Comments on the K-3 Situation

[kalaks 1]

I do think that Vermont is still ignoring the I129f and approving the I130. Maybe the CSC got so many complaints that they stopped playing around. I do believe that they are telling people that their case are admin closed so they move forward with their I 130. But legaly they cannot do this. They have to inform us of policy and procedure changes before they do this.

People do not want to rock the boat and they get that I130 approval they move along quietly.

From what I have noticed is that VSC is has not approved many K3's. If you do a timeline search here and put Jan 01, 2008 to March 16, 2008 for the NOA2 then click K3 and Vermont...You see there are only 2 approvals. Then click back and do California....There are MANY. Vermont seems to be the center with the issue. That is just what I have noticed is that the people with the issues are coming from Vermont. I am at CSC and I was approved with both petitions Last week.

VSC is not working the K3 and I-130 lately to let CSC catch-up with them. But both are working the K1 visas. The reason is because they do not want to overload NVC with many approvals and have them loaded. Instead they take turns with the K3 and I-130. But the K1 are being approved and sent from both centers because NVC does not do much work with them......hope this make sense.

[pushbrk 12,827]

If you want a CR1 then do not file a I129f. They both are taking about the same amount of time and have been since December.

They both are taking the same time at the USCIS. I do not need to be critiqued by pushbrk. He is just waiting around for me to use a wrong terminology. I guess when people used wrong term, I just figured it out. I know what they meant.

Your needs are not my concern. Accurate and helpful information for the reader is my primary concern.

If I-130 and I-129F are being approved the same day (and since about December, 2006 most have been) then the I-130 approvals are being delayed by at least the number of days between when the first and second petitions were filed. I don't know how much more clearly that can be stated.

If you want an immigrant visa, don't file an I-129F.

What I have been saying all along is that USCIS can not change the rules of the game in the middle of the inning. Even if they own their own apple and orange trees.

The I129f petition was still good is what I said all along. Despite all the people who were told that their case was closed, I said that USCIS can not do this.

I have been telling people all along to file the I129f petition if they want the faster route to their so arrivals.

I was right!!!!!! Don't you just hate that I told people the correct answer and didn't work of hearsay?

Oh, I was sooo right! I just feel so great that I remained positive and supportive to my fellow VJ family and friends.

They can and did AND they were wrong to do so. We don't know what will happen to those cases they actually did administratively close/cancel. Perhaps we'll know soon.

[pushbrk 12,827]

Positive out, gets positive in!

Glad everything worked out for the new I129f approvals.

Congratulations!

Glad you didn't listen to the naysayers and submitted the petitions. It was free and it didn't slow up the process as I have been saying all along.

USCIS can not just make changes without creating new policy and announcing them.

1. What you've been saying all along is that submitting an I-129F has not delayed the approval of the original I-130 petition. That is wrong. The delay was at least equal to the difference in filing dates.

2. Also, filing an I-129F has killed the option of a timely completed "immigrant" CR1 or IR1 visa process.

3. None of this applies in your own case. Your I-129F was received at the service center after your I-130 was already approved. As such the rules say a K3 case cannot be processed because there is no I-130 pending.

Pushbrk: If you have a solid proof that filing I-129F would push you back in the line then show us this proof!!! I know of a friend that filed at CSC the K3 4 months after the I-130, and her I-130 and I-129 were approved 2 months after filling the K3....so No, it will not push you back in line.

The proof has been posted a bazillion times.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/PN_i-129f.pdf

The above press release along with all the timeline information showing I-130 and I-129F being approved the same day even when the petitions were filed 3 to 5 months apart is proof enough.

Before Nov. 06 the two petitions were processed independently at separate service centers. NBC (MSC) was the only center processing I-129F for spouse. The I-130's were processed in CA and VT and had their own queue independent of the I-129F. Once the service centers were up to speed with the new policy (see link above) not only did the pick the winner (or change your mind and pick the loser) scenario die but the I-130 was handicapped by the I-129F filing. The I-130's were taken out of their queue and put in the I-129F for spouse queue, effectively losing their place in line.

[visaveteran1 33]

"Lurking" is a K-3 cheerleader and eternal optimist...but her statements are sometimes inaccurate. Read them "with a grain of salt." While she brags she was right that the K-3 is not dead, her own I-129F was administratively closed...like many of us. So she is proof against her own arguments. Right now all that can be said accurately is some have recently gotten K-3 approval (mostly from CSC)...and many have not and had their I-129F closed out. I'm not holding my breath that any I-129Fs will, like the Phoenix, rise from the ashes...but it is possible they could be reopened.

Further comments--yes a bunch of CSC folks are getting K-3 approved after a long period of no K-3 actions. I hope things are back on course for the K-3. I have no idea what will happen, if anything, to revive those I-129Fs that were closed out. Some folks are pretty far along with the I-130 as it moves slowly through the NVC. If the I-129Fs are reopened and approved, many folks are going to have a difficult decision to make...assuming it's not too late...a decision to go back to the K-3 path, and abandoning the CR-1 route. I'm not sure what would happen if the I-864 AOS fee is already paid and other actions at the NVC have been processed concerning the I-130s. Maybe it's too late for a K-3 path...after all, there are no official instructions to cover some of the current petition scenarios...as far as i know anyway.

We have to remember something else. As of now, no one has actually gotten an interview date for a K-3 petition filed after July 2007...unless I missed something in which case I'll hear about it. When someone gets a K-3 visa from a consulate officer reported on this forum, then we'll know things are really back on track. And from timelines we can better determine if the K-3 is really going to help us bring our spouses to the USA quickly....as was intended.

Beware the cheerleaders who let exuberance and hopefulness prevent them from seeing what's really going on.

Time will tell us what's what.

[Enlighten one :) 5]

All the information I have given has been accurate. I might have called the I129F petition K3 instead of noting the petitions versus the actual visa.

I have read for hour on the USCIS website. All I did was say what the USCIS posted on the website.

You have made assumptions off of hearsay. You made statements like "Looks like the k3 is dead'. Statement like that made people more confused then anything. That was an assumption based of what people said they were told. Not one stitch of documentation has been produced to prove these statement. I provided tons of documentation to prove that the USCIS could not do this to visa journey users. I supported the user with the laws and regulations.

If I am the cheerleader let me be! I am proud to be the cheerleader! Rah! Rah! Rah!

I stated the facts! You stated what you thought. You thought wrong! I provided clear conscious information! I was correct!

[Enlighten one :) 5]

One year ago it was taking 1 year to get an approved I130 petition. Now it take 3-5 month to get an approved petition. hhhhmmm

Now that they have changed the process to combine the petition it is going much more faster.

I130 approvals have been coming in at record times. Is anyone complaining about this? Just you!

I was amazed when my I130 was approved in 80 days. Amazed and confused! That was fast at that time. The I130 approvals have gotten even faster since then!

If a petitioner want the I129F because they do not want to wait 3 months at the NVC , why should they care if they slow up the process for someone behind them? They should get what the petition for!

All these I130 approvals at the NVC is just going to cause more work at the NVC. Extended the processing time for the I130.

RAH! RAH! RAH! i AM THE CHEERLEADER GO FIGHT WIN!

The proof has been posted a bazillion times.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/PN_i-129f.pdf

The above press release along with all the timeline information showing I-130 and I-129F being approved the same day even when the petitions were filed 3 to 5 months apart is proof enough.

Before Nov. 06 the two petitions were processed independently at separate service centers. NBC (MSC) was the only center processing I-129F for spouse. The I-130's were processed in CA and VT and had their own queue independent of the I-129F. Once the service centers were up to speed with the new policy (see link above) not only did the pick the winner (or change your mind and pick the loser) scenario die but the I-130 was handicapped by the I-129F filing. The I-130's were taken out of their queue and put in the I-129F for spouse queue, effectively losing their place in line.

[Z and S 0]

If the intention of posting here is to help & inform others, I think a person reading your post without much of his/her own research might be a little mislead. Your statement appears very true to me, so I am not contradicting that. But for sake of completeness, we need to add that there are a lot of I-129F petitions for K3 that were approved during the past few weeks, and some have gotten NVC case numbers. I suspect most others did as well -- they just may not have checked it yet with NVC or have not updated the timeline. Obviously nobody has gotten inteview because it is too soon, but it is just a matter of time. I could not find any evidence where NVC assigned a case number and then did not forward it to embassy. We have a very small sampling here and there is a lot of uncertainty and conflicting views, but at least the few recent K3 appears to be on track. It is a great idea to wait for a while and see how everything goes, but anyone who has to make the decision right now as to whether to file I129F might find this useful.

We have to remember something else. As of now, no one has actually gotten an interview date for a K-3 petition filed after July 2007...unless I missed something in which case I'll hear about it. When someone gets a K-3 visa from a consulate officer reported on this forum, then we'll know things are really back on track. And from timelines we can better determine if the K-3 is really going to help us bring our spouses to the USA quickly....as was intended.

Edited March 18, 2008 by shreyans

[pushbrk 12,827]

There may have been the rare I-130 that took a year to get approved by USCIS, and many CR1 visa timelines from submission to visa were a year or more but you seem to be confusing petition approval with getting a visa.

Average I-130 approvals were faster in 2006 than in 2007. Three to four months was the norm in 2006. The November 2006 change in policy is one factor in the slow-down but there are a couple other major factors like an unexplained May and June slowdown in NOA1 issuance and the July rush in filing.

What you haven't done is compare I-130 approvals where no I-129F petition was filed to the cases where both petitions wer filed. For instance if Bill and Jane are going the CR1 route and file in May, you'll see their petitions approved in three or four months. Their neighbors Jim and Mary going the K3 route file the I-130 the same day but don't get their NOA1 for three months (or more). They then file the I-129F and 4 months later get their approval. Ask Jim and Mary if filing the I-129F slowed their I-130 approval. Remember, they watched Bill and Jane's petition get improved three months faster. Jane and Mary both arrived in the USA last week but Jane can begin her new job April first, while Mary an dJim will have to pay $1010 and wait for the EAD and SSN. Maybe she can plan to work in July. Those of us here and watching closely, say Bill and Jane and Jim and Mary experience this and remember it well.

It's always dangerous to approach facts and statistics with the intention to support a predetermined analysis.

In November, 2006 USCIS and DOS put their heads together and announced they would effectively do away with the process that allowed petitioners to have both a CR1 and K3 process proceed through the system simultaneously and choose the winner. On paper, they said you could "clearly indicate" you would use the Consular process and get both petitions forwarded to NVC but in practice they simply ignored the requests in cover letters and even big red sharpie notes on the petitions themselves. This policy remains ongoing. From it comes the advice, "If you want an immigrant visa, don't file an I-129F."

They, USCIS, CAN and DO take actions that reasonable people would interpret as illegal or certainly against the spirit and intention of laws governing the visa process. They do it no matter how aggresively others cry "YOU CAN"T DO THAT!" Fighting them on these things can be successful but can also take many months to years, by which time relatives usually arrive through the process being protested.

It looks like, what I suspect are members of Congress, got USCIS's attention on the K3 petition closure issue and things are back on the track in place since November 2006. That change left a lot of petitioners in the lurch but we haven't heard much about how they resolved their issues.

One year ago it was taking 1 year to get an approved I130 petition. Now it take 3-5 month to get an approved petition. hhhhmmm

Now that they have changed the process to combine the petition it is going much more faster.

The proof has been posted a bazillion times.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/PN_i-129f.pdf

The above press release along with all the timeline information showing I-130 and I-129F being approved the same day even when the petitions were filed 3 to 5 months apart is proof enough.

Before Nov. 06 the two petitions were processed independently at separate service centers. NBC (MSC) was the only center processing I-129F for spouse. The I-130's were processed in CA and VT and had their own queue independent of the I-129F. Once the service centers were up to speed with the new policy (see link above) not only did the pick the winner (or change your mind and pick the loser) scenario die but the I-130 was handicapped by the I-129F filing. The I-130's were taken out of their queue and put in the I-129F for spouse queue, effectively losing their place in line.

Edited March 18, 2008 by pushbrk

[visaveteran1 33]

If the intention of posting here is to help & inform others, I think a person reading your post without much of his/her own research might be a little mislead. Your statement appears very true to me, so I am not contradicting that. But for sake of completeness, we need to add that there are a lot of I-129F petitions for K3 that were approved during the past few weeks, and some have gotten NVC case numbers. I suspect most others did as well -- they just may not have checked it yet with NVC or have not updated the timeline. Obviously nobody has gotten inteview because it is too soon, but it is just a matter of time. I could not find any evidence where NVC assigned a case number and then did not forward it to embassy. We have a very small sampling here and there is a lot of uncertainty and conflicting views, but at least the few recent K3 appears to be on track. It is a great idea to wait for a while and see how everything goes, but anyone who has to make the decision right now as to whether to file I129F might find this useful.

We have to remember something else. As of now, no one has actually gotten an interview date for a K-3 petition filed after July 2007...unless I missed something in which case I'll hear about it. When someone gets a K-3 visa from a consulate officer reported on this forum, then we'll know things are really back on track. And from timelines we can better determine if the K-3 is really going to help us bring our spouses to the USA quickly....as was intended.

I support your addendum to my statement. I made the statement to keep people's view of things alert and cautiously optimistic but realistic as well. If there is a loud voice crying "all is well with the K-3!" and that's not yet proven in ALL cases., then i think a counter voice needs to say, "let's see some proof first...then we can celebrate." The ultimate proof is a K-3 visa in some happy spouse's hand.

[pushbrk 12,827]

If the intention of posting here is to help & inform others, I think a person reading your post without much of his/her own research might be a little mislead. Your statement appears very true to me, so I am not contradicting that. But for sake of completeness, we need to add that there are a lot of I-129F petitions for K3 that were approved during the past few weeks, and some have gotten NVC case numbers. I suspect most others did as well -- they just may not have checked it yet with NVC or have not updated the timeline. Obviously nobody has gotten inteview because it is too soon, but it is just a matter of time. I could not find any evidence where NVC assigned a case number and then did not forward it to embassy. We have a very small sampling here and there is a lot of uncertainty and conflicting views, but at least the few recent K3 appears to be on track. It is a great idea to wait for a while and see how everything goes, but anyone who has to make the decision right now as to whether to file I129F might find this useful.

We have to remember something else. As of now, no one has actually gotten an interview date for a K-3 petition filed after July 2007...unless I missed something in which case I'll hear about it. When someone gets a K-3 visa from a consulate officer reported on this forum, then we'll know things are really back on track. And from timelines we can better determine if the K-3 is really going to help us bring our spouses to the USA quickly....as was intended.

I support your addendum to my statement. I made the statement to keep people's view of things alert and cautiously optimistic but realistic as well. If there is a loud voice crying "all is well with the K-3!" and that's not yet proven in ALL cases., then i think a counter voice needs to say, "let's see some proof first...then we can celebrate." The ultimate proof is a K-3 visa in some happy spouse's hand.

I've been watching the changes is the K3 process since late 2005, and I see the recent approvals and NVC receipts as enough data to conclude the K3 has been resurrected. My remaining concern is for those who reported their I-129F's administratively cancelled. We have no reports of where those cases now stand except for possibly one.

[Jimmy and Angela 0]

I was told mine was administratively canceled but I did get approval online but no NOA2 yet and NVC does not have it yet. I will keep you all updated as I get new information as I receive it.

[Nita&Assaad 0]

Well I am hoping my has been resurrected because it been touched all last week, but nothing on an approval yet

Nita

[SaysWho 3]

There may have been the rare I-130 that took a year to get approved by USCIS, and many CR1 visa timelines from submission to visa were a year or more but you seem to be confusing petition approval with getting a visa.

Average I-130 approvals were faster in 2006 than in 2007. Three to four months was the norm in 2006. The November 2006 change in policy is one factor in the slow-down but there are a couple other major factors like an unexplained May and June slowdown in NOA1 issuance and the July rush in filing.

What you haven't done is compare I-130 approvals where no I-129F petition was filed to the cases where both petitions wer filed. For instance if Bill and Jane are going the CR1 route and file in May, you'll see their petitions approved in three or four months. Their neighbors Jim and Mary going the K3 route file the I-130 the same day but don't get their NOA1 for three months (or more). They then file the I-129F and 4 months later get their approval. Ask Jim and Mary if filing the I-129F slowed their I-130 approval. Remember, they watched Bill and Jane's petition get improved three months faster. Jane and Mary both arrived in the USA last week but Jane can begin her new job April first, while Mary an dJim will have to pay $1010 and wait for the EAD and SSN. Maybe she can plan to work in July. Those of us here and watching closely, say Bill and Jane and Jim and Mary experience this and remember it well.

(

It's always dangerous to approach facts and statistics with the intention to support a predetermined analysis.

In November, 2006 USCIS and DOS put their heads together and announced they would effectively do away with the process that allowed petitioners to have both a CR1 and K3 process proceed through the system simultaneously and choose the winner. On paper, they said you could "clearly indicate" you would use the Consular process and get both petitions forwarded to NVC but in practice they simply ignored the requests in cover letters and even big red sharpie notes on the petitions themselves. This policy remains ongoing. From it comes the advice, "If you want an immigrant visa, don't file an I-129F."

They, USCIS, CAN and DO take actions that reasonable people would interpret as illegal or certainly against the spirit and intention of laws governing the visa process. They do it no matter how aggresively others cry "YOU CAN"T DO THAT!" Fighting them on these things can be successful but can also take many months to years, by which time relatives usually arrive through the process being protested.

It looks like, what I suspect are members of Congress, got USCIS's attention on the K3 petition closure issue and things are back on the track in place since November 2006. That change left a lot of petitioners in the lurch but we haven't heard much about how they resolved their issues.

One year ago it was taking 1 year to get an approved I130 petition. Now it take 3-5 month to get an approved petition. hhhhmmm

Now that they have changed the process to combine the petition it is going much more faster.

The proof has been posted a bazillion times.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/PN_i-129f.pdf

The above press release along with all the timeline information showing I-130 and I-129F being approved the same day even when the petitions were filed 3 to 5 months apart is proof enough.

Before Nov. 06 the two petitions were processed independently at separate service centers. NBC (MSC) was the only center processing I-129F for spouse. The I-130's were processed in CA and VT and had their own queue independent of the I-129F. Once the service centers were up to speed with the new policy (see link above) not only did the pick the winner (or change your mind and pick the loser) scenario die but the I-130 was handicapped by the I-129F filing. The I-130's were taken out of their queue and put in the I-129F for spouse queue, effectively losing their place in line.

This comment is similar to something I posted here a while back regarding what priority date is used for those petitioning for K3 - I'll repeat a bit as this is also an observation to what is being said here.

Many are saying or implying that an I-130 filed for CR1/IR1 is processed sooner than an I-130 filed for K3 (and later followed by an I-1129F, of course) - i.e. that if you file the I-129F four months after the I-130, that your I-130 will processed four months later than those who have filed an I-130 alone for CR1. The actual approvals we are seeing right now, do not support this at all. It appears that the big bunch of I-130/I129F approvals (petitions for K3) that came through in the past week or two, were almost all from the I130 submission dates back in August. Have a look at their dates for filing their I-129F!..A whole lot of their corresponding I-129F's were from Dec/07 and Jan/08 (filed after receiving I-130 NOA1's many months later) At this point in time it appears they are using the priority date from the I-130. Now go and look at the recent approvals of I-130's for CR1/IR1...they appear exactly the same - the recent approvals are from August, too!

I think there is a huge misconception out there that filing an I129F takes your I130 "out of the queue" and back in from the date of their I-129F and that an I-130 petitioning for an CR1, will be approved much sooner than if petitioning for a K3. I understand that I-130 approvals for K3 are no longer faster, but let's be clear! Recent approvals clearly show, it does NOT delay processing the I130.

(Now, what happens from the time of approval, is an entirely different story....for instance in my spouse's country, two couple with I-130's filed the same day and approved the same day - one petitioning for K3 and one for I-130 - The person will have a K-3 in hand close to a year sooner than the person receiving a CR1.)

I completely concur that there are many, many individual factors that determine which visa is right for an individual couple - do your research and determine which visa is best for you and petition for it!!!!! What I find disconcerting is when , I read on these forums (not necessarily or specifically on this thread) that people who really do want a K3, are concluding (or in some cases told!!) that filing an I-129F will delay approval of I-130.

Annie & Tim

[pushbrk 12,827]

This comment is similar to something I posted here a while back regarding what priority date is used for those petitioning for K3 - I'll repeat a bit as this is also an observation to what is being said here.

Many are saying or implying that an I-130 filed for CR1/IR1 is processed sooner than an I-130 filed for K3 (and later followed by an I-1129F, of course) - i.e. that if you file the I-129F four months after the I-130, that your I-130 will processed four months later than those who have filed an I-130 alone for CR1. The actual approvals we are seeing right now, do not support this at all. It appears that the big bunch of I-130/I129F approvals (petitions for K3) that came through in the past week or two, were almost all from the I130 submission dates back in August. Have a look at their dates for filing their I-129F!..A whole lot of their corresponding I-129F's were from Dec/07 and Jan/08 (filed after receiving I-130 NOA1's many months later) At this point in time it appears they are using the priority date from the I-130. Now go and look at the recent approvals of I-130's for CR1/IR1...they appear exactly the same - the recent approvals are from August, too!

I think there is a huge misconception out there that filing an I129F takes your I130 "out of the queue" and back in from the date of their I-129F and that an I-130 petitioning for an CR1, will be approved much sooner than if petitioning for a K3. I understand that I-130 approvals for K3 are no longer faster, but let's be clear! Recent approvals clearly show, it does NOT delay processing the I130.

(Now, what happens from the time of approval, is an entirely different story....for instance in my spouse's country, two couple with I-130's filed the same day and approved the same day - one petitioning for K3 and one for I-130 - The person will have a K-3 in hand close to a year sooner than the person receiving a CR1.)

I completely concur that there are many, many individual factors that determine which visa is right for an individual couple - do your research and determine which visa is best for you and petition for it!!!!! What I find disconcerting is when , I read on these forums (not necessarily or specifically on this thread) that people who really do want a K3, are concluding (or in some cases told!!) that filing an I-129F will delay approval of I-130.

Annie & Tim

I'm not sure the data you cite supports the cause and effect portion of your conclusions. We're also seeing K1 petition approvals from December and January filers, indicating simply that K visa petition adjudication is caught up. We also see I-130's filed in May with I-129Fs filed in July through September getting approvals in the same week as the cases you mention.

We don't know why the I-130 for CR1 petitions started taking so long during the May to November filing period either. Time will tell.

The I-129F delaying the I-130 approval is a moot point unless the centers were to continue closing K3 cases upon I-130 approval. Under the November 06 policy apparently active again now, the I-130's are held anyway.

Edited March 18, 2008 by pushbrk

[visaveteran1 33]

I was told mine was administratively canceled but I did get approval online but no NOA2 yet and NVC does not have it yet. I will keep you all updated as I get new information as I receive it.

I noticed your filing is at the CSC.

Another K-3 sub-plot involves which USCIS service center a filer's petitions are at and whether your I-129F was "administratively closed." Recent news indicates 99% of K-3 actions are from only the CSC...but for "active" K-3s. Now you report it's possible that your previously "closed" I-129F may have been approved after all...but again, this is at the CSC. I hope this is true if that is what you want.

Unless the VSC starts to quickly approve active and previously closed K-3s by the bunch, those of us with our I129Fs closed out there might be better served proceeding with the ultimately better CR-1 route. It seems this situation is unprecedented so we can't make judgments on past experiences, or time lines, or peoples personal stories. I have to ask the question: Is it already too late since our I-130s are over at the NVC with case numbers, and thus already into the CR-1 process? Is this reversible? If it is reversible, is it wise for us to switch back to the more expensive K-3 and loose our place in the I-130 line at the NVC? A difficult situation might just get more so.