chrisbonatto
-
Posts
33 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Partners
Immigration Wiki
Guides
Immigration Forms
Times
Gallery
Store
Blogs
Posts posted by chrisbonatto
-
-
-
1 hour ago, renataspinheiro said:
Wow, so it is super fast to have it transferred and accepted between the consulates. This is great news! I am still waiting for the Welcome letter from NVC so I am just waiting to receive it and have the new case number to request the transference. I think it is taken around 4 months to receive the interview letter after the DQ date, correct? This is the average that you have as well? How did you request the transference?
EB2NIW here, dq'ed October 28 2022, 188 days ago (6 months). Still no interview letter for me, even with multiple calls/expedite requests and senator contacting the consulate.
-
2 minutes ago, MarcusPires said:
Updating my status.. there was a development as follows:
Rio de Janeiro - US Consulate
Email sent to NVCExpedite@state.gov - Mar 7th
NVC Acknowledged and Replied - Mar 8th
Consulate Approved Expedite - Mar 9th
NVC Confirmed Case Sent to Consulate and changed status to "In Transit" - Mar 15th
Still waiting for the Consulate to receive my case and schedule the interview/appointment.
Very nice! It will come soon. If you don't mind me asking, what was the basis for the expedite?
-
1 minute ago, RVS said:
19/04/2023👏👏👍
Did you receive your IL @chrisbonatto?
That's awesome!!
Best of luck with all the medicals and interview.
I have not, 130 days since DQ now. I think they forgot about me lol
-
-
-
4 minutes ago, JLVS22BR said:
Hi @chrisbonatto, hi everyone!
Sorry for taking this long to come back here and share with you in details how was our interview. I’ll do a brief recap for those who stop by and read this for the first time.
I applied for an EB2-NIW on June 10th 2021. On June 17th I received the I-140 confirmation, and 6 months later in January 19th 2022 the petition was approved by USCIS. Texas Service Center processed my application, and unfortunately, I was one of the cases where the petition got stuck at the TSC and took an eternity to be forwarded to NVC. My attorney had to raise multiple services requests, and my case only moved forward after the Ombudsman intervention. Almost 6 months after approved, my case was forwarded to NVC on July 5th 2022, and on July 21st I received my welcome letter from NVC.
I paid for the NVC taxes on that same day, and in the following week me and my wife filled our DS-260 forms. Since it’s a paper filled case, we had to send our documents through mail to NVC, which was done by my attorney in August 3rd. A couple weeks later, on August 18th, I received a checklist from NVC (aka RFE) regarding our birth certificates. It’s been only a couple years since birth certificates were standardized here in Brazil, and we guess that because of the differences between mine and my wife they asked for another one. We updated our documents and sent them again on August 25th. Then on September 19th I finally received from NVC the Documentary Qualified (aka DQ) e-mail.
It took over 3 months to receive on December 29th the Interview Letter for an appointment at the Rio Consulate on February 15th 2023. We did our medical exams in Brasilia on January 18th and went to the ASC (aka CASV) in Rio on February 14th (just one day before the interview). We choose a hotel that was two blocks away from the Consulate (it’s called Windsor Asturias) and that proved to be the best choice that we could have done regarding where to stay. Since our interview was really early in the morning (7:20 a.m.) and it’s advised to be there at least 15 minutes before the scheduled time, we could start our day with no rush (we had breakfast, dressed up, and walked the two blocks with all the peace of mind). You can’t enter the consulate with any electronic devices, and staying that close from the consulate means that we didn’t have to ask for a uber or a cab, and more importantly we didn’t have to leave our cellphones with the keepers outside on the street (we just left them at the hotel).
But now, let's get down to business! Interview day and at 6:50 (ish) a.m. we arrived at the consulate. There was a small line for non-immigrant visas, but the security guard asked us to stay there until someone from upstairs come down to let the immigrant visa applicants to come up. A lady came down, scanned the back of our passports (they put a sticker on them when you go to the ASC/CASV) and welcomed us in. We went through security and then were asked to take the stairs and go right to the immigrant visa section. When we got there, a young man handed out to us a form that asks some basic questions, like applicant/petitioner names, current and future addresses, case number, etc. He also handed out a paper listing which documents they needed and also in which order, and asked to put those documents accordingly inside each passport. At this moment we noticed that they were not strictly following the interview scheduled times, but were putting people in line based in the order that we handed back the documents. Since we were the first to complete this part, he put our documents and two different folders (one for each person), handed them back to us and asked for us to sit in the first couple chairs of the first row in the room, and said that as soon as someone called “next” on the booth we could go.
After 15 minutes someone called us and we went to the booth. It was a Brazilian officer, not the consul yet, but certainly a higher ranked employee than the first one that just organized our documents in order. She had a cart behind hear full of cases, probably all the cases to be interviewed that day, but strangely my case wasn’t there. She spent a lot of time trying to find our case, but since she was not finding it, she asked a colleague to continue the search while she started with us only checking the data on her computer. She probably did that to not delay any longer, and a couple minutes later they brought my case to her. At this moment, she asked us to confirm our names, parents’ names, dobs, and finally she replaced the police and birth certificates in the process with the updated ones that we brought to the interview. The old ones (sent to NVC several months before) she just handed back to us. She was pretty straightforward all the time, but when answering about my parents’ names she made a small joke that lightened up the mood a little bit (I must confess that as calm as I was trying to be I was still a little nervous). She kept our passports and original certificates, and told us to wait for the Consul to call us.
We went back to our chair, and probably 10 minutes later the consul called us. We were waiting for her to greet us so we could know if we had to answer in English or Portuguese. Oddly, she didn’t say hi or good morning, and went straight to ask us to take the oath (in Portuguese). After that, the first question that she made was which were my intentions on moving to the United States. Before I could finish my answer, she then asked me what was my field of expertise. After that, she asked if me or my wife ever had overstayed our time in the US. Then she also asked to both of us if we ever had problems with the police here or in the US. We answered a unison “no”, then she asked for us to read our fingerprints. Finally, she just said “visa approved”, and that was it! My wife thinks that she was kind of rude with us, but I just think that for some reason her day started off bad and she was short of patience, but nothing else. We had a great experience, and in less than two hours we were back to the Hotel, happier than ever and ready to enjoy a day at the wonderful beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
Later in that same day, I checked the CEAC and saw that our visas were issued. On Friday (2 days later) I’ve received the e-mail with the tracking code saying that our passports were mailed back to us. I guess they will probably arrive tomorrow! We bought our tickets, and in this very same day a month from now we’ll be finally heading to the United States after this 3-year bumpy and thrilling immigration journey.
As an anxious person, I know exactly how it feels this endless wait. There are so many things at stake. Me and my wife have been planning for this moment to arrive for years! We sold our house and our cars, we’ve been saving money like hell, and had to give up countless things in order to get as ready as possible. You give and give your best but the lack of updates makes hard to keep the hopes high throughout the time. But as my attorney always said to me: you must trust the process. Some people get their case figured out a couple months before, others a couple months later, but your day will come and all this distress will be left behind.
If you guys have any questions, please let me know. I wish you all the best!
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us @JLVS22BR!
The details make even the reader to feel a bit anxious with you regarding the consul and the lady not finding your file!
Happy that everything worked out for you and your wife, and I hope that you have a great life in the US!
-
On 1/24/2023 at 9:46 AM, Boiler said:
Well that is 22 and assumes a Lawyer is sitting there ready and waiting to get going plus mailing and assuming no RFE's and possibly other things I have not thought of.
But it is their cost and time so no downside for you to wait and see what happens.
Green Card is obviously better long term.
And sort of surprised your Lawyer is not taking things through to completion.
Got the H1B approval yesterday, was 16 days from LCA to H1B approval
-
On 2/15/2023 at 3:56 AM, JLVS22BR said:
Hi @chrisbonatto, thank you very much! We just had our interview and went great. It was really fast and pretty straightforward, in less than two hours we had everything figured out and our visa approved. I'll come back later to share more details with you! 🥳
We're curious to hear what they asked on your interview =)))
-
4 hours ago, JLVS22BR said:
Hi @chrisbonatto, thank you very much! We just had our interview and went great. It was really fast and pretty straightforward, in less than two hours we had everything figured out and our visa approved. I'll come back later to share more details with you! 🥳
Congratulations!!!!!!
-
1 hour ago, crsbr said:
Yes @chrisbonatto!
Despite the fact our visa are different right now you are our best clue of waiting time for IL! Based on that we all are fingers crossed to hear good news about your process soon! 🙂🙏🏻
Happy to be in this journey with you guys!
@JLVS22BR good luck on your interview tomorrow!
-
On 2/10/2023 at 6:02 AM, crsbr said:
Hello @JLVS22BR first of all thank you for the warm welcome to the community! But not only for that, also would like to thank you and the others for keeping the updates up, because that helps a lot. We were, lost at nowhere about dates and expectations when we discovered this community and your conversations that, as you know, helps a lot to align the expectations.
Besides that, based on our reading, if we are not wrong, we wish you the best on your interview next week 🙏🏻!
PS. if we had discovered this community before, that would save us from lot of frustration. Every single day after day 30 we were expecting receiving that IL, now we are at day 85.
Have patience on your waiting, I'm on day 107 after DQed and nothing from the consulate regarding the IL...
-
On 1/24/2023 at 3:21 AM, JLVS22BR said:
At the appointment the doctor said that in less than a week they would send the results. She said that if I didn't hear from her anymore it would mean that everything was right. I'll send an email this week just to make sure that everything is in order.
Well, if everything goes all right at the interview (no administrative processing), it probably would take about a week to get your passport back at the ASC/CASV. So, try to schedule your medical appointment at least a week before the interview to allow time to send the results in time to the consulate in case of any unforeseen circumstances.
In my humble opinion, two weeks is a good timeframe if everything goes absolutely right. If something doesn't go as planned, it might take more time. I'd say that three weeks it's a more comfortable schedule.
Almost on day 101 after dq'ed (will be monday exactly), but not keeping my hopes up to have the IL soon. The visa issuance for November 2022 was 27 EB2 visas in Rio, 6x less than the same month in 2021...
In a few days is your interview, good luck!!!!
-
-
11 hours ago, randomstairs said:
The H1B application will not interfere with your Green Card process, nor the other way around - they are completely orthogonal. (Why are you doing the consular processing instead of the AoS?) You can wait for your H1B to be approved and then start working with your new employer.
The NIW does not depend on your employer, in most cases. (However, it is important to remain in the same area of concentration at least for some time after the I-140 approval and even after you get the Green Card.) So it looks like getting the H1B now, and attend the interview in Brazil later is the best option.
Thank you! Very helpful answer!
I just did the Consular Processing versus the AoS because I was in a J1 visa, and needed to go to Brazil in May this year to actually get married there. So my attorney recommended me to apply for the CP because this way it would be safer to enter the country back.
They filed the LCA yesterday, so I guess that I will follow this plan: Get the H1B, start working, and then probably pull the case from NVC and apply for an AoS.
-
1 minute ago, Boiler said:
I would start by asking your EB2 Lawyer, now I know NIW's are very popular but pretty unusual to see them discussed on here and I would think a lot will depend on the strength of your case.
I am slightly suspicious of anything taking 20 days.
Thank you!
The only issue with that is that my EB2 attorney just helped me until the I-140 was approved. For more help they require more money...
I am suspicious too, but they said that the LCA should take 7 days and the premium processing for the H1B is 15 days, and they have done this many times before... so it might be true?
-
Hey community,
I have a tricky situation that I would appreciate some input from you.
I currently live in the US on a J1 visa (I have the J1 waiver already), and have an approved I-140 for an EB2-NIW since August 2022. I was dq'ed by the NVC on October 2022 and am waiting for an interview at the consulate since then (Rio de Janeiro - Brazil).
My new employer wants to file an expedited H1B change of status (from J1 to H1B), and because they are cap exempt, they said that I could start working in around 20 days for the new company. I would have all the H1B paperwork, but wouldn't have a H1B visa stamp until I go to my country and get an actual consulate interview for the H1B. I accepted a job offer with them around November 20th 2022.
My question for you is: Should I go ahead with the H1B process, start working at the new company, and then when the EB2 interview comes I just go and get a green card?
Or is it best to just wait for the EB2 interview without getting a H1B?
Or even, should I just stay with a H1B and not get the EB2 visa at all?
Or doing any of these examples would jeopardize one or the other?
I really don't know what is the best option, but maybe someone has experience with this that could help me?
Thank you!
-
2 hours ago, JLVS22BR said:
Hi everyone! I did my medical examination last Wednesday at Brasilia. It was pretty straightforward: In the morning vaccination, blood tests, and an x-ray; in the afternoon, a quick talk with the doctor. Simple as that! One advice: make sure that your vaccinations are up-to-date. Most of them are available for free at public health services (i think that you have to pay only for the varicella shot if you never had the disease). If you get there and have to vaccinate, you'll have to pay - so get ahead and save this money. For instance, adults have to get the DTP vaccine every 10 years (you probably had took these shots when you were kid), and this is probably available for free at your city.
Awesome!
I work at a hospital here in the US, so I have to take all these shots regularly, but thank you for the information!
How long until the results are available for taking to the consulate?
I'm thinking about the best logistics to fly down to Brazil when my appointment is near. You think 2 weeks would be enough for medical/interview and picking up the passport at the CASV?
-
1 hour ago, Bodo said:
Hi @JLVS22BR, @chrisbonatto or anyone else who has applied in EB2 NIW category,
I received from NVC the Document Cover Sheet asking me to mail the list of documents shown below.
Did you receive the same list of documents?
My understanding is that for EB2 NIW you did not mail any of the financial documents listed in item 3. - Signed Affidavit of Support(s).
Is that correct?
Thank you!
That's correct, you just send the 1. And 2. Documents. The AOS ones you mark "Not applicable".
Good luck!
-
11 minutes ago, Edtab said:
Oh I see, got RFE from NVC for an IR1, submitted on 01/06 and waiting for them to review it.
Trying to undestand, from Dq'ed to interview letter how long is it taking to NVC to send and how busy Rio consulate is.
@JLVS22BR might have a better picture of these numbers. He was dq'ed on september 19th and got his letter last week of december, for an interview in february. He is also EB2, so I'm not sure about IR1s. I think family based green cards should be faster tho
-
36 minutes ago, Edtab said:
Anyone DQ'ed still waiting for the interview letter?
Me, dq'ed October 28th, under the EB2 NIW category
-
7 hours ago, JLVS22BR said:
Yep, that's right! It took 101 days after DQ to get the IL, and there are 49 days between the day that the IL arrived and the date in which the Interview will take place. So, basically, it's 150 days between getting DQ and the Interview.
Good luck at the interview!
If you can give us some insights about how it goes after it, that would be awesome!
-
Anyone else still waiting on the interview letter for RDJ?
@JLVS22BRfrom what I could see in your timeline, you got the IL exactly 101 days after DQ?
For the interview to be 7 weeks after the IL
I'm still on 75 days after DQ, so I guess that my interview will be only end of March, beginning of April =/
-
5 minutes ago, ChintanVoraha said:
This is erally crazy. Not sure why EB IL's are not getting prioritized. Not hearing anything around it for jan and feb atleast in India. Its been so frustrating.
DQ'ed for two months now, with no hopes up for an IL soon (Brazil embassy - EB2).
Following the fortnightly calendar of when the NVC ships the documents to the consulates, it was December 6th, December 20th, so we should have another batch going yesterday and today, but I haven't heard from anyone that got their status to "In transit" this week.
Just frustration with these guys...
Rio de Janeiro - DQed & Waiting for Interview Letter
in Work Visas
Posted
When I applied for the i140 I chose the Consulate Processing because I was in a J1 visa, and had to travel in a couple months after while waiting for the i140 to be approved. If you apply for the i485 with a J1, you can't travel back and renew your stamp anymore.
Because now I'm in a H1B visa, it doesn't matter anymore about travelling, so I just applied for the i485 since I'm here in the US anyway, and flying to Rio + hotels + medical exams would be much more than the actual i485 fee.