To Julie, Pasha Patel and Board Members

[mina]

Dear Julie,Pasha Pateland Board Members

The Service Center that I filed with was the Vermont Office.

I know that it sounds so unbelievable that both visa petitions were approved that fast, but it just totally through me off because now we don't know what to do?

my husband already had his interview for the K-3 visa on Nov 3, 2003 and everything went well except for the photo because it was not taken to the specification that they required, so he had the photo retaken again and sent it with his passport to the Consulate office via UPS.

Well it's been over 2 months since we heard anything from the Consulate and so we called the Consulate Office and were told to be patient. I heard that in most cases that if everything goes well with the interview and you're approved that you can get your visa stamp within 5 days.

Now we get the second notice for the I-130 visa petition and it's approved!

What do we do in this case? do we have to go through the whole medical and interview process again and pay another $500? we just did that with the K-3 interview and still we're still waiting to hear from them! or do they just cancel the K-3 and process now the I-130 visa instead?

I need some insites to this please if anyone knows of a similar case like ours and let us know what we should do? Thanks in advance for your help.


Timeframe for both visa petitions I-130 & K-3:

applied for I-130 on June 19, 2003 at Vermont Service Center
received first NOA on June 23, 2003

applied for K-3 on July 3, 2003 at Chicago Center
received first NOA on July 7, 2003

received second NOA on Aug.5, 2003 from Chicgo Center
K-3 visa petition approved!

received packet 3-two weeks later from the Ankara Consulate

prepared all the documents and arranged the medical and interview appointment for Nov 3, 2003

Nov 3, 2003 spouse had his interview

Nov 5, 2003 spouse sent in his required photo and passport via UPS

still have not heard anything since from the Consulate

received second NOA Jan.13, 2004 from the Vermont Service Center
I-130 petition approved!

[mina]

Dear Julie,Pasha Pateland Board Members

The Service Center that I filed with was the Vermont Office.

I know that it sounds so unbelievable that both visa petitions were approved that fast, but it just totally through me off because now we don't know what to do?

my husband already had his interview for the K-3 visa on Nov 3, 2003 and everything went well except for the photo because it was not taken to the specification that they required, so he had the photo retaken again and sent it with his passport to the Consulate office via UPS.

Well it's been over 2 months since we heard anything from the Consulate and so we called the Consulate Office and were told to be patient. I heard that in most cases that if everything goes well with the interview and you're approved that you can get your visa stamp within 5 days.

Now we get the second notice for the I-130 visa petition and it's approved!

What do we do in this case? do we have to go through the whole medical and interview process again and pay another $500? we just did that with the K-3 interview and still we're still waiting to hear from them! or do they just cancel the K-3 and process now the I-130 visa instead?

I need some insites to this please if anyone knows of a similar case like ours and let us know what we should do? Thanks in advance for your help.


Timeframe for both visa petitions I-130 & K-3:

applied for I-130 on June 19, 2003 at Vermont Service Center
received first NOA on June 23, 2003

applied for K-3 on July 3, 2003 at Chicago Center
received first NOA on July 7, 2003

received second NOA on Aug.5, 2003 from Chicgo Center
K-3 visa petition approved!

received packet 3-two weeks later from the Ankara Consulate

prepared all the documents and arranged the medical and interview appointment for Nov 3, 2003

Nov 3, 2003 spouse had his interview

Nov 5, 2003 spouse sent in his required photo and passport via UPS

still have not heard anything since from the Consulate

received second NOA Jan.13, 2004 from the Vermont Service Center
I-130 petition approved!

[Pasha Patel]

Hi mina,

Greetings. What consulate is your husband dealing with? Mumbai? No you don't have to go through all those procedures ... usually if there is only problem with photo then they give another date probably after a month or so ... that day your husband will have to go to consulate office with photograph and they will issue the visa packet in afternoon after 3 pm ...
Kindly give here some more details what did consulate people tell your husband .... Thank you ... Pasha

[mina]

Dear Pasha

Thanks for your quick response

The Consulate that we're dealing with is in Ankara, Turkey

After my husband had his K-3 interview the officer told him that he had to retake his photo again and send it in by UPS as soon as possible and he did along with his passport. Now it's past 2 months now and we still have not heard anything from them. I also checked their web site and it said that once the interview is completed that they issue the visa within 5 days, but that doesn't seem to be the case for us since we been waiting for over 2 months now.

I'am just worried now because of the second NOA for the I-130 approval and that we would have to go again with the whole visa process of taking the medical exam and interview again. Mina

[Pasha Patel]

hi mina,

I am really sorry about your situation ... US Consulate in other countries are sometimes ignorant coz of work load or something else ... did your spouse send it via registered mail? If he has receipt I would like to recommend that he makes one personal trip to US Consulate and as about this at information windows that is usually open from 9 am to 2 pm... but it depends on each consulate individually ...

Sure you will not have to go through interview and medical tests again ... but tell your spouse to inquire about this matter with consulate ... Wish you all the best ... Pasha

[Julie]

I wouldnt have mailed in the requested document. Personally I would have left the embassy and gone to the nearest photomart in town and got the pic, and went & turned it back in. Regardless if the 130 is approved in usa, he needs the visa stamp in passport to travel, the embassy has to give it up. Follow up with embassy, have him go in person with duplicate photo and see if they can issue the visa same day. Maybe it was lost in the mail or something. I have another friend who is using vermont service center and she filed in may... she did tell me they were processing january cases already, and i must say im really jealous.. cant believe texas is so far behind in processing spousal 130, 3 years.. if you look at all the other categories they are processing the spouse of us citizen comes dead last, with exception of spouse of lpr. strange the order of priority there...

[SPrasad]

Hi Mina. I am concerned that maybe his passport and picture never even made it to the Embassy there. Has he called them to check and see if they received the UPS packet? I personally would have never sent something like that in the mail system in a foreign country.

I am surprised your I-130 is already approved in Vermont. I also filed my I-130 in Vermont in late April 2003, and have not heard anything. The processing times states they are processing I-130 received on or before March 1, 2003. I am confused but happy that yours is already approved.

If I were you, I would ask my husband to call the embassy to check and make sure they actually received the UPS packet. There should be a tracking number on it also.