triaxxx

Thanks Triaxxx you shared more than enough. Your right all cases and Reps are different. I dont forsee any of that happening to us. She has never been to the states and has a good job with a well know company in Los Banos for the last 16 yrs.

Glad it worked out for you in the end thats what really matters. I have a bigger battle with my wife than anything else. She was speaking of taking the bus to Manila for her medical and at the end of the day taking the bus back. Its about 2 1/2 hours each way and I told her just to get a hotel but she doesnt feel safe.haha I told her to bring one of her strongest nephwes along for protection. I think she just lets her emotions direct her rather than reasoning sometimes. I was suprised to hear that she went by bus with a girl friend of hers to visit some of my friends in Zambales. She had a great time and of course once there was safe as can be. Her friend didnt want to go back to Los Banos...haha

Thanks again...

Oh I have one question for you . Was the interview in English? She can speak English but is most comfortable with Tagalog.

Definitely in English. She will be speaking with US consular officers who are nothing less but a pain in the .....

Bottom line, 3 words, "presence of mind"... as long as your wife can be witty enough and really, by knowing your whole case and what is required, then she can answer appropriately. Filipinos tend to answer too much or give out too much info. Just be concise and answer whats being asked for.

Another example, my salary/tax returns were below minimum levels for 08 and 09 years, only this year am i making decent money... but really, in the info published on the embassy website, it is the current salary (or was it current tax year) that should be considered. If my wife didn't point that out, then they could have pulled one under her. Good luck. Any questions, just ask.

Great news Triaxxx I'm Jealous!!! Can you share without details the basics of what she tripped over in the interview?

Hi TomD. Since your wife will be going through the Manila Embassy, I can share some of the stuff she went through. But as you know, in general, all our cases will be treated differently since we have different backgrounds.

For her, they questioned her travel history. Even though I thought it was not anymore related to our IR1 case. She initially came to the US in 05 with me as a tourist. then she converted to h1b so she could stay legally. then she went home last jan because of a family matter and had overstayed 3 months after the h1b. we only did this because i was to become a citizen so i figured 3 months won't have repercussions. They gave her a hard time for this. In the end, they couldn't find holes as my wife had the presence of mind to answer each query, like why she converted to h1b and overstayed afterwards. They tried to ask for her old, old passport with her tourist visa (expired) and thank God it was in the car so she ran outside and submitted it back. She said she wasn't gonna leave without a decision... she initially got a blue slip but when they saw the passport, they gave her the pink slip and approval....

i can elaborate but maybe not in here. let me know if i can help...

triaxxx-Long time no see! How are things going? I can't believe it has been 10 days since the interview already.

Have a great weekend everyone. I hope to hear some good news from those waiting for their various stages to complete next week

She's set to fly in on Labor Day weekend!! Interview wasn't all that smooth but she did manage to pull through.

Sorry, wasn't able to share it. Anyway, we are ecstatic!!

Been busy with work lately.. running in-patient service right now.

Hope all is going well for everyone, although, I still see delays with NVC.

For bwelty,

If its available to be paid then go ahead and do so. No need to wait for an email. I never got an email for it.

Guys, my wife had a successful interview today!!! Thank God!

This couldn't be more timely. My daughter has been admitted to the hospital again yesterday for Pneumonia. Now, they'll leave as soon as she recovers.

Once again, thank you VJ!

May all your cases be looked on favorably and promptly.....

As long as the box where you have to click is ghosted u can't pay.

I understand your frustration Indigo. Try to keep your head up. Thats what VJ members are here for, you'll never be alone.

I had the chance to file end of Jan 2010 but didn't. Got caught up with work and filed late Feb with NOA1 of March. If I filed Jan my NOA2 would have been in 60-70days but it ended up being over 100days. At the same time, a local friend filed 1st week of Feb and arrived here early July. Heck, even some of the early Feb filers were lucky compared to the latter half...

Things happen for a reason. Each has their own case, their time and place. You'll get there, believe in it.

In there = payment portal

I didnt wait for any emails from them. As soon as the invoice was available to be paid in the payment portal, i paid it.

I did however receive the DS3032 approval about 2 hours after i paid the IV invoice. So i guess they are issued at the same time?

I agree. This is what happened with my IV bill. The notice/invoice never came even after paying the AOS for a week already. But it was available to be paid in the portal. If I'm not mistaken, it was Tokyo lovers or sachinky which advised me to go ahead and pay.

Bottom line, if the AOS fee or IV bill "tick box" is not on "ghost mode", or as long as you can click on it, then go ahead and pay it.

Hi guys, may ur cases be looked at favorably and promptly. Somehow VJ has been instilled in my system. So I'm just saying hello.

Haven't visited in a while since I'm now doing in patient service.

Msd, did u see my reply to your pm?

she is the GodMother of march filers

and folks, how did u all send the originals to nvc.. which courier service didyu use.. i guess the options are USPS, Fedex... anybody had any bad experience with either?

how long does it typically take...?

I did USPS express so it'll be there the next day, guaranteed.

I would also send your tax info. Some times they ask for this again. Good luck triaxxx! Any idea yet of an interview date?

Thanks Teya, actually, a lot of thanks to you. You've been very encouraging and proactive with everyone here and for that I appreciate you. Yeah, I will send all supporting docs of the AOS and DS230... thats why my shipping bill is so high!!!!

Aug. 11 is the date!

Guys, thanks for all your help. We have 2 steps left and couldn't have made it this far without VJ support.

I am now scrambling to make sure all copies get to my wife on time. I pray all of us make it through ASAP.

I am sending: aos, ds230, i130 and its noa2, proof of domestic domicile, proof of our relationship... anything else I should send?

sorry guys, got so involved in the rush of things... i'm getting excited. i'm actually hoping they can come some time august.

anyway, pls disregard my previous question on packet 3. i just did a quick search here on VJ and found the info I need.

thanks

guys, so i finally got confirmation about our expedite and our case is now in manila.... i called in today and was told to tell my wife to come in and pick up an instruction packet. i am presuming this is the packet #3?

should this include an interview schedule already?

i do not know if our case has been reviewed and closed. i submitted my ds230 on jul 14 and aos on july 21. they forwarded all docs on july 22 so i have no clue whether they had a chance to go over my submitted docs or they just sent everything to manila without reviewing it.... i was so eager for this expedite but now i don't know what's going on.

NVC said they're not involved anymore...

i'm calling manila embassy later... i hate that the customer service calls have a fee everytime you call...

the jesal, jinyandjony..

on the question of who will accompany the applicant now... i put in my kids, they are also US citizens. question #29 should establish that they are citizens and will show that they're with your wife. i didnt submit any info for my kids since only my wife is the beneficiary.

on the question of writing the case number, some suggested a felt tip pen should be used so it is easily read. i simply used a ballpoint pen.

on the question about pics, i put it in a very small ziplock then i paperclipped the bag to a regular sized copy/bond paper.

on the question about middle names, i would just leave that blank... i find it weird to have a first name then N/A for middle name.. but that's just me. wait for others to chime in on this one.

as for the address, if your address is too long.. then did you have to write it on an additional sheet in the first place? cause if so, then you can put your folks address on that sheet as well... what i did on ours was if the space for the address was only short by a few letters or so, i just wrote it by hand... dont know if this is right but so far we're progressing along... in fact i'll post my update and questions after this post...

hope this helps..

Yes totosan, I agree, was told the same thing by nvc operator.

Hey you are talking about my home area! I live in Beckley in southern WV! How did you like it here?

You bet I had a great time!!! Might be back in the fall for Gauley season as they call it down there. I live in Wheeling right now doing residency. Let's have a beer (or two, or more) next time around.

Hey guys, I tried to log in the payment portal.. message goes...

Sign In Failed

Please be advised that the case that you have attempted to access is not eligible for further processing by the National Visa Center at this time. Please click on the Contact the NVC hyperlink if you believe that you have received this message in error.

Hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here on out.

OBX & Traixxx Thanks for your sharing. I am packing for an overnight Kayak trip down the Green River in Kentucky so once I get back I will start introducing myself to the NVC staff. Once I get the number then I will again be the deer in the headlights.. Have a Great Weekend...

no prob, man. hey, i just went rafting at the new mountain river gorge down in the southern part of WV. have you heard of the Gauley season? or i think its called upper gauley river... they said its like the 7th ranked whitewater experience in the world...

triaxxx,

I have seen where you stated you put in for an expedited Visa. I thought they only did this if there was some sort of an emergency situation. Am I wrong?

TomD, I agree with OBX. The AVR lags. Right now, my AVR still says the IV fee was received but I'm well beyond that. So I really think its a good idea to call regularly if you are expecting actions done on your case, especially nowadays when they are a bit slower than what I've read on previous months....

Sometimes if I have nothing else to say to the operator I just kinda ask them for guidance (just to be able to say something) on what the next step is. A good operator will give you detailed info while drones will tell you to read the web.

As for my expedite, I'm actually confused now as to what I will wait for or who to contact. I'll try to call NVC on Monday and the US embassy in Manila as well to clarify. I did post in our March USCIS filers thread about why I was doing an expedite. Obviously USCIS had deaf ears about that and thankfully/hopefully, the NVC/Embassy is hearing me out now... We'll see... Best of luck to all...

Was told by nvc tonight that they sent everything to the embassy in manila. Hopefully that means our expedite got approved.

guys, do we have a database like "igors list" where we can track VJ members who are getting SIF or CC's? I know it all varies but if it can be based on the date when the IV was entered into the system we could trend the timelines...

TomD, it won't hurt to call once a day.... I'd call around 11pm and ask for the operator if the AVR doesn't give me any update. Sometimes the AVR/Payment Portal updates after 5pm or so... If I hadn't been persistent on my AOS issue, I would still be waiting for them to send me the AOS stuff. I spoke with at least 2-3 operators who didn't do sh--. Pls Excuse my language guys. Then last monday I spoke to another and she cared enough to teach me that I could send my AOS forms with the DS230 coversheet since there was probably a glitch in the system thats why my AOS wasn't showing as Paid. She was so nice that she even explained to me what else was going on with my file.

e.g. my request for expedite was sent to Manila and awaiting a response but it's already there

Good luck TomD

It's the same on both.

It has the same address. The only difference is the addressee... on the DS230 it says, ATTN: CMR while on the AOS cover sheet, ATTN: CMR AOS.

Finally, my AOS shows paid after 12 days! Anyway, I already sent the AOS even before this as I've said, using the DS230 cover sheet as instructed by the operator.

Hey thanks for verifying march and nica.