RMC2000

My husband had his complete medical done in Santo Domingo before our appointment at the consulate. We submitted the AOS 485 and we just received an RFE for a missing vaccine. The tetanus vaccine was marked as "not readily available" or something to that effect. We went to a civil surgeon and got the vaccination. The doctor reviewed the previous vaccination form (we had a copy from the original medical) and filled out the supplemental vaccination portion of the 693. Hopefully this is satisfactory to USCIS.

We live in Northern Virginia. We submitted early December 2011, were transferred to CSC late December 2011, and just received an RFE dated September 4th, 2012. I asked Senator Webb's office to inquire in the middle of August and we were told the case was with an officer and would be adjudicated within 45 days. The RFE was for a missing tetanus shot - the vaccine was marked unavailable at the time time my husband underwent his medical.

OMG thats a long time i knwo this has nothing to do with your type of process my dad is doing his citizenship and its taking for ever to give him the interview date and its washington DC to so im guessing they are very behind by the way where you live???

We live in Arlington, VA.

Today I called about the status of my husband's I-485 since it has been over 180 days from the date of transer to the California Servicing Center. I was told that they are working on applications from (or at) at the DC field office from September 16, 2012 and I should call back in 3 months. Based on some of the timelines I've seen and what they just told me, it looks like the local field office is what really drives the speed of the application, not whether it's at the Calfironia Service Center "for faster processing".

My husband and I just returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic. We applied for the Green Card December 5th and are still waiting - I was just told that based on our location and local field office (Washington DC) we may be waiting until September. At any rate, he recieved his EAD/AP card January 2012.

We departed Puerto Plata, DR on American Airlines. At first the gate agents said that he would not be able to get on the plane. They were basing this decision based on the EAD alone not being sufficient for traveling. I brought copies of his application for i-485 (Adjustment of Status) and I -131 (Travel Document)and our marriage certificate. I tried to explain the concept of Advance Parole but unfortunately the I-131 does not use this term and the paper that came with the card also does not explain it. Finally the gate agent called U.S. Immigration and we got the ok to go through. He was questioned a few more times after security. When we got to Miami, the Immigration Officer wasn't familiar with the combo card but was very nice. We had to fill out another I-94(short white form) and then go to a room for secondary processing. We had to wait about 1 1/2 hours. We had no issue. But there were several people ahead of us who took longer to process. It was a Wednesday night and not crowded compared to the first time my husband came through on a Friday.

So 1) Bring back-up paperwork in case you have trouble convincing the gate agent and tell them to call immigration.

2) Plan on plenty of time for secondary processing - we barely made our connection.

We had our interview July 6th and the visa was available for pick-up in Santiago on July 20th.

My fiance flew into Miami on a Friday night. He was in immigration for over 5 hours due to how busy they were. He missed his flight (and the next available flight) and had to spend the night and flew to DC the next morning. I had thought that almost 3 hours was enough time for the layover. I don't think it takes that long most of the time, but be prepared. Make sure he/she has enough money for a hotel etc. The airline gave him a voucher for a good rate offsite and a voucher for food, but he stayed at a hotel at the airport.

Ok. Thanks everyone. We went to the Social Security office yesterday. First they said he couldn't get a card and then upon further review of their policies they said he could and we should receive one in about 2 weeks. I understand that he can't work per USCIS. It's just frustrating that the two agencies aren't a little more consistent with their policies.

When my fiance went through POE, he received a piece of paper saying he should receive his SSN card in the mail within 3 weeks if we checked the appropriate box on the visa form. He didnt' receive it and when I made some inquiries I received an email from the Social Security Administration that basically says he's not eligible to receive it automatically but is eligible if he applies for it in person.

The email and the corresponding explanations also seem to indicate that he can in fact work with only a SSN. I don't know if the law has changed or I am missing something: Here's the website:

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0110211420 (see Section G 1.)

Does anyone know if this is the case? My fiance will go to the SSN office on Monday and maybe we'll learn more then.

Here's the relevant info:

G. Policy for employment authorization by Class of Admission (COA)

The following policies apply to employment authorization by COA.

1. Aliens employment-authorized without specific DHS authorization

The following chart lists, by COA code, non-immigrants authorized to work in the U.S. without specific authorization from DHS. The alien’s I-94 showing one of the following COAs has employment authorization unless otherwise noted. The I-94 will not have the DHS employment authorization stamp and the alien will generally not have an EAD.

The visa of the principal alien generally shows the basis for the visa, e.g. “treaty trader” or an employer’s name, while the visa of a spouse or child may show an annotation that the person is a “dependent of the p.a.” (p.a. means principal alien).

For COAs displaying an asterisk (*), the principal alien, spouse, and child all have the same classification code.

In some instances, the husband and wife are principal aliens when the classification is E-1 and E-2.

When all family members have the same COA, ask the SSN applicant if he or she is the family member who is the principal alien, spouse, or the child of the principal alien.

For COAs displaying a double asterisk (**) (non-immigrant E-1, E-2, and L-2 classifications), the spouse is also authorized to work without specific DHS authorization.

When the E-1, E-2, or L-2 spouse applies for an SSN card and does not submit an EAD as evidence of employment authorization, he or she must submit, in addition to evidence of lawful alien status, evidence of a marital relationship to the principal E-1, E-2, or L-1 alien. The evidence of marital relationship between the applicant and the principal E-1, E-2, or L-1 alien is a marriage document. The marriage document must indicate the marriage occurred, either: 1) prior to admission to the U.S. as an E-1, E-2, or L-2 non-immigrant; or, 2) prior to extension or change of status to an E-1, E-2 or L-2 non-immigrant.

NOTE: Although aliens listed under a COA in this section are employment authorized without specific DHS authorization, employers may still ask for an EAD before the alien can start working.

Class of Admission

Description

A-1*

Ambassador, public minister, career diplomat, or consular officer (principal).

A-2*

Other foreign government official or employee (principal).

A-3*

Attendant, servant, or personal employee of principal A-1, or A-2 (principal).

E-1*

Treaty trader (principal).

E-1**

Spouse of principal E-1.

The alien must submit either:

an EAD (Form I-766) showing “A-17” under Category; or

evidence other than an EAD that proves the E-1’s lawful alien status (e.g., I-94) and a marriage document as evidence that he or she is the spouse of the principal E-1 alien.

E-2*

Treaty investor (principal)

E-2**

Spouse of principal E-2.

The alien must submit either:

an EAD (Form I-766) showing “A-17” under Category; or

evidence other than an EAD that proves the E-2’s lawful alien status (e.g., I-94) and a marriage document as evidence that he or she is spouse of the principal E-2 alien.

E-3*

Treaty trader in a specialty occupation.

F-1

Academic student for on-campus employment and DSO-authorized curricular practical training. See RM 10211.240.

F-3

Canadian or Mexican national academic student who commutes to school in the U.S. – for DSO authorized curricular practical training. See RM 10211.270.

G-1*

Resident representative of recognized foreign member government to an international organization (principal).

G-2*

Other temporary representative of recognized foreign member government to an international organization (principal).

G-3*

Representative of unrecognized or nonmember foreign government to an international organization (principal).

G-4*

Representative of international organization (officer or employee) (principal).

G-5*

Attendant, servant, or personal employee of principal G-1, G-2, G-3, or G-4.

H-1B

Worker in a specialty occupation.

H-1B1

Temporary worker in a specialty occupation.

H-1C

Registered nurse.

H-2A

Agricultural worker.

H-2B

Non-agrarian seasonal worker.

H-2R

Returning H-2B worker (worker was previously admitted as H-2B, left the U.S. temporarily and is returning to the U.S).

H-3

Trainee.

I*

Foreign information media representative (principal).

J-1

Exchange visitor (pursuant to an approved program). See RM 10211.340. An exchange visitor whose DS-2019 shows the category as “student,” “student intern,” or “international visitor” in item 4 of the form must provide a letter from the program sponsor as evidence of authority to work. Otherwise, presume the employment authorization is part of the J-1’s exchange program.

K-1

Fiancé(e) of U.S. citizen.

L-1

Intra-company transferee.

L-1A

Intra-company Transferee Managers and Executives.

L-1B

Intra-company Transferee Specialized Knowledge.

L-2**

Spouse of an intra-company transferee.

The alien must submit either:

an EAD (Form I-766) showing “A-18” under Category; or

evidence other than an EAD that proves the L-2’s lawful alien status (e.g., I-94) and a marriage document as evidence that he or she is the spouse of the principal L-1 alien.

NATO-1 through 6*

NATO officer, representative, or personnel (principal).

NATO-7*

Attendant, servant, or personal employee of principal NATO-1 through 6 (principal).

O-1

Alien with extraordinary ability in sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.

O-2

Alien accompanying O-1.

P-1

Internationally recognized athlete or entertainer in an internationally recognized group.

P-2

Artist or entertainer in an exchange program.

P-3

Artist or entertainer in a culturally unique program.

Q-1

Cultural exchange visitor.

Q-2

Irish Peace Process Cultural and Training Program Visitor.

R-1

Religious worker with a nonprofit religious organization.

TC

Professional business person, United States-Canada Free Trade Act (FTA).

TN

Professional business person from Canada or Mexico, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

TN-1

Professional business person from Canada, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

TN-2

Professional business person from Mexico, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Refugee

Alien admitted pursuant to section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The I-766 shows “A-3” under Category.

Asylee

Asylee under 208 of the INA.

The I-766 shows “A-5” under Category.

I was worried about the same thing. But I figured it would just be two trips. The biggest issue is making sure there's enough time for picking up the medical results. They're not available for 5 business days.

Trip 1. Pick up the packet, stay the night, go do medical the next morning (he/she has to arrive for the medical between 7:00 am and 11:00 am I think, but check their website - there's a link from the embassy website)

Trip 2. Arrive day before the interview, pick up medical results in the afternoon (time frame is on the medical website) , spend the night, go to the embassy early am.

Have you tried talking to your congressman or senator? They may be able to help you resolve things much more quickly.

Absolutely get your senator involved. I tend to agree with you that it's simply a disorganzied mess. I've worked with the federal government as a contractor and that's what I've generally seen. No one you talk to at NVC seems to care because they have no power to do anything. The only way to get to a person who might know what's going on is through your congressman or senator.

Can you calm down and explain? What visa specialist ae you referring to? Lawyer?

By the way, it's really not helpful to tell someone to calm down. It's rather insulting and likely to make them angrier as it minimizes the way someone is very legitimately feeling. If you want to ask for more explanation fine. Visa Specialists work out of the "National Visa Center". I don't know if they are also available thru the consulates.

I'm guessing that you mean the person you called (maybe at the NVC) to find out why you haven't been called to pick up the visa yet. Did they give you a difficult time during your interview? Were there any previous marriages or anything that may not have been completely checked out yet?

My experienc in general with NVC (if that is who you called) is that they only have general answers and don't seem to know anything about the particulars of a single country. For example, they kept telling me that my fiance should be receiving packet 3 and after he sends back the forms, they'll set a date (not true in the DR). So maybe they're doing the same when they tell you it normally takes 8 weeks to have visa in hand.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.

202-663-1225. Hit 1 then 0 to get to a person.

LOL. Thanks. I work with IT people. I guess it's rubbed off.

Yes. Up in the URL, you will see "Junio" in part of the URL string. Replace it with June and you should get to the file. I figured this out by looking at May's appointments - it didn't say Mayo in the URL, it said May .

Thanks Newbie. Maybe Jaz00mine and I will hear about interview date next week some time. Fingers crossed!

Nothing was sent out, for DR its all under packet 4, when they say packet 3 that just means they entered your info into the system

Oh. Ok. That makes sense, sort of. I wished they trained people better so that they could explain things. It seems like they should know that not all of the embassies work the same.

Thanks. I did talk to a visa specialist at NVC. They said "Packet 3" and no interview date so then I tried the embassy # ($7.00 per call). I couldn't understand if she said "Packet 3" but she did say it was "not Packet 4" and gave me the same date that it was sent (May 12th). She also said there was no interview date yet. So, I don't know if it was "Packet 4" and the interview date just wasn't put into the computer yet or if something else was sent out.

So my petition was received by the embassy last week and I was told by the visa specialist today that packet 3 was sent out on May 12th and that my fiance is eligible for an interview. But as of today there is still no appointment. I have read mixed things about whether there is a separate packet 3 in the DR. I've read that everything comes in packet 4 and you're supposed to bring the forms to the embassy (due to the unreliable mail system). If that's the case, I'm confused as to what was sent out last week and why there is no appointment yet. I tried calling (and paying for) the number listed on the embassy website. That person told me that something was sent out on the 12th, but it wasn't packet 4, no appointment has been scheduled yet and everything is fine. Can anyone who recently had an interview scheduled share their experience? Thanks!

Maybe she could do volunteer work at a local hospital. That will give her something for her resume and maybe it could develop into something else.

Congratulations to the OP!

I also don't think the DR has anything to do with it - it's just coincidence that there have been a couple. I've been waiting over 4 months. My speculation (based on what I've read in other threads):

1) It was pulled at random for training purposes or

2) VSC is processing some more recent packages in order to maintain an overall "average" timeline of 5 months.

Hi RussianGoddess,

I'm still not clear why the embassy called your fiance. That sounds more like the procedure for a tourist visa. Maybe it was just a mistake on their part. Will you keep us posted in case the procedure has changed in some way? Thanks!

I uses Stanacard for cell phone calls. You buy it on-line and it will assign a local number to your fiance. You call the local number and it connects through to your fiance's cell phone. The rates are MUCH cheaper than the phone company rates. http://stanacard.com/en/home.aspx

And I use Skype and texts.