newtintheville

Just joined up and I'm not British but my fiance is... actually she prefers to be called Scottish because she's from sunny Edinburgh . We just sent off for her visa on Feb. 19, 2009 and I received NOA1 from Vermont USCIS on March 2nd. We're excited to say the least. Hopefully NOA2 won't be too far off. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best as always.

Best wishes to all of you in the same boat as us. Take care.

-Christopher

meauxna

Congratulations, and welcome!

Noorah101

Hi Christopher, Welcome to BE.

Congrats on getting started!

Rene

evepie

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to introduce myself as Christopher's other half :P

Take care all x

Noorah101

Welcome!

newtintheville

Thanks for the well-wishes.

newtintheville

Also Noorah, I'm very excited to be connected to someone as knowledgeable as you on the subject. I'm fairly confident the petition was not deficient, firstly because of the time and care put into it, and secondly because of the NOA. What might we expect the timeline to be based upon your experience & knowledge? That is to say from NOA1 to NOA2 and then to her interview. We've set our sights on six months, is that reasonable - given she's from Scotland and not from a third world country?

Thanks in advance for you advice!

Best,
Christopher

meauxna

Just some info for you....

The 'NOA1" is the notice of receipt; it means that your parcel was received. If anything is missing, you will get an RFE/Request for Further Evidence. all your time and care that went into it is fine, but will not cover you if someone handling your file loses a piece of paper. Always keep your own photocopy version of your immigration file.

There is no predicting the Service Center timelines; they change frequently as certain case types are given priority or backlogs are slated for clean out. You should expect less than 6 months, but don't be outraged at more.

After petition approval, the file is sent through the NVC (very short stop) and on to the Consulate. This can be 1-8 weeks.
Interview scheduling is determined by the case load at the moment your case arrives to them; there is simply no way to tell.

You will both be a lot happier through this process if you remain flexible and remember what Ian always says: Immigration is an Adventure!
If you start measuring your immigration in terms of weeks or days, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Not only does a watched pot not boil, it seems to attract cooker breakdowns and gas leaks!

PS: first world/third world doesn't really make the difference you might think and our audience here is mixed; not everyone is UK or UK related.

Noorah101

Yep, everything meauxna said!

Rene

ian-mstm

I heard my name mentioned! Madinn mhath... from a Glaswegian to a Midlothian. Good luck to you both.

Ian

meauxna

I just always wish I'd seen "Jose can you see" first....

MandyNi

Hi and welcome to you both. My fiance sent our I 129F off to Vermont on 24th Feb and I'm hoping that we'll get our NOA1 very very soon too, so looks like we could almost be on the same timeline!

I'm another Celt (from Northern Ireland) and I'll be heading to east coast Virginia. I've elected to go to London for processing though I understand Edinburgh do it too. If i'd checked that sooner might have gone there but not to worry.

I agree with you, lots and lots of helpful information and folks here. If I hadn't found it I'm sure I'd have got sucked in to using an attorney at probably significant cost and little benefit!

Noorah101

Actually only London does Immigrant and K visas. Edinburgh does tourist visas.

Rene

penguinbar

Unfortunately that's true! My husbands friend is a golf caddy in Scotland and caddy's in Florida in the winter and he get's his work visa(not sure which one) in Edinburgh and my husband thought he could go there as well. I had to tell him that he had to go to London. He wasn't too happy about that but he got his visa! He's actually going on a job interview as I type. Fingers crossed!

newtintheville

Indeed, my fiance has to go from Edinburgh to London for both her medical exam and interview. Seems there is only one doctor's office (a private one at that) that is approved for this examination for k-1 applicants. It's going to be expensive for her and take 3 or 4 days we believe. So we're planning (and saving) for it.

And yeah, seems we're on pretty much the same timeline so we'll see what happens. . Take care and good luck!