Mari_Justin

We're finally finished. After pestering my congressmen we suddenly had our case approved and card delivered within 2 weeks. Each step of the way we were experiencing long wait times and as soon as I pinged my congressmen, we would suddenly get progress. Green card was approved we had a RFE in June/July and then nothing until now, no interview, no additional medical.

Good luck!

Interesting, our RFE was received early July also and still waiting. 

Whats the status of the rest of the December filers? Are most of you still waiting or approved at this point?

We've just received a letter with a notice of action that my Wife's EAD and AP were approved. There still is no update on the case tracker at all.

The interesting part is that I was in contact with our congressman last month and he submitted a request for expedite. It was a really weak case and didnt expect anything at all, I just hoped the nudge would get things moving. They responded on the 31st of May with a message saying that the expedite request was received and it can take 2 weeks to approve or deny the request. The NOA is dated May 31st, so it's pretty clear that the "nudge" from my local office worked, we havent even received a response to the expedite request yet.

On 2/24/2023 at 2:16 PM, Shay2022 said:

Well at least you got your EAD. I have absolutely no update since biometrics. No EAD, nothing. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Same here, biometrics 49 days ago. Changed immediately to actively being reviewed after the appt. I don’t think they know what actively means.

We mailed our packet via Fedex last Thursday the 15th, it was delivered on the 16th. We received texts today confirming acceptance of all 3 forms.

1 hour ago, Gabbyy said:

You can’t apply first for work authorization, that means everyone can apply so easy for work. You have to apply for your green card first or in the same time (save some money- is free). You have more details on the website. 

You can file I-765 while on K1 visa but its only good for the duration of your K1 which is pointless because it takes longer than 90 days to process. 

3 hours ago, Eric10112021 said:

Hey what did you guys do for your I-134?  I'm confused on what to do for this step...does the below mean we're done?  Any help would be appreciated.

I dont know what you've done here, the I-134 is a document that is printed and brought with you to the interview, I'm not sure how you have a confirmation of submission. 

Fiancé had he interview this morning and we were approved. She said it went super easy, the person conducting the interview was actually in a hurry so it seemed expedited, few generic questions, asked about an ESTA that had been canceled last year when we were traveling from Mexico to US, but other than that smooth sailing. She was calling me with the news less than 30 minutes from the start time of her appt. 

1 hour ago, Eric10112021 said:

That's strange.  We followed the steps on travel.state.gov and already filled out the DS-160 using the link on this page https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/nonimmigrant-visa-for-a-fiance-k-1.html

 

 

It's when we go to pay the fee below is when we didn't know what to do because it asks for your invoice number.

 

https://ceac.state.gov/IV/Login.aspx --> after you enter your case number it asks for your invoice number which we don't have.

I was confusing the DS-160 and the application. Anyhow, you cant pay the fee yet, and you cant pay the fee there. That happens in a different portal, they'll send you a link after the medical.

We got an invoice number, but K1 doesnt use it. The paying of the fees is where things got confusing for us. After the medical she called the hotline to try and make an appt, the hotline person created an account online for her to login and then pay the fee and complete the ds160. They wont let you do any of that until they receive your case and probably until after medical.

14 minutes ago, Eric10112021 said:

Who exactly did you email and where did you schedule it at? 🤔

Congratulations, 

We reached out to VisaTallinn@state.gov and said our packet is on the way and asked if we can schedule a medical.

14 hours ago, Kay98 said:

So my fiancé had his K1 Visa interview (in Canada) and was refused due to him needing to provide extra documentation because the paper was apparently wrong. He mailed it out to the embassy and now we’re waiting to hear back. How long does this usually take?

Could you please help the community avoid and future mistakes and let us know what exactly was wrong/missing? Also please complete your timeline, 

2 hours ago, Eric10112021 said:

Hoping you heard back from the embassy yesterday?!

they didnt respond to my request but to hers, assuming because her email is on the application. 

Anyhow, she wrote them last Thursday said we're ready for appt, they responded Monday saying that her appointment is Oct 12.  So that went really fast. We never received any of the instruction packets that have been mentioned before, but I've spent enough time on here that we knew what to do at each step. We went ahead and booked flights for the week after her interview, should be enough time to complete the addition of the visa to her passport. 🤞

4 hours ago, Eric10112021 said:

Thanks man, also let us know how you get an interview scheduled...we obviously will probably run into the same issues.

She provided the original document because she had it apostilled, not sure if it was required or not but did it anyhow.  Id just find a translator and they'll give you the instructions. she found them here https://www.just.ee/en/legal-services/sworn-translators

Also, it seems we have to make the appointment directly with the embassy rather than over the automated system. We confirmed with a friend that did it a few years ago that she emailed and said she's ready and they sent her back an interview date. I think we kind of messed up their normal process because we were reaching and pushing  them since before they even received the case, lol. So we have an email out to them since yesterday asking for appointment, I assume we'll hear monday.

1 hour ago, atcnaydn said:

I received a reply from our Representative’s office. It seems they have taken our case for Administrative Processing, and NVC cannot estimate when the process will be completed.

 

Does anyone have info about the Administrative Processing?

I'm not sure if this is any help to you:

https://jp.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/ceac-status-check-iv-k/

I would think it just means they've received your case and its in queue for processing to generate the case number, and then subsequently sent to embassy.  

1 hour ago, Eric10112021 said:

That's very strange and not something we wanted to hear when we're right behind you guys...😰

 

On another note, did your fiance take the criminal record in only Estonian or did you guys have it translated to English?  Also, did your fiance have it mailed to her or just printed it out from digital delivery?

She has police records for Estonia and Spain, both have been translated. I cant recall if she did it in person or online. I will ask and let you know. 

2 hours ago, atcnaydn said:

Sorry to hear that. Any idea when you might find an available appointment?

We’ve emailed asking for advice. What’s even more frustrating is they limit the times you can load the page, I guess it’s like 12 times and then they lock you out until the next day.  🤷‍♂️

Fiancé had medical today, afterwards she immediately phoned the embassy to schedule appt. They set up an online account for her and sent an email with instructions to login, pay the fee and schedule the appt. After completing the profile and paying the fee there are no appointments available 😒

Case received today by Consulate. They wont let us schedule interview until after the medical has been completed. Medical was suppose to be tomorrow but they called earlier this week and had to move it to next thursday. 

Thank you everyone for the input, much appreciated. 

Stuck on this question on the DS-160.

"Have you ever been unlawfully present, overstayed the amount of time granted by an immigration official or otherwise violated the terms of a U.S. visa?"

My fiancé had to extend her stay by 2 weeks, back in spring of 2020 due to her flights being canceled. She reached out before her 90 days expired and was granted extension and left within that extension. She has been able to enter a couple times since then, one time she was forced to show her extension email because they didn't have it on file, or at least claimed they didn't. The other caveat is that ESTA is not actually a VISA. 

Any help here would be appreciated.

16 hours ago, Eric10112021 said:

Thanks for the info!  I'm sure you can get that scheduled here in Estonia fairly quickly, yes?  Let us know!

Medical is next Thursday, no notice of receipt from embassy yet.

@Eric10112021  We emailed the Tallinn embassy to say to see if we could schedule the medical at this point and they said sure go ahead.

5 minutes ago, atcnaydn said:

Great news, congrats! 
 

I wonder what is the latest NOA2 date they processed and sent. Our case was approved on July 29th. I think it should be sent on either September 27 or October 11

Thank you, 

Mine was 67 days from NOA2, with that logic it puts you around Oct 4th so Oct 11 makes sense, unless they slow down.