littleminxgirl

It's been nearly 11 months since our interview and nothing! Anyone else going through this right now?  How are you handling it? I'm so burnt out of this whole thing.

21 hours ago, Catperson_rx said:

Hi, if you don't mind my asking, could you share why you've opted for a 9-month period to file for mandamus? Is there a specific requirement for this timeframe?

From what I've read here from others anything over 9 months is when you can file. I've opted against it though. It's so expensive. I can't keep just throwing money at what is clearly a losing battle

Welp.. looks like I'll be doing te writ of mandamus as we're getting pretty close to the 9 month mark. Anyone have any advice on a good lawyer?

On 4/24/2023 at 6:28 PM, Allaboutwaiting said:

You can always file a writ of mandamus to "force" them into taking a decision. 

I think I have to wait another 3 months before I can do that. It's really feeling like a hopeless situation

11 hours ago, Ok-Mix said:

Crazy! Hope it works out soon... 

Thanks, but I really have little hope that we'll ever here anything at this point.

6 months in AP.. Geez.. This is just ridiculous

Congrats!!! At least the nightmare is over for now. Fingers crossed for the rest of us 🙂

4 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

@littleminxgirl - You might want to reach out to other Iranian applicants to see how long their security checks lasted.

He's on some Telegram group that's all Iranians in the process of immigrating. It looks like it's all over the place with AP. some are just a few days, others are still waiting from earlier last year. 

From What this looks like, they haven't even looked at our case in 2 months. Is this normal? I'm debating doing a Zoom wedding and just filing for the CR1 at this point. I feel like we're never going to move forward. 

I sympathize. This is honestly the most godawful experience. It's nothing but living in limbo with no way to reach out to anyone and get a real answer. It has really tainted my opinion of my country and government. That being said, if it's been 6 months since your NOA2, I would have thought you would have heard something about setting up an interview. When you check your status does it say anything? Has your partner gotten anything about setting up an appointment for their medical?

So today makes it 3 months since the interview and still in AP purgatory... It's really like a slow, cruel torture isn't it? Just living in limbo waiting for a faceless, unnamed person to decide your fate.. 

13 hours ago, iwannaplay54 said:

I hope not.  We always saw our status change to “refused” between interview and visa issuance which is often what they switch to while they wrap things up.  
Has he submitted the police report?

It was submitted 2 weeks after the interview. I believe they told him they had everything the needed in early December. Since then not a peep.

I'm not sure of the whole situation. I'd left the country by then. I found out all of this when I got back. Didn't know about the AP or anything. The interview officer just said he would be approved after the police report was obtained. Was not expecting this.

9 minutes ago, Mike E said:

You never know for sure until the passport is back in hand if you were denied or approved 

They gave him back his passport so he could travel back home 

I know everyone goes through AP, but it does feel like the last little cruel step before the denial. With the fiancé screwing up the whole police report thing and not having all the paperwork together at the interview I almost feel like this is a little extra punishment before the final "sorry, sucks to be you" refusal. They will let me know when there's an official refusal by email or something right? It's absolutely horrible that there's no way to actually reach out and speak to someone to find out any information. I knew the system was broken, but this whole process is beyond belief terrible. 

So the fiancé contacted the embassy to see what was happening with our case. They said we're in administrative processing. Any idea exactly what that means?

6 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

Focus on your case. Did you reach out to the embassy since you submitted the documents?

Yes. Waiting to hear something back. As far as I know they should have everything they need. They got the correct police report, financials forms. I also hand carried 3 years of my tax returns showing I am making well above the needed amount. Not sure what else they could need? 

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

It would be very unusual if it was a work visa.

 

I know of a Matron who got a Hib

That's what he told me. He had her reach out to hospitals in Texas. They offered her a job and then worked with her to get the visa. 🤷‍♀️

4 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

Did you reach out to the embassy to get an update? 

 

About the bolded part... Nothing is fair, but she probably submitted all the required documents.  No matter the visa, they won't issue it before all the boxes have been checked. 

Still took less than a year. He's flying over to meet her family and bring her back next week. And it is a work visa. There's a hospital in Texas that worked with her to get the visa. I kept telling my fiancé to try for a work visa since he's an engineer and there's a derth of STEM jobs right now. But he thought this would be faster . Ugh!

On 11/21/2022 at 11:41 AM, Kalehua said:

I don’t post a lot, but I felt like I really wanted to say something here because so many people are telling you to cut your losses in one way or another.

 

You are under an immense amount of stress and pressure right now. The two of you have worked hard and waited a long time to get to this point. I know you are really frustrated and being sick did not help the situation. 

No one here is going to know or understand everything that’s going on in your situation. They don’t know the character of your fiancé or what his true intentions are. You’re the best one to have an opinion on that. 
 

What they are calling out to be  “red flags” are coming from a few words that they read on the internet about complete strangers. You, with your fiancé are the only ones that have the whole picture. 

 

I am so sorry that you guys have ran into these problems. Especially since it sounds like they could mostly have been prevented. 
 

But people aren’t perfect. People can be stubborn, know it alls, and drop the ball sometimes. I hope, with all that is good, that these were truly just mistakes that he made. He’s also under a lot of pressure and with some people that can clouds their judgment. I’m not trying to make excuses for him but rather pointing out that he’s human. Hopefully, he can and will learn from this. 
 

My fiancé and I are still learning each others differences of how we do things and figuring out how to blend them together. It can be frustrating because I’m a bit of a control freak and he is use to doing things on his own. Like on a recent trip we took, he was in charge of one thing, transportation to the hotel that was hours away. His “plan” didn’t work out and we were stranded for a bit. I was upset and kept saying in my head that I wish I had dealt with it instead of asking him to. I even said something out loud to him that indicated that I didn’t have faith in him to do it right. I really felt bad about that one. In the end, he got it figured out. 
 

Things can and will go wrong. And in those moments be emotionally and physically exhausting. 
 

I encourage you to communicate with your fiancé with as much of a clear head as possible. 
 

Thanks for that. I'm still really upset and barely talking to him. His file still shows rejected, and I am at a loss on what to do next. He's telling me they needed my financials (Rapid visa apparently didn't send those- totally worthless company, absolutely no help at all) and that after that they'd have everything they need. But I don't even know how to find out what's really going on.  They have my financials, they have his police report, and it's been weeks with no updates. As a side note, my friend's fiancé managed to get a work visa and bypass the whole K! drama- she's a nurse in the Philippine's. She'll be here next week. Took just under a year to get her work visa processed. Seems fair eh?

Thanks for letting me vent guys. It's hard talking to "outsiders" about it, because they don't really understand the whole process and how frustrating it all is. I sent him an email (easier for him to reread and pop sentences into a translator if needed). I basically said what I told you all here- I cant trust you, and I've lost respect for you. I'm not sure if there is any way to move forward.

I'm pretty sure I know where he got the idea that the police report wasn't important. His uncle let slip that he'd  brought all these types of documents to his interview and the interviewer said that they really weren't necessary. Now, his uncle immigrated over 20 years ago!!! Maybe things have changed? OMG!

Plus, I don't think that he lived long-term anywhere. I think it was more like extended vacations. (3-4 weeks)So maybe he was a bit overzealous and got reports from everywhere he's visited and that wasn't necessary for his interview waaaaay back then.

Now I understand why he was so nervous before the interview. I thought it was just nerves, but now I believe it's because I was so upset about him not having the police report. I think he realized he messed up by not pursuing it in Georgia.  I know his friend that just immigrated a bit over a year ago eviscerated him for not having everything ready. That actually makes me feel a bit better. I'm glad someone else is giving him hell over this.

I'm just so frustrated. Maybe it's because I'm American and we know to bring everything that is asked on a checklist. DMV, Passports, Job interviews, whatever it is, we bring what is asked. Birth certificate? Check. Drivers license? Check. Immunization record? Check. Wear two left shoes in different sizes- odd, but I'll do it if it's what's being asked. This was just such a huge interview. I'm still just in shock that he made sure he had everything, but not that! I'm just gobsmacked.

I'm just stepping back for a bit and trying to process my feelings. 

19 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Having read our feedback, how are you inclined to proceed?

I'm still processing my feelings. I really don't know at this point 

On 11/16/2022 at 3:09 PM, mamba69 said:

Georgian fellow here, I completely understand your frustration. Basically, Georgian Government has two different agency issuing same exact document. So many people get confused to which one to bring. Easiest way to find out which one is correct is to check 'Police Records - ''Procedure of Obtaining'' on this link https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Georgia.html. (Hope this helps to other people who is confused) Besides this, if he listened to you, this delay would have been avoided and I would definitely suggest reconsidering to continue with the process as he has failed to listen and even acknowledge your requests. 

Thank you for that! I wish I'd done all the legwork beforehand myself! I guess it's the old adage "if you want something done right, do it yourself". 

On 11/16/2022 at 11:38 AM, Timona said:

What's the age difference here? 

I'm forties, he's thirties. We're both University educated, and he's getting his MBA. He's intelligent. I'm not sure what happened here.

I'm so upset  I just want to sit in a corner and cry. Sorry, this is going to be a long post. I just need to vent and cry to people who understand how unbelievably frustrating this all is.

We finally got our interview in Armenia on Nov 7th.  I flew into the Republic of Georgia where I have an apartment with my fiancé. (He's Iranian, been living in Georgia since January) We finally got a chance to do some sightseeing, visited friends, and got the apartment cleaned up and secured since we'll be gone for at least a few months.

--For those that might not have seen my previous posts, my fiancé left Iran in Nov 2021. We traveled together through Turkiye and Georgia, eventually buying an apartment in Georgia for him to live in while we waited for our appointment. Iranians can only stay in Georgia for 45 days. So we got a lawyer and have been able to get his visa extended to work on the apartment. Since the apartment was unfinished we were able to get multiple extensions. The apartment was supposed to be finished by mid-June. When I flew back at the end of June, I spent the entire time there working on the apartment. This led to a few fights since he was supposed to have the apartment ready before I got there as I'd never been able to really see any of the country, visit the historic sights and whatnot. --

Now I had wanted to change the interview to Georgia since we have a place there and Armenia is expensive, but he was adamant that we stick with Armenia because any change might cause a delay in our case. He also said that the embassy in Georgia doesn't do K1 interviews for Iranians.  ( I had wanted to send in the change of venue well before we got our NVC2, so I doubt it really would have been an issue) So we did our tourist thing, then packed up and headed to Armenia on 10/31. At the border there's an issue because his current visa extension was not approved, meaning that he's in the country illegally. He did not tell me that his visa had expired. So, of course, I am upset. He said it's being worked on by the lawyer and not to worry about it. Of course I'm worried, this could cause major problems! I'm also upset because he hid this from me. I already have major trust issues, so I'm not happy at this point.

I hadn't been feeling well for a few days, and I ended up coming down with either an extremely nasty cold, or RSV. It was not covid, but it was pretty awful. I spent most of my time in Armenia in the hotel room bed. We went through his paperwork and checklist as soon as we got to the hotel. I read through the checklist and double checked that he had everything listed. I noticed that while he had a police report from Iran, he did not have one from Georgia. I asked him about it, and he said that he's asked but was told that without a Georgian ID card, they didn't issue them. I thought that was strange and that he needed to go to the Georgian embassy in Armenia to see if they could give him one. He also said he was going to go by the Iranian embassy to see if he could get an updated one as his was now a year old. 

So off he goes to his medical appointment on Thursday. He gets back and tells me that his medical paperwork will be ready on Friday afternoon and that the Iranian embassy said it would take a week for a new police report. Since our appointment is on Monday, that's not going to work.  I ask about Georgia and he just brushes is off- they don't need it, it's only for people with ID cards, it's not important. Now I don't know where he's getting this information, but again, I'm extremely sick and not really super aware of anything. I'm just trying to breath and sleep. The next day he goes to get his medical report, and I ask him to at least call the Georgian embassy to double check that they don't do police reports. When he  gets back from the doctor's office I ask him how everything went, and he says everything is good. Monday morning rolls around and we head off to the interview. I waited while he went from window to window. Fingerprints, checking paperwork, etc. I did hear one lady ask about the Georgian police report. He tells them that Georgia doesn't give police reports to people who aren't residents with Georgian ID numbers. They write a few things down and tell him to wait to be called up for his interview. 

He goes to the last window, is there for maybe 15 minutes. I can hear a tiny bit of what is being said. Things about how we met, where we've traveled, etc. Finally he comes back and says the interviewer would like to speak to me. I go up to the window and the man was very nice. He said I'm telling you what I told him. "He needs the Georgian police report before we can issue him a visa". So basically he's denied until we get that report. I tell the gentleman that we've been having problems with getting the report because he doesn't have a Georgian ID card. He smiles and says "just go to the Georgian embassy and they'll give you one".  So now I'm extremely angry with my fiancé. Like why didn't you get this done? Did you actually call the embassy? Did you really try to get the report, or are you listening to other people and taking their stupid advice as facts? (This has been an issue before)

He promises to go to the Georgian embassy after dropping me off at the hotel (still super sick, being out of bed and moving for so long has just worn me out) On the way to the hotel he's on the phone speaking Farsi. We get to the hotel and he tells me he's talked to our lawyer in Georgia and she's going to get the police report. I'm still upset. I ask him why he didn't do this while we were in Georgia. He has loads of excuses. "The report is only valid for a month, it would have been expired before we got to the interview" I wanted to go to the main government building in Tbilisi, but you were ready to go home to Batumi" "I wanted to make sure you got a chance to see all the waterfalls and caves this trip, I didn't have time to get the police report and go see these places"

I went off on him. How dare he try to pin this on me. He had ample time before I got to Georgia to get this document. We also had plenty of time to go get it while I was there. I didn't know that he needed this paperwork, or I would have gotten it done first thing! Had I not been sick in Armenia, I would have gone to the embassy and asked. I could not believe he was using me as an excuse to not get this document.

I had to fly home on the 9th to get back to work. I fly home, he gets the pdf of the police report the next morning. He goes to the embassy and, of course, they need the original. I had told him they would need an original, but he keeps saying, "no, a printout is ok."

Have I mentioned Armenia is expensive? There aren't a lot of hotels and hostels with vacancies right now. So he stays an additional night in the $80 a nice hotel before finding  a hostel for $30 a night. I've left him with all the cash I could as well as a visa card from my Georgian bank account for emergencies. It takes 3 days for the original police report to be mailed to him in Armenia. He goes back to the US embassy on Monday and turns it in. I'm looking at flights and after this Wednesday 11/16, the prices start to shoot up for the holidays. On 11/16  I can get a one way to the US for $700. By Thursday they're $900 and each day after that they go up and up an up...

We get an email today that the Police report is from the wrong agency. He needs another one... I give up...

There's no way he'll be here for Thanksgiving.. probably won't be here for Christmas. I don't know if he can get back into Georgia because of the overstaying his visa thing.. I just can't. 

I'm ready to tell him he's on his own now. Go back to Iran or find a way to support yourself. I just can't keep doing this. I don't know if he truly believed he didn't need this document even though it clearly states on the paperwork that it's needed. I don't know if he wants to just stay living overseas on my dime? I've been killing myself pulling as much overtime as I can, sleeping in my truck to save on expenses when I travel for work, just doing anything to save for this trip over there. I don't know if he just doesn't understand how much this is costing me. Does he just not care? I just don't know anymore. I have an empty apartment in Georgia and I'm paying for hotels in Armenia for an indefinite period of time. I just give up. Over 18 months of waiting and it's over because he didn't tell me he didn't have that damn police report. Maybe I could have done something while I was there if I'd known earlier. This was the only thing he had to do and he completely dropped the ball.  I just quit. Clearly the universe doesn't want this to happen. I'm having a very difficult time respecting him and trusting him when he just blew this whole thing off like it wasn't an important thing to get.. I just don't understand.. 

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. I'm going to be really upset for the next few days. 

Does anyone know what happens if we can't get an interview before our approval expires? There are no interviews at the Armenian embassy.