Jilly and Danny

Hi pnewton -

I agree with everyone else. Mexico City told us 3-4 weeks and at exactly 5 weeks I received the letter from Ciudad Juarez with the case number. I never, to this day, received an approval from Mexico City.

you can't send in packet 3 before you receive your case number, as previously mentioned, but you can certainly get everything ready. It took us about 2 weeks to get all the documents and things in order. If you didn't file taxes its not a problem, just attach a letter explaining why you didn't. It wasn't a problem for us at all. Just make sure your co-sponsor covers the requirements.

Although they make a big deal about the evidence thing, its really one of the smaller details of the whole process. I sent my husband to the interview with a full photo album and a full separate 3-ring binder full of evidence....well most of it was actually paperwork to turn in and extra copies of other things, but it looked like he was going in with piles and piles of evidence and they didn't want ANY of it. Most people we saw entering just had like one folder of information or evidence that they were going in with.

Also, I think most cases are a lot more complicated than our specific cases. When my husband was at the clinic he was talking to the other people waiting their turn and he said most of them were there for a second and third time to turn in waivers and such for either being in the USA illegaly or for drugs at a previous medical exam. And since we don't have any of those complications, I think its really just pretty cut and dry once you get there for your interview. The other guys even told Daniel at the medical exam he was as good as already having his visa. So I hope that helps give you a little more reassurance.

I agree and if you have time, take the ferry across to Cozumel, rent a car and take a trip around the island.

Jilly and Danny - after the interview you mentioned your husband was told to go to DHL and pay 110 pesos. Was that inside the consulate or did you have to make a trip to the DHL office after the consulate interview. I know people go to another location outside of the consulate to pick up their VISA but was just wondering if they have someone inside the consulate to take payment and give you tracking number.

Thanks!!

Its a place inside. You pay before you leave the consulate. Apparently it was easy to figure out because my husband was able to do it alone hehe.

Good luck1!!

Ok, so I knew there was an advantage of staying in Mexico longer..haha! We're going on our first real vacation in over 6 years to beautiful Playa del Carmen. If any of you Yucataners are going to be there, perhaps we could meet up. Send me a private message.

That's awesome! You will LOVE LOVE LOVE it! That's where we went in August for our honeymoon. My advice: DO spend the money on Xel-Ha and DO NOT waste your money at XCaret :-)

Great info once again! Seems like most people VISA are ready around 2pm. I wonder if since my husband's appt is at 1015am instead of the afternoon if there is any chance that it would be ready earlier than 2pm. I think Lia's husbands was ready at 2pm too. Were there other people on the shuttle with you going to DHL and the border? Nice that they wait for you at DHL and take you on to the border...a definite plus for that hotel!

Was there any reason you decided to go ahead and cross that day to get the VISA done? My husband is planning a trip to Dallas for Thanksgiving and I heard you could get it "done" within 6 months of the date they give it to you... at any Immigration office. I suppose since he will have the time (the next flight that leave CJ after 2pm is 640am the next morning) so if others are going, it would make sense for him to take care of it then since he won't have anything else to do.

And... since you said you didn't take any money with you (Very Smart) did you feel safe leaving $$ at the hotel? Did they have a room safe?

Thanks for all your info and once again.... Congratulations for your new little stamp that means SOOO much.

I really don't know if the visa might be ready earlier or not. The DHL website was updated at 6:55 the day of the interview as having received the request for a package, and then the package was "picked up" from the consulate's the following day at 1 and ready for pickup by 1:30. I don't know if they wait and log all of them at the end of the day or if they do it in shifts. My husband was out of his interview around 5...

Yes, there were lots of people going to pick up their DHL packages at the same time. When we crossed, we crossed with a father and adult son and a father with two young boys. We also saw other people arrive at the bridge after us from the hotel.

We crossed simply to have the whole thing over with. We weren't leaving until the next day anyway so we had the time. I had no idea the wait though...we are moving back to Iowa in a couple of weeks, and we almost always get routed through Houston. After an hour, talking to one of the other people there, we would have been better off time wise doing it later. But considering we had nothing else to do...

There was no safe in the room and I wouldn't say I was comfortable leaving it there. What I did was hide it in the dresser under my clothes and we didn't have any problems.

And thank you. We were just saying today how nice it is to not have the constant black cloud of the visa hanging over our heads and dictating our future plans. :-)

We had our interview two days ago. I, the USC was not allowed in. I'm 5 months pregnant and they asked inside if I could go with him, but they said no. They have a separate waiting room which is at the end of the consulate buildings where family can wait. Its inside, air conditioned, with TVs and chairs. You are allowed to take food and drink inside and wait there. Quite honestly from the hundreds of people outside waiting, they simply don't have room for family members to go with.

And although it is US soil, they can deny you access to certain parts of the building, which is what they are doing. If you have questions or business not related to the immigrant visa, they will gladly let you in, but you won't be with your fiance/spouse as you go through different doors and to different buildings inside.

I recommend if you can try to go with, do. If they don't let you in, wait in the waiting room. There are also restaurants nearby and the tables outside also mentioned earlier. There are lots of police and private security guards nearby, so it is relatively safe to wait.

Hi Everyone!

Well we are FINALLY 100% done here in CJ. We are waiting for our flight to go back to Merida.

The DHL packet was ready by 1:35, but they hadn't updated their website until...you guessed it...2:00. The shuttle took us to DHL and then to the border to cross. You have to walk across, and they charge you 5 pesos per person to walk across the bridge. We didn't take ANY money so we had to borrow from another person in the same shuttle...

Anyway you walk across and then you get in long for another long wait. It took my husband 2 hours of waiting in line to get to the front. He had to turn in his unopened packet and his passport (returned to him in the DHL package). Then he had to sit down and wait another half hour for another immigration officer to open the packet and stamp his passport. And that was it. We called for the shuttle and came back to the hotel.

The only thing you end up with at the end is the Mexican passport with the visa stamped in it. I think we were expecting some paperwork or something to come with it. In the end we thought...how much money and how much time and effort was put into nothing more than a measly stamp in the passport! But a very important one. We are so happy and very relieved to be able to move on now with the rest of our lives.

Thank you to everyone for your support and help and advice. You have most certainly made this process more comprehensive for us and for those going after us, please feel free to ask away. I'd really like to return the favor to someone else!!

Happy Immigration Filing to all!

I'm soooooo happy for both of you! Congratulations on the end of your visa journey! May both of you enjoy the rest of your US Journey ahead!

Your account of what happened was great. Glad you were posting in the moment. I know afterwards it's like a blur.

Just 2 questions for future reference:

1. Did you get your husband's birth certificate translated to English before?

2. Did he get his photos taken in CDJ or did you find a place in your city that would do them correctly?

1 - We had everything translated but they didn't ask for any translations.

2 - We had them taken in Merida, just to have everything ready. However, every place there prints on matte paper, and they want glossy. I was lucky and had some of my own photo printer paper that was extra glossy and we took that and they printed it on my glossy paper, but in general NO ONE prints on glossy paper (at least in Merida).

Well ignore the post above... I apparently was writing at the same time you were... so here is my new post/

WOW- some more GREAT information!!

We all appreciate you taking the time to let us know all the details...it really helps to know what to expect.

Sounds like your husband has a great memory!!

Do you allow you to take a book or magazine in to read while you are waiting? Or are you supposed to just look at the screens the whole time so you don't miss seeing your number pop up?

You will probably be on your way back home as soon as you pick up the VISA but once you have time, please let us know about what time it was ready.... I keep hearing 2pm as the most common response.

Thanks again and CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Yeah they let you take anything in that isn't on their prohibited list. We took books, but when they told me I couldn't go in my husband told me he didn't want to take his book, but they were ok with him having it. They also said he could have taken his watch, which I told him would be best to leave at home. But he said there were NO clocks inside so I'd suggest taking a watch.

I'm happy to help out with as many details as we can provide! I know (first hand) how anxious it makes you feel not knowing what's going to happen or how its going to work. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Hey all!! Thanks for the good luck. It worked, he was approved!!

Our appointment was at 1:15, and they don't let you in more than 30 minutes before your appointment time, so don't even bother going sooner than that. I tried to go in with him, but they wouldn't let me go. So in answer to...someone's question, they WILL NOT let the US Citizen in with the applicant!! I'd read of some people who went in and some people who were not let in in the past, but they were very clearly not letting anyone else but applicants in. At the other end of the consulate building there is a closed waiting room with air conditioning, chairs, and televisions where I waited. When I got there, it said for people applying to be residents the wait would be 3-5 hours. My husband took 4 hours exactly.

This is his account of the experience: He went in and had to go through airport like security. Then he was given a number and sent to the waiting area where he sat watching the screens. He was first called to turn in documents. He was asked for his birth certificate, our marriage certificate, his sealed medical report, passport, photos, and Tourist visa. He said there he was asked who was filing for him and if it was his first marriage and if we had any children. Then he was told to sit back down and watch the screens again for his number.

The next time his number came up he was sent to make the payment. He said everyone was charged 404 dollars and he paid with a debit card. He was sent back to his chair to watch again for his number.

The third time he was sent to get his fingerprints scanned. They took all 10 fingers. And again, to the waiting area.

He said what followed was by far the longest wait, but he doesn't know how long because he didn't take a watch and none of the screens had clocks on them. He was finally called for the interview, which lasted about 5 minutes. They asked:

Full name.

(Raise hand and swear to tell the truth)

What is your wife's name?

Have you ever been in the States illegally?

Is it your first marriage?

Do you have any children?

How did you meet your wife?

Have you ever been to jail?

Have you ever been in trouble with the police?

Who is (name of our co sponsor)?

Do you have an F1 visa? (we don't know what that is)...A student visa? (yes, from before)

Where are you going to live?

What do you do?

Then he was told he was approved and to go to DHL to pay (110 pesos). And that was it. He got a tracking number but we were told it won't say anything until 10:00 am tomorrow. They also said that most of the time the Visas are ready to be picked up the following day. Hopefully there won't be any delays.

Hello everyone!

For those of you that have gone through the I-130 petition in DF I am wondering if you had to have an appt to turn in the paperwork.

The last few days I have been calling the Embassy and have e-mailed and have not been able to get in touch with anybody! The operator just kept transfering me over and over and nothing.

Is it safe to just show up there with the paperwork? Its a 2hr drive from Guanajuato, and quite a bit in toll$$ so I dont want to go all the way there and not be able to turn them in.

Is an appointment necessary?

Thanks in advance for any input/recommendations!

We went through DF. The USCIS office is only open to the public Mondays and Thursdays fom 9-1, so make sue you go on one of those days. Also, even during those 8 hours a week, they hardly ever answered their phone when we were trying too. However, you don't need an appointment; you can go straight in. When we went there was no wait. There were like two other people in the office. (we went on a monday morning).

He was told to pick up his results after 2. Here at the hotel they said they are ready before then, but that's just what they tell you. We reserved the shuttle for 2pm and it was full. Apparently there were lots of other people here going for their results too. It took about 10 minutes as there were a lot of people. I wasn't allowed in, and he was asked to show his receipt to be allowed in. (We forgot ours but in the confusion my husband went in with the group and he got his results anyway). The hotel tells you to call them when you are ready to be picked up and there are pay phones right there to call. However, we didn't have coins or the phone number so we decided to just walk back. It was about a 20 minute walk, and the hardest/most dangerous part was definately crossing the busy roads, and the sun was really hot. It is definately within walking distance, if necessary.

Also going in the other direction, there is a supermarket about two blocks away. We walked there to buy some food for supper and lunch tomorrow.

Well I think that's all for now.

Ok Everyone, my husband finally got back to the hotel. He went to the Clinica Medica Internacional. He said that they opened their doors at 5am to let people into the lobby. Its first come first serve and they give you a number. He was 37. They checked his passport, interview letter, and vaccination records. Next, by 5:30, they have you go to the actual clinic where you have to sit in order of your numbers. Then you have to wait until 6 for them to start the exams. He said at 6 he had to go back to the lobby and show the paperwork again and they keep the paperwork at that point and give you an ID bracelet and take your picture for a registry. Then they send you to the lab where they draw blood. Next you go so they can check your vision. Next, you wait for your turn with the doctor for the physical. You strip to your underwear and socks and they give you a general physical. The doctor asks if you've been in touble with the police, drugs, etc. Then you have to take your underwear off and they check you. They ask you about any scars or tatoos as well as STD's chronic illness, etc. Then you get dressed and go and get a chest X-Ray. Then they send you to the urine test. My husband said that lots of people got sent to the psychologist, but he didn't have to go. Finally you have to go to get vaccinations. He had to get three and he said they already knew which ones they were going to give him. He asked which ones they were but didn't understand what they rattled off to him. It seems that for the people who were there for the first time they got the same set of vaccines and had to pay the same amount (4300 pesos approx.) and the people who were there for the second time only had to pay the visit (2300), we assume because they got the vaccines the first time. After the injections you go and pay and they give you back your passport, vaccination records, and interview letter. They said the results would be ready after 2:00pm.

He called me to have the hotel send him the shuttle at about 7:45. So he said there was quite a bit of waiting his turn but he was done before 8:00.

Hi Everybody!

We got into the hotel last night pretty late. This morning my husband got up early and headed off to his medical exam. When we got in, we asked about the shuttle (we're at La Quinta) and they said you it starts at 6:00 am and all you have to do is reserve it ahead of time. They told us that when we finish to call the hotel and they then send the shuttle there to pick him up. However, the receptionist suggested we take a taxi to the medical clinic early because people start lining up around 4am. They told us to have them call us a reliable taxi about 10 minutes before we wanted to leave and would cost about 50 pesos (he said it was about a 5 minute trip away). My husband left at 4:40 to call the taxi and at 5:30 he sent me a text saying he was already inside the clinic, even though they don't open until 6.

The taxi from the airport costs 245 pesos and its about a 10 minute trip to this area from the airport. You pay inside the airport and its safe.

Other than that, the hotel is very comfortable. I'll post more info when he gets back from the exam.

czmjacq - This whole thing has been so stressful. We also are not used to feeling so unsafe! But it helps that the people at the hotel seem to really know what's going on. By the way, we went to Cozumel to snorkel on our honeymoon last weekend and just loved it!! I thought about you when we decided to go.

Hi! My husband has his appointment tomorrow and we flew into Ciudad Juarez last night. If you fly directly into Juarez, they have safe taxis you can take right there. You pay for them inside the airport and they take you directly to the hotel (we are also staying at La Quinta). It took about 10 minutes to get there from the airport and cost 245 pesos. That's what they charge to go to that zone.

Now, if you fly into El Paso, I have heard from various people that they hire a man called Victor Garcia, a taxi driver, for all of their tansportation needs. He comes highly recommended and I think charges around 50 dollars to bring you into the city from El Paso. His contact info is in the forum DCF Mexico on the last or second to last page.

Good luck!

Hi Everyone - been off-line so busy lately with first week of school in US (me as teacher and daugher as 1st year high school student) but I survived (barely). Just to update -- I received the new appt. letter here in the US but my hubby hasn't received it in Cozumel yet. His new appt. date is Sept 13 --Monday- worst day of the week -- but we are going to try and make the best of it by meeting up in El Paso on Friday night through Sunday afternoon. So he will fly there on Thursday, do his medical on Friday and then go to El Paso after he gets the results and then go back on Sunday to be there for Monday interview. I emailed Victor Garcia (he does tranportation) and he said he could pick my hubby up Friday and take him to El Paso and back on Sunday. He didn't think it would be a problem since he has a tourist VISA and they don't take that from him until his interview on Monday.

Jilly & Danny == just a few more days until your appt. Let us know how it goes and PLEASE let me know

1. What time was medical ready to pick up (from which clinic)

2. What time was VISA ready to pick up

I'm trying to figure out what time to have Victor pick up my husband on Friday and also if anyone gets their VISA's before 1-2pm the day following their interviews

I'll let everyone know as soon as we can after. I tried to find contact info for Victor Garcia but I couldn't find anything anywhere. The link I found to his website didn't work...we plan on just taking a taxi from the airport to the hotel and then using the hotel shuttle while we are there. We arrive Sunday night and will be going early Monday morning for the medical exam. I'm hoping everything goes smoothly because we don't have an extra day for extra medical testing/delays before the interview.

I also agree with Marisol and Arianak that a lawyer is not necessary. I have a cousin who is an immigration lawyer who was "helping" us, but he was so busy it was hard to actually get him to respond to us. And after I found this website I gave up trying to ask him questions at all. People here have first hand experience with the exact offices you will have experiences with and answer a lot faster.

Also I remember reading on another website comments about how someone's lawyer told them one thing and the people on the website said another thing and more often than not the lawyer was wrong. Unless you have a complicated case, don't bother with the lawyer!!

Hola Everyone,

My name is Sarah and I am hoping to get some more information regarding DCF in Mexico!

My husband and I currently live in Guanajuato, Mexico. I have been living in Mexico for more than a year now and we were interviewing lawyers and she mentioned DCF. The I came across this forum and am glad to have found SO much information!!

I am pretty sure I file in Mexico City since that embassy has jurisdiction over GTO. I am wondering if it is best to send this by mail or in person????

I have an FM2 and I am ready to turn in the I-130 for my husband here in Mexico but wanted to make sure I knew all the details first about DCF.

Well just thought I would introduce myself and hopefully learn lots from all of your experiences!!

Hi Sarah -

We live in Yucatan and sent the I-130 form to Mexico City via DHL and it was "never received" then it was "received incomplete and returned to us" (which never actually returned to us and was never put into their system). Anyway after weeks and weeks of phone calls and different stories, we decided they lost our packet and had to redo the whole thing, which cost us a LOT of money. After that experience, we decided it was worth the money to fly there and turn it in ourselves, which was very fast, efficient, and was approved the following day and forwarded to Ciudad Juarez where we heard news from them four weeks later. I would DEFINATELY suggest doing it in person if at all possible.

good luck!

Hi again everyone--

Thanks for all the comments! First off, let me quickly update you...I went to Migracion today and picked up the permiso. And just for future reference for anyone that might ever have to deal with Monterrey Migration, I was really pleased with how easy it was to contact the delegate and just ask her to speed it up. I think she responded more quickly to the emails I sent her than the time I spent waiting in the "Informes" line at the actual place! Seriously, she responded to a few different emails within minutes!! Anyway, so I picked up the permiso and it felt good to check off one item from the ever-growing to do list regarding all of this paperwork!

Also, I called the civil registry and was not too pleased that they failed to notify me before that we need to have "Examenes prenupciales" done (blood tests) before getting married. I had no idea and they failed to mention that the other two times I called in the past month to double-check on the requirements. Supposedly, you're supposed to wait 15 days between the tests and your marriage, but I told her we're in a bit of an urgent situation and she didn't mention the time requirement. I hope they don't make a big deal about it later! But tomorrow we're going to go and get our blood drawn for these tests and meanwhile, my mother-in-law is helping us out by doing some of the legwork at the civil registry while we're at work. It's kinda hard to run around do these errands when you have full work days!

We're hoping that we can pull together all of the necessary paperwork by Friday and maybe-maybe-maybe schedule our ceremeony for at some point this weekend. Fingers crossed! Speaking of which, Ariana, it really does sound like you guys are in the same boat as us! We didn't like the idea of the stress of doing the civil marriage upon arrival in the States and then doing the adjustment of status either. And likewise, we're just zipping through everything here, and we want our big, special wedding once all the dust settles and we settled in the States. Actually, I have a few questions for you and whoever else might be able to help:

1. Did you do anything special in particular for your civil ceremony? We're just planning on keeping it really simple--having just close family members there and going out for dinner afterwards. But I'm just concerned about whether it needs to perhaps look "fancier" than what we're planning, in case they want to look at the pictures at the US Consulate? We'll take a few pictures, but because we want our wedding down the road to be the truly special one with everyone there, we weren't planning on making this one a big deal. Do you think that's ok? And also, here's my really silly question...what to wear and does it even matter? My fiance and I were planning on just being somewhat dressed up--floral print dress for me and dress clothes for him--but I had a fleeting thought that maybe they'd want to see something more formal? Ahh, I feel ridiculous for even asking, but whenever you have to go through these slightly nerve-wracking processes, you just want everything to go smoothly!

2. Also, do we have to turn in "proof" of our relationship at any point? I had heard about this before and that lots of couple freak out about what to turn in, and when I talked with the consulate here, they didn't mention it. We definitely have a ton of pictures, emails and plane tickets from the past 5 years, but I don't know if we need to turn any of this in?

3. Regarding the proof of address, when I talked with the man at the consulate, I explained to him that all of our house utilities are actually in my fiance's grandfather's name, as we're renting his grandparents' old home. He told me not to worry and that according to him, the name on the bill didn't matter--that they really just use it to double-check the address you put down on the application and make sure there are no mistakes. Hmmm...! This seems to be not what other people are told, and I'm just wondering if maybe the person I talked to was really laid-back, but what if someone else processes the papers? I think I could get bank statements (although I don't think Bancomer has ever sent me much!) and I do have my paycheck stubs and maybe something Telmex could print up for me having an account with them--could those count? I'll probably email the consulate about this one and see if someone answers me differently than the one I talked with.

Another quick question relating to this...the address that I always put for my FM3 is where I first lived when I came here--at my boyfriend's family house, because that's where I was living when I got the FM3. Do you think I need to be consistent and put down the same address for this process, too?

Ok, ok, I think those are all of my questions for now! Ahh, there's only much you can tackle in one day! Have a good night, everyone and thanks again for everything!

P.S. I really hope that things don't get delayed for you guys at Ciudad Juarez! I wonder if they sent out those letters because maybe they fell behind when they closed for those few weeks this summer?

I see a couple people have already answered, but I thought I'd chime in anyway:

1 - We didn't do anything more than what you're planning for the civil ceremony. I wore a knee length white "tea" dress and he wore slacks and nice shirt. We took pictures and went out for dinner with his family afterward, but that was it. However, we had our church wedding in February and, of course, did the real wedding then. So we have pictures from both to take to our interview. We hadn't thought of it beforehand, it was just how it all worked out. But I think its perfectly legitimate to say you're waiting for the church wedding to really celebrate (after all, that's how most people do it here anyway).

2 - We turned in our I-130 packet in Mexico City, and we took as proof the rent contract we had specifically put in both our names, the church marriage certificate, and a joint bank account statement. All of which I offered when we turned in the packet and they weren't interested. They told us to save it for the interview. For the interview we are taking those, pictures, letters and cards addressed to both of us, and phone records from our house to my mom's house (showing I live here and call my mom). We honestly can't think of anything else we can take. We do have thousands of pictures, of which we are going to fill a 300 picture album with. If they ask for more, we figure we can always show them my pregnant belly.

3 - When you turn in your I130 packet they ask for a copy of your FM3. At least in DF that was enough to establish your residence here as it has to be updated yearly, and its hard to maintain a job here without residing here. My FM3 also has my first address, my husband's family home, which we haven't lived at for two years. So far it hasn't been an issue. My advice is to put the information everywhere they ask for as current and truthful as possible. My husband was also worried because he never changed his IFE address to our current one; it still shows his parents' house as well. They never said anything about that either. We figure in the biographical information where you have to list all your previous addresses it proves we did at one point live there. I wouldn't worry about any bills unless they ask you for them. We don't have any in both our names (proof of relationship) and none in my name (establishing residency) and it hasn't been a problem at all.

Hi Laurel -

I think it would be better for you to stay in Ciudad Juarez rather than el Paso. We also have my husband's interview on August 31, and we also thought that would be the safer choice, but I know he is required to turn in his tourist visa at his appointment so we saw it as quite a problem getting back to a hotel in El Paso after the appointment and before the DHL packet comes. We will be staying at La Quinta, as it has come highly recommended and is very close to the consulate's office as well as offers a free shuttle to and from the medical clinics, consulate, border and airport.

The rent contract is tricky...I'd say it is good proof and you can back it up with saying you only did it after getting the interview appointment, but they could always fire back saying there is absolutely no guarantee he'll get the visa and they may or may not like it that he has already signed a binding contract there. Its a tough call and could go either way based on who is conducting the interview... You could always take it and not offer it up unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise I'd rely on other evidence.

I've heard they don't even look at evidence except maybe pictures. Of course, we are taking a number of things with us anyway, but from the experiences I've read about, its been very fast and they don't ask for much at all.

Good luck, and maybe we'll see each other next Tuesday!

Jill

Thank you, Jaremedios!! Correction from my earlier post: we are just one week away from Ciudad Juarez. My husband and I are looking forward to 2 weeks from now as everything should be settled by then.

pnewton - Welcome! I have heard that the process is taking much less time simply because less people want to immigrate to the USA based on the bad economy. It seems that 3-4 months is how long it takes, once you send in the initial I-130 form. Unfortunately I really don't know the pros and cons of the K visa as we were already married when we started looking into things, it was never an option for us and therefore I didn't learn anythng about that process. Whatever you do, good luck!!

Wow so much has happened since I last logged on!! My husband and I went to visit my family in Iowa for a couple weeks and now we are winding down our week honeymoon in the Riviera Maya.

Jaremedios - This type of decision is always stressful and life changing, but we all must do what we believe is best for the ones around us. I am 5 months pregnant and we thought we would have to have the baby here in Yucatan, but when we finally got news in June we decided if we could make it back to Iowa before the baby came it would be an easier transition than with a newborn. However, we also found it difficult to break the news to his family here, considering they were anticipating the arrival of the first grandbaby. We were very relieved to find out they supported us knowing it would be best for us and the baby. So I wish you all the best luck in telling your family. But I bet they'll understand.

We are just two weeks away from flying to Ciudad Juarez. We got reservations at La Quinta, and we'll be staying Sunday to Thursday with the appointment on Tuesday. We hope we get the package from DHL by then. If anyone who has already had their interview can give any tips of things to remember to take/to do while we are there to ensure things go smoothly we'd be happy to hear them!!

Hope everyone is well!!

Lia - thanks for the info. That site has a lot of info. Thanks for the link.

Jaremedios - I hope everything works out with your family business! I really don't know about the addresses on that form. I wonder what other people put in that section??

czmjacq, there are some members from www.smf.juarez-mexico.com in CJ right now and they were saying that on Friday both consulate and clinics were closed, and the consulate is also going to be closed on Monday. I'm sorry you guys are in this difficult situation, and I think the consulate is being entirely irresponsible in advising people they need to be there in CJ anyways "just in case" when there is a bomb threat. Good luck in whatever you choose to do and be safe. I don't know where you guys are staying if you are going, but I would recommend something a little more removed from the consulate like La Quinta.

http://www.smf.juarez-mexico.com/index.php?topic=22090.0

Lia - did your husband fly into the Ciudad Juarez airport when he went? Is it relatively close to the US Consulate area? Did he take a taxi to the hotel from there? If so, how did he take it? Was it one where you pay inside the airport and then take the pay stub to the taxi? or did he get in and pay after leaving the airport? I'm really worried about how to get to the hotel from the airport...

Also what do you think about flying into El Paso, but staying in CJ? I found a flight that was a hundred dollars cheaper into El Paso and my husband already has a tourist visa. And considering I'm going with him, I thought the savings might be worth it, but I don't know if it will just be a bigger hassle than its worth. They don't take the tourist visa away until his interview, right?

Ok, I need to know. Where did all of you list your American address that everything is getting sent there? I thought since we were doing DCF we were all using just our Mexican addresses. Also, Jilly and Danny, I have the same question I had for Marisol73: Will your Mom send you the interview letter by mail so your SO can take it to interview? Do you trust the original to be sent in the mail? Thanks. I noticed that on the Packet 3 letter that's where it has listed the Priority Date and Preference Category. Since I didn't get a Packet 3 letter, what do you think I should put?

Sorry I forgot about your other questions!

Also we aren't having my mom send it because on Thursday we are going up there for a couple weeks for vacation, so we'll just pick it up then. When we were filling out Packet 3 info my sister (our cosponsor) and my mom (who is in charge of my tax work etc. while I'm gone) had to send me a bunch of paperwork for me to include. My sister sent me a package via DHL which cost like 38 dollars. It takes about 3 days to receive the package via DHL (Iowa-Yucatan) Then when they didn't include everything, They scanned and emailed everything that could be a copy and I printed it out.

That could be an option to you maybe. For instance, my packet 3 letter doesn't have any stamps, seals, or signatures on it and could be scanned in and reprinted. However, I havent' seen the interview letter to know if that has anything making it impossible to scan and send.

Also the Priority date is the date they RECEIVE your I-130 form in Mexico City. If you know that you can put it, and the Preference category seems to be the type of visa you are applying for. But if you're not sure, just leave it blank.

Ok, I need to know. Where did all of you list your American address that everything is getting sent there? I thought since we were doing DCF we were all using just our Mexican addresses. Also, Jilly and Danny, I have the same question I had for Marisol73: Will your Mom send you the interview letter by mail so your SO can take it to interview? Do you trust the original to be sent in the mail? Thanks. I noticed that on the Packet 3 letter that's where it has listed the Priority Date and Preference Category. Since I didn't get a Packet 3 letter, what do you think I should put?

Honestly I have no idea why they sent it to the US address! I know we had to list in several places the US Domicile where we plan to live. The only other thing is on the I-864 where the sponsor lists their address there are two spaces and the second one is for if you are residing in a place different than the first one. I was really confused about whether or not I was supposed to put the US address and the Mexico address or just the Mexico address. But, I decided to list that the US address is my permanent address (because its my parents' house and I had to prove intent to reestablish US domicile) and then listed my Mexico address in the second space where you can put if you are residing at a different address. So I don't know if it was because of that, or if they send a copy of everything to the the US domicile you list and the Mexico address you list...

Hope that helps!