nodiscussion

for all of you VJers out there who may be reading my conversation with myself here (perhaps because your fiancee or spouse is from Rwanda or Burundi), take heart: you won't have to go through the insanity because...

I singlehandedly changed the Foreign Affairs Manual to accurately reflect the documents that are available...

for two different countries!

(If you want to thank me, chocolate is always a safe bet )

Yeah, it is. My serving recommendation:

Small slice of bureaucracy. Douse in 4 shots of vodka, top with NVC icing. Garnish with dark chocolate shavings.

The vodka helps cut the bitterness

Recipe for a "case complete" at the National Visa Center:

Preheat temper to 100*F (government bureaucracy provides the best results).

Simmer piles of paperwork and $365 for 6 months over Vermont Service Center heat. Stir for 4 days. Transfer the undesirable part of the paperwork to the NVC, discard desirable paperwork.

Once paperwork is at NVC, allow to simmer for 3 weeks. Add $400. Stir. Add an additional $70. Spend another $200 collecting more paperwork, and mail in one small piece at a time, as per NVC's instructions.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

NVC will tell you that they lost something. Speak with under-educated, poorly-trained call center operator. Allow temper to cool before calling again. Repeat.

NVC will request paperwork that does not exist. Speak with under-educated, poorly-trained call center operator. Allow temper to cool before calling again. Repeat.

Call overseas embassies until you have changed two US foreign policies. Request emails to be sent to the NVC.

NVC will reject emails from embassies around the world. Speak with under-educated, poorly-trained call center operator. Allow temper to cool before calling again. Repeat. Simmer for four weeks until paperwork is rejected.

Call NVC and yell at operator until supervisor interrupts. He will turn out to be a miracle-worker. Follow all of his advice, and you will have a "case complete"!

My husband's NOT Canadian, so I can't offer advice or specifics. HOWEVER, I found this thread interesting for two reasons:

1. we sent in a country-wide police report and it was rejected, because

2. the NVC, in their infinite wisdom , preferred a local police report

everybody say it with me: NVC,#######?

sorry... blonde moment... I actually have no idea about your DS-3032, and I can't edit my reply. Sorry

Here you go: http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/..._live_in_the_US best of luck!

My timeline is in my signature... not finished yet, but should give you a good idea. (Also, I found myself in the same boat as you, so I feel your pain).

You DO have to do the DS-3032. I recommend via email. There's a good thread that goes over what happens in NVC for CR-1; I'm going to go try to find it now for you.

I don't have an answer for you, but I can't tell you what I'd pay to have had the opportunity to go the I-129F / K-3 route. For some unknown reason, VSC only approved my I-130, despite having approved my request to expedite the I-129F just days earlier. sigh....

In my experience, don't be surprised if you get an RFE, then call the NVC immediately and request that a supervisor take a look at your packet.

That's what I did (with my "better than requested" police certificate), and HOPEFULLY, someone at NVC grows a brain and realizes that it's ok.

Best of luck.

I just called NVC and they're telling me that a person can't have "criminal report" if they've never been convicted of a crime.

My husband's criminal report says "--- has never been convicted of a crime".

Similarly, they say that the "police report"'s sole function is to say that the person has never been convicted of a crime.

"Oh dear," says the NVC, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

When I looked in to this for my hubby, I got some great news: not only can he attend school, but he pays the same price as me. (at our community college, a county resident of more than three years pays $50 a credit, a resident of another county pays $100 a credit, and an international pays $250 a credit. My husband was considered a "county resident of more than three years" because that's what I was )

You're probably thinking the same thing as me: aren't all of those the same document? Apparently not.

We're at the NVC now, and we collected all of the relevant paperwork. The instructions say "police certificate", so off my hubby went to get the best police certificate out there. We don't want to take any chances on this, so every t is crossed and every i dotted.

My husband went to the capital city of Rwanda to acquire the actual, meaningful police paper, which states that his record is clear for the entire country. This paper is called a "Extrait du Casier Judiciaire" (aka Police Criminal Record Report), which the US government considers a "Criminal Record" (see the link here, scroll down to the bottom). The Rwandan government in the capital has access to all police information in the entire country, and issues this one paper for the entire country. Piece of cake.

or so we thought...

Well, the NVC wants what is called a "Certificat de Bonne Conduite" (aka Certificate of Good Conduct) from every province where my husband has lived. The NVC considers this a "Police Record", and it essentially says the same thing, but is less meaningful.

Riddle me this: Why, when we sent in the "Extrait du Casier Judiciaire", are they insisting on the "Certificat de Bonne Conduite"? What in the world is the difference between a "police record" and a "criminal record"?

This is the most asinine process ever. I'm ready to pack my bags and move to Rwanda, where I can hire a nice boy or girl to do my laundry, another to do my housecleaning, another to cook, another to keep the lawn, and I'll never have to see a flake of snow again.

Can I rant for a minute?

How is it possible that NVC received the papers in my packet that were BEFORE the police clearance and the papers that were AFTER the police clearance, but lost my police clearance??? They're arguing up and down with me about it and I know that I mailed it in the packet. I actually remember noticing that one clearance had a staple which made the center of my application bulge a little bit. Plus, I checked the paperwork about fifteen times. ARGHHHHHHH!

Similarly, how is it possible that it takes 8 to 10 business days for a supervisor to walk to the office, find my application, and confirm that the police clearances are, in fact, there, right behind the colored tab which I cleverly labeled "police clearances".

If I started a line of VSC/NVC voodoo dolls, who'd buy one? I'm thinking that they'd be labeled with common excuses. My first will say: "please allow six to eight years for processing"

My husband's theory is that everyone who works for NVC is single.

I miss him

Does anyone know if Nairobi grants the visa then and there, or if my husband will have to wait a week or two?

Also, Nairobi is "appointment post". Does NVC set his interview date, or Nairobi? (I've heard horror stories about Nairobi losing applications for months at a time, and I miss my husband!)

Thanks

I'm virtually certain that they administratively close the I-129F when the I-130 is approved, which is a huge pain for some of us (i.e. if your husband lives next door to the embassy that would issue his K3, but has to take a day-long bus trip to the CR-1 embassy, hypothetically speaking, of course).

I'm about a month ahead of you in the process, and here's my advice: collect ALL of the papers that you'll need for the I-130/CR-1 and just plow ahead with that. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=136822 has a lot of really useful info

(as further proof, see my timeline below. My I-129F was accepted to be expedited, and they haven't touched it in 2 months, so I'd say with certainty that it's been administratively closed).

I can't find much info about the Nairobi embassy... have any of you been dealing with them at all? (we had planned to go the K3 route, but when the I-130 got approved, it administratively closed our I-129F, so my husband will have to travel 20 hours to Nairobi, rather than a short walk to the Kigali embassy. Argh!)

Also, any guess on when they'll schedule his interview, assuming they see all that they need with the DS-230? He's scheduled to start school on September 2, and it's looking less and less likely that he'll be here. sigh.

I seriously wish I had found this site nine months ago. When we started the process, the government official that we contacted swore up and down that it would take 2 months, tops I'd say their estimate was a little off

Can anyone help me as to what i should be doing next....after I received my NAO2? thanks!

Krista,

Get ready, because another big paper shuffle is coming (as if we hadn't had enough of that already !).

For what's coming next, check out the NVC flowchart at http://www.visajourney.com/examples/NVC_Pr...wchart_v1-2.pdf

and there's a list of ways to keep the processing time to a bare minimum at http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/...'s_Shortcut

Get the forms ready now, and make sure to take advantage of the email and pay online options Best wishes!

after 5 months of lurking in the forums, reading, learning, panicking, and missing my husband, I finally decided to post and join my fellow "sufferers"... I'm praying that we're all reunited with our spouses soon! Thanks for all of your wisdom and advice