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I submitted an F1 visa application for a family friend around 10 days ago, to the Recife, Brazil consulate office, and it still won't show me the application status when I enter all the details at https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?App=NIV. I put in what I believe is the correct information (which I got from the receipt e-mail when I submitted the application) and always get "Your search did not return any data." Should I worry about this, or does it take time to show up in the system? Thanks in advance for any help!

Hello! I'm wondering if there's any K1 beneficiary here from Brazil that instead of going through the medical exam in Rio, chose to do it in São Paulo? What was your experience? Can all the exams and the medical appointment be made in a single day contrary to Rio that asks for the exams beforehand? And how long does the doctor take to send the results to the embassy in Rio? Do we need to go back to the doctor's office and retrieve anything to take with us for the interview? I ask because I'm closer to São Paulo so it would save me time and money to go through it there instead of Rio. I searched VJ and only found one person that did that, but it was for EB-2 visa. I wonder if it's the same for São Paulo. I also already emailed the SP doctor to ask, just waiting on a reply. Thank you!

Hello, I'm going to get married in Brazil and my spouse will apply for the CR1 visa immediately. I was wondering if my spouse changes her name to my last name at the date of marriage, will it complicate the process for the CR1 visa? All of her Brazilian documentation, including passport is in her maiden name. It would take time and money to change all the documentation. Also, would I put down her maiden or married name on the CR1 application? Would it be better for her not to change her name and change it later in the United States after the process is over? Would it be a red flag to not change her name? Thanks.

Hello, My Finace has their medical exam 1 week before her interview at the consulate. We were told that the Tuberculosis test takes 2 months to get the results. If that is true and everything is negative, will they not be issued the visa until the consulate has the results? Or will the ocnsulate issue the visa with the results pending?

I'm the beneficiary spouse of a US citizen and we are based in Brazil. We haven't officially got married yet because the marriage procedure here in Brazil is long (takes 30-45 days to get the license) and requires a birth certificate from the US citizen issued within the last 90 days, which we also don't have and is a hassle to get. We're in a hurry because our baby is due in about 1,5 months. That's why we're now considering getting married in our neighbour country, Argentina, which apparently can be done within 7 days more or less. The idea would be to get married there and then transcribe the marriage certificate in the US consulate (since it needs to be "translated" officially to english) then apply for the IR1-CR1 visa. HOWEVER, as I, the spouse, am based in Brazil and I have no residency or ties whatsoever to Argentina, we're uncertain whether the Argentinian marriage certificate would be accepted in our green card application OR if it would just be flat out refused and ending up wasting us time at the end of the day. I have Brazilian residency so all the process will be done through Brazil. When researching online, I've found no peculiarities as to "the marriage certificate must be issued in the spouse's country of residency", but because the US government already doesn't recognize the online Utah marriage, we're hesitant to get married abroad. Has anyone had a similar experience? p.s: We have requested a new birth certificate for my fiance 2 months ago to be shipped from the US to Brazil, but it got stuck in customs and after 2 months waiting for this document specifically on top of 4 months wasted, we're looking for other options to get married asap after wasting 6 months. We also looked into online marriage from Utah but all the lawyers we talked to recommended against it. We might or might not be able to transcribe the argentinian marriage to Brazil depending if they request the updated birth certificate or not, which is a hassle to get.

My fiancé lives in Brazil and we filed for the K-1 visa in March 2022. At the time, I was hopeful that the application would be accepted by December or January but the expected wait continues to increase. I feel like it’s way too late to try marrying and applying for the spousal visa so all we can do is wait. I haven’t seen her in person for 6 months but I have a trip planned for January. We are really hoping we don’t have to be apart for 6+ months again next year. Now to my question, should we even bother trying to apply for a tourist visa for her to come here while I’m working? I’ve heard that application also takes 1+ years and it can be very difficult for a Brazilian without a great job or lots of assets to receive one. We’ve even met in Cancun one time but she’s never visited the US during out two year relationship. It feels like there’s nothing we can do but wait and it’s becoming more and more difficult. Does anyone have any suggestions for her to come here while we wait for the K-1 visa?

I have received my welcome letter and filed DS-160 forms. However, I can't find the civil documents column in the CEAC website. I heard here that some consulates demand that documents are sent in paper copies to the NVC. Does anyone has experienced that with immigrant visas being processed in Rio de Janeiro? Thanks!

I'm trying to get an idea on when I should start looking for tickets to fly down to Rio and when I should expect the interview to happen. Anybody that has recently scheduled their Rio interview, how is availability looking for the rest of the year and early next year?

Hi - I've been reading a lot of posts and really appreciate the content and replies. My SO is in Brazil finishing up her final year of veterinary medical school. After trying the B1/B2 tourist visa 3x (all rejected in 2022). Reason the B1/B2 were rejected each time was bc not showing enough evidence to return even though she had documents from school showing she was going to graduate, job opportunities, and even a letter from my US Congressman. Anyway, we're on to giving either the K-1/CR-1/K-3 a shot (please lord). From this forum and reddit most seem to say the CR-1 seems to be the best bet, however working with a Brazilian attorney in California (very credible), she told me a nightmare story of another Brazilian having the CR-1 (still) in limbo for 2.5 years (and there's nothing the attorney can do to help with this). The attorney is also telling me that the K-1 will be ready in 8-12 months to interview, and once in the states my SO will wait ~6 months to be able to travel/work. She recommended doing the K-1. That being said from this forum and the USCIS the wait times seem to be about the same. I'm understand the differences, but I am confused as to what route to take. Anyone that has recently filed for CR-1? Anyone from Brazil care to comment? Any insight would be helpful. Thank you!

How long should we expect to wait? More than a year? Should we contact an immigration lawyer? My fiancé is stressing out waiting for an answer, and unfortunately the only thing that I can tell her is to wait. The only thing we've gotten from the government is the confirmation for receiving the form. I know it will work out and is a matter of time, but a timeline or someway of knowing what to expect would be very helpful. Has this happened with others?

Hello everyone!!!! I'm sure this is good news for those who are wondering when they are going to get their interview appointment letter from the NVC. I want to share our experience after we were DQ'd at the NVC. Here are the dates: DQ on March 14 2022. Interview appointment letter: March 21 2022. Interview date: April 11 2022 (Rio de Janeiro) I think it is important and relevant to share when good things happen! I would love to see someone posting this information, because give us an idea of how long it is taking to get an interview scheduled at Embassies abroad. Since they don't share this information. Miracles happen!!!! We are extremely happy!!!! Good luck to all of you! God bless!

Hello everyone, My husband made plans to come to Brazil for our interview. He has our original marriage certificate. Everything was fine, he was planning to come here with it. We figured out that he needs to be fully vaccinated to enter the country, but he isn't. Which means that he won't be able to come, and we are running out of time for him to send our marriage certificate by mail. (we figured this out yesterday, and we need the document to be here until this friday). My question is: In case the document is not here in time, is it better to go to the interview without it? Just with the photocopy, and explain what happened to the consular officer? OR is it better to reschedule the interview? Second question: If we reschedule, what happens next? Do we stay waiting one more time without knowing when it is going to be? Can we receive our visa approval and just send them the original document when it gets here? Thank you very much!!!!