Kass

Not upon entry, give it a few weeks before attempting to get SSN, It takes USCIS 2-6 weeks to update the database used by SSA to confirm immigrations status.

Per our local Social Security Office it takes Immigration up to 10 business days to update the system. However, you can bring all of the required information and completed application into your local office and have them file while awaiting immigration. Then they will mail you, your card with number.

Keep in mind that before they issue your fiance' their card they must verify all documents to show either citizenship (N/A in our cases) or alien status with the Federal, State or local office. This can take up to four weeks. Once verified, again you will receive your card in the mail.

Contact information for Social Security on the official site is not the route to go for information or status of your application. You must contact your local office only for this. The 1-800-772-1213 number is for those who already have a social security number or need assistance with benefits or other NON IMMIGRANT matters.

In ending if you are not a U.S. citizen and are applying for a S.S. card for employment purposes and your immigration status allows you to work (yes, a K1 allows you to work), you may legally begin employment while you await the issuance of a card.

Cheers!

CONGRATS!!!

Thank you very much and my fingers will be crossed for your interview. GOOD LUCK!

We were approved for our k1 this morning at the London Embassy. So nerve racking at first. The process was quite easy actually. They asked three questions and that was that. They did not make an effort to review any tax forms, just took copies. Looked at a few things pertaining to pictures and cards back and forth from one another and such and that was it. THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER! at this point we are looking at an 18th of December flight.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and BEST WISHES TO THOSE THAT ARE HAVING INTERVIEWS BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Our interview in London is tomorrow. I sent along my taxes from last year. However I made less money in 2006 so it is not accurate. However, I sent them along anyway along with a letter from my employer that I am making more money. Also in our case, my fiance is retired Royal Air Force as of this past April so he gets a pretty good pension monthly and this pension is not temporary. His pension is over the poverty level of one yearly so this really helps. I also sent along bank statements and payd stubs for the past three months.

The letter was not hard. I hope that I put what I needed in it. But it was simple, how and when we met and that we are planning to marry. Cannot give too much detail relative to marriage plans as the k1 process is so up in the air time wise that you cannot make dates and deposits without the chance of losing the deposits or the date changing.

Our interview in London is tomorrow...so so nervous. The tell all be all part of this process so far. I not only hope that it is as easy as stated above but I hope that the individual conducting the interview is as personable.

...and yes Hallmark does sell song cards...I know I am the store Manager for a Hallmark in Williamsburg, VA. They have some GREAT Christmas ones this year...

"when you care to send the very best" *winks*.

Congrats!

CONGRATS!

My Tax Returns for 2006 do not show what I am making now. I was promoted and make more money now which will be shown on my 2007 tax retruns which will do no good for us as our interview date in London is next Wednesday 5 December. However, I contacted the IRS and recievied a transcript for 2006 and sent that along to my fiance' last month. I also have a letter from my employer, bank statements and a letter stating that I am in a bonus status for monthly bonuses. My fiance' is retired Royal Air Force as of last April, so he also collects a good monthly retirement check. We are adding everything we can...better to have it then to not.

The Embassy wants to make sure that your fiance' is not going to become a public charge, i.e., welfare bennies etc. etc.

They may not ask for some of this stuff, but at least it is on hand if they do.

Happy Holidays

As an April filer we FINALLY have an interview date of *drum roll*.......

December 5th. Now this is the GET ALL BE ALL test.

However, I have heard that LONDON is not that difficult on people. GOD WILLING!

Happy Holidays

NVC was so much easier then VSC. and then NVC to the London Embassy. I think once you get out of the Service Centers it is pretty much smoothe sailing and swift. Now the Embassy gets your heart beating as that is the GET ALL BE ALL test!

Happy Holidays!

We have our Interview date in London on December 5th. Fingers crossed. I have heard that London is not that hard on people. GOD WILLING!

Happy Holidays.

As much as I hate to say this....VSC is slow and not very organized. I think they were the hardest part of this entire process for us. Not very timely. Time cost on their errors. Not consistent with their updates or there verbal information via the telephone. The positive thing is that once you are out of VSC....sailing should be smoothe and swift.

Happy Holidays!

.....OK....more new news......After finding out yesterday bout the RFE i called my lawyer right away.....I let her know that i knew for a fact that it was sent on the 18th and that there is no way it would take more than this week to arrive...I left that on an aswering machine....well today first thing i called her again and explained everything...she said "well i have a huge pile of mail which i will try to get to today or tomorrow" i told her i want news by friday the latest.....Well late this afternoon she left a message on my cell telling me that the RFE letter was in the pile....And to top it off...the evidence that they want...your going to laugh!!!! She forgot to have me sign one of the forms...that is all they asked for... .....NEVER EVER DEPEND ON A LAWYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well tomorrow im going to her office to sign it and im sending through my Fedex account right away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If we had it to do all over again we would not have used an attorney for various reasons. Most and foremost you can pretty much do everything yourself. Not too mention you are cutiing out the middle guy which in turn saves on time. We sent everything to him, then we had to wait for him to get to it and then send it out. Then wait for VSC to process stuff to then send stuff back to him to wait for him to get to it and then send stuff back to us. Just think of all of the time we could have saved without the middle man.

Not too mention we hired an attorney for the simple fact that we assumed that they know what they are doing! To alleviate any mistakes that we might make as again we assume that they know what they are doing. Well we received and RFE from VSC for paperwork that they had already received in the initial package. We had to do all of the leg work to sort this out while our attorney' advice was to sit and wait. Do we not wait enough and at their mistake no less. Then getting hold of the attorneys is sometimes as hard as getting hold of the right answer from VSC! But boy they respond real fast when it is payment to them time. Needless to say we would not hire an attorney if we had it to do all over again, it was a waste of our time and our money.

CHEERS!

IS IT TRUE THAT YOU CANNOT GET YOUR CASE STATUS BY CALLING THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM FOR K1? DO YOU HAVE TO SPEAK TO A LIVE OPERATOR TO GET YOUR INFO OR THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM IS UP TO DATE AND ACCURATE....

We never had to call NVC as they are pretty organized as opposed to VSC. You have just received your NOA2 so you are still in a good time frame for NVC. NVC will send you a letter as soon as they have finished with your name checks telling you (if all is well) that your case will be forwared to the appropriate Embassy within 7 days. Once it gets to the Embassy you can call the "hotline" as I referr to it for an update or if you have any questions.

However if you really feel the need to contact NVC you can try by this email:

NVCINQUIRY@state.gov.

Keep in mind as with the Service Centers i.e., VSC, if they are still within their time frames the information that they give you if at all is going to be the same relative to being in their time frames.

If you are making an inquiry to check that all required paperwork is received I would imagine they would be able to help you.

My fiance' came to visit and he went straight through Philly. They asked him, where he was visiting, how long and why and then ended with have a nice visit. So basically nothing to report. He did however have on him proof that he would be going back to the UK, but they never asked. However, I would not push pask a weekly visit.

Good Luck.

Good Luck and yes it should have been there by now. If it helps, once it does get sorted......NVC is muct faster than the Service Centers. We were there less then a week.....and they had it at London in the same time frame. Then to top that off a quick medical appointment....there is LIGHT....

CHEERS!

I think that the new officer who signed for their petition started working at VSC in September and he is working only on the packages he signed for...so then every package he signed for will skip all the earlier petitions that were signed for by Mr.Novak...

And where did you get that information??????

If that were the case only P. Novak would have been working at VSC and we would all still be waiting. Do you really think there is only one person who works at VSC?

And how do you know the new officer was hired in September?

If that were the case many more September filers would have been approved by now.

There are many many many people who work at VSC.

Do not go around making statements like that. Too many people here are already stressed about the whole process without throwing in bogus, erroneous information.

Relax...was a joke...

Mr. Paul Novak is the Director at VSC. Does anyone honestly think he is sat there signing anything ....other then the back of his paycheck.....???!!! The P. Novak signature is no different then the form letter syndrome that seems to run amuck in our government offices..... *winks*

He also said VSC is processing April 18th application....he put me on hold for more than 5 minutes, two times and asked me if my petition was a K1 or K3..........so one more time that proves, they don't know anything.

Honestly were you expecting any different. Not only will you not get the right information, you will NEVER get the same information twice.

The I134....

on a side note for FYI only you only need to meet the minimum poverty guidelines for your situation with the I134. For the 1864 you need to meet the higher requirement.

Yes, he still has to fill out and I-134. You can't sponsor yourself.

If you are saying that the fiance' (non American) cannot sponsor him/herself, this is not true. They most cetainly can self sponsor and are in the good if they make over the poverty guidelines for an individual.

2007 HHS Poverty Guidelines

Persons in Family or Household 48 Contiguous

States and D.C. Alaska Hawaii

1 $10,210 $12,770 $11,750

2 13,690 17,120 15,750

3 17,170 21,470 19,750

4 20,650 25,820 23,750

5 24,130 30,170 27,750

6 27,610 34,520 31,750

7 31,090 38,870 35,750

8 34,570 43,220 39,750

For each additional

person, add 3,480 4,350 4,000

Forum search as the above post is correct there are dozens of posts relative to this.

In our case (K1), my fiance' visited even after our NOA1. He took proof that he would be going back in the event that he was given a difficult time. However, this was not the case. He flew from London to Philly then another flight to me. He was only asked for his passport, what was the reason for his visit and how long would be staying. That was all and along he came.

I phoned customs at Philly before his visit. Told them we were in the process of a K1 would it be a problem if he came to visit and he said NO MA'M. *lol* I am from the north we do not call anyone Ma'm unless they are well into their 60's. Needless to say we had no problems.

Good Luck.

It takes about 30 days for your NOA1. You are still within a good time frame.

Keep in mind that each service center is not the same and each adjudicator is not the same. Some look for and request things that others do not. In my case the adjudicator wanted my Birth Cerificate (long form and certified), however others are not this picky on the beneficiary. Some RFE's come in the form of a checklist where we received a form letter that was paragraphed with each and everything our adjudicator was requesting. Oddly enough and painstaking due to the added lenght of time, everything on our PARAGRAPHED RFE was already given to them in our initial package. All we did was resend what we had sent out initially. Crazy I know, but sadly it is what it is. However, now we are out of VSC and NVC. C had his medical over a week ago.....that went well. Now the most important part awaits...our interview.

Not to discourage anyone relative to contacting the media however, I would be very surprised if any one of the producers at MSNBC took an interest in this particular topic relative to VSC. I understand that VSC is a nightmare, been there done that and posted it in the RFE thread, however VSC will back themselves up with "they are in the posted time frame".

If you are interested in the media route I would try CBS Evening News as the first step. They are National and they have a segment on the 6:30 Evening News entitled "Eye on America". A few years back I did an interview for that segment entitled "The War at Home".

Keep in mind that before any reputable journalist or producer takes on a story you need to provide them with concrete proof (not just in words) that there is a problem. Although we are protected under the Constitution of the United States relative to Free Speech and Freedom of the Press...we are ultimately a law suit happy Country. I think to some it is an instant guarenteed lottery!

Your best bet is to start with your Representatives Office. Demand that as a constituent you want your concerns addressed or you will be looking at a new candidate at election time. Remember they work for youyou do not work for them. Your hard earned money pays their salary. My favorite to use "my time is valuable yet I took the time out of my already busy schedule to vote, as my representative can return this in kind by taking the time to address any concerns that I may have".

You may also want to research those Senators that are taking an interest in Immigration Policy, Practices and Procedures......

starting with the Library of Congress....

http://thomas.loc.gov/

http://immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault...amp;topicid=678 FYI

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/immigration/ FYI

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/eveningnews/main3420.shtml

On an ending note..it took over four months for our NOA2 but as I have said at the end of the day the material point is regardless of the wait (as hard as it is) we will ultimately be together.

*todays disclaimer....to tired from work to care about any typos *

The USCIS has decided to lump together more applications at the VSC and thus is increasing their workload (and the amount of time to process things ). You are right though... the VSC was always the speediest Service Center for I-129f's!

VSC *use to be the speediest* are the operative words. Now they have become slower than cold molasses! in addition some customer service reps up there are not so knowledgeable or user friendly...wonder if they have taken on a bag full of new employees.