How does first entry on an immigrant visa go?
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Community answers
The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.
If you have gone through the consular process outside the U.S., immigrant visas are affixed, you enter on them, and then within a month all documents arrive at your address in the U.S. The waiting queue for the bulletin is done while you are outside the country.
This will be useful for everyone: download the Case Tracker app - when the green card is sent to you, a tracking code will be sent, and you can track the envelope with the card. Ours set off from Kansas yesterday.
Regarding payment for issuing the green card - enter the link indicated on the paper received with the visa, and it will redirect you to the correct website. There you will enter all the data and pay for the cards' issuance.
You can enter on an immigrant visa to initiate the green card production process and then leave without waiting for its receipt. As mentioned above, this path is risky, but theoretically possible.
Upon entry, the border officer asked about the medical exam - we went through the MOM in Serbia, where they don't administer the chickenpox vaccine. I stated that my husband has all medical documents on hand, and that response satisfied him. The missing documents were later delivered to the U.S. under insurance.
The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.
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A reference page built from community experience, not legal advice. Requirements and practice change - verify on uscis.gov.
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