Worth it to submit the I-129 with the I-130?

[KOVillegas 1]

Hello All--

I just shipped my I-130 for my husband to the Phoenix lockbox, and am now mentally preparing for the long wait ahead. I have been researching and have not yet decided if I should send the I-129 along once I receive my first NOA for the I-130. Does anyone have any advice on which is the better path? From what I can tell if the I-129 is accepted first it could potentially cut back only a few weeks or a month on the whole timeline, however it does make things more difficult and more expensive later on. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[apple21 953]

i130 is fine on its own. K3 (i130 & i129f) is obsolete.

[Deagle 508]

i submitted my i-130 and i got the noa1 then i submitted the i-129f and got the noa1 too, i dont know if i-129f (k3) gonna work, but anyway i am waiting to see what will happen. best luck

[Lakehouse 293]

My decision to add the I-129F actually slowed us down a couple weeks, as from close study of the applicants in the July 2013 and Aug 2013 filers threads, my case didn't get sent off to a service center for processing based on my I-130 NOA1 date, but rather with the I-129F NOA1 date (which of course comes after the I-130 has already been received).

Reading threads on VJ since the fall of 2013 has demonstrated to me that the K3 is not completely obsolete, but oh so very few get to move ahead with their K3. The I-130 usually kicks into processing and knocks the K3 off the table.

It's entirely up to you!

Edited May 31, 2014 by Lakehouse

[ColGil 126]

I've got a similar story to lakehouse, my I-129 actually slowed down my I-130 by a few weeks.

I too got transferred late in the process, and when I got an RFE on my I-130 I had to wait 5 weeks for the physical letter, which arrived the same day as the I-129f RFE (all the wanted was a passport style photo which they already had with the I-130 petition). Then we were caused no end of stress when they said the I-129 petition was sent to the NVC but the I-130 wouldn't as I was already in the states to to adjust status. I wasn't already in the states, so we filed another form, costing $485 to have them correct their mistake.

To top it all off, someone on this site noticed that anyone who waited a couple of months between I-130 NOA1 and filing the I-129f experienced significant delays (possibly linked to the fact that the I-129 priority date was used instead of the I-130)

It does not speed up the USCIS part of the process at all. The only way it may speed up the process is if its sent seperately to the NVC, they don't administratively close it and send it on to the Embassy, you will be scheduled an interview then once the I-130 is case complete and sent to the embassy they will process the I-130 but using the early interview date you got because of the I-129f. I believe this happens less than 1% of the time, but given that I was delayed somewhere from 4-6 weeks at USCIS stage, even if I was one of the 1% at the NVC, all it would do is bring me back on track at this point.

Good luck.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

Then we were caused no end of stress when they said the I-129 petition was sent to the NVC but the I-130 wouldn't as I was already in the states to to adjust status. I wasn't already in the states, so we filed another form, costing $485 to have them correct their mistake.

That has happened to a lot of people, and they were able to rectify the situation by telling Tier 2 they were mistaken and the applicant wasn't in the States. No I-824 needed and USCIS would send the petition to NVC once they realised their mistake.