Bear

Hi All,

if anyone can help me id really appreciate it!

Firstly...how do you call the sydney consulate??? 9373 9168 is always
engaged & 9373 9200 rings out or the operator picks up & tells me i
cant speak to anyone

Secondly...ive done lots of research on Direct Consular Filing & i
just want to check that i havent missed anything or if there's
something i havent though of yet.

Both US & AUS citizen are in Hong Kong....
US Citizen must go back to US for work commitments
AUS citizen gets police certificate clearance in HK
AUS citizen also uses those finger prints & stat dec from HK police &
forwards them on to sydney police station where they do the rest of
the check - may take up to 3 weeks.
AUS citizen also gets x-rays etc while in Hong Kong
Meanwhile AUS citizen returns to australia at least 1 month & 1 day b4
the wedding. She advises marriage celebrant in person of intent to
marry
AUS citizen organises wedding (!)
US citzen flys to australia & they marry
Marriage celebrant sends marriage certificate to Births, Deaths &
Marriages for issue of formal marriage certificate (takes 10 days)
Meanwhile AUS & US newly weds are honeymooning somewhere...they come
back 10 days later to pick up formal marriage certificate...
They take this to the AUS passports office & AUS citizen gets new
passport issued with her name changed...takes 48 hrs with surcharge
AUS/US citizen go to US Consulate in Sydney (appointment)...US citizen
files petition in person & have interview same day.
They bring (for AUS Citizen): formal marriage cert, birth cert, police
clearance records AUS & HK, health records
(for US Citizen): birth cert, tax returns.

please please please tell me if i am missing something or if my timing
is wrong. i have been unable to contact anyone at the sydney
consulate becase they wont pick up their phone so we are a tad
stressed.

any info is greatly appreciated!

Erika

"bear" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi All,
    > if anyone can help me id really appreciate it!
    > Firstly...how do you call the sydney consulate??? 9373 9168 is always
    > engaged & 9373 9200 rings out or the operator picks up & tells me i
    > cant speak to anyone
    > Secondly...ive done lots of research on Direct Consular Filing & i
    > just want to check that i havent missed anything or if there's
    > something i havent though of yet.
    > Both US & AUS citizen are in Hong Kong....
    > US Citizen must go back to US for work commitments
    > AUS citizen gets police certificate clearance in HK
    > AUS citizen also uses those finger prints & stat dec from HK police &
    > forwards them on to sydney police station where they do the rest of
    > the check - may take up to 3 weeks.
    > AUS citizen also gets x-rays etc while in Hong Kong
    > Meanwhile AUS citizen returns to australia at least 1 month & 1 day b4
    > the wedding. She advises marriage celebrant in person of intent to
    > marry
    > AUS citizen organises wedding (!)
    > US citzen flys to australia & they marry
    > Marriage celebrant sends marriage certificate to Births, Deaths &
    > Marriages for issue of formal marriage certificate (takes 10 days)
    > Meanwhile AUS & US newly weds are honeymooning somewhere...they come
    > back 10 days later to pick up formal marriage certificate...
    > They take this to the AUS passports office & AUS citizen gets new
    > passport issued with her name changed...takes 48 hrs with surcharge
    > AUS/US citizen go to US Consulate in Sydney (appointment)...US citizen
    > files petition in person & have interview same day.
    > They bring (for AUS Citizen): formal marriage cert, birth cert, police
    > clearance records AUS & HK, health records
    > (for US Citizen): birth cert, tax returns.
    > please please please tell me if i am missing something or if my timing
    > is wrong. i have been unable to contact anyone at the sydney
    > consulate becase they wont pick up their phone so we are a tad
    > stressed.
    > any info is greatly appreciated!

Hi, I'm also in the process of beginning DCF. I'm in Melbourne. I wanted to
request packet 3 for DCF and tried ringing the numbers as but only got
recorded messages or needed to pay by bankcard to talk to someone which I
didn't want to do. So I thought I would email them. I requested the packet 3
for Direct Consular Filing. I told them a little about how my future husband
wanted to fly to Australia to marry me and that we were hoping to do Direct
Consular Filing in Sydney. I included my full name and address. I got a very
polite response the next day saying they would send the packet 3 out to me!
I got it about 5 days later. I was very impressed. The address is
[email protected]

I also had some questions so I decided to email them again. My questions
were very to the point which I think helped a lot. I got a response in a
week! The responses were straight forward and very polite.

So far they have been wonderful to deal with in Sydney. From my emails and
reading I have gathered the following in order -

You can schedule and have police checks and the medical in advance. The
packet 3 will have all the details on both. It will tell you where you can
have the medical and it will have the information for the fingerprints,
although in melbourne the finger printing people were on strike so I went to
my police station had the prints done, and got the form and followed the
instructions on the federal police site -
http://www.afp.gov.au/page.asp?ref=/Site/Forms.xml

Then you can return forms DS-230 Parts 1 and 2 to open your file

Send form DS-2001 when you have everything ready to go for the interview.
The packet 3 tells you what is required.

Get married in Australia and get the marriage certificate

You have the interview together where the American will file the I-130 and
I-864 and I-864A if required as well as Biographic Data G-325A forms

And if all goes well, you get the visa and relief!

Hope this helps!

- Erika

Bear

    > Then you can return forms DS-230 Parts 1 and 2 to open your file
    >
    > Send form DS-2001 when you have everything ready to go for the interview.
    > The packet 3 tells you what is required.
    >
    > Get married in Australia and get the marriage certificate
    >
    > You have the interview together where the American will file the I-130 and
    > I-864 and I-864A if required as well as Biographic Data G-325A forms
    >
    > And if all goes well, you get the visa and relief!
    >
    > Hope this helps!
    >
    > - Erika


Erika,

Thankyou so much for your info!
How much time are you leaving between the marriage & the interview?
I mean do you know how long it takes to get a formal marriage
certificate from Births/Deaths/Marraiges?
When i looked on their web site it said 10 days - this is waaay too
long - do you know of a quicker way?

can you have the medical anywhere (hong kong for example?) and do you
have to change your passport to your new married name?

Thankyou!!!

Erika

"bear" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

    > Erika,
    > Thankyou so much for your info!
    > How much time are you leaving between the marriage & the interview?
    > I mean do you know how long it takes to get a formal marriage
    > certificate from Births/Deaths/Marraiges?
    > When i looked on their web site it said 10 days - this is waaay too
    > long - do you know of a quicker way?
    > can you have the medical anywhere (hong kong for example?) and do you
    > have to change your passport to your new married name?
    > Thankyou!!!

Hi again

I'm hoping my fiancee can get 2 weeks off work to come here to marry me and
have the interview. When I emailed the consulate they told me an appointment
will be scheduled for the first available Monday or Tuesday
after your marriage date. When you return forms DS230 Parts 1 & 2 and DS2001
make sure you tell them your marriage date and they will try to fit it in as
close as possible. Also tell them when you both want to leave for the US.

For the marriage certificate that's something I'm not positive on yet, it's
still something I'm looking into. I've been reading and have gathered that
you can get the certificate fairly quickly. Try ringing a celebrant and
registry to find out how quickly you can get it. It will be a good idea to
tell your them you will need it right away for visa purposes. I found a
website that has celebrants in Victoria and plan on ringing one soon to find
out what is necessary.

For the medical the paperwork in the packet 3 only lists docotrs that can do
it in Australia. I would imagine these are the only ones you can use, but
it's worth asking the consulate to see if they have any approved doctors
over there where you may be able to get it done instead.

As for the name changes on the passport I'm not sure about that either yet.
I've read that you can use your marriage certificate to show your name
change and then when you get to America you can get a new passport at the
Australian Embassy. Getting the a new passport with your new name may be
more ideal but it would depend on the time it takes to be issued a new
passport and I'm not sure how long it takes.

Goodluck! Also if you haven't seen this site yet it's good. It has
peoples interview experiences in Sydney
http://www.kamya.com/interview/intro.html

- Erika