saksnoot

This thread from a while ago should cover you pretty well in terms of what to expect.

Some folks now getting their case number within the 12 weeks, but others still having to email after 12. Not sure of any rhyme or reason. After you get the case number, you’d just follow instu

I’m not sure of the exact options on the DS-260 but words like “clerk” and “assistant” often cover job titles and descriptions of people who handle the kinds of jobs that you seem to describe.

The key here is to be honest and present as much information as you can that answers the questions. If you don’t, that’s where issues come.

A big thing here is no gaps in your employment history. If you didn’t work for part of a period that they’re asking to know your employment history, say “unemployed.” Otherwise give details of the job.

Leaving out anything the form asks for (and mentioning things beyond what the form asks for) are unlikely to be helpful and could hurt your case.

When you filled out the I-130, it asks where the applicant will apply for their greencard (adjust status or the embassy). It would be wise to ask the German embassy if they’d be willing to take on the visa case here or if they’d need to transfer the case to the embassy with usual jurisdiction based on your partner’s citizenship/residency.
 

My guess is that if a case is accepted for faster processing via DCF, the embassy would be willing to take the case on. Neighboring embassies or ones that the applicant can travel to relatively easily do take on expedite cases (Poland took on some Moscow cases at some point, if I recall), and I think Frankfurt would be willing to work in this fashion, especially if you asked to confirm. The benefit here, of course, is no wait for documents to be transferred and Frankfurt’s general efficiency relative to other DoS missions. 

The only real impact in terms of your case and approval would be on the I-864 domicile requirement. What I’ve heard from lawyers and in our case, London is pretty willing to accept an intent to re-establish domicile from the US citizen petitioner fairly readily for spouse cases, unless they suspect fraud otherwise. The general principle is that the UK isn’t high fraud to begin with, so in cases without red flags, it’s really unlikely the beneficiary would move to the US without the petitioner.
 

As with anything though, officers have discretion, so you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of evidence of maintaining ties to the US and/or re-establishing ties nearer the interview.

If you have any family, friends, etc in the US willing to be a joint sponsor, that is likely the path of least resistance.

Yes, your assets could probably get you by, but it’ll be a lot of hoops to get through. So it’s possible either way, as long as you follow the guidelines and instructions as closely as possible. Just easier with a joint sponsor if you can get one.

1 hour ago, ROSE80 said:

Update!! We just got DQ yesterday and expedite was approved!

Glad to hear it! Hopefully your embassy gets your interview scheduled soon

23 minutes ago, sucho_journey said:

This thread has helped us so much as we are preparing to file at London embassy under exceptional circumstances (short job relocation notice) next week. Fingers crossed the 12 week wait goes fast and there are  interview and medical appointments available when we get the case number. We have two small school children and can' t be apart at all so hopefully everything goes as smoothly as possible! 

If you get started now and stay on top of it (maybe look for cancellations for medical/interview appointments to have it done quicker), you have a good shot of making it to the US by the August enrolment deadlines in the US, though I know it varies by state and district. Just a bit of encouragement

Wow, annoying from the employer considering they want you to relocate quickly but won’t even deal with a phone call or email from DoS that will just likely ask them to confirm the job offer or authenticity of the letter you provide.

In any case, London doesn’t seem to contact employers and from what I’ve seen on VJ, various consulates don’t seem to contact employers. They just ask for the documentation to prove the job offer and that it’s short notice. I’d feel reasonably confident that the employer won’t be contacted.

As for chances of accepting you for DCF, that really depends on your specific case and the consular section in question. Some are quite liberal with it these days, while others offer basically no appointments for anything. Good luck

Generally, you should go to the line for foreign nationals. Same one you would use for an ESTA if you didn’t have Global Entry. The GE kiosk will not process your entry properly since GE won’t have the details of your IV. You’ll just need to go to a GE enrollment center once you have your GC to get them to update your details.

General principle is to follow signs and ask where to go if you are entering on an immigrant visa.

My wife had her CR1 visa approved a while back and we were able to go to the US and lay the groundwork for our move there. We came back to the UK for a bit to wrap up loose ends and spend Christmas with her family, and we’re travelling back to the US in the coming weeks to begin our jobs and all that.

While we’ve been out of the US, her greencard arrived and is with my parents. Will she need her greencard to enter the US or will her I-551 stamp on her visa be enough?

Based on her visa the stamp should still be valid, but I’m unsure if the creation and delivery of her greencard voids this.

Not sure of the PT vs FT impact on the EC, but short notice is definitely a key term here, so the job needs to start somewhat urgently (no more than a few months). For what it’s worth, London’s process for EC requests is a 1000 word online form where you could leave out whether the job is part- or full-time, and then if they give you an appointment to file, they’ll ask for evidence of the offer at the appointment. At that point, I doubt that PT vs FT would stop them from accepting the filing, given there is nothing in the EC criteria to clear it up (though that’s just my guess).

The most important thing here, I think, is that the job offer be short notice. So if the current offer says the job starts fairly soon, then it might be worth requesting EC on that basis. If not, you might have a better shot with a different job offer that does require you to move soon.

One thing I’d avoid is sitting on a job offer so that it “becomes” short notice when you request EC. If they see an old date on the offer letter at the appointment to file, they might be inclined to tell you they can’t accept the filing.

Haven’t used at Heathrow but have used the same provider at other locations. Antigen results in about 20 minutes from prior experience. 

Contact the embassy/consulate you’ll deal with directly as well. I’ve seen that some embassies are quicker to respond than NVC is, and your NVC expedite is really just asking NVC to contact the consular section to see if they are willing to give your case priority. If you contact them directly and they agree to expedite, they’ll just contact NVC themselves and ask for your case file to be sent over and you’ll take your documents directly to your interview then, bypassing NVC. 

13 hours ago, powerpuff said:

I think that would be the best option. My advice is don’t wait until close to her visa expiration. Get the ball rolling - get married as soon as you can and file for AOS. She can concurrently file for EAD and AP (and it’s free) which will allow her to work and travel. So she doesn’t have to wait until GC to visit her family. EAD/AP are generally taking 8+ months right now. 
 

to clarify: I know she’s in the US right now. What I’m trying to say is if you wait until the end of her visa to marry with the plan of her visiting back home and then coming back still as a J1 holder with the intent to AOS, that’s not legal. 

Just to add a bit to this. Your case has greater weight and there are more opportunities to appeal in case of any issues for a spouse greencard than for a K1. US and international law generally guarantee many more benefits regarding immigration for spouses than for fiancees.

also, @powerpuff is making a very important point. With the J1, every time your fiancee enters the US, she cannot have intent to file AOS. So far, your fiancee hasn’t had this intent while entering this US. So the only time you could legitimately file AOS (barring after entering on a K1 if you went that route) is at this point, while she is in the US on her J1 but at the poe with her J1 there was no intent to file AOS. Some people thing “how would USCIS even know?” but it’s not worth the risk. Could lead to a lifetime ban, and even if there are waivers, it’s a lot more time, money, and hassle. 

The moment you enter the US, you are an LPR and have a greencard. At that point anything your employer does (short of revealing that your application was fraudulent, information was witheld, or informing authorities of a crime you committed to void that) can’t get your greencard taken away. Enter the US immediately. You can enter and fly back right away. You’ll keep your greencard as long as you do come to live in the US in a timely manner afterward. 

8 minutes ago, wonderer2505 said:

So glad I found this thread and wondering if anyone has had something similar to my case.

 

My wife is a US Citizen, I'm a British citizen and work for a Global Company. We're wanting to relocate and they are willing to offer me a role in the US, with the caveat that the visa process is left to me (so intra company transfer isn't readily available as an option). 

 

Would this qualify for a DCF Exception, giving that I (UK Citizen) would be the one going to take up work instead of my wife (a us citizen)? My wife doesn't have a paid Job and so i'm the sole earner. I'd love to know if anyone has had a case approved when the US citizen isn't the one with short term relocation?. 

 

Thanks a lot!  

Does not qualify for the exception. I’d be surprised if you got approved for this. If your company wants you to move to the US in any short order, they should assist you to do that. If the move to the US is only coming from you/your partner wanting to and not the company, then your case is basically the same as any other as far as I can see. The main difference of course is that you can actually have a job lined up in the US for when you do get your greencard, and that’s a luxury that many don’t have. 
 

The reasoning behind the exception is this. If the person needing to relocate to the US for work weren’t a US citizen, they could relatively quickly get an L1 or H1-B or similar, and bring their partner with them on a dependent visa. With a US citizen needing to relocate quickly however, they would be separated for likely a lengthy period based on the I-130 and IR1/CR1 process. Basically, this exception stops it being disadvantageous to have a US citizen relocating to the US for work, rather than a foreign national relocating to the US for work. 

23 minutes ago, LHR2SFO said:

What was the sequence of events for you to book your interview? My partner has completed the medical but everytime he logs into to submit a request to book his interview he gets a message under where you type in your case number that says 'is not ready for an appointment'.

 

Any help on this is appreciated, thanks!

Had this happen. Contact the embassy (ideally reply to the email with the I-130 filing appointment if you filed dcf in London) and they’ll fix that. They did it for us within an hour of sending the email. Then you can look at the available slots, and if there aren’t any, don’t worry. They’re released sporadically and can go fast. Just be patient and keep checking

Direct Consular Processing (DCF) refers to the I-130 stage. Consular Processing refers to the portion after the I-130 is approved, if the beneficiary is outside the US and getting an immigrant visa (as opposed to within the US and adjusting status to become a permanent resident). The names are annoying, yes. More annoyingly, if you filed the I-130 via DCF, your process for the visa application and document submission will be different from most people going through consular processing for their visa. 

Where was the I-130 filed? Did you file with USCIS at a lockbox/online? Or did you receive permission to file the I-130 directly with the embassy/consulate?

If you filed the I-130 directly at the embassy/consulate, you don’t upload documents generally. Fill out DS-260, gather all the documents needed, and bring all documents to the interview. They will be reviewed there and then to see if the visa can be issued or if more documents are needed or if there is a reason the applicant has to be denied the visa. If more documents are needed, the officer will likely give instructions on how to submit these when informing the applicant at the interview.

If the I-130 was filed with USCIS stateside, then you deal with NVC. All NVC does is have you upload all the documents you’ll need so they can check you have everything the interviewing officer will need to make a decision on your case. That’s all the “processing” done by NVC. Once NVC sees you have the required documents, then and only then will you be added to the queue to be scheduled for an interview.  The documents will still only get reviewed at the time of the interview.

What was your reason for asking to circumvent USCIS? Just to make it faster? Because of the tiers?

There is a limited list of reasons consular sections accept direct filing, and even then, it’s entirely at their discretion. Look at the section for exceptional situations from the State Dept here:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition/filing-petitions-outside-the-us.html

Montreal hasn’t been known to take on DCF cases readily anyway, and they’re swamped now. Unless you have a really good reason, I’d suspect you have to file with USCIS

I'd recommend arguing that you are taking steps to move back to the US with your spouse once her visa is approved. A sworn affidavit from you, a job offer in the US starting soon, moving money to US banks, evidence of looking for housing in the US, etc. The London embassy sees many visa applications whose petitioner spouses live abroad and they generally believe that the spouse will want to reunite if the marriage is legitimate. Usually, the applicant and petitioner both live together in the UK for those cases, but I'd like to think the same logic holds. Having filed taxes in the US and your home state with a US mailing address will certainly help your case that you're still domiciled in the US.

File I-130 and I-485 concurrently (they are eligible for this), and also file I-131 for EAD (to get SSN) and for AP as well. They’ll be in legal status while their case is pending. You can enroll them in school right now, and if there is a need, you can get them an ITIN while waiting for the SSN. Once AP is granted, you (or your spouse or both) can travel with them to get any belongings they may have left behind.

The only complication here is that you’ll have to show that there was no immigrant intent when they came under VWP, and that very much seems to be the case. Collect any documentation you have that shows why they came to the US, and that it was with their birth father. And any documentation that he’s left the US and left them in your care.

If your spouse’s divorce with her ex has stipulates anything about custody, be sure that you are ironing that out if need be.

Personally, I think your case is possible to DIY as long as you can put together a good string of documentation for why they need to live with you in the US now. An immigration attorney could make the situation smoother though. Whether that’s what you want to do is your call. 

7 hours ago, Arthur2021 said:

Hi,

 

We have managed to get a spot on a private flight to Teterboro Airport flying from London (to get our pet dog on with us).

 

It looks like it's not an official port of entry and I was wondering if I can still activate my greencard on entry there or if I could just travel on my B1/B2 visa and then go somewhere to sort out my Greencard at a later date? 

 

Cheers

Can I ask how you managed to book a seat on a private flight? We’re looking into this as well but not familiar with which companies are reliable and trustworthy.

With regard to your processing at the airport, I am unaware of limitations to where an IV holder may enter the US from (though this doesn’t mean it cannot be the case). I dare say that some EB5 investor visa holders might be inclined to fly private, especially those relocating to the NY metro area. Usually the operator of a charter/private flight will need to arrange Customs and Immigration services with CBP before the fact, so ensure that whomever you booked with is aware of your visa status. 
 

As a 2nd to worst case (worst being denied entry, though I doubt that is likely), you can visit a CBP office to correct any issues with your processing at the POE after the fact, and CBP may instruct you to do so if there is a bit of processing that is unable to be completed at Teterboro. 

No pattern that I've aware of. They do release slots in a batch, but when in terms of time of month or time of day can really vary. There are cancellations that come up sporadically. The embassy advises that you keep checking regularly and you'll eventually find something. I tend to agree with that advice

With the London embassy, K1 applicants schedule their own interviews out of the available slots. If you really want it done quickly, you can probably find a cancellation for a slot coming up very soon if you check the interview scheduler judiciously.

Your I-129F is valid for 4 months from the approval date. This can be extended at the discretion of the consular officer. Your visa will need to be issued before the I-129F expires. Usually, your visa will be valid for you to enter the US within 6 months of issuance.

So without a consular officer extending the I-129F validity, the latest you could enter the US on a K1 is 10 months from when the I-129F was approved.

If while you’re still in the UK you found a job in the US and got an offer letter stating that your required start date is imminent (ideally within a month and certainly within the next couple of months) you can ask the London embassy to let you file the I-130 directly with them. This can cut the process down to 3-5 months. 
 

This is likely your best shot at minimizing separation.