Nywoek

Oh my what a day.. XD Decided to follow your advice and get started on things TB! But I think I misunderstood so I started with the consulate login, and that was a whole mess. I ended up having to make a third account, and a new official looking email address, lol. But I am crafty, and I never give up, so I eventually got it to work.. only to get stuck at needing my DS160 number lol! So.. onwards I went to that part! And I remember telling my fiance that its pretty cool that I get to submit this online, since the i129f was on paper.. ..i regret that, i take it back, please! Let me use paper! XD XD It is very very buggy. And I was very very very overwhelmed. And then the website bugged out and who did not have the retrival number? MOIS! However... like I said I am crafty, because I clicked back in the browser and the application # was showing for like 0.03 seconds so I think to myself... why dont I just screen record it? And pause it on the number I need? Worth a shot! It worked! Lmao. So.. onwards and upwards. My fiance was working late from home so we were both dealing with stuff on a call.. he broke something at work he had to fix and I felt like I was breaking my brain. 🙈 I kept going insane over the buggy website. At one point they asked if I have ever visited the US.. yes? But when I had finally put in all.. I think 11 times I have gone, then it was TOO many filled in fields and I got kicked out. I mean I got kicked out a lot but that one stung a little extra. So I had to delete the two first trips.. one was from 2002 and definitely an estimate so.. its probably fine. But I managed to fit the contents of my I-94 on the form, so that is good. I kept going and going and going.. and now I am at the photo, but I am in no mood to take that so maybe tomorrow! But that is probably at the end... right? XD It has been a frustrating time, but it feels good that everything is moving along (fairly) nicely!

Well I fixed my second account where I could still input Sweden. I got rid of the error message by adding some numbers to my secondary email, because I was using the same one for my second account. That fixed that problem. However, I am very concerned about this name business. My passport has a part where it says my name with two As. My esta has two As because that is how I registered it. My NVC papers only has one.. probably because my fiance wrote it that way on our papers. But the website clearly states: "Applicant's first and last name should match the name mentioned on their passport and cannot be modified after it is entered." So I think i have to make a third account with the double As and Sweden as my country. Sigh.

Yeah, I figured. 😕 Guess I will have to make a third account, because it seems the second one has been banned.

I can still log into the original account, so something obviously went wrong with account number two. Sigh. It is confusing though, the wording says "Country from which you are applying". Can I still use Norway, even if I need to go to Sweden? I mean Im still applying FROM Norway? I feel very... not smart. ;_;

Is this still the right place to post this? Im not sure. Anyway. I went to the Swedish embassy page to continue the application process, and they had me make an account with them. However, I am confused on two fronts: 1. They made a big deal about my name. I have a norwegian letter in it, so I cant use my actual name. The problem is that in my ftp letter they write it with one A, but in my passport it both says the norwegian letter Å but at the bottom with a bunch of numbers it is replaced with two As. An Å is basically two As so that makes sense, but since nvc has my name with an A should I also do that? In the 129f application we wrote it with an A plus in the section where you can add special characters we spelled it correctly. My ESTA however, spells it with two As.. 2. I started off with an account and it asks for my country. So I picked Norway, because it isnt asking for where I want my appointment. But then when I managed to sign in it is stuck on Norway so now I dont even know if I can make an appointment? This is very confusing to me. X_X I am assuming this should be Sweden, since that is where I have to interview? I started off making an account, writing the name like the nvc letter and picking Norway. Then I made another when I realized the mistake. I used a different email, but it might be on file as my second email? Now I cannot log in at all... Should I make a third account? At that point I might need a new email. What a mess. X_X Luckily I havent put in my passport info or anything yet.

I had never heard of orange chicken or general tsos before I visited america. XD We have a nice place in my hometown, but I am picky so I will often do the sweet and sour pork, lol. Closest I have been to real chinese food was eating it in Hong Kong. But they used knuckles in the pork and I was not a fan. 🙈

Time spent in person could also be documented with a print of your travel history, I think it makes a nice addition with photos. 😃 You can get it here: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/search/history-search

AN ACTUAL UPDATE! I was checking the website, because someone in a fb groupchat said their case moved to in transit. They were about a week ahead of us, but then a little while later my fiance sent me the k-ftp letter so we are also in transit. Now I am not sure what to do. Should I start my application? People have told me it should be fine that I will be getting a new passport between now and when I am doing the interview, but isnt it better to do the application with the new passport? I wont have it until probably the middle of may though. X_X

So happy for all you guys! Hopefully everyone will be approved shortly. ^-^

We probably did not need all our trips. I had visited 7 times at the time we sent it in, and he had been to norway 3 times. But in my head it makes sense. All you really need is prove you have met in person and for your relationship to seem real. So 20-30 pages of pictures is not really needed, but now it kinda looks like a fun scrapbook lol. The video call photos I added were on just one page, and mostly of us opening presents together, me and him around christmas and him and my kids opening stuff on their birthdays. No rfes, we got approved january 31st. Got sent to state 20 days later, now we have had our case number a few weeks and I am really hoping the case gets sent to embassy today or tomorrow, because they only do that every two weeks. Wont be able to do the interview stuff until then, but I am also waiting for a new passport so I might wait until may to fill in the next forms and stuff anyway. Im currently getting vaccines in order. 😃 Good luck with your application! It is honestly more important to make sure you fill in everything correctly and send in the other documentation; with that many meetings and photos it should be just fine.

I had the same thought, so we decided to make a page dedicated to each visit, bot me to the us and him to norway, and then we just put them in order. We added some photos, descriptions and possible scanned tickets. I recommend adding your passport "stamps", these are available online. It shows you entered the country, looks nice and only takes up a page. 😃 We added one page with screenshots from video calls, but no texts because we have talked daily since 2022 so I would not know where to begin. Also added a scanned train ticket to Boston with our names. And the receipt for my engagement ring. Try not to overdo it, so if you want to cover every trip, a page or so should be enough, and then if you want to add some compelling evidence in addition you can make an extra page or two. 😅

My fiance has a very very sweet older cat lady who is.. absolutely obsessed with him. She loves on him constantly, and merely tolerates everyone else, although she likes to sit in the middle of room when he has people over. I have spent every visit giving her both space and any cuddles she comes and asks for. She seems to like me, enough. Nothing compared to him, ofcourse, but I am in the top 3. The last time I visited, in October, she was sitting on his lap and headbutted him (which she does all the time), and she turned to me, I put my head forward... and she headbutted me too. I would say I nearly cried, but that would be a lie, because I full-on cried. XD He is not the only one working hard to make sure he has a good relationship with his future step-kids! XD And I love her so much already, lol. (Could never have my own cat, my mom was allergic).

Do you guys prefer Costco over BJs? I know the nearest Costco is like an hour away, but someone said they ship stuff so maybe it isnt the worst place to have a membership.

My case is at nvc and has been for a few weeks, so I guess we will see if they are ready to send it off to Stockholm this week. 😃 If they do I guess there isnt much of a backlog!

Today and tomorrow are NVC mailing days! 😮 I am so very anxious. I really hope our case moves on so I can schedule things soon. My kids are a bit stressed not knowing if we will be able to move this summer or if they have to start the school year in late august and then leave again soon after. Will be interesting to see if Stockholm is ready for us. But if they do not send it this time, maybe in 2 more weeks, and then i can celebrate with my fiance since I will be stateside for easter. 😃

Our case was sent to state (you see this tracking the first case number) february 20th, and we got our case number a week and a half into march. So I would send a public inquiry to get your new case number that you use to track your case moving forward. 😃 We sent one a week, making sure we got a reply before we sent the next one, until we got it. Not that it is that important, the status does not change until they are ready to send it to your embassy and they only do that every other week.

We just compiled it all in a google doc file. Wrote date and description on each page. It probably was not needed, but we did one page per meeting, and we had met I think 10 times at that point. If you do it like that it is a lot easier to do together, and if you have something on paper you can just scan or take a photo of it and insert it into the file.

Same! On pins and needles over here! 😱

i guess it depends what you mean by case creation, but we got our noa2 jan 31st - then it took 20 days for them to send it to state - then another 3 weeks or so before we got a case number and now i am on pins and needles waiting to see if they’ll send it to my embassy next week. if they do that’s about 2 months. my fiance also lives and works near the nvc offices, and some of the people there are on a strike because a lot of them got hired remotely and now they have to come into the office 5 days a week even if they live like 2+ hours away. so if lots of people lose or leave their jobs i guess we can expect even more delays. 😕

How long will your trip be? I got my NOA2 late january, and I am travelling in april, but only staying 2 weeks. I think the further along you are the more weird it looks to them. By may you might be looking at scheduling interviews, if you are lucky. It is possible to stall a little, i suppose, but depending on your embassy having a backlog or not may is still 2 months away so you will probably be getting ready to do all that. But a shorter trip might be ok. The biggest reason I am going in april is because back in november our estimate was looking closer to march-april for NOA2 and then things sped up again. XD Also our visit last october got kinda messed up, and we didnt get to do the preparations we wanted to. Either way, like Yareth was saying earlier, justbe sure to bring documentation to tie you to home if you decide to go. 😃

Getting a little anxious about my trip now. Last time I went was in october, so it has been six months, but things have obviously changed since then, both in the USA and with our case. We are currently at NVC, and even if the trip is several weeks away I probably wont fill out my DS160 until I come back because I need a new passport. I guess I am looking for what specific documents I should bring. -My ticket back printed out, usually they ask me and I just tell them, I also have all my trip details written down inside the little pocket thing I keep my passport in, as well as the contact info for my fiance. -I own my house and all those documents are in Norwegian. Should I have something translated? -I can have my boss write me a letter stating I still work there and they expect me back by x-date? -I have seen online that you can bring documentation about dependants. My kids will be with their grandparents in Norway while I visit for two weeks, what sort of documentation should I bring for that? I mean honestly that is probably the biggest reason it should be obvious I would never overstay, but I am not sure how to document that. -Some people say I should bring the i129f application? Is that correct? I suppose that would only be if it went so far that they would take me to secondary. My fiance is a bit of an anxious person, and he just sent me an article about someone with a greencard being held at Logan, which is the airport we use. The guy had been in the US since 2017. Not very helpful, or relevant, but now my brain is not happy. X_X My ESTA is valid until july, my passport is good for 7 more months, I know I should not worry.. but it is hard. 😕

Thank you! That is super valuable information. Or.. well, gives more understanding at least. 🙈 It makes sense anyway. Although since they are now serving 4 extra countries maybe they added more days or appointments. 😅 Biting my nails for the next couple of weeks. 🙈

Thank you so much! That is very valuable information! I am not sure if I wanna look at it positively and think of there will be lots of appointments available, or that they never have time for K1s. 😅 I guess we’ll find out in a couple of weeks time, if they don’t send the case there is probably a backlog. Thanks for the encouragement, guys. And the embassy called, the issue was that they could not certify a copy of the kids’ norwegian passports, I would have had to do that before i sent them down but my ex didn’t know that. Another issue is that you need a signed passport, and since my little one was 7 at the time she got her passport it just says «CANNOT SIGN» in that spot. In american passports the parent signs, but we don’t do that here. So we decided that I will wait for the american passports and then have the kids sign them and then send the application plus the passports to the embassy. 🙈😅 After that they’ll have social security numbers. Kind of a mess, but we figured out a way!

Update time! The other week my fiance sent a public inquiry about our case number, and got a response it was not ready yet. We tried again on monday and got a record fast reply the next day or so saying we wont get any notification until it reaches embassy and all that. Looking at the email we understood the person responding had not understood we were looking for the case number. My fiance used a template I think he found on youtube, and I think the wording was "tracking number" so I guess thats where we went wrong.. I did convince him to send another PI on wednesday and then yesterday there was an email in my inbox with the case number! I feel better not having to bother people asking for this stuff, now I can just look up our case 56 times a day. XD In other news... I got a letter from the American embassy in Oslo yesterday, which got me excited, but it turned out there was a miscommunication when my ex took the kids there. So in the envelope was our two whole SSN applications for the kids. X_X Included were all the scans and the filled in applications and even their crbas! It was just sent through regular mail, so that was kinda.. scary. I decided to contact the embassy to make sure that getting a notarized scan of my kids norwegian passports would be enough, also asking if I should keep the original CRBAS? Because I dont have a copy of those, and I do not know if they return them to us.. anyway, they actually responded this morning asking for my phone number so I guess we will see how that goes.. My trip in april is coming up faster and faster too. I think i am going to pack my first suitcase, mostly with stuff and some clothes. Trying so hard to sort out my life and think of what I want over there, but I am also ok with parting with for several months. It is not an easy task!

I definitely know what it is like, this whole thing is very stressful! Hopefully everyone elses replies have made you feel better. And hi from another scandinavian who is going to Stockholm for the interview! We are a bit ahead of you guys in the process, so do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or wanna chat. I have had a hard time finding scandis for that purpose during my time here, but a couple are popping up now, so that is very nice!