foobaz123

Since I'm "losing" all this time due to the EP error, I'm trying to spend it filing taxes and getting every scrap of paper work ready so when that DS-3032 kit finally arrives.. I can hit them with everything as fast as payment processes will allow

Damn Damn Damn....

Seems jumping the gun is going to continue to cost time. NVC says they're still converting the case to EP and everything is blocked until that is done. Really really really regretting sending in the OPTIN so quickly...

Yup, but

you have photos for AOS/I-864? Nah, no you don't.

You most likely have some photos for the IV/DS-230 - which (as Saylin mentions) is a seperate (but parallel) track for NVC EP document intake.

You, meh. Please not forget the daily phrase that pays, yes?

Please to send me an AOS fee bill to my email .

Use it each time you call into NVC. You must 'use it' until it arrives. Then you'll have a new phrase.

LoL.. I'll be happy to use that phrase. Hopefully they'll tell me something besides "We've only had this case for X number of days sir, we'll be sending out something soon"

Hey People how is everybody today? I am hoping to have my AOS fee showed as " Paid " today

I'd be happy for it to show up as available to be paid this morning.

That actually sounds right, this delaying bit.

Can you OPT IN AGAIN, after the AOS Fee bill is in yer email box? (rather, know that the OPT IN TIME is perfect, after you have the AOS FEE BILL in yer email inbox )

So, you jumped the gun, forgetting the 'wait for it' bits I wrote in the EP wiki. Ok.

No idea if I could OPTIN again? For that matter, no idea if it would be needed. Some of the email traffic I've gotten from them indicated that I was already enrolled in EP, they just didn't seem to accept the DS-3032.

Yeah, jumped the gun. Honestly I didn't figure doing so would cost us a week as it seems to have done. Too many other moving parts it seems.

Exception - GUZ IV schedules PAPER Casefiles, NON-EP, at GUZ IV, after the casefile is opened (which is after it's arrived into the GUZ IV unit from the Bonded Chinese Customs Warehouse).

as for other countries, mostly, yes, NVC schedules the appointments.

Caveat - Mostly, NVC can see the calenders at each IV unit, worldwide.

Okay, that makes sense. Given the huge delays between the paper case going out and GUZIV actually getting it, having them schedule the interviews instead of NVC makes a lot of sense.

Ryan may have chimed in by now, but - since yer using NVC EP for GUZ IV - expect fast movement after 'final review' timetick, scheduling for these exact casefile types occur in quasi-real-time, without any waiting for the 'monthly scheduling queue' that other paper files must slog through. Actually, NVC DOES SCHEDULE the interview for an EP case headed to GUZ IV, not the other way round.

Really? Now that's interesting. Do they schedule the EP cases and not the non-EP cases or do they actually do the dirty deed for both?

Please not forget about the super secret, 'Hidden' Interview Queue for EP casefiles headed out to GUZ IV. Usually, within 5 business days of 'final review complete' - the appointment is scheduled.

True, one must not forget about the ultra secret double black queue. That said, I'm mainly concerned about all the April dates filling up before we enter the USDBQ.

I really doubt you can request from them to invoice anything... Certainly not by talking to an operator on the phone! Did you try talking to a supervisor?

Not as yet. Despite my impatience it has only been a week. I may do so tomorrow though!

Kitty's a he, little name Ernesto (French speakers may understand the joke...), and he was born in Turkey. He flew to France with me when I came back, and he's now preparing to fly to the US. Just don't tell him, he doesn't really like flying at all...

OK, the email you got is not a choice of agent acceptance. Then unfortunately I think they have not accepted/acknowledged the receipt yet. My response went:

Dear Sir/Madam:

Your inquiry has been received at the National Visa Center (NVC).

We received the principal applicant's DS-3032 (Choice of Address and Agent) form designating an address and agent. Instructions for paying the immigrant visa application processing fee and all future correspondence will be sent to the agent at the address selected on the DS-3032.

For more information regarding the immigrant visa application fee or for answers to frequently asked questions, please visit the following website:

http://travel.state..../info_3904.html

If a period of one year passes from the last date of contact with the NVC (by telephone, mail, or email), all submitted fees and documents will expire. If this occurs, your fees will need to be repaid and documents will need to be resubmitted in order to continue the immigration process.

Case Number: PRS2012xxxxxx

Petitioner's Name: xxx COLIN

Principal Applicant's Name: xxx LAURE

Preference Category: CR1

Your Priority Date: 14Nov2011

Foreign State Chargeability: FRANCE

U.S. EMBASSY

2 AVENUE GABRIEL

75382 PARIS CEDEX 08

FRANCE

Sincerely,

Emma

National Visa Center

Written Inquiry Unit

Serco Inc.

Support Contractor

NVCInquiry@state.gov

I was afraid you'd say that. You're right though, the emails are clearly very different. I suppose that means I'm stuck in some limbo between EP and non-EP. NVC told me on the phone they would except the DS-3032 to be generated by the end of the week. Of course, that's similar to what they told me last week as well.

Omg, so cute! I wish I could upload a picture of a cat, but my apartment doesn't allow animals

It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission....

Oh, that's true. Forgot about Linux I'll re-adjust my last statement then: NVC hates Unix users.

Fair enough

Here is a link to his thread on his experiences with the issues he had once his file got to the NVC. Your experiences somewhat mirror his.

Good Lord I hope not... it looks like it took him nearly 3 weeks to break the logjam and finally start moving again...

Thanks for the thread though. I tried to find it the other day after you mentioned it and was unable to do so.

I'm really regretting doing the EP thing so quickly since that does seem to be the center of the problem. Unfortunately, even if it is the center of the problem, NVC says there is no problem. I keep reading people talking about requesting the AOS invoice. I don't know if I'm not using the right magic words but I can't ever get them to do it. They just act like I'm crazy for even asking... haha

Well, for MMR, there's the initial shots when you're an infant, then there's the booster shot. I'm pretty sure I had both, but according to the website I linked before, it doesn't say anything about a booster being needed.

As for the blood test you got done, I highly doubt they'll accept it. They'll want their own blood to test to make sure it's accurate.

For multi quoting, it's easy. Whenever you want to quote someone, hit the 'multiquote' at the bottom right of their post. Keep doing this with the posts you want to quote, then at the bottom of the page, hit the 'add reply' button.

No kidding. I can't remember what my husband did as he paid the bills at work where he works on an iMac. Apparently they only favor those with PCs

More specifically, only those on Windows. Apparently they don't mind leaving us Linux users out in the cold too!

A+B = total bullsh*t in my opinion. Do NOT naively believe that NVC operators are any better than USCIS ones just because they know your birthdate and stuff.

In the begining of the NVC step, I called an operator to ask if we'd need a co-sponsor, since my husband last 3 tax return transcripts would only show income from abroad. You know what he said? "Are you gonna change your money into dollars?"

The guy had obviously NO IDEA whatsoever what his own organization was dealing with.

Do not believe that m*ron you talked to, if you received an email stating that your choice of agent was accepted, then it WAS accepted. Replies to the DS3032 email are not automatic, someone actually does the agent registration and replies. Mine was called Emma, yes they sign at the bottom. IF it was too early to send it, you would receive a rejection email, like some members recently did.

Breathe deeply, and here comes a kitty to help you relax! (it's my cat ):

Government contractors have no clue what they're doing? Shocking! Shocking I tells ya!

What we got in response to our combined OPTIN/DS-3032 email was:

The National Visa Center (NVC) received your correspondence.

This case is now enrolled in the Electronic Processing Program.

The additional email addresses submitted with the enrollment email were added to our records.

Please note that all forms and documents that we request and require in the future must be scanned copies of the originals. The applicant must present all original forms and documents to the consular officer at their visa interview. Failure to present the required originals at the visa interview will result in a denial or delay in obtaining a visa for the sponsored applicant.

This correspondence is also to notify you that the principal applicant's case number was changed. The new case number starts with GZO (instead of GUZ) and is followed by a new set of ten numbers. This change was made to identify the case for both the NVC and the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou, China as participating in the Optional Electronic Processing Program.

Please refer to the case number given below in all future correspondence with the NVC and the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou.

This petition is now eligible for further processing. The petitioner, principal applicant, and/or attorney of record will receive an instruction package regarding further processing of this petition.

If a period of one year passes from the last date of contact with the NVC (by telephone, mail, or email), all submitted fees and documents will expire. If this occurs, your fees will need to be repaid and documents will need to be resubmitted in order to continue the immigration process.

As this case is processing electronically, all forms and documents must be sent via email as scanned attachments to NVCElectronic@state.gov. Sending physical documents to the NVC will delay the processing of your case.

It then went on with the boilerplate stuff that's on all their emails. It was 'signed' by someone named STAR. Is that more or less what you got?

The kitty is really cute and I'll show him/her to Sue later.

And here's my cat:

Yes, she is a lazy do nothing cat... what ever would make you ask that?

Side note... I love Android...

I didn't have that NVC response on this desktop machine. I highlighted it in the email on my tablet. Hit the 'share with dropbox' button and it uploaded the contents in a text file. Simple and direct.

I know, but the safest way to pay bills is through IE as the site was designed for and only supported for IE.

Because apparently this is 1999 and web standards are for chumps or something....

I wonder how that's supposed to work for those of us who cannot (without using VM or separate computer and the like) use IE?

Taking Saylin's advice I called NVC back and asked for more details. I asked specifically if the DS-3032 had been generated on their end and they said no. I then asked if I would have to send in the PDF we already emailed them again and they said yes.

Interestingly, she hinted that the delay may actually have been caused by trying to switch to EP prior to DS-3032 generation. Which is to say that they've spent some portion of the last week or so switching us over to that and the result was no DS-3032 being generated and the one we sent in with the Optin was promptly ignored.

Yeah, that was my second thought (needing an American bank), though I'm guessing that's just to ensure no loss of cash through conversions or fees? Or perhaps something to do with avoiding fraud, but I feel like it's easy enough to know, based on the numbers of the card alone, that it's an American card. Oh well. Who knows!

It is actually. Given the first set of numbers in the CC is for the bank and are well known. Maybe it is just that they don't want to deal with the CC and since the delay is neither extreme nor impacts those making the decisions in the least, there is no reason to change it.

Wonder if they don't accept credit cards just to avoid paying the credit card company fees?

That's probably part of it. The other part could be that since they require the funds to be drawn from a US bank, it might be slightly more complicated to ensure that if they used CCs instead of ACH.

That said, I'd agree to pay the CC fees in a heartbeat to reduce the processing time from "2 - 5 business days" to "Right bloody now".

Yeah, doubt they'll know anything that the system doesn't already know when it comes to payments. They'll likely just tell you its still processing.

If the person who is paying it can check their bank account online, that might show the payment a few hours faster than NVC's system.

Especially given these are ACH payments. Not exactly known for break neck speed. Hell, mailing them a check wouldn't take much longer.

Really wish they'd take CC payments.

Can i call NVC just to know if the 88 dollars is clear? although the system is not updated yet

Well... you can always call... the real question is whether they'll have anything useful to say

I'd have to look at my vaccination record at home to be sure, but I think there's only one vaccine for MMR, a combination one for measles, mumps, and rubella.

And as far as I know, no, they don't test the blood for immunities, just for syphilis.

Please note, you want the IV BILL to be invoiced, not package. The IV package is what you send to NVC

Sheesh.. wanting people to be accurate and such... next thing you know you'll be reminding us that words have meanings...

Also, come on IV and AOS invoices!!

Yeah, some of the DOS operators can be weird. I'd suggest calling them up again and ask if the package sent by NVC has been received by the consulate. Hopefully you don't get the same person

Hope his medical is going alright. And that sucks about the flu shot. I had the same experience Wasn't expecting to get a flu shot (thought flu season was over)...

I've heard that stuff from operators before that you had to wait for them to ask for things before sending things. It's just another line they read from their manual, similar to "NVC only schedules interviews during the second week of each month". And we ALL should know how very false that statement is.

True... *ponders a drink* haha

I wonder who would have to "kick" to be able to call someone at the actual NVC instead of know nothing contractors... haha

Remember, the AOS and IV are separate tracks, so even though they're claiming that the DS-3032 wasn't accepted, that doesn't affect the AOS being invoiced at all.

And IMO, I wouldn't believe them about the DS-3032 not being accepted. That's just the response from ONE operator. If you want to be 100% sure, then I'd suggest calling up and asking specifically "has my DS-3032 been accepted" to at least FIVE operators. The more the better.

Yeah, you're right about the AOS and IV as separate tracks. Just extremely frustrated, as I'm sure you know and see often.

That's actually directly what I asked the guy. Before I had just been asking where the bills were and being told "we haven't generated them yet" (As if I often find myself asking for things I already have). This time I asked directly if it had been accepted and that's when he said that it wouldn't have been accepted since they hadn't asked for it.

More standing-by to stand-by.

NVC just told me that:

A) Even though I had thought they had accepted our DS-3032 (Based on having gotten a response from them saying the case was now eligible for further processing), they are now saying that since they haven't requested the DS-3032 from us they haven't accepted it. Thus, we're still at Step 1 with zero forward progress beyond getting a case number.

B) They'll request it from me within 2 to 4 weeks. (Probably boiler plate, but at this point I have no reason not to think it'll take that long or even longer)

So.... The reason we've not received our AOS or IV bill? Our case is still stuck in limbo with no action on it at all.

Happy Monday.

People are still getting March dates as we speak. Don't lose hope!

I won't. At least not yet.

One difference is that NVC doesn't schedule the appointments for GUZ like they do for everyone else. GUZ is also a very high volume consulate and those dates fill up fast. I'm sure it varies by season, but I've seen people scheduled for interviews two months after the date they were scheduled. Not common, but it happens. It's why I'm nervous to get in that scheduling queue as quickly as we can.

Really? why is that? didnt you call them ?

Repeatedly.... all they tell me is "They'll be available in *SOMEPERIOD*"

The SOMEPERIOD varies depending on who I'm talking to. This takes too much longer and our chances of an April interview are going to start dropping and we'll end up having to wait until May.

Haha... thanks