Edward and Jaycel

Does your case status in CEAC say "Ready"? Have you registered on the visa website for the Jamaican Embassy? I would assume there are instructions there once you register. https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-jm/iv

You have to wait for the Embassy's process... If your approval notice expires before the interview, do not panic. The Consular Officer conducting the interview can and will automatically extend the validity of the NOA2 (they do this in 4 month increments). You do not need to do anything to make this happen. I do strongly recommend bringing updated letters of intent to marry from petitioner and beneficiary to the interview. This will cover any questions they have for your intent to marry changing if there are extended delays between petition approval and embassy interview. Good luck and I hope they contact you soon!

@badloss2 I would try to contact the Embassy Immigrant Visa Unit here https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visa-inquiry-form/

Thank you for sharing @K1visaHopeful 🙂

Has anyone noticed any difference in the time it takes for an application to be officially "received" between the USPS PO Box addresses and the courier addresses at the lockboxes? We are getting ready to send in our AOS package to the Phoenix lockbox and are wondering if it will make a difference wether we send it to the PO Box via USPS Priority Express or to the physical address via Fed-Ex. Anyone have experience or even an opinion? Any responses would be greatly appreciated!

Nairobi is a high fraud risk embassy.... (Possible extended AP) If you booked your tickets before the visa is actually in-hand, you may have to re-book. I hope it's quick for you so this does not happen.

Thank you so much for this! 🎉

Congrats @JaneStaark !! We are about to file our AOS packet and I was wondering if you would mind sharing what your RFE was for? Trying to avoid any issues and would like to learn from your experience if possible 🙂

That probably means someone is working on it in the visa section. As long as everything is ok with the paperwork she sent back in, it should go to “Approved” and then “Issued”. Keep us posted!

I think everyone should do it.... It will remove that "Not valid for employment without DHS Authorization" message that they put on the one you get while still on your K-1 visa

NVC took about 5 weeks after USCIS sent our case there to send the K1-FTP letter to us. I understand you’re a I-130 filer, however NVC seems to work cases in the order they are received regardless. As of last Monday it appears they are working cases received on 10/16/2024 https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/nvc-timeframes.html

That was fast! Glad they officially received it for you guys so quickly! 😁

We are about to file my wife's AOS from a K-1 visa and as you can imagine, there is mot a ton of marital evidence. We are sending everything that we do have at this point because it can only help with the chances of us getting approval without having to attend an interview. Good luck to you! Looks like we will both be November filers 🙂

I get that we need to put the receipt number from the I-129F as the answer for question 3 but do we put the "Received Date" on the NOA1 for the I-129F in for question 4 as the "Priority Date"? I have seen answers on VJ here saying yes and others saying to put "N/A" so I am looking to see if there is any consensus on this? Appreciate any advice!

From the USCIS Website:

Here are screen shots of the 2 pages I have for our I-485 Cover Letter and 1 page each for the I-765 & & I-864 (I made generic versions with all the identifying info taken out)

I second this.... please do a little research and see if you can do it yourself. There are plenty of guides here on VJ that can help and the community here is always willing to answer things you are unsure of. Don't get yourself tied into any of these services. In the posts I've seen here and other forums, they do nothing but cause headaches. I'm no rocket scientist and I was able to figure it out and that was before I knew about this site.

Awesome! Glad to hear it and keep us posted! The two things that Jaycel likes to share about the CFO is: 1. Don't watch YouTube videos about "Horror Stories" regarding the CFO. They got themselves sorted out last summer (2023) and as long and your fiancee knows the details about your relationship it will be fine. She said hers was a breeze and because all of the proof of relationship she brought, she only had to spend like 10 minutes in the 1 on 1 with the counselor. 2. Bring proof of your relationship because they WILL look through it. Jaycel brought ~140 pages and the counselor looked through all of it! 😆

It can't hurt to start organizing all of the "evidence" from this trip (reservations, boarding passes, hotel receipts, pictures, etc.) that show that you two were together in person. It will help when you are ready to file the I-129F. It will be nice to have everything together already instead of trying to hunt it down at that time.

congrats! I can confirm what @top_secret reported… Jaycel said CFO was a breeze. Just bring lots of proof of relationship. Unlike the embassy, they WILL go through it all. Happy times my friend! You are almost there 😁

Since your brother is a US Citizen, immediate relatives (i.e. - his wife) always have a visa immediately available

So happy to hear this!! Ours changed to “Issued” after 2 days of being g in “Approved” status

I understand the thought process here and AOS does need more, however, almost a year had passed between our I-129F filing date and the date of Jaycel's interview. That plus the age gap complication, we erred on the side of "the kitchen sink" method because after all that time, the last thing we wanted to run into was a 221g from a Visa Officer who didn't get his/her cup of coffee that morning and decided to be a stickler and ask for everything. Besides, in the Philippines, at the CFO/CGP session Jaycel went to, the counselor asked for and looked through every page of our proof of continuing relationship. I believe it's what got her out of the 1 on 1 session in about 10 minutes. To each their own, but when it comes to anything immigration related we will always overwhelm them with evidence at every step of the way when evidence is requested/required. The key is keeping it organized. If you do that, the volume of documents shouldn't matter much. Just my two cents 🙂

I know this was asked of someone else.... I'll tell you ours too. Jaycel had a total of about 330 pages in her accordion filer, 160 pages of which were proof of continuing relationship. We went heavy on everything too because we have a large age gap between us and that sometimes gets flagged as possible fraud so we went with the axiom, "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it". 😆

Jaycel used an accordion file folder and labeled the tabs with things like: Civil Docs, DS-160 Confirmation Extras, I-134 Docs, Petitioner Docs, I-129F Copy, Proof of Relationship, etc. She said it worked perfectly as she was able to grab the documents they needed quickly and didn't have to fumble around looking for them.