JDParis

Congrat's and with an RFE impressive!! Please tell me was the RFE on the AVR or did you speak to someone oh the phone who then told you? Im nervous can you tell. Just want to make sure I am checking properly my status. I havent called anyone...so far. just used the AVR

Thanks TomD!

Well, for the longest time the AVR said (think of the nerdy, albeit friendly little AVR guy's voice) "The NVC has recieved your documents on (machine voice) August 2nd, 2010. Please allow 6-8 weeks...blah, blah, blah."

Then, one day I called in and it said "The NVC has reviewed your documents and found missing information." That's when I realized we had been hit with an RFE. I quickly called back, got an operator, asked what the heck was missing, and found out we had missed something on the DS-230.. I was also told (I called in about ten times within a few hours) that I could send the corrected form in using the barcode that was previously emailed to us for the original DS-230 request (but please make sure you confirm with an operator on your case before doing so...I'd hate to think I caused additional errors/waiting for anyone) So, I opened up our saved DS-230, fixed the mistake, printed out the original barcode, created a new content coversheet (just in case), and mailed that sucker off the same day!

I am still surprised that we got our SIF as soon as we did because I thought the RFE was going to set us back at least a few weeks. But, guess not! I'll take it!

Hopefully no one else will get an RFE, but if so, that (or something similar) is what you will hear on the AVR. Hope that helps!

Hello everyone! Just wanted to let the thread know that we got our SIF yesterday, 8.31.10! Good luck to everyone!

Congrats guyz! Hope you get an interview date soon!!

Thanks Mrs. D!!!

Hey guys! Happy first day of September! Just wanted to let you all know that we got our SIF today!!! Well yesterday...but I just found out today! Wooohoooo! Sooo...guess that means that an RFE won't slow you down too much, should anyone get one in the future!

Good luck everyone!

Dang Jess, You and Jesal got me nervous. I hope I dont get and RFE. I dont take criticism well haha. I am afraid to look at the DS 230 or the I-864 info but that's what we pay them for. I hate to think they are RFEing people for silly stuff. That only increases their work load and they are behind the curve now. Seems to me some of this stuff could easily be handled during the interview process if they provided us notice of concern or request for clarification on a particular item.

I use to feel like this when I was a kid. My father worked away from home every other day and on days that he was coming home I was always concerned what mom might have told him about me ...

No need to worry! I'm sure you (and everyone else) will be fine! TheJesal and I will bite the bullet for the group! Here's to September!

Thank you. I might actually do that today if i dont receive any email in a few hours.

Some here have stated they received their checklist email about 2 days after the AVR system stating a RFE. So i was hoping something would be emailed today or tomorrow. Im too antsy to wait.

I'm right there with you! I had our RFE figured out, corrected (according to them), and in the mail the same day (after hearing I didn't have to wait)...but I am ####### and way too impatient to wait. Especially since I had all my NVC forms ready to go MONTHS before even our NOA2 came through and this is a stupid error on their part. Not sure why stuff like this can't be cleared up with a simple phone call, or an email of the corrected form. Oh well.

I know you are "on the ball" with all your NVC stuff also, so I feel your pain. Having said that, we did get the "checklist" email two days later, so hopefully you'll see something in your inbox today...if not, I'd give them a call.

GOOD LUCK!!!

wow so much good news in here! Happy for you all!

Just sitting here waiting for the damn checklist email to arrive. Grr.

But i am actually ok with the RFE. Still a good chance I will get a November interview date and i will be in India till the 17th of November anyways. Just hoping the interview is before that.

Jesal,

We got a stupid RFE also, which I became aware of after calling the AVR last week on the 25th, and still nothing in the mail yet. I talked to an operator who clued me in as to what the RFE was about and I was told that I could use the previously sent barcode for the form in question(the DS-230) and go ahead and send in the corrected information using that barcode...just wanted to give you a heads up, since you already know what the issue is with your case, you might want to give them a call and see if you can do the same...cut down on the wait time.

Good luck!

Hello Divina24,

take a look at my timeline below. I understand that the NVC has been backed up with mail recently, so it takes awhile for them to even open your package. I sent our last paperwork to the NVC on May 15th, and our case was closed on June 4th. Also, from watching the interview schedules at the US Consulate in Honduras (go to http://honduras.usembassy.gov/iv.html to preview), they are getting busier and busier as the number of cases listed per day is increasing every month. Our interview date was assigned on July 13th, but our file was not sent out from the NVC to the Consulate until July 23rd.

This should give you a sense of how to forecast your own timeline. However, I was able to change (accelerate) our interview to 3 weeks earlier by going to the US Consulate in person (I am a USC and the Petitioner). Our original interview date was Aug 23rd, but we were able to get an interview on Aug 2nd instead. The medical appointment will only take one day as long as you start early in the morning, and there are no problems. I recommend going to Dra. Elisa Carrasco at The Honduras Medical Center.

As long as your paperwork at the NVC is all good and complete, they will close your case, and your interview date will likely be in mid-November 2010. Be sure that the Honduran documents (birth & marriage certificates) that you take to the interview are in forma literal (the long form). Best wishes to you.

Such helpful info, KayaEel. You are so nice!

I was wondering if you were in Honduras when you requested the earlier interview date? You said you are the USC and you went to the Consulate in person, so I was a bit confused. I want to try this as well once my NVC case is approved, so looking for advice. Thanks!

Did anyone submit 2 X 1.5'' photos and actually get an RFE? My husband took his in England, at a passport photo place, and we didn't realize they weren't the correct size until we had already sent them in.

Hello Fellow July NVCers,

Can someone explain this whole "sign in fail" thing to me? Is that on the webpage that you sign in to pay your fee bills? And when your case has finally been approved it will say "sign in fail?" I am probably WAY off. I searched on the site, but couldn't find the answer, only lots of "YAY! My case says Sign in Fail"'s.

Thanks for the help!

I called my senator and had two touches 30 days ago and nothing.

Hi I & G,

I hope you have positive results from your Senator inquiry, but just to let you know, we did the same thing...sent in our I-130, thought we might have speedier results if there was a "Congressional Inquiry" on our case, got two touches right in a row after hearing from our Senator, thought our NOA2 was right around the corner...waited...waited...nothing. Still took us 108 days to get our NOA2. Anyway, just wanted to share, but I hope you have better luck than we did!

Did you guys write your NVC case number/stick a NVC case barcode label on the originals you sent in (ie. birth certificates, marriage licenses)? Any advice on ways to sucessfully convey your case # on those documents without ruining them (should they actually be returned to us like we are requesting)?

Thanks,

Jess & Daniel

Anyone that's gone/is going through the NVC process,

Did you guys write your NVC case number/stick a NVC case barcode label on the originals you sent in (ie. birth certificates, marriage licenses)? Any advice on ways to sucessfully convey your case # on those documents without ruining them (should they actually be returned to us like we are requesting)?

Thanks,

Jess & Daniel

Yes, but the bar code had an advertisement for the that web site that makes it. I removed that using Photoshop and then printed it. I did also send an email too.

Sweet! That's exactly what I was did. Did yours look like the document attached? And then you just changed the case number and pasted your barcode in place of the current one?

I-864-Coversheet.doc

I did and had no problems.

Hey March2010! Thanks for the response! Did you go the "create your own barcoded coversheet" route as well?

One more question:

Did any of my fellow "eager beavers" that filled out your NVC forms ahead of time (ie. prior to even receiving your NOA2) have any issues using the forms from USCIS instead of the forms that the NVC sent?

For example, we printed out the DS-3032 (Choice of Agent) Form online from the USCIS website and have it ready to go (in addition to emailing it), but when we got the Choice of Agent form from the NVC, the forms didn't look alike. They do however have the same version numbers at the top. AND we are printing out labels with the barcode included on the NVC Choice of Agent email to attach to the tops of any forms we send in. Should that be okay? Only issue with sending in the NVC sent Choice of Agent Form is that my husband filled out and signed the form we printed from the USCIS and sent it to me several weeks ago, so I have it in hand, ready to send. If he was to print out the new NVC Choice of Agent form, it would take weeks to send it from the UK to the US, assuming it ever gets there at all.

Any advice/stories/experiences?

THANKS!

Triaxxx they told me something similar when i called about the pay portal in March. Apparently, you can create your own barcoded cover sheet using the barcode on the emailed DDS 3032 form. The operator said it wouldn't be a problem to send in my documents that way. However, at the time I wasn't in a rush because I knew I wouldn't be able to get in both the AOs and IV packet at the same time. SO I waited until the portal was working again.

However, if anyone is having issues with the portal and you know the money was taken out of your accoun then I say you should sent in your documents. Use the barcode from the DS 3032.

Hello all,

We just got our NOA2 on July 1st, and assigned a NVC case number just a few days ago. YAY!!!

Can anyone post an attachment of their AOS Barcoded Coversheet, preferably an "official" one from the NVC, but even a "create your own" example would be awesome (assuming it's been sent in and accepted without any problems). We are in the waiting period between having paid our AOS fee (currently "in process") and being able to print out the NVC sent barcoded coversheet. However, we've had all of our NVC forms filed out and ready to go for months now, so anything we can do to speed up the waiting would be fantastic. Just don't want to send something in that will actually hinder our process.

If anyone can post their barcoded coversheet, or share their "create your own" experiences/sucesses/issues, that would be awesome!

Thanks so much,

Jess & Daniel

Congrats to all the new approvals! YAY for March filers!

Hello VJers,

We are trying to go the "get ahead" route and send in our I-864 forms before getting our "official" barcoded cover sheet. We paid the AOS fee online today, but apparently it says you have to wait for the payment to clear before your coversheet is created. My hubby found this coversheet "cheat" example on "James's Shortcuts" (found here) and I'm trying to find out if this will be accepted by the NVC.

Can anyone confirm that this is okay to use and we can go ahead and send everything for the I-864 in now? Or, if anyone has recently received their barcoded coversheet from the NVC and wouldn't mind posting it here, that would be FANTASTIC!

Thanks,

Jess & Daniel

I-864-Coversheet.doc

Congrats did you check your case status online does it still say INITIAL REVIEW

Yes, our online status still say initial review. Super effective, huh?!

Hello fellow Marchers,

Just found out that we've received our NOA2!!! I am actually in the UK right now visiting the hubby, and my roommate sent me an email saying that I had received an "official" looking letter from USCIS. After asking her to open it, she read that it was in fact our NOA2 dated July 1st. SUPER EXCITED yet not too impressed with the USCIS. We were signed up for text and email alerts and NOTHING. We got a touch on the 2nd, called them to see if there had been any updates (not knowing that we had already been approved) and they said the same old "no news" #######! UGH!

Anywho...108 days from NOA1 to NOA2. VJ timeline predicted July 6th, just FYI. So...a few days earlier than their predictions. Wooo!

Good luck to everyone! Looks like it might be moving finally!

Hi there,

I had this same issue when getting my pictres together for our I-130 petition.

I haven't received my NOA2 yet, so I won't say what works "best" but this is what I did.

Originally I made a "collage" type document in photoshop, displaying all of our pictures beside each other in various shapes and sizes. Then, I read that the USCIS wanted to know when and where each picture was taken, and the collage didn't allow for descriptions to be displayed in a clear, precise way, so I had to come up with something else. (Although, since I'd already done the work, I went ahead and sent the collages in with my petition and just made a note on the back that the date and location of each picture is indicated on the subsequent pictures included with evidence of relationship.)

I decided to print each picture out on my printer using glossy photo paper (usually two to four pictures per page) from my local office supply store (Office Depot) and made them all roughly the same size and shape. I then used a two hole punch to make holes in each picture and used two index card rings to bind them all together. (Something similar to this Click here ) I had a TON of pictures though because I figured if they wanted "proof" of an on-going relationship, then I would give it to them!

I printed out labels with the date and location of each picture, and (because I am OCD ) I even included a little description of what we were doing in each picture (ie. "vacation to Paris", "dinner with friends, and listed their names and how we knew them"). I stuck the labels on the back of each corresponding picture since, because of the rings, you could flip them like a book/album.

I'm sure I gave this effort WAY too much time, but it was kind of fun at the same time, you know? And I started doing the pictures before we had everything else we needed for the petition, so I wasn't in a big hurry to send it off. If you are ready to send in your petition though, I would spend as little time and energy on this as possible and just send that thing off! The waiting is awful, so the quicker you get it in, the better! Just make sure to write the date and location of whatever pictures you submit, and then how you put them together is really up to you!

GOOD LUCK!

PS. Sorry for the novel! HA!

Congrats March2010!!!

Does sucking up to the government help speed up your case?

If it doesn't, why do some people like to suck up. Especially here on VJ given that the government doesn't even get to see these sucking ups.

HA!

Darnell - EXACTLY what I wanted to hear. I would hate to think I missed a step that could have sped things up. Thank you for your reply!

March2010 - Sorry for the confusion. I meant NOA1 for your I-129F, but still, I wanted to see if the submittal of the I-129F in addition to the I-130 would benifit my case at this point. Jealous of all your touches! Hope to hear good news from you tomorrow!