Thamara

Good luck on your interview!! Let us know how it goes

Thanks so much for your replies, much appreciation.

Yay! Im happy to see Im not the only puertorrican girl petitioning a Canadian guy

Im on the exact same stage as you so... You'll get Packet 3 in the mail. It includes a letter with the instructions, disclaimers and a check list. They dont include the forms, you have to get them yourself. Some of the forms are PDF's(DS-230, DS-156K) which you can download. You file the DS-160 and DS-156 online. It even asks to upload a passport style picture :S . If you go to the Canadian Portal and then click on the Montreal Embassy Information you'll see all the documents they require. Print and sign everything according to the instructions including the receipt you filed de DS-160 online and the checklist with all the required documents. Mail it back to the address on the instructions. You'll eventually get Packet 4 which is a letter with the interview date. Yay! From the trends Ive seen, Montreal is 3 to 4 months out so, be patient

Quick update ! I had the 2 nd part of my medical examination on Wednesday and I passed. The American embassy in Ljubljana informed me there is no need for me to return the Packet 3. I' ll bring all the forms and certificates required together with the evidences on the day of my visa interview. The woman I spoke to added they are gonna call me when they are gonna be ready to proceed. I guess I just need to sit back, ( trying to ) relax while wondering when my phone it' s gonna ring.

Novembrians, are you all mostly just dealing with the embassies and waiting for your interviews to be scheduled ?

Good luck to all !

Novembrians! LOL. I love it.

I think we are all pretty much dealing with the P3 and the embassies. Dan and I are almost done with the P3. We've filed out most of the forms (and by "we" I mean moi) all "we" have to do is print, sign and mail them. He has to file the DS-160 online and upload a picture :S so we'll be doing that together this Saturday. Hopefully he'll mail everything Monday when he gets back to Canada.

Congratulations, Lindsey & Ivan !

So, he finally received the police certificate from Ireland ?

Thamara, how are things with you ?

Aaaawwww Things are going great, relationship wise. Dan is coming to visit next week. We are going to a Giants game

He got P3 and is in the process of getting is medical, police and long birth certificate. According to the embassy the interview should be scheduled for 3 to 4 months after they get P3 back. That should give us enough time to get a clearer idea of what we are going to do. The company I work for is in really bad shape, running out of money with no credit line in place. Dan works for a big company with branches in Canada and the US plus he just got promoted. Is not fair or smart to make him leave a promising job and come to the uncertainty of mine. Soooo if my company recovers by the time the visa is approved then we'll use it. Otherwise I'll be the one moving North with the moose and the hockey fans. We'll see, meanwhile Im just enjoying the ride.

How about you? Started planning the wedding already? After everything is said and done, if Dan ends up moving here I don't know how I'm going to react when it finally hits me: "Holy #######, im actually getting married"

Quick Update:

Ivan's interview is scheduled for April 8 at 10:30am in Zagreb!!!

YAYYYYYY!!! We're almost done!!!

Woot! Grats!

Fellow November travelers:

The journey for us has come to a close. The embassy in Port of Spain was so kind as to issue her visa today, and she catches the first flight out of town tomorrow morning, arriving in Sacramento tomorrow night. It has felt like this would last forever, even though our process was pretty quick by US Govt standards -- a total of 4.5 months from mailing the petition to boarding the plane. Even with two visits during the wait, it felt interminable right up to the end.

To those who are still waiting, my heart goes out to you. The US Govt works on a timetable that defies explanation, but some day your number will flash on the screen and your turn will come around. Maybe we'll all have free health care by then, eh!

Best wishes --

boisestate

Grats to you and your fiancee.

Take the construction at the Sac Airport in a poetic way... it will be the last "bump in the road" for you

Joke aside, get there early. They closed the direct access to one of the terminals this week so it's a mess.

Hi everyone- sorry for the post, as I know most of you have already gone through this- so its old news for you! We finally got approved by USCIS on March 19th. I called NVC today- I know, way early- just to see if by chance they received our info yet. They said no, that I needed to wait about 1-2 weeks after receiving my NOA2 in the mail (which hasn't happened yet). But, then we got a touch from USCIS again today. Anyone know what that means? Sent out to NVC? Received by NVC? Just curious. Thanks!

It probably means they scanned your file one last time to send it to the NVC. It happened to most of us

How do you know if the embassy got the paperwork? I called the delhi embassy and they kept on transferring me to different numbers and then finally the person on the phone said call between 2-4:30pm delhi time....it drove me insane...........is it the same for you guys out there?

I'm not sure. I didnt even bother to call, according to the Montreal Portal they dont give much info over the phone, their preferred method of contact is e-mail. I e-mailed them but never got a reply. You can check your country's portal. They may have more info about how to contact the Embassy

Finally after almost a month Dan got the infamous package 3 (today). Im still not sure what it says, he yet has to scan and e-mail it to me but he mentioned something about the interviews being at least 5 months out. Not sure if that's him speculating or if the package 3 actually says something about it.

On a different subject... Im a creature of habit so im not liking the new look of the forums... well, not yet

GOT VISA APPROVED TUESDAY 3/9/2010!! WE ARE FINALLY DONE WITH THIS K1 VISA. SHOULD HAVE VISA IN HAND WITHIN A WEEK OR TWO! FIANCE IS FLYING IN APRIL 2! YEAAAAAAAAA! I AM SOO HAPPY.. NEXT GET MARRIED AND START AOS PROCESS!

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU IN THE REST OF YOUR JOURNEY IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE INTERVIEW LET ME KNOW

¡Felicidades!

Good luck and a speedy process on the rest of your journey

My fiance received the NOA 2 hard copy in his mailbox yesterday. I e - mailed NVC today. Hopefully, our package is somewhere on the way to a country called Slovenia.

Woot!! Almost there!

I was going to put NO put 2006 since question #1 already should show you hve been a Us citizen since birth but if you google , "is puerto rico considered part of the US"..It says yes, and they recoginize it as their own. SOOOO i would just put 25 and since (birth date). Since the question is just asking how long have you resided in the US.. and since the puerto Rico is considered part of the US i would jut put since birth. I do not believe it will be a problem at the interview. My fiances interview is tomorrow, and they told him that they are not that strict on the I-134, its just about income really, so I doubt they will even look hard into that specific question. I COULD be wrong and I am not saying this is the right answer, but its what i would put. In the end I think either way will be fine and dont worry too much. Which ever one you put it can be explained at the interview so they understand

GOOD LUCK

Thanks!

I was thinking the same thing. I just want to make sure I dont make any mistakes and have the visa denied because of a stupid technicality.

I think I have an identity crisis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im bored at work today (as usual) so I decided to be my ####### retentive, obsessive compulsive self and start working on "Package 3" even tho, Dan hasn't got it yet. For the past few months Ive been collecting / keeping my paystubs and bank statements. I have copies of my tax returns. I asked my boss for the employment letter (I decided to bribe him with Girl Scout Cookies so, I should have it before the end of the day). Now I'm working on the I-134 Form.

Question 2 reads:

I am ____ years of age and have resided in the United States since (date) ___________

Well, I am... eeeeerrrrrr.... <coughs>... 25! so that one is easy to answer now... the "resided" in the US part: I am Puertorrican which means I was born a US Citizen but PR is a territory, not a State. I moved to California in 2006. Should I say that Ive resided in the US since 2006 or use my birth date since PR is a US territory?

I've searched the forums left and right and... nothing. Ive googled it and... nothing so sadly, the only option I have left is call the USCIS and pray I get someone nice enough to answer my question. I've been debating about posting my question on the VJ K-1 Forum but to be honest, I am deadly scared of some of the moderators

Anyways now that Im done venting here... Im bored again, lol.

Hello there

We filed at CSC as well and are getting worried We just don´t have any idea what might be the problem????

Even the lawyer assured there shouldn´t be a problem at all (and we have a money-back-contract in case of denial, so he´ll better be right).

I´ll copy our timeline in here, so you got an idea of what we´re going through:

K1-Timeline

9-2008 sent in petition and got NOA1 (never heard a word or got a letter)

3-2009 called USCIS (never got an answer to our questions)

4-2009 got congressman involved (got information of approval, never got NOA2 though)

5-2009 got letter from USCIS saying NVC sent the petition back to USCIS for review (called to ask for more info but didn´t get an answer)

9-2009 received letter from USCIS saying the case expiered and we would have to file a new petition

10-2009 contacted a lawyer to file a second petition

11-2009 sent in petition and got NOA1

We still haven´t heard a word and I´m ready for the nuthouse:wacko:

You should be getting a response anytime now. Lots of November filers are getting either RFE's or NOA2. i recommend, if you havent done it yet, that you register on the USCIS website so you can check your status online. That way you'll know if / when they "touch" your case or better yet, get approved. Do you have your case number? If you paid by check, the case number will be printed on the back of the cancelled check.

The visa process have us tethering between being patient and being persistent. Maybe that's what happened with your first application you were too patient and trusted the USCIS way too much. Register online, keep an eye on it. If you dont see any touches within the next 2 weeks or so then give them a call.

please i want to know how can i know that my case is at nvc ????

thanks alot

They'll send you a letter saying the got it and will forward it to the embassy. You can also call the NVC. Have all your info handy (Petitioner, Beneficiary, etc.). It is recommended that you wait about a week after your NOA2 before calling NVC. That's about how long mine took to get to the NVC.

Thanks for your reply. Much Appreciated. I received another touch today.. so lets hope thats a good sign it will happen any day now. How many days after you are approved NOA1 does the visa interview date generally happen. I have all the documents on her end that required for packet 3 and 4 except the medical report which you when they send you information for it. I am hoping that she gets her visa by Early May.

It depends on the Embassy. Some Embassies are busier than others. If you created a timeline, you can go to the "My assistant" link and View your timeline. Check the bottom of the page, you should have average times from NOA1 to NOA2 to Interview for your Embassy / Country. IF you've been following people's progress on this topic you'll see that Croatia is moving really fast with the interviews, so did Mongolia. In my case. Montreal, I dont expect to have an appointment until at least May based on statistics.

Lindsey ! Where are you running so fast ? Zagreb already ? I' m pretty positive Ivan can have the visa in his passport until the end of this month !

Hello Thamara !

And now a quick question : I just noticed we got a touch on the 3 rd even though they sent us our approval on the 2 nd. What can this possibly mean ? Via NVC maybe ?

Its probably the last scan before sending it to NVC. You are already approved so dont worry, no more RFE's for you, lol.

And... Im going home!! Doesnt mean I wont post again, chances are I'll be bored at home too

So i got a RFE on Feb 22nd for more evidence of the relationship / establish of relationship.

I sent back the following information and they received the file on March 2nd and have 3 touches since.. is my approval soon?

1.) Passport Copies / Stamps ( 2 trips ) / Boarding passes

2.) Photos of engagment / 2nd trip

3.) email copies

4.) phone records

5.) History of how we met and established relationship

6.) Hotel Records

7.) Engagement hall records / receipts

8.) Gift receipts

Do you guys think this is enough and what is the average RFE turn around. The letter says next 60 days .... but thats really long.

Thanks for your replies in advance.

It depends on the... ugh, how to call it... "quality" of your evidence. Right now you just need to prove you guys met within the last 2 years. As long as you included proof from a "reliable 3rd party" that you guys have met (where in the same place at the same time) within the last 2 years you should be ok. Boarding passes and Passport Stamps are a good example of that. Photos are sort of a secondary evidence because you can photoshop pretty much anything these days.

Save as much evidence as you can for the interview. There's when you have to prove you are in a bonafide relationship, that's when phone records and chat transcripts come into play.

I doubt it will take 60 days. AR and MD turn around was about a day after CSC received the documents.

Gosh, I've been posting like crazy today. Pretty obvious Im bored at work, lol

Oh, I see ! I also heard and read some people never received a NVC letter ( while the case was already sent to the embassy ) .

It happens. Incredibly enough, the mail can be slower and / or less efficient than the NVC, letters get lost, etc.

That's why waiting a week and calling them works too even if you dont have the letter / case number.

Customer Service people are normally more cooperative when you have all the information so I decided to wait for the letter. Now that I have it... Im scared to call, lol.

@Lindsey... grats!! You are getting closer and closer. That's awesome!! There's a fishbowl drink @ Tex Wasabi calling our names, on me, when this whole thing is over and you are happily married and im either married or ready to leave CA to move to Canada.

Now to worry about when it gets sent off. How am I supposed to monitor this part again?

They'll send the NOA2 in the mail and the approved I-129F to the NVC. The NVC will in turn send it to the embassy. I got a letter from the NVC about 10 days after the I-129F was approved saying they'd be sending the package to Montreal within the next week. The letter has the NVC case number. I suggest you wait for the NVC letter so you can have your case # on hand but, you dont have to. You can call the NVC and ask about the status even tho they suggest you wait at least a week.

NOA2 on Feb 19, 2009. Hope to hear from NVC soon!

Does anyone know if once you are approved for the K1 visa you can enter the US as a visitor, leave, and then come back in and give them your K1 and start the 90 day clock? Or once you're approved for K1 do you have to enter the next time as K1 no matter what?

We're planning to get married in August.. we're both outside of the states now (Bahamas) and before we get married we may have to go to Canada first.. the problem is where we're flying from we would have to go thru the states first (no direct flights).. so as an example could we fly from here to say Atlanta, he enters US there at the airport (but is in transit to Canada), we fly to Canada then drive into the states and at the border he gives them his K1 envelope. Any ideas? We're trying to figure out how to plan our travel in August since we need to bring his car here.

Thanks in advance!

This is what I know based on what Ive read on the USCIS website and the VJ forums:

While the K-1 visa is being processed the beneficiary can enter and leave the US as usual. However, after the K-1 visa is approved and you have your envelope for the POE, once you enter the US that's it, you are in. You can't leave the States unless you have an Advance Parole. IF they find out the Beneficiary of the K-1 entered and exit the US he / she can be deported and you'd have to start the process all over again. That's why when people go to Caribbean for they honeymoon the number one advice is: "make sure you dont set foot outside the US. Dont to go the British Virgin Islands. Dont do anything that will make the USCIS think that you left the States even for a second".

Coming from the Bahamas you'd have to go thru US Customs at some point. I don't know if Bahamas is like Toronto, where you go thru Customs in Toronto and the flight is treated as a US domestic flight. Point is, they'll know you and your fiance(e) are in the States. I don't know how much information the Immigration Officer at border can access. I've crossed the Canadian border a few times since Dan and I started the K-1 process and we always get questioned about our relationship (I think it's more out of curiosty than anything else. How a girl from California ended up dating a guy from Hamilton). Only once a US Officer asked if I was moving to Canada and I replied "No, we are doing a K-1 Visa". Don't know if it was a "trick" question or if she couldnt see that we were in the process of getting the K-1. Once it's approved they may be able to see he / she is a K-1 visa holder and ask for the POE package.

Whichever the case, it's been such a long painful journey, why risk it? Maybe plan things so you can go to Canada before the visa gets approved, do whatever you have to do there, drive down once it's approved and let that be your POE.

Ladies and gentlemen :

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

The last processing action taken on your case

Application Type: I129F , PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)

Current Status: Approval notice sent

On March 2, 2010, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E).

(L) !!! I' m so so so happy !!! (L)

Yay!!!!! Grats to you and Mark

Yet another step closer

Now all my happiness at being with him for 3 whole weeks in China has just kind of deflated(Plus I came back home today. *sigh*). I've looked at others and I've only had 1 touch in December and I am already outside the date range predicted through the timeline(albeit by 1 week). I'm worried that it is an RFE but if it is, why can't they tell me alreadyyyyy. I'm happy for all those people getting their NOA2's but some of them have NOA1 dates later than mine and I just feel just depressed.

Haaaa! I finally found it. This is the interview I often refer to:

Interview with a former USCIS Employee

I always have to know why, when and how so when I started the visa process I tried reading as much as I could about it and I found this interview. Even tho it may be a little bit out of date since its from 2007, it gave me a better understanding of how the process works and why some applications can take 60 days and some others take almost 5 months.

Got a letter from the NVC my visa will be sent to Montreal at some point this week.

Apparently Montreal has a "nice" backlog so we are not expecting an interview any time soon which I am ok with. Dan and I decided that him coming to the States may not be a good idea after all so we decided to wait and see what happens with my job by the time the interview comes around. He may end up petioning me in Canada. We'll see.

Yay got out interview scheduled today! My fiance was called to come down and pick his packet 3 up from the embassy, he ended up filling out the paper work there, and since we already had the papers all ready a head of time ( birth cert, police cert, i-134, cert of solterio) they ended up just sending him for his medical right away and scheduled an interview for next tuesday! yay! I am sooo excited to be finished with this process..only 31 days from our NOA2 and hopefully we will be finished! WIsh US LUCK! and if anyone has questions let me know, Ill be sure to post how the interview went and the type of things they are asking! Good luck to you all as well!!

¡Felicidades!

(Congratulations)

and good luck. Let us know how it goes.