Katz

Well, guys... I'll be boarding my plane to Sydney in a couple of hours for my interview on Tuesday morning. Wish me luck!

*nervous*

Katz,

If you'll be hanging around Sydney, I can at least recommend good eats (in my humble opinion hehe).

1) Go to Harry's Cafe. It's an outdoor stand with really good meat pies....yummm, they don't have meat pies like that over here on the East Coast.

2) I recommend Pancake on the Rocks. It should be pretty close walking distance from the Travelodge. You get a nice scenic walk through Circular Quay into the Rocks. That place is open 24 hours and it seems to be packed for most of it!

Thank you for the recommendations! I will definitely check them out - especially the pancake place. My flight gets in at Sydney at 6:15am, and check-in time at Travelodge isn't until 2pm. I'll eat my morning away. LOL.

Hi all!

Well, I finally got an interview date! I received packet four via email on Thursday - I was very surprised to get it so soon! My interview is on March 25th at 11:00am (the day before the original expiry date of the petition!), and I'm all ready to go. I was very lucky to get a decently-priced plane ticket and a hotel room (Travelodge on Phillip Street) so close to the Easter long weekend!

I'll have a full day in Sydney to do some touristy things, and the next day is the interview day. I'm very nervous, excited, and... nervous. LOL. I can't wait for it to be over and done with...

It should be interesting to see how long I'll spend at the consulate. I followed the new instructions that the consulate sent to me by email. I had to send all of my documents (with the exception of the evidence and originals of the police certificate, my change of name and birth certificates.) to them instead of taking it all with me.

I wonder if they've changed the way they interview people, too?

Good stuff! I'll let you know how my interview goes.

Also, does anyone know if the fee of AUD$157.20 payable at Aust Post, needs to be made prior to the interview? If so, do I just make the payment out to the Consular since I don't have a bill or anything to give over the counter for them to scan?

Thanks.

$157.20? That's odd... Mine says $150.65... O_o;

Hi all!

Well, I finally got an interview date! I received packet four via email on Thursday - I was very surprised to get it so soon! My interview is on March 25th at 11:00am (the day before the original expiry date of the petition!), and I'm all ready to go. I was very lucky to get a decently-priced plane ticket and a hotel room (Travelodge on Phillip Street) so close to the Easter long weekend!

I'll have a full day in Sydney to do some touristy things, and the next day is the interview day. I'm very nervous, excited, and... nervous. LOL. I can't wait for it to be over and done with...

It should be interesting to see how long I'll spend at the consulate. I followed the new instructions that the consulate sent to me by email. I had to send all of my documents (with the exception of the evidence and originals of the police certificate, my change of name and birth certificates.) to them instead of taking it all with me.

I wonder if they've changed the way they interview people, too?

Hi

Well, this is probably going to be my last post from Australian soil. Tomorrow (Sunday) will be my last full day in Adelaide and I fly off Monday morning. I'm nearly done packing - only have 1 final luggage to fill up - and I'm all psyched out about facing not only LAX but also the Midwestern winter. Hopefully it's not too wintery enough to cancel/delay my flight. And I don't want Zach to be driving the 2-hour drive to St. Louis airport in disgusting weather.

I had my farewell last night, my little sister's bday today and then a family farewell dinner tomorrow evening. Zach's advice was to get as tired as possible tomorrow so that I zonk out on the plane. I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll be wearing comfortable clothes, I have an aisle seat and enough books to read. I'm as ready as I'll ever be!

Thanks again everyone for all your advice. Wish me luck on my venture to the other side of this whole "journey"

The very best of luck, Patricia! You'll do fine.

I just received by email correspondance from the Consular an updated 'INSTRUCTIONS FOR IMMIGRANT VISA APPLICANTS' as attached. Anyone recently receive this in a Packet 3??

I happened to send them a query about my police clearance and they responsed today w/ these updated instructions

Not sure what to make of this yet as my head is in a spin. But if I am missing something as per the instructions or overlooked anything, or getting too chicken little over this, would appreciate your input.

Will let you know their response as I told them I was missing forms DS-2001 and DS-230 Part II. They may just send these to me or ask me to get them online. Sigh what a pain!

Arghs, so they responded and sent me another updated set of instructions Form DSL-1076 which I believe to be the correct one for K1 immigrants. Must have been a different person yest. who sent me instructions for other immigrant visa applicants But now seems we must send all our docos to the Consular before they send us the visa. Any thoughts?

Yeah, I think they want us to send all the documents to them with the statement of readiness to crack down on people who go for their interview with incomplete paperwork. Annoying, but I can understand. I sent the consulate an email yesterday afternoon with some other questions. So I'll let you know what they say.

Oh! Kath, I got your email the other day. Thank you for sending me your example! The consulate extended my petition.

Katz, I called the Criminal Records Department here in NSW who process the checks/fingerprints and they received my fingerprints, etc and a week later they finalised it and sent the results to the Consular. I've had no word at all and it's been 3 weeks today (they advised 15 working days for completion) since the local station faxed my prints/info. Hence why I called them.

So I'm confidant the Consular has my police check by now. Medical is complete. My fiance will send me his docos soon so I'm about set to send off my Statement of Readiness!

They sent your police clearance off to the consulate? That's... weird. I thought you are supposed to get it back in the mail? I'd definitely email the consulate to make sure anyway. Couldn't hurt... Peace of mind and all.

I might ring the Fedeal Police on Monday to see if mine's been sent off...

Congrats on getting close to sending off for your interview! How exciting. Wouldn't it be funny if we received the same interview date? Hahaha.

True, I'd get to finally meet you! I will probably send it off on Mon/Tues.

According to the instructions for NSW and QLD residents, our police records are sent directly to the US Consulate (I even filled in their address on the form to send it to). I just didn't receive notification that this happened. Since you're in ACT, yours will def. be sent to you.

Ohhh... I see... It's much different for Western Australia. We have to go the Australian Federal Police here in Perth to get our finger prints done (local cop shops don't do it anymore), and then send them off with the police clearance to the AFP in the ACT.

Katz, I called the Criminal Records Department here in NSW who process the checks/fingerprints and they received my fingerprints, etc and a week later they finalised it and sent the results to the Consular. I've had no word at all and it's been 3 weeks today (they advised 15 working days for completion) since the local station faxed my prints/info. Hence why I called them.

So I'm confidant the Consular has my police check by now. Medical is complete. My fiance will send me his docos soon so I'm about set to send off my Statement of Readiness!

They sent your police clearance off to the consulate? That's... weird. I thought you are supposed to get it back in the mail? I'd definitely email the consulate to make sure anyway. Couldn't hurt... Peace of mind and all.

I might ring the Fedeal Police on Monday to see if mine's been sent off...

Congrats on getting close to sending off for your interview! How exciting. Wouldn't it be funny if we received the same interview date? Hahaha.

hi katz

dont stress too much about the extension mate...what must happen is your fiance (u.s. citz) is the only one that can request the extension...we also had to have an extension...

my fiance (now hubby) wrote a letter sent it to me then i faxed it to the consulate and we got an extension....

all your fiance has to do is state why he is requesting the extension..state your circumstances that has happened ..we extended ours because robbie was coming over in june to get me and wanted to be at the interview...im sure you wont have any problems mate...just get it in asap...

if you want i can email you a copy of our extension letter ...and will look on here if there is an example for ya too

just send in the sheet that states the readiness on it katz...

hope that is some help to ya katz...

hi to all by the way.. hope ya all keeping warm and cool where ever you are...lol...

its -8c here at the moment...and the snow is staying on the ground with it being so cold lol

hey kelli have you heard anything from walmart yet mate...

take care

kath

example extension letter

found it .. look under K1 example forms and its the bottom one mate...

Kath, thank you SO much. If you could email me a copy, that would be wonderful. My email address is: professor_katz@yahoo.com.

Will and I saw the example earlier... But we were a little confused by the "9FAM 41.81 N3.1 (Period of validity)" bit. Oh, does it have to be notarized as well? The email from the consulate didn't say anything about it needing to be. Also... The "I-797 approval notice number", is that the beneficiary number on the NOA2?

By the way... It's 36 degrees here at Perth at the moment. Can I please have some of your snow? LOL.

Hi Katz,

I emailed the Consular today also, told them my expiry date 05 April and I am close to sending my statement to them. Asked if I should send it ASAP or I am safe to send it in the last week of February. Their reply was to send it when I'm ready but they did give me instructions as to what to do if I need an extension. Perhaps send your Statement back, you should get an interview date within a week and then you can determine if you need to apply for an extension or not.

Also, I am yet to receive my police clearance stuffies. 3 weeks tomorrow and if nothing, I'll call them on Friday.

I share your anxieties too

The police clearance... That's exactly what I'm waiting to get back. It's been two weeks tomorrow, and still nothing... It's so frustrating because I'm all ready to go. Just my luck I'd get an interview before the police clearance... Not good. So, I'm gonna email the consulate tonight to ask if they've extended it. Just to be sure... Then I can relax just a little.

I reckon you should ring to find out where your police clearance is. Did you have to send off for one with the finger prints to the Federal Police in the ACT like I did?

Gah... I just want it to be over with already. :|

hi katz

dont stress too much about the extension mate...what must happen is your fiance (u.s. citz) is the only one that can request the extension...we also had to have an extension...

my fiance (now hubby) wrote a letter sent it to me then i faxed it to the consulate and we got an extension....

all your fiance has to do is state why he is requesting the extension..state your circumstances that has happened ..we extended ours because robbie was coming over in june to get me and wanted to be at the interview...im sure you wont have any problems mate...just get it in asap...

if you want i can email you a copy of our extension letter ...and will look on here if there is an example for ya too

just send in the sheet that states the readiness on it katz...

hope that is some help to ya katz...

hi to all by the way.. hope ya all keeping warm and cool where ever you are...lol...

its -8c here at the moment...and the snow is staying on the ground with it being so cold lol

hey kelli have you heard anything from walmart yet mate...

take care

kath

example extension letter

found it .. look under K1 example forms and its the bottom one mate...

Kath, thank you SO much. If you could email me a copy, that would be wonderful. My email address is: professor_katz@yahoo.com.

Will and I saw the example earlier... But we were a little confused by the "9FAM 41.81 N3.1 (Period of validity)" bit. Oh, does it have to be notarized as well? The email from the consulate didn't say anything about it needing to be. Also... The "I-797 approval notice number", is that the beneficiary number on the NOA2?

By the way... It's 36 degrees here at Perth at the moment. Can I please have some of your snow? LOL.

I emailed the Sydney consulate today...

We're going to have to get an extention for our petition because it'll be too close to the expiration date - or have expired - by the time I get an interview.

I hope they approve it...

I don't understand Katz; you started yours after us how can your be expired yet?

Your sig says you started July, shouldn't that mean you have at least till July???

We have four months from the approval date to get the visa... Unfortunately everything just dragged out for us.

Our approved petition is going to expire on March 26th... According to the email reply from the consulate, our petition will have expired - or be very close to expiring - by the time I get an interview date. We would have been fine if I didn't have to wait over three weeks for a damn finger print appointment (and some other annoying circumstances that was beyond our control... >_>) I still haven't even received my police clearance yet. Probably won't for another week or two.

So... We're gonna have to extend it to be safe. :\

I emailed the Sydney consulate today...

We're going to have to get an extention for our petition because it'll be too close to the expiration date - or have expired - by the time I get an interview.

I hope they approve it...

Hey all! This is gonna sound like a really dumb question (but I'm really paranoid at this stage)... I'm going to send off my Readiness To Be Interviewed paper on Thursday (yep, Valentine's Day. Haha.). Does the consulate only want the single sheet attached to the back of the visa instruction list, or the whole thing altogether?

Just wanted to make sure... Our petition will be very close to expiring (March 28th) when I finally get a date, so we can't afford to make mistakes.

(Gah. I feel like I'm going INSANE. )

Congrats, Tracy! Yay! Have a great time in the US as well! Lucky duck.

Katz, It only took Loke a couple of weeks to get an appointment from the time he sent his packet back, but the average time is four weeks. Just be sure you are ready because we had a close call on getting his medical back in time for his interview... it was scary. *hugs*

Thanks, Rings... Oh dear... A couple of weeks, eh? That'll be cutting it really close to the expiry date. I really hope I don't have to ask for an extention. *trembles*

Just a quick question... How long does Sydney take to generate an interview date? And how long do they generally give you for one. I hope it's not a long wait...

LOL - That's IT?! Damn... That IS a very expensive piece of paper. Argh... Oh well, it's finally done and over with. Sorta. I've just got to wait for the clearance to come back.

Patricia - I'm very glad that Wendy was able to help you out. Good luck with the x-rays.

A silly question about the police check and finger prints (finally getting both outta the way tomorrow. w00t!)... Do I get back a copy of my finger prints with the clearance? If so, do I take it with me to the interview? Or does the consulate receive them? I'm kinda in the dark about the finger print part. Could anyone help clear that part up for me? Thanks, folks.

Here ya go, Tracy!

DS2053: 05/31/2007

DS3024: 05/31/2007

DS3025: 05/31/2007

DS3026: 05/31/2007

All the forms I got in packet 3 were "expired"... So I wouldn't really worry about it. If I can get my scanner up and running, would you like me to scan the medical instructions for you?

To the girls who answered my other questions... THANK YOU again! I'd be so lost without you guys.

Kath, Patriciaofoz, and Hawaiiandreams, thank you all so much for your kind patience and VERY helpful advice...You've all saved me one big headache! Haha.

Everything seems all set at the moment... Biographic Data form was sent to Sydney today... Medical(s) appointment made... Finger print appointment set... Just gotta play the waiting game now.

I do, however, have a few more questions (as I always do seem to do ) if that's cool with you guys? Now, on the visa instructions it says I have to take 3 passport photos with me to the medical. The woman at the panel physician's office said I only needed one. Is that right? If not... What are the other two photos for? I'll be taking them with me anyway... I just thought it was odd that she said only one. O_o

The finger prints... What exactly happens with those? I'm really in the dark about that little part of the process. I have to go to the Australian Federal Police here in Perth (the earliest appointment date they had was February 1st!). Local cop shops don't do that anymore (and my clearance application has to be sent to the ACT and processed there.) What a pain.

And lastly... Form DS-156... The one I have to fill out online: can that be done at anytime? I was going to fill it out today, but I wasn't sure what happens to it once I clicked "continue" at the bottom of the screen. Does it get sent off somewhere online?

So... What exactly happens at the actual examination? I don't have a complete record of what vaccinations I've had... Does that matter?

Once again... Thank you!

As Kath suggested, go to your local Dr. and get an Immunity Test. Not sure how old you are but if you're 27 (like me) all I needed to get done as Tetanus/Diptheria, Mumps/Measles/Rubella, Chickenpox and...Varicella (I hope that's all the right names). Packet 3 should have the chart that you need to base it on. And while you're getting that done, might aswell include HIV/Syphilis (I didn't know about this so I had to get it done at my first visit with the Panel Physician). If you're missing any of the required vaccines, get it done at your local Dr., I'm sure it'll be cheaper (if you're poor like me, I found a community immunisation clinic and I got my Tetanus/Diptheria for free - just make sure you ask for a results sheet/letter from them).

The final examination was quick and painless. Few questions (that are on the Medical Examination Sheet), he checked my weight, asked what my height was, made me lie down on the bed and he listened to my heart and pressed down my sternum. And then that was it!

Fantastic! Thank you for the info! I've made the appointment for Tuesday next week. Never thought I'd say this... But I can't wait for it (to be over and done with, that is.). Haha.

Hi all!

Just a quick question... I'm going on a K-1 visa. I just received packet three yesterday, and now currently filling out form "DS-230 part 1, Biographic Data". On question 14, where the spouse's information is, it says "Date of Marriage (mm-dd-yyyy)". We're obviously not married yet... So what do I put in that space? Just "N/A" "NONE"?

Whoo-hoo! Finally got packet three yesterday! It all seems fairly straight forward... Although that's not stopping me from worrying about it all anyway. Haha. I've filled out the national police clearance already (downloaded the forms from www.afp.gov.au ) and then it'll be a quick trip to the cop shop for finger printing later (hopefully!).

Is it just form "DS-2301 Immigrant Visa Application Part 1, Biographic Data" that I send back? Do I have to send it with the "Applicant's Statement of Readiness To Be Interviewed" form, or can it be separate?

Oh boy... Don't get me started on the medical stuff! Haha. Do I fill anything out on the forms or is it all for the doctor to do? Even after reading the instructions and the forms over and over, I'm still kinda confused. Any advice would be very much appreciated...

Sorry to bug you all... I feel so very nervous already.

Yay for Packet 3! I remember that feeling...seems like months and months ago!

Send the DS-2301 ASAP (says she who took a week to send it back ). You send the Interview one later on, when you've collated everything (says she who send it a wee bit early and therefore got an earlier interview date). Seriously, I didn't follow ALL the rules but I think it's worked out for the best.

As for the medicals, boy, that also seems like a lifetime ago (or rather, I've decided to just blur it out of my memory). From memory the only things I filled out are when I got my X-Ray and also when I had my final medical. I visited the Doctor twice (one to get my HIV/Syphilis test and X-Ray) and then the actual examination. I found my first visit to be really helpful and the lady who helped me out was really thorough and very, very helpful. They'll guide you through it because they've done it a billion and two times before. Also, my Dr. sent me their very own "instructions", and it's a step by step guide - this would have been useful to be given by the Consulate, but alas they don't. So maybe call your Dr. and see whether they have a similar guide.

Enjoy the joys of Packet 3!!! If you have any other specific questions, let us know!

Oh thank you so much for your help! *bows*

So... What exactly happens at the actual examination? I don't have a complete record of what vaccinations I've had... Does that matter?

Once again... Thank you!

Whoo-hoo! Finally got packet three yesterday! It all seems fairly straight forward... Although that's not stopping me from worrying about it all anyway. Haha. I've filled out the national police clearance already (downloaded the forms from www.afp.gov.au ) and then it'll be a quick trip to the cop shop for finger printing later (hopefully!).

Is it just form "DS-2301 Immigrant Visa Application Part 1, Biographic Data" that I send back? Do I have to send it with the "Applicant's Statement of Readiness To Be Interviewed" form, or can it be separate?

Oh boy... Don't get me started on the medical stuff! Haha. Do I fill anything out on the forms or is it all for the doctor to do? Even after reading the instructions and the forms over and over, I'm still kinda confused. Any advice would be very much appreciated...

Sorry to bug you all... I feel so very nervous already.

Thanks guys! That's good to know. Phew.

Sharyna, sorry to hear that you're sick! That sucks... I hope your wedding day was lovely and went very well.