Approved at last

[Son of Clyde]

I received an email tonight (about 8:45) saying thet my case has been approved.

The official letter was mailed yesterday, April 18.

"Current Status: 

This case has been approved. On April 18, 2005, an approval notice was mailed. If 14 days have passed and you have not received this notice, you may wish to verify or update your address. To update your address, please call the National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision or advice from USCIS within the projected processing time frame*, please contact the National Customer Service Center.

National Customer Service Center (800) 375-5283.

*The projected processing time frame can be found on the receipt notice that you received from the USCIS.
*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.

Sincerely,

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)"

[jb]

Well, Clyde, it looks like you are off and running, let's all hope it continues to be "hot, straight, and normal" from here on.

[Turboguy]

[user=130]Son of Clyde[/user] wrote:

If 14 days have passed and you have not received this notice, you may wish to verify or update your address. To update your address, please call the National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283.

Congratulations son of Clyde.  I hope your path to togetherness runs smoothy and quickly from here on.

I have to ask though if this statement sounds like typical government lunacy or if the fact we broke down on the way home from KC and I have not been to bed in 36 hours and spent my night standing along a highway clouded my judgement. 

It says, If 14 days have passed and you have not received this .........call.  If 14 days have passed and you never received it how would you know to call or where to call or that you need to change your address. 

[Son of Clyde]

Turboguy,

I just received the email.

The actual notice should physically arrive within 14 days or else I can call the office.

[Son of Clyde]

I know all about government work and confusing letters.

We were told in the 1980's to write our letters on a 8th grade reading level.

I know phd's who cannot decipher our letters.

[ConnerVT]

Once a month they test the PA system where I work.  In the pre-written announcement, they say if you can not hear the announcement, please contact the site safety office... :?

[wxman]

You should receive approval from National Visa Center is 2 to 3 weeks too! My application from Nebrasak service center was approved on March 25th, and received approval from National Visa center on April 14th. According to Embassy web site in Kiev, application and supporting documents from NVC should arrive at embassy 4 to 6 weeks later. After that they send out packet 3, and probably a month later will be interview.   

[Son of Clyde]

My fiance has a very unusual and extremely lengthy last name.

Is it possible it can be approved sooner if she does not need an extensive name search?

[wxman]

I'm do not know anything about length of name delaying approval, so I can not help on that point. My fiancee is divorced, so they had to search her married name and maiden name. Still only took about 2 weeks to get approval from NVC.

[Turboguy]

Hummm, I have not seem too many Russian gals with the last name Smith or Jones.  Actually I was just looking at my gals full name in print and types it covers half the width of a sheet of paper.   I don't  think any gals have short names in the FSU.

I was 14 calendar days from NOA-2 (March 24th) to the date on the letter from the NVC (April 6th) saying that  we were approved and they would be sending our file to Moscow within a week.  

I don't think the last name will be much of a problem.  I have only heard of one person delayed for a name check and that was in one of the arab countries where they have to watch names more.

I hope the rest of your visa process goes quickly.  

[ConnerVT]

I'll give you another whom was delayed over 5 months, and she wasn't Arab. :X

I have heard two purposes for the existence of the NVC, which only one can be true.  From forums like this one, claims are that they perform the "name check", which in reality is a cross check of quite a number of computer systems containing security/background information.

From the immigration representative from Sen. Leahy's (D-VT) Burlington office, I was told that NVC is not much more than a clearinghouse to send bulk packages to the appropriate US consulates around the world.  She said that NVC basically checks that the package is complete with the documents that each consulate requires (as each may ask for different documentation), then sends them out approx. 1x/week.  I tend to think her version is correct.

My wife's K-1 application arrived in Moscow in record time -- just over two months from when I submitted it to USCIS.  From there, it sat in the Moscow consulate for months, awaiting security checks to be completed.  I guess her 5 y.o. son was considered a terrorist threat.

The State Dept.'s policy is that it does not consider an application "late" until 5 months have passed.  Once we crossed the 5 month threshold, The Senator's contact re-requested the security check, which was then completed in 8 days.

My wait gave me a greater appreciation of the grief that jb went through during his frustrating wait.  On the plus side, I got to squeeze 2 more trips in to Russia, which only made my family's relationship that much stronger before we all finally set foot together on US soil. :cool:

[jb]

The name/security check that you undergo for the K-1 is prefunctory.  If you think waiting two or three months for the K-1 is bad, the wait for the security/background check for the AOS has been running up to 18 months.

I am normally one to advise filing the I-485 immediately after the wedding, however I'm now re-thinking that since you will probably be very close to your 2nd wedding anniversary by the time you get the conditional GC. This means you'd have to immediately file to have the conditions removed after being married 2 years.  By waiting a few months to file the I-485 you might bypass the conditional GC and go straight to the 10 year residence card w/o conditions.  To get the regular GC you must be at, or very close to, the 2 year married mark by the time you come in for the interview.

Just some thoughts about the immigration process that will eventually drive you to drink.

[Son of Clyde]

NOA2 received in the mail today.

The letter indicates that the INS is finished with me and the NVC should complete their action within 2 weeks of receipt and to contact the NVC if 4 weeks have elapsed and I have not been notified.

[wxman]

Son of Clyde,

I have more information on when interiview in Kiev might be for my fiancee. According to my lawyer, they have client whose petition was approved by service center on March 15th, and interview is on May 12th. Our petition was approved by Nebraska service center on March 25th, so the end of May or early June could be a reasonable expectation for Interview date. So if your fiancee is going to Kiev for interview, then current timetable should place interview around 2 months after service center approval. That's assuming the process at NVC is still around 2 to 3 weeks.  

[Bruce]

http://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/officeProcesstimes.jsp?selectedOffice=49

 

I-485       December 16, 2002 (now processing cases with receipt notice  date of)

[wxman]

Here is an interesting link from a lawyer who toured the NVC last year. They receive 15,000 to 25,000 cases a week. (small percentage are K1)
http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/NVCTour.htm

So if they receive 25,000 a week, and they have 300 employees, they each do around 16 cases a day, and spend no more than 30 minutes on each case during an 8 hour shift.  So it probably true what someone said earlier that they just a clearing house. Can't imagine the background checks are too thorough.

 

[Son of Clyde]

wxman,

I work for the federal government.

With that volume of a caseload I can only imagine how many they must lose.

I am praying mine is not one of them.

[ConnerVT]

I-485       December 16, 2002 (now processing cases with receipt notice  date of)

I don't know, Bruce.  It does depend where you're being processed.  Out time line is much different than this.  We were married Last June, and submitted applications for AOS (I-485), AP and EAD about mid-July.

The Advance Parole and Employment Authorization was processed in the MSC (Missouri Service Center), and arrived in less than 3 months.

Less than a month from receiving these documents, we were given an interview date for our AOS interview in the St. Albans, VT sub-district office.  It took longer for my wife to get past the metal detector and not set it off than it took for our interview.  It took about two weeks from the interview to receive my wife and son's cards in the mail.

In all, from submittal to card in hand, no more than 4 1/2 months for us.  Of course, YMMV.