NeilW

So yesterday I was admitted to the US for the first time with my IR-1 spouse visa. My green card should arrive in a few weeks. I start my new job in the US on Tuesday - and I believe I need a SSN to get paid. I checked the option on my DS-260 to have my SSN auto-processed so my question is - when do I get that? How long does it take? Many thanks

Not sure if this is the right place to post. I fly to the US (into JFK) with my IR-1 visa next Friday. I start my new job in the US on the following Monday and they want me to go to Dallas for 2 days right away. Is it ok to travel within the US before I receive my green card? Thanks

In case anyone is still following this thread, my passport arrived with visa today. Time to book the shipping company! Thanks to everyone that helped me along the way. No doubt I'll be back here in 3 years when I go down the citizenship route!

Progressed to Issued today. What a relief. Presume I will have my passport back before the new year.

If anyone is interested in this thread. We had a lawyer attempt to intervene. He was able to send an email detailing why he believes I meet the regulation relating to my personal character (citing No Trace on my UK PCC), and also reiterated the genuine attempts I have made to acquire a Qatar PCC, and why I am not eligible for one. He also pointed out that with my wife being pregnant, and me having secured a job in the US, we need a speedy resolution to enable us to enter the US with the necessary medical coverage (that comes with the job) to support the pregnancy. On Friday the lawyer received an email saying an adjudicator is satisfied to proceed without the Qatar PCC, and that I would receive my passport and visa early this week. My status went to Adminstrative Processing same day. This is obviously amazing news. That said, I have not yet received my passport, and the status has not yet updated to Issued. Does anyone know what I can typically expect in terms of going from AP to Issued? We really need to get to the US in January given my job as per the above. So while the stress lifted over the weekend, it is back in full force now! Thanks.

Ok so I got a response from the Embassy. The response simply said "You must provide a PCC or a letter from the Qatari government explaining that I cannot obtain one". I am at a complete loss here, I am being asked to provide something I cannot obtain. I've really done everything I can think of. I've phoned the Qatari embassy a dozen times, they do not answer. Does anyone have any ideas?

Yep, No Trace for my UK one - my attorney noted that in his covering letter. Where exactly would I see the CEAC updates? When I log in to CEAC it doesn't appear to have a status field other than that my case is "Currently At: London".

That is comforting, if I correctly understand you. I think you are saying that lacking evidence is typically accepted where good evidence and explanations are provided? Is that so? Taking a break from worrying is the hard part!

I went to school there between 1999 and 2001. The DS-260 required all my schooling from the age of 16. I tried to submit it but it forced me to put an address in Qatar because of the school address. We did have rental accommodation there for the 2 year period so I put that down. But it remains true that I was never there for more than 5 months at any one time, I always left for all school holidays, and we kept the same permanent residence in the UK throughout - which we returned to at Christmas, Easter, summer, etc. Accordingly I did not need to have a residence permit. My father did as he did not leave as often as he worked there. In retrospect I may have been better off putting the address down for shorter periods rather than the 2 years end to end, but I didn't want it to look like I was "gaming" the system and I submitted a lot of supporting evidence, including my passport of the time, to show I wasn't resident, left very regularly, and that I wasn't eligible for a Qatar PCC. As I say, it was enough to get DQ'd.

You say within a week if they accept it. What if they don't accept it? Will they proactively contact me to say so within the week? If they don't accept it I honestly do not know what I can do next. The letter I submitted included a covering letter from an immigration attorney so hopefully that will also hold some weight. The information on the page you shared is incomplete in that it tells you how to obtain one (roughly), but does not tell you what the eligibility criteria are. When you look on the Qatar ministry of Interior website it gives you the criteria - which I do not meet (having never been a resident). I did attempt to obtain one anyway following the procedure, I enclosed all the things required, i.e. a letter asking for the PCC, details of my entries and exits, copies of my passport from the time, fingerprints from a UK police station, a return envelope, and the fee. The letter was returned to me unopened! But as I've said, I don't meet the criteria anyway so even if they had opened the letter I suspect it would have been ignored. At the interview I presented all this information, including the returned unopened letter which had all the postage stamps on it, and the receipt showing I genuinely paid for the postage. The agent at the interview simply said, its strange they wouldn't open it. I couldn't disagree with him.

Qatar police clearance certificate (which I am not eligible for per Qatar rules, and I submitted evidence to this effect at NVC stage and was DQ'd on the strength of that evidence). I have since procured a letter from an agency in Qatar which has been legally attested by the Qatar ministry of Foreign Affairs. The letter states that I'm not eligible for a PCC and why. The why is that I was never a permanent resident there.

Hi, I attended my visa interview in London on November 22nd and unfortunately they asked for a further piece of evidence. They kept my passport. I have engaged an attorney to help with this, and submitted the evidence via the courier specified. The evidence arrived with the US embassy in London yesterday morning (Dec 5th). Does anyone know typically what I can expect from here in terms of turn around time and decision making with this additional evidence? Many thanks

Thank you, that's very clear. Follow up question - Is there any chance they will need a 2nd form of ID? I just got a caught speeding and have to send my licence to the police to get fined. It might not be back with me in 2 weeks when I have my interview! Great timing. Hopefully they're ok just with Passport and birth certificate.

The interview guidelines on the US embassy London website state I must bring: Evidence of the relationship between the petitioner and visa applicant (such as photographs, letters, or emails) Slightly confused about this as I thought this was all dealt with by the I-130 and in the past. Never had to upload such docs to NVC. Nonetheless, I do have a ready printed hardback book of photos across the last 9 years together. Should I take that with me? Or will the book format frustrate them? Will I be better off printing a series of photos, or even just stripping pages out of the hardback book and presenting those? Thanks, Neil.

Hi, I have all original forms (DS-260, I-864, I-864 for JS, I-864A), I have all original CIVIL DOCUMENTs. My question relates to the below: Do I need to bring Joint Sponsor's original passport (hopefully not - they're in the US) Do I need to bring the Joint Sponsor's original birth certificate Do I need to bring the JS household member's original passport Do I need to bring the JS household member's original birth certificate Do I need to bring the JS household member's original marriage certificate I do of course have photocopies of all these - just want to check whether originals are needed - hard to get as they are all in the US Thanks all.

Maybe a stupid question. My interview letter simply says "London, United Kingdom" as the location - I can't see an actual address anywhere. Am I correct to assume it at the US Embassy at the Nine Elms address?

I went probably 4 times while my I-130 was in progress. I assume border officials have no way of knowing. I was never asked about such things even though I was travelling with my wife every time. I always answered honestly to the question what are you visiting for, e.g. visiting family for Christmas. No problems ever.

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I think something has gone wrong here. Unless its different in Nigeria, I got my interview date 3 days after DQ, and my interview will be 2 months after DQ. I think you should submit an inquiry, this does not sound right.

I hadn't expected this step. Given we actually have interview dates, what does this step achieve exactly?

My visa is a family (spouse) visa: DQ'd: 27/09/2022 Interview scheduled: 30/09/2022 Interview date: 22/11/2022

Today I received a notice from NVC that they have received everything they need to schedule an interview. Our interview will take place in London. Does anyone know how long it typically takes to actually get an interview date?

Ah ok. So it looks like it was a short form certificate. I did so much research before submitting but didn't encounter this piece of information! I've ordered a new birth certificate from Essex county but they didn't offer the option of short or long form. Will call them on Monday to check. Frustrating as this copy of my birth certificate has been acceptable at every other stage, including the I-130 and all stages of my wife's visa when she came to England. Well. Do you know if this means I'm back to the back of the NVC queue? Is it another 3 month wait when I submit the new details? Thanks for your quick response.

Hi, My DS-260 was assessed by NVC yesterday. Of all the things they might have questioned, they have rejected my British birth certificate! Does anyone have any advice? Its a scan of a an official copy of my birth certificate so I've no idea what I can do to rectify this. They accepted all other docs, including all docs relating to the AOS, however, I had two messages, asking for "every 2021 1099 Form", for both my joint sponsor and their household member. Can anyone tell me what a 1099 form is?

I would really appreciate that. My experience of the I-130 timelines is that it was woefully inaccurate. When we submitted the I-130 it said 8-10 months and it ended up taking 18! The NVC timelines suggest around 3 months, so it would be good to see if I'm looking at the same place as you and your husband.