sophisgent
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Posts posted by sophisgent
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When was the DS230 received by NVC, and how did they notify you of the deficiency, e-mail? or by u. s. postal service?
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Hello Vj'rs.
I have filed (2) I-130 for my setp children in Cameroun Africa. Now we all need to send applications in Chicago, which I have done. yesterday I have received first NOA. It came all the way from Laguna Niguel, California.
I reside in New Hampshire. my closest service center is Vermont.
Can someone please help me understand this matter . I am a bit confused I was certain it was going to be in Vermont.
Thank you for reading and your help is appreciated!
Mmebitote
They do it all the time. Mine was TSC and it ended up in Vermont. Who knows if there is any rhyme or reason to it.
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I filed IR5 (i-130) for my mom thru chicago lock box in july 07-2008,recieved NOA1 from vermont,the case then transferred to California service center in first week of Dec 2008 and got approved on 31st dec 2008
Thanks, Saahfa!
That's really helpful information!
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Who has had Vermont Service Center Experience -- processing I-130 Petition to bring parent to U.S.??? Either:
1. Presently pending at Vermont Service Center
2. Recently processed through Vermont Service Center
Would love to know how long it took and how it went?
Just filed one through Chicago which was referred to Vermont.
Thanks.
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On the bright side, I now know that NVC accepts notarized/apostilled copies from Ukraine. Please see this: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=579901 for details. I'll be happy to repost it as a new thread here if this is allowed.
Finally, a question: How can I contact the moderator of this forum on VJ?
In general, they should return all original documents at the interview - except for police certificates.
A list of VJ moderators can be found here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...mp;CODE=leaders
It's not surprising that this is a common mistake, RFE documents from NVC, in general, are not incredibly clear (ie they contain a lot of 'not needed' info and therefore some real information can get lost).
Glad you got this cleared up.
Trailmix,
You are all wet.
You went off on the same wild goose chase that my friend Janeaus did.
I see you are a newbie, having joined up in March 2007.
Now, so far, VJ posters have good heartedly but erroneously suggested:
1. Resubmitting the documents back to NVC. This would never work because the documents never should have been sent to NVC in the first place.
2. Talk to a supervisor. This is normally an exercise in futility - takes a lot of time - and you are 50/50 getting someone who knows what they are doing.
3. Your suggestions again indicate you did not grasp the root cause of the op's problem-and that was the op made a mistake in reading the instructions from NVC concerning the DS-230 requirements that the mother of the OP, not the OP, was responsible for submitting documents, not to NVC, but to the consular official at the U. S. Embassy at time of visa interview in Kiev.
In reading the most recent thing Janeaus has posted, I still think he is misconstruing the role of NVC in this process with that of the U. S. embassy regarding the examination of certain documents which pertain to his mother.
FYI, British Expats has been in business a whole lot longer than VJ. Have you never been there?
Finally, you infer that I didn't want to help OP. Actually, last night, when I pieced everything together, I privately messaged OP and told him where he was going wrong, and Janeaus reported that today.
Best wishes,
SG - Archie Wilson
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Let's hang Archie Wilson.
Shoot him on sight.
I was drunk when I typed what I typed.
Part of what Archie said is erroneous.
NVC is a collection point for documents pertaining to DS-230.
Apologies to Trailmix.
Archie Wilson
p.s.
Soberly, I don't think it is a good idea to send originals of anything to NVC.
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On the bright side, I now know that NVC accepts notarized/apostilled copies from Ukraine. Please see this: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=579901 for details. I'll be happy to repost it as a new thread here if this is allowed.
Finally, a question: How can I contact the moderator of this forum on VJ?
In general, they should return all original documents at the interview - except for police certificates.
A list of VJ moderators can be found here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...mp;CODE=leaders
It's not surprising that this is a common mistake, RFE documents from NVC, in general, are not incredibly clear (ie they contain a lot of 'not needed' info and therefore some real information can get lost).
Glad you got this cleared up.
Trailmix,
You are all wet.
You went off on the same wild goose chase that my friend Janeaus did.
I see you are a newbie, having joined up in March 2007.
Now, so far, VJ posters have good heartedly but erroneously suggested:
1. Resubmitting the documents back to NVC. This would never work because the documents never should have been sent to NVC in the first place.
2. Talk to a supervisor. This is normally an exercise in futility - takes a lot of time - and you are 50/50 getting someone who knows what they are doing.
3. Your suggestions again indicate you did not grasp the root cause of the op's problem-and that was the op made a mistake in reading the instructions from NVC concerning the DS-230 requirements that the mother of the OP, not the OP, was responsible for submitting documents, not to NVC, but to the consular official at the U. S. Embassy at time of visa interview in Kiev.
In reading the most recent thing Janeaus has posted, I still think he is misconstruing the role of NVC in this process with that of the U. S. embassy regarding the examination of certain documents which pertain to his mother.
FYI, British Expats has been in business a whole lot longer than VJ. Have you never been there?
Finally, you infer that I didn't want to help OP. Actually, last night, when I pieced everything together, I privately messaged OP and told him where he was going wrong, and Janeaus reported that today.
Best wishes,
SG - Archie Wilson
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I suggest you also post this matter on Britishexpats.com under the 'USA marriage based visa" forum. . . It is much larger than this venue, and the persons there are, in many instances, more knowledgeable than those here
Hasn't posted in months and Archie's first post is to send people to another site...
My VJ Colleagues,
I was holding Stephen's hand when this site was founded in 2003.
Knowledge is where you find it.
Sincerely,
Archie Wilson
p.s.
Wife became U. S. citizen on Dec. 4, 2008.
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Hi Gleb,
You have done a great job of framing this question, and setting out the facts.
I suggest you also post this matter on Britishexpats.com under the 'USA marriage based visa" forum. . . It is much larger than this venue, and the persons there are, in many instances, more knowledgeable than those here.
Also, alert your congressional representatives to what is going on - just like you did here. The USCIS has a congressional liason avail to congressional elected reps which cut through the red tape and cut to the chase on issues such as the one you have posed.
What you are detailing has been done numerous times, and you need to know and deserve to know why NVC did what it did, and what you need to do to keep this thing from getting hung up.
Sincerely,
SG
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Dear members,The NVC has just dealt a blow to my DS-230 application for an IR-5 on behalf of my mother. I hope that someone having experience dealing with the NVC and/or with Ukrainian cases can help me. My apologies for the length of this.
Minimum background:
I am a US citizen petitioning for my mother to come to the US from Ukraine (UA). We followed the I-130 / NVC route. As soon as my mom got the Choice of Agent form, she designated me as her agent and I went all the way to gathering the I-864 and DS-230 packages and sending them to the NVC on Dec 5, 2008 (under the same cover.) In support of the DS-230, my mother had supplied certified copies of the necessary civil documents, including her birth and marriage certificates.
The problem:
Today, I received a "checklist letter" from the NVC. In it, they request two civil documents, my mom's birth and marriage certificates. This obviously means that the submitted certified copies were considered insufficiently certified -- and ignored. I believe that they were ignored wrongly.
Advice sought:
I need to know to what extent I can/should plead my case with the NVC and what are my other options. I would appreciate separate advice on the birth certificate and the marriage certificate because these two documebts were executed differently. If you've got this far, I would greatly appreciate your reading both cases.
1) Case of Rejected Birth Certificate
From the get-go, we decided not to entrust the mail with any hard-to-obtain originals. For those not familiar with UA specifics, the Ukrainian government authority issuing documents of civil status is called ZAGS. It is quite unheard-of for the ZAGS to provide certified copies of birth certificates at citizen's request. A citizen has one and only birth certificate, THE original, for life. One can only receive another -- called "duplicate" -- if the original is lost. Therefore, in his case it is not possible to comply with the NVC's request for a document copy "certified by the issuing entity."
So my mom and I decided to follow an alternate route and obtain an APOSTILLED notarized copy. Fortunately, the US Department of State recognizes that notariztion is the way of certifying documents in Ukraine:
-- "Certified copies of documents are made at local notary offices, and signatures and seals of local notaries may be authenticated at the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice." (see http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/reciproc...city_3697.html).
So my mom made a photocopy of her birth certificate, had it notarized, and then ad it apostilled at the Ministry of Justice. I put that in the DS-230 package, in which I explanied the Ukrainian certification process citing the above...
...This just got rejected.
Questions:
Will calling NVC and pleading my case get me anywhere?
Do you know of successful cases of NVC counting in a previously rejected checklist document based on a phone call?
What are my alternatives, considering that originals of birth certificates may not even be exportable from Ukraine (I don't know about Ukraine, but Russia recently passed legislation banning the mailing of original ID documents)?
2) Case of Rejected Marriage Certificate
The submitted marriage certificate was precisely what the NVC calls for: a copy of the official record certified by the issuer, the Kiev city ZAGS! And apostilled to boot. NVC's rejection of this document speaks of their incompetence, but that's not the point... what am I to do? Just get my mom to send me another one and resubmit? With or without a cover letter explaining why they should have accepted this the first time around? Call NVC and plead my case?
Perhaps it is possible to convince NVC to just cut it short and pass the file on to the US embassy in Kiev, where my mother can come and produce the originals?
Does it make sense to contact the embassy's toll help line with these questions?
Thank you very much and again, sorry for the verbosity.
Gleb
PS. An interesting cross reference from a post by member bgreed, written in June:
==
Here is the problem my wife and her son were born in different cities in Russia they now live in Ukraine it is extremely difficult to get documents from the issuing authority with traveling there to get them and even then it can be difficult. So any thoughts? How about a notary with apostille that says it is a true and complete copy of the original?
==
Unfortunatley, bgreed's question was left without an answer..
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I became friends with a guy named Stephen Palick, back in January 2003, when a number of I-129 F petitions were being held hostage at TSC. After 9-11, processing had stopped on I-129 F petitions at TSC, and the INS was not being truthful to the petitioners or congressional representatives that the applications were being processed. In actuality, the applications had not been processed. A V-Day protest was formed to coincide with Valentine's Day, and strangers assembled to express their grievance to the government at the executive offices of the INS in Dallas, Tx, complete with print media and television coverage. The INS was taken by surprise, and granted relief in response to the bad publicity it was receiving.
Stephen Palick got fired up, and wondered what he to do to make a difference, so he started this website - VISAJOURNEY.
I started this thread in December 2007, wondering how the process was going to work after the USCIS experienced a tremendous glut of applications, and took over 90 days to acknowledge that it received an N-400 Application and cash the check.
On Friday, Sep. 26, 2008, my wife went for her N-400 citizenship interview in Memphis, TN, after having to reschedule from a July 23, 2008 date, due to a lost notice letter, and a conflict with a professional admission exam. Resolution of this was by FedEx letter, 2 days before the July interview date requesting rescheduling, so this experience proves it can be done.
In short, the interview lasted 27 minutes ... start to finish . . . and the interviewer recommended her for citizenship. My wife is an extraordinarily brilliant young woman, who graduated magna cum laude from law school, so answering some questions about the United States, and writing a sentence was no big deal. She didn't tell the interviewer that an ivy league institution had published one of her articles in its law review. She is presently working as a federal judicial law clerk for a judge on a United States appellate circuit court.
Her journey began when she arrived in America on May 2, 2003. She did AOJ in New Orleans on December 15, 2004, and had the conditions on Legal Permanent Residence removed in April 2007, and the N-400 was filed on Sep, 27, 2007,and then adjudicated a year later, after having to reschedule.
The process has been administered by real people from what started as the INS, and then was BCIS, and now the USCIS. It was started not long after 9/11, in November 2002, with an I-129F application. The government personnel dealt with have been uniformly courteous . . . in some instances the information line good, and sometimes, not so good. During the process, it has been necessary to have elected representatives make inquiries. They have been extremely helpful . . . never hesitate to ask them to help you.
The technology and handling of petitions has changed dramatically. When first started the various petitions after I-129 F were kept at the district office in New Orleans.... now there is the central storage in Missouri, and the digital fingerprints, when things started, it was the inkers. The office in Memphis moved from one location to a new up to date building. Things have come a long way in six years.
She still has the oath ceremony and obtaining a U.S. passport to wrap it up, but now, I think the wind is at her back, and the rest is going to go fine.
Thank you for your support, and good luck to you on your journey.
Sincerely,
Archie Wilson
p.s.
It's nice that others on this process have provided timely and helpful information. And goodnight Matt Udall, wherever you are.
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USCIS told me that when this happens, they place the application back on the end of the queue, causing a huge delay.Has anybody else written to their representative and if so, what did it achieve?Who at USCIS told you this?
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Does anyone knows about the oath ceremony dates for the local office in memphis ? if notr, how can we obtain the dates ?
Hi,
Congrats on your progress!
Do you have any idea how you have been able to move so fast.
Do you have military or some other factor expediting your application?
Archie Wilson
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What's the status report on those filing after the glut of fee increase folks ... the ones filing after July 31, 2007 - specifically the filers in Aug., Sep. and Oct 2007.
Most of these filers are about the six month mark - you know the date by which the USCIS set it's limit by which the would be processed - that is, before the stampede to beat the Aug. 1, 2007 fee increase.
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how long does it take for you to get your citizenship once you applied in memphis for it ? I really would like to know from people who filed in memphis and not from the uscis timelines.
Hi Kate,
What is your timeline?
i haven't apply yet i will apply april the 28th. I knew that i have to file at texas service center instead of the local office in memphis.
My wife applied and N-400 was received on Sept. 26, 2007.
Check was cashed on Dec. 19, 2007.
Fingerprints done about Jan. 15, 2008.
Nothing since then.
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how long does it take for you to get your citizenship once you applied in memphis for it ? I really would like to know from people who filed in memphis and not from the uscis timelines.
Hi Kate,
What is your timeline?
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Update: My wife just recieved her interview date in the mail today from US-CIS.
We mailed my wife's N-400 October 25, 2007
Confirmed delivery to TxSC- October 29, 2007
Our personal check for $675 was cashed 12/27/2007.
NoA1 Return Receipt Received - December 31, 2007
Biometrics done - February 27, 2008
Interview scheduled - May 13, 2008
Congratulations! It is exciting news.
Thanks for your report.
Now let's have some of the rest of you give us some idea how things are going for you.
Thanks.
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Who here has been able to using the SSC handle:
1. Check case status.
2. Receive e-mail notification of changes in case status?
On a personal note, envelope came in the mail today:
Fingerprint notice date: Jan. 4, 2008
Fingerprint date: Jan. 23, 2008
@ Memphis ASR
Archie Wilson
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After reading that some folks have started getting their checks cashed, I logged into our online banking account this morning. Sure enough...our check was cashed on 12/27. At least we know that my wife's N-400 hasn't been lost (yet).
We mailed my wife's N-400 October 25, 2007
Confirmed delivery to TxSC- October 29, 2007
Our personal check for $675 was cashed 12/27/2007.
Return Receipt Received - None
Congratulations, and consider yourself lucky! Many of us who are just now having our checks cashed sent in our applications in July and August!
Immigration is certainly a test of patience, isn't it?
Best,
Denise
I have been tracking the situation on British Expats, also.
The times from receipt to cashing the checks has ranged from 120ish days at the peak of the glut in August after the Aug. 1, 2007 fee increase, to 84-100 days for the early to late September filers, to now 43 days for a mid November filer. We now have the report on this thread of 60 days from TSC receipt to check being cashed for a end of October filing.
The question now that TSC has processed checks, and issuing notices of action, is:
How long for fingerprints,
How long for interview notice,
How long for interview, and
How long for oath?
You would think with the HUGE revenue windfall from the increased fees, that the USCIS will hire extra personnel at the Field Offices to handle the workload, especially in an election year.
It all remains to be seen.
Archie Wilson
Updating:
Received the NOA on Dec. 31, 2007, for Receipt dated Dec. 26, 2007.
N-400 received on Sep. 26, 2007.
Notice said expect interview notice within 365 days.. . .Memphis.
Archie Wilson
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After reading that some folks have started getting their checks cashed, I logged into our online banking account this morning. Sure enough...our check was cashed on 12/27. At least we know that my wife's N-400 hasn't been lost (yet).
We mailed my wife's N-400 October 25, 2007
Confirmed delivery to TxSC- October 29, 2007
Our personal check for $675 was cashed 12/27/2007.
Return Receipt Received - None
Congratulations, and consider yourself lucky! Many of us who are just now having our checks cashed sent in our applications in July and August!
Immigration is certainly a test of patience, isn't it?
Best,
Denise
I have been tracking the situation on British Expats, also.
The times from receipt to cashing the checks has ranged from 120ish days at the peak of the glut in August after the Aug. 1, 2007 fee increase, to 84-100 days for the early to late September filers, to now 43 days for a mid November filer. We now have the report on this thread of 60 days from TSC receipt to check being cashed for a end of October filing.
The question now that TSC has processed checks, and issuing notices of action, is:
How long for fingerprints,
How long for interview notice,
How long for interview, and
How long for oath?
You would think with the HUGE revenue windfall from the increased fees, that the USCIS will hire extra personnel at the Field Offices to handle the workload, especially in an election year.
It all remains to be seen.
Archie Wilson
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Hubba Hubba!
Movement at TSC!
Ok folks, here's an update:
My check received on Sept. 27, 2007, cashed on Dec. 21, 2007.
How about the rest of you . . . any checks cashed?
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Mailed November 1, signed for at TSC on November 5, and we got nothin'.
They've been current on receipts for all other applications for the last two weeks, yet they still haven't budged a day on N-400 receipts. It's been stuck at 7/31/07 for the last three weeks! And only moved 5 days in the 7 weeks since we filed!
Hi Spark,
You need to take a look up at what DDL has posted.
Things are starting to move a little bit.
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Our check (dated 08 Aug 07) was FINALLY cashed yesterday, 18 Dec 2007!
Thank you very much DDL for posting!
That's 125 days from date of receipt to date of cashing . . . 4 months and 5 days.
Please continue to post on fp notice and interview date.
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Fed-Ex N-400 to TSC on September 25, 2007; received at TSC on September 27, 2007.
No check cashed.
No notification.
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Just threw one in the hopper on Sep. 26.
From you recent filers, how long is it taking TSC:
1. Cash the check?
2. Provide receipt and give you a case number?
My N400 went in on 26 July (received 30 July in Mesquite). To date cheque not cashed - more than 8 weeks later.
According to the weekly update of progress from USCIS, TSC had reached only as far as apps received on 17 July last weekend.
A couple of threads below for July Filers and August Filers have links to the updates. TSC is very slow on N400s, they have moved only 2 days in about 5 weeks if I remember correctly. I think they are leaving them to concentrate on other things - seems that way.
I don't think anyone can say at present how long it'll take from here on in. It's all different from the norm.
Thanks for the good info!
I guess the next question is what was the experience of TSC handling the overflow on N-400s back when there was the last fee increase?
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Just threw one in the hopper on Sep. 26.
From you recent filers, how long is it taking TSC:
1. Cash the check?
2. Provide receipt and give you a case number?
"...within a week..." letter from NVC
in National Visa Center (Dept of State)
Posted
I have read this thread.
I thought NVC scheduled the interview date at the U. S. Embassy in Kiev?
My wife is obtaining an immigrant visa for her mother.
I wonder if it is a different process?, i.e., you have to schedule your K-1 visa, where NVC schedules the immigrant visas?
Any knowledgeable input on this will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Archie Wilson