AMH

13 hours ago, Ladybug13 said:

Congratulations! My husband and I have our interview in a few months! Did they let you enter the interview with your Korean spouse? I plan to go to Korea for the interview. What types of questions did they ask?

 

thank you!

Thanks, and good luck with your interview! Yes, the whole embassy process, including the interview, took place in one area on the second floor of the embassy at a set of windows (looks like a bank lobby), so we were together the whole time along with our daughter. When they called us up to the window we were both standing there and for the interview portion they asked my wife how long I had been in Korea, when our wedding was, why we were moving to the states and what our plan was for work when we got there. Everyone was really nice and it was pretty painless. If it's not too busy, you should be in and out within 2 hours. Just bring all of the documents you submitted to the NVC and anything you've gotten since then that might help (I brought a signed job offer that I had received recently). Good luck!

18 minutes ago, ozeroff20 said:

Congratulations to you guys! My wife and I are waiting for her interview in Seoul Early May. Did you update your documents such as new tax forms or added more evidence to your relationship? I am following the instructions provided by the NVC after getting the approval. She got her checkup. What happens from there? 

 

Thank you for your time and congratulations!

We didn't update the tax forms since we hadn't filed yet when we had our interview. If you filed for 2022 and it's easy to bring updated forms with you, it wouldn't hurt (but I don't know if they would require that). Otherwise, just print and bring all the documents you submitted to the NVC (original and translated). I got a job between submitting NVC docs and the interview, so I brought the job offer letter from my employer and they seemed glad to see that. One thing to check is that your ARC number is fully printed on the family relation certificate - mine was only partially there with a bunch of *'s and we had to run across the street to the gov office to print new ones while at the embassy.

For the interview, get there a bit early if you can, bring your embassy appointment letter (the email they send you) to get in, head up to the second floor and check in and wait. They'll give you a list of how they want you to order your documents for the first step. Everything is done right at the second floor counter and the people there are super nice and professional. We were there about an hour and a half, most of which was waiting. They asked my wife a few questions about why we were moving and what our plans for work were, and then we were done. We had our 2 yr old with us, which I think helped get a little sympathy, lol. 

Hope that's helpful, let me know if you have any other questions! 

Hey everyone, hoping we're all nearing the end of our visa saga! My wife and I just had our interview yesterday at the embassy in Seoul, South Korea and the visa was issued today, so we're done! 16 months start to finish... and that was without any RFEs or anything. Here's our brief timeline, good luck to everyone on the last stages!

Nov 15 2021: Filed with USCIS (transferred from Nebraska to Vermont, who knows where else)

Nov 11 2022: Got approved and sent over to the NVC

Dec 29 2022: Got approved / DQ'd

Feb 7 2023: Got the interview appointment

Mar 8 2023: Had our interview in Seoul, South Korea

Mar 9 2023: Visa Issued

14 hours ago, Azc1122 said:

Yey, we got the welcome letter  after 3 working days too! After paying, we wait for them to acknowledge right? And then fill up the form and submit docs? Anyone have info on how long they review documents? Does NVC expedite? 

If you want to check the review time for NVC you can do it on their website or this nicer one, which will also track interview data for different embassies. Good luck!

1 minute ago, Azc1122 said:

Sorry, one last if you don't mind... Who did they email, the applicant or the beneficiary? Appreciate the advise! Thanks you in advance! 

The USCIS just emailed me (the petitioner), but then the NVC emailed both me and my wife (the applicant) for the welcoming emails and the final approval (DQ) email. I assume they will also email both of us when they schedule the embassy interview, but we're still waiting for that.

55 minutes ago, Azc1122 said:

When you received the approval for I-130, may I know when you received the welcome letter? Like how long you had to wait? We have to wait for it to create NVC account,  correct? 

Yeah, I just checked my email and it looks like it was 3 days between the USCIS email (Subject: "We have taken action on your case") and the NVC email (Subject: Notice of Immigrant Case Creation). Then it took us about a week to get all our documents together and submitted. If you can get started on prepping your NVC docs ahead of time, it'll help speed up that part. Good luck!

Hey fellow November 2021 filers, just wanted to let you know that we have been DQ'd from NVC after submitting our NVC docs on 11/23. So, all in all the NVC process took only 36 days! (and no RFEs!)

Our timeline:

NOA1: 11/15/21

NOA2: March 2022

I-30 Approved / NVC acct opened: 11/11/22

NVC docs submitted: 11/23/22

NVC approval: 12/29/22

Now we wait for the interview to be scheduled at the embassy here in Seoul, SK. Really hope to see us all get through soon! Good luck!

Some hope for the group... got approved last night! An email came in saying there were changes to my case so I went to the website and found the approval document there. At first the status was still under "actively being reviewed", but today it changed to "case approved". Here are my details:

NOA 11/15/21

Nebraska > Vermont (we only checked once in the process but Emma said it was in Vermont at the time, who knows)

Active review in March 2022

Final approval on 11/9/22

Now onto the next stage. I wish you all good luck and hope this is a good sign that we are finally getting through our November comrades!

Just checking to see if this was resolved? I'm in South Korea with the same issue - can't seem to change the address to a different international one. Yes I have a permanent US address, but they sent the first NOA to my Korean address, which is changing, so I assume that needs updating. Does calling or Emma chat work?

3 hours ago, StewPinck said:

"Case is being actively reviewed by USCIS" as of March 2, 2022, after receiving NOA1 on November 5, 2021.

 

Anyone else receive this update yet?

I got the same message on the same day, my NOA1 is Nov 15, 2021. Being curious, I checked with the "Ask Emma" chat to see where my case was and turns out it had moved from Nebraska to Vermont. If you haven't checked where your case is, you might want to as it seems to drastically affect the processing times (Vermont is nearly double the time). I don't get why they post the processing times for each location but then don't tell you where your case actually is when it moves... seems like a big hole in this already anxiety-inducing system and makes me wonder how often I should be checking where my case actually is. Anyway, no change in my status other than "being actively reviewed", so we're in the same boat!

17 hours ago, Kor2USA said:

Are you us?

Started in Nebraska and moved to Vermont. Had to sign another lease in Korea. 

You have to go by Vermont times now.  Most recent Vermont cases go into AR at the 5 month mark and then are approved between 250-260 days. 

But cases with a K3 on file seem to be approved a month or so after AR (I think... not everyone mentions if they've filed a K3). 

 

BTW NVC is taking around 3 months (with no RFEs) and after DQ it takes 2 months to interview in Seoul. 

Thanks for the info! Assuming the 250 days start at the NOA1 receipt (or do they start after AR?) that puts us at about Christmas 2022 for our interview - about a 13-14 month process start to finish.

Agreed, mine was recently updated to active review (March 2) but no way to update on here. Would be cool to be able to see others and look for patterns. I was also secretly transferred from Nebraska to Vermont, which I found out only through "Ask Emma", so it makes me wonder if that event triggered the Active Review status.

Side question: if we are not notified of the transfer of our case, would it be right to continue basing our expected approval on our original NOA1 receipt? Going from a center with a 4-7 month timeline to a place with 11-16 month makes a big difference in life plans. We recently had to decide on an apartment lease and this was a serious condition of our decision. Without having asked Emma, we would never have known...