Starting out

[Smithbridge 0]

HI all,

I am brand new to this site and after debating whether to go through a site like rapid visa I thought I'd give this a try first. Hope you can help.

So I am about to file the i129F, hopefully within the next couple of weeks, I am the UK fiancé of a US citizen but I'll be doing all the paperwork preparation.

Our situation is this; we have been together for almost 3 years, both working on cruise ships, we are currently on a ship together and I am in the US on C1D crewmember's visa. I will be returning to the UK in October for 3 weeks before flying back to the ship for 6 months. When I finish that contract in May of 2014 I am hoping that everything will be set up in order that I can Join my fiance in Texas in June, marry and remain in the US for my AOS.

Im assuming that my interview scheduling will not be so fast that I can do it in October whist I am home so my questons are:

Am I able to postpone the interview at the London US Embassy until I arrive home in May?

If so, how long from the date of interview until I can enter the US to marry?

What impact does my C1D Visa have on the whole process?

Thanks so much,

G

[Smithbridge 0]

Also, I have just assumed that my filing location will be the Texas service centre but how do i know if this is correct?

[Freelibrary 9]

hello there!

Bellow are the things you can consider to answer your questions...

1. The waiting time for I-129F petition approval according to the published timeframe of USCIS is 5 months but then it depends on the case. Some might get it earlier or some get it later... you can browse VJ members timeline for that.

2. After your petition has been approved, meaning you already recieved your NOA2 (approval)... it will be valid for 4 months. You can make this as a guideline whether/ until when you can "postpone" your interview. Just bear in mind that you must have your interview within that 4 months validity.

3.After the interview and you were approved, the K1 visa that will be issued to you is valid for 6 months.

4. In my opinion, your C1D Visa will not be a problem.

5. The USCIS will decide where they will send your application for processing but then you can always assume... i guess USCIS will always send it to the nearest service center that your petitioner lives...

Well, I hope this help you with your calculation... or maybe other VJ members have also something to say??

Have a great visa journey to you!!!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

You do not mail it to a service center. The filing location for the I-129F petition is the Dallas Lockbox facility, as stated here > http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=a10e4154d7b3d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

It will be sent to the appropriate service center from there.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Jay-Kay

[Freelibrary 9]

You do not mail it to a service center. The filing location for the I-129F petition is the Dallas Lockbox facility, as stated here > http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=a10e4154d7b3d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

It will be sent to the appropriate service center from there.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Im assuming that my interview scheduling will not be so fast that I can do it in October whist I am home so my questons are:

Am I able to postpone the interview at the London US Embassy until I arrive home in May?

If so, how long from the date of interview until I can enter the US to marry?

What impact does my C1D Visa have on the whole process?

Thanks so much,

G

Each consulate is a bit different, so theses are LONDON answers.

1). Yes you will be able to postpone your interview at the London Embassy. If it is after the four month validity of the approved I-129F petition, London requires your fiancé to submit a new letter of intent (notarized) saying she is still free to marry and intends to marry you within 90 days of your entry. See that statement in the London letter of instruction for K1s here in this post http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/350185-london-2012-k1s-from-noa2-to-interview-thread/?p=5180175 where they explain how to revalidate an expired petition.

2) Your visa will be issued by London to expire 6 month from your medical date which is around a month before your interview. With a good reason, they can extend an unused visa up to a year. I believe you would have to be cleared of tuberculosis again if six months had passed and pay a new visa fee. Here is a source of information on the London website to back up what I told you. First two questions,

http://london.usembassy.gov/faq-imm-proc.html#iv062

3) I don't know anything about C1D visas, but I think you are only allowed one visa at a time, so the C1D would likely be voided when your K1 is issued. Something to research because I don't know.

4) Texas Lockbox is a mail facility that receives all I-129F petitions, deposits checks, looks for basic submission items that might be missing, issues receipts (Notice of Action1), then sends it to a USCIS service center. It is not the same as Texas Service Center. Texas applicant's (your fiancé) traditionally are processed at the Vermont Service Center. They got very far behind and shipped out a batch of files to the Texas Service center this year to help with their workload. Texas Service Center had not been processing I-129F petitions for quite some time and is probably going to remain that way and only temporarily picking up a workload shift. We never know for sure what future plans will be.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Nich-Nick

[Smithbridge 0]

1. The waiting time for I-129F petition approval according to the published timeframe of USCIS is 5 months but then it depends on the case. Some might get it earlier or some get it later... you can browse VJ members timeline for that.

2. After your petition has been approved, meaning you already recieved your NOA2 (approval)... it will be valid for 4 months. You can make this as a guideline whether/ until when you can "postpone" your interview. Just bear in mind that you must have your interview within that 4 months validity.

Thanks so much for your responses, let me see if I', getting my head around this correctly:

So if I want the interview to be within the 4 months validity but i don't enter the country until 23rd may, i don't want to get my NOA2 until the beginning of march, which will allow me a month on returning to have the interview? Which if the 5 months approval wait time is accurate, I shouldn't file until around october time?

Does that sound like a good approach?

[Freelibrary 9]

Thanks so much for your responses, let me see if I', getting my head around this correctly:

So if I want the interview to be within the 4 months validity but i don't enter the country until 23rd may, i don't want to get my NOA2 until the beginning of march, which will allow me a month on returning to have the interview? Which if the 5 months approval wait time is accurate, I shouldn't file until around october time?

Does that sound like a good approach?

you are most welcome!

Filing in October will be fine... but then we always say that we can't exactly determine since each case is different! Just always have your plan B ( C, D etc. etc... ) just in case things doesn't fall in your time frame