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intx13

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  1. Like
    intx13 got a reaction from N&P in The Malaysian VJ Thread   
    Hi folks! My wife passed her IR1/CR1 interview yesterday and we thought we'd post the Malaysia-specific info that we've learned along the way.
    General stuff

    The US consulate in KL is really good about replying to emails within a day or two. They're not so great with reading comprehension and tend to answer only the last question posed, so ask one question at a time and use simple English.
    When shipping documents to rural areas of peninsular Malaysia, expect an extra 7 days of delivery time on top of Fedex's quoted times. The local couriers with whom Fedex contracts for the last few km are not very efficient. Fedex suggested we mark all packages as containing "business documents".
    The US recognizes both Malaysian civil and Muslim marriages as valid. The marriage license needs to be translated into English.
    Malaysia is not a high-fraud country. Immigration to the US is relatively low and the consulate is generally friendly.

    Birth certificates
    You can get an newly-issued original birth certificate from most Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara branches. The head office can definitely do it. Call other branches to ask first. The branch will supply you with a form to fill out. Submit it to the counter with a copy of your I.C. and pay 5 RM per original. They will call you up to check over a draft before issuing the new originals.
    Police clearance
    You can apply for a Certificate of Good Conduct at Putrajaya. Make an account here and print out two copies of the required form. Fill them in and take them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Putrajaya. Bring 2 passport-size photos, 2 certified/notarized copies of your I.C., and 2 certified/notarized copies of both the biographic page and signature page of your passport. There is a 20 RM fee. When submitting the application, make sure you mention specifically that the application is for US immigration purposes. There is another version of the certificate that is given on your sworn word only, but that is not sufficient for US immigration.
    The Certificate of Good Conduct can take up to 2 months to become available. You can check its status with the online account you made. When it is ready you can go back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to collect it. If you prefer to have it mailed to you, then provide a self-addressed stamped A4-size envelope with your application. 1 RM in postage should be sufficient.
    Medical exam
    There are two clinics capable of doing the medical exam. Both are in peninsular Malaysia: one in Penang, one in KL. You will get the addresses and phone numbers when your interview date is scheduled, or you can find them here. The rest of this information pertains to the clinic in KL because that's the one my wife used.
    The KL clinic has normal week-day hours and limited Saturday hours. Unless you live in KL they will discourage you from making a Saturday appointment because if, for any reason, more tests need to be run or the X-ray must be re-done, it might be a time crunch. If you ask for a Saturday appointment, make sure to get one of the earlier appointments: 8 AM or 9 AM.
    The receptionist at the KL clinic is rather rude and curt. I had to call her and be pretty stern before she answered our questions properly. Don't let her push you around! There are several doctors there; the female doctor my wife had was extremely nice and very gentle.
    The KL clinic is near St. John school and CBN and (so says my wife) easy to find. The appointment will involve filling in forms, providing a urine sample, answering medical history questions, and asking for medical records. Bring any medical records you have, or request them from your current or most recent doctor. Bring your birth certificate - some people have their childhood immunization records printed on the back.
    You must also bring your interview appointment letter, plus means to pay for the exam and X-ray. The clinic will tell you to bring 500 RM, but it will probably cost less than 400 RM. The extra is in case you need to do additional tests.
    If you have no medical records and no immunization records on your birth certificate the doctor will judge from your answers to questions what immunizations you need. More than likely you will get two; the third is commonly given to all Malaysian schoolchildren so you've probably had it. The jabs are given on the butt - ouch! My wife says they weren't too bad, more like a fire ant bite.
    Blood will be drawn, but the doctor was very gentle - my wife has very difficult veins too, so that's saying something.
    You won't need to disrobe completely, but the doctor will do the usual checks. Expect to answer questions about any piercings or tattoos.
    Finally you'll get directions to the X-ray place. It's along Jalan Raja Laut, in the ground floor of the DBKL building or the building next door; my wife isn't sure from memory which it was. The nearest LRT stop is the one near Sogo.
    When you're all done you'll be told to call the clinic in a few days to check when the results are ready. Then you can stop by any time to pick them up. A friend had hers sent electronically to the consulate but we were never offered that option; I checked with the consulate and they said they have no preference. You only need to bring the exam results to the interview, not the X-ray results; but they might be in the same packet. If so, the consulate will return the X-ray results when you give them the packet before your interview.
    When you pick up your results you will be given an unsealed copy for yourself, so you can see what's in the report.
    IR1/CR1 Interview
    As mentioned at the top of this post, Malaysia is not a high-fraud country and the interview is relatively easy. Of course you should be prepared for anything, but from most accounts you won't be given trick questions or grilled on obscure details of your application. Your interview appointment letter will tell you to come to the consulate at 9 AM. You can definitely go earlier, and because the line forms quickly, it's recommended.
    First you go to the counter and give your ID to get a numbered tag. Then you line up and go through security, giving up your car keys and phone. Unlike some consulates, there is only one line, not separate immigrant / non-immigrant lines. Hang onto all your documents! You'll be told to go the room on the right, where you'll wait until your number is called. Then you'll be sent to the room on the left, where you be asked for your passport, medical exam results, another passport-sized picture, and who knows what else. Bring copies of all important identity documents so you can give them whatever they want.
    After that you'll be told you can leave, and to come back to the consulate at 1:30 PM. Find something to do in KL for 3 or 4 hours! My wife went to Bangsar Village and read books in a book-shop to keep calm.
    Head back into the consulate a little earlier and this time you'll be sent directly to the room on the left. You'll have the same numbered tag and they'll call you by the same number. However, if you aren't called for a while make sure you ask, especially if they seem to skip past your number. I've read that sometimes they get confused and if you don't ask they'll have to give you a new number, making you wait longer.
    My wife's interview was incredibly easy. Her interviewer was an Asian-American guy that she says looked suspiciously like Keanu Reeves. First he swore her in, having her raise her right hand and promise to tell the truth. Then he looked at her passport and saw that she had an active B-2 (visitor) visa. Before doing anything else he explained that he had to cancel it, which gave her a positive feeling, because why would he cancel her visitor visa if he wasn't already pretty confident he would approve her CR1? The visitor visa was cancelled with two big stamps from a "Cancelled without prejudice" stamp.
    Then came the questions. After all our preparations, the phone logs we printed, the pages of emails and Facebook chats and folders full of other stuff, he only asked three questions!

    What are your husband’s parents’ names? She gave my parents names and explained that she'd visited them several times.
    I see your husband compiled lots of pictures including the wedding. Want to tell me about it? She talked about our wedding in detail while he looked at pictures.
    What does your husband do? She told him the company I work for, my title, and what I do there.

    After that he said "Ok Ma’am your visa is approved. Have a seat and wait for the next instruction." And that was that! He kept her passport and soon she was called to the counter and given a red card that lists the address where she can collect her passport and new CR1 visa, as well as the date it will be ready. They also returned her old passport (expired, but associated with her now-cancelled visitor visa).
    And with that, 11 months of paperwork and bureaucracy was finished! Feel free to ask us questions while it's still fresh in our heads, or check out our blog, where we've kept track of everything we've done since we started the process (including all the stuff we got wrong the first time!). This link will take you to the category that contains all our visa posts.
  2. Like
    intx13 got a reaction from Ryan H in Spouse visa or Fiance   
    Ignore Tim/Mav. You are the only person to be judging your husband's character and his fitness to be part of your family - not strangers on the Internet. If you want to pursue this, the next step would be to follow Darnell's advice or talk to a lawyer.
  3. Like
    intx13 got a reaction from edwardteresa4ever in am i the only one   
    I'm sure you're not the only one. Even for people who find that the US offers them better opportunities, emigrating from your home country means leaving friends, family, workplace, and potentially everything you're used to. I'm sure uncertainty is common.
    That said, be sure of your desires before going through the visa process. There's one couple on here that were denied a visa; the wife, when interviewed, answered (among other red flags) that she wasn't sure if she wanted to move to the US or not. I'm sure the interviewer thought "if you don't want to move to the US, why are you applying to immigrate?"
    Immigrating doesn't mean you have to start the "USA! USA!" chant or think that the US provides a person with better opportunities for personal happiness than does your home country. But it does mean that you intend to establish permanent residence in the US. Your reason for that is love: love for your spouse, not necessarily love for the US government.
  4. Like
    intx13 got a reaction from Bsze in The Malaysian VJ Thread   
    Hi folks! My wife passed her IR1/CR1 interview yesterday and we thought we'd post the Malaysia-specific info that we've learned along the way.
    General stuff

    The US consulate in KL is really good about replying to emails within a day or two. They're not so great with reading comprehension and tend to answer only the last question posed, so ask one question at a time and use simple English.
    When shipping documents to rural areas of peninsular Malaysia, expect an extra 7 days of delivery time on top of Fedex's quoted times. The local couriers with whom Fedex contracts for the last few km are not very efficient. Fedex suggested we mark all packages as containing "business documents".
    The US recognizes both Malaysian civil and Muslim marriages as valid. The marriage license needs to be translated into English.
    Malaysia is not a high-fraud country. Immigration to the US is relatively low and the consulate is generally friendly.

    Birth certificates
    You can get an newly-issued original birth certificate from most Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara branches. The head office can definitely do it. Call other branches to ask first. The branch will supply you with a form to fill out. Submit it to the counter with a copy of your I.C. and pay 5 RM per original. They will call you up to check over a draft before issuing the new originals.
    Police clearance
    You can apply for a Certificate of Good Conduct at Putrajaya. Make an account here and print out two copies of the required form. Fill them in and take them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Putrajaya. Bring 2 passport-size photos, 2 certified/notarized copies of your I.C., and 2 certified/notarized copies of both the biographic page and signature page of your passport. There is a 20 RM fee. When submitting the application, make sure you mention specifically that the application is for US immigration purposes. There is another version of the certificate that is given on your sworn word only, but that is not sufficient for US immigration.
    The Certificate of Good Conduct can take up to 2 months to become available. You can check its status with the online account you made. When it is ready you can go back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to collect it. If you prefer to have it mailed to you, then provide a self-addressed stamped A4-size envelope with your application. 1 RM in postage should be sufficient.
    Medical exam
    There are two clinics capable of doing the medical exam. Both are in peninsular Malaysia: one in Penang, one in KL. You will get the addresses and phone numbers when your interview date is scheduled, or you can find them here. The rest of this information pertains to the clinic in KL because that's the one my wife used.
    The KL clinic has normal week-day hours and limited Saturday hours. Unless you live in KL they will discourage you from making a Saturday appointment because if, for any reason, more tests need to be run or the X-ray must be re-done, it might be a time crunch. If you ask for a Saturday appointment, make sure to get one of the earlier appointments: 8 AM or 9 AM.
    The receptionist at the KL clinic is rather rude and curt. I had to call her and be pretty stern before she answered our questions properly. Don't let her push you around! There are several doctors there; the female doctor my wife had was extremely nice and very gentle.
    The KL clinic is near St. John school and CBN and (so says my wife) easy to find. The appointment will involve filling in forms, providing a urine sample, answering medical history questions, and asking for medical records. Bring any medical records you have, or request them from your current or most recent doctor. Bring your birth certificate - some people have their childhood immunization records printed on the back.
    You must also bring your interview appointment letter, plus means to pay for the exam and X-ray. The clinic will tell you to bring 500 RM, but it will probably cost less than 400 RM. The extra is in case you need to do additional tests.
    If you have no medical records and no immunization records on your birth certificate the doctor will judge from your answers to questions what immunizations you need. More than likely you will get two; the third is commonly given to all Malaysian schoolchildren so you've probably had it. The jabs are given on the butt - ouch! My wife says they weren't too bad, more like a fire ant bite.
    Blood will be drawn, but the doctor was very gentle - my wife has very difficult veins too, so that's saying something.
    You won't need to disrobe completely, but the doctor will do the usual checks. Expect to answer questions about any piercings or tattoos.
    Finally you'll get directions to the X-ray place. It's along Jalan Raja Laut, in the ground floor of the DBKL building or the building next door; my wife isn't sure from memory which it was. The nearest LRT stop is the one near Sogo.
    When you're all done you'll be told to call the clinic in a few days to check when the results are ready. Then you can stop by any time to pick them up. A friend had hers sent electronically to the consulate but we were never offered that option; I checked with the consulate and they said they have no preference. You only need to bring the exam results to the interview, not the X-ray results; but they might be in the same packet. If so, the consulate will return the X-ray results when you give them the packet before your interview.
    When you pick up your results you will be given an unsealed copy for yourself, so you can see what's in the report.
    IR1/CR1 Interview
    As mentioned at the top of this post, Malaysia is not a high-fraud country and the interview is relatively easy. Of course you should be prepared for anything, but from most accounts you won't be given trick questions or grilled on obscure details of your application. Your interview appointment letter will tell you to come to the consulate at 9 AM. You can definitely go earlier, and because the line forms quickly, it's recommended.
    First you go to the counter and give your ID to get a numbered tag. Then you line up and go through security, giving up your car keys and phone. Unlike some consulates, there is only one line, not separate immigrant / non-immigrant lines. Hang onto all your documents! You'll be told to go the room on the right, where you'll wait until your number is called. Then you'll be sent to the room on the left, where you be asked for your passport, medical exam results, another passport-sized picture, and who knows what else. Bring copies of all important identity documents so you can give them whatever they want.
    After that you'll be told you can leave, and to come back to the consulate at 1:30 PM. Find something to do in KL for 3 or 4 hours! My wife went to Bangsar Village and read books in a book-shop to keep calm.
    Head back into the consulate a little earlier and this time you'll be sent directly to the room on the left. You'll have the same numbered tag and they'll call you by the same number. However, if you aren't called for a while make sure you ask, especially if they seem to skip past your number. I've read that sometimes they get confused and if you don't ask they'll have to give you a new number, making you wait longer.
    My wife's interview was incredibly easy. Her interviewer was an Asian-American guy that she says looked suspiciously like Keanu Reeves. First he swore her in, having her raise her right hand and promise to tell the truth. Then he looked at her passport and saw that she had an active B-2 (visitor) visa. Before doing anything else he explained that he had to cancel it, which gave her a positive feeling, because why would he cancel her visitor visa if he wasn't already pretty confident he would approve her CR1? The visitor visa was cancelled with two big stamps from a "Cancelled without prejudice" stamp.
    Then came the questions. After all our preparations, the phone logs we printed, the pages of emails and Facebook chats and folders full of other stuff, he only asked three questions!

    What are your husband’s parents’ names? She gave my parents names and explained that she'd visited them several times.
    I see your husband compiled lots of pictures including the wedding. Want to tell me about it? She talked about our wedding in detail while he looked at pictures.
    What does your husband do? She told him the company I work for, my title, and what I do there.

    After that he said "Ok Ma’am your visa is approved. Have a seat and wait for the next instruction." And that was that! He kept her passport and soon she was called to the counter and given a red card that lists the address where she can collect her passport and new CR1 visa, as well as the date it will be ready. They also returned her old passport (expired, but associated with her now-cancelled visitor visa).
    And with that, 11 months of paperwork and bureaucracy was finished! Feel free to ask us questions while it's still fresh in our heads, or check out our blog, where we've kept track of everything we've done since we started the process (including all the stuff we got wrong the first time!). This link will take you to the category that contains all our visa posts.
  5. Like
    intx13 got a reaction from HeatDeath in Marriage Certificate   
    A translator will take a photocopy of your marriage license and give you a print-out or photocopy of a translation and an original signed statement of accuracy. The statement of accuracy certifies that the translation is correct. The translator can be a company or any person who knows both Urdu and English.
    Send the photocopy of your marriage license, the print-out or photocopy of the translation, and the original signed statement of accuracy with the I-130.
    Bring your original marriage license to the interview.
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