Same Sex K-1 I-129F Filed

[Sarah---Nichelle 1]

Ok I hate to complain, but I am complaining! The VJ trends page says I129Fs from TSC dated Aug 16 are being processed...um, excuse me but our NOA1 was Aug 1 and we have heard ZERO since the Alien Registration Number was changed, blah blah blah! Thanks for listening!

You just have to be patient, it will come! The one good thing about TSC is that even tho it takes slightly longer to get approvals, usually everything else goes faster from there. Most people from CSC have to wait months after approval, for their application to be sent to NVC. However, mine, being from Texas, took just a few days

Also, you usually get approved even you least expect it. We heard nothing for months, no touches or updates and randomly around 10pm eastern time, I checked it out of the blue and there it was - approved!

Edited October 24, 2013 by Sarah---Nichelle

[Davesings 30]

Thanks Sarah--Nichelle...it seems like they send out notifications at 930pm eastern in general then...that is when we got the Alien Registration Number notification also...

[shibanpr 0]

Replied to the RFE on 10/17/2013 and was approved today. YAY!!!

Service Center : Vermont Service Center

Transferred? Texas Service Center on 2013-08-06

Consulate : Taipei, Taiwan

I-129F Sent : 2013-07-17

I-129F NOA1 : 2013-07-23

I-129F RFE(s) : 2013-10-1

RFE Reply(s) : 2013-10-17

I-129F NOA2 : 2013-10-24

[Susan53011 14]

Interview finally scheduled, 12/06/13. Another long wait til then, but at least this time their is light at the end of the tunnel!!

[anyone 0]

If you have a different date, it just means that someone pulled up your file that day. Could have been moved or handed off, but the status has not changed. Be patient, you're almost there. If this is not correct information, fellow VJ'ers please feel free to correct me.

Thank You Espared for your reply... still waiting no news no changes as of now will update if will hear anything from TSC hopefully soon.

Anyways all the best to both of you for your next step I think Interview....

[anyone 0]

If you have a different date, it just means that someone pulled up your file that day. Could have been moved or handed off, but the status has not changed. Be patient, you're almost there. If this is not correct information, fellow VJ'ers please feel free to correct me.

Thank You Espared for your reply... still waiting no news no changes as of now will update if will hear anything from TSC hopefully soon.

Anyways all the best to both of you for your next step I think Interview....

[Nikkosan 127]

We just got APPROVED!!! YAY!!!

And Davesings is apparently right, as we did receive ours around 2.30AM local time, which is 9.30AM Eastern.

We're at TSC, so we hope it'll be moving faster from here. We already have all documents ready, there's not much else to do than wait for NOA2 hardcopy, NVC for case #, and US Consulate for scheduling of interview! I'm trying to be optimistic, it would be great if we could be back home for Christmas!

[zuluweta 250]

Hi everyone! First-time poster but long-time lurker here.

I'm the beneficiary and we are a same-sex couple that has been together for almost 19 years. (Whew!) Our NOA1 date is 19 August 2013. We received an RFE notice though that's dated 18 October 2013. There are 2 requirements being asked for by the USCIS adjudicator.

1. INTENT TO MARRY Submit evidence from the beneficiary that he plans to marry the petitioner within 90 days of the beneficiary's admission to the United States.

2. REQUIREMENT THAT PETITIONER AND BENEFICIARY HAVE MET IN PERSON It must be established that the petitioner and beneficiary have met in person and/or have been in each other's physical presence at any time during the two years immediately preceding the filing of this petition. Copies of travel itinerary were submitted with the application. Please submit proof that the travel actually occurred...primary evidence may include copies of passport pages that show the identification page and admission stamps...

Regarding point 1, under question 34a of form I-129F, I submitted a letter explaining in detail the circumstances of how I met my partner and now fiance. At the very end of that letter, I wrote the following: "I look forward to receiving a fiance visa so that I can travel to the United States and finally marry xx (my partner) in state XX (a marriage equality state) next year almost two decades after we first started dating. I will apply for permanent resident status after we get married."

After the K-1 application packet was mailed off to our lawyer, I realized upon reading other VJer's stories here that I pooched the intent to marry within 90 days of entry requirement for the K-1 visa. The crazy thing is that our expensive, top notch lawyer missed out on that part of my statement too! I submitted my letter to him for evaluation and he approved it. Anyway, I took care of that problem and so I will be submitting a new, 'correct' letter of intent as our response to the RFE.

As to point 2, I daresay this would be the fault of our lawyer and his assistants. We submitted picture scans of all the passport pages of both petitioner and beneficiary as proof of our travels together (and hence of having met in person) to the lawyer. It turns out they did not submit the copies of the pages of our passports with entry and exit stamps of various countries because the Dropbox folder we uploaded the scans were "too large at 500 MB", and they had trouble downloading the scans. Lame with a capital L!

So as part of the reply to the RFE, we will be submitting color photocopies of all pages of our passports, showing all entry and exit stamps to various countries. And just to be sure, my petitioner will be submitting copies of the visa extension forms issued to him by the Bureau Of Immigration, local bank statements indicating his name and address in the Philippines, gym membership forms, food delivery forms, all of which contain an address which matches that on my lease contract. On top of those, the USC petitioner will also be submitting a notarized affidavit that we are in fact cohabitating since November of 2012. (We previously lived together in several homes in the US, but I believe what counts for the K-1 visa is having met in person within the 2 years preceding the application)

Anyhoo, hopefully, this will lead to a positive result from USCIS this time around. Waiting for the NOA2 has seen its fair share of ups and downs, but mostly, the waiting has been boring yet excruciating at the same time. Good luck to all of us!

Edited October 27, 2013 by sjk&cjj

[Davesings 30]

Congratulations Nikkosan, I only hope I have the 9:30pm luck again soon...we are getting very eager for our NOA2 here...

Welcome sjk&cjj and sorry to hear about your RFE - it sounds like you had provided a lot of what they asked for already so that's annoying! although at this point I would even welcome and RFE since our NOA1 was before yours, but your RFE worries me a bit since we also used a lawyer and I'm a bit worried that we didn't submit some of the things we actually need. We did not submit any passport stamps even though we had given copies to the lawyer who said they were not needed...we shall see, won't we...We submitted dated photos of us together and e-tickets of plane trips we took together on vacations along with the personal statements...hopefully that's enough...

[kmiami15 8]

We just got APPROVED!!! YAY!!!

And Davesings is apparently right, as we did receive ours around 2.30AM local time, which is 9.30AM Eastern.

We're at TSC, so we hope it'll be moving faster from here. We already have all documents ready, there's not much else to do than wait for NOA2 hardcopy, NVC for case #, and US Consulate for scheduling of interview! I'm trying to be optimistic, it would be great if we could be back home for Christmas!

congrats!!!! yay.... I guess mine should be coming up soon...

[zuluweta 250]

Congratulations Nikkosan, I only hope I have the 9:30pm luck again soon...we are getting very eager for our NOA2 here...

Welcome sjk&cjj and sorry to hear about your RFE - it sounds like you had provided a lot of what they asked for already so that's annoying! although at this point I would even welcome and RFE since our NOA1 was before yours, but your RFE worries me a bit since we also used a lawyer and I'm a bit worried that we didn't submit some of the things we actually need. We did not submit any passport stamps even though we had given copies to the lawyer who said they were not needed...we shall see, won't we...We submitted dated photos of us together and e-tickets of plane trips we took together on vacations along with the personal statements...hopefully that's enough...

Thanks for the welcome, Davesings. I'm sure you will get a response soon from USCIS and please continue keeping your fingers crossed that it will be the NOA2.

We submitted dated photos from 1996 all the way to 2012 and also e-tickets of plane trips plus hotel and resort reservations. In fact, our letters of intent to marry (which were embedded in our letters explaining in detail the circumstances of how we met and have maintained the relationship since then...basically our reply to question 34a on form I-129F) were notarized by the same lawyer/notary public at the same place and at the same time! This fact alone regarding our notarized letters proves we were together in person right before filing the I-129F. I suppose this doesn't fit their standard of proof of having met within 2 years prior to filing.

[Sarah---Nichelle 1]

We just got APPROVED!!! YAY!!!

Congrats!

I hope the rest of you get some good news soon too!

sjk&cjj -

I can't believe you paid for a lawyer and still had all those issues! They are supposed to be making the whole process easy and smooth - not more complicated and slow. Hopefully you will have everything taken care of now! Good Luck

Edited October 28, 2013 by Sarah---Nichelle

[Nikkosan 127]

Congratulations Nikkosan, I only hope I have the 9:30pm luck again soon...we are getting very eager for our NOA2 here...

Oh, yes you will!!! And of course I can imagine how impatient you must be getting, I know we were!!!

congrats!!!! yay.... I guess mine should be coming up soon...

It will be, kmiami15! I thought about you after I received it! We were so happy, and I hope you will also feel that way too!

Congrats!

I hope the rest of you get some good news soon too!

AMEN!

[kmiami15 8]

Oh, yes you will!!! And of course I can imagine how impatient you must be getting, I know we were!!!

It will be, kmiami15! I thought about you after I received it! We were so happy, and I hope you will also feel that way too!

AMEN!

tell me about it..... but I am so happy that they are processing them faster and a two month wait is not that bad.. I am crossing fingers they just approve it without asking for any evidence.... haha... keep me posted .... congrats again!!

[Nikkosan 127]

tell me about it..... but I am so happy that they are processing them faster and a two month wait is not that bad.. I am crossing fingers they just approve it without asking for any evidence.... haha... keep me posted .... congrats again!!

We definitely will!

Hang in there, guys, fingers (and pretty much everything else crossable) crossed!