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Author Topic: Immigration Question I-130
mexikeya
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I am was married earlier this year to an Egyptian, but have not yet filed for his K3 visa. I am American, and was planning on meeting the residency requirements to file for his K3 visa at the US Embassy in Cairo. Does anyone know if I am able to file the I-130 before I leave the country? If not, can anyone tell me how long it takes for the I-130 to be processed at the embassy in Cairo? I was told that it could take 6 months after completing the 6 month residency requirements for the I-130 to be approved. I am not sure if this is accurate or not. If anyone could help shed some light, I would be most grateful.
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Chef Mick
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if your american you need to file in the usa. it takes a while they have been faster these days though, your bestbet is to file a cr1 which is an I-130 but it will give you more options. he willget his green card in 2 weeks and will have permanant residency when he gets here, good luck to you, micky
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Snapdragon
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quote:
Originally posted by mexikeya:
I am was married earlier this year to an Egyptian, but have not yet filed for his K3 visa. I am American, and was planning on meeting the residency requirements to file for his K3 visa at the US Embassy in Cairo. Does anyone know if I am able to file the I-130 before I leave the country?


YOU MAY FILE THE PETITION BEFORE YOU LEAVE, BUT YOU MUST BE PRESENT AT THE FIRST INTERVIEW WITH HIM AND STILL MUST MEET THE RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT.

If not, can anyone tell me how long it takes for the I-130 to be processed at the embassy in Cairo?

IT TOOK MY HUSBAND AND I 6 MONTHS FROM THE FIRST INTERVIEW TO THE ENDING INTERVIEW AND ISSUANCE OF THE VISA IN THE PASSPORT. THIS WAS IN 2006 - THINGS HAVE CHANGED. NOT ALL APPLICANTS WILL TAKE THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME.

I was told that it could take 6 months after completing the 6 month residency requirements for the I-130 to be approved. I am not sure if this is accurate or not. If anyone could help shed some light, I would be most grateful.


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Snapdragon
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quote:
Originally posted by dolphin redsea:
if your american you need to file in the usa. it takes a while they have been faster these days though, your bestbet is to file a cr1 which is an I-130 but it will give you more options. he willget his green card in 2 weeks and will have permanant residency when he gets here, good luck to you, micky

Hi Mickey,

She can file at the embassy also if she meets the residency requirements...
The way it is done through the US service centers, ALWAYS takes forever.

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Chef Mick
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i know but ask ford perfect he had to start at the embassy in the usa first too. good luck though and keep me informed plzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Ford Prefect (not perfect)
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Yeah I wanted to start at the embassy too, but I couldn't fulfill the "contiguous" 6 month residency requirement (ie not set foot out of egypt for even one hour as that would reset the timer). I was able to do 2-3 months at a time but not more (work and stuff to attend stateside, couldn't leave it for that long). Also, filing at the Embassy had the same waiting process through the USCIS (they would forward it there first before doing anything else).

So I filed stateside a month after we got married, USCIS took about 4 months approval for us, then was sent to the NVC at the end of August. I was back to egypt in June during the wait for the approval, came back to states in Sep. to do the NVC stuff.

After waiting for document/mail fiasco with NVC, I got them to expedite it to the embassy in cairo before they had all the docs. Embassy now has all the docs and scheduled her interview for Dec. 24th. I'm going back to Cairo on Dec 11 to be with her until she can fly with me, which is hopefully shortly after her interview. It would be great if they were nice and gave her the visa on the interview day, but I am not holding my breath. I'm guessing it will be a few days to a week after.

My recommendation would be to file at the embassy only if you plan on staying there until he gets his visa... which could take up to 6 months just for the USCIS approval, then another couple months for the normal visa document collection/interview process at the embassy. Otherwise I'd just file stateside, you don't have to be in the states to file or while waiting for USCIS, I believe the Chicago drop box has a fedex location you can send the I-130 to... do a little digging on the state.gov site and you'll find it. Once it gets to the NVC stage though you will need to come stateside to send them the docs (or have a friend to play mail proxy for you). International post mail is highly unreliable, and thats all the NVC uses. (they dont use fedex/ups/dhl etc) So if you could fedex stuff to a friend and have them snail mail it for you stateside.. also have that same friend as your SO's agent. Thats the only caveat with the NVC.

Hope that helps you with a decision on which place to start. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.


Edit:

There is also the I-129 K3 visa... it's maybe 1 or 2 months faster at the end of the process (the NVC forwards it straight to the embassy as there is nothing to collect from you), but it's a temporary visa and you'll have to go through the green card process stateside (but he will be there with you). The I-130 or (CR1) basically he gets the green card when he gets here.

One thing I didn't know when starting this is you can file both I-129 and I-130, whichever is approved first you use to get him here. Wish I would have known that, could have saved a month or so, but paperwork might have been a nightmare on that route.

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bob the dog
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quote:
Originally posted by Ford Prefect (not perfect):

,
Edit:

There is also the I-129 K3 visa... it's maybe 1 or 2 months faster at the end of the process (the NVC forwards it straight to the embassy as there is nothing to collect from you), but it's a temporary visa and you'll have to go through the green card process stateside (but he will be there with you). The I-130 or (CR1) basically he gets the green card when he gets here.


One thing I didn't know when starting this is you can file both I-129 and I-130, whichever is approved first you use to get him here. Wish I would have known that, could have saved a month or so, but paperwork might have been a nightmare on that route.

We filed the I-129 and I-130 at the same time.... the 130 was approved long before the 129. Seems to me the 129 is just an extra waste of money!!
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Snapdragon
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quote:
Originally posted by Ford Prefect (not perfect):
Yeah I wanted to start at the embassy too, but I couldn't fulfill the "contiguous" 6 month residency requirement (ie not set foot out of egypt for even one hour as that would reset the timer). I was able to do 2-3 months at a time but not more (work and stuff to attend stateside, couldn't leave it for that long). Also, filing at the Embassy had the same waiting process through the USCIS (they would forward it there first before doing anything else).


So I filed stateside a month after we got married, USCIS took about 4 months approval for us, then was sent to the NVC at the end of August. I was back to egypt in June during the wait for the approval, came back to states in Sep. to do the NVC stuff.

After waiting for document/mail fiasco with NVC, I got them to expedite it to the embassy in cairo before they had all the docs. Embassy now has all the docs and scheduled her interview for Dec. 24th. I'm going back to Cairo on Dec 11 to be with her until she can fly with me, which is hopefully shortly after her interview. It would be great if they were nice and gave her the visa on the interview day, but I am not holding my breath. I'm guessing it will be a few days to a week after.

My recommendation would be to file at the embassy only if you plan on staying there until he gets his visa... which could take up to 6 months just for the USCIS approval, then another couple months for the normal visa document collection/interview process at the embassy. Otherwise I'd just file stateside, you don't have to be in the states to file or while waiting for USCIS, I believe the Chicago drop box has a fedex location you can send the I-130 to... do a little digging on the state.gov site and you'll find it. Once it gets to the NVC stage though you will need to come stateside to send them the docs (or have a friend to play mail proxy for you). International post mail is highly unreliable, and thats all the NVC uses. (they dont use fedex/ups/dhl etc) So if you could fedex stuff to a friend and have them snail mail it for you stateside.. also have that same friend as your SO's agent. Thats the only caveat with the NVC.

Hope that helps you with a decision on which place to start. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.


Edit:

There is also the I-129 K3 visa... it's maybe 1 or 2 months faster at the end of the process (the NVC forwards it straight to the embassy as there is nothing to collect from you), but it's a temporary visa and you'll have to go through the green card process stateside (but he will be there with you). The I-130 or (CR1) basically he gets the green card when he gets here.

One thing I didn't know when starting this is you can file both I-129 and I-130, whichever is approved first you use to get him here. Wish I would have known that, could have saved a month or so, but paperwork might have been a nightmare on that route.

I have been married to two Egyptian men with two different immigration experiences. The first one was done via US Service Center - Texas. They are slow. It took several months for the I-130 to be approved. Then the documents were sent to embassy in Egypt and he received notice of his interview approximately 9 months later. He got his visa outside of his passport about 2 months after that.

I lived in Egypt for 2 years with my current husband and we filed together at the embassy. It took a total of 6 months for his visa to be put in his passport. That was Feb 2006 to July 2006. February received an appointment with embassy. One week later we had the first interview for the I-130 petition. It was approved on the spot. We were given a packet to prepare for second interview. It took us until April 17th to obtain everything needed and it was sent by TNT back to embassy. A second interview date was scheduled on July 6th. Visa approved at that interview and his passport was held and then mailed back with visa inside on the 11th of July. Left Egypt in September. Everybody will have similiar experiences but different circumstances. You are married to a female and that makes a big difference to them when it comes to issuing visas. GOOD LUCK!

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Snapdragon
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quote:
Originally posted by mamasue:
quote:
Originally posted by Ford Prefect (not perfect):

,
Edit:

There is also the I-129 K3 visa... it's maybe 1 or 2 months faster at the end of the process (the NVC forwards it straight to the embassy as there is nothing to collect from you), but it's a temporary visa and you'll have to go through the green card process stateside (but he will be there with you). The I-130 or (CR1) basically he gets the green card when he gets here.


One thing I didn't know when starting this is you can file both I-129 and I-130, whichever is approved first you use to get him here. Wish I would have known that, could have saved a month or so, but paperwork might have been a nightmare on that route.

We filed the I-129 and I-130 at the same time.... the 130 was approved long before the 129. Seems to me the 129 is just an extra waste of money!!
Hi Samia,

The I-129 is for fiance visas. The I-130 is the application for relatives. The fiance takes a really long time. I have a friend that applied for that prior to me marrying my husband. He was still waiting when we left Egypt.

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bob the dog
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Snapdragon.... if I remember rightly, the 129 is supposed to get a fiancee or wife into the US while waiting for a 130 to be approved.
My 130 was approved long before the 129.

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Ford Prefect (not perfect)
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Well heck I'm glad I didn't waste time with a 129 if thats the case [Big Grin]
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Chef Mick
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the I129 is a finace visa, the k3 is a little different,go with the straight cr1 and you wont have any problems except for all the paper work, but its so worth it
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kentuckyD
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go to visa journey.com website. It will explain the different visas. K3 was suppose to be faster like a fiance visa but your married, the K3 was suppose to be alot faster than CR1 but it is only maybe 1 month or 2 months faster. If he comes on a K3 it will take him 3 or 4 months to get to started working and its too depressing for them. So cr1 when they come they can quickly get to working. The whole process takes about a year so hurry and file the papers. good luck
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kentuckyD
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On the visajourney website, there is a forum called MENA ( middle east north Africa)in the sub forums and there are many ppl from usa chatting in those about Egypt etc. and their timelines issues questions etc. Im sure there are many there that did the process from Egypt.
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Chef Mick
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you cant NOT do the process fro egypt if you are american, it needs to be done in the usa
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kentuckyD
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Some have direct consular filed from Egypt but you have to live there 6 months and have 6 months residency in Egypt. Unless they changed the rule for Egypt recently...and are no longer letting people do that, I didnt know then.
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kentuckyD
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MARRIAGE IN EGYPT
النص العربي
- Traveler Info. -
• Consular Info. Sheet
• Register with the Embassy
• Marriage in Egypt
• Travel & Public Announcements
• Government forms
• Avian Flu Info.
• No FEAR Act
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Contact us

The only legal marriage for foreigners in Egypt is a civil ceremony performed at the local marriage court, which is in accordance with Islamic practice. Persons wishing a religious ceremony may arrange for one separately, but it is the civil ceremony that establishes the legal marriage.

Americans wishing to marry in Egypt must take the following steps in order to marry:

Step 1: Visit the American Citizen Services, U.S. Embassy


Address: 5, Tawfik Diab Street (formerly Latin America Street), Garden City, Cairo. Hours: Sunday through Thursday 8:00-11:00 a.m., except the last Tuesday of each month.
At American Citizen Services, you will sign a marriage affidavit that will be notarized by the U.S. Embassy. This affidavit includes your biographic data and your religion. Interfaith marriages are permitted by Egyptian law except in the case of a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man. The affidavit also mentions that you are free to marry and that the Embassy has no objection to the marriage. Please bring the following:
Your valid American passport
Proof of termination of your last marriage, if you were married before. An original or certified copy of the last divorce decree or death certificate must be submitted. There is no need to get this document authenticated or translated into Arabic for the purpose of marriage. The authentication and translation by the Egyptian embassy or consulate in the U.S. may be required later for other purposes. Please note that if you are a female American citizen previously married, you may only remarry in Egypt at least 90 days after your divorce or 130 days after the death of your former spouse. If you are pregnant, you can only remarry after the birth of the baby.
It is preferable that you bring your fiancé(e).
If you are a female under the age of 21, you are required to either be accompanied by your father, a guardian, a person in loco parentis, or a written consent from any of the above. The consent should be in English and Arabic. It should be notarized by the Egyptian Embassy or an Egyptian consulate in the U.S. and by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Egypt.

NOTE: If two American citizens are getting married, they each need separate statements.

Step 2: After obtaining the notarized statement from the U.S. Embassy, you must visit one of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Authentication Offices.

Addresses: Gameit el Dowal el Arabia Street, Mohandessin, Giza; Ahmed Said Street, Abbassia; or Sabak Street next to the Maryland Gardens in Heliopolis. The office hours are Saturday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will certify the statement for a fee of 11.00LE.

Step 3: After obtaining the certification from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you must visit the Egyptian Ministry of Justice.

Address: Egyptian Ministry of Justice Annex (Office of Marriage of Foreigners), 4th floor, Lazoughly Square, Abdin, Cairo. Open Saturday through Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The Ministry of Justice will register your marriage. Forms to be completed at the marriage court can only be obtained on the wedding day or the day before. The following are required:
Proof of identity (a passport) for both parties, a photocopy of the passport data page, the Egyptian entry visa and the residency stamp if you obtained one.
Egyptian I.D. (Egyptian passport or the National ID) and a photocopy of it if one of the parties is Egyptian
Five personal photos for each party.
A 50.00LE “Ta’meen Igtimaei” stamp (purchased at any Egyptian post office)
Two male witnesses with identification documents (passport or I.D. card) must be present to sign the marriage documents. It is preferable to bring your own witnesses, such as friends or travel agents.
Original proof of termination of previous marriage if you were married before. No authentication or translation is required.

A routine physical exam performed by an Egyptian doctor is sometimes required if the person appears unhealthy.

It will take at least ten business days for a marriage certificate to be issued by the Ministry of Justice. The marriage certificate must be picked up by one of the parties.

Fees to complete the marriage at the Ministry of Justice:
If both parties are Muslim, the fee is two percent of the dowry (a minimum of 40LE).
If both parties are Christians, a dowry is not required, the fee is 35.00LE.

To use the marriage certificate in the U.S., it should be translated into English by the Egyptian Ministry of Justice Translation Office (the fee is 40.00LE). It takes 4-7 days to receive the translation, which must then be authenticated by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (11.00LE) and authenticated by the American Citizen Services Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo (171.00LE or $30.00). The Ministry of Justice's Translation Office is located at the Ministry of Justice Building, 13th floor, Lazoughly Square, Abdin, Cairo.

If you have any questions, please send an email to the US Embassy at consularcairoacs@state.gov or call us at (202) 2797-2301.

Americans wishing to apply for immigration visas for their spouses must take the following steps:

If you reside in the United States, please start the petition process by filing a Form I-130, “Petition for Alien Relative.” The I-130 is available on the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) website at www.uscis.gov under “Immigration Forms.” Please note: USCIS processes the Form I-130 as a visa number becomes available. Filing and approval of an I-130 is only the first step in helping a spouse immigrate to the United States. The fee is $355 and you may file online or send in the paper application to the appropriate U.S. address (listed on the website).

If you are a resident of Egypt, you may apply for an immigrant visa for your spouse at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. You, the petitioner, must have maintained continuous residency in Egypt a minimum of the preceding six months in order to demonstrate residency to the Consular Officer. Please call 0900-70600 to make an appointment for an interview. Feel free to browse our website at http://egypt.usembassy.gov/consular/iv.htm for more information.

You can do the process from Egypt if you have residency in Egypt for 6 months and you cant leave in those 6 months and come to the USA and back not even for a day in the 6 months.

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Chef Mick
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if you can stay there i guess you can but ford perfect just went thru this so he would be the person to contact
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Snapdragon
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AGAIN!

You CAN apply for your spouse via the US Embassy in Egypt....
BUT you must have lived there for 6 months prior to applying for your spouse. IF you leave Egypt you must start again.

Very simple explanation just like the website states. [Smile]

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ES Stinks
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quote:
After waiting for document/mail fiasco with NVC, I got them to expedite it to the embassy in cairo before they had all the docs. Embassy now has all the docs and scheduled her interview for Dec. 24th.
The NVC finished my husband's case in August. And he still has not received an interview date. How do you get them to expedite? They told me they do not send the file/documents until the embassy schedules the interview? Do you think that's true?

quote:
Once it gets to the NVC stage though you will need to come stateside to send them the docs (or have a friend to play mail proxy for you). International post mail is highly unreliable, and thats all the NVC uses. (they dont use fedex/ups/dhl etc)
Is that really true they really use regular mail to mail the embassy our documents? If they wait until the embassy schedules his interview, the embassy will possibly not receive his file in time for the interview.

God this is a screwy mess and everyone has a different scenario so it makes it so hard to judge your own circumstansces.

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doodlebug
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quote:
Originally posted by Lucy Loves Ricky:
quote:
After waiting for document/mail fiasco with NVC, I got them to expedite it to the embassy in cairo before they had all the docs. Embassy now has all the docs and scheduled her interview for Dec. 24th.
The NVC finished my husband's case in August. And he still has not received an interview date. How do you get them to expedite? They told me they do not send the file/documents until the embassy schedules the interview? Do you think that's true?

quote:
Once it gets to the NVC stage though you will need to come stateside to send them the docs (or have a friend to play mail proxy for you). International post mail is highly unreliable, and thats all the NVC uses. (they dont use fedex/ups/dhl etc)
Is that really true they really use regular mail to mail the embassy our documents? If they wait until the embassy schedules his interview, the embassy will possibly not receive his file in time for the interview.

God this is a screwy mess and everyone has a different scenario so it makes it so hard to judge your own circumstansces.

Wow that's an awful long time to wait between being approved and getting an interview date! Our interview date was issued less than 3 weeks after my husband sent in his packet 4. They must be really backed up over there!

Also, the I129 isn't just for fiance visa, the combination of the I130 and the I129 = the K3 visa. The I129 was historically used to speed up the visa issuance while they wait for the I130 but for the past two years or so it seems like both take the exact amount of time to get approved, therefor it is much better to do the I130 imho.

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Ford Prefect (not perfect)
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quote:
Originally posted by Lucy Loves Ricky:
quote:
After waiting for document/mail fiasco with NVC, I got them to expedite it to the embassy in cairo before they had all the docs. Embassy now has all the docs and scheduled her interview for Dec. 24th.
The NVC finished my husband's case in August. And he still has not received an interview date. How do you get them to expedite? They told me they do not send the file/documents until the embassy schedules the interview? Do you think that's true?

quote:
Once it gets to the NVC stage though you will need to come stateside to send them the docs (or have a friend to play mail proxy for you). International post mail is highly unreliable, and thats all the NVC uses. (they dont use fedex/ups/dhl etc)
Is that really true they really use regular mail to mail the embassy our documents? If they wait until the embassy schedules his interview, the embassy will possibly not receive his file in time for the interview.

God this is a screwy mess and everyone has a different scenario so it makes it so hard to judge your own circumstansces.

Actually the rules are laid out by visa type, yes everyone's situation is going to be slightly different, but the processes stay the same with respect to which visa you're applying for.

The NVC communicates via regular mail to both parties, both stateside and Egypt for document collection from those parties. This is why it's best for the immigrant to choose their spouse as the agent (or someone with a US address) as this speeds things up.

When the NVC has satisfied collecting all documents, they close the case at that office and forward the entire case to the embassy via DHL. This takes about 4-5 days and another day or two for the embassy to look at it. (my own experience)

No it's not true about the interview date. When the embassy receives the case from the NVC, they will review it and schedule. If there are any missing docs they will try to contact whichever party is responsible for the docs... usually the applicant/immigrant. They will also request the applicant to take a medical exam.

As far as expediting goes, it's done on a case by case basis depending on the reason for the request. If it's just missing one another I don't think they will approve an expedite. Note that I only got an expedite from the NVC in forwarding the case to the embassy not for getting a fast interview. The NVC's job is just to collect documents and fees. I merely stated my position about the length of time it was taking for them to collect these docs from me, and my having to be in the states to do this while my wife was ALONE in a country rampant with sexual harrasment and voiced my concern about that. The embassy seen my point of view on that and allowed the document collection process to skip the NVC and go directly to them. I am now going back to Cairo to be with her until she has a visa in hand, since I don't have to be stateside for any more silly docs heh

I sent the remaining docs directly to the embassy via fedex when I found out the case was forwarded. My wife also already had her medical exam done before the embassy even had the case. I had also communicated this to the consulars office via email so they would know she was ready for the interview and not generate the standard "go to the doctor, tell us when your ready" letters. I believe the completeness of our case and my communications efforts sped up getting her on the schedule. There's a pdf of which doctor they have to go to on the embassy and state.gov websites.

You might also check out visajourney.com LOTS of info there and people that have gone through the same thing.

You can also track the DHL shipment of your case from the NVC to the Embassy IF you know what day it was sent out on. info here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=127513

It's also important that you gave good contact info for your spouse on the documents.. it's possible they have it scheduled and letter sent but he/she not received it. You can check online if your case is on the schedule here: http://cairo.usembassy.gov/consular/iv8.htm

You can always email them directly and ask what the status is. ConsularCairoIV@state.gov put your case number in the subject, other identifying info in the body (basically follow the same rules as emailing the NVC).

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Chef Mick
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bravo FORD, good luck with her visa,i know you 2 have it all together, and good information here .you did your homework [Wink] looking forward to seeing you again, call us when you get to JFK
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Chef Mick
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DID SHE GET THE INTERVIEW YET FORD?
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Ford Prefect (not perfect)
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quote:
Originally posted by dolphin redsea:
DID SHE GET THE INTERVIEW YET FORD?

Scheduled only, christmas eve [Wink] I'll be with her at the embassy.
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Chef Mick
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good luck to you guys hope all is well [Wink]
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ES Stinks
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Thank you Ford Perfect. You gave a lot of good info. Actually, I have good news, his interview was already scheduled at the time I posted my questions here and I didn't know it yet. It's scheduled in January. Wish us luck!

I am a little confused about whether he needs to take another set of original documents to the interview? The NVC letter check list states that every reguired document had been received and accepted.

However, the website says to bring original documets to the interview. But we don't want to go to the expense of getting another set if they don't need it. I don't see why they would unless they lose them. He has copies of all originals to take but when obtaining all his doc. he did not get duplicates.

That was probably a mistake but we found it to be a little bit of strain on our budget.

Hope all continues to go well for you.

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Ford Prefect (not perfect)
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The letters are boilerplate standard, he only needs to take what they don't already have. for example, birth certificate, police report, or medical exam. More than likely just the medical exam if you already sent his other stuff.

Great news, wish you good luck!

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ES Stinks
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Thanks so much FP that's a big relief. And good luck to you and your wife too. I'm so happy 3 years of torment finally over. Please God!
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