ustraveldocs.com interview scheduling

[SeanC]

The consulate instructions tell me to "schedule my interview" at ustraveldocs.com. This is confusing, because my interview is already scheduled. I followed the prompts requesting my wife's passport info and mailing information to receive the passport after the interview. It gave me a confirmation page to print and take to the interview. But that's it. The dashboard doesn't show that anything has actually happened. Is this all I need to do at this affiliate's website?

[Martin B]

2 hours ago, SeanC said:

The consulate instructions tell me to "schedule my interview" at ustraveldocs.com. This is confusing, because my interview is already scheduled. I followed the prompts requesting my wife's passport info and mailing information to receive the passport after the interview. It gave me a confirmation page to print and take to the interview. But that's it. The dashboard doesn't show that anything has actually happened. Is this all I need to do at this affiliate's website?

It's been some time, but I think the same thing happened to us. We just selected the "ship my passport" option, provided the shipping address, and printed out the confirmation page. I don't even think they collected it at the interviewed because the officer said "they already had the info in the system"... as always @Randy W will probably know more. Congrats on the interview and good luck!

[SeanC]

1 minute ago, Barfus said:

It's been some time, but I think the same thing happened to us. We just selected the "ship my passport" option, provided the shipping address, and printed out the confirmation page. I don't even think they collected it at the interviewed because the officer said "they already had the info in the system"... as always @Randy W will probably know more. Congrats on the interview and good luck!

I'm so glad this hell is almost over. But really its not, its a CR-1 visa so there is still more to do until two years after she arrives. I mean, come on! But at least she and my kid will be here.

[Martin B]

2 minutes ago, SeanC said:

I'm so glad this hell is almost over. But really its not, its a CR-1 visa so there is still more to do until two years after she arrives. I mean, come on! But at least she and my kid will be here.

How long do you think you'll be married when she enters the US? If it's more than two years, at least she'll be issued a 10-year green card and can skip removal of conditions down the road, which is a huge headache nowadays. The date depends on the time between marriage and entry into US.

The interview will probably be a breeze since you guys have a kid, hopefully she doesn't get stuck in lengthy administrative processing.

I know the feeling and the finish line is almost near. And yes, it's so much easier to deal with any problems stateside together versus apart and dealing with the embassy, especially nowadays!

[SeanC]

The interview as a breeze, in fact. They asked her whether she had ever visited the US, what my job is, and why our daughter doesn't need a visa. She was approved, and now we just have to wait for her to receive her visa in the mail.

So this is new to me... the length of marriage depends on how long we were married before she reaches port of entry, NOT on when she is awarded the visa? Are you saying I can avoid the $680 fee two years down the road for removal of conditions if I wait until our second anniversary? Because that will be in early July. I was expecting her to be able to come here by mid-June, but it might be worth saving that much money to wait a few weeks longer.

[SeanC]

On 4/13/2021 at 10:10 PM, Barfus said:

hopefully she doesn't get stuck in lengthy administrative processing.

GZ consulate has been pretty good through all this. The CRBA interview was scheduled quickly, the passport came back in less than 3 weeks (I waited longer than that for my own in the US recently), and the visa interview was scheduled at the earliest end of the time frame. So I think her visa will come soon.

[Randy W]

Yes - the visa is awarded by the Consulate, the green card by the USCIS. Actually two separate applications.

The green card status - conditional (2 year) or unconditional - is determined at the time it is awarded, which is at the POE. 

[Martin B]

3 hours ago, SeanC said:

The interview as a breeze, in fact. They asked her whether she had ever visited the US, what my job is, and why our daughter doesn't need a visa. She was approved, and now we just have to wait for her to receive her visa in the mail.

So this is new to me... the length of marriage depends on how long we were married before she reaches port of entry, NOT on when she is awarded the visa? Are you saying I can avoid the $680 fee two years down the road for removal of conditions if I wait until our second anniversary? Because that will be in early July. I was expecting her to be able to come here by mid-June, but it might be worth saving that much money to wait a few weeks longer.

Yes, you can avoid the $680 fee. Removal of conditions can also be incredibly slow. If you enter on a CR1 visa, you'll have a mandatory ROC interview. It can take 2+ years nowadays. In normal circumstances I'd be very tempted to bite the bullet and wait a few weeks. On the other hand, with the uncertainty about COVID and being away from my wife/kid for so long, I'd also be tempted to have them haul ass to US ASAP. Either way - good luck and glad it all worked out for you.

[Randy W]

6 hours ago, Barfus said:

Yes, you can avoid the $680 fee. Removal of conditions can also be incredibly slow. If you enter on a CR1 visa, you'll have a mandatory ROC interview. It can take 2+ years nowadays. In normal circumstances I'd be very tempted to bite the bullet and wait a few weeks. On the other hand, with the uncertainty about COVID and being away from my wife/kid for so long, I'd also be tempted to have them haul ass to US ASAP. Either way - good luck and glad it all worked out for you.

 

But don't worry about what the visa says. If the visa says "CR1", you can still get the 10 year green card without changing anything relative to the visa. Simply have her show the marriage certificate (preferably white book) to the Immigrations Officer at the POE and point out that she is eligible for an IR1 green card.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[SeanC]

Remarkably, I got an email today telling me the passport and visa packet have been mailed. It only took 3 days from the interview to complete processing. My wife will receive it on Monday.

So now I have a decision to make... wait until the first week of July to travel, or bring her here around the end of this month and face paper work and additional fees two years from now.

@Randy, what is a white book? We were married in Hong Kong, so thats the marriage cert we have. I don't know anything about a white book.

Also, while I'm on here, I'd like to ask y'all how you ship all your belongings home. I have asked around a lot and friends of mine couldn't find a way that didn't cost thousands of dollars, so they only brought what they could fit in a few suit cases. Is there a reasonable way to ship 15-20 medium sized boxes, or just forget about it and buy new stuff?

[Martin B]

1 hour ago, SeanC said:

Remarkably, I got an email today telling me the passport and visa packet have been mailed. It only took 3 days from the interview to complete processing. My wife will receive it on Monday.

So now I have a decision to make... wait until the first week of July to travel, or bring her here around the end of this month and face paper work and additional fees two years from now.

@Randy, what is a white book? We were married in Hong Kong, so thats the marriage cert we have. I don't know anything about a white book.

Also, while I'm on here, I'd like to ask y'all how you ship all your belongings home. I have asked around a lot and friends of mine couldn't find a way that didn't cost thousands of dollars, so they only brought what they could fit in a few suit cases. Is there a reasonable way to ship 15-20 medium sized boxes, or just forget about it and buy new stuff?

Congrats on the quick processing! Most airlines will give you a small carry on luggage (30lbs) and two checked bags @50lbs each. See how much each additional bag costs. If it's something reasonable ($50-150), use as much of that as you can. 

 

[Randy W]

Here's one I found through Google

https://www.sino-shipping.com/shipping-excess-baggage-china/

Another term to search for is "international freight forwarding".

The white book is a Chinese notarial certificate - it includes an English translation of a Chinese document, and is what is required for use in the US. I expect that your Hong Kong certificate was submitted as is.

[Martin B]

Most major metro areas in the US should also have WeChat group(s) for shipping. My wife had an enormous 40lbs package shipped to the US a few months ago for $50. The way it works is a bunch of people from the area order stuff, send it to an agent/forwarder in China, and the agent will ship it via boat to US once the total weight reaches 100kg. It's ridiculously cheap, somewhat fast (<1 month usually). The caveat is that the entire shipment is sent to the house of the person with the biggest order. We had to drive 25 minutes to pick up the package at some lady's duplex...

[Randy W]

2 hours ago, Barfus said:

Most major metro areas in the US should also have WeChat group(s) for shipping. My wife had an enormous 40lbs package shipped to the US a few months ago for $50. The way it works is a bunch of people from the area order stuff, send it to an agent/forwarder in China, and the agent will ship it via boat to US once the total weight reaches 100kg. It's ridiculously cheap, somewhat fast (<1 month usually). The caveat is that the entire shipment is sent to the house of the person with the biggest order. We had to drive 25 minutes to pick up the package at some lady's duplex...

Not sure that I'd recommend being the RECEIVING party of that shipment of who knows what . . .

[Martin B]

32 minutes ago, Randy W said:

Not sure that I'd recommend being the RECEIVING party of that shipment of who knows what . . .

Definitely not, although it's a roll of the dice - whoever has the highest total weight gets ALL the packages. When we went to pick up my wife's package, the poor older lady's garage was stuffed to the brim with boxes, and she had to coordinate/arrange 17 pick ups with the other recipients.  My wife's 40lbs box was the 3rd lightest of the 17... it's really, really cheap, but somewhat risky. I put the kibosh on this going forward.