Ashex

I use Skype/Google Voice to talk to my Fiancee. I prefer to use them as it's really easy to get the call records for the Visa.

Rates to Sudan tend to be about the same across a lot of services, additionally because of the infrastructure the cheaper rates usually come with terrible call quality. I've found Skype to have the best quality but they cost more then Google Voice ( .26 vs .20)

Not more then 15 minutes ago I received an email from USCIS!

Sadly it's not an approval rather an RFE, for what I have no idea as I included everything they could possibly want

Ay, congratulations to everyone who has received their approvals! It's promising that more people are getting approvals around my NOA1 date so here's hoping I get mine this week

I'm really hoping that you hear something soon Ashex, as well as all of the other August filers who have yet to hear anything.

I double checked my notes today, I actually called USCIS on Thursday so the 9 bus day estimate they gave me is actually on track. I just hate having to wait

You can try changing the Embassy to that of another country. I know Sudan didn't have one until last year so before that you went through Cairo.

I called USCIS again today to try and file a service request. The agent I was talking to was actually going to put in a service request but the system blocked him saying I had to wait another 9 business days which doesn't sound right as I called last Tuesday and was told to wait 10 business days

So long as you do not use USPS you will be fine. I used UPS to ship to Saudia Arabia and had no problems.

Thanks for the advice! I'm hesitant to mail over the ticket stubs since it'll cost me ~$130 just to mail those. We've got sms/call records included along with the photos. I'll see if I can find someone going to Sudan soon that can take these with them.

She has a duplicate copy of the K1 packet I sent them just in case too.

Hi Chamie,

The normal processing time for the petition process is 5 months, if your expedition request was just approved you can expect an NOA2 in the next few weeks but I honestly can't give you a real time estimate. I would recommend calling USCIS and asking them if they can give an estimate now that it's being expedited.

Once you have the NOA2 (Approval) things will move much faster, your paperwork will be sent to the NVC so you'll want to call them to make sure they have received it and get your alien number, call them frequently so you'll know when it has been mailed and then when it has arrived at your embassy.

Once it has arrived at the embassy call the embassy to verify they have it then schedule the interview. You'll need to go to the embassy to get some paperwork so you can have the medical done and other things. Check around the website as you'll find more information regarding the post-NOA2 phase.

Last I heard Noor DSL is still functioning so if you can reach someone there tell them to get that service.

I've got pretty much everything sorted out but I want to run this past VJ to settle my mind.

My fiancee has color copies of the ticket stubs and itinerary from when I came and visited her last May (the ticket stubs are incomplete though so I printed out the mileage receipt from the airlines website and included it).

I just saw her back in December and am scanning the ticket stubs so she can print them out over there. Additionally she has the eTicket that the travel agency I used emailed me which is a full color scan of the paper ticket (I never received this). I'm going to try and have her print those all in color but they may end up just B&W

Should I mail her the original ticket stubs in case they request to see them during the interview? I also gave her Full color photocopy of my passport including the travel Visas from my trip in May and December (although the December one doesn't have the Entry/Exit stamps in Khartoum as I made the copies just before I went there).

I wish I knew more about Sudan. What's on VJ doesn't apply anymore as back then the Embassy was barebones and eventually shutdown. They opened a new embassy with a full staff last year so it's going to be totally different.

The worst I have to worry about is the people there being Sudanese, it means I'll have to call them 3 times a day to get them to do anything and harass them

A change of address shouldn't cause a delay.

Odd anecdote, I moved right after I submitted our paperwork and was planning to move again before the visa was approved so I put my parents home address for my mailing address. Our NOA1 was sent to them with their address. I spoke to USCIS today and they have my current (new address) on file which I didn't provide them on the I-129F!

If I explicitly say 'Could you please put me through to a tier 2 representative' will it get me better luck? Cause I just asked if there was anyone higher up I could speak with.

Pretty much, the easiest way is to ask them something only a tier 2 can answer. The easiest is if your petition has been pulled and is on an adjucators desk, they will tell you they're not able to check that. You can then ask if they will escalate you to someone who would be able to, that should do the trick.

I feel a little dirty knowing how to work the call center

Keep this website bookmarked. That's the website for the Manila Embassy.

I poked around and found this page with contact numbers on it. Hope that helps!

Check back a page, I posted a link to a DHS page describing the differences between Tier 1 and Tier 2. You can simply request to be escalated which is what I did, but be ready to be on hold for awhile

You spoke to the Tier 1 staff, what they can tell you is a bit limited. Take a look here for more information regarding what Tier 1 can/can't tell you and do.

I was on hold for ~40 minutes when I finally spoke to someone. To start things off she didn't have the address that I put on the I-129F for the mailing address. Instead she had my current mailing address. I put a different one down (parents apartment) since when I filed I was about to move and will be moving again before the Visa is approved. Additionally the NOA1 was sent to my parents.

As has been mentioned previously the petition has to be 30 days past due in order for them to file a service request. For us that means once we pass the new estimate (another 10 business days) given by CSC our only option for pushing back is to contact our Congressman.

So instead I asked her whether or not our petition was on someones desk and she was able to confirm that, so I can at least hope for it to be approved within the next 10 business days.

That's almost exactly what I was told. I called back and got the same information then asked to be escalated to tier 2. Currently on hold so I can get the real status.

The same thing happened, she started talking about putting in a service request then back pedaled and said it would be at least 9 business days.

hey sudan bro . did u will have to come to egypt to have an interview ? ?

or the suitation changed >

hope for you best of luck

We got lucky, they opened a new Embassy in Sudan last year and announced back in July that they'll do interviews for the K visas You can read the press release here.

Just called USCIS to check on the status of our Visa as we're 2 days past the 5 month mark. Ours petition is still pending (I verified twice with her that there was no RFE or any other notices).

The woman I spoke with informed me that CSC is processing Visas from August 16 and that I'll need to wait 10 days. I'm not sure if she meant calendar or business days so I'm going with Calendar days and will be calling them again February 7 if we don't get our approval.

I have a feeling that I set us back a little when I tried to get our case expedited

I'm going to hijack this thread real quick.

My Fiancee has scans/photocopies of all the plane ticket stubs (making copies right now of the last trip). When she goes in for the K1 interview will the photocopies suffice or will they want to see the original stubs?

She also has the eTicket that the travel agency sent me for the last trip which shows the full itinerary (the eTicket is just a scan of the paper ticket, I never received that one).

There are actually a couple tools out there to get the chat and call logs.

The two I use are simply called SkypeCallExporter and SkypeChatExporter. You can find them here.

This is what I used to get the logs for our visa packet. You'll need to clean them up a bit so it's more readable but this will do the job

I did the steps noted in my post earlier today. Just got a text message that my case was updated (8:00pm PST) and checked it out. Petition approved. Yeahhhhhhhh!

That's very promising! My receipt date was Aug 23 with the NOA1 date of Aug 25 so I just may give USCIS a call tomorrow.

Do you have records of phone calls? As long as you present some evidence that you have been in communication you should be fine. Personally I'm just including SMS/Call records (I do call her every day for ~1 hour) and excluding the chat archive.