aba anoma

wow- thanks again everyone! such love. i am so excited that i almost don't know what to do with myself...except hunt for an "affordable" flight!!

best wishes!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that my husband's visa was approved today in Accra. He was in and out of the embassy in an hour! I guess they called his name first- perhaps it's done alphabetically. Anyway, while I haven't posted much on VJ recently, I have definitely used it as a resource/support group/sanity-maintainer for the past 10 months and I wanted to thank you all for your support, advice, and encouragement!

Best wishes to everyone still in the process!

i am not sure if you are going to try petitioning, but if you do... know that it is not a prerequisite to have travel experience. my husband- a ghanaian- received a multiple entry tourist visa in 2007. he had never been out of ghana. his interview was also three minutes, as they just asked him where i was (outside the embassy) and looked through my passport. i lived in ghana for several years and had registered my residency with the embassy. i am certain that he only received the tourist visa because he was married to an american living IN ghana. had i been here already, i am sure he would have been denied. if the visa was denied on the grounds of lack of travel and financial ties, and you can prove the financial ties, it would be a good argument. that said, i have to agree that your contacting the embassy will not really help his case. fair or not, as zee said, once they catch wind of a relationship, they are very unlikely to give out a tourist visa.

best of luck!

Do you guys know where I can find nutritional info, like calories and carb counts for palmnut fruit? My husband made some palmnut soup last night and it was so good! but I couldnt eat much because I was afraid of the carb count. I know it has a lot of oil. I looked all over the web but couldnt find anything and the can of palmnut cream was a product of ghana and had no nutritional values listed. Please help steer me in the right direction. Thanks!!

hi efia! i don't know about the carb count, but i do know that palm oil is one of the least healthy oils for you. it is a lot more unhealthy than say olive, peanut or general vegetable oil- i think because of a higher fat content. however, if you're more concerned with carbs, it might work out. maybe the canned cream is healthier than the oil anyway. myself- i'm a sucker for nkatse nkwan (groundnut soup). mmmmm...

thanks for the advice! i actually did ask for a supervisor. once i found out that we were not scheduled for april, i requested to speak with a supervisor to try to get more information about what is going on. it was the supervisor who told me that she couldn't answer any of my questions due to security. basically i was just trying to get an idea of how backed up the embassy is and if we could reasonably expect to be scheduled in may. i understand that they can only tell me so much, but she was very uncooperative. it's not like i was asking for the names and addresses of the people ahead of me! after paying almost $500, i don't think it's unreasonable to get a little information.

i did call the embassy in ghana today. it was quite an experience. the person on the phone kept trying to explain to me that they did not have my case yet, and i kept trying to explain that i understood that and that if they had my case, i would not need to call. finally i was able to get out my question- how long are people waiting now for immigrant visa interviews? he told me that "generally" people wait 6 weeks to 3 months. by not getting an april date, we are already beyond three months.

so my new question is- if we do not get scheduled for may, do you think my husband could come visit in the meantime on his tourist visa? if he is not scheduled for may, that means we will be waiting 4+ months for our interview date, which seems beyond general processing. i am worried about the POE- but obviously he would be returning to ghana for his interview. who would pass up a green card and SSN for a six month visa? i am trying to avoid canceling the wedding. i have a cousin traveling all the way from japan to be here. i understand we should have waited for confirmation, but as i said, when our case was complete in january, i really thought- and reasonably so- that my husband would be here by march or early april...

thanks so much for the advice and support! i really need and appreciate it!! sorry for the long posts.

i just spoke with a "supervisor" at the NVC who actually proceeded to read me the standard "due to the limited capacity..." spiel when i tried to get some real information about 1. why it is taking so long to schedule my husband's interview and 2. if i could get a general idea of when it might be scheduled. short answer: no, despite you paying us $470, we will give you no actual information.

this woman confirmed that we were not scheduled for april (case completed JANUARY 22) and said i should call back in april. um, no. you should give me some idea of when the interview might actually be scheduled. in between talking in circles and putting her foot in her mouth, she said that case completion date is "one things" they consider in scheduling the interview. good to know. she said for security purposes she could not tell me the others! helpful. anyway, i guess it is possible that the embassy in ghana is just really backed up- the most recent case i can find on VJ is someone whose case was completed december 16th who received a march 30th interview...still, i don't think it's unreasonable to receive some idea of when it might be scheduled for at this point. it's not as if my case was completed yesterday and i'm just being impatient.

so my question is- do you think it would be helpful to call the embassy in accra to try to get an idea of when we might be scheduled? ie how many openings they have each month or i don't even really know. i'm not asking for a specific day- just a general 'may' or 'september' would be nice!! here's where it gets really fun. we are scheduled to have an american "wedding" on june 6th. this date was picked in 2007 when we thought my husband would be moving here fall '08. long story. i thought of cancelling the wedding, but when we were finally approved on christmas eve and completed the NVC so quickly, i foolishly thought we would be home free. every other case i could find for ghana last year was scheduled for an interview in the month following their case completion- some in just three weeks! now it is march, we have no date for april, and i am losing my mind. my husband still has his first visa (B1/B2 multiple entry, expiring in august)- if we are not going to get his interview before the wedding- which would be incredible- 4.5 months!!- then i would rather have him be here now on that visa. i know it is risky traveling on a tourist visa with the IR1 visa pending, but I also feel like a 3+ month wait for an interview is outside standard processing.

i don't know what to do. i would appreciate any advice. i am angry and sad and i just want to hold my husband's hand. i am sorry for the outburst- i am really just losing it. i never thought this would be the slow part of the process!

thanks so much for any advice!

I guess I will have to join this thread eventhough i will have interview in Bangkok, Thailand. It has been a long waiting for me.

haha i'm going to join in too! i've been waiting since january for an interview in accra, ghana. i am slowly losing my mind! let's hear it for moral support!

good luck everyone!

hi everyone!

my husband and i were married in ghana over three years ago, but we are planning our american 'wedding.' we just had a legal ceremony in ghana, with no celebration (and none of my family). we set the date for our wedding over a year and a half ago, when we thought my husband would be returning to the US in the fall of '08. long story short. he is still in ghana, waiting for an interview date. our wedding is scheduled for june 6th. stressful? A BIT. i am hoping/praying/counting on an april interview, given that serenity's case was completed about a month before ours and their interview is in march. also, i think i will have a complete breakdown if he doesn't get an april interview, so i try to think positively.

so my question is- does anyone have any experience getting visas for friends/family members to attend a wedding here in the US? we have several people who are interested in coming. does anyone know if there is a special process? do they just need to sign up for a NIV appointment? my husband called into some talk show with a consulate worker. he says that she said i should send a list of invited guests to the embassy. is this true? theoretically i could just put anyone's name on the list...it seems strange. i am planning to send them the wedding invitation, but i don't know what else they would need. it also seems problematic for them to be applying for visas to attend our wedding when my husband hasn't been granted his immigrant visa yet (though i am not worried about its approval- when he received his NIV, they actually told him he should work on his IV). really, i would appreciate any advice! i can't imagine getting 'married' without any of our ghanaian friends and family.

YE DA WO ASE PIIIIII! thanks a lot!!

ayekoo!!

Any one heard fromCMNB?????

i was just thinking the same thing! our cases were approved a day apart- any news cmnb??

i'm afraid this is not going to be my lucky month. another ghana case that was approved in december just got an interview for march 30th. never thought that this would be the part of the process to slow me down. we'll see what happens. c'est la vie.

congrats to everyone who has gotten their interview dates!! you're almost there!

i just called to check about mine and the woman- whom i'm guessing is brand new- literally asked me to hold while she scrolled to the second page of her script about 'limited capacity' and the scheduling protocol. i was feeling very optimistic that i would be scheduled this month (based on recent history for the embassy) but then i came across someone whose case was completed in december and has not been scheduled yet. now i'm very nervous. i know each embassy is different, but everyone else's dates make me hopeful- fingers crossed!

good luck to everyone else still waiting!

We finally got the i-130 approval!!! Now we have to wait for instructions from NVC. The Congressman....Senator thing didn`t help a bit. USCIS deals with things the way they please....they told our congressman we were in FBI background check and that they couldn`t give him any information when in reality they didn`t like my husband`s birth certificate, which he's been using all his life, including to enroll for military service and had no problems before now. We waited over a year just to be told they needed another copy. Anyways...Hubby got another birth certificate from his hometown, sent it to them and all is fine. I hope NVC will be smoothe sailing.

congratulations!! wow. what an ordeal. i'm so happy that you're finally moving along. be sure to use the NVC guides- you'll be able to breeze right through in less than a month (if your documents are ready). again, congrats!

ayekoo! congratulations! i'm glad to hear it. let me know if you have any NVC questions. accra, here we come!

you mean i can downlaod now the DS-3032 without waiting letter from NVC???? YOU DID THE SAME WAY?? then send it direct to NVC thru fedex??

technically you will both receive it, as it is really "for" the beneficiary. i received a copy with the I-864 bill in the mail (as the petitioner) and at some point, i suppose my husband may receive his copy in ghana. but yes, you can download a copy without waiting for one in the mail. my husband printed the form, filled it out, and mailed it to me here in the US. as the beneficiary, you must sign the DS-3032. i had it ready and simply dated it and mailed it to the NVC once i learned the DS-3032 had been generated for our case. no problem at the NVC. if your DS-3032 has already been generated, you can send it directly to the NVC yourself right now. otherwise, i would fill it out and send it to your husband so he can quickly mail it in when NVC asks for it.

CASE COMPLETE! finally!! i was beginning to worry about a RFE...interview scheduling, here we come!

I just called NVC for a status update and nothing yet. They didnt even tell me that they have received the files yet. The AOS was received by them yesterday while the IV packet arrived there today. Is this normal?

it's totally normal. the NVC received all of my documents last thursday and it took them a week (with no RFEs) to review and complete my case.

congrats cmnb!! very exciting. the NVC received my documents on the same day as yours, so i am hoping to be approved this week as well. an operator just told me that they were doing their "final review." i feel like they give out the same standard answers when they don't have any tangible update. we'll see.

good luck to everyone!

yes, as far as i can tell, we should both be in line for a march interview! from the CR1/IR1 forum, i've learned that the NVC does the interview scheduling the first two weeks of each month. so we've missed out on january but our cases should be complete in time to get in line for scheduling in february. generally- unless the country is v. popular- they seem to arrange the interviews for the following month- in our case, march. looking at the timeline here, it looks like the people who waited two months between case completion and interview were still interviewed the next month following their scheduling (if that makes sense)- ie they completed their case after the first two weeks of the month and so missed that month's scheduling session.

of course, anything can happen- but here's hoping!

i'm a little late in the game here.

re: affidavits- i had two friends who both spent a significant amount of time with my husband and i together in ghana write ours. i did not ask any family members, because my family had only recently met my husband when he visited the US for one month in 2007. neither friend was at our "wedding" (ie signing of the marriage certificate). one friend had known us as a couple for over four years and the other had spent a year living in ghana and visited us several times. our petition was approved with no RFEs. that said, i also sent in photos documenting our relationship, along with a copy of our shared lease, copies of letters/cards/postcards, text message records, etc etc.

i would definitely try to send a variety of 'evidence'- nothing overwhelming, just a sampling of your ongoing relationship.

good luck!

okay, i've never seen that attached chart before, but what i've noticed from zee's tracking is that K1/K3 visas wait anywhere from 4-6 months for an interview, while the CR1/IR1 interviews seem to be scheduled within two months of their case completion at the NVC...which would be in keeping with other NVC cases. i am also hoping for a march interview! i was under the impression that the NVC schedules the date for the CR1/IR1 interviews, while the embassy itself schedules the K1 interviews. i don't know if that is correct since i did not look into a K1 visa, but if true it could explain the discrepancy.

thanks kelvin. the IV bill shows as PAID this morning anyway so i'll just print off the cover sheets and send in everything to the NVC. i always get nervous when i'm at the post office, worried that somehow i've forgotten something and will get slowed down. this whole process has turned me into a paranoid over-analyst.

cmnb- i'm glad to hear that everything should be fine!

wait, are you sure it hasn't been generated? because for me it looked like it was not possible to pay the IV bill until it had been generated. on friday, i signed in to pay the AOS fee and noticed that we would also be paying the IV fee through the same website. at the time, the IV bill said something like 'not generated'- or something to that effect- but when i signed in on saturday just to check on the AOS bill, the IV bill appeared as "not paid" so i figured it had just been generated since my DS3032 was processed the day before. i definitely got the feeling that you wouldn't be able to access the IV bill until it had been created...but this is just my thinking.

maybe call the NVC back to confirm with someone else that your IV bill has really not been generated?? good luck! i'm sure it will work out.

i would stlll send photocopies just to be safe. plus, you might want the originals back- esp. the marriage and birth certificates!

congrats kelvin! very exciting.

quick question- i am planning to send my AOS and DS230 packets together. my AOS fee was already accepted and i paid the IV fee on saturday so i figured i might as well just send them in together. i think i've seen a few other people do it...is there any reason not to send them together? i thought it might make things a little faster to process (and save me some $$)--though in general, it seems like the NVC is 100x faster than USCIS!

the AVR says that they've accepted my DS3032 and i should wait for something in the mail. i figure that's just the IV checklist and DS-230. assuming i have everything ready, i don't actually need to wait for anything in the mail to include with my packets, right?

THANKS!

to continue in my unending saga of AOS questions...

i just got my W-2 for my current job, which i began in june '08. i made enough money to clear the 125% poverty line for my household size. the I-864EZ says that "The income you are using to qualify is based entirely on your salary or pension and is shown on one or more Forms W-2 provided by your employer(s) or former employer(s)." so my question is- can i file the EZ form with my 2008 W-2 (but not include a '08 return)?

my '07 tax return was well below the qualifying line as i was out of the country. i guess i'm a bit worried about submitting an '08 W-2 (qualifying) but a '07 tax return (non-qualifying). at the same time, the EZ form would most obviously demonstrate that i now make enough money to qualify...i'm trying to draw attention away from my '07 return. i also have a letter from my employer. i had been planning to send in my '08 return, but my AOS fee has already been accepted and i have to wait until the end of the month for another W-2. i can do the regular I-864, but i thought maybe the EZ form would be processed more quickly? i've over-thought this process so much- sorry!

also, are people submitting their original pay stubs or photocopies? are you blocking out your account information? i feel a little weird sending over my account number (for direct deposit).

THANKS! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

Sam, best is to email and mail the DS 3032. from most cases here, I observed mailing works way faster than emailing. u just have to use a fast mail option. good luck

i definitely agree. i mailed our DS3032 overnight on thursday and it was received and accepted yesterday. i was just checking online to see if there was any progress in processing my AOS bill and saw that the IV bill had been generated. send it in the mail!

once you send in the i-130 and receive your NOA1 (receipt), you can visit this website: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/index.jsp - use your receipt number to create an account. i logged in every night for months to check for any updates. you can also sign up for email notification, which i highly recommend. i learned that my case was approved on december 24th via email, and have not yet received a hardcopy of the NOA2.

good luck!

--oops, i didn't see that vishal had just responded with the same info--