Jaret&Rachael's US Immigration Timeline

Petitioner's Name: Jaret Beneficiary's Name: Rachael VJ Member: Jaret&Rachael Country: Canada Last Updated: 2020-09-13 Add Comment to Timeline Register or log in to follow this timeline

Immigration Checklist for Jaret & Rachael:

USCIS I-130 Petition:       Dept of State IR-1/CR-1 Visa:     USCIS I-751 Petition:   USCIS N-400 Petition:

IR-1/CR-1 Visa Event Date Service Center : Texas Service Center Transferred? No Consulate : Montreal, Canada Marriage (if applicable): 2017-10-31 I-130 Sent : 2018-11-28 I-130 NOA1 : 2018-12-05 I-130 RFE : I-130 RFE Sent : I-130 Approved : 2019-06-19 NVC Received : 2019-07-10 Received DS-261 / AOS Bill : 2019-08-01 Pay AOS Bill : 2019-08-01 Receive I-864 Package : Send AOS Package : 2019-08-06 Submit DS-261 : Receive IV Bill : 2019-08-01 Pay IV Bill : 2019-08-01 Send IV Package : 2019-08-06 Receive Instruction and Interview appointment letter : Case Completed at NVC : 2019-10-24 NVC Left : Consulate Received : Packet 3 Received : Packet 3 Sent : Packet 4 Received : 2020-02-11 Interview Date : 2020-03-16 Interview Result : Approved Second Interview (If Required): Second Interview Result: Visa Received : 2020-03-19 US Entry : 2020-03-20 Comments : My husband and I got married in late October 2017. We waited over a year to file for immigration for 2 reasons: 1) To gather enough evidence to prove a bona fide marriage (pictures, letters, joint bank accounts, joint benefits, etc.) 2) To receive an IR1 visa instead of a CR1 visa to avoid removing conditions and paying extra fees. We sent our i-130 package to the USCIS November 28th, 2018. We received our NOA1 via mail, even though we signed up for electronic notifications. Our priority date was December 5th, 2018 as my husband is a US citizen. Our service center is Texas. We waited for months, only to watch the approval wait time increase. Received a few "no action has been taken on your case" emails, and then out of no where we got accepted. We seemed to skip a huge line in Texas, not sure why, but we basically won the lottery. Our NOA2 was June 19th, 2019. I was notified the next morning, June 20th, via email. We received our I-797 (NOA2 Notice) in the mail a few days later. In the letter it stated they are forwarding our case to the NVC. July 1st I received another email late at night stating that they have officially sent our case to the NVC. July 22nd, 2019: Called the NVC numerous times as their phone lines were too busy to put me in the hold que. Once I finally got through I was waiting for 40 minutes on hold. Was told my case was received on July 10th, 2019. He told me to make sure I call back within 8 weeks if I have no heard anything yet as I should have my case number beforehand. August 1st, 2019: Received email from the NVC with our case number and link to CEAC. Bills were issued and paid. August 4th, 2019: Checked our CEAC account and IV and AOS bills were 'PAID' and AOS/IV/Civil Documents were available. August 6th, 2019: Sent our IV and AOS package. All documents submitted! Now we wait... September 10th, 2019: Received an RFE for one document- I did not realize my joint sponsor had attached his W2 form to one of his Tax Transcripts- they cannot accept multiple docs in one PDF so it was rejected. September 10th, 2019: Re-submitted rejected tax transcript. (W-2 attached to it, multi-file documents cannot be processed.) October 24th, 2019: DQ'd. Notified via email. Feb 11th, 2020: Received interview letter March 10th, 2020: Medical at Medisys (now New Horizion Medical) March 16th, 2020: Interview: Approved! Processing Estimates/Stats : Your I-130 was approved in 196 days from your NOA1 date. Your interview took 467 days from your I-130 NOA1 date.

Member Reviews:

Consulate Review: Montreal, Canada Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Event Description Review Date : March 16, 2020 Embassy Review : Here is a detailed review of my experience at the US Consulate: My appointment time was at 9:30 am. I went around 9:25 am and was turned away by the security guard. The line was completely full. I came back at 9:30 am and was permitted entry. The security guard let another lady in after me, she was turned away twice already and her appointment time was at 9:30am as well. We waited in line for around an hour. The security guards were definitely off of their game. They were gossiping about other people who were present (there was an incident where a lady raised her voice because of the wait, they were gossiping about her.) Another lady went through the metal detector and the officer asked if she had a belt on, as she set it off. She said no, but she’s wearing an underwire bra. He rolled her eyes and scoffed- as if it was wrong of her to do so. She said sternly: “SORRY MY BOOBS ARE BIG.” I chuckled at that. They were also bickering about COVID19 conspiracies and comparing them to other influenzas... for such a serious environment, they were acting incredibly unprofessional. I understand times are tough, but they should really have their stuff in order. They are the face of the consulate and are representing not one, but two countries. The capacity at the Consulate upstairs is 25 people maximum. I’m not sure if that’s extra precaution because of COVlD19, or that’s how it always is. That’s why it took incredibly long today. Once things got moving, I was prepared. I gave a lady my passport, she was very kind. She put a sticker on the back of it. She also gave me two paper receipts, with the same numbers on them. She explained that the screen upstairs will call me up to a window via the code on the sheets. I had no metal items, no electronics or forbidden items. The consulate does not advertise this in their windows, which I believe they should. Don’t bring electronics: chargers, headphones, phones, etc. If at all possible... just don’t. I waited by the elevators until it was my turn to go up. The consulate is now on the first floor. The chairs were mainly empty. I originally sat down at the first available seat. The security officer moved me because they were trying to spread more people out, I believe that was for precautionary measures with COVID19. It was just like a passport office. After 20 minutes of waiting, I went to the 5th window. She took my finger prints, and verbally confirmed my name, my address, and phone number. Then she verbally confirmed my husband’s name, address, and phone number. She did not ask me, she simply recited them. (I’m not good with phone numbers, I was a little nervous.) She then took my medical envelope and chest X-Ray CD. She then asked for: 1) My original birth certificate 2) My original marriage certificate 3) My police records - I had three, one of them being correct, two of them being incorrect, she took all three. 4) My husband’s 1-864, but then she back tracked, and decided she didn’t want it. She wanted his 2019 W-2 instead!! Bring updated 2019 W-2’s! I was very lucky to have that on me. My husband does not meet the minimum income requirements to issue a visa, so we had a joint sponsor. They did not ask for anything in relation to our joint-sponsor’s financial documents. She instructed me to sit back down until my number gets called up again. She was very kind and professional. After 45 minutes of waiting again, I was called up to window one. Again, this lady seemed very kind and professional. She explained that this the interview portion, and provided a brief outline of how it goes. She made me take an oath with my right hand up. Then, fingerprints again with the left hand. She asked the following questions: 1) Where does your husband live? 2) What does your husband do for work? 3) Where do you intend to live in the USA? 4) Have you ever been married before? Has your husband? 5) How did you meet your husband? 6) When did you first start dating your husband? How long between dating and getting married? 7) I see you have joint sponsor, what’s his name? How do you know him? 8 )Have you ever overstayed in the USA? 9) Have you travelled internationally in the past 30 days? 10) When was the last time you saw your husband? She then said she will be approving my visa. She gave me instructions about green card processing, as well as POE information. She handed my chest X-Ray CD and explained that I could use this for a family doctor upon my arrival. She gave me my “Welcome to the United States of America” letter and I was on my way. The whole process took 2.5 hours. The most stressful part was waiting in line. I overheard a lady asking a guard if they will be shutting down the US Consulate, he responded “it’s a day by day process.” They did not ask me any information about the public charge rule, or the DS5540. I did have it prepared with me. If you are interested, I have YouTube channel where I will be posting my entire experience, including what I brought with me, on there. Look up “Far Out No Doubt” and it should pop up. Rating : Moderate

Timeline Comments: 5



*Notice about estimates: The estimates are based off averages of other members recent experiences
(documented in their timelines) for the same benefit/petition/application at the same filing location.
Individual results may vary as every case is not always 'average'. Past performance does not necessarily
predict future results. The 'as early as date' may change over time based on current reported processing
times from members. There have historically been cases where a benefit/petition/application processing
briefly slows down or stops and this can not be predicted. Use these dates as reference only and do not
rely on them for planning. As always you should check the USCIS processing times to see if your application
is past due.

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