This VISA is officially called as the ‘CR1/IR1
The ‘Spouse Visa’
I am an Indian citizen by birth and I have married an American citizen in January 2020. We initiated my Immigration Visa process in the following month.
We took the services of the legal house to file for the Visa, I would suggest people who can afford the fee (can be high) to consider the legal services instead of doing it by themselves
1) because it adds authenticity to your application as the lawyers will ensure all your documents in order before filing.
2) it can at times can get in a way too complicated to keep a tab of timelines and paperwork specially now when the process is taking longer than usual.
The stipulated timeline for the IR1/CR1 category usually happens to be between 7 to 9 months but little did I knew I will be caught up in the whirlpool of Pandemic. it struck hard on India in the March 2020 and suddenly all the offices were shut, people where forced into their homes and complete lockdown happened. The dreadful virus took the health and lives of many and also took my opportunity to complete my VISA process in time. In the month of April 2020, my husband met with an accident, that took my breath away, I didn’t know what to do, I had no ways to reach him but by God’s grace he wasn’t hurt it was only the vehicle, ufff that was a narrow escape. He physically didn’t suffer much but he was alone, friends were great help then. The US consulate and Embassy in India were shut down completely and it all suddenly stopped. we were dark-sided on the progress of our application.
However the days and months were all getting depressing more so for me because I was stuck home in India and my husband in the US. The pandemic caused a lockdown there as well. People were forced to work from home. The USCIS declared it would only issue emergency visa and its primary goal would be to unite families well that gave us some hope. Time passed by, finger crossed and to our utter happiness all our documents were cleared by USCIS in the month of September 2020 and we were glad that we were still into the time frame of 7-9 months.
Our application was to be filed further for the final round of interview when we slipped from our timeline, our attorney failed to file immediately and took a month to file.
It is usual that one gets the interview date from the US Consulate within a month or two from the date of filing. We still had hope that latest by the December 2020 I would travel. Our friends in US had made plans and pushed their dates of celebrations to sync to mine and my suitcases were packed with surety. We were counting dates.
We were pushed back by the applications before us and as the work force was reduced by 1/3rd the pile of applications grew taller bottleneck. We couldn’t see ourselves moving anywhere with our application, so we decided to write a letter to the NVC to expedite our case in December 2020 but NVC declined our plea stating we did not have enough ground for emergency VISA.2020 didn’t end as expected but there was a lot of hope pinned on year 2021. We also approached both of our state senators to intervene, they responded immediately but couldn’t do much, their office too received a negative reply from NVC.
January 2021 was our anniversary and I hadn’t met my husband for past one year. He had the OCI card and thankfully he could travel because by then partially the travel ban was lifted allowing him to travel. Since he was working from home he could manage to extend his stay by a month. We were hoping in couple of months things would materialize but in wane, my husband left for the US in March 2021 and I cried my eyes out. By that time my anxiety levels started soaring. Though the senators office also followed up on us on the matter regularly but nothing worked and in April 2021 we gave up on the politicians too.
With vaccines and lockdown things started easing and people relaxed and US Consulate opened interview slots, we moved forward in the cue and my happiness had no bounds, we had joined different groups which made it easy for us to track the process, like the application dates summoned for the interview and the kind of questions they as in the interview.
Going by those dates we were expecting our interview by April 2021, mind you my spirit was all high till then except for the psychological and emotional damage that was collateral of being away in a brand new relation.
But as the time came India was struck by the second wave of COVID in April 2021 and this was more severe than the first wave and known to me a lot a people lost their lives but only thing good in these testing times was that non of my immediate family members massively suffered, I can’t thank God enough for this.
But once again my hope went for a toss and the months after months went by and my anxiety was a continuous sine curve. Every month from 11th to 15th I would pump in myself the positivity that I would have my interview letter and then fall back to negativity then after. It was cyclic, till the month of October 2021, it was one complete year of wait since our approval from NVC. That realization took on me hard, I lost hope and moreover I lost interest in the whole process, my thought process took a depressing turn and above all my mental and physical health was going down hill.
But that was all on inside only my husband and my parents could read but on outside I had to be strong and smiling and at my best behavior and it gets you more when you cannot vent out or cannot put your guards down and surroundings aren’t exactly favorable.
From October starts the festive season in India and it was all gloomy. That’s when my husband took a brave call to sue the ‘SECREATRY OF STATE’ for unreasonable delay in processing spouse VISA of a ‘US CITIZEN’. This was our last resort and then there was a wait for its response and then there was suddenly stillness within us, because it was end of the road.
I decided to go to my parent’s in Muzaffarpur to stay for a while, I didn’t know where else to find solace. Again the year went by and frankly I had no hopes for 2022, I was too scared to hope.
However me and my husband were both longing for one another and decided to be together on our anniversary in January 2022, come what may. My husband decided to come on 21st of January to be together for our 2nd anniversary and I decided to go back to my in-law’s place in Kolkata a week before to receive him, and I can never forget the date 14th January 2022, we my husband called me at 2am (IST), I was sleeping, when I saw the call I was scared about such late night call. I received and my husband said “I couldn’t control myself to hold the information till morning, we have our interview date on 1st of February 2022 at 8:30 am in US Consulate, Mumbai”. Those felt like the sweetest words I had heard in a long time. I couldn’t control, I woke up my parents and told them the news, they were so happy and we couldn’t sleep then. In the morning I called my mother-in-law and told her the news and she was also happy for me.
Next day the excitement knew bounds, but it dawned upon us that we had only 2 weeks to interview, usually the applicants are notified at least 4 to 5 weeks before the interview date because that’s in general is the time taken to complete the biometrics and the medical rounds, it is a mandate to have the outcomes of these rounds before the interview and we had only 2 weeks. However special circumstances need special measure, we had no choice but to rush.
We got into the re-scheduling of all our travel, instead of me going to Kolkata decided to go to Mumbai directly but I realized my documents were in Kolkata so again rescheduled from Patna to Kolkata to reach on 19th January and on 21st January I flew from Kolkata to Mumbai where my husband was joining me on same day. My husband rescheduled his flight from Chicago to New York and from New York to Mumbai instead of his usual Chicago-New Delhi-Kolkata. He had thankfully made booking in the hotel in advance for us so all I had to do was just go there and check myself in.
As soon as I reached the hotel reception, I asked them to check me in and told them I already have a room booked in my husband’s name and they asked for my ID proof, me and my husband have different surnames, I have retained my maiden name in all my official documents and the reception was expecting a Mrs. Gupta. They took my ID and asked if we needed two separate rooms with a big smile and then it dawned upon me they must have thought we were only pretending to be husband and wife, that was hilarious, I couldn’t stop giggling my way from elevator to the room :).
My husband reached late night and I the moment he entered the room I clung to him like always, damn the COVID protocols. I have always done that at airport on his arrivals every time, it was like I forgot everything else when I saw him after so long, I still do that 😉 but I don’t recommend that, also my husband and me were fully vaccinated so it was kind of less risky .
However we started preparing for medical which was to happen on 24th January and biometric on 27th January. I had to request and continuously follow with the assigned clinic by the NVC in Mumbai to get an appointment at such short notice but then I managed to get one sufficiently before the interview date because it also takes anywhere between 5 to 7 working days to get the results. I had my medical and biometric on set dates and the medical tests results were directly sent to the US Consulate in Mumbai. It took us 3 hours to get the medical exams done, I had to take 4 shots of vaccines because the absence of the past record, had it been there they would have poked me twice less. Biometric was a 5 minute easy experience.
My husband helped with the interview part, in documenting right and finally the big day arrived. A night before I wasn’t too well and that made me worry my body reads high on temperature they wouldn’t allow me inside the building in the light of pandemic situation, but it was alright. I was in by 8 am but my husband was not allowed even after being US citizen, again because of the pandemic. I was asked go to the window no. 1 to get my token number immediately, then within 45 mins I was called on the window no. 2 to verify my documents which took only 5 mins and the I was asked to wait and I took a seat and the hours started passing it was 4 and a half hours and only 5 people left. Now my panic level shot, I started thinking something was wrong with my application and while I was think they flashed my token number I walked to the window and the lady officer asked me few questions some of them with a twist to which I had to answer firmly and after 5mins she looked and me and said “Congrats your VISA has been approved, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA” . Phewwww …… suddenly felt like a knot in my throat, somehow found my voice and thanked her. I couldn’t feel my knees for a moment.
Felt like some exam, however walked out and collected my phone which they deposited for Rs. 50 at the entrance. I saw my husband taking long strides towards me, hats off to him, he waited those almost 5 hours for me at coffee shop and later outside the building. The smile gave it all, he didn’t ask, I didn’t say. It was beautiful feeling, we called the family in turns to inform of the good news for which they too were glued to their phones. JOY was the moment. We had decided to hand pick the passport so waited till 5th of February and went to collect the passport , they asked me check it before leaving. I opened the first page, there was no VISA, I thought they goofed up, I was about to cry when I turned pages inside and saw the VISA, WHAT A RELIEF. We flew back on 6th February to Kolkata and couldn’t wait to travel to the US, we decided to fly on 16th of February from Kolkata to Chicago and here I am today writing this blog on 25th May 2022 from the cozy living room of my beautiful house in Carmel, Indiana.