To K3 or not to K3, that is the question...

[NY_IZMIR 1]

Hi Everyone,

I just joined VJ, though I've been reading posts and guides on this great site for a few months now.

I'm a little discouraged that I've filed my I-130 5 months ago, and I've not had a touch since 9/9/2006.

My wife had a J1 visa 2 year home residency requirement and we proceeded to get a No Object Waiver on that, and filed that at the same time as the I-130, hoping that the I-130 would take a few months to even be looked at, at which time we'd have the J1 restriction waived.

The J1 restriction was waived in November, and looking at the dismal status of VSC, I also sent in an i-129f for K3. and that was back in the beginning of december. The 129f got a lot of touches at the end of the year, and has been touched everyday this week, but no change in status. It moved from MSC to VSC in mid December.

We have a big ceremonial wedding coming up on 07/07/07 (cool date) in Turkey and I'd like to return back to the states with my wife. The only reason I filed for the K3 was fear of not getting the IR-1/CR-1 stuff done in time. Now I'm fearing that the K3 might not even make it on time.

At this point in time, if the I130 was approved, do you think it'll be enough time to get an interview by Mid July in Turkey? Or should I give up hopes on the I130, and go straight to the 129 (though recent changes seem to suggest they retain the 130 anyway without specific paperwork/money to dictate otherwise)

Thanks

[riblet 0]

The timeline really depends on the individual consulate. But if your I130 was approved right now, it would probably take 3-4 or more months to case complete at the NVC. Then however long the wait is at your consulate... some are as few as 2 months some as long as a year.

Also it's possible that if you file the I129F now you could have an interview for the K3 by July. If you're anxious to have her come by a certain time, more than you're concerned about the additional cost of the I129F and then Adjustment of Status, go for it

Good luck!

[MPGGPM 0]

Hi Everyone,

I just joined VJ, though I've been reading posts and guides on this great site for a few months now.

I'm a little discouraged that I've filed my I-130 5 months ago, and I've not had a touch since 9/9/2006.

My wife had a J1 visa 2 year home residency requirement and we proceeded to get a No Object Waiver on that, and filed that at the same time as the I-130, hoping that the I-130 would take a few months to even be looked at, at which time we'd have the J1 restriction waived.

The J1 restriction was waived in November, and looking at the dismal status of VSC, I also sent in an i-129f for K3. and that was back in the beginning of december. The 129f got a lot of touches at the end of the year, and has been touched everyday this week, but no change in status. It moved from MSC to VSC in mid December.

We have a big ceremonial wedding coming up on 07/07/07 (cool date) in Turkey and I'd like to return back to the states with my wife. The only reason I filed for the K3 was fear of not getting the IR-1/CR-1 stuff done in time. Now I'm fearing that the K3 might not even make it on time.

At this point in time, if the I130 was approved, do you think it'll be enough time to get an interview by Mid July in Turkey? Or should I give up hopes on the I130, and go straight to the 129 (though recent changes seem to suggest they retain the 130 anyway without specific paperwork/money to dictate otherwise)

Thanks

Yeah.....5 months and no Noa 2 yet.....I think I'd be a bit worried too. I sent my I-130 last year, near the beginning of June. It only took until Sept. 1 to get my Noa 2. (just over 2 months).

I would think even if Vermont was slow (and I had the impression that they were actually FASTER than the Texas service center, where ours went through)......that it still wouldn't take that long.

Don't want to panic you, but does seem longer than usual. I also think that if we are almost into February now, to have things done by July , is cutting things close. After I got my Noa 2, and then it went to the NVC, it took about 3 more months to get to the DS-230 stage which we got in December. We sent everything back to the NVC in early January, and were hoping to have it completed and sent to Ankara by the NVC in February. Unfortunately, we just got an RFE after they looked at our case last week, and that will slow us down.

If yours were to get the Noa 2, tommorrow (as an example), and then follow the same time schedule as ours,(but no RFE's) I would guess you'd be looking at the case completed at the NVC hopefully by the earliest, in April or May. Then if everything went smoothly from there, it would probably take 2 or more months to get an interview date in Ankara. (someone who just had their k-3 case sent to Ankara , reported about 2 days ago, that her interview was March 27....so that's 2 months from when she got the email from the embassy).

I would say at best, you have a chance for July, but it will be VERY close.

Good luck.

On a side note, my wife also had a j-1. However, we didn't file a waiver, ....she's serving her HRR time in Turkey...and almost done.

Edited February 1, 2007 by MPGGPM

[Dayna 0]

I am thinking that because your I-129F is being touched so much is that they are getting ready to approve it.

After I submitted my I-129F, it took only 3 weeks to be approved and they approved my I-130 on the same day.

My I-130 had not been touched for over 2 months until that day. I think now that VSC is handling I-130s & I-129Fs together,

it is speeding up the process.

I think that if I hadn't submitted the I-129F petition, my I-130 would have sat untouched until the VSC started working

on cases with my priority date. Currently, the USCIS website says that VCS is now processing cases with priority dates of March 12, 2006... that is almost a year ago! So, I-130s without I-129Fs filed, will sit until the VSC gets to your priority date.

From other posts on this site, I have noticed that since VSC has combined I-130 & I-129F processing, both are being approved on the same day. The I-129F is being sent to NVC to be assigned a case number, then forwarded to Ankara within 1-2 weeks.

Ankara is taking about 2 weeks to send out the packet (ours got lost in the mail, but I emailed Ankara and they said not to wait, to follow intructions on their website for K-3 process and send forms to them, which we did). It took them less than a week to give us an interview date after they received our forms back, which is scheduled 2 months later.

Someone on this forum told me that the NVC will hold your approved I-130 petition until your spouse arrives to the USA

on their K-3 visa, and then you will file adjustment of status one they are here.

My friend just brought his wife from Turkey without using the K-3 option, and it took 13 months. It took 6 months from the time that he filed it until it was approved, then 7 months until she got her interview date. But they also hadnt included crucial documents in the packet returned to Ankara. He warned me not to do the K-3 option because it could take longer, but it only it only took 5 weeks to be approved.

I don't think that the NVC will send your I-130 to Ankara, even if it is approved. Because they assume that you want your spouse to come to USA on K-3 visa.

my thoughts to you... go to Ankara's website and complete all the K-3 forms, get everything ready and send to your spouse

in Turkey. Because once you receive the approval notice from NVC, Ankara will receive your information very quickly.

The NVC will tell you when they will be sending your information to Ankara, normally 1 week after case number is assigned.

Wait 2 weeks after the shipping date, then tell your spouse to mail the documents to Ankara. This is because Ankara is sending the packet out within 2 weeks of arrival of your information, and they will be expecting your documents after mailing the packet to her. They'll assign an interview date within a week, which may be up to 2 months later.

So, if your I-130 & I-129F are approved within the next 1-2 weeks....1 week to be sent to NVC,

1 week to get visa case # assigned by NVC, 2 weeks to be received by Ankara and packet sent, however much time

it takes for you to send packet back to Ankara, then 1 week to get scheduling of interview which is 2 months later...

my calculations are that your interview date will be sometime in May 2007. But I am not a visa expert! I am

just going by other people's experiences and posts that I've read on here. Typical time for I-129F to be filed and

spouse's interview - within 6 months. Prior to October 2006, it was 6-8 months (maybe longer).

So, if your wife gets her K-3 visa sometime in May 2007, she has up to 6 months to enter the USA.

She can wait until you arrive in July for the wedding celebration and go with you back to USA.

I am disappointed that I had not known that we didn't have to wait for the packet, but could send in everything

a few weeks earlier... our interview could have been a whole month earlier!

If you are hoping to have your interview in July, before the wedding celebration, you may try submitting a letter

"To Whom It May Concern" requesting a later date. I've heard of circumstances (work, travel conflicts) where

the consulates would allow couples to postpone their interview dates if requested. They may even schedule the

interview for a specific date, if you request it. But that is up to the person processing your documents.

But it doesn't hurt to try, right? I have discovered that Ankara is very fast with replying to email inquiries

regarding your case, normally within 24 hours of your email.

I hope this info/advice is helpful! Good luck to you!

BTW, are you Turkish? What part of Turkey are you and/or your spouse from?

My husband is from Giresun.

Kendine iyi bak,

Dayna

[NY_IZMIR 1]

Thank you riblet, MPGGPM, and Dayna,

These are all excellent pieces of advice. I will definitely pre-file all the forms and get ready to send them as soon as I can, to get a bit of head start. As I'm checking the status of the case online every hour, I'm hoping I see a change and can give the good news to my wife Banu. She's currently studying/teaching in Ege University in Izmir. I'm Turkish as well (born in Istanbul, lived in Gebze), and have been in the US since I was 11 (17 years ago)

I'm wondering if that is adding to the delay, that I'm a naturalized citizen. I do regret not having filed the i-129 as soon as I got the i-130 noa1. We just feared her J1 status was gonna give us problems, and wanted to wait till that was settled before taking the speedier 129 route.

One question to you all, if you got married in Turkey and got the Turkish Marriage Certificate (the maroon international marriage certificate) did you go ahead and get that translated. I wanted to send the applications out as soon as I got back to the states in august after getting married, and didn't bother to. I simply photocopied all the back pages where they give translations of each of the numbered sections in various different languages, and wrote by hand that these were the translation pages in the document. Do you think this would be a case of an RFE? And if so, wouldn't they have said so by now.

While I'm at it, another question.. Do I have to be with her for the K3 interview? I've visited quite a few times lately and trying to save on paid vacation for the wedding/honeymon.

Thanks for all your help and advice again. I'll let you all know of any progress.

[riblet 0]

To my knowledge being naturalized should not effect anything - I'm naturalized myself.

You do not need to be there for the K3 interview.

[MPGGPM 0]

One question to you all, if you got married in Turkey and got the Turkish Marriage Certificate (the maroon international marriage certificate) did you go ahead and get that translated. I wanted to send the applications out as soon as I got back to the states in august after getting married, and didn't bother to. I simply photocopied all the back pages where they give translations of each of the numbered sections in various different languages, and wrote by hand that these were the translation pages in the document. Do you think this would be a case of an RFE? And if so, wouldn't they have said so by now.

I did not get married in Turkey. We were actually married in St. Augustine, Florida. My wife was still completing her studies here in America when I met her. But I can tell you now that judging by what the NVC has been asking of us, they will want that translated too. I was told by speaking to the NVC that those types of important documents, ...the birth certificate, police certificate, ....basically anything that was in Turkish, should have an english translation. You could call the embassy/NVC to find out for sure, but I would imagine they'd want it translated.

As far as what you are sending them, I am not sure if they would accept that (the part you wrote by hand pointing out what's on the back). USCIS was not as picky as the NVC. That may be why you have not heard anything yet. It has been the NVC which has REALLY hit us with several things in their RFE. USCIS did not send us any RFE's, and our I-130 was approved rather quickly, and then fowarded to the NVC.....where now we've run into some roadblocks.

Our RFE's we just received were for among other things.....that they wanted the "originals" of the certificates such as birth certificate, marriage certificate, police certificate. Apparently, the Ankara embassy is among the few in the world that require you to send originals, and not copies. We also got RFE's for my wife to send in her IAP-66/DS-2019. (Don't know if you'll need such since your wife got a waiver).

The translations my wife got for each certificate were done by some business that does those types of things, in Istanbul.

[Dayna 0]

For purposes within the USA (drivers license, etc), you will need to have the

Turkish marriage certificate translated by a certified notary, the Turkish embassy

in the USA or by university, but it is very important that it includes a cover letter

from the translator with their office letterhead stating they are certified to give

translations. I had a lot of problems trying to get everything changed over into

my new married name because the motor vehicle department wouldn't accept it

even though I had certified translation. Because the marriage certificate only

had the local goverment seal (Avcilar) and not authorized/notarized by the

Turkish embassy, it was rejected. Best bet is to get it translated by the embassy

here in USA. Luckily, the Social Security Administration does not require a

translated copy... they have officials working in regional offices that will do the

translations in-house... which is nice!

For my translation, I found a website that you can scan the marriage certificate

and have them translate all the pages, you'll receive it in the mail within a week.

It cost about $40.

http://www.turkishlanguagetranslator.com/

It shouldn't matter if you are naturalized citizen or not.

[NY_IZMIR 1]

I-130 FINALLY APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I-129f Has a last touch of 02/01/07 Still