George and Xiyun

Hello, everyone!! Greetings from FL!!!

I have a question- what is the difference between An IRS tax return transcript and Tax return ( I am collecting documents and thought this is the same, but according to USCIS I am wrong ; )) ? I will submit my app next week. And I have turbotax copies of tax returns and I am not sure if this will be sufficient enough.

Greetings back from FL!!!

Most people keep a copy of their tax return before submitting it to the IRS. This constitutes a "Tax Return". A copy of a tax return can be modified after having submitted it to the IRS. So, an IRS transcript is a better document. Easy to get. You can call an automated number at the IRS (look on their website for the number) and the IRS will send you (no charge) the transcript for each year you request.

Just to provide a reference...........our I-751 NOA "received" was April 24, 2012. Approved on December 31, 2012 (8 months and 1 week).

We did the biometrics early with no problem. Card received January 5, 2013. (USCIS sent it by priority mail)

Four more months and we will start the process again for citizenship.

Today is a very good mail day. Received both the "Welcome" letter and the actual green card in today's mail. I expected to see another change in the status on the USCIS web site to show that the green card was sent but that didn't happen. Time for a bit of celebration for us.

Best of luck for those still waiting. Hope your wait is very short and rewarding.

I'm not sure about what is normal but I can tell you that I received the same "touch", same day and same dot move. I would like to think that maybe this is the day that the EAD was actually mailed but who knows?

Received the EAD card today. The return address is Lee's Summit, MO 64002 but that does not mean it was actually mailed from there. Doesn't much matter. It arrived today and maybe it was mailed yesterday.

Now, on to the Green Card watch. Looks like that's getting close to some action. Hope everybody gets some happy mail in the coming days.

I got another touch today for EAD but the dot changed from Document production or Oath Ceremony to post-decision activity. Is it normal?

I'm not sure about what is normal but I can tell you that I received the same "touch", same day and same dot move. I would like to think that maybe this is the day that the EAD was actually mailed but who knows?

Just another progress report. Received 2 emails on June 25th. EAD approved, "card production ordered" and AP approved and sent. Hopefully both to soon be in hand and of course, still patiently waiting for the GC!!

Green card received in the mail!!!

Hey JR, Congratulations!! It's always good to have a little less stress in your life. Driving on your beltway (DC) is enough for me. Wishing you the best of luck and much happiness.

Another case (ours) transferred to the California Service Center. Received a text message and email last night about 10:00 pm. This is great news because it will allow us to travel (in country) during the summer. Does anyone have a feel for processing times specific to the CSC? Is there a seperate place for CSC statistics?

Correction:

Email and text message: notification of I-131 (AP) approval; Current Status: Approval notice sent.

Email and text message: notification of I-I765 (EAD) approval; Current Status: Card production ordered.

Hey JR & Helen,

Congrats on everything along your journey. Looks like you just need to receive your GC (any day soon) and then you can take a rest from the whole USCIS thing. I've moved behind you in the process because I waited a couple months before getting married. Xiyun and I went the formal wedding route so we needed more time for planning, invitations, responses, etc. Now I'm hopeful to see my case transferred to CSC so that I can just see the rest of the documents appear in my mailbox. Best of luck to both of you. Maybe some day I'll see you at the Beijing airport!

From an April filer to another, I need help.. I sent I-485 and I went to USPS for paying $1010. The money orders were sent to the US Homeland Security Departmeent and the lady asked me for a postal code. We assumed it was Washington D.C. code, and now on USPS page, on Track and confirm, I got the message that my mail was "Undeliverable as Addressed".. Can you help me,pls?

Good luck to all

Hey hippyske, Your money orders were made out to "US Homeland Security Department" That is essentially correct. Your application, Form I-485 along with the money orders should have been sent to: U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services, PO Box 805887, Chicago IL, 60680-4120. Sounds like you sent the application to the wrong place using USPS, Priority Mail. The Postal Service should soon be returning your mail to you. When it is returned just send it to the correct address. You will have just lost a few days in the processing time.

Just yesterday received our letter scheduling the biometrics for May 13th. Went to the ASC today and they did the biometrics without a blink of the eye. Actually the people were very professional and efficient.

Hello to everyone,

Just thought I'd say hello for now. I submitted my applications on April 16th. I included the Form G-1145 for the E-Notification but got neither a text message or any emails. But, more importantly, I did receive the hard copy Receipt Notices today so that is even better.

Best of luck to everyone.

Regarding the "packet 3 stuff"...........

The "packet 3" also called "P3" also called, "K Instruction Packet" is a letter from the consulate along with a Form OF-169. The Form OF-169 is a combination of instructions and a checkoff list. The applicable items on the "checkoff list" must be checked off and the Form OF-169 is then returned to the consulate. By "checking off" the applicable items, you are telling the consulate that the applicable documents have been acquired.

There are 3 items that should be returned to the consulate. They are: 1.) The Form OF-169, "Checkoff list". 2.) Form DS-230, Part 1. 3.) Self-addressed, EMS mailing label.

Of course I am only writing about my experience with the consulate in China. I do not know if there are differences elsewhere.

But, I am pretty sure that you will not need to send your passport anywhere.

Congratulations Moonandstar, I see it was a rough start for you but now hope things move along smoothly for you.

Hope everyone's holidays have been filled with peace and joy. We may not have gotten everything we wanted for Christmas but maybe instead we got something we needed more. At this point I'm sure most of us would like to have a little more patience. Hope everyone's New Year is filled with joy, happiness and a visa.

Hey sanish, Congratulations!

You can get your new case number from NVC. It will take about a week for NVC to receive your case from VSC. Then another 4 or 5 days before NVC trnasmits your case to the appropriate Embassy. The telephone number for NVC is: 603-334-0700.

Best of Luck

Hey Jr, glad to see you're making progress. We were planning to make the Darnell "shortcut" but GUZ mailed the P3 with amazing speed. There was only a 9 day gap (shortcut timeframe) between the day GUZ mailed the P3 and the day my fiancee received the P3. We would have been able to jump through that "window of opportunity" however we had a little problem with my fiancee's passport. It was isssued with an incorrect place of birth. It took almost a month to get that fixed so we missed the "shortcut window". Happily it has been fixed and the P3 documents were mailed back to GUZ. GUZ received the P3 back on November 30th, according to EMS.

All the "appointment" documents (P4) are prepared and ready to travel. I guess I have been calling DOS every day. I keep telling myself, "tomorrow I will not call" but when tomorrow comes, some other part of me picks up the phone and dials. "Good things come to those who wait" does not seem to get in the way of "I want to know, now, when the interview will be". haha

Good luck on your trip to Guangzhou. I am anxious to hear any comments you may have concerning Mr. Yang and his apartments.

Also my understanding. A case number that starts with GUZ is not being processed electronically.

My new case number assigned by the NVC does start with GUZ.

When I called NVC, I was told my case was being sent to Guangzhou both electronically and by DHL. While the "case" was also sent electronically, the forms/documents are being submitted to the consulate in hard copy.

I had previously read on this site that while the case may be transmitted to the consulate electronically, no action will probably be taken until the hard copy file is received and opened. I am not sure that is true now since I have found that my case was "sent" to Guangzhou on November 16th and the "Packet 3 Instructions" were "mailed" to my fiancee on November 18th. My fiancee has already returned the "P3" (hard copy) to Guz. Mailed on Sunday and delivered on Monday. Pretty good EMS in that part of China.

Best early B-day gift so far!

I was awaken at 6:45 this morning, as usual, the radio was blasting news and traffic reports. I grabbed my Blackberry and start checking emails received overnight and now being delivered. Nothing new, except a message about a failed hard drive on a server. Oh great, I thought, another tough day ahead. Nothing else, as usual. I put back the Blackberry and promised myself, a few more minutes. Then came 7AM, my Blackberry vibrated 4 times, two new emails, I assumed. I grabbed it, entered my password and, holy, there was one new email and one new text message! The only times I have seen this is when my options are opened, modified or executed, so I know this is something about my I-129.

I decided to open the text message first, it only said my case is updated. F***, I said, this is bad because should it say it has been approved?

Then I opened the email, thinking about the worst, searching for that "RFE" wording. Nothing. I opened my sleepy eyes, and found it, there it is, 5 lines down, "Current Status: Approval notice sent."

I jumped out of bed and call her with the great news. The rest is now history...

Best early B-day gift so far!

Congratulations JR. I am happy for you. Hopefully the next steps will go fast. Looks like you missed the part of my posting when I wrote that the text message I received from USCIS just said my case was "updated". I was on the first hole of the golf course and had to wait over 4 hours of torture before I could find out what the "update" was. I guess I was rewarded for that ordeal. I also saw your post on another thread about Mr. Yang's apartments in Guangzhou. I passed that information along to my fiancee and she liked it so much that she now thinks I am brilliant. I owe you one! I guess you saw the other posts that praised Mr. Yang and his wife for being so helpfull.

On another note posted by sanish: I also remember reading that the NOA2 was valid for 4 months and that it was possible to have it extended.

I am happy to report that VSC is still putting out the NOA2s. Today I had just started on the first hole of the golf course when my phone indicated I received a text message from USCIS. The text message only said that my case was updated. Well, I certainly wanted to leave the golf course to get home to see what USCIS had done but I was stuck there and it was very hard to concentrate on golf. The first thing I did when I got home was to check my email and there it was from USCIS telling me that my Petition was approved.

I truly believe VisaJourney helped me prepare the petition well and I can not thank the contributors enough. Thanks to this site I am already prepared for the next step and the one after that. Now it is time for me to research what we need to do after my love, Xiyun, arrives in the USA.

Hey - that thing leave NVC yet? I'm thinking it went 'that-a-way' by now.

SOME K-1 petitions that are bound for GUZ are sent over from GUZ SOLELY via SAFEFILE, so if that's the case for you, you will see some speed at GUZ.

I suggest you call NVC, ask for status on yer case, and if it's already left - inquire how:

1. SAFEFILE ONLY or

2. DHL and SAFEFILE or

3. DHL only.

Then if it's left NVC, give DOS a call, ask for status:

1. current status, with the date/time stamp and

2. prior 3 status things, with the date/time stamps.

Want to shave off 3 weeks on the P3 ? see http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/GUZ_P3_Shortcut - if she's already prepped the docs, then she can send em in via EMS (don't forget to include another EMS label, with her address in chinese as 'recipient', inside the P3 to have the P4 sent out ).

After she's sent in the P3, you can start calling DOS again, they'll know the interview date before she receives the P4.

Darnell, Thanks for the tips. They are very much appreciated. Called NVC as you suggested and was able to find out the date they received my case and the date they sent it to GUZ. They told me they sent it yesterday, November 16th, both electronically and by DHL. I guess I'll wait a few days before attempting to call DOS and see if there is any status.

OK, I think we are officially dead in water, for now. Hopefully we will get some better luck next week, before the VSC people burn down the house for Black Friday. Come on VSC, let's get our game face together and...

Give me a N... "N"!

Give me an O... "O"!

Give me an A... "A"!

And what's that number again? "2"!

Hang in there JR. It is not like VSC is not sending any NOA2s. They are working. I am sure just not as fast as you would like and who knows in what kind of order. Looking at the stats I can see that I was extremely lucky. Wish you the best and soonest.

I was glad to hear Engineer06 received a notice from the National Visa Center. I was not aware that NVC sent notices. My beneficiary, Xiyun, is working hard to prepare the documents she will need for the interview. She will be coming to the US within a couple days of getting the VISA.

I now have all the documents I will need to send to her in China. I will mail them on Monday. Between then and now I must evaluate what is the best way to send them. I want speed but more than anything else I guess I want security. A lot of the documents are originals and can not be replaced.

Best of luck to all.

.... so if us Octoberians keep getting NOA2's within 30 days, how does that bode for the big picture since The "normal" time frame to get the visa is 5 months. Please advise?

First of all, I don't think the overall time frame to get visa is 5 months, I think the 5-month period refers to from NOA1 to NOV2. Correct me if I am wrong.

Now, I am more worried about the process downstream. I think of it this way: let's say the whole process is 12 months, and there are say 5 steps of it, usually from step 2 (NOA1) to step 3 (NOA2) is 5 months, and the rest of the process is total of 7 months. Now let's say from step 2 (NOA1) to step 3 (NOA2) is 1 month, unless the rest of the process speeds up coordinately, those with NOA2 is going to hit another traffic jam down the road, in this case it could be the NVC. Of course this is an extreme case of "hurry up and wait", but from quite a few of the posts, it is possible. In other word, this kind of "speed up" may be, and I say "may be", a temporary stimulus. I surely hope not.

Hey JRSmooth

It is possible you are right but I hope not. I prefer to look at it from the other direction. The historical processing time now shows 186 days from the filing of the I-129F to the K-1 visa interview. It has been slightly higher over the past 14 months. In the last few months it too has decreased. When I was preparing my I-129F the "historical processing time" was showing 140 days between NOA1 and NOA2. But it looks like that number is the highest it has been in the past 12 months.

So the direction I prefer is that the lesser time from NOA1 to NOA2 will ultimately result in overall less time between NOA1 and Interview. I sure you like this side of the possiblities also, so let's hope for a quick interview.

BTW, my Xiyun was raised in the northeast. Now resides in Xiamen. I hope you got your approval today or very soon. I'd like to be able to compare notes about Guangzhou.

I am happy to report that VSC is still putting out the NOA2s. Today I had just started on the first hole of the golf course when my phone indicated I received a text message from USCIS. The text message only said that my case was updated. Well, I certainly wanted to leave the golf course to get home to see what USCIS had done but I was stuck there and it was very hard to concentrate on golf. The first thing I did when I got home was to check my email and there it was from USCIS telling me that my Petition was approved.

I truly believe VisaJourney helped me prepare the petition well and I can not thank the contributors enough. Thanks to this site I am already prepared for the next step and the one after that. Now it is time for me to research what we need to do after my love, Xiyun, arrives in the USA.

Well I am still waiting for my NOA2, but gee, I must be greedy since my NOA1 was only 10/7. Hey, don't blame me, some members whose NOA1 date is similar to me, already got their NOA2 already!!!

I wouldn't say greedy but maybe a little anxious. I have read on this site before how these petitions are not processed in exact chronological order. That is sure to give rise to some anxiety but I guess no matter how difficult it may be, we must all exercise some amount of patience so that we can continue to be of sound mind. I see there are quite a few filers in September who have also not received a decision. I wonder if some of the others from longer past have just abandoned this site after the NOA2 but I am just a newbie as well. I wish you the best of luck. We have our timing and destination in common. I hope this is your luck week!

Congratulations Engineer 06! That is good news. I think it is good news for all of us if VSC is working that quickly. I know I am encouraged because my timeline dates have, to this point, been exactly the same as yours.

K-1 VISA

10/02/09 Mailed I-129 to VSC

10/05/09 I-129F Received by VSC

10/08/09 Check Cashed

10/06/09 NOA1 Issued