Problem with I-129 F Approval Validity

[Michael-Moneth 6]

Earlier today I got a packet in the mail from US Embassy Manila. In it is a letter informing that our petition is approved and I can pay the visa fee and schedule for an interview already which we already did. Another thing in there is a copy of the I-129F form which has a stamp that it was approved and I noticed there that it says that the action taken is only valid for 4 months. In our case it is 3/7/13 to 7/6/13. I really don't know what the validity means though... I am thinking now that maybe we need to be interviewed on or before 7/6/13 but that is the problem now because our Interview date is on 7/26/13. I don't know what to do now...

Should I call USCIS or the US Embassy for extension of the Validity? Is there a form we need to fill out? What proper steps should we take this time...

Hope you guys could enlighten me with this and hopefully give advices and solution to our problem now...

Thanks!!!

[Canerican 242]

Hi,

I had the exact same thing. I am the now foreign husband, was the fiance. What the CO's generally do is they extend your validity date so that you can attend the interview if there are no available dates till after your validity date. What I did was I emailed a scanned copy of the NOA2 to the consulate and informed them of the validity and asked if they would extend the date. Here is a copy of the email I sent and received back:

"To Whomever It May Concern,

Here are all the specifics on the petition for the K-1 Visa that has been submitted:

MTL Case#:
Beneficiary:
DOB Beneficiary:
Address of Beneficiary:
Petitioner:
DOB Petitioner:
Address of Petitioner:
Petition # from the NOA2:Starts with EAC if from VSC I think starts with WAC if from CSC

Myself (my name) has already setup an interview on February 26, 2013 at the Montreal Consulate, but my fiancee has informed me that our Notice Of Action 2 (NOA2) expires on January 25, 2013. I was wondering if we could get an extension of our NOA2 expiry date as we have already setup an interview?

Attached is a copy of the front of our NOA2. Thank you for your help.

Sincerely

My name

Attach a copy of your NOA2

Dear

We thank you for your communication regarding the below-referenced immigrant visa case.

Please kindly be informed that your petition expiry date will be automatically extended on the day of the interview, meaning that you may attend your interview as scheduled for February 26, 2013.

We hope this information is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Immigrant Visa Unit

U.S. Consulate General Montréal

OP12

Hope this helps and God's blessings on your journey!!

[Michael-Moneth 6]

Thank you so much! I was really worried that it will expire and on the day of the interview they will deny me for it...

I really do appreciate your response... Will email the Embassy soon...

[Tahoma 2,292]

Emailing the Embassy and requesting that they revalidate the petition is a safe thing to do. However, since you booked an interview appointment before the petition expired, it's not necessary to ask for the petition to be revalidated. It doesn't matter that the interview date is past the petition's expiration date. The U.S. Embassy Manila automatically revalidated the petition when they saw that you had booked an interview appointment. Booking an interview appointment shows that you are making progress with your case, and that's what Manila is looking for.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Earlier today I got a packet in the mail from US Embassy Manila. In it is a letter informing that our petition is approved and I can pay the visa fee and schedule for an interview already which we already did. Another thing in there is a copy of the I-129F form which has a stamp that it was approved and I noticed there that it says that the action taken is only valid for 4 months. In our case it is 3/7/13 to 7/6/13. I really don't know what the validity means though... I am thinking now that maybe we need to be interviewed on or before 7/6/13 but that is the problem now because our Interview date is on 7/26/13. I don't know what to do now...

Should I call USCIS or the US Embassy for extension of the Validity? Is there a form we need to fill out? What proper steps should we take this time...

Hope you guys could enlighten me with this and hopefully give advices and solution to our problem now...

Thanks!!!

I agree with Tahoma, contact the embassy to get the petition validity date extended. The embassy will do this without issue for up to a year.

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