NOA2 Finally Makes its Appearance & My Visa Journey So Far...

Okay, so on Sunday I had a bit of a bad day and ranted about still not receiving my NOA2!! Well two days later it made it's appearance! Well three days for me... I can never sleep through the night without waking up at least 4/5 times a night, on Monday night was one of those nights where I miraculously slept through until 1:30am! What happened to waking up 2 times before then i'm not sure, but anyways... So I woke up, my phone was flashing red, indicating that there was some sort of notification, I checked it, saw I had two emails, went into my emails and saw one from USCIS ~ I literally jumped straight up in bed when I read what it said :

"Your Case Status: Post Decision Activity

On April 11, 2011, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E). Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283."

I read it like 5 times over and over to make sure I wasn't seeing things / dreaming, checked the time it was sent (00.29am)... Then I immediately sent Dustin a gmail chat message - I thought he would have been sent a notification, but by the time I had woken up and read the email he hadn't received anything yet! So he was also OVER THE MOON with happiness! We both got onto Facebook and updated our status, and I let my VJ girl-friends know too... I didn't go back to sleep until about 4 this morning... I didn't quite know what to do with myself, I wanted to wake everyone up and tell them, but then I thought against it - I don't think I would have been a very popular person at 1:30am in the morning... LOL

So yes, our journey is now going to move MUCH faster now. The petition now gets sent to the NVC, they log in our case, I am going to get Dustin to give them a call at the end of this week to get our case number, so then we can call DOS to see when it left NVC and when it arrives at the embassy. Once I know all that info. I can then request my next lot of documents from the JHB embassy to fill out and send back to them, so that I can get my Visa interview date... :)

My Visa Journey Both Dustin And I Have Gone Through Together :

01.10.2010 (Day 1) - I-129F Sent
06.10.2010 (Day 6) - I-129F Delivered
22.10.2010 (Day 22) - Date Reflecting That We On The System
25.10.2010 (Day 25) - Date Of NOA1 (On Hard Copy)
26.10.2010 (Day 26) - NOA1 Notification Received (Email & Text Notification)
27.10.2010 (Day 27) - Last Updated "Touched"
29.10.2010 (Day 29) - NOA1 Hard Copy Received In The Mail
06.12.2011 (Day 67) - Applied For My Unabridged Birth Certificate (Long Form)
10.01.2011 (Day 102) - Applied For My Police Clearance Certificate
25.01.2011 (Day 117) - My Unabridged Birth Certificate Is READY!!
15.03.2011 (Day 166) - Police Clearance Certificate ArrivedVvia Courier
18.03.2011 (Day 169) - Went For My Medical In Durban - PASSED!! Yay!
11.04.2011 (Day 193) - NOA2 (Email From USCIS Website)
15.04.2011 (Day 197) - NOA2 Hardcopy Received In The Mail
15.04.2011 (Day 197) - NVC Received Petition
19.04.2011 (Day 201) - Called NVC ~ Got Our Case Number (YAY!)
19.04.2011 (Day 201) - Petition Left NVC ~ Sent To JHB Embassy
26.04.2011 (Day 208) - Petition Arrived At JHB Embassy
26.04.2011 (Day 208) - Received Packet 3 Via Email (YAY!)
27.04.2011 (Day 209) - Emailed Back Packet 3
28.04.2011 (Day 210) - Received Packet 4
05.05.2011 (Day 217) - Recieved Phone Call From US Embassy - Interview Date 
                                          Changed to 19th May :( (18th is a Public Holiday)
12.05.2011 (Day 224) - Received Phone Call From US Embassy As I Landed in
                                          JHB, They Asked If I Could Make It For An Interview
                                          TODAY!! Aaaaaah!!
12.05.2011 (Day 224) - Interview In Johannesburg - APPROVED!! YEAH!
20.05.2011 (Day 232) - My Visa Is Finally Ready - I Can Pick It Up At 11:00pm


7 MONTHS 20 DAYS FROM SUBMITTING PETITION TO GETTING MY VISA...

NOA2 Blues...

So Dustin and I have been waiting for my NOA2 now for 5 months, 2 weeks and 2 days!! I was so hoping that we would be onto the interview stage of this process right now, but like always we are made to wait longer!

I am trying so hard to be patient, but really some days it is SO hard to find the patience for something you have been waiting what feels like a lifetime for!! All we want is to be together again in the same country!

This week has been nothing but nice for me, no NOA2 yet and there were threats of a US Government Shutdown, which meant no US visas or passports were going to be issued! All of us going through this process were stressing like mad, trying to wait patiently for midnight on April 8th to arrive so we knew if we would have to wait longer to be with our other halves or not. When I woke up this morning, I saw my friend Genevieve's Facebook status saying that they had managed to come to a decision and avert the shutdown! Well that made me VERY happy, at least SOMETHING went right this week!

We are really hoping for some good news this coming week! Can't believe what we've been through to be together again!! BUT it will all be worth it in the end, I just know it will :)

SOUTH AFRICAN and AMERICAN...

need to reunited again! Together in one country!!