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I googled this for 30 min and couldn't find answers. I read before its easier to change name during marriage as opposed to any other time, but I can't find information on how thats done. We live in Alabama. Also, is it ok to do this before she gets her SSN? We applied for it 10 weeks ago but still haven't received it.

"still being processed" Well, we're getting married next week since time has run out. Hope getting married while SSN processes won't screw things up.

We called the national office and they told us the DoD is processing it and it can take up to 8 weeks.

We called the office again and they said its being processed and there is nothing they can do at the local office about it.

We were given the number after visited the first time. Appointments are required so idk if we can just go walk in or how we'd know we'd get the same person helping us again.

Not true. We called the local office. When we called the national office, they told us to call the local office, which is what we did.

I read recent posts that said you don't really need to wait 2 weeks and just a few days is fine. I thought 13 days would be ok. https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/785129-how-long-after-entry-to-apply-for-ssn-with-k1/#findComment-10689938 I'll call again this week and see what they say

She's never been married. We're not married yet since we're getting her SSN first before marrying.

Things went very smoothly at the office and he said it would take up to 4 weeks. When we called last week, they said they were still processing it and thats all she knew.

I thought it only takes 2 to 4 weeks, but its been almost 6 weeks now and still no SSN. We applied in person on Jan 6th. We called back last week and they said they are still processing it. Is this normal?

FYI Its now required to make an appointment before getting a new SSN. This change was made literally the day we went up there to get a SSN

There is an extra step. I asked someone else on the forum about their malaysia --> america visa journey and they just had to go to medical once. They didn't need a report from the hospital. For my fiancee, its; Get medical records Go to exam at the clinic Clinic says she needs a report from the hospital (this is the extra step that took 3 months) Go back to clinic to finish exam with the report. wait ~10 days for the blood work to be finished and then go back to the clinic to pick up the results. For the couple I talked to, the entire medical exam experience was only 1 week..

yes, I've seen a lot of those, and how people can be denied or deferred a visa based on mental health history. What I hadn't seen mention of is the requirement to obtain a medical report and the actual length of time it can take. People without a mental health history don't need to obtain a medical report, so few people have to go through that. I thought the embassy decides if someone is mentally fit or not based on hospital records or a letter from a psychologist, but its a specialist from the hospital that has to create a report for that, and that report can take weeks or months to complete.

I read sooooooo much material here and elsewhere and I thought I knew everything.. and then we got to the medical exam. Because my fiancee goes to therapy and takes medicine for depression, she was required to get a medical report. The hospital had to do it and it took 30 days. We turn it in to the exam office and they said it was done wrong. It has to be written by a specialist. So then we had to go back to the hospital and finally after TWO MONTHS its finally finished. This is just a warning to anyone else who is on medication for depression, especially those in Malaysia, this can cause a 3 month delay, so do not fill out any paperwork too quickly (I'm having to refill out the i-134 form since it expires after 4 months). Her NOA2 was on Feb. 27th and we STILL have not gotten to the step of scheduling an interview. She now has to get her blood work finished now that the medical report is done. This is a rant and also a warning of what could go wrong since I didn't read ANYWHERE about needing a medical report or how long those can take.

The birth certificate will likely need to be translated.

I don't think my fiancee received anything from the embassy. The embassy instead emailed me what they wanted. We then submitted the ds-160 after I received the email. Now we're just waiting for the medical stuff to process since we can't schedule the interview until we get the medical stuff done first.

probably more like 5 to 8 months away since things are processing much quicker now. You'll have to prove your income before the interview, and then again later after the interview. Short term unemployment is probably fine, but if you have been unemployed for multiple months or even years and have taken government support like unemployment checks or EBT, then that can very negatively effect your chances of being approved.

I never heard of interviews outside of China being hard. Sometimes its as simple as them just asking 1 question.

What SalishSea said, but also, you can include assets too, so remember to do that. With even a moderate savings account, and no recent history of using government assistance, that should easily be high enough.

We have the medical exam scheduled now for next week. We are waiting for the police certificate too. once we get those 2 done, we can then schedule the embassy interview. Really hoping the embassy interview can be scheduled quickly and not have to wait for months. edit; just looked, the police certificate will take 30 to 90 days 😕

Do you not report this income on your taxes? You better hope you never get audited. Even with a sponsor, you need some income or assets. You can get denied even with a sponsor if your personal financial situation looks very bad.

How do you schedule an interview? I thought the embassy had to do that for you. Or is that embassy dependent? The embassy we're going through said we have to submit the ds-160, i-134, and other forms first before we can schedule an interview.

It took us around 62 days after NVC assigned a case number before they shipped the petition to the embassy. NOA2 feb 27th, and it arrive at the embassy last monday.

The embassy today emailed us to say we had to reply to the email with a long list of things, such as the ds-160 and I-134, before we can schedule the interview. It all has to be put into 1 pdf file too, which is kinda annoying. I would have scanned the documents before I sent them to my fiancee if I knew I have to email the documents too.

We waited 2.5 months after we got the NOA2 before the NVC sent out the documents to the embassy.