wildestkabs

My wife arrived in the US on a CR-1 visa this past Saturday. At the POE, the immigration officer asked her to visit her local USCIS office to pick up the GC, 'anytime Monday - Friday'.

I just wanted some clarification on this. I was under the impresssion that the GC arrives in the mail and there is no need to visit a USCIS office. I have no problems with scheduling an infopass appointment but I want to make sure we are not wasting anyone's time, including our own.

Also, my wife had checked the 'check here if you want to receive your SS card in the mail', on her DS-230. I just want to confirm that this too arrives in the mail, or whether we need to visit the local SSA office.

Many thanks in advance!

Nope, shouldn't be a problem at all. Mine did exactly the same thing. I had no issues.

Thanks, mystic. My wife's interview is today at 7:45 AM. I was freaking out since its been almost 2 hours and I haven't gotten a text from her but then I re-read your first post from this thread and it seems it took you around 4 hours before you finally had your interview. So I feel a little better now, lol.

My wife's interview is on the 10th of July. All of the original documents were presented to the NVC. We are going off of the Embassy's website, which states to simply pay the courier fees if all docs were submitted to the NVC.

All that my wife will be taking to the interview would be:

- Interview letter.

- Medical.

- 2011 W-2.

- Updated letter from employer confirming my employment.

- Letter of extension from the IRS.

- Last 4 pay stubs.

- Proof of relationship.

I haven't filed my 2011 taxes yet, hence she is going to be taking the other tax and income docs.

Are we missing out on anything? Do we really need to try and have photocopies of everything which has already been submitted. Not that I mind doing it, but it would probably be a lot of work to try and get all of the items ready in just a day. Plus the wife is kind of a little stubborn about it (aren't all women?). She doesn't want to take anything other than what is really needed.

Any tips/advice is much appreciated.

the guy next to me was a F1 immigrant and his passport was returned to him. We left the consulate together and he said he was to submit two things - his dad's latest tax returns (very very important, he had 2010's).

Congratulations, mystic. Just a quick clarification. I (US citizen), submitted returns for tax years 2008/09/10 to the NVC. I haven't filed my 2011 taxes yet. Figured I wanted to wait till the wife shows up and then file joint. I did get an extension letter from the IRS, which basically allows me to file my taxes up until October of 2012. I have already mailed this letter to the wife, along with the last 4 pay stubs, updated letter from my employer and the 2011 W2, to take with her to the interview.

I am hoping this should okay, or do you think the Consulate may ask for a 2011 tax return even if we have an extension from the IRS? Personally, I don't think it would be issue but kind of wanted to get a second opinion.

Thanks everyone.

Hi wildwstkabs,

I have my interview on 11th july. You get an e-mail form NVC which says P4. This e-mail has your interview date. From the comments that i have read, we will not get any letter from the consulate. The link on the consulate website states which documents have to be brought at the interview. Its like a checklist

If u have paid $230 to NVC, u need not pay anything at the consulate on the day of the interview.

Hi praying -

Yes, it dawned on me finally that the letter from the NVC WAS the interview letter. We actually got this on the 8th of June but kept waiting for around 3 weeks for a letter from the embassy! It was only when me and my wife talked about it, is when we realized that this was the P4 letter.

Thanks for the clarification on the immigrant visa fee. I actually paid $400 before the fees were reduced, though good to know that we don't need to pay it again.

My wife's interview is on the 10th of July. What Consultate are you going through? Ours is through New Delhi.

Have a couple questions here.

My wife has a CR-1 immigrant visa interview on the 10th of July at the New Delhi US Embassy, though we have still not received Packet 4. Every document that is needed for the interview has been provided to the NVC, so the only thing we need is the interview letter to get the medical done.

We contacted VFS, they sent an email with a link to click to download Packet 4 but all that it does is send us to the embassy website which has general information. I just wanted to clarify whether the wife needs to go to the Embassy to get the interview letter, or whether she needs to go to VFS and do they accept walk-ins? What would be the best course of action?

Also, the Embassy's website lists an immigrant visa fee of $230 to be paid. I thought we already paid this fee to the NVC? Can someone clarify?

Would appreciate any assistance..

I believe what he means is that local passport officer will issue 2 exact copies of PPC, atleast that's what they did for my wife when she went to her local passport office for PCC. So I just had her send me one copy in snail mail so I can submit to NVC and take other copy with her during the interview time. Not 100% sure if PCC is also required from local police station. Perhaps someone else on this forum can comment on it.

From the US Embassy in New Delhi's website:

IF the applicant is residing in India and his or her Indian passport was issued within past 6 months AND is 16 years or older, THEN the applicant needs

a police certificate from Passport Office Certificate.

IF the applicant is residing in India and his or her Indian passport was issued more than 6 months prior to visa application AND is 16 years or older, THEN the applicant needs a police certificate from Passport office and the district police office serving the applicant's place of residence.

http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/police_certificates.html

So I think it would depend on how long you have had your passport. Has your wife had a passport for less than 6 months? If yes, then she would need a certificate only from her passport office. Mine has had her passport for a few years now, so I think she would need both clearances, though now that she has to apply for a new passport, I am thinking she may end up requiring just one (from the passport office)..

Yes, submit one PCC with IV package, and bring 2nd one at the time of interview.

Yes, submit one PCC with IV package, and bring 2nd one at the time of interview.

Okay, this is getting really confusing. In your earlier post, you mentioned that you need a police clearance certificate from the passport office and don't need one from the police. Now you are saying 'submit one PCC with IV package, and bring 2nd one at the time of interview', so there ARE two clearance certificates then! Could you clarify this please?

Also, I have contacted the NVC two times and they have told me the exact same thing - that you need to submit both certificates, one from your local police station and the other from your regional passport office before the case can be closed, so could you clarify your comment 'submit one PCC with IV package, and bring 2nd one at the time of interview?' Have you spoken with anyone at the NVC, who asked you to submit only one to them and the second at the time of the interview? Divya Rao, also posted on this thread indicating that we will get two certificates from the PSK, one from the PCC and the other from the local police.

This is getting really confusing. We are applying for a CR-1 visa.

Very strange reason to refused to issue the PCC!!!

I applied for re-issue passport thru PSK under Tatkal, I got it in 48 hours in my hand. It just took 2 days! That is it!

Hi iwaiting. I am assuming you are female. Just curious. Did you have to reapply for the passport for the same reason? Also, how long did it take you to get the PCC and the police clearances?

Our IV fee bill was processed on the the 1st of March, so now we are just sitting on this wasting time, when in fact, our case should have been closed by now. But because we did not anticipate that the PSK would ask for a new passport with my last name, now we don't know how much it will take for all of this to be completed.

Plus this would mean that the DS-230 will prolly be with her new last name and the I-130 in the old one. So this may open up a whole new can of worms.

Turns out that the PSK refused to issue the PCC because the wife hadn't changed her last name yet. So now she has to apply for a new passport under the Tatkal seva. So our process has now gotten delayed by another 2 weeks.

Yes, we are using the PSK. Turns out the wife's computer was slow. So I tried to schedule an appointment from my computer and we were successful. She has an appointment for tomorrow. Thanks everyone!

Divya and others - did you face the same issues with scheduling an appointment, or are we missing something here? Its very frustrating! We have not been able to get an appointment in 3 days now!

Yes, we do have the NVC email. Problem is with the scheduling of the appointment itself. Apparently, the window opens up at 6 PM every evening, there are 2-3 openings which get filled in like 2 minutes. The wife has been trying to schedule an appointment for the last 2 days with no luck. So frustrating!

I guess the reason for my confusion is that how could a local passport office issue a police clearance certificate, which ideally should come from the local police station based on a background check (unless the passport office has that capability as well). Again, I am not sure if the rules have changed but when I did this for myself many years back, I had to get two, one from the local passport office and for the second, I had to visit my local police station.

Thanks for the quick response and for your help Divya. Some follow up questions here:

1) Just for clarification, the PSK should not ask for a letter from the Embassy, is this correct? With the PCC needed by the NVC to complete the case, I can't imagine how a beneficiary could get a letter before hand.

2) So basically once my wife gets this clearance, she does not need to go to her local police station, or are there any exceptions to this rule, based on your length of stay or address or something else? Or have the Embassy rules changed? I am wondering if this is only for Delhi where you no longer need to approach your local police station and can get all clearances from the passport office.

Again, I appreciate all your help.

We are at the final stages of the NVC process. My wife went to the local passport office in New Delhi for the PCC and they said that they need some evidence for why the PCC is needed. They initially mentioned that they need a letter from the Embassy. Has anyone else had this experience? I am curious to know what is needed to get a PCC from New Delhi?

Also, is a local police clearance certificate still needed, or is it just the PCC? Many thanks for any help!

I should have probably posted this in the NVC forum but since a lot of folks on this thread had their I-130 approved the same time as mine, so thought I'd try here first.

So I paid the AOS fee yesterday and it cleared today. The IVR now says to download the AOS form from www.immigrantvisas.gov. Obviously I paid the bill online. So my question is - should I not be waiting for the NVC to generate the I-864? Or should I just fill it out and mail it on my own, since I have the coversheet with the barcode (downloaded after I had paid the AOS bill)?

Edit - The payment status online is 'PAID'.

Received I-130 approval notification (NOA-2) via text message and email today.

aschenbecher and Funfetti, hang in there. Yours should be around the corner.

Another 2 weeks and it will be 5 months since NOA1 for us too. *yawn*

Our NOA1 date is July 19th and the touch date is the 4th of August. I am still hopeful of hearing from the USCIS before the 5 month mark. Keep your heads high everyone! It will happen.

August filer here, looking at how you are all doing so I can know when to expect mine. Good news is I looked at IGORS LIST and majority of June Filers for CSC have received their NOA2 so CSC should be doing July now. Hoping Thanksgiving and the holidays bring good news our way!

Lets hope so. Today is exactly 4 months since NOA21

Thank you.

4 months since NOA1 in 4 days.

Thanks Inky and D&K.

D&K, a quick question for you. How will this play out when it comes to the interview? Obviously, I am going to have to ask my wife to do a new DS-230 with the new name, even though the I-130 was filed with the maiden name. I am assuming this wouldn't be a problem?

Also, what about the marriage certificate? Both would be in different names. Can that be an issue?

This of course, if the wife's regional RPO requires a name change. I am going to ask her to get this information asap.

Yes it isn't a requirement BUT NVC requires a passport clearance certificate. Some Regional Passport Offices require you to change your name to reflect the marriage (after marriage name) in order to issue a passport clearance certificate.

So you need to find out if your RPO office allows your to retain your name before marriage on your passport to issue a Passport Clearance Certificate.

This is through the US Embassy in New Delhi, India. We are 4 months into the I-130 process and are getting ready for the NVC.

Our situation is this: My wife wants to take my last name though we have agreed that we could do it after she naturalizes (right now, she lives in India). My question is - is it mandatory for the wife to get the name changed on her passport in order to get the CR-1 visa? Can we face issues because of this, either with the Embassy, or for getting police/passport clearances? Our marriage certificate is in her maiden name still.

Any assistance would be appreciated.