So alhumdualillah!
In the last month and a half things have gotten moving with regards to my husband’s IR/CR1 visa!
I decided to attempt a case expedite for my husband based on financial hardship and my pregnancy. After two botched attempts because the National Visa Center does not have a website or page that describes what format, information or evidence should be included in a case expedite request – I finally sent in the CORRECT style of email with the CORRECT information included on 9/3/2014.
By 9/16/2014 – I had a first email stating the following,”The U.S. Embassy or Consulate is willing to expedite this case once we have all the fees, forms, and documents.” So first conditional approval – meaning I needed a case complete from the National Visa Center BEFORE the Casablanca Consulate would expedite my husbands case.
Then a few hours later I go back to my email and do a double take – I have a second email regarding the case expedite request that states the following,”Please disregard the last message we send to you in error. The U.S.
Embassy/Consulate General has accepted this case for expedited
processing. This file will be immediately forwarded to the U.S.
Embassy/Consulate General. Any further questions concerning processing
or the interview appointment date should be directed to the U.S. Embassy
or Consulate General.”
I was shocked and thrilled – We GOT the expedite without conditions!!!
I followed up with NVC regarding the corrections I send in June 2014 – with a scan date of 7/8/2014 – on 9/16/2014 to say its been 72 days and still no one has looked at the corrections – what the heck is the hold up? Yet AGAIN. Only again to hear my husband and I had been waiting that long for a FREAKING CHECKLIST!
Yeah I was pissed. I went over the corrections with the NVC rep and asked if my husbands case had been sent to the Casablanca Consulate yet – she said no not yet most likely tomorrow or the day after.
So 9/19/2014 called the NVC again – spoke to a supervisor who said yes my husband case had been shipped out and then she paused and said it looks like your husband’s case has been entered into the Consulate’s data base.
So I followed up after I got off the phone call with NVC – with an email to the Casablanca Consulate asking if indeed they had my husband’s case – and got this reply back, “Dear Mme,
Thank you for your email inquiry. This office has not yet received the petition you filed on behalf of your spouse. Usually immigrant visa cases are scheduled by the National Visa Center (NVC) in the United States. We only receive files at this office after the interview has been scheduled and a packet mailed to the applicant.”
I find this ironic give I got a call from the Casablanca Consulate on 9/17/2014 at 2:43pm Moroccan time – with no voicemail message left. I called and called the Casablanca Consulate trying to get the operator – only to end up at a unset up voicemail box.
I called the Rabat Embassy switchboard and had their operator transfer me to the Casablanca Consulate – not once but more than four different times – resulting in A. Rude interactions when I attempted to explain why I was calling with consulate staff talking over me and ignoring what I said B. Being transferred to incorrect departments AND more unset up voicemail boxes. C. Getting hung up on and/or having the call incorrectly transferred so that the call dropped.
If this is the way a US Citizen abroad is treated by US State Department staff who work at the Casablanca Consulate – I shutter to think what the Moroccan’s have to deal with. Its a shame this is the type of customer service and treatment is the face of the United States of America abroad in Morocco. I say this as a US Citizen and as a former Peace Corps Volunteer that served in Morocco!
I with the help of other savvy visajourney members figured out how to track my husband’s case to the Casablanca Consulate. My husband’s case arrived via diplomatic pouch 9/22/2014 in Casablanca.
Today I got a call – again I missed without a voicemail – from the Casablanca Consulate. I called my husband to see if it was the Consulate or not – he said yes he spoke with someone at the consulate and they discussed the paperwork for the i864 – as I made the corrections to the checklist we got last week and I was holding on to them for the interview.
The mysterious consular officer (apparently they don’t give out names because its a security issue – really? or just another way to not hold people accountable?) said that my husband’s interview date was to be the second week of October at 8 am. This mysterious consular officer also said that he should bring the co sponsors 1040s and i864A to the interview as something was incorrect on that form.
So I was excited to hear that – but worried maybe my husband missed something from the conversation as it wasn’t a complete list of documents and we need a physical letter for my husband to actually go to the interview.
So I continued my quest to get someone on the phone at the Casablanca Consulate – that could clarify the paperwork my husband needed at the interview. I called over 8x today – to get the brisk operator who talked over me again and told me to call back in an hour only to get her unset up voicemail box when I called back later. Then to call the US Embassy in Rabat – to have them transfer me to a real person at the Casablanca Consulate – who dropped the call – and I had to call the Embassy operator in Rabat again – to get a real person – who transferred my call correctly again – only to have my phone call end abruptly – when my phone ran out of minutes! I did have that person tell me they would send me an email with the list of documents needed for the interview. Before I got the dial tone. Still ARGH!!! What a cluster F just trying to get a person a REAL person on the phone!
SO I am praying someone sends my husband a list with the paperwork as we have a serious time crunch – we have 10 days to get my husband’s medical exam done, all the paperwork together, travel from Taza to Casablanca and get my husband to this interview – oh and for him to get permission for vacation to do all this with from the Protection Civile command in Taza!
I have already made the appointment with the Dr for the medical exam in Casablanca, got reservations and paid for our hotel room near the embassy and I am trying to get the paperwork together in the dark essentially.
I can feel the grey hairs multiplying as I type.
Ya Rabbi Make this easy for us! Ameen
Alhumdualillah for the interview date.
