Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Visa temporarily refused, need help with I-864A	Thats frustrating. My wife and I are going tomorrow for our interview. Yes, the joint sponsor (your grandpa) files I-864a and you file I-864. We filed those through the NVC and they were accepted and forwarded but the embassy is requesting the info again so we are bringing all of our tax returns for both the sponsor and joint sponsor and the forms. The police record we sent was accepted through the NVC as well but the embassy requires one that is recent (within 30 days and through an offical request) You should be able to track those down fast and be on your way soon! Good luck!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-06-01 21:45:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	We already applied for the Social Number on our DS-230 form and the USCIS and POE and CDP told us it was automatically going to be mailed to us...no need to go into the office.	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-08-02 16:52:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	We got a letter on Saturday from the USCIS office saying they have received the packet from the POE and that more information and an official green card will be issued within 30 days along with a receipt number. I am guessing that Social Security will send us some info soon. Its exactly what all the people told me, theres a delay right now with getting info from the POE... I also dont have the time right now to drive 2.5 hours one way to go and make someone look me up on their computer thats why I called all of them. There are no closer offices than that. Thanks for the advice	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-08-01 16:23:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Ok I called the secondary office in Memphis and talked to an officer...He said it can take up to 5 months to get her green card and social security card. Or she can go in right away and file for a social security card at a local office and wait 5-8 weeks to get her card that way. But he said they send the packet to a processing center and then from there send out the information to the USCIS and SS. He said just be patient and if 9 months goes by...get on the ball so her visa doesnt expire. So the secondary office told me to wait its too early and the USCIS and SS told me the exact same thing. this is just a lot longer than I thought it was going to be.	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-07-27 09:03:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Ok, thanks for the help! What is the CBP office though? Never heard of it before...you would think they would actually have this information...	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-07-21 20:20:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	So do I call the USCIS office back again or is there someone else I can call to find out the information?	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-07-20 21:42:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	So we are running into a little problem now... We entered the US on June 10th and received no information on her social security card, no welcome packet, and no info on her green card. I called Social Security and they said, we dont have any information to give you, wait another 2 months and see if we send it to you. Called the USCIS today and they said they cant find her in the system, and that information is taking a while to get from the point of entry to them so to wait another two weeks and call back, and the lady sounded very unsure of why there was a delay and why we werent in the system. Gave them all of the information and they double checked it and they dont know...just say to wait. My question is this normal? when should we realistically expect the welcome packet and info on the green card and social security card? Kind of hard to get a bank account for her set up or even let her work if she doesnt have those cards. A little frustrated with the lack of info we are getting.	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-07-19 15:52:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	We are in the US as of last night! Super fast through immigration, less than 5 minutes total for the initial and secondary review! Will put up a review for Charlotte POE later!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-06-11 08:13:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Picked up the sealed packet and her passport yesterday. Reality is starting to hit that after 7 months we finally have the visa in her passport! Very exciting! We are leaving for the states on Thursday and will be flying through Charlotte, NC. So, I guess that I will do our timeline soon and will probably be back on here at the end of her 2 year conditional green card for getting rid of restrictions, and then eventually for her citizenship! Thank you everyone as it was a huge encouragement and learned a lot of things on here.	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-06-05 12:25:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Well funny thing is we use buses to get around here so it took us about 1.5 hours to get home so we stopped at...McDonalds of course haha. We are saving the big dinner for when we get to the states, my wife is having visions of home made apple pie and home made ice cream!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-06-02 20:58:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Carla's IM/CR1 visa was approved today! In and out in about 2.5 hours with no hassle at all! No missing paperwork and they didnt even take any of the information we brought except the medical packet! They sent us three notices of what to bring and then they only ask for the medical! It was a little anti-climatic. The consular told us come and pick up her passport with the visa in it on Friday at 3pm! I plan on filling out my timeline when I get to the states as that is where the majority of my dates and forms are! Thanks for moving this too, when I first started it was an application for a k-3 then got turned into the CR1.	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-06-02 19:43:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Tomorrow is our Final Interview! We got everything and more for the appointment! Very excited for tomorrow, will update after the appointment to share the result	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-06-01 21:53:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Well good to know about the police report and that you got it translated as well. We decided to just in case have everything translated as its only 5 bucks per page and we only have one page. We will probably also do the marriage certificate, police report, and her birth certificate just in case. Rather have too much stuff than not enough stuff. We finished up all the medical stuff on Monday, the last doctor put the complete report together and sealed the envelope. She only had to get 2 vaccinations thank goodness! So next week we will stop by our translators house and have him translate those things for us and then we will be ready to go! We are only 13 days away from our interview, we are really excited! We have no reason to believe that they will deny us, we have done everything right and have not had one delay yet! Just trusting God for this last little thing!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-05-20 18:42:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Well I guess that I can update this as we go along. We got the blood test done with the results today and the same with the X-ray. Those were easy and we are looking forward to Monday's appointment, once again hopefully not too many shots! We went to the embassy and waited for 3.5 hours almost just to get the request sheet for getting her official police record! We are also a little concerned about the "proof" for our marriage and that it was for love. We have known eachother for over 2 years and been married almost one year but we dont have bank accounts since I am not a resident here and she cant be on mine since its in the states. We also are missionaries so most of the places we stay are either free or we dont have receipts proving we lived together. We do have emails for the past year and our passports showing I have been in the country for a year and we went on trips to Panama together. So emails, a FEW receipts for housing, a journal we shared when we got married, passport stamps, photos for the past 2+ years...should this be enough for us still? That is what we are a little concerned about now, not too much but that seems like the biggest obstacle to clear now. Thanks for the thoughts all!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-05-14 21:26:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	We dont have those restrictions for pension on us...thank goodness! Thanks for the heads up though. We have the blood test tomorrow morning followed by the x-ray exam and finishing off the day at the embassy requesting an official police record for my wife. Busy day! We had everything already translated and send into the NVC, from my understanding all of those documents should actually be here in the embassy. But we will double check and we have an official translator friend who does it for $5 per page! On Monday we have the physical exam and then we are back home until the interview appointment!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-05-13 18:38:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	My husband didn't have to pay for immunizations at all... in fact...it was never even mentioned. We only paid for the doctor ( $40) and the x-ray( $60) and for the Visa. ( $131.) in Costa Rica. My husband doesn't have an immunization record as he is from the highest mountains in CR. ( HA HA ) You will have time to do everything... Don't worry. The doctors took my husband asap. The embassy gives you a list of doctors to call for everything you need. When you call for your Doctor appts, mention to them when your interview date is. They will work with you. also, The people at the embassy are really , really nice. If there are any outstanding pension cases, be sure to get the written permission to leave the country before getting to the airport. They are strict about enforcing the laws and they will not let anyone leave the country without the permission. There was nothing that said we have to bring proof that we payed for the visa. I think since it is a CR-1 visa it was already paid for by the $400 we paid...I looked through absolutely everything they sent us and went through their checklists. We are calling this morning for the doctors, blood test, x-ray, and then the physical. What do you mean pension cases? I drove a vehicle down on my last entrance to the country, havent officially sold it yet but my lawyer says it is fine and I can still leave the country. We were also in a car accident...no notifications so I think its going to suck for the owner of the car I borrowed and the other party, wasnt my fault though and wasnt too bad! Hopefully we can wrap up these loose ends.	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-05-13 09:28:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Just got notice in email! We basically only have two weeks! I hope this is enough time for the doctors appointment! It says be prepared to pay up to 400 for shots! Ouch, she also has no immunization record...June 2 is our interview date!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-05-12 21:56:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	I don't Know about the Visa Center since I went the K-3 route. Nothing gets sent from the Embassy in Costa Rica, The mail system is really bad there, so the embassy calls the beneficiary to pick up the papers in person. You can e-mail or call the embassy and ask them to e-mail a copy of the packet to you. They said that the NVC would directly send us (sponsor,co-sponsor,and beneficiary) all the information through email. Just have to wait for our appointment to be made, hoping they make one for us this week.	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-05-11 14:22:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Just got word (Through my dad, he called them since I am out of the US) and they said everything was approved on the 5th of this month! They said they are scheduling the interview appointment. They said we will here this week if we get an interview in June or not and if we don't hear from this week it will probably mean the interview will happen in July. We are hoping to get an interview in June, hopefully they are not too busy at the embassy! Does anyone know if they will email us this information or send it snail mail the my US address? Thanks!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-05-10 19:06:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Congratulations, you're on the path to CR-1 visa! Your K-3 was "killed" - aka administratively closed as it was approved on the same day as I-130. It shouldn't be too long before your interview is scheduled. What do you mean killed? Is that a good thing? What visa does that mean we are applying for? Is there a place I can read more on this? Calling tonight to find out any updates. Costa Rica is very fast. When Our K-3 was approved, I called the embassy and sent an e-mail. They sent me the info my husband was supposed to pick up. He couldn't get there for a few days so they emailed it to me so I could get things rolling. We had an interview date a week later. You actually call and make the appointment. They will give you a choice of what they have open. I flew down and went to the interview with him. the woman who conducted the interview is from my area and knows my town well. She actually has friends who live here... I was amazed. The world is so small. She was very nice and only asked my husband 2 or 3 questions. We stood there for 45 minutes and she talked to me the whole time. Good Luck !!! I was under the impression since we sent in both part I and II for the GS-230 form the NVC would be making the appointment. Is this not correct? Will my wife need to go the doctor's appointment before going to the visa interview? I JUST PAID 400$ FOR VISA PROCESSING AND SENT OUT AFFADAVIT OF SUPPORT...i did everything you did and that is the last thing you have to do before they call your spouse for an interview.TELL ME THOUGH WHAT IS I-129???? I've never filled that one,noone asked me to..what is that for????I only filled I-130(355$) affadavit of support(70$) and visa(400$) what is I-129????? Are you citizen??? Did you get merried out of USA??? Yes, I am a natural born citizen of the US. Yes, my wife and I live in Costa Rica, been here since we were married last year. The I-129 was a form for a petition for my wifes k-3 visa, but what was posted above suggests it is no longer a k-3 visa we are applying for. I dont know your specific circumstances so I dont know why you we filled one out and you didnt. Thank you everyone for your responses! I think one of the biggest things I have learned through this process is patience, think I might have enough patience now to return to college!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-05-10 18:27:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New here, with a question	Hello everyone! I have been a lurker on this site for the last six months, found some helpful information. I just wanted to make sure that I am doing this right and when my wife will get her visa appointment. Also, when she enters on a k-3 spouse visa, all we have to do is file for an adjustment of status correct? This is what we have done so far...I dont know all of the official names and what not but hopefully my description helps. The steps we took / are taking to receive Carla’s green card: We first filled out our I-130 form with all supporting documents such as the two G-325a forms, marriage certificate with translation, copies of everything else required, etc. Along with the processing fee of $455. About a month after sending in our I-130 form we found out we could apply for a K-3 Spouse visa with no fee. We sent in with all supporting documents with the I-129F form, with evidence of a filed I-130 form. After only three months of processing for our I-130 it was approved at the same time as our I-129F! The case was the sent to the National Visa Center for further processing and we had to pay $70 dollars. Carla then filled out the form that allows for someone else to receive her notifications in the US and sent it back in, yet we have had no mail sent there or confirmation that the NVC ever received this form. Does this matter or no? We then had to pay a $400 fee, no idea what it was for, confirmed payment three days later. We then sent in the I-864 and I-864a along with all supporting documents on April 21st. A couple of days after sending in the I-864 forms we sent in the DS-230 part one and two. Now we are waiting to hear from the NVC...how long does this typically take. Thanks for the responses!	ian1006	Male	Costa Rica	2010-05-10 15:22:00