An uncomfortable question - can a K1 take more than two years?

[yailukmuu 26]

I've a casual friend that I was chatting with at a site other than VJ and I commented that the couple appeared very nice together.

I was surprised to hear: "Yes, we are waiting for a decision by USCIS, as we forgot to file some papers, it's been over two years now..."

I don't want to be the harbinger of bad news but I've seen men dupe Filipinas by saying that K-1's had been filed when clearly they had not been at all. I wonder if this is such a case.

Once (a different occasion about a year ago) I simply said to a Filipina; "Have you made a letter that you signed that stated you intend to marry the US citizen (your fiancee) and sent that to your fiancee?" The answer was "no." But she had been told that the K1 had been started well over a year ago. It was my sad duty to inform her that she was clearly being duped. (And she was).

I wonder if this is a similar case.

Has anyone heard of a K-1 that took over two years?

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Only in rare difficult cases like AWA

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from Philippines regional forum to K1 Process & Procedures.

[B_J 2,752]

I've a casual friend that I was chatting with at a site other than VJ and I commented that the couple appeared very nice together.

I was surprised to hear: "Yes, we are waiting for a decision by USCIS, as we forgot to file some papers, it's been over two years now..."

I don't want to be the harbinger of bad news but I've seen men dupe Filipinas by saying that K-1's had been filed when clearly they had not been at all. I wonder if this is such a case.

Once (a different occasion about a year ago) I simply said to a Filipina; "Have you made a letter that you signed that stated you intend to marry the US citizen (your fiancee) and sent that to your fiancee?" The answer was "no." But she had been told that the K1 had been started well over a year ago. It was my sad duty to inform her that she was clearly being duped. (And she was).

I wonder if this is a similar case.

Has anyone heard of a K-1 that took over two years?

I think your suspicions are probably correct. If there had simply been missing papers; responding to the RFE would have taken care of that and I can't imagine it taking two years.

BTW, like you, this isn't the first time I've seen this happen.

[yailukmuu 26]

How sad, and how to tell this clearly innocent and trusting person... I'm curious to see what others say, perhaps there are known instances where for some reason things take so long, but then I see: "a phone call to USCIS and they say a decision is coming soon." Not the sort of thing I've ever heard from any area of USCIS/NVC, maybe the consulate...

The other case I saw was a "moma's boy," ( = a man over 40 still living at home with mom, and who is a "contractor." These guys are deadly, never able to break away... maybe living in hope endlessly. (Note: this is a generalization and not to mean that all men who live with mom will be a bad deal, notable exceptions are responsible men who have two units that interconnect (and a door that can close, also known as a mother-in-law apartment) and sons who took a parent in temporarily due to a recent illness).

This is almost similar to catfishing...

From urbandictionary.com

catfish

A catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they're not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances.

Did you hear how Dave got totally catfished last month?! The fox he thought he was talking to turned out to be a pervy guy from San Diego!"

Edited March 12, 2014 by yailukmuu

[sara..... 371]

as a victim of k-1 service center csc years ago............. yes it can take more than two years and thats with sending everything they require and more............it depends on the case .......it depends on so many things we were told over and over again that it was in security back ground check but seriously if it takes that long chances are the embassy will set on the petition and wait until expires then send it back as expired petition thats what happened to us.................

sara

[Girl from Celebes 588]

I've a casual friend that I was chatting with at a site other than VJ and I commented that the couple appeared very nice together.

I was surprised to hear: "Yes, we are waiting for a decision by USCIS, as we forgot to file some papers, it's been over two years now..."

I don't want to be the harbinger of bad news but I've seen men dupe Filipinas by saying that K-1's had been filed when clearly they had not been at all. I wonder if this is such a case.

Once (a different occasion about a year ago) I simply said to a Filipina; "Have you made a letter that you signed that stated you intend to marry the US citizen (your fiancee) and sent that to your fiancee?" The answer was "no." But she had been told that the K1 had been started well over a year ago. It was my sad duty to inform her that she was clearly being duped. (And she was).

I wonder if this is a similar case.

Has anyone heard of a K-1 that took over two years?

Yes, in fact there was a guy (the beneficiary) on VJ that approved after 5 years, if I am not mistakenly remember. I read some stories about a petitioner duped a beneficiary or vice versa and always on hot topics on this site. I believe one of victims was a guy from UK. His fiancee had never filed I-129F though she told him she did. It is very interesting story to me that not only a male (petitioner) duped a female (beneficiary) but also a female (petitioner) can duped a male (beneficiary) as well.

Also, there is a chance that a petitioner doesn't know how to filed I-129F and forgot to include letter intent of marry. I am following K-1 visa forum so I vividly remember there was some petitioner just had no idea about how important the letter for petition or - at worst - not properly read the instruction.

[MacUK 983]

Yes, in fact there was a guy (the beneficiary) on VJ that approved after 5 years, if I am not mistakenly remember. I read some stories about a petitioner duped a beneficiary or vice versa and always on hot topics on this site. I believe one of victims was a guy from UK. His fiancee had never filed I-129F though she told him she did. It is very interesting story to me that not only a male (petitioner) duped a female (beneficiary) but also a female (petitioner) can duped a male (beneficiary) as well.

Also, there is a chance that a petitioner doesn't know how to filed I-129F and forgot to include letter intent of marry. I am following K-1 visa forum so I vividly remember there was some petitioner just had no idea about how important the letter for petition or - at worst - not properly read the instruction.

The UK one might be me!

As much as I'm loath to admit my stupidity I was led on by my ex for a few years believing that she'd filed for my K1.

To be honest, if I hadn't been blinded by what I thought at the time was love then the clues were there all along.

I filled in all the forms myself, sent them over to her along with the money to file.

I then sat back to wait patiently believing that it was all going forward while sending almost all the money I earned over to her, getting myself into some horrendous debt.

A year or so after I thought the petition had been filed she told me that the visa centre had contacted her to tell her that the petition was all set to go forward apart from one little problem. She had warrants against her from the state where she grew up for writing multiple bad cheques. Once she clears those then the petition would go forward.

So I borrowed money from my parents to get the warrants cleared and started looking forward to the end being in sight.

Then we split up and after a few shouty phone calls in which she admitted that she had never actually divorced her husband as she'd told me she had she also sent me a photo of the petition forms I'd sent her well over a year before saying she'd never sent them in and that the money I'd sent for the warrants had "made sure she had a great birthday party"

I was as much at fault for the break up as she was but that, and a couple of other incidents, was the final straw.

I've always prided myself that I'm reasonably intelligent but I was fooled just as easily as anyone.

If I'd looked at things closer then I should have seen through it immediately but I didn't think I had any reason to be suspicious.

Now, thanks to the stupidity of youth and infatuation I'm left with problems that will affect me for life, including debts that now over 5 years later I'm still trying to clear.

Just a cautionary tale for anyone who might be blindingly believing someone without looking closely.

Remember, this process is important to both partners in a relationship, so both should be fully involved.

[sharky-rex 76]

It can take over two years with administrative processing after the interview, but it's very, very unlikely to take that long to get to the interview in the first place. I call douchebaggery

[Mike-eeh and Odie 193]

The K-1 Visa Process (applying and setting an interview date) should take 1 year maximum, normally on average it is 3-7 months depending on the visa service center that processes the application/petition.

Now as sharky-rex said, getting the actual visa can take longer due to administrative processing (AP). Some cases been in AP for more than 5 years, but this only happens AFTER the interview. As said before, the "paper work" process is on average less than 7 months but up to a year.

[.......... 8]

Mines took almost a year

[ashleyphilly 70]

The UK one might be me!

As much as I'm loath to admit my stupidity I was led on by my ex for a few years believing that she'd filed for my K1.

To be honest, if I hadn't been blinded by what I thought at the time was love then the clues were there all along.

I filled in all the forms myself, sent them over to her along with the money to file.

I then sat back to wait patiently believing that it was all going forward while sending almost all the money I earned over to her, getting myself into some horrendous debt.

A year or so after I thought the petition had been filed she told me that the visa centre had contacted her to tell her that the petition was all set to go forward apart from one little problem. She had warrants against her from the state where she grew up for writing multiple bad cheques. Once she clears those then the petition would go forward.

So I borrowed money from my parents to get the warrants cleared and started looking forward to the end being in sight.

Then we split up and after a few shouty phone calls in which she admitted that she had never actually divorced her husband as she'd told me she had she also sent me a photo of the petition forms I'd sent her well over a year before saying she'd never sent them in and that the money I'd sent for the warrants had "made sure she had a great birthday party"

I was as much at fault for the break up as she was but that, and a couple of other incidents, was the final straw.

I've always prided myself that I'm reasonably intelligent but I was fooled just as easily as anyone.

If I'd looked at things closer then I should have seen through it immediately but I didn't think I had any reason to be suspicious.

Now, thanks to the stupidity of youth and infatuation I'm left with problems that will affect me for life, including debts that now over 5 years later I'm still trying to clear.

Just a cautionary tale for anyone who might be blindingly believing someone without looking closely.

Remember, this process is important to both partners in a relationship, so both should be fully involved.

That was so sad to read. Didnt you ask for a case number to check on USCIS from your exfiancee? Or didnt you call USCIS to check on your case status? I think as a beneficiary, you have a right to call USCIS as well, right?

[Merrytooth 5,748]

That was so sad to read. Didnt you ask for a case number to check on USCIS from your exfiancee? Or didnt you call USCIS to check on your case status? I think as a beneficiary, you have a right to call USCIS as well, right?

For I-129F petition, only the US citizen has the right to call USCIS for more information.

I tried to call USCIS before but they refused to talk to me about the petition as I was not the petitioner.

[yailukmuu 26]

Thanks sharky-rex, that's what I thought.

Thanks Girl from Celebes. I wonder what could possibly hold up a k-1 for five years? A missing letter of intent would set off a RFE, and is easily fixed. Allowing a month for each RFE, two + years would need about 14 RFE’s. Still, I’ll be careful. It could be simply that the fellow, as so many here have, has fallen into hard times and is struggling to find income enough to meet the requirements. Two years is a huge red flag—but no amount of red flags are necessarily conclusive.

Mac, what a horrible story. I think that you’re lucky having broken up with her! If she used the US postal service to send you anything, the USPS takes mail fraud very, very seriously, and you can still file a complaint if you have evidence. The limitation of actions (= statute of limitations) block most legal action after 2-3 years, but not in the case of mail fraud. Sent past state borders it becomes a Federal Issue and unlike the FBI or local police who would be useless , USPS investigators take mail fraud seriously. Even if they take no immediate action, they might issue a warrant and it may pop up in the future, and she might find herself arrested from a routine state police traffic stop. It would serve her right to be haunted by past bad deeds.

[SparklePony 238]

There's a very simple way for her to check into it and see if it's true or if she's being played. If what the US Citizen says is true, then that means they've received the NOA1. I would suggest that the Filipina ask her fiance for a scan of the NOA1 and check the status herself on the USCIS website. There are NO excuses for not getting that sent, if the story is true. If not, it's a matter of seeing what excuses will get invented for not having the NOA1 at hand...