I-601 WAIVER UPDATES

[LoveMyTico 999]

They didn't miss our papereork. My husband got the NOA1 all the way in Costa Rica. When we call, everything is in the computer system. I just can't track my case on the website. Its quite annoying.

[LoveMyTico 999]

So on Sept 2nd, our lawyer called USCIS and requested an expedite for our waiver. On Sept 19th, the lawyer sent me a message saying the expedite was denied..

So my husband and I made a call to the USCIS yesterday, after waiting an hour and 45 minutes for a tier 2 officer since our case cannot be seen online yet, we find out that the waiver was not denied and that the USCIS sent a letter on Sept 23rd to the attorney requesting them to submit the expedite in writing along with all the information backing up our request. So I call the attorney and he is totally UNAWARE of this letter and insists the expedite was denied. I told him I just talked to USCIS and I want him to fax the info to the USCIS .

The paralegal filed an expedite using my name as the applicant on Aug 26th. That expedite was denied since I AM NOT THE APPLICANT.. ( don't even get me started on how she didn't know the difference between applicant and petitioner) She called a second time to re-request on Sept 2nd and that is the expedite I called about yesterday. I think the lawyer is confused and is referring to the denied expedite that was requested wrong.. How is it that I know more than the lawyers office? They didn't even want to take the time to call and check on our case. It is literally like pulling teeth to get them to earn some of the 6K we paid. My husband is in Costa Rica and had to make a 3-way call to the USCIS since they wont talk to me without him on the line. We are beyond frustrated with the lawyer.

I drafted a letter explaining in my own words why I am requesting an expedite. I sent that and a few other pieces of evidence that can go along with the original evidence the lawyer already has.

USCIS gave me the fax number that was on the letter that was sent to the lawyer that they insist they have not received yet. I have had it with lawyers who don't want to work for the money they charge. Whatever happened to customer service? I just can't stand this process... and the lawyer makes everything so much more difficult than it needs to be. If I don't keep on top of them, they never check on anything. Why do I have to beg for someone to do their job? I waited on hold for an hour and 45 minutes yesterday because the call back feature doesn't work with 3 way calling. It would have taken the lawyer 5 minutes to talk to the tier 1 operator and then put in their number to be called back and then they could have worked on something else while waiting for the call back... UGHHHHHH

Sorry HAD TO VENT.

[Mr Kame 0]

three part post here.

I hated our lawyer too. It took him almost a year to finally write our letters for my fiance and I. wouldn't return emails or phone calls for days. we paid 4k to an american attorney working out of Thailand. I have had to work with lawyers before and this was the only bad experience I ever had. Every trip I took to thailand I made sure to meet with him and ask what he was doing. finally after a lot of emails he finally did his part.

our i-601 waiver was filed on april 14 2014 at the nebraska uscis. It was approved october 7 2014. almost 6 months. a week ago I contacted my senator and asked for help. He sent in a request to the USCIS late last week and then this week we were approved. Almost 6 months for that waiver, but add that to the time it took the lawyer to do his part. wow..

anyone know if my fiance will be asked to do a second interview at the us embassy in Thailand? I've read some saying no and some saying yes.

hope everyone else's journey will finally be approved soon.

[AndrostoAustin 2]

Lawyer submitted our I601 in May and NSC received it on May 30, 2014. We are still in Initial Review based on checking the Case Status online. I am hoping it is true to the 5 month processing time. Reading this thread that 14 month quote above makes me a little scared and not sure how that would be possible. It has been 2.5 years since we first submitted our I129 Fiance visa application.

[LoveMyTico 999]

I follow a few Facebook groups for waivers and I have been seeing the processing time at about 3.5 months. Two people reported 3 months in the last few days. One with a June 23rd filing date, approval Sept 23rd. Regular straight forward I-601. I guess it depends on the difficulty level of your file. I spoke to my lawyer yesterday about how they process waivers. He said he has not visited the NSC as of yet but as far as he understands, they receive them and just give them to the adjudicators. No special order. He is almost 100% sure that the Waiver adjudicators only do WAIVERS. My question was if they process all types of files....

.He is against me reading the forums . He says I should just sit back, pray and let them do their job. That's not in my nature. I like to follow the forums and groups to see the progress even though I fully understand that every case is different.

This is the last stretch of this long journey for us. 3 months will be November 22nd. We are hoping it will all be over this year. ( HOPING )

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE !!

[Mr Kame 0]

It was 5.75 months for us and that was dealing with thailand. I've seen waivers from Mexico take 3 months. The website still says 5 month processing time.

Hope it happens soon for you all.

[LoveMyTico 999]

Praying so hard for 3 months

[bluebeard 3]

So on Sept 2nd, our lawyer called USCIS and requested an expedite for our waiver. On Sept 19th, the lawyer sent me a message saying the expedite was denied..

So my husband and I made a call to the USCIS yesterday, after waiting an hour and 45 minutes for a tier 2 officer since our case cannot be seen online yet, we find out that the waiver was not denied and that the USCIS sent a letter on Sept 23rd to the attorney requesting them to submit the expedite in writing along with all the information backing up our request. So I call the attorney and he is totally UNAWARE of this letter and insists the expedite was denied. I told him I just talked to USCIS and I want him to fax the info to the USCIS .

The paralegal filed an expedite using my name as the applicant on Aug 26th. That expedite was denied since I AM NOT THE APPLICANT.. ( don't even get me started on how she didn't know the difference between applicant and petitioner) She called a second time to re-request on Sept 2nd and that is the expedite I called about yesterday. I think the lawyer is confused and is referring to the denied expedite that was requested wrong.. How is it that I know more than the lawyers office? They didn't even want to take the time to call and check on our case. It is literally like pulling teeth to get them to earn some of the 6K we paid. My husband is in Costa Rica and had to make a 3-way call to the USCIS since they wont talk to me without him on the line. We are beyond frustrated with the lawyer.

I drafted a letter explaining in my own words why I am requesting an expedite. I sent that and a few other pieces of evidence that can go along with the original evidence the lawyer already has.

USCIS gave me the fax number that was on the letter that was sent to the lawyer that they insist they have not received yet. I have had it with lawyers who don't want to work for the money they charge. Whatever happened to customer service? I just can't stand this process... and the lawyer makes everything so much more difficult than it needs to be. If I don't keep on top of them, they never check on anything. Why do I have to beg for someone to do their job? I waited on hold for an hour and 45 minutes yesterday because the call back feature doesn't work with 3 way calling. It would have taken the lawyer 5 minutes to talk to the tier 1 operator and then put in their number to be called back and then they could have worked on something else while waiting for the call back... UGHHHHHH

Sorry HAD TO VENT.

Hi LoveMyTico,

I am sorry your attorney is not representing your husband and you to the best of his/her abilities. May I ask you who did you hire to file the waiver?

[LoveMyTico 999]

Hi LoveMyTico,

I am sorry your attorney is not representing your husband and you to the best of his/her abilities. May I ask you who did you hire to file the waiver?

WOW your NOA2 took almost as long as mine... W.T.H???

[bluebeard 3]

WOW your NOA2 took almost as long as mine... W.T.H???

I know... our petition was held under background security checks for months. There are still some December filers waiting for approval.

[LoveMyTico 999]

I know... our petition was held under background security checks for months. There are still some December filers waiting for approval.

Don't be fooled. My file sat for 10 months before they picked it up and started working on it. It wasn't under background checks, That was the excuse they were throwing out to everyone because security checks take it out of the normal processing time and the reported processing date no longer applies and you can't put in a service request. They told me my file was assigned to an officer mid Dec 2013... and they said I should hear something in 2 weeks. We weren't approved until March 18th 2014. I wrote letters and got my senator involved. They seriously didn't even look at it until the beginning of March.

My friend applied in February 2014 and was approved in July 2014. But she refuses to listen to me and won't read the forums. She thinks her lawyer is trustworthy. ( HAHA) Lets just say she has been at the NVC since July and she only just paid her IV fee when it could have been paid at the same time as the AOS fee. She has another 50-60 more days to wait.

We only spent 2 months at the NVC ( even with 2 checklists) I followed the NVC wiki to the "T" and I did most of the NVC myself and told my lawyer I had it taken care of. The checklists were mistakes made by my lawyer that I caught and fixed before it cost me more time. You have to stay on top of the NVC. I used to call 3 times per day.

I know... our petition was held under background security checks for months. There are still some December filers waiting for approval.

you should update your timeline with the correct country. Were you on the Facebook group?

[AndrostoAustin 2]

I can't fathom 10 months right now. I am due to give birth in December and my fiance is not with me, still in the Bahamas and he cannot enter until this is resolved and he has a waiver. Of course our decision to have a child, but very disheartening.

[bluebeard 3]

There is no accountability at the USCIS stage while waiting for adjudication. Maybe our petition, as many others, was untouched for several months, but that's the excuse they gave us.

I am not on Facebook.

[LoveMyTico 999]

I can't fathom 10 months right now. I am due to give birth in December and my fiance is not with me, still in the Bahamas and he cannot enter until this is resolved and he has a waiver. Of course our decision to have a child, but very disheartening.

how far are you in this process? Did you file the waiver?

[AndrostoAustin 2]

how far are you in this process? Did you file the waiver?

We first filed I129F in July 2012 and were approved in March 2013. We had our fiance visa interview in May 2013. We were denied and found out that the State Dept. had made a clerical error on my fiance's tourist visa from 2011/2012 which would have barred him for life; however, we worked with our attorney and cleared up the matter with the State Dept. and Embassy by Dec. 2013 at which point the embassy said we could apply for an I-601 Waiver. It took us 5 months with our attorney to assemble the waiver and we submitted in May. NSC received our waiver application on May 30, 2014. It is now obviously 4.5 months since then and we are still in Initial Review. If his waiver is approved, it will grant us the K1 visa so he can travel here and we can be married in the US, go through AOS, etc. But I found out I was pregnant in April so makes it all the more difficult at this point. The burden of travel, etc. is on me to go see my fiance since he obviously cannot get any other type of temporary visa while we are in process for the K1. He has not been to the states since his tourist visa expired in March 2012.