Daniella Reina

13 minutes ago, hctiwsblade13 said:

There have been some developments. Looks like they’ll be transferring services to Melbourne while construction is finishing at the Sydney Consulate. 
 

See Consulate’s most recent post yesterday afternoon.
 

Would encourage anyone following this thread to follow the Sydney Consulate’s social media pages. 

Thank you!!!  

Does someone have idea when the consulate is going to open? This process has been so frustrating 

18 hours ago, Nate Ander said:

Does anyone know how long consular processing times are at the Sydney consulate right now?

My partner (in Sydney) and I (in US) are deciding between applying for CR-1 or K-1. We've always heard that CR-1 is preferred, but our lawyer just told us that consular processing times are like ~2 years now because the consulates were closed for so long, so K-1 may be better despite having to wait for work/travel authorization.

Any answers on processing times will be much appreciated.

Hi! 

Well, what your lawyer told you it is correct. I applied for IR-1 on 15th jun 2020, I got a faster response on my I-130 because my aunt-in-law wrote to the senator to help us with our case. The senator office definitely helped us to get our case approved by the USCIS, the office of the senator  wrote an email, and the next days we received the approved letter, we had been waiting for almost a year with 0 answers prior that. I applied as well for K-1 but It got rejected due to my approval of I-130. Then,  you submit your documents for NVC takes around 45 working days, if your document is rejected you need to wait other 45 working days. BTW be careful with your police certificate. I got my DQ yesterday. Good luck

IR-1 Spouse

Sent Request: 6/24

Acknowledged & Under Review: 9/15

On 7/30/2021 at 4:43 AM, Kvickers4 said:

Hi, just to update everyone I got a reply from the NVC (one day after being told it was being reviewed) and unfortunately was denied. I requested the expedite due to financial hardship. I knew it was a long shot, and there are people with much better reasons to request an expedite, but I'm glad I at least tried. 

 

Hopefully the NVC speeds back up and we are all back with our loved ones soon❤️

Hi!

Sorry that you didn't received a positive answer from your expedite request .  I was wonder if the reply for the NVC was like "Your request for expedited processing of this immigrant visa petition is under review. We will send you the result when it is completed." As well, I would like to confirm that you received your answer after one day? Because I wait more than 30 days for an NVC answer, and I would like to know when I will have a reply of it. 

Thank youu!! 

On 8/18/2021 at 1:43 PM, Sochi8 said:

As far as we’re aware they are not conducting any face to face business/ Interviews… we haven’t heard anything from Consulate if they have, in fact, resumed interviews since July when they suspended them.
 

Who did you contact out of curiosity? There isn’t a direct line to the Sydney Consulate, only to the USA travel docs people (a 1300 number) who are an offshore call center and who can only help schedule interviews. They really don’t know the daily operations of the consulate or the covid restrictions here - at least that is our experience and impression from dealing with them!

 

and nope haven’t done the medical yet. We called the clinic in Sydney in late July and they said they could possibly do it, but would need to get back to us on it. They never got back. When we called back they said to try calling back again in a few weeks as they were swamped with vaccine requests and covid commotion.

 

let’s all hope Sydney can get through this soon!

Hi! Yes I asked my husband about the phone number, and you were right. 

Thank you!

4 hours ago, Sochi8 said:

I hope the timeline below helps shed some light on the NVC DQ process or the interview situation at US Consulate Sydney.

 

Has anyone been in contact with the Consulate who has more information about their rescheduling process after lockdown, particularly for those of us who already had an appointment set up and had it get canceled? They are usually very tight-lipped and vague, as they were in their response to me (below), but thought it might be worthwhile to ask if anyone knows....

 

 

CR-1 Timeline (from NVC processing):

March 15 - NVC received case from USCIS

March 17 - NVC Welcome Letter emailed

April 17 - All of our items completely submitted to NVC

(~NVC incorrectly marked one of our Australian documents as wrong document type and rejected it. We followed the reciprocity info and had to dispute their marking with NVC and get it approved - slowing us down about a week)

June 1 - NVC Document Qualified (WE DID NOT SUBMIT ANY TYPE OF EXPEDITE REQUEST)

June 22 - Email from NVC: Interview appointment at US Consulate SYD scheduled for 6 July

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 26 - Sydney enters lockdown and US Consulate SYD closes

July 1 - Email from US Consulate SYD notifying of canceled interview appointment for next week

July 18 - We email US Consulate SYD regarding possible emergency interviews as I am leaving the country soon this is their response:

"If we are unable to conduct IV appointments, we would also not be able to accommodate emergency requests and interviews."

Ohh I though that the US consulate was conducting interviews, my husband called on Monday and they said they are, so I though that people living in NSW would be able to go. So frustrating  .  Have you done your medical certificated yet? 

Thank you!!! 

Hi! I was wondering if anyone that has request the IR-1 visa, has received an interview date? and how long has it taken? I am a international student and my husband is American, and we live in NSW. I am waiting my police certificated to be accepted, all other documents were already accepted. 

On 7/18/2021 at 12:33 AM, JustineC85 said:

Hello! 
 

While waiting for lockdown to end I wanted to make sure I have all my documents. I am the petitioner, and wanted to know if Sydney goes by 100% or 125%? 
 

I meet 100% easily but fall short by $2,000 in 125%. I do have a sponsor but would prefer not to go that route. 
 

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!! 
 

EDIT: This is for K-1.

Hi! 

My husband (American) and I live in Australia for three years already, even though he make enough money we decided to use my mother in law as a support sponsor because she has all the documentation from USA, what I believed it makes the process easier. I added a letter to explain our relationship and why she was going to help me, and the documents were approved without any issue. I recommend you to check your police check because it is a common issue that everyone have including myself, and my process has delayed for one moth already because of it. 

Good luck. 

deleted

3 hours ago, VJ0 said:

It depends whether you are planning on applying for expedite. 

If you are, consider submitting your expedite request before you are documentarily qualified (DQ).

If you are approved for expedite, your case may only take a few weeks to be approved by NVC (providing NVC has all the documents, etc required. If not, there may be delays in your approval). 

 

If you are not applying for expedite, there will be quite a long wait.

 

An idea of timeline:

April 18 - submit DS-260

April 20 - submit expedite request

May 11 - expedite request approved

May 15 - Sydney receives case (opt for 'next available appointment').

Interview date set for July 20.

Sydney lockdowns have meant all interviews are cancelled until further notice. The Consulate at Sydney seems to have listed expedited cases as 'priority one' for rescheduling when lockdowns cease.

 

Whether you can leave by October I don't have an answer for that sorry. But hopefully this idea of timeline may help a little. 

 

Thank you so much!!

Well I didn't have idea about the expedite request and my Ds-260 may arrive soon because the system indicate that they are reviewing the document from the 6th of jul and I submitted on 7th of jul. I had the issue that everyone seems to have with the police check report, luckily this time should be right!  Do you think I can still  submit an expedite request on the consulate with my ds-260 approved? 

Thank you again! 

Hi,   I applied for spouse-immigrant visa, and currently waiting for my ds-260 approval, could someone indicate me what are the time frame after the ds-260 approval,  please? Like the interview time. I was planning to leave Australia on October but I am not sure if it is going to be possible. 

Thank you

On 4/16/2021 at 5:56 PM, Jaymit said:

I am waiting for my interview too at sydney consulate F2A

How long has you been waiting? 

Thank you,