K-3 / I-824 Question

[Tom and Chihiro 0]

Well, the good news is, I received N.O.A.s today for both my I-130 and I-129F. The bad news is, it looks like I messed up on I-130, question C-22, and my I-130 isn't being forwarded to the NVC. (We didn't really want to go the K-3 route, but we applied for both to keep our options open, since there are all those horror stories of long waits.)

After reading the forums here, it seems like the general consensus is that the filing an I-824 to forward the I-130 is *not* worth the time and money, and that I should just pursue the K-3 at this point. Is this still the current thinking? (As an aside, anyone have any guesses I can give my wife on how much longer she'll be in Japan, if all goes well? I'll confess that all the timelines and charts on this site are a little overwhelming ...)

Thanks in advance, this is my first post but I've been lurking around here since April or May ....

- Tom

Edited December 4, 2007 by Tom and Chihiro

[C and J 1]

Well, the good news is, I received N.O.A.s today for both my I-130 and I-129F. The bad news is, it looks like I messed up on I-130, question C-22, and my I-130 isn't being forwarded to the NVC. (We didn't really want to go the K-3 route, but we applied for both to keep our options open, since there are all those horror stories of long waits.)

After reading the forums here, it seems like the general consensus is that the filing an I-824 to forward the I-130 is *not* worth the time and money, and that I should just pursue the K-3 at this point. Is this still the current thinking? (As an aside, anyone have any guesses I can give my wife on how much longer she'll be in Japan, if all goes well? I'll confess that all the timelines and charts on this site are a little overwhelming ...)

Thanks in advance, this is my first post but I've been lurking around here since April or May ....

- Tom

Not sure about the length of time your wife will still be waiting. Hopefully it won't be too much longer

Just as a side note: clearly stating that you want consular processing of the I-130 is not a foolproof way of guaranteeing the I-130 will continue on to the embassy. There is at least one member of this forum (I think it was lvivlovers, hope I'm right) who had stated very clearly they wished it to continue on and USCIS ignored it and held it anyway. It is now the general agreement that if your K3 was filed within a reasonable time of your I-130, that you are locked into the K3 route regardless (There are a few exceptions to being locked in the K3 but those are few and far between and generally due to USCIS not following their own procedures).

The I-824 can take around 6 months to kickstart the I-130 back on it's journey and who knows if it will take longer with all the delays we're seeing lately.