i-601 waiver for Guatemala

[mayte]

Hi everyone,

My husband has an I-130 approved since November of 2007. He is still in the US with me and we want to do the I-601 waiver, but my questions, is does he have to be in Guatemala for the NVC process to begin, or at what stage of the process does he have to return to Guaetmala? Thanks in advance for any assistance provided.

[simply-heartfelt]

No he does not need to return to Guatemala until his appointment for the visa.

I'm sure someone that has gone through Guatemala will stop by with more detailed info soon!

[ujcdv]

NVC will notify you when their process is complete and give you instructions about your interview with the consulate. They will furnish you and the consulate with a G number.

You can then email back and forth with the consualte with any questions you have and or documentation/forms the consulate needs for your case (each visa is different and requires different forms and supporting documentation). They won't talk to you unless you have a G number with them.

Once you have your interview date, your spouse will then need to depart the U.S. just before the interview and show up, where if all goes accordingly he/she will be denied and the consulate will offer you to file the 601/212 (212 if your spouse was deported) waivers. To make the process faster, your spouse should have those ready along with the fee's for them currently at 500+ dollars a piece.

Someone else chime in if I have forgotten or omitted anything. :)

[russ2169]

It was necessary for my wife to leave before the interview date would be given.
This was necessary for the police certificate. The NVC stated no appointment would be made until we had the police certificate. Also, you need to have the medical certificate done in Guatemala.
Best of luck for your family.

[mayte]

Thank you all for your inputs on my concern. I will update you once I get the process started. My husband and I will be consulting an attorney this saturday on this issue. Thanks again.
Edit:
Hi russ2169, how long was your wife in Guatemala. I noticed that the waiver was approved within one month, and that is great. My other concern is that my husband have only been married for 1 year and 3 months and we have no children, will that make our waiver harder to approved, what do you think?

[JennyM]

Russ had an expedited request and so did Djones. The wait time is 6 months for the waiver, so unless your case is expedited, it won't be approved in a month. Good luck and welcome to the club.

BTW your hubby might have to go to Guatemala IF he left Guatemala within 6 months turing 16

[djones9714]

The way the police certificates work is as follows: You must obtain police certificates for every country where you have resided more than 6 months since attaining the age of 16. Therefore, if he stayed in Guatemala more than 6 months after turning age 16, he will have to return home sooner and obtain those police certificates and sent with his DS-230 to to the National Visa Center before they can complete his case and forward to the Embassy in Guatemala to set up the interview.

Many people have had to do this ahead of time. The only thing that saved us from this was the fact that he left 4 months after turning age 16. However, when he went for his visa interview in Guatemala, that was one of the first things they asked for even though we didn't have to submit then ahead of time.

[SEG 79]

My wife had her interview scheduled for February 22nd, 2007. She left the United States January 31st, 2007. This gave her enough time to get a Guatemalan Passport, a police certificate from her hometown and the Guatemalan Government, and the medical certificate from an approved consulate doctor.

Because she lived in the far northwest part of the country in San Antonio Huista Huehuetenago, this required several eight hour long bus rides to get her passport and medical examination: including several required vaccinations.

Obviously, she was denied her Visa and required to submit the waiver on February 26th, 2007. She recieved a call on July 16th, 2007 informing her that her I 601 had been approved.

[Deb&Sam]

Hey there, Im new to the site and wondered if anyone out there could help. My husband and I met in January of 2001 and began dating in April of that same year. We got engaged in April of 2003 and married in June of 2004. We started the process to get his papers done in January of 2005. We have our first I-130 interview in August of 2006 and we were told that we would hear something within a few months. Well this never happened and in august of 2007 we recieved another letter from Immigration asking for the same information we had taken the previous year for our I-130 interview. So we go to our 2nd interview and we are told that nothing was wrong with our interview or the information we subbmitted, it was just that our I-130 wasnt closed out. So we got an immediate approval letter and then were told we would be contacted from the NVC as to how we would proceed. Not having heard anything we waited. 2 weeks ago we recieved a notice to appear listing a court date. We immediatly got in contact with an attorney who told us that my husband can not adjust status here because he came from Guatemala without papers and we didnt apply until 2005. She informed us had we applied before April of 2001 he would have been able to adjust status here (we were not even married in 01). Anyhow she said my husbands only option is to say he will voluntarily depart (so that he does not get deported). At the time of our court date, he will have 120 days in which to leave the country. She will start the waiver process and work on the hardship letter with me so that everything is ready to go when we get the call for out interview. She suggested as soon as my husband arrives in Guatemala he should get his medical exam and a letter from the police saying he has never been in trouble.
Does anyone know how long this process takes! Any help would be appreciated!