Follow To Join....

[ASDFGHJKL123]

Kamrans and others,

I check form I filled for my wife's application. I found we probably filled wrong on the item named "entry to US" in the family composite form,
her father probably came to US 20 years ago, but we didn't know that before, then we just filled form with "no" . Can we make change for that? Do we need to ask consulate to get another new family composite form or just email them this correction? Thanks a lot.

This is called extensive background check. The initial check takes around 2-3 months depending on the case but it can vary. I have seen cases in which the consulates request the background check 2-3 times. Dont know the criteria but there are several theories. I believe that whenever the name flags in the consulate database they send the information back to DC to do the background check.
You cannot do anything. So wait and see when they send it back to you. Repeated emails to the consulate also counts and you can also call the visa specialist to get the status of the background check.

Good Luck.

 

[followontojoin]

follow on to join - GC type

my 1st post in this thread was on 15th June 2006. know nothing about FTJs, i just read the whole thread from page 1... with the help also from the co-threaders it shed light to my FTJ journey...

we had a roller coaster ride for FTJ. first is the i824 denial from USICS, it was a big mistake from us to file i824, the embassy had the hand for our case, not USCIS. 2nd was the agony of waiting for the reply of embassy in manila, if we did not call the visa specialist, we will not know that i have already a case no., it took us 3 months of agony. 3rd is the retrogression. 4th was the problem i had with my wife last feb. and 5th was the problem of distance between me and my wife. wew! bumpy...

May 21, 2007, when i saw my interview appointment date in the embassy's website., my wife was beside me that time, she was asking on how do i check for IA, i made some demo to her, then my IA appeared, we were both surprised that time coz i was just making a demo for her. i had no problem with the documents needed for the interview coz i already prepared for it, thanks to this thread.

July 10, the big day for me... i went to the embassy at 520am in the morning, 630am appointment. there were lots of people already in the line. at 620am the guard told us to get inside the embassy, sit on a chair and wait for the guard to tell us to get a ticket no.. at 650am got my ticket, they need the appointment letter and the DS230 to get the ticket. there is a queue board, the ticket no. doesn't appear sequencialy, you have to look at he board every time a no. appears. my name was called(not the ticket no.) at around 730am for finger printing. at 8am my no. appeared then i went to window 22. the lady collected all the documents needed, asked some basic questions regarding the marriage, my wife and me. she told me to pay for the IV fee. after i paid for the fee i gave the receipt to the lady and she told me to sit again and wait for the no. to appear again on the queue board for the interview with the consul. at around 830am, my no. appeared and went to window 44. a black american male consul greeted me. i was asked to raise my right hand and swear that all the documents and i say is correct. he scanned all the papers and asked some basic questions like: marriage date, my work, asked if my wife is living alone in the apartment. he looked at our wedding pics, honeymoon, etc. after a few seconds he returned some documents like phonebills, emails, pics cards etc.. he looked at me and said "i can not see any problem with you papers, wait for the your name to be called again, have a good/nice day". i grab a chair and wait again. at 930am, my name was called at window 37, the guy told me to pay for the shipping fee, ask some questions regarding my home town, make some jokes regarding the people who live there then he gave me my appointment letter and a pink slip... i went to the counter where i have to pay for the shipping fee, fill-up a paper, pay the fee and got my receipt. i went out of the embassy abound 10am, went to a church near the embassy and say my thanks you's to Him and to all who helped me...

summary of the process for the interview:
1.) Ticket counter to get your ticket no. - they need your appointment letter and DS230.
2.) Pre-Screener Counter - they will get all the documents needed to build a case for FTJ e.g. Marriage Cert, Birth Cert, NBI Clearance, i134, 1040, W2, job offer, emails, cards, pictures, phonebills. this includes the Cashier Counter.
3.) Finger Printing.
4.) Interview with the Consul.
5.) Releasing Counter - You should receive a pink slip and a your appointment letter if you are APPROVED. if not, you will receive your passport.
6.) Shipping Counter - Delbros, P165 per visa.
7.) Say Thank You to Him and to all the persons who helped you...
Note: Finger Printing may come 1st before Pre-screener.

Observation on the IV interview: It is all paper works. Once your marriage is genuine and before GC, everything will be fine...

I don't have to mention the names who helped me in this thread, you know who you are... THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

chay is offering her house for the reunion in december in california... i'll post the details about it soon...

God Bless to all and THANK YOU AGAIN!!! MABUHAY!!!

Judex

- - - - -
Summary of the Case
Details: My wife is a nurse. The Date of Approval of her GC is when she arrived in US. June 10, 2006.
Marriage Date: June 7, 2006.
PD: Sept. 24, 2003. From Schedule A to EB3 category.
Case Created at Embassy MNL: Oct. 2006, submitted documents to create the case for me.
Packet 3 Rcvd: Not received coz I already sent the documents needed to create the case.
Packet 4 Rcvd: Lat week of May 2007
Interview Date: July 10, 2006. VISA Approved.
Visa Rcvd: Coming soon

Hi,
Congratulations,
Much deserved results

Did consulate give you green card or stamped visa on passport at the consulate ?
If they stamped gc on passport- what is the procedure after reaching USA to get the GC
- How much time it takes to get GC- Can we travel back to India before physical GC on Hand ?
Thanks
rupa

 

[followontojoin]

follow on to join- Information req.

Hi all,
I have got my GC last month and sent all the detials to consulate in chennai as follow on to join case after seeing suggestion from the board.
I have filed 824 for family in 2004 and still waiting AND consulate asked me to send the all my GC detials even 824 not approved as they said they will take care of that.
My question is
what is the process after consulate call for interview ( of course after all the retrogression is over)
Will they give GC after interview ?
or stamp the passport for family and they have to come and apply for pshysical card ?
If they come here after GC stmaped and go back before GC comes in Hand ?
How long it take get physical GC after family reach USA.

THANKS
Pus

 

[judex]

followontojoin

i will receive an immigrant visa, not stamp or GC.

the actual GC will be received within 3-5 months after you entered the POE. the immigrant visa that i will receive from the embassy will be a temporary GC while waiting for the plastic GC...

Hi,
Congratulations,
Much deserved results

Did consulate give you green card or stamped visa on passport at the consulate ?
If they stamped gc on passport- what is the procedure after reaching USA to get the GC
- How much time it takes to get GC- Can we travel back to India before physical GC on Hand ?
Thanks
rupa

 

[judex]

followontojoin

please read from page 100 of this thread, you will learn more about FTJ...

Hi all,
I have got my GC last month and sent all the detials to consulate in chennai as follow on to join case after seeing suggestion from the board.
I have filed 824 for family in 2004 and still waiting AND consulate asked me to send the all my GC detials even 824 not approved as they said they will take care of that.
My question is
what is the process after consulate call for interview ( of course after all the retrogression is over)
Will they give GC after interview ?
or stamp the passport for family and they have to come and apply for pshysical card ?
If they come here after GC stmaped and go back before GC comes in Hand ?
How long it take get physical GC after family reach USA.

THANKS
Pus

 

[kamrans]

You can only add her name in your 485 only if she is here in USA. You can file in parallel I-824 for your wife.
Since she is intending immigrant its really hard to get a non immigrant status. You can try it and may be you can get it if you can convince them but there are higher chances that they deny it.

Good Luck.

Hi kamrans,

I've been doing a lot of back-reading on this thread and I learned that your wife attempted to get visitor's visa, but unfortunately got denied.

The thing is, I'm thinking of doing that too. Because in my case, we got married with my I-485 still pending, then I had to go back to the US only a couple of days after the marriage! So it was really painful! Now I'm still waiting for my I-485 to be approved before I could start with the FTJ process. So I guess the reason of wanting to visit your spouse here in the US under a visitor's visa is valid because as you've said, due to present delays it would realistically take too long for me to bring her here, and additionally she really wants to see me since we immediately parted ways a fews days after the wedding
(because work required me to go back, so we didn't even have time for honeymoon )


Do you think that reason would work for my case? Because I believe the issue the consul had with your wife is that your PD was not current. But in my case, my I-485 has already been filed and is just pending. What do you think?


And of course, if ever her visitor's visa gets approved and when she gets here, can I still add her name to my pending I-485 so that we could wait TOGETHER here in the US for our GCs to get approved?

Thanks in advance!

 

[kamrans]

No need to send any letter. There is no such requirement.

Hi,

When wife goes for the interview do we need to send any request letter

requesting consular officer to issue a immigartion visa to wife like vistors or H4 we send?

If yes can some one post the format if any....


I know this is a simple question and does not matter but jsut wnated to confirm .

Thanks,

 

[kamrans]

Don't do it now. Let them figure it out. I am sure they cannot find it now. If they get some record they will ask you and then you can justify it.

Good Luck.

Kamrans and others,

I check form I filled for my wife's application. I found we probably filled wrong on the item named "entry to US" in the family composite form,
her father probably came to US 20 years ago, but we didn't know that before, then we just filled form with "no" . Can we make change for that? Do we need to ask consulate to get another new family composite form or just email them this correction? Thanks a lot.

 

[kamrans]

Usually its an immigrant visa with a packet that you have to deliver to the immigration officer at the POE. You get the green card in mail in approximately 2 months. You dont have to do anything to get the green card. Everything is specified in papers in the packet that you deliver to the officer at the POE.
No you cannot travel to india unless you get the GC or stamp on the passport. If its really urgent you can get the USCIS info pass appointment and they will do it for you.

Good Luck.

Hi,
Congratulations,
Much deserved results

Did consulate give you green card or stamped visa on passport at the consulate ?
If they stamped gc on passport- what is the procedure after reaching USA to get the GC
- How much time it takes to get GC- Can we travel back to India before physical GC on Hand ?
Thanks
rupa

 

[nikhilji]

No questions asked at the port of entry. Just handed over the sealed packet, biometrics and signing and thumbprint on a form. This was at SFO.

Hi nikhilji,

Congrats! Can you please share you wife's experince at the port of entry? Is there any questions asked at the airport? and which airport it is?

Thanks for your time on this.

 

[kamrans]

I would say that you should rush now. Its rare that consulate do it without I-824 approval. Check the other answers below:

Hi all,
I have got my GC last month and sent all the detials to consulate in chennai as follow on to join case after seeing suggestion from the board.
I have filed 824 for family in 2004 and still waiting AND consulate asked me to send the all my GC detials even 824 not approved as they said they will take care of that.
My question is
what is the process after consulate call for interview ( of course after all the retrogression is over)
They just issue you the immigrant visa. Sometimes they put people in administrative processing that takes around 2-3 months.

Will they give GC after interview ?
or stamp the passport for family and they have to come and apply for pshysical card ?

Check my other response above and you will get the answer.

If they come here after GC stmaped and go back before GC comes in Hand ?
How long it take get physical GC after family reach USA.
Around 2 months.

THANKS
Pus

 

[kamrans]

I am really happy to hear that. Congratulations to you and your family. Celebrate it man.

Good Luck.

A tad late to reply to this post but here goes...

My wife's appointment was scheduled on July 3rd at the Mumbai consulate. PD was current in the June visa bulletin. She appeared for the interview on the 3rd, got her visa approved and she is here now with me in the US. So not sure how the consulates actually handle the visa number allocation, but my wife had no issues with the visa stamping. In anycase, I'm glad that the wait is over (after exactly 2 years) and all the stress and anxiety is behind us.

And many many thanks to this group here (and special thanks to kamrans for taking the time to respond to my private mails) - the sharing of experiences and the time and energy spent by individuals to post to this board is extremely valuable and empowering. I hope all your prayers are answered so you can unite with your families at the earliest !

 

[kamrans]

It means that your repeated emails will do something and you will get the answer sooner or later. I have seen some group in Yahoo having all the information about the name check. There is another thread here in immigration portal too.
Some people worked it out by writing to lara bush or USCIS Ombudsman etc. I have some information that I will forward to the thread sometime later.

Good Luck.

Kamrans:

Your information made me clear now. It is very helpful. Do you mean we cannot send too many emails to them for asking how the case is going on?I am litttle confused with "Repeated emails to the consulate also counts" . Thank you very much. You are so kind.

 

[kamrans]

Finally Judex got it. I followed your case since the very beginning and I am very happy that its over now. Now plan for the future life and pray for us as well who are stuck in the queue.

Good Luck.

i'll post the details in a few hours, i need to take some rest after an 8 hours travel...

thanks guys!!! and god bless to all...

judex

 

[followontojoin]

followonto join

I would say that you should rush now. Its rare that consulate do it without I-824 approval. Check the other answers below:

Thanks Kamrans,
You mean that we need to get approval of 1 824 before chennai consulate process my family application.
I actually sent email saying my 1 824 has not approved yet though I filed in 2004 jAN. They said that they do not have information about 1824 ( as it is not approved), but asked me to send information about my approved GC copy, 140 copy with attorny attetation. i 485 Apporval notice, b'certificates, marriage certificate etc and said they will take care. I got married and kids born long ago 10 years before filling my GC.
Also from Judex exp ( what is given above) , we do not have to much worry about i824 APPROVAL Once GC is in hand for the priniciapl.

I am about send all the papers to chennai consulate on moNday, do you think this will be a problem before i 824 approved and sent o consulate.

will not consulate process with out apporval of I 824 ?

Just enquired with uscis nsc about 824 and all the cases I filed are under officer review and not sure when will they apporve due to sudden retrogression.

your advice will be highly appreciated.
thanks
pUS

 

[rm101]

Thanks Kamrans,
You mean that we need to get approval of 1 824 before chennai consulate process my family application.
I actually sent email saying my 1 824 has not approved yet though I filed in 2004 jAN. They said that they do not have information about 1824 ( as it is not approved), but asked me to send information about my approved GC copy, 140 copy with attorny attetation. i 485 Apporval notice, b'certificates, marriage certificate etc and said they will take care. I got married and kids born long ago 10 years before filling my GC.
Also from Judex exp ( what is given above) , we do not have to much worry about i824 APPROVAL Once GC is in hand for the priniciapl.

I am about send all the papers to chennai consulate on moNday, do you think this will be a problem before i 824 approved and sent o consulate.

will not consulate process with out apporval of I 824 ?

Just enquired with uscis nsc about 824 and all the cases I filed are under officer review and not sure when will they apporve due to sudden retrogression.

your advice will be highly appreciated.
thanks
pUS

Follow to join,

In chennai consulate there is no need for 824 approval.All we need is a 824 receipt number and all the requiured docs ( Consulate will tell us what all the docs that are required for initiating the FTJ docs or u can find in the forum)

So please send all the required docs (Notarized) to consulate as soon as possible.They will create the case number and keep the ball rolling.

Including my self and many others on this forum initated FTJ case based on 824 recepit and got the case created in chennai. We did not wait untill we got the 824 approval.

Hope this helps .....

TIP: Based on our experiance from last two years just follow what cosulate says and send only the docs which they ask for
also best way to contact is to send an email they are very accurate. chennaiIV@state.gov



Thanks,
RM

 

[kidd636]

You can only add her name in your 485 only if she is here in USA. You can file in parallel I-824 for your wife.
Since she is intending immigrant its really hard to get a non immigrant status. You can try it and may be you can get it if you can convince them but there are higher chances that they deny it.

Good Luck.

File I-824 in parallel? You mean I can file my wife's (who is in the Philippines) I-824 now even if my I-485 is still pending? I though I couldn't file that until my I-485 gets approved?

 

[kamrans]

Some points to remember about FTJ

Yes you can file I-824 even your 485 is still pending. I did that and both petitions approved at the same time.
Facts about FTJ:

1) You can file 824 even if your 485 is still pending. Some people say they deny 824 but mine approved at the same time and I did that before my 485 approval. There is no harm in trying. If they deny then you can file it soon after your 485 approval.
2) You can open up a case with the consulate based on I-824 reciept notice but they will not give your spouse the immigrant visa until the principal's 485 gets approved. This prevails in many consulates but it varies. Some consulates needs to have the approval notice as well before scheduling the interview. So check with fellows in your country. Conclusion is you should go ahead with the consulate if your 485 is approved and 824 is still pending.
3) Spouse gets the same PD as the principal so if you are under retrogression then your spouse is also under retrogression. What is the maximum you can do is open up a case with the consulate based on the receipt notice.

All consulates work differently. They have their own rules. Follow what people in your country and the consulate is telling you. At this time the visa numbers for this year is exhausted starting July 2nd but consulates in phil and India are dtill issuing the visa that tells us that consulates reserves the visa number slot for their country in advance. I have seen this in Phil and India only. In Pakistan they are as strict as they can be. I have seen several cases when the officer ask the applicant to wait and reapply for the interview when the visa number becomes available. Also the wait time counts. We have a waiting time of 5 months for the immigrant visa interview and then indefinite for the background check that take around 2-3 months on average for others. So together it takes around 8 months after the PD gets current. This time is much less in other consulates.
Let me know if I missed something. I try to answer the questions at my earliest convenience but I am hardly getting time these days. I request people not to send me PM's as I would like everything here in the thread that can benefit all others too who are having similar issues.
Help each other and you will be helped.

Good Luck.

File I-824 in parallel? You mean I can file my wife's (who is in the Philippines) I-824 now even if my I-485 is still pending? I though I couldn't file that until my I-485 gets approved?

 

[kamrans]

I answered in detail in kidd question. Please see the answer and let me know if you have any other query.
In short yes you will get it so dont wait for 824 approval.

Good Luck.

Thanks Kamrans,
You mean that we need to get approval of 1 824 before chennai consulate process my family application.
I actually sent email saying my 1 824 has not approved yet though I filed in 2004 jAN. They said that they do not have information about 1824 ( as it is not approved), but asked me to send information about my approved GC copy, 140 copy with attorny attetation. i 485 Apporval notice, b'certificates, marriage certificate etc and said they will take care. I got married and kids born long ago 10 years before filling my GC.
Also from Judex exp ( what is given above) , we do not have to much worry about i824 APPROVAL Once GC is in hand for the priniciapl.

I am about send all the papers to chennai consulate on moNday, do you think this will be a problem before i 824 approved and sent o consulate.

will not consulate process with out apporval of I 824 ?

Just enquired with uscis nsc about 824 and all the cases I filed are under officer review and not sure when will they apporve due to sudden retrogression.

your advice will be highly appreciated.
thanks
pUS

 

[followontojoin]

follow on to join

Follow to join,

In chennai consulate there is no need for 824 approval.All we need is a 824 receipt number and all the requiured docs ( Consulate will tell us what all the docs that are required for initiating the FTJ docs or u can find in the forum)

So please send all the required docs (Notarized) to consulate as soon as possible.They will create the case number and keep the ball rolling.

Including my self and many others on this forum initated FTJ case based on 824 recepit and got the case created in chennai. We did not wait untill we got the 824 approval.

Hope this helps .....

TIP: Based on our experiance from last two years just follow what cosulate says and send only the docs which they ask for
also best way to contact is to send an email they are very accurate. chennaiIV@state.gov



Thanks,
RM

Thanks a lot , I will follow the same.