nooneufo

Congratulations. You mean we have to do more paperwork in another year and 9 months!?!?. That sucks. Interesting your stamp is good for 2 months. Ours is good for 1 year, which I did not think about until you mentioned it. I guess the interviewer has great powers as well. Wish you a happy future.

Thank you, and wishing you well with the upcoming interviews ( NY-Viking and pkfops). I am adding this after reading a few other posts and it jogged my memory: At the interview one other question was asked that I completely forgot about concerning financials. I had sent in with the AOS application tax returns and pay stubs for the years 2002, 2003 and 2004. My 2005 taxes are still not completed, and I had no papers to show income for 2005 at the time of submission of the AOS. In between our talk on paper tabs and Hong Kong (We were small-talking with the interviewer) I was asked about my pay. I simply stated what my income was monthly, that it was close to the same as in 2004 and asked if she wanted the papers. As I was about to look for them in my clear folder, she pulled out a calculator and added up the yearly rate and said it looked fine. I am assuming this was just something she chose to check, without requiring papers. 2002, 2003, and 2004 all showed above the requirements. But I was ready with support papers if it was needed.

Has anyone ever not passed this stage? Although we brought a complete copy of the I-485 package submitted, and every other document I thought we might need, photos, receipts, misc papers proving we live in the same hut, birth booties, kindergarten gold stars, blender, crushed ice..... we were only asked for two documents, her passport to stamp the I-55 approval and the original notice for us to go to the interview. We signed two documents, one was a statement that she had not been in removal procedures from the US before, and the other to acknowledge the time of the two year green card and to be aware of the "90 days before" warning to submit for the 10 year one. The interviewer removed the I-94 card from the passport and said they would keep it because the new stamp is all that is needed. I and my SO think there were two reasons why we went smoothly and quickly. (3 others who started before us were still in interview when we left). We were done in less than 5 minutes. One was, while we were sitting in the hallway waiting for our turn, we were cracking jokes, laughing and smiling when the interviewer came to get us, although we did not know that for a minute or so while they were doing paper things down the hall after walking by before calling us in. (Everyone else waiting seemed to be at a funeral). Second, the interviewer was highly impressed with my organized package (for both K1 and AOS) and asked me questions about where I got the tabs, the software to use them, and how to reuse and not waste them when printing them out. She commented that the package made things easy, and I could see that as she went down her check list, a quick flip, a check mark, and next and so on. This occurred before the questions for the interview. Here are the questions as I can best remember them for the interview. How did you meet? Online? Name of site? When did you first meet in person? Where did you meet? (Did we meet in China?). Where did the Petitioner stay? How many times did the Petitioner go to China? Did the Petitioner go to the Interview in Guangzhou? Did the Petitioner meet the family in China? Has the Beneficiary met the Petitioner's family in America? What are some of the things you like to do together? Except for the last three questions, the answers were already within the paperwork on their desk. (Which contained everything I ever sent them. I could tell this because I had used a different color spacer sheet to hold the tabs for each section I sent to them from the beginning of this journey. This made it easy for me to know what they had from across the desk as it looked like a rainbow). As some of you might remember, I took the I-693 Vaccination supplement out of the sealed envelope so that I could get it into my package all nice and neat and ACCO'd. (I did not know I should not do this at that time). This did not present a problem obviously. However I would not recommend doing this. (This was my number one worry for the interview, that we would be delayed somehow for this). Again, my thought is that the package as a whole is what made it for us. I always say, no matter what you do, if they want to find something wrong, they can, so do your best to eliminate the easy possibilities. Make it easier for them to pass you. Neither of us wear rings. Our last names were unchanged after marriage. Again my thanks to CFL.

This is from the third to last check box on our I-797C NOA for our AOS appointment under YOU MUST BRING THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WITH YOU: (Say that three times real fast). "Original and copy of each supporting document that you submitted with your application. Otherwise, we may keep your originals for our records"

Remain Calm. The data from the last 12 months of CR1's continues to show the wait time from the arrival of your papers at Guz (P3 equivilent) to the P4 (notice of interview) (and add 30-60 days until the interview) is averaged at 225 days. There is not a strong indication as of yet of faster general CR1 processing although it looks hopeful. The last 10 CR1's on 001 have the following wait times. Number of days from P3 to P4 283 139 92 222 232 365 193 194 176 218 (Average 211 days since start of 2006)

Congratulations. I am curious..... if you have the baby in China, does this mean the baby will have Chinese or American citizenship? Is there a way to choose? Do you have to prepare for this? (Not the baby, citizenship). Is dual citizenship even possible in this case?

In 1988 my gas water heater failed and I checked out the Paloma hot water heaters. At the time I bought a PH-12 model because I was advised it saved money and would pay for itself. (Gas model). I had calculated it would save on the gas bills but I was in for a shock. The savings on the gas bill paid for itself in one year. Of course there were a lot more people using the hot water then, but it was impressive. Ever since then I have stuck with Paloma, (I think it is a Japanese company) and am currently using a PH-6 model ($600 last time I looked) for the past ten years. Again gas. The capability to have hot water any time, all the time so long as you have water to pump and power for the pump has always impressed my guests when the power fails. ( I get my power from the sun). I have friends who have tried other manufactures (French), all of them have returned to Paloma's. No one I know has used the electric types, although I see many doctor's offices uses these in the exam rooms these days. I like using gas because a back up 5 gallon propane bottle and a 12 volt water pump allows me to take a hot shower during hurricanes, when you really need it. Sizing matters, my PH-6 model can not have more than one outlet turned on at a time, but my PH-12 handled a two story house ok. You will want to research your needs against the capability of the unit, and the amount of water flow you have available.

We just got another NOA in the mail to inform us of our AOS interview at the end of March. It was dated 4 days before the Biometrics. I make note that the uscis case status page is still not updated or changed. We were hoping we would get the pass with out an interview as the time and money to do this is hurting us. As usual, explaining the bureaucracy to my SO is a learning experience.

Nooneufo, Even the Consulate web site now states this is NOT a reason to expediate. Merc, A while back I started to post here but deleted it. I also seem to agree with Noon. I believe several of these issues are latent between initial approval at USCIS (Check of the LEGAL capacity to marry) until just about interview time. I really don't think much or any effort is really expended in the regards of divorce. Also on your prior post you listed several criteria about prior marr/divorce issues impeding the process. Just so happens we fit many of them (VERY recent divorces for both, other issues and FULLY EXPECTED A BLUE SLIP) and had NO problem at interview with this despite POSSIBLY having a very notorious VO. There were repeated questions about her ex's location- DOS supposedly had 13-14 people with HIS name already in the US! 184096[/snapback] Thanks for the update. (Will edit that out of the post) I guess thats why I have not seen one of these since last July. It also reinforces the idea that you want to read all resources, including the consulate web page. I had gotten used to the idea that it is only CFL that keeps me informed and up to date.......wait, I guess it still does. I will add one other note concerning time waits in general. While we see a major time reduction in P3 to P4's for K1 and K3, we don't see the same trend for CR1's. So far. Why this is I am not sure, but this has always been a tough one to track.

So far as I can tell from the 200 or so timelines for 2005 and another equal or greater amount of timelines from 001, there is nothing you can do to get ahead of anyone else in the line once your paper work is at Guangzhou with one exception: Pregnancy. What service center you go through, divorce, calling congressman, breakfast with the Prez, rolling around on the floor crying, begging the gods, all have been tried and in these timelines that are known, no one has gotten theirs out of order with anyone else, after it is at Guangzhou. Only those who stated a name check delayed, get theirs later. With everyone who has ever stated the actual dates on their P3 and P4 letters, everyone of them have been in that sequential date order. (It remains to be seen if we are now going to see a change because of the faster P3/P4 times, if this reflects a different asignment procedure). There is no correlation between the wait time at any part of the visa process and getting a blue slip that I can determine so far. What happens at the different service centers for your time has no correlation found excepting the wait times at those particular service centers. When comparing CFL service center wait times to Visa Journey's NOA1 to NOA2 times, they are the same. What country you go through does not seem to make a discernable difference, only how fast one center is compared to another. Concerning name check delays (before a P3), for example at a service center or NVC, this appears to be random, unless we could get the personal details of everyone, I doubt we will ever know why someone gets into namecheck hell. I would guess it is simply luck of the draw if yours is randomly sampled for extensive scrutiny. I don't give much credence to the common name check theory myself because of Chinese last names. Recommend reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_family_name Concerning the relationship of divorce to blue slips, there is nothing specific I can see. Remember that many people are divorced and it is common. Statistically speaking from a cultural point of view, it appears that the beneficiary is more likely to consider a foreign relationship after a bad previous marriage, or some dis-satisfaction with the current trends around them, or a more modernistic view, which is that the internet is the way to meet someone more suitable. With this in mind, when we compare the blue slip list we find more correlation to preparation errors. When we look at the interviews themselves, we see a significant number of questions related to divorce if there is such a history. My feeling is the divorce itself is not a cause of the blue slip. Rather the lack of explanation for the divorce and its current status is. In answer to the idea that there is a way to avoid a blue slip when there is a previous divorce, being prepared as possible with the details is the approach that seems best. Remember, there is only a 12% blue slip rate for CFL members, and I think it should be much lower if you read all the Faqs, interviews, and blue slips histories. We know that even for those who get a blue slip, their preparation to resolve it was important. Those who were not prepared, on the whole managed to solve it as well. And finally, I would think the data acquired so far has helped many more avoid a blue slip in the first place, by having prepared accordingly to their situation. I think that past successful interview stories have shown this. Most importantly, the one unmeasurable item we have, is the confidence instilled in the beneficiary by the petitioner. I think this is probably the biggest factor. How to have papers ready, how to be prepared for answering questions specific to one's own relationship, and past relationships such as divorce has also been seen in past interview stories. Unfortunate that some people are not good at taking tests or doing interviews, and when under stress even the most outgoing and vibrant person can have trouble. As to the specifics of your friend who is using a lawyer. The simplest of questions I would be asking is have they called DOS themselves to see what they have to say? Did GUZ even get back their P3 papers? As is all too common in the troubled situations, we often see a great lack of details, which I equate to proper preparation. We also know the VO's don't look at any of this paperwork until just before the interview. It is all being handled by people who shuffle papers around based on its current status until it reaches the VO stage. Remember, even the (Police report)criminal record, or lack of one, is not brought in until the interview. My own situation did not include a divorce, but my question is how much if any evidence was sent with the paperwork so far concerning the previous divorce? I am sure this also affects the questions asked at the interview. If they are at the namecheck stage,(which from what you say , we actually don't really know where they are) I doubt anyone has bothered to look at the paperwork. The reason for this is we see a clear stepped situation for assigning P4's that make it look like they simply do a scan for all the P3's for their status to put them into the P4/interview que. If it is not done, it goes back into a stack for the next cycle. If their paperwork is cycling like this, no doubt they need to intervene. Again, need more specific information. (And maybe a new lawyer).

Nine day notice?! You're lucky. We got ours yesterday for this Tuesday. Do we have a choice? No, as we got the same nasty threat in the notice as well if we don't show. So its $300 for air tickets and oh so very lucky to find a hotel. (Because its just too far to do in time, and my SO is going to school and we have a life). Another letter will be going out from me on this issue as to the complete waste of taxpayer money this procedure is. They already have the biometrics, and they could simply do them again at the interview. I will say, if they skip the interview, it will make me look a little silly complaining, however, there is no reason for this short notice.

I can understand your frustration. My two cents. Since you are in China, if it were me in your shoes, I would go to, and not leave the consulate until someone told me what the problem is. On paper. You are an American in a foreign country, and the consulate is claiming they have information that they think your wife could be trying to scam the government. This affects you directly, and you need to know the truth of this (although I am with the majority, I would not be mis-trusting my wife over some bureaucrat's words without evidence). You should request, politely, that you need this information if you are being scammed. You are a foreigner in a foreign country. If the consulate refuses to help you, I would start calling the US. The failure of the consulate to protect US citizens from a possible scam is the approach I would take, including calls to approprate congress persons and state departments in the event you do not get this information. ( I would be making lots of calls, everybody, mayor, governor, senators, officials, etc.). The simple statement I would make in these phone calls, is that you are an American in a foriegn country, and the consulate is refusing to assist you in determining if you are in fact being scammed. For all you know, there is a TPC, but "oops' wrong person, similar name" or some other similar error. But I would refuse to leave American soil (the consulate) until someone helps you. I would not yell, I would not threaten. I would make lots of phone calls saying I am an American in distress. Help me. Find someone in the consulate to help you. (of course maybe you might leave the consulate to make these calls, but I would not go far. I would be clear in these calls you are outside, trying to get help). I would not try to explain what you are doing to your wife in detail, because how we Americans deal with our government is different from the Chinese way. You must deal with this yourself. All we can do here, is try to offer you advice that you can consider in light of your own situation. Based on what I have read from you, it sounds like you think you can trust your wife. If the American consulate is withholding detrimental evidence to your well-being, I would hope shining a light on this practice would put an end to it. If it should turn out there is real evidence, you need to know this. I know some people prefer not to stir the pot when it comes to government stuff. But sometimes you are left with no choice. As an American, you should remember not to let your right to "due process" be taken away from you. We all feel for you.

I got an RFE for photos, which were done by a professional (although the real reason for the RFE was unknown). It appears to me you can do them yourself, all kinds of links in this post: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...=passport+photo

The blue slip list is a big lump to swallow in one gulp, but it is helpful to look at some specifics for K1's. Of the blue slips: At least four K1's were for essentially minor preparation slips. Easily avoided through preparation and re-checking of all your papers and evidence. Four were about communications. Judging by your written English skills this is probably not going to be a problem. Three others were about their financials. Although it sounds like you are both students, I assume you both either have the finances to meet the requirements and have prepared your documentation accordingly, or you have a sponser or two and these documents are also fully prepared in addition to yours. I assume you are not a member of the communist party and that neither of you have a previous divorce so those blue slips are out as well. I am also willing to bet that the consulate must see a lot of student K1's, and so they have their check list of what they look for in that type of relationship. That leaves us back to your issue of the number of visits, which we only have one K1 on the list with this at issue. And it appears that this was simply an issue of the evidence preparation. We know that past sucessful interview summations have described some questioning on the issue of visits, but they passed. Because they were prepared with their evidence was probably the biggest reason, and the other reason we cannot measure, was the confidence of the beneficiary in the relationship. This seems to be something we do read in interview summaries about the confidence of the beneficiary, and the confidence the petitioner has in supporting the beneficiary. For example, we often read about the beneficiary who has their petitioner at the interview providing both passports at the initial start of the interview so that the VO is fully aware that the petitioner is right outside, showing support of the relationship. We also know having good English skills are another confidence booster to understand the questions being asked if the interviewer's Chinese skills are not up to par. Others have talked about the preparation, and there are a number of FAQs to read about this which should help you to make sure you miss nothing in your preparations. It is really wonderful to hear about this part of the process from the beneficiaries point of view. I am sure I am not alone in saying that we look forward to hearing more from you about it from the Chinese point of view.

Analysis shows that a portion of blue slips we hear about at CFL are sometimes missing some facts or information relevant to the situation described, (often emotions becoming the overriding factor) so that we do not get a clear picture of what has happened, therefore this results in this list to have some probable error because some speculation is needed. Sometimes what is being posted by the petitioner is confusing. Often what we read comes from the petitioner who has gotten it from their beneficiary (sometimes only through email or phone), who may not have a full command of English. Add in the complicated visa papers and process, bureaucracy, and resultant stress leading up to the interview. Then each of us reads what is written through our own experiential filter. This makes getting to the bare facts a little difficult. I should also add that a large number of CFL members fail to provide important data in their posts, what evidence they submitted with their application, the evidence they brought, specific questions asked at the interview, details like number of visits, their timeline. There is a high correlation between those who do not post this information clearly and blue slips. It is possible that some people do not read the needed information at CFL soon enough, or mis-understand its content in relation to their own situation for a variety of reasons and so therefore fail to take necessary action. It should be noted, that probably an unknown larger number of CFL readers benefit from this same information, take action, which results in us not hearing of a problem. (See Statistics part of this post). Recommended reading are the two previous blue slip lists here: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11959 http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...93&hl=blue+slip The most recent additions to the June 2005 posting blue slip list are: Type---CFL Name--------Interview--At GUZ?--Perceived problem---Status K1/K2---diver1959------12/20/05---No/No----Birth certificate----------------------Waiting to return with document K3------JamesBDennis---12/14/05---Yes/Yes--Telephone record/Divorce-proof of ex's location---Waiting K1/K2---correllwl------12/12/05---Yes/No---Video/financial evidence----Waiting to 01/10/07 for re-submission K3------Cerberus-------12/06/05---No/No----Telephone record---Resolved IR2-----bobmal99-------11/21/05---Yes/Yes--No green card/No parental permission---Resolved K1/K2---notrevorich----11/07/05---No/Yes---More evidence/Relationship evidence not clear/only one visit ---Resolved CR1-----sailorboy------11/07/05---Yes/No---Number of visits---Resolved K1/K2---Alex-----------12/09/04---No/Yes---11/04/05 1st interview/TPC/Divorce/custody/---No report/Last heard from at GUZ K3/CR1--EdG------------10/19/05---No/Yes---Previous Divorce/More evidence/# of Visits---Resolved K3/CR1--Sitesnbagsrus--10/19/05---???------Financial---No report K1/K2---christer-------09/29/05---No/Yes---More evidence/TPC---Awaiting review at DHS K1/K2---esun41---------09/24/05---No/Yes---More evidence/Divorce filed very close---Resolved =================================================================== K1/K2---diver1959---------No/No---12/20/05---Birth certificate---------Waiting to return with document 20/17CX79J3Oct05R25Dec05 Synopsis: Petitioner not at interview. Apparently the beneficiary left the son's birth certificate at home. Told to schedule a time to bring this document in where hopefully the visa should be approved. Status as of 25 December 2005. Commentary: You don't want this to happen to you. Check all your documents, often. There are FAQs here at CFL on not only what to bring but how to organize it as well. Always check the consulate web site, and in the documents the beneficiary receives. =================================================================== K3-----JamesBDennis----12/14/05---Yes/Yes----Telephone record/Divorce-proof of ex's location---DHS review---No---11/11UNDJ8Apr05R25Dec05 Synopsis: Three visits before marriage, four visits before the interview, additional visit at interview. Five visits total. Wife has previous divorce. VO asked for phone records, which the petitioner had written an explanation for their not existing, but it was not accepted, and for Divorce - proof of beneficiaries ex's location. Petitioner is currently in China and they have submitted further information at an overcome meeting but were not approved. Case is being sent back to DHS for review and possible revocation. We are waiting to hear more from petitioner on plans such as hiring an attorney or other efforts while still in China. Status as of 25 December 2005. Commentary: There is a divorce involved and based on the few posts available it sounds as if the document preparation could have been done better. The fact that phone records were asked for but not really available points us in this direction along with the added later evidence to include a copy of the petitioners passport which we take to assume this was not provided at the interview, and the concern with English skills. What is interesting is the proof they provide to the consulate on the Ex. This has occurred before, and one has to wonder at requests to perform what appears to be nearly impossible efforts that they ask some people to do. Very lucky that the Ex was possible to find and agreeable. It is unfortunate that this case is not finished, but with the petitioner still in China it is hoped that they can get this resolved soon. ============================================================= K1/K2---correllwl---------Yes/No---12/12/05---Video/Financial evidence----Waiting to 01/10/07 for re-submission 1/1UNX1DJ28Dec05R29Dec05 Synopsis: Both previously married. Both divorces over two years old. Petitioner was at the interview. This was third trip to China. Questions asked were financial and English skills. Evidence included phone records, emails, photos, proof of divorces. Visa denied asking for communications video and proof of both ex-spouses residencies. New evidence submitted a week later and again visa is denied. Apparently video had faulty audio. Asked to return with new tape and additional proof of employment. New copy of tape is made plus letter of employment and last 3 months copies of pay/retirement pay stubs. Beneficiary to return 01/10/07 for submission of evidence. Status as of 30 December 2005. Read post here: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...pic=13743&st=15 Comments: This one is a little harder because of the English skills question tied in with the request for information on the ex-spouses, we have to assume the VO sees something they don't like about it. However, the later request for proof of employment leaves us wondering again about the initial application evidence in the story it tells the VO. It appears that the additional factor of English skills, perhaps VO scheduling, is the source of the denial and they want a new outline of the relationship. If we went on the additional information request after the the first overcome, we hope this will be a visa approval after the additional evidence is provided.

When we got our RFE for additional photos for the Advanced Parole, we decided to do our own passport photos, as the people who take passport photos charge more than we think is reasonable. Here are my tips for taking these photos with a digital camera (3mp or better) when you don't have the nice studio. Hang a white sheet behind and to either side of the person (like a box with them standing in front of the opening). Have them stand at least four feet in front of the background sheet. You should stand as far away as possible while keeping the subject filling half the view area to take the photo so that the depth of focus will cause the background to become diffuse. (Use only the optical zoom, not digital). Best to take this in full daylight in a bright room. If you have an external flash, bounce the flash off the floor to help remove shadows. (without a flash, you must postition the person/background so they are fully lit up by the diffused sunlight without creating shadows (the reason for the sheets). You can add more white sheets around the room and the floor to create less shadows and reflect more diffuse light as well). The only difference I can see between taking my own photos and the ones you pay for, is that they have drawn on their digital camera LCD screen with an outline of the person to get the right size. I just take my photos of the persons head to be half the height of the screen, and let the edit adjust the rest. After editing, take them to your local store to print (Walmart in my case, at their do it yourself machine). Cut to proper size. Here are the three web pages I used to learn to take my passport pictures and edit them. I used Photoshop because thats what I use normally (it also seemed the best for size adjusting), but the other web pages describe how to do it with other methods as well: http://www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=22 http://bigtrip.punklist.com/archives/000053.php http://www.webuser.co.uk/forums/showflat.p...468/an/0/page/0 And most importantly, follow the specifications to check the edit of your pictures. Very clear information here: http://travel.state.gov/passport/guide/guide_2081.html

Some of you may recall we got an RFE for the Advance Parole which was a request for the passport photos. That thread can be found here: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13922 We have received the advanced parole, which consists of two copies of a single sheet of paper. They both appear to be an original form I-512L. It says it is good for a year. The photo is a scan on the paper. Because there are two copies of this, does it mean that my SO can go outside the USA twice? Is this two re-entry permits?

The last 50 or so from 001 to get an interview. Number of days from NOA1 to NOA 2 and service center. 48 NSC 194 CSC 76 VSC 60 CSC 81 NSC 146 VSC 33 CSC 33 CSC 64 NSC 123 TSC 154 CSC 41 NSC 27 CSC 103 TSC 67 NSC 78 CSC 121 CSC 113 CSC 91 CSC 67 VSC 224 CSC 72 NSC 135 NSC 61 CSC 98 VSC 61 CSC 114 TSC 9 VSC 44 CSC 239 NSC 609 NSC 111 VSC 106 TSC 127 TSC 88 TSC 42 CSC 40 CSC 33 NSC 43 NSC 30 CSC 31 TSC 91 CSC 26 VSC 92 NSC 9 VSC 29 VSC 220 NSC

How about the last 50 or so CFLer's to get an interview? Number of days from NOA1 to NOA2 and the service center if stated. 210 MSC 132 ??? 20 DCF 196 ??? 154 CSC 89 NSC 8 ??? 90 ??? 64 ??? 100 CSC 204 ??? 97 ??? 105 CSC 78 CSC 105 TSC/CSC 28 VSC 398 VSC 14 VSC 97 ??? 68 CSC 20 ??? 94 ??? 74 CSC 98 NSC 201 NSC/MSC 98 ??? 25 CSC 42 ??? 21 VSC 140 CSC 69 ??? 76 CSC 221 ??? 83 ??? 3 VSC 13 ??? 41 ??? 56 DCF 31 VSC 211 CSC 55 NSC 282 ??? 22 VSC 20 ??? 7 VSC 224 CSC 22 ??? 34 TSC 46 CSC 78 CSC

Recommend you monitor the post at the top of the page for the interview and P4 projection lists for this month here: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13775 You will find your data listed there, which is calculated based on the dates you have provided in your time line signature. If you know the date on your P3 letter itself, this will provide the best calculation. As of last month, low averages fall around 50 days from P3 to P4, and 90 days from P3 to interview. However, the top end of these average still fall within 100 days from P3 to P4 and up to 225 days from P3 to interview.

One of the last few I have long watched. Congratulations.

We have received the RFE in the mail today. They want two passport style photos. As some of you know, I am an advocate an honest assesment of one's situation to help others learn from mistakes. I do not know what the problem is with this situation but here are my possibilities: 1. They lost the photos we sent or they were misplaced. We sent the I-485 and I-131 together in one stack , indexed and ACCO fastened with a cover letter, and located the two sets of photos in the order as specified on the cover letter (trying to match the instruction form order as well). This should have been a no brainer, but possibly it wasn't. The photos were each in their own ziplock bag stapled to the center of a sheet of paper and index tabbed. It is possible they took all the photos for the I-485, however they were thirteen tabs away from each other. Basically, if they needed to go to different desks, removing the top half of the stack would have left the rest for the I-131 with no thinking involved. In addition, I see that those photos were on the last page of the stack. Extending the thought, perhaps while being shuffled, that paper is heavy and could have easily been ripped off by accident. 2. They did not like the photos we sent. Two things here, the I-485 seems to be okay, so far. That could change as they probably have not looked at it yet. The second is that I now see the photos we sent look very similar to the one that was on the visa in her passport. It is possible it came from the same set but neither of us remember. ( I thought they were different, but we have so many, and all of them look very similar). Perhaps I am reaching, but it is possible they may consider them too old (is there a hidden date?). Here is the text from the RFE which is printed on yellow paper. They want us to return this paper with the photos and we have 87 days to do it or it is a denial. It has a place for an A#, which I assume we should write in. Lessons here? Tough to know, but if I were to do it again, I would do the following in addition to what I did: 1. Send two different ACCO stacks, one for the I-485, the other for the I-131. 2. Put an additional blank page or two after the last page or move the photos up higher in the stack to insure the page won't rip away by accident. 3. Make sure the clothes in the photo are different enough to be sure the photo is not the same as previously used ones. For example, different collar on the dress or shirt or clearly different hair style.

I would question the idea that a name check is done and that you are on track if you have not received and returned a P3. My understanding is they need the P3 forms returned before that step is taken. I would also take more than DHL's word on any package, as that is just a package. A call to DOS and asking them if your file is entered into the GUZ computer will be more useful to determine where you are in the process. (Or how about an email to GUZ asking if they sent the P3 forms). Data from the past years worth of time lines suggests it takes an average of 10-14 days to get a P3 after the paperwork arrives at the Consulate. Some recent number of days of NVC to P3 times are as follows. (from CFL). 39 35 61 63 71 46 47 36 57 47 39 39 28 51 58 47

I suppose I may have an out of date instruction sheet below: Maybe my English is failing me, but I understood this to mean the I-485 filed concurrently with the I-131. I also felt adding documents not specified in the instructions was not a good idea, otherwise where do you draw the line at what documents to include? The instructions also say they may simply rfe you if they want to. We shall see, since the web notice is dated the 9th, I expect I should get this next week.

I will update this thread as soon as I receive the RFE. Because we were applying for both the I-485 and I-131 at the same time, I could not send the I-485 NOA. You must have sent the I-131 after you got the I-485? I even copied the I-94 and Visa stuff all onto one page so it would be easy. I thought I had read that it was okay to do both at the same time, but I am wondering if I got that mixed up with some other instructions and perhaps that NOA or Marriage license is needed now. Just have to wait for the mail I suppose. Maybe I got the newbie at the office. It will be interesting if they want the NOA for the I-485.