foobaz123

Keeping my fingers crossed that they are really working on your case.

Thanks

What do you mean you sent in the supporting documents? Do you mean the IV package?

The following is what you need to send in for EP and online forms:

-DS-261

-AOS package

-DS-260

-IV package (minus the DS-230 as that's the DS-260)

---Well, the AOS package basically is the IV package plus some financial information (tax records, etc.) so I'm wondering If I'd have to send basically the same email minus the tax stuff... that contains you know, birth certificates, pics, marriage certificate, etc... I'm not sure.

Unless someone says otherwise, logic dictates that sending too much is better than risking not enough. They can always ignore that which they do not want.

that official 'gzo number assigned' email that you got, the 2nd one, recently?

supposedly (yak) that's the trigger that:

1. the ds-3032 was detached from the EP optin email and

2. the ds-3032 was added to the casefile then

3. the IV fee bill is invoiced.

in prior months - those 3 things happened within 24 to 48 hours, on EP casefiles headed to GUZ IV.

This prior week? on your casefile, specifically? unsure.

Keep yer eyes peeled wide open at the NVC payment portal, noticing WHEN the IV fee bill can be paid. Once you see it? Is good indication that the DS-3032 was added to the casefile, the day prior.

Sounds logical. Now that I've gotten the "You're doomed! (Nah, just kidding)" message out of the payment portal I'd expect to have invoice for at least AOS in hand on or about Monday.

Hopefully they'll both show up and I can move forward quickly.

Yay! Happy you're finally seeing some movement . See, you'll probably still finish before me. My packages are still making their way (on foot perhaps?) from South America to the US.

Thanks. It is nice to finally see that.

I do believe they upgraded that service route to a boat and donkey combination, didn't they?

Indeed. I'm excited for you!

Thank you

Hopefully I don't mess anything else up...

Well, I didn't mean it would be invoiced this weekend But rather starting next week.

And yes, acceptance of the DS-3032 triggers the invoicing of the IV bill. So, it is possible that they will invoice the IV bill. But I don't know. I haven't ever seen a timeline/situation like yours.

Fair enough..

I guess we'll see Monday or Tuesday, no?

That's good news! They might actually be invoicing a bill (or even bills!).

Hopefully so. Though I doubt they work on the weekends.. haha

That said, the DS-3032 triggers the IV process yes? I wonder if they kept the one I sent with my first OPTIN email and if therefore there is any chance they would process it? Oh well, I guess we'll find out soon.

Interesting... I just tried to sign into the payment portal and got the "we've nuked your case" message. I'm going to go ahead and presume that means they might actually have finally done something and were in the process of entering our case Friday.

After watching lots of applications filed after mine get approved, I broke down and called my senators and congressman. Weirdly though, I got an email from my congressman today saying that he called the service center and was told that our I-130 application was approved yesterday. However... the website still says we're in initial review.

I called USCIS about this discrepancy, and they had no idea what was going on. A woman at USCIS told me the following things through the course of the phone call:

1. It hasn't been approved.

2. Maybe it's been approved, but it takes a while (up to a month?!) to enter it into the computer system.

3. Our service request was cancelled yesterday, indicating possible approval.

4. It's on its way to NVC, so that means it must have been approved.

I have no idea how to feel about any of this. Any ideas?

I'd suggest calling back Monday, and emailing your congressman again, and asking another agent. The website sometimes does indeed take a while to update and in rare cases has never updated. Have you received either a NOA2 email or paper notification yet?

How are all of you? I hope you are all well.

Good here.

Any news on your NOA2?

Hum.... do you know how the system inform them that the transaction is completed? do they have to do some check or the system will inform them about the completion so that they can start the reviewing

Not off hand no. Being familiar with such systems I can tell you there are a number of ways they *could* have it setup. The short answer would be there should be something in their system that would take note of the completed payment and then set a flag somewhere that it is paid and to proceed to the next step.

Does the system starts proceed automatically that i finish the transaction on the portal?

You hit "pay", various systems go to work. Nothing more to be done on your part.

What if i call and inform them that the payment has been made, wouldn t that have them take a look in their system and have the money cleared after my call?

No, the issue is how long it takes for an ACH transaction (more or less an electronic check) to process between NVC and your bank. It is less a matter of them doing anything in particular and more a matter of the various systems processing the money transfer.

When I review the tales of folksen with lawyers here on VJ - I've only read 1 account of things going fast at NVC BECAUSE of the lawyer. The rest of these reports? Folk complain here, cry, curse the God because their lawyer caused un-needed delays.

You can have it good, fast or cheap. Pick 2.

If only lawyers would adopt LingChe's process for 'superfast NVC processing' then a lot of this pain and silliness (from them) would disappear. I have no respect, what so ever, for lawyers who swim in the immigration pond.

Agreed. Of course, one of the most common threads seems to be lawyers who have been "doing this for years" and have an attitude of knowing all there is to know. As I mentioned earlier, even the nicest person who has helped me with this process has, at times, had the same "I've been doing this for years and what you're saying can't possibly be true" attitude at times.

That's interesting with what happened. Glad you called every day though to push progress on your case. This is a good example of why I always suggest calling every day to keep track of one's case. Sitting idle and waiting for NVC to do something is a bad idea (unless you don't mind waiting).

Exactly. I also think future advice really should be to just ask for a supervisor if there are any issues and only use the front level people for very basic information queries and nothing else.

That's ridiculous...

Indeed. From what he said, I suspect that opting into the EP flagged the case for conversion (which he said definitely) and then instead of proceeding to scanning normally as it ought to do nothing happened. It would probably have stayed that way until some performance metric or other triggered a supervisor review.

Most operations like that will have metrics for when a case comes in, is processed and every step along the way. Probably with daily reports issued and what not. Given the past examples tend to clear out of the jam in around three weeks like clockwork, that is probably the TAT (or whatever they call it) for scanning. Which is sad enough when you think about it.

NVC Update....

I spoke to a supervisor who told me that basically up to this point exactly nothing has been done with our case. Not even scanning. So, the supervisor told me he would call someone down in the scanning room and try and get the case "squared away".

Hopefully we'll get some kind of movement now. It seems to me that if I hadn't been calling everyday, things would be stuck until who knows when.

Moral of the story, if you run into even the slightest issue with NVC immediately ask for a supervisor. The standard line people are, generally, good for little more than reading off the screen.

Exactly. It's rare to see a lawyer competent and is actually UP-TO-DATE on this process.

Calling and trying wouldn't hurt. Hopefully you see progress soon. *hug*

True, I think I'll give them a ring in a few hours. They are open late after all. Thanks *hug back*

Side note, my daily call to NVC resulted in the same thing as yesterday. "Your case is being reviewed by a supervisor"

I'm wondering if they're really doing that or just telling me that to make me go away. AVR still gives me the case number message indicating we're still at step 0.

I wonder if actually trying to speak to a supervisor later today would yield anything interesting or just another form of blow off?

Another benefit of having a lawyer is that since the lawyer is automatically designated as the agent for the case, no DS-3032 has to be submitted, so the AOS and IV fees are invoiced at the same time, so you shave off a few days.

But, most lawyers slow down the process by taking their time, so in the end, it doesn't really save any time.

I suspect any slight savings with having a lawyer would quickly be wiped out by them not being up to speed and insisting that they know the process better than anyone else. I even run into that sometimes when talking to my Congressman's immigration guy. He'll insist that I have to wait for NVC to do this or that and that I should just be prepared to take 3 - 4 or more months in NVC. I keep having to tell him that no.. that isn't normal these days if you're on the ball and pushing them down the path.

The one time I've had to use a lawyer for anything, it quickly became apparent that in any remotely simple situation the job of the lawyer is to fill out paperwork (which you could do yourself) and make things take far longer than they otherwise would have.

That's what I did. I only hired my lawyer for the the first part (I-130) of the process. He never called USCIS regarding the status of my petition that took 6.5months to approve. I was doing all the calling, his work basically. After my petition was approved and reading the VJ forums, I told him that I didn't need his service anymore. So, I did my AOS and IV packages on my own with the help of VJ members. Thank you guys -you saved a couple hundred dollars

This seems pretty typical of most people's experience. The lawyer ends up costing hundreds and hundreds of dollars and just slows the process down. After all, no one on Earth cares about your case like you do. So, people pay lots of money and then end up often having to fill out most of the paper work and do most of the leg work themselves.

In my opinion, the only point where it makes sense to hire a lawyer is if you have to fight a consulate's bad decision.

Sorry, I wasn't clear.

She is REQUIRED to bring all of the stuff that you submitted into NVC, BECAUSE it's an EP case, into GUZ IV. HandCarry™.

Actually, it was me who wasn't clear.

Yes, I know you have to bring all the originals that you had previous sent to NVC via the EP case.

I just plan on her having more than that on hand in case it is needed for any reason.

for forms - for an EP case - need:

1. originals with original signatures - her DS-230 - your I-864

2. her original white book notarial translation thingies

3. YOUR income documents

it's a PITA on an EP case - but basically - everything sent out via email? carry it all on both days (document intake day and interview day)

Still no status on the NVC Expedite Request? WOW.

That's the plan Stan

I figure it is better for her to have more than she may need, as long as it is organized well, than run even the slight risk of them asking her for something she doesn't have and getting the dreaded blue slip for our troubles.

Did you get a supervisor on any of the daily calls? I think it's time to switch over, ask for a supervisor.

I'll give that a try during today's daily call. NVC seems about as good as USCIS at not admitting there is a problem, let alone wanting to do anything about it.

1) ok so since i'm w/ India, no need to look into this

2) this sounds good, so they must be okay with receiving non-original signed documents.

You bring the originals in for the interview. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people forget this and end up with blue slips and AP because they forgot all their originals.

1) What is OPTIN vs DS-3032?

Both sounds similar, as in choice of agent (USC spouse to be the choice of agent).

2) How are you going to send it tomorrow after you Wife signs it? Isn't she in China?

or do you mean to email her and then she signs it, scans it into a PDF format and emails you and then you email NVC.?

1) OPTIN is for the Electronic Processing system available to some consulates. Coming from India it isn't something that applies to you. DS-3032 (often, but not always, with the OPTIN) is the choice of agent form. They are technically unrelated and are only usually spoken of because of their vague chronological relationship.

2) That's what they mean. One of the two big pluses of EP is that it eliminates the need to physically mail things around.