C_María

Update! We got married yesterday!! :wub: (L) :D

Now, to begin the AOS.....

Felizidades!!!!!!! Good luck with AOS, wishing you the best.

That would make sense, right? The letter we got said to return to the consulate specifically for fingerprints and when we called to see if it was for ASC and should we make an appointment they couldn't tell us anything. They just said we had to do what the letter said so if it said to go to the consulate then that was what we had to do. When he was inside they had him use the old fingerprint machine they had been using a couple weeks back before this mierda began. I'm not sure what would have happened if he had gone...

And one more question, what about vaccinations? Did they make you get them? and the kids? I'm sorry about so many questions...

K-1's are not required to get vaccinations at this point but it looks like the kids do.

"Applicants ages two (2) years to (14) fourteen years of age must undergo the medical examination at least four (4) work days

prior to their scheduled appointment at the Consulate. Failure to do so may result in processing delays or rescheduling of initial

appointment. It is also recommended that children within this age range should be immunized at least four (4) weeks prior to their

medical examination."

I got this from the Embassy info section I told you about that copied it from the embassy website. It seems like a lot of reading but everything you need to know is in there.

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Mexico&cty=Juarez

Have you been in Juarez for 14 days????

Simon. They lost my fiance's fingerprints and it's been a big mess... I've been complaining about it on my profile if you want to read about it. Our case is unusual and it's because of the transitions happening now so you will probably be fine by the time you get here.

Check out this page to find reviews of hotels under "accommodations". http://www.smf.juarez-mexico.com/index.php (There's other good stuff on here too like interview questions and a section in spanish.) You have to log in to post things but not to read.

Unfortunately hotels here are pretty much US prices We are staying at La Quinta and it's one of the cheaper ones listed though we saw some other ones driving around that advertised $400 np but didn't look as nice. I would recommend getting one close to the consulate since taxis are expensive, too. $50 np minimum and $150 np for a 15 minute ride. La Quinta has a free shuttle and breakfast so that's saved us a little money. There's lots of kids here playing in the pool all day and the staff has been really nice!

I'm pretty much an expert on the city of Juarez now so ask me whatever you want! Jejeje!

Dear friends who already had their interview/or are getting ready:

My fiancé's Interview in Ciudad Juarez in coming up!

I have some questions regarding the 'Supporting Evidence' for the I-134.

The reason I'm asking is because people seem to generally recommend to submit more info. than requested.

The problem is, after reading many forums here on Visa Journey, I can see that different consulates operate differently, and not everyone seems to agree on how much evidence is enough/too little!

So, here are the questions:

1. Did you get your I-134 notarized?

2. Did you submit tax transcripts or tax returns? Is one preferred over the other?

3. How many years of tax info. did you submit?

4. How many pay-stubs did you submit?

5. Did you submit W2's/1099's, and if so how many?

6. Was the letter from your employer an original or a copy?

Thank you in advance guys. I appreciate the help!!!

<3 Mary y Raul

Mexico is really liberal with the financial evidence requirements. Many different things can work as long as it gives a general overview of meeting the income requirements. Things will be stricter at your AOS from what I hear. Remember also that you are only required to meet the 100% poverty level and not the 125% as required for the AOS.

Also you will need to be in Juarez for at least 5 days! More if the kids are getting the K2's because their medical results will not be ready the same day like the adult's.

For the K-1 visa you will need to go to Juarez for the interview and do the medical at one of the two clinics across the street from the consulate. You'll have to make an appointment for the interview and once you're in there it only lasts about 20 minutes but sometimes they don't see you on time. If the kids are applying for a visa too they will also need a medical appointment and I believe they also go in for the interview. The American fiance will not be allowed into the consulate or the medical. At the top of this page it says Embassy info- go to the mexico page for embassy link and more information. Buen Suerte!!!!

[quote name=Matt ' timestamp='1301643848' post='4579410]

you need to wait for letter now, they dont print it at CDJ anymore. CDJ takes a month, then sends letter and it takes around 9 business days. My timeline seems to be avg if you want to look.

It's true: that's another thing they just changed last week. My fiance tried to get his letter printed out at the window and they said they don't do that anymore. I scanned it and he printed it out and they accepted it no problem.

[quote name=Matt ' timestamp='1301615966' post='4578547]

yes, you have to pay first. There is an option on automated system just for k-1 payments.

You can leave CDJ once interview is done, they either approve you or dont, if they dont you will know, they will tell you that you're missing something, etc. Its up to you which route you want to go

Hey yall, I wish that was true but if they are missing something that they wanted in person they will inform you by DHL that you need to return in person to provide it. Most people don't so it's usually a safe bet to go back but in our case we're fortunate we stayed. Here it is 9 days after the interview and we received a letter today here in CDJ DHL that my fiance has to return to the consulate to redo his fingerprints. If he was in another city he'd have to return... I don't want to believe it either but we're living it!

We finally got a response today from the consulate. The envelope from DHL that was supposed to have the visa in it has another single blue piece of paper that says Robe needs to return to the consulate to redo his fingerprints. Check out the full story on my profile if you can handle more of my whining.

[quote name=Matt ' timestamp='1301466423' post='4574094]

Those of you who filled out the DS-260:

There is a question "have you taken the medical exam yet?". I assume all of you are checking off "no"? They want us to schedule ASC appt before and medical exam a day or two before the visa interview, so wouldnt this question be "no" for most people? I didnt see any requirement for medical exam has to be done prior to ASC appt or printing DS-260 confirmation pg. Just being paranoid so want to make sure. Thanks!

I don't recall seeing that question on our version, either. The one that stumped us was the drop down box that asked what the relationship was between beneficiary and petitioner and the only choices were family members or spouse so we put spouse.

It's not unreasonable to be paranoid! You never know what miniscule thing will throw off the whole operation and what isn't a big deal. But if we all do the best we can that's all we can do. I wish we got extra points for trying so hard.

[quote name=Matt ' timestamp='1301327813' post='4570129]

Update... OK, just got off phone with CDJ. This ASC appt is NOT making things easier on applicants, *sigh.

The agent said to allow up to 48 hrs btw ASC appointment and the visa interview. If you do it at an ASC facility at another state, like Mexico City then you have to allow more time b/c they send fingerprints & photo via DHL to CDJ. Also, since they still dont guarantee it will be ready in a week I'm hesitant to go that route.

I think what we will do is ASC appt on Monday, medical exam on Tuesday & visa interview on Wed.

what do y'all think?

I think it's a great plan. I hope it works, something HAS to!

One other clue is that they mentioned something to Robe about maybe trying to call Washington on Monday if the fingerprints didn't show up. As if they were waiting for them to be ran through a system and returned... So in that case it wouldn't matter where you did them but maybe giving them more time to process them would help. We just can't know!

We are in the same situation and unfortunately it did not speed up our process though I did not try for an expedite because I was told it wasn't worth it to try and thought we'd be together for the birth of our baby for sure. Now if I were to do it again I would have tried just to know for sure, no harm in trying. We didn't have to justify my pregnancy at any point in this process nor did my fiance have to declare his knowledge of it. We submitted a lot of doctor's records in our evidence since it proved our living together at that time.

It has been really hard being apart these last few months and not being able to share the birth with him is a really painful thing but we keep telling ourselves that sacrificing our own happiness for a few months is worth it for our daughter to grow up with both her parents legally able to cross into and live in one another's country. But wow, they do not make it an easy process, be prepared for some heartache. But now my fiance will finally be able to meet his 6 week old daughter in a few days and we will be able to put this horrible experience behind us!

Best wishes for a healthy pregnancy and a quick immigration journey! Your family will be stronger for it.

Interview went perfectly well from our side but the new system has things all screwed up. Chances are slim to none that he'll receive the visa at DHL tomorrow, possible that he'll receive it Monday or Tuesday and probable that he'll have to re-do the ASC appointment next week through no fault of our own. If you want the complete rant it's on my profile, thought I'd spare the forum since my feelings towards this system are extremely negative right now.

Out of curiosity, did all of you get in the mail notification from NVC including case number also informing that your case had been forwarded to consulate?

No, I did not receive anything in the mail at that point. Only NOA1, NOA2 and packet 3 were through the mail.. All other information we gathered by telephone. First we called NVC to see when they received it and when they sent it out, also they provide you with the consulate's case number. NVC: (603)334-0700 Then using that case number you can begin call CDJ to see the status of your packet 3 CDJ: (703)439-2313

Did you receive this in Mexico or the US? If you received it in the US do you remember ever specifying to them that you wanted it mailed there? The reason I asked is a new guy on the 703 number said that based on my application they were only going to mail to the Mexico address.

By the way I did send a public inquiry (http://ciudadjuarez.usconsulate.gov/public_inquiry_form.html) to the Juarez Consulate a few months ago and they said you can print it at the window. The reason I am still asking this is because of the change in their procedure. I just want to be sure it doesn't affect being able to print it there.

I never specified anything and they sent it to my address here in CA where I have already received NOA1 and NOA2. I was skeptical until it came, too! But here it is in all it's (non) glory.

I'm not going to go into all the energy that went towards this lil ol packet 3 in the last better part of a year; investigating into the wee hours, harassing recent visa holders, worrying, waiting. And here it is and it's nothing! It's not even in a fancy font! It doesn't even have a signature in the big open space they left for one! But for some reason it's the keystone of this process. Did I miss something???!

thaiv, you were right to be skeptical about getting the letter at the window: please see previous post for painful details.

So it seems yall were right about the letter, at least for this crazy era!

My fiance Robe arrived at the consulate at 7 am and waited in the information line until 10:30 only to be told that they don't print out invitation letters or packet 3's at the window!!! Robe said the worker was in a bad mood and annoyed that he was asking and even acted like it was ridiculous that he was attempting to do so and made it seem like that had never been an option!

He decided to check at the clinic and see if he could still get in anyways and was told he needed an appointment! When he explained that he didn't need one because he is a K-1 they told him to come back with evidence that he has an open appointment in order to be seen. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that there was just a miscommunication there...

Luckily I had received the (totally unimpressive without letterhead, seal nor signature) "packet 3" and scanned and sent a copy that he printed out along with the latest version (Jan 2011) of the medical instructions that say at the bottom that "fiance visa applicants do not need to present an appointment letter". He's going to try again tomorrow with those and the confirmation printout of his interview appointment and hopefully they'll let him in! They have to, there isn't anything else he could possibly bring.

He also mentioned there were people being turned away from the consulate with faxed copies of their invitation letter that were too blurry to be accepted. He said it was really crowded and everyone seemed confused, grumpy and panicked. Yeah new system.

Tomorrow is his last chance to squeeze in the medical and then he has his ASC in the afternoon and his interview the following morning. I'll let yall know if we can get anything figured out...

Loveakanuk- I feel your frustration, it's a mess out there!!! I'm crossing my fingers that your visa will be there tomorrow and you can get you and your family out of there. You got this! I hear the waffles are really good, I hope that makes up for something.

And if you take the baby, be SURE that it has a passport.

A baby that is a US citizen needs a passport to cross into Mexico by air and a birth certificate to cross by land.

I finally received the invitation letter or "packet 3" in the mail today!

They told me over the phone on the 14th that it had been sent out on the 10th. It arrived at my house on the 21st though letter inside is dated the 11th and it is postmarked the 16th.

Please let us know if there are any issues getting it printed at the window. Also did you not get a copy in the US?

That's the copy I was waiting for that still has not arrived. I saw that one VJ member recently waited a whole month for their copy!!! And to tell the truth I asked a lot of veterans some months back when we were looking into getting a P.O. Box in Mexico, before we knew there were other options, and NOT ONE person I spoke with EVER received their copy in Mexico!!!

That's why we had already decided to try at the window and I'm really hoping that works. I'll let you know what happens at the window and also when my packet 3 actually arrives.

Well unfortunately you won't be able to go into the interview or any of the appointments with your fiance, you won't even be allowed in the building. Because of this you must prepare to prove your relationship on paper.

As far as going for moral support a lot of people do and lots don't. I wanted to go but I didn't think it would be a good idea to travel so far with our 5 week old. So I'm up here in CA while he's there in Juarez as we speak. He's lonely and bored but he'll survive!

Loveacanuck, how long did it take since Consulate received packet until you got appointment letter in mail?

Ours was sent out on the 10th and we still haven't received it as of today, the 20th! My fiance is in Juarez now and will go to the window and get it printed out.

It looks like a lot of countries are transitioning into the new system right now. My fiance is in Mexico and we just had to fill out the DS-160 and schedule an interview though people who went two weeks ago did not! The form is simple but long and it goes through electronically and gives you a receipt with a barcode that you print out and bring with you. I'm sure someone from your country will be able to tell you a little better exactly what's going on, looks like you might have a little time before your NOA2 to see a few people go ahead of you. Good luck!

Well, lets hope they don't come across this forum! Jejeje. Well I'll say I have heard of it possibly having been done before and working just fine but you won't come across those stories on VJ as Bob said. You have two dangerous options to weigh.