RIVER1

Hello, I hope any of you can help us.

My husband is an american citizen, (Ohio) I am mexican. He filed in oct 2004 for the I-130 and the I-129 for K3 visa.

We got the approval for the I-130 in january. And after that we have received packets and letters and it is all completed now.

About the I-129f we just received last week a letter (8 mos later) saying they could not complete the case because some documents were missing. Even though we had sent them complete when we first applied, we send what they requested again.

We are now waiting on the interview date, which for being mexican I assumed it would be at Ciudad Juarez Embassy.

We received a letter today which states that the NVC has completed my case and fwdd to the american consulate in... El paso texas. (??????)

It also encourages us not to call the embassy but to check their web site for the priority date they are working on. Our priority date is 20oct2004

We are shocked. As we understand in that website says that they are working on appointments with priority date 22may1998.

Does this mean there is a 4 or 5 years wait?

Why was I filed to El Paso instead of Ciudad Juarez?

Has anyone gone through this and had a happy ending?

We are so scared and sad. I am hoping we are not understanding right. Could you please give us a little clear information to stop us from wondering what will happen next?

Thank you in advance

Folinskyinla

Hi:

On the pedantic side, the "Embassy" is in Mexico on 305 Paseo De La Reforma and they do not do visas. However, the Consulate in Juarez does.

Have you ever been to Juarez? Cd. Juarez and El Paso are adjacent to each other. In fact, one would not be far off the mark to call El Paso a suburb of Juarez! CDJ is unique among US Consulates handling IV's in that it is just not near the US Border, it is adjacent! Accordingly, most of the visa work normally handled by FSO Consular officers are handled by Civil Servant employees who live in El Paso and cross to work in Mexico.

BTW, all the border consulates in Mexico and Canada have US postal addresses. It makes communication a lot easier.

RIVER1

Hello

Thank you for your answer and for making clear which is the embassy and which is the consulate.
I apreciate it but still I'd like to know if you or anybody else has an answer for my other questions and can give me a little help.

Have a good one...

Rete

You don't have a "priority date" as the wife of a US Citizen. Since you are an immediate relative of a USC, you do not have to wait for a quota number to become current which is the dates you are talking about.

RIVER1

Sniff... Rete, now I al even more lost ...

The letter I received today gives me this data:

Case number CDJxxxxxxxxxxx
PA Name ... My name
* Preference Category Cr1 Conditional spouse of US citizen
Your Priority date 20 oct 2004
Foreign state Chargeability Mexico

I do not understand what you told me... what do mean by saying I do not have a priority date?
and you say I do not have to wait for a quota number to become current.... I do not understand... sorry all this is new for me and I get lost, confused, scared ...

would you explain me please?

Rete

The priority date below is the date that your husband applied for your I-130 at the service center.

Clarification:

There are two types of spouses:

1. Married to USC
2. Married to Legal Permanent Resident

You are married to a USC.

In #2 the spouse of a legal permanent resident must wait until their priority date becomes current before they will hear from the US Consulate that an interview is available for them. As you noted for Mexicans married to US legal permanent residents that priority date currently is 1998 and therefore they must wait for approximately 6 years or more for their priority date to be current and to get an interview date.

In #1 although you have a "priority date" on the letter that does not mean you have to wait for it to become current as the spouses do in #2. There is always a visa available to spouses of US Citizens. The priority date is only there to show that is when the I-130 was received and not for any other reason.

Hope that clears things up.

RIVER1

Oh wow! thank you so much.... I understand now, but now I have some other questions...

If that date does not mean anything regarding the appointment in Juarez, how can I know or at least have an idea of when they will have a date for me? will it be a month? a week?

How long does it take them to get in touch with me or the people in my same situation after this letter?

Is there a way for us to know of an aproximate time, I mean, to start planning on buying the plane tickets or at least making reservations... and all that is involved with the appointment, preparing the documents and such.

Not to mention to get ready for the moving...

Thank you again for your help...

Rete

Have you gotten all the paperwork from the NVC for the Consulate processing? Have you gotten your police clearance if your country is one that gives it? (sorry I don't have the time to look it up for you.) Have you had your medical? Do you have your documents, i.e. birth certificate, marriage certificate, his or your divorce decrees if married before? if so, has the checklist been returned to the NVC? They will set up the appointment for you once they know that the paperwork is ready on your end and that your husband's affidavit of support (I-864) has been sent to them and approved and all the fees have been paid. There is no way to know just how long it will be before an appointment is scheduled.

RIVER1

Rete, thank you so much ......Yes, we have received the paper work and sent back the forms that were required, we have also sent the afidavit of support. We have payed everything too.

We have not completed the checklist, we are working on those documents, the one thing we had absolute no idea was that we had to return the checklist to them, since none of us saw that on the letters, again We must have understood wrong.

As for the Medicals, I will call tomorrow the +900 number to find out if I can have them made here in Ohio (I am visiting on my tourist visa) and which doctor would be "official" for them. Or if they have to be made in Mexico and if they have a list of authorized laboratories or doctors to have the medicals done. Do you know for a chance anything about this?

I will check them again to find out who we must send it to.

Thank you again for all your help and have a great night.

Folinskyinla

Hi Rete:

As a practical matter you are 100% correct. However, there is a total quota and the number of "immediate relative" visas DOES potentialy influence the numerical availability on other categories. I've never tried to figure out the details since it is a useless exercise.

Rete

You, too, are correct. It is unfortunate that USC spouses will get the visas first and then the leftovers go to the spouses of the PRs.