MedellinCOUS

28 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Yes, the printed expiry date is simply the last day the visa holder may apply for their first US entry with that visa.  So the moment your wife entered the US with her immigrant visa, the expiry date on it became irrelevant.  The visa with CBP stamp serves as a temporary green card for 1 year starting from the date of US entry, not the issue date and not the expiry date.

 

Perfect, thanks for the clarification.  This all makes sense finally! 

Meeting at SS office went well and they said card will arrive within 4 weeks.  They said if it doesn't arrive within two months to call them and see what might have gone wrong.

In the meantime they were very confused by the Visa printed in my wifes passport.  The issue date was Jul 2021 and the expiraiton date was Nov 2021, which doesn't seem right.  They said that her visa had already expired, but after talking with someone in the back of the office she was able to proceed with issuing the SS card (she said the expiration date was wrong).  I am very confused by this also.  Because it also says "UPON ENDORSEMENT SERVES AS TEMPORARY I-551 EVIDENCING PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR 1 YEARS".  From my understanding the endorsement that it mentions is the actual stamp upon entry into the United States, but maybe i'm wrong on this point.  

As I've been thinking this through, maybe this 4 month window was just to allow entry into the US, and if not used within those 4 months it would expire.  Once entry is executed, the date of expiration then becomes 1 year from the date of endoresment (or AUG 2022).  

Anyways, I truly hope that our green card arrives soon.  They said that once it arrives we need to make another appointment with SS to change her official status. 

On 12/16/2021 at 2:34 PM, dwheels76 said:

That's great. Now for green card what does the status say when you check?

I checked the case status on USCIS using my receipt number and it just says:

Well after trying to call in to the local social secuirty office for three hours I finally got through and have an appointment for Monday!  Thanks everyone!

7 hours ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Some years ago I read a USCIS report where they stated some people actually had to wait 1-2 years to get the GC. 

Hopefully that won't be your case, but point is that some cards take way more than the 90 days and the pandemic has made things even slower.

Thanks, that makes sense.

2 hours ago, Daphne K said:

Yes, it think you should give it a little more time..

Your wife is able to work. Her stamped visa counts as her GC until she receives the actual card. I made an appointment with a local office to get my SSN card and they used my stamped visa. I started working 2 weeks after I arrived in the States. 

Thank you so much, this is exactly the information we needed!  

4 hours ago, Seowmi said:

My son arrived on June 29th I just received his green card last week . They told me it’s now 120 days before you receive the card . About the social security number  contact your local office and follow their directions. I got my sons within two weeks on his arrival 

Thanks for the information, this clears up a lot for us.

28 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

My question was "WHEN was the new immigrant fee paid?"  You start your wait time on either that date or your date of entry, whichever is later.

It was paid almost a month before she entered the United States.

3 hours ago, igoyougoduke said:

it used to take up 90 days pre covid for USCIS to send green card. now a days they have their own timelines of getting anything done on time. 

 

dont mail anything. get an appointment to local office and carry the passport. tell them passports are not supposed to be mailed. 

Great points, thank you sir.  Yeah with all the pain we've been through waiting on the embassy in Colombia, this seems like a walk in the park!

3 hours ago, ra0010 said:

Had a somewhat similar issue. Do as I say and call your congressman, so that they request appointment on your behalf. You never, EVER mail a passport or another official document.

Great advice.  Yeah, I mentioned to her on the phone that sounded like a bad idea.  

3 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Sounds right.  I would look into mailing a photocopy of the passport data page and the visa page instead of the actual passport.

 

As for the green card, when did you pay the new immigrant fee?

Thanks for the advice.  Yes, the fee was paid.

1 hour ago, Daphne K said:

My GC took 120 days to arrive and this was pre COVID. I knew it could take up to 120 days because that was on a form that was in the packet as well.

Did you pay the GC fee? 
 

Thanks for the information.  Maybe we are just getting a little anxious!  My wife wants to begin working here, but as far as we understand we need that document before she can.

Yes, I paid the fee before she left her country.

2 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Did you pay the green card fee?

Yes, this was paid about 3 weeks before her arrival in the United States.

1 minute ago, Okboy said:

How about you guys physical visit a social security office in your area and have it sorted out? 

I asked about this possability. The lady on the phone at SS said that it is impossible to enter a social security office as they are closed to the public.

Forgive me if I don't understand this process, but my wife immigrated on Aug 28th into the United States and we have yet to receive any documentation form USCIS or a social security card.  I called social security and they said to mail her passport to them and they will create the social security card (even though we specified on the DS-260 that we would like one automatically created).  I am reluctant to do this because it is her only form of identificaiton in this country.  Any advise?   Does this process usually take longer than 90 days?

Thanks in advance.

On 6/25/2021 at 10:45 AM, MedellinCOUS said:

Thanks for the response!  We are hoping for the best.  Will update as soon as we hear anything!

Just checked our status today and we are "Issued".  After a month and a half in Refused status after our interview at the beginning of June it went to Administrative Review for about a day and then today it changed to Issued.  Whew... what an exhausting two year journey and there have been many times where we almost lost hope.  But the day we have been working toward finally arrived and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulder. 

Best of luck and good fortune to all of you still waiting.

44 minutes ago, Seemoreglass83 said:

This is the post I was referencing. It comes from the embassys facebook page. If your case says ready, you can schedule your interview.

I would imagine that it would only be able to be scheduled after the Embassy says it is ready to schedule and they have opened your case up in CEAC for access..  From the way it is stated it doesn't sound like you can preemptively schedule an interview.  That is to say... if the NVC says approved, and you have yet to receive any communication from the Embassy, I don't see anything here that would allow you to schedule an interview.  

I may be completely wrong on this!   Maybe the process for K-1 is different than CR-1... but I know for CR-1 you definitely can't schedule it in advance yourself.

4 minutes ago, Andrs01-2020 said:

 

That's what I've been reading.. that we have to wait for that document.. if not, how do we schedule?

what is the name of the facebook group?

 

You cannot schedule unless the EMBASSY has basically already given you a scheduled appointment.  There may be scenarios where you may be able to, but it would be very rare.

*edited, meant to say Embassy has given appointment.

30 minutes ago, carva26 said:

Hey I was looking at your timeline and noticed you already got your interview... Just wondering how that went? are you already reunited with your family?  
Also, how long after the interview do you think it would  be for my wife to enter the US (if everything goes well at the interview and medical exams). I'd appreciate your feedback...

They unfortunately didn't approve the visa for my wife at the interview.  They set our status to "Rejected" which from my research means basically that it is under administrative review.  My wife sent in the additional documents they requested as well as her passport which they should have received 5 weeks ago.  So far no update, although the case looks like it was viewed or opened as of July 23rd, hopefully that is a good sign!  

From my understanding if everything goes well at the interview and you are approved it shouldn't be more than 2-3 weeks after the interview that your wife would receive her passport back from the embassy ready to go.  That would be best case scenario.  We were hoping that was what would happen with us, but unfortunately there were other documents required in our case.

Best of luck!

26 minutes ago, Seemoreglass83 said:

I've seen on facebook that you can now schedule your appointment before the embassy sends you instructions. I'd recommend anyone at the Bogota embassy to join that group on facebook because it seems like the Bogota embassy is really disorganized.

I tried endlessly to get an appointment scheduled for over a year and I can attest that it is impossible except for very rare situations.  As you can see throughout this entire thread, in the end you are at the mercy of the Embassy.  Period. 

18 hours ago, Andrs01-2020 said:

I haven't call or email since I think everyone is in the same boat.. these are my details:

 

NOA - receipt date 01/21/2020

RFE - pictures didn't have dates - 04/17/2020  -- sent a lot / very detailed

NOA2 - 06/23/2020 - Notice of Approval (Valid from 06/23/20 to 10/22/20) - didnt do anything since on other threads all said it was extended automatically due to Covid

EMAIL from NVC - 06/08/2021-- approved I-129F will now forward petition to Bogota -- with Case# Receipt#

 

Girlfriend has not received anything neither have I

 

What should I do now? best action to take?

 

thanks everyone!

 

At this time its just a waiting game with the embassy.  They are the one to schedule your interview and they will reach out to you once they are ready.  Its almost impossible to speed up this process.  For us we waited a year between NVC and Embassy Interview.  Best of luck!

On 7/3/2021 at 9:53 AM, HurtRN said:

Did you have to send her Passport with the application or just a copy or picture of it?  I do not want to send the actual passport (maybe I am reading the instructions incorrectly) as we will need it when we get his interview.  If not, what supporting evidence did you send?

In my case my wife went down to the local government office and received a certified copy of her passport in Medellin.  Then she signed the IRS forms I emailed her and sent everything via FedEx back here to the United States. I signed and then filed everything physically with the IRS (who knows when they will actually process my return, but I did get the letter with her ITIN which is a good sign I hope).  Also, I did get her certified passport copy translated by a certified translator (I remember somewhere in the instructions stating that everything must be translated). 

I emailed her the W-7, my 1040 joint tax return and a statement stating she is a nonresident alien but chooses to be treated as a US resident for tax purposes throughout the entire year.  

1 minute ago, Millikkl said:

Right! Wish they would have chosen a different word! Ha. Just wish they would have given more information into the issue with the medical exam. We will have to come back to bogota to do labs again. Assuming most are in same situation.

Absolutely agree!  Too bad you will have to make another trip back there... in the end it will all be worth it!

5 hours ago, Hilde said:

The fact that they asked for her passport is very positive. There is no refusal stamp... 

Don't get caught up on "refusal". This means additional review. You can do a search here on VJ with "refusal" as the key word and you will see others with very simliar situations...

Good luck!

Thanks for the response!  We are hoping for the best.  Will update as soon as we hear anything!

1 hour ago, Millikkl said:

We had the interview today and they put my spouse into administrative processing until the medical exam is updated. It is showing "Refused" on the status update on CEAC - which doesn't feel good! Curious to know what others experience.

My wife currently has that status as well.  Although, they didn't actually refuse her visa, they only asked for two more documents.  From what I've read it seems like that status is used for other instances beyond actual refusal.  Good luck!

4 minutes ago, arken said:

 

Evidences of financial support? I hope you provided good documents on that.

 

 

These days i don't think they'll stamp the refusal on the passport, they will just provide you the refusal letter.

Thanks again for your help.  Yes, the documents we provided were official proof, there would be no better documents available to prove this.  

Hopefully all will be ok.  Thanks again!

4 minutes ago, arken said:

"Refused" is visa refused till they review it again. At some point they will look at the documents they received and if approved they will issue the visa, if not refusal stamp.

 

What documents they asked for? It could days few weeks or months depending upon the their load and depending upon the documents provided.

 

If your wife needs to travel, she can ask the embassy for the passport, they will return it to you. It will definitely delay the overall process though.

Thanks for your response, that clears up a lot.  They requested an official copy of my divorce decree from a prior marriage, as well as evidence of support for my wife.  These things were easy for us to obtain and provide, tracking number says they already have the document.  I guess its just a waiting game again.

So if they deny it will they actually stamp her passport with a denial stamp of some sort?