shanejet

Hi All,
First time poster.

I was notified on the 5th of this month that my L1-A petition via premium processing has been approved at Vermont Service Centre and the I-797 Approval notice will follow in the mail.

As of yet my lawyer has not received the notice, which is worrying as it has nearly been two weeks.

What is the usual lead time to receive the notice in the mail?
And secondly when the lawyer does receive it, can he scan a copy of it and email to me to use at the embassy? Or does it need to be original copy?

I stupidly already booked the embassy interview for next thursday the 26th!

Regards.

Flabound oneday

mine took around 10 days -I was told you MUST have the original (by the embassy)

GeoffM

Mine arrived a couple of weeks after approval. The original went to the attorney - and his arrived after mine, despite him being in the US and me in the UK! Mine is annotated as a copy though, and I wasn't even expecting anything to come directly to me.

shanejet

Thanks for your replies.

Surprisingly I had an email from the lawyer this morning stating that he just received the approval notice in the mail.

So, bring on the interview at the embassy next thursday!

shanejet

Hello again,
I was having a read on the us embassy site and it states this:

"Important Note: The Form I-797 is no longer needed for your interview. However, to verify petition approval we will need your I-129 petition receipt number so please make sure to have this available."

Does anyone know about this?

meauxna

Know what about it?

You can always provide a link when you're quoting another site, so we can see the context, but what you posted is pretty clear.

shanejet

sorry about that, it was on the us embassy site.

Most people are saying that you need the original I-797 form but it stated otherwise on there.
Was wondering if anybody had gone for an interview without bringing the form with them?

ian-mstm

For which country?


Can you please provide the direct link to what you're reading?

Ian

shanejet

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1271.html

Looks to just be the official US site.

It is under the Petitions section about halfway down.

ian-mstm

Ah... just to clarify, this isn't a US Embassy website. It's the website for the US Department of State. The DoS will not be conducting the interview, USCIS will... so I'd disregard anything the DoS says in favor of what USCIS has to say about it.

Ian

meauxna

Maybe you are the first from BEers?

It does say "Important Note: The Form I-797 is no longer needed for your interview. However, to verify petition approval we will need your I-129 petition receipt number so please make sure to have this available."

That indicates to me that it used to be needed, and now it is not.

shanejet

I will bring it with me to the interview just in case, but will see what happens when I don't produce it for them

Eric S

Ian, you of all people shouldn't be making that mistake!

The consulates are run by the Dept. of State, not USCIS. So if the interview is at the consulate, then yes, the interview is conducted by the DoS.

- Eric S.

rossscotland

Shanejet,

Did you end up needing to bring your I-797? My interview is on tuesday and I am very unlikely to have the form by then.

Thanks,

Ross

shanejet

Sorry mate, I only just realised you posted this.

I did bring along my I-797 but from memory I don't think It was needed.

How did you go with your interview?