sydnekins

9 minutes ago, WhyUSoMadFor said:

Yep they sent them 2 days after my exam. That's why I assumed the 15th update was the receiving.

Ah that's frustrating. The consulate will send you an email once they received your medical exam. Another member here with a similar timeline to mine replied to her interview email following up. Her case went into administrative processing pretty much the next day so that might be worth a shot too! 

46 minutes ago, WhyUSoMadFor said:

Oct 07 - Interview at sydney consulate (refused status pending medical)

Oct 08 - Medical complete

Oct 15 - Case last updated, still at refused

 

I am assuming they got the medical on the 15th when the case was updated, but my case still is refused and it has been quite a while now. Seems like people who had interviews/medicals around my time got admin processing/issued status much quicker

Have you received an email from your Dr's office that your exam results were sent to the Consulate? If you haven't, it might be worth following up with them 

Just an FYI for those applying for the travel exemption after getting their passport, visa and letter, the turnaround time is really quick! I filled out the request to travel form and got the approval from Dep of Home Affairs in 10 minutes! 

I'm free to be with my husband now

Wishing everyone a speedy visa journey!!!! 

For those who are closely following and comparing timelines like I was, my visa was issued today!! I should expect to receive it in the mail tomorrow

Heres a little timeline from expedite approval:

22SEP: Uploaded required documents into CEAC

22SEP: US Consulate approved expedite request

01OCT: Received schedule Interview options email from Consulate 

02OCT: Responded to Consulate requesting next available interview

06OCT: Consulate scheduled my appointment for 07OCT (yes the next day!!!) 

07OCT: Interview, interviewing officer approved pendical medical results - left with 221g form to take to medical EXAM - NVC case status showed as 'Refused'

09OCT: Attended Medical exam with Dr Rappaport 

13OCT: Medical exam sent to Consulate 

19OCT: Received email from Consulate acknowledging receipt of medical certificate - NVC case status changed to 'Administrative processing' 

20OCT: Received email from Consulate advising that my visa was issued - NVC case status changed to 'Issued' 

5 minutes ago, ErinB said:

Amazing, thank you so much! That puts my mind at ease a lot. I hate the waiting and not knowing parts of all of this 

No worries, I know exactly how you feel!! Once your expedite is approved everything will move very quickly. I got an interview with less than 24hrs notice. I'm lucky I live in Sydney so was able to attend my interview 

21 minutes ago, ErinB said:

Oh awesome! Thanks. Did you get an email response from them before that point that acknowledged they received it? We’re only worried because we’ve received literally nothing 

Nope nothing! We sent off our expedite request to nvcexpedite@state.gov and only heard back when the consulate approved our expedite request. We didn't even receive an email of acknowledgement that the email expedite request was received and under review... I genuinely thought that they never received our request! I'd wait 2-3 days and then contact nvc for an update 

1 hour ago, ErinB said:

Hey guys! I'm getting a little nervous so I thought I'd see what you all think I should do/is happening. 

I submitted our expedite request on the 10/10, to nvcexpedite@state.gov but so far we've heard nothing back. Today is the tenth day. There've been weekends and bank holidays in that time, but I'm not sure how much that should affect the timeliness of an acknowledgement...

Is there a next step? Is there someone we need to contact to chase this up?

Hey Erin! It took around 12 days for the consulate to approve my request for expedite so I would give it a day or two. 

If your case is approved you should receive an email from NVC saying that the consulate has approved your request. 

5 minutes ago, PriscillaQOTD said:

Thank you for letting me know! That’s so exciting for you! I didn’t realise they sent an email so I guess I’ll stop refreshing the visa check page 😂😂

Haha I was obsessively checking the status all day today and noticed this morning that the 'case last updated' had changed to today's date but still said 'refused' and then next thing I knew I had gotten an email and it had moved over to administrative processing. So if you see that your 'case last updated' date changes and it still says 'refused' its probably a good sign that things are moving along! 

18 hours ago, PriscillaQOTD said:

Oh wow that is really fast! My husband had his medical at O'Connell St with Dr Aldous on the 7th of Oct and didn't get his email until the 13th. I noticed my case status date changed in the visa check on the same day so I'm assuming the consulate received it. As both of our medicals were sent on the same day let me know if your case status changes from refused to admin processing and I'll let you know as well!

I just got an email from the consulate saying they received the medical certificate and it's under review, just checked the case status and it's finally rolled over from refused to Administrative processing! I'm sure if you havent received it yet that you'll be receiving it soon!! 

45 minutes ago, PriscillaQOTD said:

Oh wow that is really fast! My husband had his medical at O'Connell St with Dr Aldous on the 7th of Oct and didn't get his email until the 13th. I noticed my case status date changed in the visa check on the same day so I'm assuming the consulate received it. As both of our medicals were sent on the same day let me know if your case status changes from refused to admin processing and I'll let you know as well!

Yes thank you will do! 

1 hour ago, ChelseaLAllen said:

Yesss I felt like they work very fast! when did you have your interview?? Hmmm so they haven't even picked it up one week after! 

I had my interview on the 07th! Hopefully they send yours soon! 

7 hours ago, ChelseaLAllen said:

Hi There!

 

I have a question I did my medical with Dr Rappaport last Friday on the 16th how long did it take for your results to be at the consulate?? like 5 business days??

Just so I can have a rough idea

 

Thankyou

I also had my medical exam with Dr Rappaport! Her office works pretty fast, I had my exam on Friday the 9th and I received an email saying it was sent to the consulate on Tuesday the 13th so I'm expecting the consulate to pick it up any day now

I've replied in your other topic but yes, definitely bring it along. When you receive your interview date the consulate will send you a document cover sheet of documents you are expected to bring (joint sponsor is one of them if you have one). The officer at the consulate reviewing my documents looked through them but didnt do anything else with them as they were already uploaded. Annoying that we have to bring it in even though its already uploaded to the system but better to be safe than sorry!

Hi there! I just had my interview at the Sydney consulate this past week. 

I would bring at least some proof as it's mentioned in the document cover sheet you receive for your interview. 
The officer that conducted my interview didnt request to look at my proof but i've heard from others that they have asked for proof. 

5 hours ago, ErinB said:

Hi everyone!

Long time VJ lurker and thanks to some lovely people, I finally found this thread after many months looking through the rest of the forums and not finding much if anything for Aussies. 

I figured I should let everyone know our situation because I'm super sure that I'll be asking for advice in the near future and that's always easier to give with some context 🙂

My husband and I got married in May 2018 and submitted our I130 shortly afterwards. Our case was received by NVC towards the end of Jan this year. We've watched on anxiously as the COVID situation developed, not really knowing when or if we'd get to see each other for a very long time. Thankfully, after fighting for it tooth and nail, we got him here a couple of months ago. He was due to leave yesterday but his flight actually got cancelled so he's still here for the time being. We've been waiting to hear about our interview, which has been pretty darn difficult given everything that's going on and the general lack of information available. It's been a guessing game. 

After finding this thread, we've decided we should probably give expediting a try. My husband runs his own business, and as such, we just don't have the income for either of us to be continually going into quarantines in order to see each other. My father-in-law's health is not great - he's in a high risk category, so during a pandemic that's also been incredibly stressful. We're certainly not old - we're both in our early 30's - but we have fertility hurdles to overcome when starting a family and, as such, that window is closing. I have severe anxiety, whilst he has depression, and though my anxiety isn't usually an unmanageable problem, I also don't have a support network here. My only family in the country is my mum, who lives in Queensland, and as I live in Melbourne I obviously do not have access to that support network. 

We're a bit on the fence about applying for an expedite. We're not sure whether our reasons are substantial enough to be considered. I'm also not sure exactly how it works, and therefore whether it will even have much of an effect given I live in Melbourne: if we get granted an expedite, does that mean that when borders open up our case will be closer in the queue than those who did not expedite? 

If anyone has any insight, that would be greatly appreciated. We're not really sure exactly when my husband will be going back home, but I would just LOVE for us to have some sort of indication that this separation won't be indefinite before I put him back on a plane. 

Does anyone have any advice about writing an expedite request based on humanitarian/compassionate grounds where the reasons aren't exactly life and death?

I recommend expediting! My Husband and I also applied at the end of Jan and just had my interview this past week thanks to expediting.
We had expedited our i130 and then expedited again from NVC straight to the US Consulate. 

I cant give you much advice on writing an expedite request as ours was very specific - my husband is in the military and has received military orders to move base. But please try the expedite and get your name on that list so at least will have a spot in the queue with all the other Victorians are waiting for their interview.