rejected 2019-11-28 (criminal court & prison records "not in correct format" &  I-864EZ pdf in read/write; should have only been read only).

2nd Submit 2019-12-02: Rejected 2020-01-27 criminal court & prison records "not in correct format" - Turns out I didn't actually have any records & just needed to put a comment in the box stating this. 

3rd Submit 2020-01-27: Accepted 2020-04-01...Now for the wait for consular appointments to open back up.

 

It's just such a minefield trying to get through NVC. Keep the faith everyone, they are working through applications! 

Congratulations! I'm also in the same boat as you, local embassy closed shop for good reason. I don't mind the longer wait if it means more people are spared from the pandemic.

As for other fellow VJers here waiting for DQs, hold strong! If you're not seeing new DQ announcements here on some days, it's more because not every applicant are members here, but NVC still continues to work on all our cases on regular working days.

1 hour ago, cmb88 said:

Hi all - I think I know the answer but want to get feedback from the community to confirm...

 

We received our DQ notice (hooray!) However, I have a case review note that says that my income does not qualify me to be a sponsor and that my eligibility will be determined by a consular officer at my wife's interview. I worked entirely outside of the US in 2018 so my 2018 tax return shows foreign income (but is many times the required amount) which was decreased below the amount required to sponsor due to foreign tax credits. Did I receive this note because my income in 2018 was all foreign income and reduced by the foreign tax credit?

 

I have since moved to the US and am still making more than enough money to sponsor. I am planning to have my wife show my US job offer letter and pay stubs, (both of which were also uploaded and accepted by the NVC) as well as a copy of my 2019 tax return and transcript at the interview, assuming we have it in time.

 

Any other recommendations? Anything I should be concerned about? A joint sponsor is not an option for us.

If the two cents of a dude still navigating through the immigration process is of any worth to you ( ), I think as long as you can make your case at the consulate that your current job pays well enough to sponsor your wife, you should be good. Like you said, it's best to have your wife bring pay stubs, employment contract, and similar documents to her interview. Maybe also bring in some extra financial documents just to prove that she won't be liable to become a public charge? Wouldn't hurt to bring an excess of documents. Best of luck to both of you!

11 hours ago, Alix64 said:

Congratulations vinzer! And happy birthday! 😊

 

Can you tell us if you had uploaded the DS5540?

Many thanks,

Alix

Sure can. I didn't include the 5540 form, since the directive for implementation came about around late February and it was nearing 8 weeks since my second submission, so I figured I'd just roll the dice in not submitting the form and just bringing it along with me to the interview. Since my wait counter would reset anyway regardless if I submit the form on my own volition or got RFE'd for not having it, I just bet on the hope that they'll DQ me without it. I would have probably uploaded the form if I were, say, on week 4 of waiting for review or if my second submission was on February 24th or beyond.

Thanks for the greeting!

8 hours ago, bel044 said:

Guys this is a dumb question but am I DQed??  This is what I see

 

But I also have two messages.  Neither message has any text.

 

 

As others have said, the lack of a message about your case being DQ'd is a mark that they're doing an RFE. When I got RFE'd, I also had an "NVC Feedback" message sent to me. They were asking for my joint sponsor's W-2 form (mistake on my end to have not included it), but accepted all other documents submitted, so my case's page looked similar to yours, with the index page showing the documents' statuses as all "Accepted" even though my case itself wasn't DQ'd at that point. Hope this helps.

16 minutes ago, ASHTAKU said:

Congrats🎊

11 minutes ago, Rama19 said:

Congratulations 🥳🥳🥳

When was your last submission. 

11 minutes ago, KAP2019 said:

Submission date?

Thanks, guys! Submission date was January 6, so it's right in line with NVC's published case review time.

Another week of waiting with bated breath for us people with cases under review. Wishing for speedy DQs and a great week ahead for all of us! 😀

3 hours ago, Mr & Mrs T said:

Did you asked to talk to a supervisor when you called NVC to explain your situation ? 

No, I didn't call NVC. I just did the note they put on my case which said to submit the W-2 of my joint sponsor. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that. 😅

16 hours ago, neilsqueen said:

Thank you! I tried before and they rejected it.  Our own state travel site says in all caps do not enter into these areas due to high crime...her neighborhood is on the list!  She hears gunshots daily!!  They don't care.  Just submitted everything again an am praying all finally goes through.  This would never have happened in the first place if one of their agents hadn't instructed us to submit the wrong form initially.  Hope you have a wonderful day!

Wishing you all the best. Hope you get your review done quickly for the sake of you and your family. Best thing we can do is keep our spirits up and encourage others to remain steadfast, too, while waiting.

16 hours ago, Mr & Mrs T said:

Oh my .. 

they did the same to us ( asking papeworks already submitted and accepted ) that’s why we called the local congressmen . 
i never had such rude people on the phone , and when you had to try sometimes 50 times before being on hold for more than an hour you expect to have someone nice but no ! 
i understand your stress I was the same .

its gonna happen don’t worry , soon , they can’t keep you under RFE forever . 
We’ve been in the same c*** for almost 19 month so I understand the pain , the stress , the doubt ..

your time will come , soon my friend , you will see 🍀

good luck ! 

Now this scares me. I had all of my documents accepted and they just asked for an additional W-2 upload for the RFE. I'm kinda anxious now that they suddenly might ask to resubmit stuff with this second review. 😶

1 hour ago, Michelle_VM said:

D freaking Q!!!! Received the email at 10:30 p.m. husband had to read the email I was so nervous to get another RFE. Submitted Jan.6 and DQ March 6!! (Husband from Canada) @vinzer I've read people getting the email anytime during the weekend. Anytime now for you🤞

Yaaaaay! Great start to the weekend for you! Onwards and upwards! I'm resigned to the idea that it won't be this weekend, though. Because I'm so paranoid, I've checked the NVC site earlier thinking I might have accidentally re-submitted stuff after January 6 which made my counter reset. Yeah, I don't really know how I can inadvertently re-submit stuff without me knowing, but that's the level of paranoia where I'm at. Haha! Unless the NVC people work through the weekend to review cases (unlikely), there would be no change in my application's status for the next couple of days. It's not the worst thing in the world, to be sure, but still worrying. LOL. 😄

3 hours ago, neilsqueen said:

Just so devastated...just got another RFE!!  Putting third submission in once my husbands name is added to the system.  The original I-864W they told us to put in was rejected because even though hubby is a citizen now, I'm the petitioner so we had to submit I-864A.  8 weeks later, they are now saying I need to make a tab under my name for hubby (totally my fault) and upload form again.  So petty in my mind since the form is correct, why have to resubmit and wait most likely another 8 weeks?!  I broke down and cried with the agent on the phone.  How do I tell a 10 year old more waiting 😞

I'm so very sorry. If it helps, maybe you can request to be expedited for humanitarian reasons? Not sure if that works, but may be worth a try. 😟

8 hours ago, Michelle_VM said:

We have the same submission date, I have been looking forward to this week for the last 8 weeks and feeling so disheartened that it's still not been reviewed. Will be keeping an eye out for your DQ 😊 and if it doesn't happen today, then for sure by Monday, right?! 🙏

That's the hope, but just to be safe, let's assume they'll drag it out until the end of week. Haha! I'll also be hoping for a nice DQ on yours. Submission buddies! LOL. 😂 Not gonna lie, even if I'm a dude, I might cry if I see the DQ email in my inbox. 😀

3 hours ago, Michelle_VM said:

It is very frustrating for sure! Almost worse than waiting over a year in Nebraska service center 🤪. I have similar dates to both of your submissions, next week is our week for sure. Hang in there!! 😬

Very hard to see people with later submission dates than yours getting approved as well. No one seems to know why this happens, if there was a method to the madness that would help me accept it better 😄

I think one of the working theories here is that some countries have less applicants than others. If that's the case, there are probably specialists per country, which makes sense since for example, if I'm tasked only to review documents from, say, Canada, I could quickly spot issues going through Canadian applications throughout the day as opposed to me reviewing a Canadian application then have to switch to, say, a Mexican one and have to re-review what I have to look out for in those documents. As long as government documents remain non-standardized across countries (and they will), this reviewer specialization is the most efficient way to go about doing this.

The question then becomes if the ratio of specialists assigned per country proportional to the number of applications received from said country. Going by the uneven waiting times for each region, I guess that's not the case. At least that's how I try to rationalize it. Haha! 😂

P.S. It's not a foolproof theory, though. I've seen different cases from the same country get reviewed in different time frames. But it's still the best theory I've seen so far.

3 hours ago, Mr & Mrs T said:

Hi my VJ family ! 
 

After 2 days in AP my visa is now “ISSUED” I am soooooo happy !!!!! 
thank you so much guys for your help , your nice words During  this process who did last almost 19months for me really helped me !!! 
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
 

Happy trails to you and your partner!

My 2nd submission was on January 6th, so I'm hoping to hear something this week or next. In the meantime, I'll say a prayer for all of us. Prayer of thanks for those who are through the process, and prayer for assistance for the rest of us still waiting. We'll get through this! 🙏

3 hours ago, AarLar said:

I found the link with the info I read that got me confused. This says more than 12 months? @Hilde @Tofu

I worked in Singapore for 10 months as an expat, but NVC still asked me for a police certificate from there. I know it's a hassle, but I think it's best to secure police clearances from places you've been in for 6+ months even if the website says it's only applicable for 12-month+ stays. Better to have submitted those than risk them being reasons for RFEs. Just my two cents.

So, I made my second submission (just a W-2) on January 6. Seeing how it's really close to 8 weeks, I figured I'll just leave it as is for NVC to assess and not add the DS-5540 at this point, right?  Roll the dice and hope for a DQ then just bring the 5540 to the interview if ever? If I submit the 5540 at this point, it's guaranteed 8 more weeks (of torture, lol) for me.

1 hour ago, Hilde said:

Can anyone shed light into the whole scanning documents debacle? It shouldn´t be so hard but I am totally second guessing myself. I have searched endless internet rabbit holes and am getting conflicting info - and there are no official instructions...

I read that all documents should be scanned vertically - so the officer does not have to tilt his/her head. 

What about certificates that are horizontal in nature? Should I shrink it so it´s vertically scanned? 
Is there a Youtube tutorial on this?!  

 

You probably know this, but to add to what @RPC mentioned and help other people reading this thread, ensure that the information in the PDFs you send aren't editable. Saves applicants a reason for document rejection and the long re-queue times associated with it.

Basic rule of thumb:

If scanned from actual paper documents, you're good.

If document is digital in nature (Word document, etc.), take the extra step of printing to PDF (Windows has that functionality) to remove editable fields just to be sure.

Hope this helps. 😀

On 2/16/2020 at 4:35 AM, DeParaquedasBrasi said:

This is what frustrates me about the whole process. You got your DQ in less than a month after submission while im here religiously checking emails for a response lol. I had to resubmit the police record on 1/15/2020 which is before you submitted.......their process makes no sense. You would think they'd have a different section for people who resubmit one simple document instead of having to go back to the end of the line. Oh well. Congrats btw

Same feelings here. I was asked to upload W2 forms and everything else was accepted, so I would've hoped they have a queue for one or two documents that are easily verified. 😂

On 2/16/2020 at 2:19 PM, Lois K said:

Hubby (applicant) and I (petitioner) are together this weekend and filling out the DS-260. I am searching for various answers on VJ from my tablet while he fills out the form on my laptop. But now I'll take a quick break to come and commiserate with all of you also going through similar pains.

 

We're working through the screen where you fill in every address since you were 16. We are 50+ years old, so this is a lot of addresses, 14 addresses to be precise! The CEAC site keeps giving us errors and kicking us out. The first time we had the whole page complete, but only 4 or 5 addresses entered. We hadn't saved yet, and the site kicked us out. Everything we'd entered on this loooong page was lost. Ugh. Yes, I know, we shoud have saved. But the site doesn't let you save this page until you've accounted for every address from 16 until now. So we couldn't save.

 

So our workaround: He starts again. But this time, he puts in the start date on the address as being his 16th birthday. Save it. Then go back in, change the date to the correct date, add another address, put the date as his 16th birthday. Save. This worked all the way up to 7 addresses. Yay! But then it started kicking him out after every added address. So adapt again. Same process, but after each address, now he logs all the way out and all the way back in. So for the next 7 addresses the process will be - Log in. fix the date, add the next address,  enter the 16th birthday, save, log out, log back in, fix the date, add the next address using the birthday, save, log out, log back in, etc.

 

Oh what we do for love. ❤️

Probably late, but it's best to have typed out the details on a document then just copy-paste as needed. I went through the same hassle. CEAC's timeout counter is very short.

On 2/17/2020 at 3:28 AM, hannahjsf said:

Husband just submitted our expedite request!

 

I know the decision comes from Embassy and not NVC, so I've been looking in groups for the term "London Expedite" since that's where ours will go.

I found a London case was given UNCONDITIONAL expedite just last week., skipping NVC completely, because the USC wanted their spouse to be there for their child's birthday (I won't comment re: whether I feel that is actually grounds for an expedite). Ours is for financial burden and is pretty hefty money wise, so I'm feeling hopeful that London aren't extremely strict and will actually consider it!

Good luck with your expedite request! Hope you get it. I had a humorous thought of submitting an expedite request on humanitarian grounds - I'm going crazy with waiting! LOL. 😂

16 hours ago, Kimi31 said:

Everything everything submitted was accepted 

it was a rfe so I’m ok with that and now I understand why they asked so all is good 

We have a similar situation (RFE for W2). Keep up the great attitude! We'll eventually get through this. 😄

14 minutes ago, Knightgame185 said:

Question?

 

When we resubmit documents do they check from latest date to review or still from the same one we submit? 

 

I re submitted my documents on Jan 1st. and another one on Jan 16 for the other document I forgot to upload. 

 

From Jan 1st its been almost 7 weeks waiting and from Jan 16 its been 5 weeks waiting so usually which one they check? 

 

 

also where do we check for latest update on nvc website for the processing times since they removed the current one?

 

Your counter starts over when you re-submit documents, so base it off of the January 16th submission. As for the page to check current processed dates, someone else might have that info. I used to check diligently, but then realized it doesn't really apply, so I stopped checking. You have people getting responses from just four weeks back or so then you have others who get the full 9-week-ish treatment.

2 hours ago, Piet&Dani said:

Hi guys, 
 

ive been following you all for awhile and really appreciate all your insights but I really need a bit of guidance- and a bottle of wine! 

 

I’m uploading all my documents for AOS  and then had a total panic attack! I have been using the app called adobe scan, it’s been working really well, but I noticed after I uploaded quite a lot that the flies could be written on via a tool called “add notes” when you opened the PDF. Nothing crazy (more like a markings with color markers). You can not edit any of the writing on the documents but you can “draw” on them. My concern is will they be rejected because they are somewhat editable? Or do you think they will be ok because the actual words can not be changed? 

 

Alternatively does anyone have a solution of a better way to scan and upload without having an actual scanner? 

I think you can really add comments or notes to any PDF. As long as you can't edit the information that's already on the scanned document, that's what NVC cares about. As for alternatives to scanning, I guess you could use your phone's camera, but I personally am more comfortable with the results using a proper scanner. I guess I'm old-school like that. 😀

12 hours ago, Mr & Mrs T said:

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 !!!  

Yay! Happy for you! It's really good that you didn't give up! (Or was I thinking of another member?) On to the finish line! 😀

1 hour ago, Angel4love said:

I called NVC on Friday, and it took me 1hr 15 mins to get through. Eventually spoke to a very nice lady who assisted and told me soon, I'll be scheduled for an interview.

 

Also went ahead to speak to someone from from the embassy who took my details and assisted me.

 

Yesterday. 11th of February, 2020, I got a mail from NVC for my scheduled interview for the 04th of March,2020.

 

My issue is, since the ban on Nigeria immigrant will take effect on the 21st of February, 2020, will they also issue the visa?

I can't say, but I hope it won't be an issue for you, considering that the NVC already validated the information you sent. Here's hoping for a good outcome for you!

On 2/1/2020 at 7:15 PM, Sinka13 said:

 Wow I've started in November NVC Filers, it is frustrating how long it takes to get through this process. Let's hope NVC workers are finally done with holidays and ready to work hard with all pending documents

If it helps, I'm also in the same boat as you, still waiting and waiting to get DQ'd. I think the hardest part of this process for me is that I sometimes wonder if they even have my papers in queue. I let my mind wander off sometimes and think that my submission got lost in the shuffle, never to be seen again. 😂

But let's keep sane and hold out hope for each other and our VJ family, yeah? 😀

As an aside, let's spare a thought and prayer (if you're religious) for our VJ family out in China. Hopefully the virus problem goes away real quick and doesn't delay their own applications because of it. 🙏

18 minutes ago, Alix64 said:

Hello Everyone,

We have received our case number last night (yayyy! 😉

We are about to pay the fees BUT we noticed they have misspelled my spouse's middle name (he is the petitioner).

Does anyone has encounter a bug like this? How long will it delay our process? Do we need to call to have someone correct it?

Thank you very much,

Alix

First of all, congrats!

I'm probably not the best person to give you advice on this, but I really suggest you call ASAP and have that sorted out. Left unchecked, you'll probably get documents returned to you because of the spelling discrepancy (and wasted time ). Maybe some other kind VJ'er can share how to get in touch with a supervisor who can make quick changes to the case?

Don't bother with e-mail, they take a very long time to respond to those. I wanted to ask them if I had to secure a police certificate for a country I worked in, but that was only for 10 months and supposedly one would only need certificates for countries one has lived in for a year or more. That was because the police certificate of that country was one of the required documents listed in my case. The wait was so long that in the time frame between the e-mail I sent and their reply, I had already gone to said country and secured the certificate and already had the case for review when they did reply. 😂

On 1/16/2020 at 9:07 PM, LOUHAMILTON said:

Well, actually, I was expecting that answer. We're Brazilians and my husband is an American's son. However, he never lived in the United States until 2019 when we decided to embark on this adventure. So he had no tax returns in previous years. Even though he made a lot of money of what they ask, I believe that because he did not have his taxes declared yet, he was not accepted and now we will need a co sponsor. That's bad because we'll have to ask for help, he has no relatives there. Another reason is because they didn't accept my Brazilian certificate because it has a new model and they said it is not accepted. So I'm going to send a very old one that I already had before I made a new one. And the silliest mistake I made was sending the I184 in an editable way. I feel dumb about this mistake but I'm already fixing it. I did it all by myself and I confess it was a lot for me the moment I sent it. On the other hand the other documents were accepted including the statement of why he has no tax yet. This all served as an apprenticeship and they are fixable. We will move on from here! 

Hang in there! We'll all get through this eventually.

2 hours ago, LOUHAMILTON said:

Guys, I have a question. I've scanned every page of the form to prevent it from being editable. I'm a little insecure about this format, though. Should I scan only the signature page and organize the PDF or scan all the pages?  

2 hours ago, canadavisa22 said:

How did you have an editable PDF with an ink signature? How did you upload it the first time?

 

A PDF is only editable when you first download it. If you hit Print and then save as a PDF it won't be editable anymore. Or if you print out the whole thing then scan it all it won't be editable.

 

Editable means they can go into the form and change things. So if you open the file and can still manipulate the information then it's editable.

Keep it simple, print off the whole thing and then scan it again and you'll be fine. Just make sure it's under 2mb.

I did the same as what @canadavisa22 did. Can confirm it works and docs had no issue when NVC looked at them. Use the print to PDF option when "printing" your document. Windows 10 should have it there (listed in the printer selection as Microsoft Print to PDF), no need to install new stuff.