*** K-3 May and June 2007 Filers ***

[wintime 0]

- Ok good news my I-129F check has been cashed, and I can see the image online,

- But the number in the back of the check started with "MSC" or "HSC" then 10 digit numbers,

- The image wasn't that clear,

- Any clue where this 3 strange letters in the beginning? or have anyone got them?

Also I have some questions,

What is the snail mail that everybody is talking about here ? never hared of it

How you guys know if your case has been touched? and what's so important about that?

Also for who whoever wants to know if it is ok to send I-129F without having the NOA1 for the I-130, and how much evidence to send. (even though I may be late on this info. and most if not all of you already knows it)

I have sent the following evidence with my I-129F to prove that I have submitted I-130

1- Cover letter explaining why I am not sending the NOA1, (didn't get it, and the USCIS were late to send it to me, problem in their end)

2- Mail delivery confirmation from USPS

3- Check image front and back that was cashed, took that from online bank statement.

4- Printout of the status report from USCIS website, got the case number after calling the USCIS customer service, the number wasn't clear in my check image.

Wish the best to all of us.

[RocksAnne 0]

RA, i think what he is saying is that drag your feet with the 130 so that you can get let the 129F take its coarse. but to your point, if the 129F will take long, i am not sure.

Here is my calculation. I-129F takes 4 months from NOA1 so expect approval by mid Oct. , 15 days processing at NVC and 2 months to get the stamp. so you will have a k3 by say end of Dec. now the i-130 route. NVC will take 3 month, Montreal (Since Vancouver only does K3s) takes another 3-4 months so you are looking at mid Jan to mid Feb.

you have keep both horses in the race but you run some risks such as transferring your K3 to Montreal and/or USCIS completely abandoning the 129f app.

So by this analysis, if RocksAnne can shave a month off of her NVC time for the CR-1 using James' shortcuts, there wouldn't be much of a difference between the two? Also, remember, she has an approved I130 and an assumed adjudication timeframe for the I129F.

RocksAnne, I am interested in knowing if you looked at James' shortcuts and are you going to give them a try?

Hi all,

Well,again, I'm so mad that they've screwed us around with this delay in approving the I-129Fs. I can't assess how risky it is to keep going with the I-130 since they keep changing the way they process stuff. They've completely subverted the whole purpose behind the K3 visa by messing around like this! Mostly I'm afraid to slow down the I-130 in case I end up with nothing at all scheduled by the end of the year!

URGE - I don't understand what you mean by an "assumed adjudication timeframe" ? And, yes, thanks - I did read James Shortcuts and I was actually starting to do them - I already emailed the NVC with the Choice of Agent. We were going to send in the AOS fee bill next week also.

I *think* I can still slow down the I-130 freight-train anytime in the next few weeks if something starts to move on the I-129F, (ha ha) since the I-130 won't be sent to the Consulate until the case is complete, and we still have more forms to file and fees to pay until that happens - so we'll see if we get any news about what's going on at VSC in the meantime.

[In Gods Hands 0]

- Ok good news my I-129F check has been cashed, and I can see the image online,

- But the number in the back of the check started with "MSC" or "HSC" then 10 digit numbers,

- The image wasn't that clear,

- Any clue where this 3 strange letters in the beginning? or have anyone got them?

Mabrouk wintime!!! It looks like our timelines for I-129F are similar. I just got my NOA1 for I-129F today in the mail. It looks like my check was cashed 2 days after the date on NOA1 (July 9). I was kind of worried that it would be longer than what I've seen on VJ statistics for those who filed couple months earlier.. but thank God...this wasn't. As for the rest of the journey..Inshallah!! God knows.. and Im still asking God for favor, speed and peace

I never received NOA1 for I-130 either and sent out the same evidence in its place as you did on July 2nd.

May we all continue to share and be encouraged with the news and info we share..even when we just wanna vent.

Gwen

[wintime 0]

- Ok good news my I-129F check has been cashed, and I can see the image online,

- But the number in the back of the check started with "MSC" or "HSC" then 10 digit numbers,

- The image wasn't that clear,

- Any clue where this 3 strange letters in the beginning? or have anyone got them?

Mabrouk wintime!!! It looks like our timelines for I-129F are similar. I just got my NOA1 for I-129F today in the mail. It looks like my check was cashed 2 days after the date on NOA1 (July 9). I was kind of worried that it would be longer than what I've seen on VJ statistics for those who filed couple months earlier.. but thank God...this wasn't. As for the rest of the journey..Inshallah!! God knows.. and Im still asking God for favor, speed and peace

I never received NOA1 for I-130 either and sent out the same evidence in its place as you did on July 2nd.

May we all continue to share and be encouraged with the news and info we share..even when we just wanna vent.

Gwen

Thanks Gwen,

Insha Allah this journey goes fast, easy, smooth for all of us, a question to you what was very first 3 letters in your case, main shows MSC or HSC, not sure due to a poor image, and I couldn't track using this number in USCIS case status inquiry.

And looking at the timeline of a lot of folks out here, I think this may take long time, maybe my wife will not be here until Jan of 2008 like 6 7 months from now, what was your estimate

[RocksAnne 0]

.... a question to you what was very first 3 letters in your case, main shows MSC or HSC, not sure due to a poor image, and I couldn't track using this number in USCIS case status inquiry.

Hi Wintime,

The three letters are MSC and stand for Missouri Service Center, which is where the check and paperwork is being processed before it gets sent on to the next step. Also, about the numbers on the back of the check - we've been discussing this before further up in this thread, so please search back a few pages for the details.

Basically though - the last number on the check is probably off by one. For example, if the last number on your check is a '4' then your actual new case number is probably a "5". So try adding +1 to the last number on your check and enter that number on your USCIS account page and see if your case pops up.

But also be aware that the case may take a few days to show up online on your account.

Good luck!

[pkewl 0]

- Ok good news my I-129F check has been cashed, and I can see the image online,

- But the number in the back of the check started with "MSC" or "HSC" then 10 digit numbers,

- The image wasn't that clear,

- Any clue where this 3 strange letters in the beginning? or have anyone got them?

Mabrouk wintime!!! It looks like our timelines for I-129F are similar. I just got my NOA1 for I-129F today in the mail. It looks like my check was cashed 2 days after the date on NOA1 (July 9). I was kind of worried that it would be longer than what I've seen on VJ statistics for those who filed couple months earlier.. but thank God...this wasn't. As for the rest of the journey..Inshallah!! God knows.. and Im still asking God for favor, speed and peace

I never received NOA1 for I-130 either and sent out the same evidence in its place as you did on July 2nd.

May we all continue to share and be encouraged with the news and info we share..even when we just wanna vent.

Gwen

Thanks Gwen,

Insha Allah this journey goes fast, easy, smooth for all of us, a question to you what was very first 3 letters in your case, main shows MSC or HSC, not sure due to a poor image, and I couldn't track using this number in USCIS case status inquiry.

And looking at the timeline of a lot of folks out here, I think this may take long time, maybe my wife will not be here until Jan of 2008 like 6 7 months from now, what was your estimate

Wintime..

First of all Congrats for getting NOA1 for your recently filed I-129F...

The Case# or the receipt#(same thing) that you are trying to infer is indeed "MSCxxxxxxxxxx". MSC stands for Missouri Service Center. I dont know the real old history behind I-129F's filing procedure but as it stands today, you send your I-129F(K3) to Chicago, which is just like a small USCIS office that I think just receives some specific applications, K3 in our case then they transfer the K3 to Missouri Sevice Center, which is also known as National Benefits Center or NBC, I believe, and thats why you 've got the MSC in your case number. Anyhow, MSC will then forward your I-129F to where your current I-130 is pending adjudication(final approval or NOA2).

So bottom line is, both of your applications, I-130 and I-129F(K3), after MSC has transferred it to your I-130 filing service center, at this point in time will be pending their respective finals approvals(NOA2) at the sevice center where you initially filed your I-130 and yes they both WILL retain their CASE# individually meaning separate (atleast as the USCIS procedure today is) so you WILL have to track both the cases separately in your CRIS portfolio. Basically, just add your new MSCxxxxxxx number to your USCIS account online. Remember, I-130(immigrant visa) and I-129F(K3 non-immigrant visa) are two separate INDEPENDENT processes.

Now, starting end of July or some time in near future I believe this filing procedure for I-129F(K3) that I just explained above is ALSO about to change or so I hear. I dont have all the exact details yet so I dont want to speculate anything about it but other VJ members who are aware of this "filing" change are more than welcome to add to this. In any case, since you already filed your I-130 and I-129F, you dont have to worry about this change though.

Hope this helps. Good Luck to all.

Regards,

Pkewl

[wintime 0]

RocksAnne and Pkewl,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS GREAT AND DETAIL EXPLANTION I really I appreciate it,

what confused me is that I thought from the USCIS case tracking error message, it only gave me 4 possible alphas that may proceed the case number (EAC, WAC, LIN, or SRC), now I know what is the MSC.

Thanks a gain

[In Gods Hands 0]

Okaaaaaaaaay... I searched and cant find it. Anybody know how I can look up case status online for I-129F? I went to where I look up I-130 status and input MSC# I obtained from letter, but it says invalid.. am I at the wrong place. I hope someone reads this and can help me. Thanks..

P.S. ..wintime..Im sorry I went to bed soon after posted.. Im glad you got ur answers.

[edp333 9]

Okaaaaaaaaay... I searched and cant find it. Anybody know how I can look up case status online for I-129F? I went to where I look up I-130 status and input MSC# I obtained from letter, but it says invalid.. am I at the wrong place. I hope someone reads this and can help me. Thanks..

P.S. ..wintime..Im sorry I went to bed soon after posted.. Im glad you got ur answers.

You are correct, CRIS is where you check your I-129F case staus online. USCIS probably has not entered you into the system yet. This seems to be happening quite often lately.

[Urge To Race 2]

RA, i think what he is saying is that drag your feet with the 130 so that you can get let the 129F take its coarse. but to your point, if the 129F will take long, i am not sure.

Here is my calculation. I-129F takes 4 months from NOA1 so expect approval by mid Oct. , 15 days processing at NVC and 2 months to get the stamp. so you will have a k3 by say end of Dec. now the i-130 route. NVC will take 3 month, Montreal (Since Vancouver only does K3s) takes another 3-4 months so you are looking at mid Jan to mid Feb.

you have keep both horses in the race but you run some risks such as transferring your K3 to Montreal and/or USCIS completely abandoning the 129f app.

So by this analysis, if RocksAnne can shave a month off of her NVC time for the CR-1 using James' shortcuts, there wouldn't be much of a difference between the two? Also, remember, she has an approved I130 and an assumed adjudication timeframe for the I129F.

RocksAnne, I am interested in knowing if you looked at James' shortcuts and are you going to give them a try?

Hi all,

Well,again, I'm so mad that they've screwed us around with this delay in approving the I-129Fs. I can't assess how risky it is to keep going with the I-130 since they keep changing the way they process stuff. They've completely subverted the whole purpose behind the K3 visa by messing around like this! Mostly I'm afraid to slow down the I-130 in case I end up with nothing at all scheduled by the end of the year!

URGE - I don't understand what you mean by an "assumed adjudication timeframe" ? And, yes, thanks - I did read James Shortcuts and I was actually starting to do them - I already emailed the NVC with the Choice of Agent. We were going to send in the AOS fee bill next week also.

I *think* I can still slow down the I-130 freight-train anytime in the next few weeks if something starts to move on the I-129F, (ha ha) since the I-130 won't be sent to the Consulate until the case is complete, and we still have more forms to file and fees to pay until that happens - so we'll see if we get any news about what's going on at VSC in the meantime.

Hi RocksAnne,

I agree with your decisiion, and your right, you can certainly slow the I130 down at any point by slowly responding to NVC as long as there is something outstanding.

By assumed adjudication timeframe I was simply reminding us all that we are doing some deep analysis of your timeline into early next year, yet all of the analysis both G&A and I did were assuming your I129F would be adjudicated in a few months at the most. This is far from certain as you can see from others here on VJ. I am always one to play the cards I have instead of wanting to play the cards I might get the next hand.

As for subverting the K3, yes it no longer serves its original purpose. But the point was to get the green card, not a non-immigrant visa. That was just a stop gap, especially because spouses would wait 1 year+ for their I130s while fiance(e)s got in on average about 3 months after applying. So they created the K3, because married people deserve it just as good as engaged people (if not better?). They have benefited us all by speeding up the I130 adjudications. Still not fast enough for most of us.

Also, as puskbrk keeps noting in other threads, they really do seem to want to change to approve both at the same time and process the K3s going forward. The new application processes and fees make the I129F filed with a I!30 free and they get mailed together so that they stay together and are adjudicated together. I believe that they want to do the non-immigrant visas so that the DHS can look carefully at everyone instead of DOS before permanent residency is awarded. AOS is going to be time consuming and expensive, but at least spouses will be togther.

[LvivLovers 39]

RA, i think what he is saying is that drag your feet with the 130 so that you can get let the 129F take its coarse. but to your point, if the 129F will take long, i am not sure.

Here is my calculation. I-129F takes 4 months from NOA1 so expect approval by mid Oct. , 15 days processing at NVC and 2 months to get the stamp. so you will have a k3 by say end of Dec. now the i-130 route. NVC will take 3 month, Montreal (Since Vancouver only does K3s) takes another 3-4 months so you are looking at mid Jan to mid Feb.

you have keep both horses in the race but you run some risks such as transferring your K3 to Montreal and/or USCIS completely abandoning the 129f app.

So by this analysis, if RocksAnne can shave a month off of her NVC time for the CR-1 using James' shortcuts, there wouldn't be much of a difference between the two? Also, remember, she has an approved I130 and an assumed adjudication timeframe for the I129F.

RocksAnne, I am interested in knowing if you looked at James' shortcuts and are you going to give them a try?

Hi all,

Well,again, I'm so mad that they've screwed us around with this delay in approving the I-129Fs. I can't assess how risky it is to keep going with the I-130 since they keep changing the way they process stuff. They've completely subverted the whole purpose behind the K3 visa by messing around like this! Mostly I'm afraid to slow down the I-130 in case I end up with nothing at all scheduled by the end of the year!

URGE - I don't understand what you mean by an "assumed adjudication timeframe" ? And, yes, thanks - I did read James Shortcuts and I was actually starting to do them - I already emailed the NVC with the Choice of Agent. We were going to send in the AOS fee bill next week also.

I *think* I can still slow down the I-130 freight-train anytime in the next few weeks if something starts to move on the I-129F, (ha ha) since the I-130 won't be sent to the Consulate until the case is complete, and we still have more forms to file and fees to pay until that happens - so we'll see if we get any news about what's going on at VSC in the meantime.

Hi RocksAnne,

I agree with your decisiion, and your right, you can certainly slow the I130 down at any point by slowly responding to NVC as long as there is something outstanding.

By assumed adjudication timeframe I was simply reminding us all that we are doing some deep analysis of your timeline into early next year, yet all of the analysis both G&A and I did were assuming your I129F would be adjudicated in a few months at the most. This is far from certain as you can see from others here on VJ. I am always one to play the cards I have instead of wanting to play the cards I might get the next hand.

As for subverting the K3, yes it no longer serves its original purpose. But the point was to get the green card, not a non-immigrant visa. That was just a stop gap, especially because spouses would wait 1 year+ for their I130s while fiance(e)s got in on average about 3 months after applying. So they created the K3, because married people deserve it just as good as engaged people (if not better?). They have benefited us all by speeding up the I130 adjudications. Still not fast enough for most of us.

Also, as puskbrk keeps noting in other threads, they really do seem to want to change to approve both at the same time and process the K3s going forward. The new application processes and fees make the I129F filed with a I!30 free and they get mailed together so that they stay together and are adjudicated together. I believe that they want to do the non-immigrant visas so that the DHS can look carefully at everyone instead of DOS before permanent residency is awarded. AOS is going to be time consuming and expensive, but at least spouses will be togther.

The strange thing to me is...married people still don't have it as good as engaged people. As an example of this, I did a VJ search of all the K1/K3 filers from March and found that 91% of the K1s have been approved, but only 44% of K3s have been approved. It's hard for me to understand why the UCSIC actually penalizes us for taking the next step and getting married.

[Urge To Race 2]

The strange thing to me is...married people still don't have it as good as engaged people. As an example of this, I did a VJ search of all the K1/K3 filers from March and found that 91% of the K1s have been approved, but only 44% of K3s have been approved. It's hard for me to understand why the UCSIC actually penalizes us for taking the next step and getting married.

Lviv,

You are so right, we don't have it as good as engaged people. That is something my wife and I have discussed many times, and it really is depressing. This is another marriage penalty. I could go into a long rant about that, but I won't. Not that I have anything against the engaged couples that are very quickly getting their K1s, but come on. What happened to family values?? K3s or CR-1/IR-1s ones should be just as fast as.

[wintime 0]

I got my NOA1 for I-129F today in the mail

Edited July 15, 2007 by wintime

[G&A 1]

OK folks. So this things keep getting better thanks to the suggestions i have been getting. Now the table provide you with estimate dates for the 129F application based on the stats from the members. Of course, the dates get better if more members report their info.

also, congrats to ahmad/gwen and wintime for the noa1s. and Pkewl, thanks for your help!

The cell shaded red are missing dates. The dates in white are all my estimates as stated above. I am interested to hear from members whose dates have passed to replace the est. date with actual dates.

cheers!

G

[kelly1290 0]

OK folks. So this things keep getting better thanks to the suggestions i have been getting. Now the table provide you with estimate dates for the 129F application based on the stats from the members. Of course, the dates get better if more members report their info.

also, congrats to ahmad/gwen and wintime for the noa1s. and Pkewl, thanks for your help!

The cell shaded red are missing dates. The dates in white are all my estimates as stated above. I am interested to hear from members whose dates have passed to replace the est. date with actual dates.

cheers!

G

Hello G,

Just to let you know, I am still waiting on my husband's passport photo to arrive in the mail. As I already knew, it was not going to arrive in the five days that they promised him and that he paid for. He mailed it two Friday's ago. Whenever I receive it, I will be mailing my I-129F. Will let you know when that happens.

Thanks for everything,

Deb