hammer

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are all done. Thank you all for all of the help and support throughout the process. This has truly been an experience I never want to go through again. My wife had her interview yesterday and got her passport stamp today. Not much of an interview. Literally just got fingerprinted and signed the DS-230. We were so worried about the interview, but in the end it was very simple. Good luck to everyone.

tnk u so much,,,it helps me a lot...:)

You are very welcome. If there's anything that I can help you with, please do not hesitate to ask. If I can do anything to help others to not go through what we have gone through it makes me feel a little better about this whole ordeal. We really wish we knew what to expect before we started. It would have made everything a little more bearable.

Guys can you tell me since I was approved on the 24th of this Month when would be the appropiate time to call NVC.

For us, it took three days for NVC to receive the package and about a week later we got the bills in an email. You should be able to call now and give them your email addresses and hopefully get your NVC number. In the meantime you should get the paperwork together so that you won't have any delays.

guys...just want to ask something....when u call nvc what did u said to them..did u guys ask them for nvc case number??? pls tell me,,coz they asking abt case number of uscis...they said that they already recieve our papers and then we have to wait 6-8 weeks for instruction..what was that...cant understand,,

When you called, they should have asked for the email addresses of you and your spouse and given you the NVC number if it was assigned. Since they didn't give you the NVC number, I would call back until they have it since you will need it later on. Until you have an NVC number, they will use your USCIS number. The next thing you should get is the Invoice ID number in an email. After you have the Invoice ID number you can then pay your two bills online and submit the paperwork for the next step. You should be getting those papers together now to help speed things up later. Don't worry about their time estimates since they always use 6-8 weeks for an answer, but don't worry about that because it seems to be moving faster than that right now. Once you have paid the fees and submitted the paperwork, then you wait for the case complete. This currently seems to be running around three weeks. Then you move into the interview queue which is probably even more stressful since the wait times are quite variable. Does this help you? If not, let me know and I can try to make it more clear. I know that I wish I had a clear understanding about how this whole process worked before I got started.

Thanks,

I feel confident she will be here by the end of Nov.

Just get yourself ready because NVC moves a little faster than USCIS...

Do you really think the end of November is possible? We have the same case complete date, so I would think we would have similar endings to our respective sagas. We would love to be together in November, but I've become so pessimistic about the whole process and I just don't know anymore.

how long after we receive this bill is it finally over? that they get all of my paperwork and everything and it is officially finished after that?

Once the bills are all paid and the documentation is complete they will tell you it takes another six to eight weeks for the case to be completed. Recently, most people have been getting their SIF and case completes in around three weeks. Then, the second week of the month they select cases from the case completes to set up the interview at your respective country's embassy. The number of cases they select is dependent on the country you are applying to. If you get selected, you should receive an email indicating the date of the interview, and several weeks later your beneficiary will receive a package from the embassy. If you don't hear by the end of the second week of the month, then you will be put into the pool for the next month. I talked to two different people at NVC and they told me that getting the interview set up can take a few months to a few years, depending on the embassy. There is no time limit for this step, unlike the previous steps of the application process. Sometimes you can get this step expedited, but generally they only do that for life or death situations or medical emergencies. To do the expedite you email NVC with ATTN Supervisor Sue as the message title. The message should explain why you need the expedite, and NVC will forward that to your embassy. The embassy then decides whether or not to grant the expedite, but again there is no time frame given for their decision. Just as an example, the people that heard last week should have their interviews in October. Anyone who did not hear will be put into the pool for the November interviews. I hope this helps.

I'm just sending my husband's DS-230 tomorrow... But after reading all your recent posts, I'm beggining to lose all hopes that my husband will get a November (my birthday, my husband's birthday, our anniversary, oh, and hoping for a month vacation from work) interview....

Would've been the 1st time we'll spend our anniversary together, and just like that, *poof* it's gone..... Wanna see my husband soooo freaking bad, my poor baby, been a year since she saw her father.....

I think it's much better knowing what to expect rather than expecting something that's not possible. There is a chance you could get an interview in November, but I think it's pretty slim. If you don't get the email in the second week of October then it's pretty much not going to happen. I was told by NVC that having a case complete by the second week of September would give us an October interview, but now I'm told that the whole process of granting interviews is not that straightforward. I wish they had been more open from the beginning and not given me hope where there is none. I think I would do things a whole lot different now after all that I have learned this past year.

Well the good news is your young. The bad news is I am not. So this process is taking a large percentage of what life I have left... Where is the humanity in that!!! I just hope one day I can return the favor...

None of us knows when we will die, so I don't think you can say how long you have left. You can go to a cemetery and see all ages represented there. The whole immigration process is ridiculous and is in dire need of an overhaul. Besides, how is keeping spouses apart important for national security? This is family friendly?

WHAT THE HELL.... You should have spoken to the Moral Officer. Oh boy those wild and crazy NVC guys and gals... I hope all their children grow up to look like them...

Hopefully I will wake up in the morning and find out that this was all a terrible nightmare and have an email with the interview date waiting in my inbox.

Guess I'm just living in a fantasy world; a world where spouses can live together...

After reading Darnell's post about begging for an interview I called NVC. After waiting on hold for forty-five minutes I finally got to speak with an operator. I begged her to add us to the October interviews and she said it was not possible. She explained that during the second week of the month they pick a certain number of applicants for each embassy. The exact number varies by embassy and is apparently a closely guarded secret. I told her that I checked the packages sent from NVC for September and that no packages went to Tunisia, so does this mean that the number of applicants picked for Tunisia was zero for September, and she said that she is not allowed to discuss that with me. She said once they pick for the month, that's it. No exceptions unless there is a life or death situation. So, I said, then I can expect an interview in November? She said no, there is a specific number that get picked each month and if you don't get picked in September it doesn't mean you get picked in October. I asked about December and was given the same story. I said ok, what is the upper limit on waiting for the interview? She said that for this stage there is no set time limit and that some people wait for many years before they get an interview. I am abbreviating the conversation here to save space, but this went on for quite a while. Finally I asked to speak to a supervisor and got exactly the same response. In the end they told me that the interview step has no time limit and can go on for a very long time. They couldn't even estimate approximately how long the wait will be. I told them that I talked to the embassy in Tunisia and they told me that they were not a busy embassy and that once NVC releases the package that they can move things quickly. However, NVC says that they will schedule it when they will and it doesn't matter what the embassy told me. When our time comes they will contact the embassy and make the appointment. The supervisor at NVC said I can write a letter to NVC and request the interview with the embassy and NVC will forward the request to the embassy, but without a life or death emergency it was unlikely to be granted. And there is no set amount of time in which to expect a response to this request, so it can also take a very long time.

I have been thinking for a long time that this step would be the easiest step and after having these discussions tonight I am just so incredibly disappointed with the whole process. Every step is needlessly complicated. I know I am being impatient, but really what is the point to making it so hard to bring your legal spouse to live with you?

Thanks to everyone for the information. It seems like the cases I've seen are getting their interviews assigned within a week of case complete, so I will try to remain optimistic. Six weeks more just to get the interview assigned is not something I want to think about right now...

I think this VISA gauntlet has tested everyone’s mental status. We have the same complete date. I have heard nothing either but remember, 5 days does not a week make. I did check the DHL courier tracking and a package was sent from NH to Manila on the Sept 14th and delivered to Manila on Sept 17 at 430 pm... Don’t know if my paperwork was in that package or not but see like it might be. I don’t know about the appointment being set but it seems to be taking about 2 weeks from what I have seen from others timelines...

This link will help you try to track what has left going to your country...

http://www.visajourn...o-us-consulate/

Hang in there its not hammer time yet...

So the sequence is that the package goes out and then you get the email with the interview date? I thought NVC sets the date and then ships out the package. I'm told that the embassy in Tunis is not particularly busy so we're hoping for an interview in the not too distant future. Closure seems so close now and I'm truly at the end of my patience with this whole process. I hope that the spouse visa process is included in any immigration reform. Thanks for the help.

Has anyone with a case complete over the past few weeks heard anything about their interview appointment? I've been waiting about a week now and am just wondering why it takes so long to contact the embassy and make an appointment? I think my patience is shot after this whole ordeal. Thanks in advance.

I just talked to NVC and they tell me that my case is complete. Does anyone know how long it takes to hear about the interview? The operator at NVC thought we just missed the October cutoff for interviews and that it would probably be sometime in November.

Sign in failed today. Really made my Eid. Eid mubarak. Aidek mabrouk for the Tunisians.

By the way, what's the purpose of the DS-3032? When I called NVC they told me that they have me listed as the attorney and the petitioner. Will submitting that form help anything?

Thank you for replying. When the case first got to NVC they told me 6-8 weeks so I'm hoping that the 4 weeks since then counts, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't. In any event the representative I talked to on Friday told me that there was no chance for a September interview. It seems that they finish booking interviews by the second week of the month, so I'm really hoping for a quick case complete so that we can make an October interview. Probably being too optimistic; I should probably be thinking November/December. Overestimating would probably spare some of my sanity, or at least what's left of it. Tunisia is a pretty quiet embassy and they told me that their part should be very fast, so at least that's good news. It's hard to make a reasonable expectation when the process is so hidden from view; it would be nice to know exactly what is happening each step of the way but I guess that's asking too much.

Can anyone tell me approximately how long does it take to go from submitting all of the documents to NVC to the interview? I thought that after the I-130 was approved everything would be fast, but I keep hearing six-eight weeks at NVC and another two months for the interview. This is almost as long as the I-130 approval. Some VJers have short times listed, around a month total time but the majority seems to be around four months. Is there any way to speed up the process? Thanks in advance.

My question will be how long does it take from the sending of the packet to the NVC to total approval?

I called NVC last night to get my number, and they told me it takes at least 6-8 weeks to get through NVC. Then you have to add on the time for the embassy to process and interview.

COngratulations!!!

Thanks. Hopefully yours will be coming soon. Maybe they're working on all of the Tunisian applications now?

Our application was touched on 7-23 and last night at 11:47 pm EDT I received a text and email telling us that our application was approved! 122 days after NOA1. I wasn't expecting anything at that time! The website was also updated at the same time. Woke my wife up to give her the good news. Thanks to everyone here for helping us to maintain our sanity during this process. Good luck to all of the remaining Marchers, you should be hearing soon.

you are right indigo. looking through the march filers, there are a few that haven't been online here since april. there are a few that an error occurs when you bring up there name. there are a few that have duplicates and of course there can't be only one this week when they went crazy last week. there has to be more.

There are still some of us March people who have not heard anything yet. I will update my timeline as soon as I hear but, unfortunately, the only thing I hear is my sanity slipping away...

I have seen it mentioned a number of times that the time between the NOA2 and the day of reunification is 120 days. Is this true? My understanding was that NVC processes the paper (around two weeks normally, now around four) and then sends everything to the embassy overseas where they schedule the interview and then issue the paperwork. Is there something I am missing here? How can the process take another four months?

Patience is definitely the keyword here, though mine is just about gone. I think the biggest problem with the whole process is the lack of transparency with USCIS. What exactly do they do that takes so long? And what about all of the talk about family values? We have people who are legitimately married to US citizens having to wait more than people who aren't even legally connected to a citizen. And why is a couple who decides to get married after they get engaged penalized for following the natural course of events? The whole system is badly in need of reform. It's no wonder that so many people come here illegally. I think that if anyone at USCIS had to go through this process they would work night and day nonstop to process applications. Now that I got that off my chest, I still think that a large part of the delay for Marchers is the big increase in applications that they had in February/March (they had around 20,000 receipts in December to over 30,000 in March).

hi VJ's..i'm just wondering what is premium processing case? is that applicable for everyone? has anyone ever tried that? if u've already filed ur case is there any way to avail this kinda service?

thanks

I believe that is for employment based visas only. If you find out that we can use that for a spouse visa let me know. I would pay anything for all of this waiting to be over with already.