hi @mandi Saab did you expedite your case ?

Did you do counselar process? @Mandi saab

congrats!

@Mandi saab congrats. we are in the same boat just opposite my wife is in Lebanon. So did you end up expediting as that was very quick. Couple of things while you waiting in the NVC case number which you will need to pay the fees which will total $325+$120. I would recommend you to start translating if your husband already has them, the Police Cert, Ikraj Kaid fardi, ikraj kaid 3elee and birth certificate. Also translate the marriage cert which I am going to assume you have it already translated because you needed it for the USCIS I-130. You will also need to translate your birth certificate unless you are born in the US. Also I would start on completing I-864 and prep supporting documents like the recent tax transcript which you can download from irs.gov and your recent W-2, I also added an employment letter and my last 4 paystubs. ofcourse you will need a copy of your passport and his passport. you will also need a passport photo of your husband. All what I mentioned here you will need to upload on the NVC CEAC portal once you pay the fees which should activate around 3 business days after you pay. I was able to upload everything and complete the DS-260 in less than 2 hours as I had everything on hand. I am currently waiting on NVC to either approve my documents or ask for something to add or fix. Hope this helps.

@Ruth Enea she is Counselor processing because her husband is in Lebanon and she is in the US

I did expedite my case. when I got married my father unexpectedly passed away the day after I landed in Lebanon so when I returned to the states the senator did a request it got denied. we waited 6 months my situation changed my mom went on hospice and it's just my mom 5 year old and myself left so we filed another request it was denied. my landlord tried to attack me and ultimately us evicting us so the senator refined the request and I attached a novel of evidence and it got approved yesterday. plus with the war reaching into South Lebanon they decided in our favor inshallah. it's been a terrifying year for me and it was a lot of work but we were persistent and it paid off.

congratulations

@R B congrats on your approval. so we used rapidvisa to file which the only positive is we paid all our fees up front. but they didn't tell us we had to transcribe all our documents until I was there so we went ahead and spent like 200$ and had all of it translated thankfully. I did the 260 this morning and and the I864 and ds-160 are completed just needing to be forward because of rapid visa I was trying to be as fast as possible and get it all done. it's very confusing though honestly. how long have you been waiting since your approval for a decision and did they do yours as a k-3 visa?

I don't know what is rapidvisa but if I did and I knew it would have made my case get l approved faster, I would have used it 😀. But I was able to do everything on my own. I did apply for the K3 but late in the game but since my I-130 was approved 10 days ago the K3 most probably will not be processed by USCIS at this point. Now why are you doing both the DS-160 and DS-260. Do you have an approved K3 I-129F or I-130 if your husband is coming on the immigrant visa DS-260 you do not need the DS-160 actually the US Embassy might not even process it. As I hate for you to pay the $265 for the DS-160 and it is going to be a waste

@Mandi saab this is my time like * I-130 approved 20 Nov * Approval notice sent to NVC 23 Nov * NVC Welcome Letter received 24 Nov * Paid all fees 24 Nov * Logged onto the NVC CEAC portal and completed DS-260, uploaded I-864 along with supporting documents and uploaded all civil documents 28 Nov currently waiting on NVC for an approval or they need something.

studi the citizenship also the yes and no questions,. be ready

@R B no rapidvisa was a total waste of time and money actually I paid them for Nothing I could have done it by myself and saved like 800$. and I only did the 160 because when I logged into the website it made me do it. I paid 445 for fees. 325 for him and 120 for AOS. I thought that we had our case expedited but the senator sent a letter and they said we weren't eligible to expedite so Allah intervened is all I can come up with. have uou gotten an approval yet?

@Mandi saab sorry to hear that but honestly usually those services are a waste especially if you can do it yourself. Hey still your case was approved by USCIS very fast so that's great. Now focus on the NVC. They are actually fast compared to USCIS. Like I mentioned I uploaded on Nov 28 and they reached out to me exactly within 1 week (6 Dec) that I am missing a document though everything else I provide was accepted so I provided the missing document same day and now I am waiting for the DQ which if they stick to the same timeline I should get it next week. If it wasn't for that document my wife would have got the DQ. So make sure before you submit that you uploaded everything. in this scenario more is better than less

@Mandi saab once you pay it is 2 to 3 business days to be able to upload and complete the DS-260. Also once you complete the DS-260 send the confirmation page of DS-260 to your husband he will need it for the I-864 supporting document provide the tax transcript they prefer that. I did though include W2, last 4 biweekly paystubs and employment letter

@R B did you have to take an interview?

@Mandi saab why would I need to take an interview. My wife will need to interview at the US Embassy in Beirut once she has an appointment ofcourse after the NVC give us a DQ.

@R B that's what I meant your wide. I am trying to get my husband's done quickly because after the 3rd of January plane tickets are going up to 3k. it's outrageous

@Mandi saab look at Turkish Airways one way and Egypt Airways they are less that $700

@Mandi saab let me know when you get DQ by NVC. I am still waiting and hoping this week as I submitted the missing document last week Dec 6

@R B will do im still getting all the documents together I should have them all sent in by Thursday hopefully. and like so I kmow how long approx. it will take did she already do her doctor's visit?

@Mandi saab if any of you were married make sure the divorce decree is included and translated if not in English. Yes she was able to do the medical exam under the K1 Visa mid November which I believe is valid for 6 months.

@Mandi saab today morning I got an email from the NVC that my wife is DQ. So now we wait to see when will she get an interview

@R B yay that's awesome I am still uploading documents bc rapid visa won't add my joint sponsor form because I didn't pay for that service when i first signed up with them because I didn't know that I had to. this process is miserable and confusing but it's almost over now thankfully

@Mandi saab I know you paid for the sucky service but you don't need them. you can upload them all yourself on the CEAC portal.

@R B what software did you use to compression the files?

I did not need to any compression. Everything I uploaded onto the NVC CEAC portal where pdf or jpg format. Why do you need to do compression. To NVC you will need to upload every file separately under its own line item. So you would not need to compress anything and NVC need the documents uploaded in a certain way. Click on the link below and check steps 7 to 9. Also look at step 9 there is an image on how they will look when you upload them. Hope that helps. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-8-scan-collected-documents.html

@Mandi saab wanted to let you know today my wife received the interview email Feb 2024

@R B Yat that's fantastic news!!! congratulations for both of you. my husband's got accepted but waiting for NVc to send to beirut im so glad the hard part is over

@Mandi saab congrats. let us know when your husband get the interview

@Mandi saab did you get an interview date. your husband has IR1 or CR1?

@R B not yet I had some documents to resubmit now there saying my income Is insufficient which isn't correct but they said the consuler can handle when we get the interview so just waiting

@R B not yet I filed my taxes for last year to prove I make enough now they want my w2 that won't come until next week. it's a cr1

@Mandi saab good that you making movement ok just submit it and usually in a week they will respond and hopefully a DQ

@R B meh not really because our w2s haven't been sent out they're supposed to come out this week but we had a snow storm shut down the state so I'm hoping it won't delay much because I'm about to move and everything this weekend ugh

@R B they approved it today were waiting on interview date!!!!! I'm so excited is your wife with you yet in the us ?

@Mandi saab congrats happy for you. let me know when you get an interview date. seems like they are quick compared to other US Embassies. My wife interview date is scheduled for 21 Feb. will keep you posted how it goes

@R B not yet how long after ur dq did u get a date

@Mandi saab 2 weeks after DQ she got the interview date

@R B got letter yesterday appointment April 11th

@Mandi saab congrats. happy for you.

@Mandi saab also make sure your husband takes the original marriage certificate and original divorce. they will not accept copies

@R B ok thank you he has the originals with him.

@R B what questions did they ask yall? and she made it to the states yet

@Mandi saab yes she was here Mar 27. the trip was smooth. well in the airport they asked her where will she will live in the U.S. and in the embassy they asked her what does your husband do for a living, do you work, do you know that your husband was married, where does your husband live, do you have kids

@R B she have to bring 2 passport photos you to the interview?

yes she took 2

@R B they always asked me stuff in the airport arriving and leaving my husband has his interview today 🤞in glad everything went smoothly

@Mandi saab congrats.....got approved right. soon you will be together

@R B kinda...apparently somehow every official managed to miss the numbers that are supposed to be on the marriage license that registers us with the government and his family record. I rescheduled aj appointment for the 28th and he is going Monday to try and get ut fixed so it's a small delay ugh. but hopefully soon. Lebanon is so complicated compared to the us 🤣

@Mandi saab I know it happens, this process requires patience. yes it happens but keep moving forward. my wife when she went to the interview they wanted the original document and she had a copy but when they checked her papers they told her all is good. so things like that happen but as long as you keep moving forward it will at the end work out

@R B agreed its just hard and the registration process can take 5 months but thankfully my husband has a little pull so theu are trying to do it by the 28th, but it might require me to find the Lebanese embassy to go to in person which would be Alabama so it's frustrating but we've come this far and he's the love of my life so we will do what we have to for him to be here

good luck and hope all works out for you and him. I had gone through what you going through. In my case there were strikes and our marriage certificate wouldn't get signed so we have to wait more than a month to get it..

@Mandi saab are you from الشويفات

@R B no were saab from beirut at least my husband is I am American.

@R B when your wife went to the embassy visit did you have marriage registered? apparently we didn't but now lebabon says the need a paper signed that shows my single status in order to finish registration. however my husband has no clue what they are talking about. they said I can use my divorce decree but it has to be signed by an American embassy but America doesn't have American embassies that I'm aware. we are very confused

@Mandi saab sorry just saw you message now. hope all worked out for you snd you are united with your husband. I did nothing of that sort. ofcourse we got married in Lebanon and I translated it and my divorce was in the US because it was a US marriage so I submitter it as is