K1 September 2014 Filers (TSC)

[AC&BS 23]

Ok, so that table went horribly wrong and it won't let me edit it. Sorry about that.

[av8or1 246]

Eh no problem. Thanks for the post, but really those numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt. I don't even look at Igor's list because of the inherent problems with that data, problems that have been discussed ad-nauseum. I think probably most of us feel the same, though I won't speak for anyone else.

Anyway welcome to the September TSC filer thread just the same.

[supercouple4 5]

Hi Guys!

It's been awhile since I last updated our journey. Here's ours:

9/27/2014 sent I-129F to TSC

9/29/2014 TSC received packet

10/2/2014 received NOA1 via text and email

10/3/2014 changed ARN

10/4/2014 received NOA1 hard copy

11/12/2014 NOA2 approval

11/14/2014 received NOA2 hard copy

11/26/2014 USCIS sent approved docs to DOS for processing

12/11/2014 obtained MNL case # via phone

12/19/2014 completed medical at SLEC

1/5/2015 USEM Interview appointment

That's just a little over 3 mos from the I-129F filing to my interview appointment! For some reason, me and my fiance felt that our case was expedited. No one for sure knows but I think that it's because we overprepared and organized the packet well and sent more proof/docs than required.

For those who are still waiting for a (positive) change in status, pray fervently and and do your due diligence. If you have not heard from where your case last landed, better contact that agency/department.

May I ask who else experienced a seemingly expedited approval?

Happy New Year to all, see you in America in 2015! God bless!

Edited December 31, 2014 by supercouple4

[pfrederiksen 22]

No one for sure knows but I think that it's because we overprepared and organized the packet well and sent more proof/docs than required.

You are suggesting none of us organized and sent enough proof? Not true. You were expedited because you are filing for the Philippines.

[av8or1 246]

For some reason, me and my fiance felt that our case was expedited. No one for sure knows but I think that it's because we overprepared and organized the packet well and sent more proof/docs than required.

For those who are still waiting for a (positive) change in status, pray fervently and and do your due diligence. If you have not heard from where your case last landed, better contact that agency/department.

Thanks for the advice but it somehow feels a bit smug and condescending. Your expedited result had nothing whatsoever to do with your "overprepared"ness nor your organization. It solely had to do with the fact that the beneficiary was from the Philippines. Basically, what pfrederikson said. Do you really think that the rest of us didn't do our due diligence and therefore we continue to wait? Finally, to contact the "agency/department" (whatever that means) is bad advice at this point because we're still well within the "normal processing time" window. So thanks but no thanks. Sheesh.

But I digress. Just very frustrated with the entire process. And tired. Anyway congratulations on your result.

[sevendelta 17]

If this even offers a glimmer of hope or explanation for anyone...As with everyone else on here, we sent required evidence, and of course information above and beyond what was requested. We did not request expedition of application. Nor did we seriously expect the fast approvals. In fact we were prepared for the looong haul. Especially after reading April, May, June filers comments. I can say for certainty, my background/pedigree is fairly complicated. I was born in England and held dual citizenship until age 16, my half brother is a german national, my mother and her husband lived in Germany/Italy/Sardinia-worked for U.S. based aviation contractor for various foreign government militaries, and lots of other pan national relationships and activities that I've been involved in. I am former U.S. military myself, I presently work for a defense contractor, and I have been inside the bubble since 1994 (ever fill out an SF-86? hint). I think the hypothesis I'd like to offer is that speed of approvals likely have correlation to a persons documented pedigree. What I mean by that is that if your identity (the petitioner) is easily verifiable via typical background investigation search methods used by government agencies DMV records, Registry checks, OFAC, SDNL, EDL, Terrorist watch list, SEC filings, FINRA, NICS, NACLAC, ANACI, JPAS, FCRA, and other checks, and that history spans a good amount of time, uninterrupted, less any negative outcomes (especially of the violent felony, domestic violence, tax evasion, fraud, and those of the national security variety) and of course, previous petitions for visas. Most of these DB's can be searched via a single portal as they overlap, and information is shared in a common DB. My guess is, when the I-129F is received, the application is "touched" and the petitioners information is then ran through an automated background investigation screening. The results of these searches are of typically two varieties: "Hits" , and "Cautions"/"Flags". A hit would mean select screening criteria had produced unfavorable results about the petitioner. A Caution or Flag would indicate that information received was inconclusive, and/or additional information exists and further investigation (human intervention) is required to disposition it correctly. Typically what I have seen in my professional experience is, breaks/gaps in employment, inaccurate financial reporting by credit companies and debt collectors, typographical error input by person being processed (social #'s, DOB, addresses, etc.) These cause false flags. I have no practical way to test this theory in regards to the USCIS investigation process, but have some convincing evidence that helps support this idea. I'm interested to here what others thoughts on this may be. Please feel free to disagree, I'm interested. Separate from this theory, I do believe (in fact I know), that some beneficiary countries will process quicker due to the particular relationship we (U.S.) have with that particular country. That relationship can be described as like a spectrum, and the filters for that spectrum include rated risks/threats based on activities that occur within that country such as terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, espionage, visa fraud(yes they track this by country) and so on. This is a very simplified explanation, but one that can impact the timeliness of the beneficiary's investigation. Everything I mentioned however is only a portion of the overall process. The remainder of the process which accounts for time consumption is the "batch" portion of the process. I can't speak to this much as I do not understand it completely. It involves processing groups of applications based on when the batch was received. Apparently observations made by other Filer months have witnessed, when a NOA1 and NOA2 is issued, you will also see that those within a proximate numerical relationship be approved/touched/disapproved/RFE'd as well, hence "batch". So, the conclusion is that if a "batch" is active, and you believe your # is close enough to one that has been reported touched/approved/rfe'd, then yours is being processed as well. And of course if a batch is inactive......prepare for a long wait. By my account, we got lucky. Or maybe we are from Belarus-apines/Phili-rus, I don't know. But we do wish for each and every one of you to receive good news after the New Year. Waiting sucks, but don't lose hope. Vent, complain, write politicians, do whatever you must. It's your futures....own it, and fight the good fight!

Event Date Service Center : Texas Service Center Transferred? No Consulate : Warsaw, Poland I-129F Sent : 2014-09-12 I-129F NOA1 : 2014-09-18 I-129F RFE(s) : 2014-11-19 RFE Reply(s) : 2014-11-25 I-129F NOA2 : 2014-12-08 NVC Received : 2014-12-16 Date Case #, IIN, and BIN assigned : 2014-12-17 NVC Left : 2014-12-19 Consulate Received : 2014-12-24 Packet 3 Received : Packet 3 Sent : Packet 4 Received : Interview Date : 2015-01-27 Submit Review Interview Result : Second Interview
(If Required): Second Interview Result: Visa Received : US Entry : Marriage : Comments : Medical on 19 of january of 2015 Processing
Estimates/Stats : Your I-129f was approved in 81 days from your NOA1 date.

Your interview took 131 days from your I-129F NOA1 date.

[pfrederiksen 22]

(ever fill out an SF-86? hint

Been there done that. Was in the army as an intel analyst. Worked in govt for a while after that. Sent in much more information than required. Still waiting.

[sevendelta 17]

Been there done that. Was in the army as an intel analyst. Worked in govt for a while after that. Sent in much more information than required. Still waiting.

So sorry for your long wait bro. What is this "ARN Change Notification: 9-29-2014"?

[pfrederiksen 22]

So sorry for your long wait bro. What is this "ARN Change Notification: 9-29-2014"?

Just means they changed the alien registration number for whatever reason. It's common apparently.

[msbau764 245]

Hi Guys!

It's been awhile since I last updated our journey. Here's ours:

9/27/2014 sent I-129F to TSC

9/29/2014 TSC received packet

10/2/2014 received NOA1 via text and email

10/3/2014 changed ARN

10/4/2014 received NOA1 hard copy

11/12/2014 NOA2 approval

11/14/2014 received NOA2 hard copy

11/26/2014 USCIS sent approved docs to DOS for processing

12/11/2014 obtained MNL case # via phone

12/19/2014 completed medical at SLEC

1/5/2015 USEM Interview appointment

That's just a little over 3 mos from the I-129F filing to my interview appointment! For some reason, me and my fiance felt that our case was expedited. No one for sure knows but I think that it's because we overprepared and organized the packet well and sent more proof/docs than required.

For those who are still waiting for a (positive) change in status, pray fervently and and do your due diligence. If you have not heard from where your case last landed, better contact that agency/department.

May I ask who else experienced a seemingly expedited approval?

Happy New Year to all, see you in America in 2015! God bless!

. You were expedited because apparently everyone in the Phillipines is suffering from the typhoon last year.

[SincerelyMeike 52]

Hey guys!! I hope everyone had a good christmas and new years eve!! I'm glad i got to spend mine with my fiancé <3 hopefully things really start picking up this year and we all get through with our acceptances fast!! They have no more holiday excuses i can't wait for my NOA2!! keep the faith guys!!

[supercouple4 5]

Thanks for your inputs guys, appreciate it. I was inquiring rather than accusing anybody here. I shared what I personally experienced and the sole purpose of sharing my journey was a genuine concern to those who have not gotten theirs.

The probable reason why ours seem expedited made a lot of sense. Good luck to all, keep praying and God bless!

Happy New year everyone

[nousername83 0]

Hello everyone. I hope everyone is doing fine today. I just wanted to share my story with you guys. I've been a lurker of this site for months now. Honestly, this site and your stories helped me a lot to lessen my stress that I'm going through these past few months. Short story of myself, we filed our petition on September 10, 2014 and US-Embassy Manila received our case on December 12, 2014. I'm not being smug or rude but, I think the process was fast the fact that TSC processed it. Honestly, we don't have much time on gathering all of the documents. We are still waiting on my police clearance from Houston, TX since I lived in the states for 7 years in F-1 visa (2007-2014) and fiancee is still waiting for her W-2.

My questions are:

1. Is it okay to set an appointment for medical and interview in February even though our application is already ready at US-Embassy Manila since December 12, 2014?

2. Does it have expiration date?

Thank you.

You will be with your love soon. I promise!

[kimmygeee 7]

Hello everyone. I hope everyone is doing fine today. I just wanted to share my story with you guys. I've been a lurker of this site for months now. Honestly, this site and your stories helped me a lot to lessen my stress that I'm going through these past few months. Short story of myself, we filed our petition on September 10, 2014 and US-Embassy Manila received our case on December 12, 2014. I'm not being smug or rude but, I think the process was fast the fact that TSC processed it. Honestly, we don't have much time on gathering all of the documents. We are still waiting on my police clearance from Houston, TX since I lived in the states for 7 years in F-1 visa (2007-2014) and fiancee is still waiting for her W-2.

My questions are:

1. Is it okay to set an appointment for medical and interview in February even though our application is already ready at US-Embassy Manila since December 12, 2014?

2. Does it have expiration date?

Thank you.

You will be with your love soon. I promise!

Well first of all TSC is super slow for everyone else who's fiancé(e) is not from the Philippines.. I think you will have better luck on finding that information out on other posts of people who have had their NOA2 approved as the majority of us are pretty far from getting approved anytime soon. I would assume that it would be ok to set an appointment and I think I remember reading that the medical expires 6 months after you do it. Good luck! I hope someone else can give you a more clear answer

Edited January 7, 2015 by kimmygeee

[Jairozb 4]

Hello everyone,

I sent my application on September 22nd, and now my case is on Initial Review. ¿Does anyone have idea on how long it would take? I know it's gonna be another 2 months at least.

Thank you.