Merica-n

3 minutes ago, Kineo said:

 

Steve is on target here. This can be filed online now. The fee is $410. Or they can apply for a fee waiver (I-912) and file it with the I-765 in the mail.

 

The whole process for 2 beneficiaries I've been working with took 35 days from the time the forms were mailed to USCIS and when they received their EAD cards and SS cards.

 

=Kineo 

Weird.  They said they got a letter that it will take 8 months to get ead.

Hi, we have a family in my community that came here under the Uniting for Ukraine program and are staying at my friend’s house.

How do Uniting for Ukraine beneficiaries receive work authorization/social security card?  How long does this generally take?  Their sponsors are a little bit confused as to how this works as whenever they apply for a job, they ask for a ssn, but they don’t have one, but they seem to think they are allowed to work.

(my timeline totally unrelated.  Asking for a friend who knew I had experience with immigration)

2 hours ago, xfilez76 said:

 

Thank you! So you have to mail the documents instead of sending it electronically? I know you need to send an email confirmation to the consulate after the completion of DS-160, with scanned copies of the application's passport and a photo. I thought the DS-160 itself is also filed online.

The DS-160 was completed online, but the confirmation page needed to be printed out and mailed to the embassy.  My fiancee had to mail in two photos as well and the passport information page.  This was all by physical mail and nothing was sent via email.  This is China though, I think slightly different procedure from different countries, so you'll have to wait to see the exact procedure in Canada.

Congrats @Xiaova

5 hours ago, xfilez76 said:

Once the application arrives the US consulate, how long would it be to receive the next notification? Would it be the interview date?

Hopefully it will arrive fairly quickly.  You should receive packet 3, where you have to mail back your DS160 confirmation page, 2 passport photos, etc.  Our packet 3 included a copy of our originally mailed petition.  I’ve seen letters for packet 3 from different embassies that vary in what they request, so ymmv.  After, you successfully complete packet 3, then you will receive packet 4 with instructions to sign up for your interview date, they won’t just assign a date to you, you’ll get to pick.

15 minutes ago, danli said:

Hi, just a quick question, do you know how long it will take for the case status from "at NVC" to "in transit"?  @Merica-n

 

So I'm not sure what you mean.  I just know it took about 10 days from when we got the email from nvc that they were sending it to the consulate to getting packet 3, ymmv obviously.

And just before we went to the ceac website and it said refused, and my fiancée read on Xiao hong shu that if it says refused that means you will get your packet soon and that was true.

1 hour ago, danli said:

After 50 days of waiting, we finally got our case number from NVC! 

Congrats!  

To all other China consulate watchers @danli@Xiaova@DSBeijing@Jimm95CHT

We were able to schedule the interview yesterday and I updated my timeline.  We took a week filling out packet 3, which was our fault, but when we returned it, we got it back almost immediately.  The Chinese consulate is very quick.  We tried to make an appointment, but there were not appointments available.  So we checked several times each day and after two days, we were able to book an appointment one month out.

This whole process, everything in the USA is slow and taken much longer than estimates.  Everything in China is quick and happening quicker than estimates.   We're finishing strong.  It feels good!  I thought for sure all this would drag out to thanksgiving or Christmas.

Received Packet 3 from embassy today.  Not sure that there is a group for this...

On 6/29/2022 at 2:28 AM, Jimm95CHT said:

Just three weeks ago, our NVC status was that our application was being sent to Guangzhou Embassy and that my fiancee would receive the instruction packet. A few days ago, the status changed to refuse? My fiancee did not get the instruction packet or was afforded an opportunity to be interviewed? Does anyone know what is going on? Any help is much appreciated.

Do you have any update on this?  We have the same situation in Guangzhou, but we are a week or two behind you.  My fiancee says that on xiaohongshu, it says refused means they will send you the packet very soon!

I'm also confused that I'm tracking by selecting immigrant visa on ceac, but k1 is a non immigrant visa.  I assume based on the dates, like you that it is referring to my case though.

Also please fill in your timeline and keep it updated for information sharing so me and @DSBeijing and @Xiaova can get an idea how quickly things are moving through the chinese consulate.  We are very curious what the experience at the Guangzhou consulate is like recently and whomever goes first will update each other of course.

8 minutes ago, Optimist19 said:

Was this the only info you received after your NOA2? I’ve been reading that people haven’t been able to get their NVC numbers anymore because they won’t answer the phone, so I’m wondering if this is really the case? 
 

Also, how long after the NOA2 did you receive this email? I think this depends on the backlog at the embassy but just wondering anyway. 

Yes, I received no other information between this and the NOA2.  The NVC doesn't answer the phone.  It took 45 days.  I'm not sure if it's related to the specific embassy. 

I think the NVC does background checks and pre-processes information for the consulate, so not sure that the embassy backlog influences the time for this step.  Probably the results of the background check and based on the applicant, how much research they have to do on each applicant influences the time.

Received email today saying nvc forwarded to consulate!

noa2 5-10-2022

nvc left 6-24-2022

took 45 days exactly

21 hours ago, Xiaova said:

Unfortunately, I would like to know as well. I been waiting on NVC for a tracking number but I heard lately it isn't even provided. @Merica-n got approved in mid may and I don't think he has heard back from NVC either.

 

I will certainly update you when I receive any updates on my end.

I just got the nvc email this morning, finally.  If I get anymore information I will update both of you.

FYI from FB Group:

Source Link:  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/nvc-contact-information.html. 

Important Notice Effective May 23, 2022

Edit:  Sorry didn't realize there was a separate NOA2/NVC thread.   Moved this there.

From Facebook group and  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/nvc-contact-information.html. 

Important Notice Effective May 23, 2022

Just want to point out that the address for the California Service Center is the same town with the massive fire currently burning through it?

7 minutes ago, Xiaova said:

Congrats. I'm at 392 days here. I been disappointed in the lack of updates for my group. Hope that changes this week.

I'm sure it will!  Just prayin' the chinese consulate is quick and there are no travel restrictions to Guangzhou in the future.

2 minutes ago, CJPinEcuador said:

They made the website a bit "trickier" to hide just how slow things are going. It isn't as immediately obvious. 

Thanks!  I found the press release.  They pretend this is a benefit, but actually they're rolling the date back a few weeks and making it hard to figure it out.

So the March spreadsheet used to have an inquiry date of April 8, 2021 and now it says March 22, 2021.  When I click the link, I can't figure out how to view it on the USCIS website.

Did the date go backwards in the past day or two?

Just want to put this in perspective,  my best friend is Indian and got his Master's degree here in the 2000's.  He applied for a green card like 15 years ago and he will likely get it in the next decade if he can maintain sponsored employment for that long.

Currently they only issue about 10,000 green cards per year to Indian citizens and 1 million Indian citizens have applied, so they estimate that if you apply today, it will take them about 80 years to process your green card as a good percentage will be withdrawn.

At least we don't have to wait decades for our application to be approved.  Could you imagine, hiring a lawyer, applying and not knowing if you'll live long enough to for your visa to ever be approved?

https://tulanehullabaloo.com/57051/intersections/opinion-lifetime-wait-for-indian-green-card/

28 minutes ago, MissLadyRea said:

second time in this forum that someones just hshdhd about Canada.  weird because I don't experience these kinda claims in any immigration Facebook im in or the multiple long distance discords so really wasnt expecting it from here

Sorry, hope I haven't offended you.  I'm not sure what hshdhd means.  This K1 process is just hell and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.  I made a huge mistake.  I should never have let my fiancee leave the country.  This process sucks.

1 hour ago, SouthBound2022 said:

We can stay in the US for 6 months at a time as a tourist/visitor but to just stay and go get married... not a chance. 

3 minutes ago, MissLadyRea said:

I would rather not spend the rest of our relationship only visiting for a few weeks at a time.

My Canadian friend has this nafta visa where all he needed was a job offer letter and no USCIS.  Apparently, it's reciprocal and I could do the same thing to work in Canada.

Anyways, I have to post this:  

I'm really shocked Canadian's apply for this visa category, Rea and Southbound.  Can't you just walk, drive or fly across the border visa free?

49 minutes ago, DSBeijing said:

Worst is, that they take 12-15 Minutes to process the K1 Case. How high are the overhead costs, if $535 is not enough to cover orderly processing??? Even if they take 30 minutes per K1 case, that is over $1070 per hour. How are they this incompetent.

I think this is just the interview time at the foreign consulate.

My application was many pages, they have to read it.  They have to complete background checks on myself and my fiancee and validate that everything is correct and in good order, and ship it between different centers.  Mail out two letters to me.  Mail out a packet to my fiance.  No way they can do all that in 12-15 minutes or half an hour.

So it seems like processing is happening somewhat in chronological order and not by receipt number band and they're at the beginning of April right now?

I know it's not perfectly aligned, but based on people celebrating approvals on Facebook in the past few days, it seems most of them are April 5-9.

Does this seem correct?