Botoole

25 minutes ago, PriscillaQOTD said:

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing. We received the email from the Medical place yesterday saying it was complete so I guess we will receive another email from the consulate when they receive it in a few days? I noticed that they updated our case yesterday but currently still says refused. I'll check the case status daily until then. Exciting times!

Yep Consulate should have it and issue your visa within a week. I know the feeling re: checking case status -such an emotional rollercoaster! As expected, passport arrived first thing this morning with visa and accompanying 'let my people go' letter 😀. Relief is an understatement. Goodluck all!

On 10/10/2020 at 10:47 PM, PriscillaQOTD said:

Congrats botoole! Glad to hear they didn’t end up needing a joint sponsor! I’ve booked my flight for the 4th so hopefully we end up on the same flight. I was a little apprehensive about booking my flight before the visa is issued but the officer did say 24 days so I’m assuming that’s worst case scenario. Has your visa issued yet and how long did it take them to receive your medical results? 

Thanks, congrat to you guys too! Visa issued today 🙂. Took ~8 days from doing medical to Consulate receiving it -updated timelines below. 

1st October - Medical Done
6th October -Interview Date
6th October - Medical sent to Consulate
9th October - Consulate Received eMedical, case turned from 'Refused' to 'Administrative Processing'
13th October - Visa Issued!
14th October - ETA for Passport +  Visa according to tracking.

31 minutes ago, Sharni said:

Congratulations.  It's such a relief when the interview is over.  When will you fly?

Thanks! It's quite the journey -hang in there everyone who is still working through it! Looking at flying 3rd November but that will depend on whether we're able to arrange for our cat to be relocated around the same time

Hi fellow VJers. Had my interview this morning at 8am so thought I'd debrief for you all:

• Summary: Took an hour over all, actual interview took about 20-25 minutes. My officer was a pretty friendly guy – kept talking about how great Ireland is (I’m Irish) and his holidays there and how he couldn’t wait to get back. By the end he said, everything looks great, and they’ll return my passport with issued visa once they receive my medical. Sent me on my way saying best of luck, that I’ll love Austin, will make lots of friends there and should have no problems finding a great job there! Really quite pleasant at the end -I was surprised!
• Detail: He started saying there would be three phases to the interview:
  1. Oath (that everything is correct and accurate)
  2. Document check
  3. Questions about Relationship etc
• Document Check
  1. He focused mostly on AOS/financial documents.
     1. He asked if we had a joint-sponsor – told him no, we were hoping our proof of assets was sufficient but offered we could get one if needs be.
     2. Proof of assets -He went through all of the supporting financial support documents we submitted that had our proof of assets, pulling out savings values we had submitted and converting to USD (even though I’m pretty sure I provided USD in application).
        • Reviewed these against poverty guidelines threshold and determined we exceeded this and that was sufficient. He didn’t say anything else about needing a joint sponsor.
        • He also asked how much I and my wife each currently make in Australia pre-tax -then converted to USD on his phone and made a note.

• Questions about Relationship etc.
  • Asked about what I did for work, same for my wife’s work
    1. What our plan was for when we get to U.S.
    2. Where will be go first?
    3. What sort of work will I look for in Austin?
    4. How did I meet my wife?
    5. Why were in Australia?
    6. He asked if I brought any photos of my wife and I or any flight tickets with our names on it to show bona fide relationship
       • I didn’t have any (was not anticipating this -was totally surprised -haven’t heard of anyone else here being requested these) but he was happy that the joint lease and joint checking/savings account was sufficient proof of bona fide relationship so didn't mind.
    7. Lastly - he said, everything looks great and that they will issue my passport with visa once they receive my medical (I completed it last Thursday).

Met another woman there for her interview who had her flight booked for NY tomorrow! I told her that they’ll be taking her passport to issue visa on so there was no chance she was going to make that – she seemed to be unaware of this part of the process the poor girl. I also saw her try pay for a fee at the counter (btw looks like credit card or cash only) -no EFTPOS. She couldn’t pay by card because it was her partners’ U.S. credit card so she couldn’t’ sign for it and she didn’t have enough cash but they let her leave to go get cash and come back -hopefully she got sorted!

1 minute ago, Adrian6584 said:

For anyone interested -- The Sydney Consulate reached out today to schedule the interview (12 days after NVC advised our case had been expedited). 

Nice one! Did they offer you a date couple weeks out? (seems to be what they're doing). It's been 17 days since NVC confirmed my expedite was approved and expecting interview scheduling any day now (My status on CEAC tracker just changed to 'Ready' on Friday too) -just glad to hear they're still scheduling as I was starting to wonder!

16 hours ago, ChelseaLAllen said:

Mine expired August 31st so just after the expiration date I emailed Sydney to request my visa gets sent to them (expediting) which got approved and it just arrived at the embassy today.

SO 10000% email them with your own personal expedite  

 

 

Same for me -Embassy confirmed they received my case on Monday and that 'We will reach out to you shortly with detailed instructions on how to proceed.' Still haven't received said instructions/interview scheduling information -have you had any more luck? At risk of being impatient, I wondering if I should just call them up and ask (I've been emailing them so far but usually takes a day or two to get a response) 🤔

8 minutes ago, Lighthouse111 said:

Could you tell me if you had to have a medical exam completed? I haven't had a request yet for this?

No worries! Not yet - from what I understand you can't (or you'll struggle) to book your medical without having/showing your interview schedule letter. Once I get my interview scheduled I'll be booking it right away though!

4 hours ago, Lighthouse111 said:

I just received an email that my CR-1 was approved for expedite processing due to my being pregnant. I haven't heard from the U.S. consulate in Sydney yet. Has anyone else had their case approved for expedited processing and could you tell me how long it took them to reach out and schedule an interview? 

Same grounds my wife and I got expedited  . So I sort of received two expedite approval emails, one on the 5th September but then another via CEAC on 11th September. My case went from 'At NVC' to 'In Transit' on the 11th September though so I think that is when they actually sent the case to Sydney Consulate. Having said that, they haven't reached out to me regarding interview scheduling yet which leads me to think they just haven't received it yet. The expedite approval email says it can take 2 weeks to get to Consulate so if you take my latter expedite approval as trigger, it's only been a week for me so far. If I haven't heard back regarding interview scheduling by mid to late next week I will be chasing up again as that seems excessively long. From hearing from others on the forum, it has been taking anything from a few days to two weeks so that should help you gauge. I doubt you'll hear back from them until they receive your case which is likely next week at earliest for you (but if you do I'll be jealous haha).

On 7/16/2020 at 10:57 PM, B&ANZ said:

It just switched over to "ready"  means the embassy has it now!

 

Yep, this happened to us.We got an email a few hours after expedite approval. There is a thread about it in the NVC forum. When that person called, NVC said its an automated message to clear their interview logs since they are not going to schedule the interview. You will work with the embassy to get it scheduled.

Same thing happened to us last night, received the 'Immigration Appointment Cancelled' email from NVC even though I never had one in first place. Sounds like this is part of the process and I should be hearing from Consulate re: interview appointment in coming week (I had already emailed them enquiring and they confirmed yesterday they will confirm interview when they receive my case (expedite approved 5th Sept but still looks to be 'At NVC')). So close...

9 hours ago, Sharni said:

We received advice from NVC on 21 August that the expedite was approved and that they would be sending the application to Sydney Consulate.  On 26 August Sydney Consulate office emailed me with the 3 options that has been discussed in previous threads, and they were happy to proceed.  I think the two week quoted could be for those situations where it's maybe a hard copy?  Being electronic, it doesn't take that long to be transferred.  Good luck with your interview date.   If it's still the same as what I've been noting in these posts, you may be offered the 3 options, one of which is to have the interview scheduled as soon as possible.  In one case, I read it was the next day.  We asked for a 3 week period and they worked it out for us.

Makes sense - thanks! I've dropped the Consulate an email pre-empting that choice so will see how we go.

1 hour ago, PattyM24 said:

When did you send out the email requesting the expedite interview?

Expedite request sent Aug 18th

Receipt acknowledged Aug 24th

Expedite Approved Sept 5th

21 hours ago, Sharni said:

We applied for ours last month.  It took about 5 days for NVC to acknowledge the email and then about another 5 days for them to let us know that the expedite has been approved.  After than you can email the consulate (no phone calls) and ask them about the interview.  We were sent an email with 3 options relating to the timing of the interview.  Due to COVID-19 they were asking if we wanted to wait for 2 months.  We didn't choose that option, but asked for an interview after 21 September in order for us to get the required information together.  From our experience, they are only booking interviews 2 to 3 weeks out, so if you probably won't hear anything unless they offer you the options, or give you a date.   My interview is scheduled for 22 September.

We just got our expedite approved on Friday -sounds like we can email them directly re: interview appointment date, I was wondering what's next so thanks!

Were they happy to schedule your interview before they received your case from the NVC? (approval note referenced it could take up to two weeks for Consulate to receive case file from NVC).

29 minutes ago, ChelseaLAllen said:

Hi Lovely People!

 

We sent through our expedite to the SydneyIV email address along with a doctors medical certificate just for extra leverage. Does anyone know how long it'll take for them to reply!? I am so nervous, my fingers and toes are crossed.

It seems to vary -some have had theirs approved within a day or two of sending, others longer. I'm in the latter category unfortunately - took them a week to acknowledge receipt of our expedite request and it's now been 11 days since acknowledgement and we haven't heard anything

On 9/1/2020 at 3:13 PM, GiggsMcGill said:

They requested our 2019 taxes (mine and my sponsor's), our assets, and tax transcripts. Then they asked us for birth certificates and marriage license. (We still can't figure out why they asked for those since those are some of the first documents uploaded)

Hmm that counter to what the Travel.state.gov website and a correspondance I received from from Sydney consulate states - so confusing! 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-10-prepare-for-the-interview.html

'You do not need to bring your Affidavit of Support or financial evidence you submitted to NVC.'

I also emailed Sydney consulate asking them to confirm that petitioner's original birth cert is only required for IR5 and F4 visa type interviews (and so not applicable for my CR1 case) -which is per 'Document Cover Sheet here (https://au.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/family-based-immigration/the-interview/) -(because my wife (the petitioner)'s original birth cert is still in Texas.)  In typical bureaucratic fashion, the response was not as conclusive as I would have liked. Their response was 'If the documents are not applicable to your case, then you do not need to submit the listed document.'

Sounds like I should get my wive's birth cert express posted now just in case before USPS gets slammed with election mail 😕

22 hours ago, Jen27062019 said:

Thanks! What is the current status of your case?  

No worries. We're Documentarily Qualified (DQ'd) and awaiting interview scheduling (and awaiting expedite request outcome).  

1 hour ago, Jen27062019 said:

hi, which e-mail address did you send you request? thanks!   Good luck!  

nvcexpedite@state.gov

Chiming in to update those following on my expedite request timings so far (on the grounds of emotional hardship and my pregnant wife (petitioner)). Fingers crossed approval any day now! Will keep you all posted.

13/8 -DQ'd

18/8 -Expedite Request Sent to NVC

24/8 -Expedite Request Received/Acknowledged

46 minutes ago, JenIE said:

On the Embassy website they have updated it to state that as of July 24th they have resumed routine services in a limited capacity, which implies they are doing interviews again. However, I have yet to see anyone here waiting for the Dublin Embassy receiving any interviews. I have seen some interviews scheduled for Australia, although I'm not sure if they were all backlog and/or expedites. Based on the number of people I see on VJ awaiting IR-1/CR-1 from Australia, vs Ireland, I would guess that Ireland in general moves faster, but at the moment it doesn't seem like Ireland is moving much at all.

Yeah that's my worry too. I'd want a bit more certainty before changing my interview location and packing up shop here -thanks though, still useful to know that's what they're officially reporting - it's something at least!

Does anybody know if the embassy in Dublin has started scheduling interviews yet? Has anybody been scheduled in the last few months/upcoming few months? I'm DQ'd here in Sydney but am considering changing my interview location back to Dublin (I'm Irish) if they're actively scheduling/interviewing back there (Sydney embassy has only been scheduling expedited requests) and they haven't hit their backlog yet it seems. Thanks.

Just got DQ'd today -next step interview scheduling so keen to hear how guys go. I live in Sydney which makes it a bit easier (from a Covid travel-restricted perspective) but I'm still quite pessimistic regarding timing and fully anticipating a major backlog that they'll schedule before getting around to me! Haven't heard of anyone DQ'd and scheduled other that end of Nov interview date someone shared! 😕

On 8/2/2020 at 6:08 PM, Tommyla said:

Hey all I am hoping my application is processed to interview stage in the coming weeks - I think an appointment might be scheduled in Sydney soon based on reading through the forums. I am from Melbourne and wondering if I am able to travel to Sydney and if anyone has had similar luck getting a nsw permit for travel during the pandemic time? Is an appointment at consulate something the NSW permit allows for? Any information from others is helpful? Also does this mean you need to travel 14 days before to isolate before appointment? 

Hey Tommyla - I just got DQ'd today -next step is interview scheduling for Sydney consulate. Just curious as to why you think you'll be scheduled soon? I couldn't find much on the forums around schedulings taking place. In fact from what I gather, they're still closed and only doing emergency interviews. Thanks!