Seeking advice on Spousal Visa

[AT Thru]

Study the electronic route through NVC, this involves scanning and emailing documents to them, not mailing.

I thought about doing the electronic filing but wanted to send in some pictures from a honeymoon trip we went on to Canada 2 months ago and I'm am leaving this coming Thursday for China for a 2 week road trip and will have some pictures from that trip as well plane tickets and other things . I thought sending them in with the NVC papers would be a good idea. Anybody have any thoughts on that? How much time do you think I'll lose sending by Fed ex over electronic filing? ....I won't be back to US until July 6th...When do you think I will be able to get my number to access the 260 form? I just was approved on the 17th and probably won't get letter till after I leave. Is there anything I can do while I'm in China with NVC to start the process?

[dnoblett]

 

Study the electronic route through NVC, this involves scanning and emailing documents to them, not mailing.

 

I thought about doing the electronic filing but wanted to send in some pictures from a honeymoon trip we went on to Canada 2 months ago and I'm am leaving this coming Thursday for China for a 2 week road trip and will have some pictures from that trip as well plane tickets and other things . I thought sending them in with the NVC papers would be a good idea. Anybody have any thoughts on that? How much time do you think I'll lose sending by Fed ex over electronic filing? ....I won't be back to US until July 6th...When do you think I will be able to get my number to access the 260 form? I just was approved on the 17th and probably won't get letter till after I leave. Is there anything I can do while I'm in China with NVC to start the process?

Be aware mail service with NVC results in NVC mailing the package to the consulate which tends to get hung up in Chinese customs for upwards of 3 months.

 

NVC wants just what they request, ( affidavit of support, and foreign notary documents )

 

Bring the extra relationship stuff to the visa interview.

[AT Thru]

 

 

Study the electronic route through NVC, this involves scanning and emailing documents to them, not mailing.

I thought about doing the electronic filing but wanted to send in some pictures from a honeymoon trip we went on to Canada 2 months ago and I'm am leaving this coming Thursday for China for a 2 week road trip and will have some pictures from that trip as well plane tickets and other things . I thought sending them in with the NVC papers would be a good idea. Anybody have any thoughts on that? How much time do you think I'll lose sending by Fed ex over electronic filing? ....I won't be back to US until July 6th...When do you think I will be able to get my number to access the 260 form? I just was approved on the 17th and probably won't get letter till after I leave. Is there anything I can do while I'm in China with NVC to start the process?

Be aware mail service with NVC results in NVC mailing the package to the consulate which tends to get hung up in Chinese customs for upwards of 3 months.

 

NVC wants just what they request, ( affidavit of support, and foreign notary documents )

 

Bring the extra relationship stuff to the visa interview.

 

What about the 2 passport photos they request ? How do you send them if you e- file. How about the I-130 package does NVC mail or email that to the consulate? if so does that get hung up at customs if it gets mailed?

Edited June 19, 2016 by AT Thru (see edit history)

[Randy W]

What about the 2 passport photos they request ? How do you send them if you e- file. How about the I-130 package does NVC mail or email that to the consulate? if so does that get hung up at customs if it gets mailed?

In order to take advantage of the MUCH faster electronic processing times, ALL communications with the NVC must be through email. Scan any pictures or non-electronic documents and put them in a pdf file.

 

When electronic processing is selected, the documents are forwarded to the consulate electronically. The beneficiary must bring the original copies to the interview.

 

As Dan said, electronic processing can shave several months off your waiting time.

 

An excellent write-up from last year -

CR1 Electronic Filing Processes

[wawster]

I have to disagree here a bit.

In conversations with the NVC (in the August/September time frame of last year), they told me (on the phone) that the processing times were the same, whether documents were filed electronically, or mailed in. I was told this more than once. It's 60 days, give or take.

I was also told that if you are a paper filer, they now scan the docs and send them to Guangzhou instead of snail-mailing them.

In the past, there was a big difference in the time an interview could be scheduled, because a paper trail had to sit in a warehouse in Guangzhou for quite a long time (customs). Now, the NVC schedules the interviews, and they send the docs electronically either way. So the wait time is the same either way again.

 

I was a paper filer. The NVC received my docs on August 26. They had a case complete by 10/21. And the interview was scheduled by them, within 3 days - set for December 9th.

 

I have no beef with the electronic filing. The only reason I did the paper method was because I was using RapidVisa at the time, and that's how they did it. But I think the days of the electronic filing being a faster route might be in the past.

[wawster]

And Perry - Never a problem, buddy. I'm just trying to give back a little to thank all the great folks here who helped me and kept me (semi) sane along the way!

[AT Thru]

I have to disagree here a bit.

In conversations with the NVC (in the August/September time frame of last year), they told me (on the phone) that the processing times were the same, whether documents were filed electronically, or mailed in. I was told this more than once. It's 60 days, give or take.

I was also told that if you are a paper filer, they now scan the docs and send them to Guangzhou instead of snail-mailing them.

In the past, there was a big difference in the time an interview could be scheduled, because a paper trail had to sit in a warehouse in Guangzhou for quite a long time (customs). Now, the NVC schedules the interviews, and they send the docs electronically either way. So the wait time is the same either way again.

 

I was a paper filer. The NVC received my docs on August 26. They had a case complete by 10/21. And the interview was scheduled by them, within 3 days - set for December 9th.

 

I have no beef with the electronic filing. The only reason I did the paper method was because I was using RapidVisa at the time, and that's how they did it. But I think the days of the electronic filing being a faster route might be in the past.

That is good to know...I hope its the same now...I want to send in some other relationship evidence and its to much to email.. Do they also scan and email the I-130 to Guangzhou? Wow if they do my packet was thick and had lots of pictures. Wonder if they scan all the pictures too.

[Randy W]

We haven't maintained any records of timelines in a long time - these are from VisaJourney.com. Notice that the time from initial filing to Interview seems to have gone down dramatically recently, but there's no indication of whether DCF or whether filed electronically.

 

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/intro.php?cfl=1

[wawster]

Perry, I don't know how they handle the I-130 - I could only guess, and I'd rather not give out advice on something I am not sure of. Mine was also very thick with evidence (ultimately). I had an initial RFE, so I took the opportunity to send in a huge stack of evidence along with what they asked me for - looking back, it was probably overkill, but I also had a lot of relationship evidence that had not been initially added into the package.

 

When Rose went to the Interview, she told me that the VO had a fairly good-sized folder, but in no way did he have the big 'ol stack that I had sent in with the RFE. The biggest stack was a printout of all of our QQ messages, and it was a few reams of paper. It could be that it was just not printed out, or it could be that it just wasn't sent to him - I really don't know.