Pat2014

Thanks everyone, while it's still showing 14 months, I'm going to continue ignoring it and encouraging my wife to do the same!

Awesome, thank you everyone for the information. It seems like the safest answer is to just wait until after our 2nd anniversary (so long as the visa remains valid through then) and then enter, rather than trying to visit on a tourist visa. I'll be prepared to talk to the CBP person about making it an IR-1 but even if they won't, I'll be prepared to file the I-90 afterwards. Thanks!

Hey all, just looking for a sanity check here... My file/NOA1 date was July 11, 2024. Been married since May 2024. I had some new joint bank account information and my married tax return that I wanted to include as more Bona Fides evidence. I had read numerous posts on this site and Reddit that uploading evidence won't impact processing time for your case, and I figured I wanted to avoid RFE delays down the road, so I submitted them as "Unsolicited Evidence" earlier this week. Today, the my visajourney.com update email said October 13, 2025 for our I-130 approval, which seems to be based on the July 11th NOA1, but when I cross-checked it with USCIS.gov, the myProgress now shows 14 MONTHS until estimated case decision! It seems to have sent our application to the back of the line?? I know that the myProgress tab has a notoriously inaccurate reputation, and I'm hopefully/probably freaking out about nothing. I know (or thought I knew lol) that I've read numerous posts about how the date is based on the original submission date, not when updated evidence was added. I guess I'm just looking for anyone else who submitted Unsolicited Evidence before their NOA1 that can confirm or deny that I didn't just screw my wife and I by trying to lean forward in the process...

Hello everyone, My wife and I are about halfway through our projected timeline (NOA1 July 2024) for our I-130. This forum has been very helpful, and I'm hoping it can answer one clarifying question and then one random question. Clarifying question: is the issuance of a CR-1 versus IR-1 based on the date of the interview at the embassy, or the interview at the border entry point? For example, let's say we married in April of 2024, and the embassy interview is December 2025 (20 months of marriage). Does that mean regardless of when my spouse enters the country, she'd be on a CR-1 (<2 years of marriage at embassy interview), or if she waited to enter until April of 2026 she'd get a IR-1 (>2 years of marriage at border entry point interview)? Random question: would it be possible for a spouse to visit with an approved immigration visa and choose not to use it? For example, interview complete and green card issued (which expires in 6 months after the interview). She wants to visit for a few months before returning to her home country to finalize the move, then officially immigrate with the green card. Is that allowed, or does she have to use the green card and get it stamped upon entry? This would be after the entire process is complete, not during the NOA1 waiting period. Thanks!

Hello everyone, bad news again for us unfortunately. My congressional representative got a reply from the Consulate and they doubled down on not supporting our request. The Frankfurt Consulate provided the Congress person a more detailed answer on why they denied our I-130 request. They even went a step further and told my Congressional representative that we do not fall under any of the criteria for a local filing. That seems excessive, but I'm sure they weren't happy getting contacted by a Congress person so they wanted to be clear. These are the reasons they provided my Congress rep: 1.) Relocation for any reason except work is not "entirely" covered by the regulation and therefore they do not support them. This supports my theory that they view the listed examples as restrictive. 2.) I have not lived in Germany long enough. The 4 years stationed in Germany with in the US Military do not count towards residency, and since my residency card did not officially come until November, they claim the 6 months I have officially had residency in Germany is not enough to use this service. The 2nd reason seems a little fabricated to me, because I could not find a minimum time limit in any regulation. The only stipulation is "established residency," which I did. I even sent them copies of the residency paperwork as evidence. I'm going to reply with this in mind to the Congresssional Rep, but given the hard stance the Consulate has consistently taken on the first point, I am confident saying that the Frankfurt Consulate does not consider educational opportunities as exceptional circumstances. Hopefully our situation can serve as a warning for future German DCF hopefuls: get a job offer instead of going back to school if you want to use DCF in Germany. That, or maybe we just got unlucky and had the wrong person handling our case.

@Boiler thanks for your feedback. I agree on the situation - it definitely seemed cut and dry (especially because I saw so many posts here regarding similar situations) so we were pretty shocked it got denied both via email and after we had sent in a completed packet with payment via the post. My Congressional Representative said they were reaching out to the Frankfurt Consulate to try and understand why exactly they said no - if they get an answer, I'll post it here for everyone's situational awareness. We will wait until the Congressional office gives us a response, or July 11th, whichever happens first, before submitting via USCIS. When that happens, I'll for sure request an expedite to the process and maybe my Congress person can help.

@Boiler I am moving back on July 12th to begin Graduate School on August 12th. I was notified of a pending admission on March 21st and had to decide by April 24th, but did not hear back from Frankfurt by then. My wife and I discussed and I accepted. My school is being paid for due to my military service via the US Post 9/11 GI Bill, and I will receive a small stipend to pay for housing/incidentals while at school. I will also be required to hold a paid internship during the summer of 2025, and the University places over 90% of it's graduates in jobs within 3 months of graduation. I had to quit my job to attend this opportunity, however I believe the consulate does not consider Graduate School an Exceptional Circumstance as it is not explicitly listed in Chapter 3. While they do have discretion to define an Exceptional Circumstance as whatever they want, I believe they are erring on the side of caution and only using the examples explicitly provided by USCIS Chapter 3.

@D-R-J I have been in Germany for five years. Four with the Army, one as a private citizen. I have been legally in Germany the entire time (4 years under the US-German Status of Forces Agreement, 1 year with a German work visa/residency). I have a required summer internship as part of my studies (Summer 2025) and the tuition is paid for by the GI Bill, which also provides a small living stipend, so I tried to explain those as employment opportunities. I do not believe the Embassy considers Graduate School as an Exceptional Circumstance or employment opportunity, which is interesting because I did see a blog post where a woman got her DCF approved for a PhD program (which likely involved some teaching in addition to studying) last year. Perhaps they weight the level of programs differently? If this is anything like the Army, I imagine these decisions are entirely up to whoever is running the IV department at the time. There is a catch-all phrase at the end of Chapter 3 that leaves the definition of "exceptional circumstances" up to the IV chief of that embassy. My guess is that the German embassy IV Chief probably sees the examples for "Exceptional Circumstances" listed in Chapter 3 of the USCIS policy as restrictive.

@Boiler I am a US Citizen living in Germany on a German work visa and I have legally established residency in Augsburg with the German authorities. Is that what you mean by status?

Hey everyone, just wanted to post that my DCF request was denied. My situation: US Veteran living abroad in Munich area after leaving Army. Accepted in March to a US Grad School that starts in August. Requested DCF via email April 10th, did not see reply, so mailed a completed packet and cover letter with payment to Frankfurt Consulate around May 20th. The Frankfurt Consulate mailed it back with a cover letter telling me my situation did not qualify and referenced an email sent on May 10th, which had been sent to my Spam folder. This email was 1 line and said our situation "did not meet the criteria for exceptional circumstances" and provided no other explanation. This outcome genuinely surprised, to say nothing of frustrated, me as I've seen countless anecdotal evidence that similar situations did warrant DCF in Germany as recently as last year, and DCF seems to more lenient in many other countries than Germany. Outside of pleading with the Consulate or contacting my Congressional representatives, I don't know what else I can do. I have to attend school on August 12th and fly back before that. I have only seen people posting positive outcomes on their DCF requests and wanted to post mine as a cautionary tale - my wife and I had our hopes dashed pretty hard.

@megaladon and @Andrew+MM, unfortunately my packet was denied and no explanation was given, only that our situation "does not meet exceptional circumstances." It turns out they had replied via email, exactly 1 month after my initial email, but it was sent to my spam folder. Sounds cliche, but anyone reading this in a similar situation - maybe check there? The consulate referenced this email in their written reply, which included the entire packet, check (not easy to acquire in Germany!), and supporting documentation we had sent two weeks prior. Again, the letter did not give me any reason why, just that our situation did not qualify and referred us to the email sent, which also did not provide a reason why. This outcome genuinely surprised, to say nothing of frustrated, me as I've seen countless anecdotal evidence that similar situations did warrant DCF in Germany as recently as last year, and DCF seems to more lenient in many other countries than Germany. Outside of pleading with the Consulate or contacting my Congressional representatives, I don't know what else I can do. I have to attend school on August 12th and fly back before that.