Many times people ask me about the whole Spouse Immigration Process. How long did it take? How was the medical experience? How was the interview experience? How many times your documents got rejected? etc etc. So, i decided to write everything in detail for the people who might need this info like i needed to know everything when this whole process started.
So, lets begin!!
I got nikkah-fied on Dec 25, 2016. After that my Hamza went back to the states and filed the case for spouse immigration. My case got accepted on March 10, 2017 so it became my priority date. My husband & I knew that it's going to take at least 2-2 and a half years for the immigration process to complete.
Let me explain some of the terms first because they are going to be used a lot.
Petitioner:
A petitioner is the one who submits the request on behalf of the foreign national who wishes to immigrate to the United Sates. A petitioner must be an immediate relative who is a green card holder (permanent resident), a citizen or a US employer.
Beneficiary or an Applicant:
A beneficiary is someone who is a foreign national who wishes to immigrate to the US. In my case, my husband was the petitioner and I was the beneficiary.
Priority date:
For family sponsored applicants, the priority date is the date and immigration petition was received by the USCIS. In my case, it was March 10, 2017.
The spouse immigration process is a long process and one has to show a lot of patience throughout the process. This process has 3 phases that are;
USCIS
NVC
Interview at US consulate Islamabad
Now, lets discuss each of the above phases in detail.
1. USCIS:
(This phase took 1 year & 11 months i.e March 10, 2017- Dec 22, 2018)
USCIS is the first step. USCIS stands for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS reviews the Form I-130 and then approves it. Now, one may think that it’s the easy part but unfortunately, USCIS takes a lot of time just to review and approve the Form I-130. In my case the form got approved on Dec 22, 2018. That’s almost 2 years. 1 year and 11 months to be exact.
Their official website is https://www.uscis.gov/
During this whole time, there is no way of knowing that where your application stands. Yes, of course you can call them, but they will always tell you the exact same thing every single time that your case is in the queue. You can also check your status online at https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do but then again, this is also of no use because the only message you’ll see there will be “your case has been approved, We will notify you further.”
Apart from that there is a way you can check the total processing times of the immigration cases.
It basically tells you that whats the average timeline for different kind of immigration cases. You just have to select the form time and then the location from where you filed the case.
But sadly, you can not relay on that as they keep on changing it after almost every month.
And Oh, I forgot to mention the USCIS fee which was $535.
2. NVC:
(This phase took around 6 months i.e Dec 22, 2018- June 24, 2019)
After USCIS reviews and approves the petition, it will send you a letter my mail which is also called as “The Approval Letter”. You will get the approval letter if your petition is approved and received by the NVC and also if your petition is rejected. Their official website is https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/after-petition-approved/begin-nat-visa-center.html
At NVC, they enter your case details into their system MANUALLY. Which can take around 6 weeks but in my case, it literally took 2 whole months. After entering the details into their system, they send the petitioner and the beneficiary a NVC case number and Case ID. These two are very important and you are advised not to share it with anyone. I got the approval letter at the end of Dec 2018 and then my case number and case ID at the end of Feb 2019. Like I said, 2 whole months!!!
Case number and use ID is basically your username and password for an online portal CEAC. CEAC stands for Consular Electronic Application Centre.
After i got my case number and case ID, i wasn't still able to login to CEAC. there was some glitch in the system and it took another two weeks to login. Anyway, i was finally able to login after two weeks and then i paid the immigration application fee, $325 and affidavit of support fee, which was $120. The payment got approved in like a 2 weeks time frame. And then another waiting round started. After the payments, they started asking for the documents. And the procedure is very long because they ask for one document, you upload it then wait for another 2 weeks then they ask for something else, again the same process, you have to wait for 2-3 weeks. They rejected my documents twice or thrice and we had to send them again.
Documents NVC demanded:
1) My civil documents
Picture of biographic page of my passport
Birth certificate with certified english translation
Police character certificate
Original Marriage certificate along with certified english translation
Marriage certificate issue by Nadra
2) Sponsor's Documents (the petitioner)
Form I-864 affidavit of support
Form 1099
federal income tax return or transcript
3) Additional Sponsor (it could be anyone living in the US who is willing to become your additional sponsor)
Proof of citizenship or LPR status
Proof of US domicile
Federal income tax return or transcript
Proof of relationship between sponsor and household member
Form w2 wage & tax statement
Form I---864A contract between sponsor and household member
There was no way to contact the NVC. I mean yeah, sure they gave the email ID and a contact number but it was of no use. I emailed them but they took 2 or sometimes 3 weeks just to reply to an email and if you call them, then they keep you on hold for an hour or sometimes even more then that after which they start playing a cassette saying that "all representatives are currently busy, try again later."
Anyhoo, finally on June 24, 2019, I received an email from the NVC stating that I was documentary qualified (Also mean CC, case completed). That means they basically took 4 months just to review my documents. Insane right? Below is the email i received;
NVC received all the requested documentation for this immigrant visa case. The application is now in the queue awaiting an interview appointment overseas, where a consular officer will adjudicate the applicant's visa application.
The U.S. Embassy/Consulate tells us what dates they are holding interviews, and NVC fills these appointments as the cases become documentarily qualified. NVC schedules appointments one month in advance, but we cannot predict when an interview appointment will be available.
When an appointment is available, we will notify the applicant, petitioner, and attorney (if applicable).
After getting documentarily qualified/ eligible, all I had to do was to wait for the interview date. i googled the approximate time frame NVC takes to schedule an interview, it was 60-90 days, which means another 2-3 months (or maybe more then that).
3. Interview Date:
(My interview got scheduled 1 month after getting CC. June 24, 2019- July 22, 2019)
I received an email on July 22, 2019 from NVC stating that my visa immigration interview have been scheduled on August 26, 2019. Generally, interview is scheduled 1 month in advance. This Email was basically the appointment letter which I had to show at numerous places afterwards. So, I took 2-3 prints of the appointment letter.
On this link https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/interview.html you can find all the interview related details easily.
To prepare for the interview, you may visit the following address;
If you know anyone who can actually use this information, feel free to share this post with him/ her. Also, I will explain my medical and interview experience in detail in the next blog. So stay tuned.