5 hours ago, OldUser said:

It depends on local office. What is the closest city?

I'd file now, biometrics can take anywhere from a month to a year, but most likely 2-6 months 

I believe Vermont's processing center is the closest.

11 minutes ago, OldUser said:

File now, I-131s take a while to get approved

Hi, she is aware there is about an 18-month wait but she is unfortunately not too keen on the U.S. and may end up giving up her green card. She just wants to know if there's a long wait for the biometric appointment or not to make her decision as she has to be in the country for it.

Hi,

My daughter wants to move back to the UK for 2 years to do her studies and is looking into applying for a re-entry permit (I-131) but she isn't sure if she will get the biometrics appointment in time. She wants to file around April-May and wants to leave by mid-July. Would she have done her biometrics appointment by then, or is there a backlog? Thank you!

On 8/2/2022 at 3:25 PM, Laud said:

PD: 10th April 2021

DQ: 12 July 2022

IL: 2 Aug 2022

Interview: 22nd Setember 2022

 

Lots of 0s, 1s and 2s on my timeline.

 

How long do people normally leave it to book a flight? If I book one a week after interview how much of a risk is that?

 

I think it takes the London embassy up to 10? days to process it. For my daughter she did the interview on the 22nd, her visa got issued on the 25th and she received it on the 27th of July so 5 days from the interview to the day it got delivered. It's possible you could get it in time but I would do maybe 2 weeks.

On 8/5/2022 at 9:10 AM, LN1Casey said:

Ah, ok, thank you for the response.

 

So I can hope we get DQ and not RFE (as we all do, haha), and then schedule the medical after. But in theory, if we get DQ on the 22nd of August as that's the 75th day, would we be able to schedule a medical appointment for his next trip to London in the first week of September? Or is that cutting it too close?

Hi. I'm not sure how we managed to do this successfully but this is my experience. I got DQ'd in mid-March so I booked the medical appointment a week after with no interview letter. I had gotten an appointment for mid-April (the 17th I believe) and just gave them my daughter's DS-260 confirmation page and mine. The woman accepted it and we did our medicals and everything then left. However, I didn't get an interview letter until June for an appointment in July (we don't really know why I didn't get an interview letter with the rest of the March batch but at least it came!) The medicals usually last for 6 months so if your husband can go to the states before March 2023 (which is when medicals will expire so the visa will too) then I don't think you should schedule the medical appointment so soon + I'm unsure if they'll accept your DS-260 confirmation page as they did with mine as I've seen most people say they brought their interview letters instead. If your husband can go to the states before the March visa expiration then you can try and call them and see if they'll accept your husband's DS-260 confirmation page instead of an interview letter and if they do you can see if they have appointments for the first week of Sept. Also, if you do get DQ'd by the end of August I think London hasn't got a huge backlog so you'll definitely be interviewed by the end of the year. Good luck!

22 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

 
Good information to know is found here https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-we-grant-your-green-card/international-travel-as-a-permanent-resident

 

What if my trip abroad will last longer than 1 year?

If you plan on being absent from the United States for longer than a year, it is advisable to first apply for a reentry permit on Form I-131. Obtaining a reentry permit prior to leaving the United States allows a permanent or conditional permanent resident to apply for admission into the United States during the permit’s validity without the need to obtain a returning resident visa from a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad. Please note that it does not guarantee entry into the United States upon your return as you must first be determined to be admissible; however, it will assist you in establishing your intention to permanently reside in the United States. For more information, see the Travel Documents page.

If you remain outside of the United States for more than 2 years, any reentry permit granted before your departure from the United States will have expired. In this case, it is advisable to consider applying for a returning resident visa (SB-1) at the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. An SB-1 applicant will be required to establish eligibility for an immigrant visa and will need a medical exam. There is an exception to this process for the spouse or child of either a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or civilian employee of the U.S. Government stationed abroad on official orders. For more information on obtaining a returning resident visa, see the Department of State’s webpage on returning resident visas.

Additionally, absences from the United States of six months or more may disrupt the continuous residency required for naturalization. If your absence is one year or longer and you wish to preserve your continuous residency in the United States for naturalization purposes, you may file an Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes on Form N-470. For more information, please see the Continuous Residence and Physical Presence Requirements page.

Hello, thank you. Our trip will be 9-10 months out of the states (assuming we don’t come back for one of the schools breaks) so the re-entry permit may not be needed at all as it’s under a year and we’ll definitely come back permanently as soon as my daughter’s GCSE’s end which is late June 2023 and get the school to email/post the results. Taking in what EmilyW said I will open a bank account, file taxes etc so CBP do not assume we’ve abandoned our residency + my spouse lives there too. Once again thank you for the link. 

13 hours ago, EmilyW said:

With the banks, Bank of America is very 'new immigrant' friendly.  We were able to open our accounts without a SSN and were able to get pre-paid credit cards that allowed for us to start building a credit history.

Did you go to the bank in person? We were planning to go there in person and open accounts but we weren't sure if we needed our SSN for that.

1 minute ago, EmilyW said:

We did the same.  Activated our GCs in June of 2015, and returned in February 2016 to live - so around 8 months.  We found that border officials understand the need for new immigrants to tie up loose ends and that this can take a while.  So long as it's less than a year, it should be fine.

 

In the meantime, do what you can to show you will be living in the US.  We opened bank accounts during our activation trip, filed taxes, and maintained a US mailing address.  

We will try and do the same then. Thank you for your advice ❤️

Hi all, 

We're flying to the states this summer to 'activate' our green card's/get the stamp in our passport and intend on staying for about 2-3 weeks. Right now we're in a slightly sticky place with my eldest's education, if we leave now she may not have enough credits which may disadvantage her so we're planning on waiting until next June to move fully so she can complete her GCSEs which will put her in a better place when she joins high school next year. We plan on returning around January or February as she has school breaks and then finally returning in June permanently but we're wondering if that will put our LPR status at risk. Any advice?

As Arken said, medicals are valid for 6 months. Assuming you get an appointment for August it gives you until February next year to go to the states!

2 hours ago, Laud said:

No idea about CH, but I'll outline my current thinkingnonnwhen I'll interview which maybhelp you make your own guess.

 

What I imagine is happening is family visas are being held up at NVC until student visas are sorted. Semester starts mid to late August so I'm expecting family visa interviews to start up again in a month or so. But everyday without seeing anyone recieving IL makes that guess less and less likely.

 

Next I'm guessing where I am in the backlog. It looks as though the last people to be interviewed DQed late May. My DQ is July 12 so there are around 6 weeks of DQs ahead of me in the queue. Once the student visas are out the way I'd hope they get through interviews faster than DQs come in so I optimistically think this will add about 3 weeks for me (though this  is spiralling into totally uninformed guesswork 🙃)

 

With all that in mind, I'm expecting an interview in mid-September.

Would make sense. Saw lots of young people when I went to the London embassy last week! Not many families around.

Hi all, I've expedited my daughters case last week  and I'm wondering if her interview will be with the next batch of interviews or maybe later? Looking at the CEAC status tracker it says in transit so will she have an interview next month or September? I'm not so sure about London's backlog but they're quite quick!

1 hour ago, ROK2USA said:

I'm not really sure about your case... 

I was under the impression immediate relative cases were kept separate unless you request NVC/the consulate keep them together? 

Either way, I would contact the embassy and make sure she can go for her medical and attend the interview with you... You might not actually be stuck in NVC purgatory. 😆

Hopefully, her case has moved to the consulate and NVC is just requesting you upload documents before she attends her interview. 🤞

Ah thank you!

2 minutes ago, ROK2USA said:

As you've already received DQ I would email the London Embassy and/or NVC and request an expedite for the IR2 case so your daughter can interview with you. 

If that fails delay your interview... 

Ah okay thank you, I will try. Then what is the point of them adding her under the additional applicant section? Slightly confused about that 😅

8 hours ago, Hoba said:

Really? thats great when did they reply? Have you been DQ'd?

They replied on Friday (around 10 am EST) Asked to see blank documents on the affidavit! I think another member went through the same thing and I didn't think to upload the blank ones in additional documents. What a shame, hoping by Christmas I'll be done with this process.

17 minutes ago, Hoba said:

Did you hear anything back? or do you think the additional document sent you back?

Apologies, I've just checked and they have replied. 

5 minutes ago, Hoba said:

Did you hear anything back? or do you think the additional document sent you back?

Got IL yesterday for my IR1 case where I last submitted documents on the 28th March after DQ (passport disappeared 4 days after for some reason) but nothing from the IR2 case (Submitted on the 22nd). We already think we will not DQ for IR2 due to submitting wrong doc for Form I-864 section (uploaded right form 28th May in additional documents). But who knows! I think I saw another 22nd March not get dq so if I do not hear back next week then I will assume the additional docs sent us back. I will update next week. 

3 minutes ago, nastra30 said:

No, you should have halted progress of 1st case(IR1) until IR2 caught up, then requested NVC to schedule interviews together.

But since IR1 interview is now already scheduled do what Crazy Cat recommended above in bold.

Ah, I see. Thank you. 

2 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

You should have halted progress when the first case reached NVC.....Then you should have contacted NVC to request the interviews be conducted together......These are totally separate cases....  You can contact the consulate and request that the scheduled IR-1 interview be rescheduled when the daughter's case is scheduled..  

So I should've halted progress on the second case (IR2)? Sorry if this is a silly question but is it too late to do so now? 

Just now, Eduh said:

February. Late February.

No way! You should've been dq'd by now. What documents did you send? I know NVC is quite behind with public inquiries but have you tried emailing them about it? 

1 minute ago, AnnaCa said:

Just saw a first submission March 10th and last submission March 26th get DQ'ed on facebook - feeling like if they counted from March 10th it should have been DQ'ed a couple of weeks ago! 

NVC is definitely strange... Still haven't heard back from them and I submitted all forms on the 22nd of March! (excluding the I-864 I added in additional documents last week). Maybe the additional documents sent me back? Either way, the case was for my daughter who is attending the interview with me next month so maybe I shouldn't worry too much?

4 minutes ago, Eduh said:

I know we all wanna be DQd 1st try but with how a joke NVC is, it's a pipe dream. I feel like majority have to resubmit once or twice sometimes three times before DQ. It's like NVC rope pullers do this on purpose. I submitted a case last August. Waited three months (Nov) only to resubmit some info that wasn't even asked for in the first place. Waited again till Feb (3rd time again requested extra info) case at supervisor review till today. ☹️

When did you last submit your required documents?

Also, I'm not sure if it matters but under additional applicants my daughter does not have an appointment date/time. Does this mean she can come in with me or not? Thanks ( just reread the email, she can come in with me)

(Please move if I've put it in the wrong place!) I've just gotten an interview date for next month for my IR1 application but my daughter who has an IR2 application still pending (as the joint sponsor's docs are waiting to be accepted, submitted on 22nd March) at NVC has been listed as an additional applicant. Will this interfere with anything and if it does, any advice on what to do? 

(Also CEAC status checker still says at NVC as I reuploaded the passport page after DQ. Will this change?)

Just got an interview for July 13th. DQ'd on 24th March (passport disappeared from NVC so re-uploaded on 28th March). 

5 minutes ago, Beach Lover said:

I got DQ'd 1st June, submitted 23rd March.

Oh? I submitted on 22nd March but I submitted additional documents just last weekend. If I get nothing tomorrow then I'll just assume the additional documents sent me to the back of the line.