ian-mstm

The entire visa journey is a 2-step process. The first part of the process is the filing and approval of the I-130. The I-130 is a petition that establishes two things... that the petitioner is a US citizen, and that the petitioner is the immediate family member of a non-US citizen. Once the I-130 is approved, the case file is sent overseas so that the non-USC family member can apply for the visa.

So, the 2nd notice you received indicates that the I-130 part of the process is finished.

Now, the case file will be sent to London where you will be invited to apply for a visa and, eventually, attend an interview.

Ian

Sanddancer

Are you saying that you think that the i-130 may have been approved?

Sorry for seeming clueless ;-)

jeffreyhy

My guess is that the first e-mail is telling you that the lockbox has received your petition, the second e-mail is telling you that the lockbox has forwarded your petition to the CSC for adjudication. Can you tell from the sender's e-mail address where those e-mails came from?

USCIS uses generic messages, that second one seems to me to be so generic and cover so many different types of submissions as to be needlessly confusing and therefore virtually useless.

Regards, JEff

ian-mstm

I read it differently... that the fist email is a confirmation that they've received the petition and forwarded it to California for processing, and the second email is a confirmation that processing has been completed.

Ian

jeffreyhy

It will be interesting to see which interpretation is correct. I'm by no means comfortable that mine is correct, it's based more than anything else on the timing - too quick, although I realize that sometime cases get pulled out of the queue for training purposes.

Regards, JEff

Sanddancer

Hi jeff and ian.

In all honesty i hope ian is right on this one ;-)

However just to let you know that the first email (from chicago on 15th aug) came from:

[email protected]

while the latest one (30th aug) came from:

[email protected]

so in my eyes still confused as ever ;-)

Wolfy

I am going with Jeff on this as emails we recived sound very similar to what you have had, but just to clarify that we got an email to say they had got it and it was being processed.

Rough idea of how ours went;

USCIS
I-130 sent 7th Jan 2011 recieved Jan 11th
Registered with USCIS to check online status Jan 19th
WAC number allocated and NOA1 sent
Wife gets text and email to say it is being processed 22nd Jan
Touched Feb 23rd
May 16th approved and email&text recieved

If like us, you will only get NOA's in the mail or at least the USC will, as the benificiary, you only get status change and notification from NVC stages.

NVC stage
Took us about a month and a bit to get through as we had a false RFE and a silly RFE which was my fault, but once submitted took 2 weeks to wade through

britishspouse

Just to check back in.

I flew in august 24th, and today (september 1st) went into our local SS office to see if my SS had been processed. The woman told me it had been assigned on the monday and I would be receiving my card any day now, but gave me a printout of my SS number so I can start applying for jobs.

I know legally the VISA and stamp in passport authorize work but i cant fill in online forms without an actual number. So got 5 or 6 applications in already, hoping for some interviews

Wolfy

sending good luck your way faye!

Chris_tanj

I just wanted to check something, before I get too excited!!

Basically I rang the AVR today and it said my case was complete yesterday (all of the finished paperwork was with the NVC on Tuesday) but I havent got an SIF. Should I be excited or just hold my breath until I can speak to an operator on Tuesday (thanks to a federal holiday )?

Any comments greatly appreciated!

SimonJW

Hey everyone,

So I finally had my CR-1 interview on Friday, and I'm please to say i was approved! I don't really have much to add to the other recent interview reports posted recently, but here is a brief review anyway:

My appointment was for 9am, I decided not to get there at the crack of dawn and ended up dropping my bag at Goulds Pharmacy around 8.15am. Cost £3 just for my bag. I hid my phone inside it and took the risk of not checking it separately, thus saving me another £4. There was a short line at the embassy, but not too bad. It was probably about 30 minutes between arriving at the embassy and getting to the waiting hall inside. Saw Noel Gallagher (of Oasis fame) coming out just as I was going through security, which was pretty cool. It was interesting to see the security guard stop and ask him for an autograph while I was stood waiting to go through the metal detector 6 feet away!

The embassy was pretty busy, but mainly with non-immigrant visas. I was number 11 of the immigrant visas. Got called just after 10am, saw a nice American woman who found my file, went through my paperwork ticking off everything on her list and took my fingerprints. My appointment letter indicated that I did not need to bring photos as I had already submitted them, but I bought them anyway. When she was reviewing my file she asked how old the photos were, when I said, "about 8 months old" she asked if I had new ones, which luckily I did so she took those from me instead. I'm not sure if she would have made me take new ones at the photo booth if I didn't have them or not, but I thought this was interesting as all the instructions just say photos have to be less than 6 months old at the time of submitting, not at the interview - so i'd advise everyone to take two with them just in case, even if the appointment letter doesn't tell you do!

Anyway, she gave me my medical file on disk and told me to make sure it was in my hand luggage, she explained about the brown/white envelope that would come with my visa and how important it was not to rip it (at which time I'm thinking, wow, does that mean I'm approved already! lol). After that she gave me the courier form to fill out and told me to take a seat. Less than 5 minutes later I get called up again to see the Con Off. Big friendly guy, took my fingerprints again, flicked through my file a few times, asked how long we'd been married, how I met "miss wonderful" (his words!), asked what I was studying at the moment and where we planned to settle when we moved. Then he said something along the lines of this being a really simple/easy case, at which point I finally started to relax, he smiled and told me my visa would be with me within 2 weeks! and again mentioned the importance of not ripping the envelope. Just like everyone else, there was no grand "you're approved!" or anything, just very routine after this long process! He gave me back my original docs and sent me off to the courier. I was out of the embassy by about 10.30am.

A few words of advice for those of you going through this process soon:
1. In response to some recent questions on here, you can wear a watch and a belt into the embassy, you just have to put them through the x-ray machine. You can also take a small bag, or carrier bag - they didn't seem to have any problems with that, but be careful of phone/ipod chargers as I saw a couple of people being turned around because of them. Regular keys are fine, just not anything with electronics in it. I was allowed to take a bottle of water in, the security guard just had me taste it in front of him.
2. Take two US photos with you even if you have already submitted them (I used www.epassportphoto.com and found it very simple, as long as you have a clear white/beige wall to take your picture in front of!)
3. We had tried to submit the I-864 with just assets as we are currently both students and not earning much. We used a mix of US and UK savings, in both our names. The NVC had difficulty confirming ownership, despite us sending bank statements, so we ended up using a joint sponsor. The Embassy had details of both and I asked if we could use the assets which are above the 3x threshold, but the woman at the first window said if the NVC had asked for more it was probably because we had no income and said it's always better to use a joint sponsor in these circumstances. All the websites say you can use assets if you don't have income but it seems they really don't like this, so I would advise anyone in a similar situation to use a joint sponsor rather than just assets if they can. Sorting that out during the NVC process delayed us about 3 weeks in the end, which pushed us into September interview rather than August - not a big issue, but still annoying.


I won't be fully relaxed until I receive my passport back in my hand with the visa inside, but I am glad the interview went so smoothly. I'm not planning to fly until Oct 11, but i'm traveling in a couple of weeks so I really hope my passport is back sooner rather than later!

Thanks to everyone on these forums for your help and advice along the way - it has been a real lifesaver at times!

Chris_tanj

Just if anyone had wondered, I did speak to an operator today and my case was completed on September 2nd.

Unsurprisingly the operator had never heard of "SIF". Consequently the fact I could still sign into the online payment system is nothing to worry about!

Here's hoping for an October interview, but who knows!

Sanddancer

Was this an operator for USCIS by calling 1-800-375-5283? It just seems that when i call i get an automated response and no opportunity to speak to a 'real' person ;-)

Chris_tanj

Unfortunately no, this was an operator for the NVC (the institution you make your visa application to once USCIS approves the I-130 petition) on 603-334-0700.

Sanddancer

Ah i see. No worries.

Oh by the way congratulations and hope you get all squared away quickly