biggish data

Hey Kshatriya! We are in Chennai right now, did the medical stuff yesterday, just have today to rest and mentally prepare. Tomorrow is the big day!!! Is your fiancee here yet? You guys all ready? Good luck to you and your fiancee!!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

4/2/2008 1:03

QUOTE (SHAPE OF MY HEART @ Mar 25 2008, 12:51 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi guys,

Im not from India, but would just like to Congrats you all and Good luck..

Thanks Shape, good luck to you too!

(I think we are all happy to receive good wishes from ANYwhere in the world!)

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/24/2008 15:18

QUOTE (kshatriya @ Mar 25 2008, 12:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What is the visa fees for K1 visa applicants at Consulate?

Is it 131 = Rs. 5,502 or $355.00 + $45.00 = Rs. 14,910 + Rs. 1,890 ?

Hey, I just checked the Chennai site, it looks like: Rs. 5, 502 - here is the link: http://chennai.uscon...ov/iv_fees.html

I called them this morning for clarification on the IV fees, they were very helpful, wouldn't hurt to check with them for peace of mind!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/24/2008 15:16

QUOTE (k3visa @ Mar 20 2008, 08:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi does anyone know how to schedule an interview for K3 visa for Chennai ? DO I call them to schedule or email them or they automatically give me a earliest date with the Packet 4 or do i schedule it from the website? Any help will be greatly appreciated..

Hi K3, it would be helpful to us in helping you if you posted your timeline!

Chennai will do all the scheduling (or perhaps it is done through the NVC?), you don't call to schedule or request dates, etc. If you would like to know earlier than what is posted, I recommend that you email them with your case number and they usually reply back pretty quickly. All the April dates have already been set and are posted on the website, they may not know the dates for May or later until pretty close to the deadline for them.

Good luck, let us know what you find out!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/20/2008 10:16

[quote name='kshatriya' date='Mar 20 2008, 01:12 AM' post='1677849']
Carolyn, thats what I meaned by Packet IV, the yellow letter with interview date.

All i know is you have to sumit your douments to VFS, "No earlier than 15 working days and no less than 10 days prior to your interview", for chances of not loosing interview date. You can take the papers with you to interview but, definitely pay the courier fee at VFS to not loose interview date or delay process.

Hmmm... that is strange - have you emailed the consulate about not receiving the yellow invite letter? I thought we had to have that to get into the consulate on interview day?

Ritesh tried to submit everything (and the rest of the paperwork was looking good according to the VFS ladies), but no go without a passport. They told him that this happens all the time, and that he has until the 27th of March to submit, no worries... But of course, I am worried! This PCC process has been a total nightmare and has not left us with any days to relax at all. Tomorrow morning, he is going back AGAIN to the Passport Office (they told him today that they DO have the police reports in the office now), and he will do a Tatkaal process for his Certificate. I just do NOT understand how you guys talk about getting that in a day or two - it will be a minimum of 5 weeks for us! He could have gotten an entirely new passport by now, and we just need the PCC!!!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/19/2008 15:29

QUOTE (k3visa @ Mar 19 2008, 01:36 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

what do you mean by the interview letter from Chennai???
My case will be reaching Chennai in a few days...
Do they schedule a date for interview and send me the interview letter with the date and time? or do I schedule it by going online and registering after paying fee to the HDFC bank..
Please tell me the process,it is little confusing for me...

Hi K3, I am not sure how the process works for a K3 interview, we are doing a CR1 interview through DCF - man that is a lot of abbreviations!

I would check the Chennai Consulate web-site for clear instructions (hopefully!). A good way to interact with Chennai is to email them - we have had a lot of luck with that! (Although some of the staff do not give very clear answers, there is one who is great! Unfortunately, they do not 'sign' their emails with a name, but there is one who has a cursive font in their signature lines that is great!)

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/19/2008 2:54

QUOTE (kshatriya @ Mar 18 2008, 02:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My Fiance dropped all the Documents (except Medical Exam) at VFS and paid Courier Fee Rs. 365/- on 03/16 IST.

Had to show the April Interview Schedule pdf from chennai consulate website, for the drop-off at VFS Bangalore.

Still no sign of Packet-4 from Chennai Consulate.

We didn't actually get a Packet 4 from Chennai, they just put in the interview letter that we should download all the documents from the website. We just tried to submit to VFS today, but without his Passport they wouldn't let him do anything. AARGH! They did tell us that this happens all the time, and that we can submit up until the 27th of March for our April 3rd interview. I am sooooooooooooooo mad about this dam* PCC Certificate, I want to scream!!!!! It has now been 34 days that we have been waiting for it, and he has made multiple trips to the Commissioner's Office, local police stations and the PCC office.

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/18/2008 2:55

"Are you talking about Passport or Local PCC, cause Passport will take about 2 days but Local takes about 2-3 weeks on an average, if you know/bribe people in Police Dept, can get it done soon."

He applied for the local police cert. (on Infantry Road) on Feb. 14th, and the PCC on Feb. 15th. They told him to pick up the local police cert. on Feb. 28th, the PCC office would not give any date.

The same man came to our house two days in a row - Feb. 19th for local, Feb. 20th for PCC to verify address, take signatures, etc. He told us that the PCC would be out to us in 15-20 days, so we didn't worry about it too much, still plenty of time to get everything we needed. It was when we started checking the PCC Website, and it always said: "Waiting for Police Verification" that worried us, since we knew we had it for our current residence...

Funny, every city in India is different with these certs, many say that the PCC is the fastest and easiest to get, not true for us! Maybe if Ritesh and I had been living together for the last year, it would have been a piece of cake, but since we waited until after marriage to do that, it slowed the PCC process down tremendously!

Once we actually get the PCC in our hands, I may just write a post about getting police certs in Bangalore when your Passport is from Delhi and you have lived in more than one location within the city!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/11/2008 11:10

QUOTE (kshatriya @ Mar 11 2008, 08:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Carolyn, just a thought, since Ritesh grewup/lived in Delhi. he might have to get a Local PCC from Delhi too.

you might wanna findout with Chennai Consulate

Thanks kshatriya, we checked on that one a few weeks ago, and they said only the Local PCC and the Bangalore Commissioner's Office for the police stuff. Thank God!

We discovered what was keeping us from our PCC here in Bangalore this morning. Ritesh checked with the 'local local' police near his old apartment, who at first said they had not received it, but after doing some digging, it magically appeared!

(Not sure if this was before or after the exchange of money...) It had been sitting in their office since Feb. 21st, and would NOT have been touched if he had not gone over in person to check on things. Aaah, India! (At least here there are actually ways to get things moving!!)

They promised to get it to the PCC office in Koramangala tomorrow morning, so hopefully we will have it in time to send in our VFS packet next week!

Remember, with Easter being next week, there will probably be some Embassy holiday days to account for in the 15-10 'prior to interview' dates for VFS.

Oh yeah, we got the yellow interview letter today!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/11/2008 11:02

QUOTE (kshatriya @ Mar 11 2008, 12:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thanks!!!!!!

She is in Banglore.

10 days seems right, cause that what it took my parents to get their Packet 4.

QUOTE (CarolynRitesh @ Mar 10 2008, 10:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

CONGRATULATIONS!!

She will be there the day after my husband!

They said they sent the letter last Wednesday, but it seems to take about 10 days to get to our house in Bangalore. Is she in Chennai?

Has she already gotten her PCC? My husband applied for his on Feb 15th and we are still waiting! It is driving us crazy

as we are worried we won't have it in time to submit to VFS. The police rep. came to our home on the 20th of Feb., but since Ritesh lived in a different neighborhood in B-lore before we were married, we are worried it is hung up there now, so he is checking on that tomorrow morning. Not to mention, but he is from Delhi originally, and that is where his passport was issued. How long did your fiancee's PCC take to get?

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/10/2008 15:42

QUOTE (kshatriya @ Mar 10 2008, 08:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Guys! I got email response wthis morning about my fiance interview date on April 4 at Chennai US Consulate.

Just waiting for the yellow slip from Chennai Consulate to get medical done, got all the paper work done already.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

She will be there the day after my husband!

They said they sent the letter last Wednesday, but it seems to take about 10 days to get to our house in Bangalore. Is she in Chennai?

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/10/2008 10:52

QUOTE (bengalilover @ Mar 5 2008, 02:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks CarolynRitesh for doing this. My fiancee has sent packet-3 to Mumbai consulate. We are waiting for packet-4. I am eagerly hoping for an april interview. I have e-mailed consulate and waiting to hear from consulate.

Hi Bengalilover!

I am not sure if this works with the Mumbai consulate, but Chennai responds pretty well to emails, and they just responded to mine today - our interview is April 3rd - WOOOO HOOOO!!! They also sent out the official packet 4 today - but by the time it arrives at our house, it will be almost the deadline to submit things to VFS, so we need to pull the Packet 4 docs from their web-site.

When did your fiance send packet 3? Ours arrived in Chennai on the 25th of Feb. If only all these consulates worked in the same way, it would be easier to give each other answers!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/5/2008 2:42

Hi Everyone,

I really liked the Feb/March thread that was already started, and thought it might be nice to have one for the April interviewees too.

(I have a feeling a lot of those couples will not be on-line as much as they move to the US and start settling into a new life!)

Anyway, we are still waiting on Ritesh's interview date, but were told that we could email Chennai Wednesday to get the April date...

Anyone else?

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/4/2008 14:30

Best of luck for all April interview attendees

Thanks mqk!! Good luck to you as well!

Kshatriya, how did it go today?? I have been thinking of you and your wife all morning! Aman Ram?? Any news for us?!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

4/4/2008 5:56

K1 visa question for India - Please answer

Affidavits from family members on both sides saying that they are aware of and approve of the relationship could also be a good benefit - having them done or translated into English would be best.

If your wife can read and write English and is really shy about speaking, I would recommend that she think of a few things she can say in English to add in the interview. I think Eileen's hubby was asked how he will function in the US without knowledge of English, and she could reply (in English!) "I can read and write and just need to practice my speaking."

Neither of our families were present for our ceremony in India, and they asked about it, but it was not an issue. (Ritesh's parents are not aware of our marriage, and we were honest - still no issues!)

I agree that it would not work to send in recordings of you guys - they may not have the facilities to review it, or at least not the manpower that would be required, or time... (We are pretty certain that they only review the case information right at the window of the Consulate!) Keep those phone records handy, and written correspondance with dated envelopes to show the time/length - even though it may be difficult/impossible for them to read the materials, if it shows in English that you have corresponded it would help!

The trips, pics, boarding passes, etc. are also GREAT!!

Don't worry about the other things, just gather what you have and be thorough!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

4/4/2008 3:12

If you can DHL the divorce papers, it would probably be a good thing - they like to see originals and then keep a copy. For the interview, you can gurantee they will ask about it, make sure he is comfortable with ALL those details and that he responds to questions confidently. One thing that we noticed is that if ALL the docs are in order, and you keep your facts straight in your answers, there is not a problem in the interview.

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

4/4/2008 2:57

The VFS people will re-organize anything you put together - just have all the required docs. and they will go through them in about 10 minutes! (Make sure you have copies of everything for yourself as well as the copies of things like birth certs that they require, even with VFS, it is better to be safe than sorry!) Good luck, let us know how things progress!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/31/2008 6:20

Congratulations Hitman - it must be a relief to have that date!!! When is it?

I agree about the post, I couldn't quite figure out why it took 10 days to get the interview letter from Chennai to B-lore - it takes that long to get here from the US!?!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/26/2008 3:42

Hi Hitman,

I am not sure about Mumbai, but with Chennai, the fastest and most efficient way to get a response is via email. They have always replied back within a day or two. We actually sent the DS 2001 to Chennai without a case number (we filed on Feb. 6th and got really impatient!) and then emailed them saying that we had just gotten the letter with the case number - they said no problem.

For us (again, every Consulate seems to be different!), the Packet 3 was simply the DS 230 (Parts I and II) and the DS 2001. It would probably be a good idea to check on the Mumbai Consulate website and see what they say.

Good luck, keep us posted!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/25/2008 14:49

After our interview on Thursday, I am going to do a long post about DCF in India (if we get the visa at that point!) as it can be really confusing! Yes, the USC has to go to Delhi to submit the I-130. We have to go through the Embassy to get to the USCIS office (they are two very distinct entities, USCIS just happens to be in the Embassy compound). AmanRam from VJ has had quite an issue getting the petition from the USCIS office in Delhi to the Embassy IN DELHI for processing. (Granted, it is only about 15 steps away, but there was quite a delay for them!)

Then USCIS forwarded our case to Chennai who handles everything else after that - including the I-864, and all other visa related docs. That is another benefit of DCF, that $70 I-864 processing fee does not apply as it is handled at the Chennai Consulate for us. The other thing that seems to come up is that the processing times do seem to vary between Consulate offices around India - Chennai is FAST!

I hope that helps!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/31/2008 0:23

QUOTE (ELW @ Mar 30 2008, 07:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was around when they stopped DCF in Consulates, but they never stopped doing them in Embassys. New Delhi is an Embassy so it has always continued there.

The DCF process for India goes through the USCIS Office which is in the Delhi Embassy compound, but everything after that is through the local consulate office. Thankfully so - the flights from Bangalore to Delhi would have added up!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/30/2008 11:26

Thanks for the good wishes - same to you!

I heard that some time ago the DCF was stopped, but if it was, it is certainly back on! A friend of mine did it in April 2006, maybe it stopped for awhile after that? We are soooo grateful for it, it has been really fast!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/30/2008 6:31

I wish I could give you an answer about the timeframes, but that one I am not sure about. I believe you can check timelines through this site and compare. We are doing DCF, and that has been extremely fast - partially at least becaus Chennai is FAST.

You may have heard all this before, but the CR1 allows your spouse freedom to work immediately, costs a lot less overall (if you do K3, they will have to go through AOS - which can be a long time and costs $1010), and in some states, you can't even get a driver's license unless you have a green card/immigrant status - which a K3 is technically not. Those were all things we took into consideration when choosing which path to take - the ability to work, drive, etc. are critical to a smoother, less isolated transition to the US.

Many people have said that the time difference between the K3 and CR1 are fairly negligible, and with a CR1, you don't have to go through yet another round of papers and interviews! Something to think about!

Good luck!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

3/29/2008 16:30

Chennai Medical and Interview Process

I know what you mean about being careful about the Indian grocery stores and expiration dates! My hometown has become a "Little India" since I left in 1994, and I check every time I go back to see what they keep in stock so I would know what we should bring back. Definitely some bags of loose tea, whole cardamom, vanilla beans, biryani spices, chat spices (we are going to attempt to make chat, that should be interesting!)... Two years ago I could find Limca, but the last trip they stopped carrying it.

What most people in the US don't realize is the diversity of India - in a two mile radius, I have met speakers of Telegu, Gujarati, Tamil, Maharashtrian, Punjabi and Malayalam. Ritesh only speaks Hindi (and English), and that is almost like being from a different planet! The food is totally different too, and while we both love idli and dosas, he just looks at me oddly when I add raita to my biryani or dive into coconut based dishes from Kerala. Luckily, he is very adventurous when it comes to Western food and other world cuisines, and I can't wait to have him try some Greek, Mexican and Thai dishes. We are also excited to have a real oven and try more baked dishes - thank goodness he LOVES to cook and try new recipes - and thank goodness for a Mom who knows the importance of self-reliance in a son!

These next few weeks are going to be sooooo crazy trying to figure out what to take, give away, ship, etc. as well as look for jobs, figure out where we will live long-term, think about cars and getting him a DL (if we move to a warmer climate, he wants to get a motorcycle - we just love his Enfield!), prepare for culture shock for both of us - now the real journey begins!

CarolynRitesh

Female

India

4/5/2008 0:35