March 2015 K-1 Filers

[Tony and Daisy 22]

CFO is now what ?

Sorry, another Philippines thing. It's a seminar required for all Filipino(a)s going overseas.

[Sabrina&Chuck 32]

Sorry, another Philippines thing. It's a seminar required for all Filipino(a)s going overseas.

aah okay . well they have some weired stuff over there to do

[Farrieress 18]

Fingerprints are almost to Canada and I canceled that pre-booked flight for the 27th. Because it was so early, I will only lose $175. So that's at least a positive. The police certificate will cost $225, but they will overnight it back.

Was only $38 dollars to send quickest (4 days) from Ukraine to Ottawa.

[Sabrina&Chuck 32]

so my concern is the following:

I just sent package 3 back. it says after they have received the documents I will receive an email to schedule an appointment for he interview.

now my question: I already payed the fee in June > and already clicked through to scheduling an appointment, so I got a text field popping up NVSC will send me an appointment date..did I screwed it up or isn't it that bad?

[Amhara 460]

Fingerprints are almost to Canada and I canceled that pre-booked flight for the 27th. Because it was so early, I will only lose $175. So that's at least a positive. The police certificate will cost $225, but they will overnight it back.

Was only $38 dollars to send quickest (4 days) from Ukraine to Ottawa.

I am hopeful you can get the police certificate quickly and clear your AP soon! It's great that you have the flexibility in your schedule to wait a little longer while tackling that road bump you guys faced! I know I would be kicking myself so hard in your situation! But it looks like you guys will overcome this!

I wish we had gotten my fiance a machine readable passport before his interview. Since they kept his tazkira (ID), he can't get a new one and the handwritten ones will be invalid this November. But we are getting updates on our case and the questions they asked him during his interview tells me that our case had enough evidence for an approval soon.

Btw, I saw that the average TSC case being worked on is December 25th filing date. That's getting close. If TSC has hired new employees, hopefully they will be working more efficiently and getting the K-1's approved quicker! I hope there are more than 10 approvals on this site per day from TSC!!!!!! Our TSC neighbors have had to wait for such a long time. I trust you guys are close. May your interview dates be near!!!!

[ohmymy 2]

aah okay . well they have some weired stuff over there to do

[ohmymy 2]

It is a seminar intended to provide useful information to Filipinos who are seeking migration or work overseas. It mostly deals with issues on spousal abuse, employer abuse, human trafficking, etc. I think it is a good. It helps those who are naïve about life overseas. Philippines have a good number of overseas workers and citizens married to foreigners , and unfortunately, some become victims of those issues mentioned. In the past, the victims didn't know what to do. With the seminar, it gives them useful information.

Edited July 15, 2015 by ohmymy

[Tony and Daisy 22]

It is a seminar intended to provide useful information to Filipinos who are seeking migration or work overseas. It mostly deals with issues on spousal abuse, employer abuse, human trafficking, etc. I think it is a good. It helps those who are naïve about life overseas. Philippines have a good number of overseas workers and citizens married to foreigners , and unfortunately, some become victims of those issues mentioned. In the past, the victims didn't know what to do. With the seminar, it gives them useful information.

Yup, Daisy attended yesterday (I think Missouri Gal today) and she told me that it was very informative and at some points even fun. She and I went over most of the information before, so she knew a lot of it already. They also went through (in her course) how to travel internationally. That last part she said she kind of ignored because she will be traveling with me. LOL

[gtessier 17]

It is a seminar intended to provide useful information to Filipinos who are seeking migration or work overseas. It mostly deals with issues on spousal abuse, employer abuse, human trafficking, etc. I think it is a good. It helps those who are naïve about life overseas. Philippines have a good number of overseas workers and citizens married to foreigners , and unfortunately, some become victims of those issues mentioned. In the past, the victims didn't know what to do. With the seminar, it gives them useful information.

Very well said. Its not "weird"and should be a requirement in other countries for some of the same reasons you have mentioned. IMBRA protects the victims only after its too late. A CFO seminar is more proactive and helpful.

As Tony mentions, not all immigrants are saavy to traveling internationally and not all petitioners are able to fly to the fiance's country another time to escort them to the US.

[Amhara 460]

Very well said. Its not "weird"and should be a requirement in other countries for some of the same reasons you have mentioned. IMBRA protects the victims only after its too late. A CFO seminar is more proactive and helpful.

As Tony mentions, not all immigrants are savvy to traveling internationally and not all petitioners are able to fly to the fiance's country another time to escort them to the US.

I agree. I wouldn't be surprised if someone wasn't able to make money by creating an online training program that taught these things to potential immigrants that would print out a certificate indicating their full understanding of their rights, responsibilities and options. It could be offered in hundreds of different languages and could be subsidized by the government (probably DoS, but I wouldn't mind getting USCIS to comply).

Who wants to invest with me? lol!

[Sabrina&Chuck 32]

Very well said. Its not "weird"and should be a requirement in other countries for some of the same reasons you have mentioned. IMBRA protects the victims only after its too late. A CFO seminar is more proactive and helpful.

As Tony mentions, not all immigrants are saavy to traveling internationally and not all petitioners are able to fly to the fiance's country another time to escort them to the US.

eh duh...we have it in a piece of paper (more a information sheet) and have to read it and to know what it's saying ...already did read it ...i already know what its saying! & how to deal with such and react.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Sabrina&Chuck

[BrianTroy 0]

Newbie here,

Our NOA1 is dated March 11, 2015. It has been just over 120 days and we have heard nothing. It took USCIS 3 months to put it on their site that we have a case. Have called many times to find out status. Just found out they are pretty useless and can only tell me what i can see(at least that is what they said). TSC says it is working on I-129F petitions from October 2014, yet here it is listed as December 25, 2014. This is confusing. I am wondering if our case is being held back because it is same sex. I live in Massachusetts and my partner lives in the Philippines. I have seen several petitions filed after ours get their NOA2 and another case filed just under a month from ours and they already received NOA2 as well. I called USCIS yesterday and voiced my concern about the possibility of being discriminated against...they replied absolutely not.

Any suggestions would be appreciated,

Thanks

[Amhara 460]

Newbie here,

Our NOA1 is dated March 11, 2015. It has been just over 120 days and we have heard nothing. It took USCIS 3 months to put it on their site that we have a case. Have called many times to find out status. Just found out they are pretty useless and can only tell me what i can see(at least that is what they said). TSC says it is working on I-129F petitions from October 2014, yet here it is listed as December 25, 2014. This is confusing. I am wondering if our case is being held back because it is same sex. I live in Massachusetts and my partner lives in the Philippines. I have seen several petitions filed after ours get their NOA2 and another case filed just under a month from ours and they already received NOA2 as well. I called USCIS yesterday and voiced my concern about the possibility of being discriminated against...they replied absolutely not.

Any suggestions would be appreciated,

Thanks

Welcome and I hope you find this site helpful. Hopefully your NOA2 is not too far away, but in the meantime, get caught up in what you need next. I don't believe Senators or Congress Representatives will help until after the 6 month mark, unfortunately.

[dsldesch 27]

Our NOA1 is dated March 11, 2015. It has been just over 120 days and we have heard nothing. It took USCIS 3 months to put it on their site that we have a case. Have called many times to find out status. Just found out they are pretty useless and can only tell me what i can see(at least that is what they said). TSC says it is working on I-129F petitions from October 2014, yet here it is listed as December 25, 2014. This is confusing. I am wondering if our case is being held back because it is same sex. I live in Massachusetts and my partner lives in the Philippines. I have seen several petitions filed after ours get their NOA2 and another case filed just under a month from ours and they already received NOA2 as well. I called USCIS yesterday and voiced my concern about the possibility of being discriminated against...they replied absolutely not.

Hey there, Brian, welcome to the VisaJourney community!

You raise a few different points, so hopefully I can address each of them.

(1) Calling TSC usually doesn't help, from what I've heard, but I haven't ever called directly so I can't speak from personal experience. Don't feel too bad that they weren't helpful. It also takes different amounts of time for them to update their website, as frustrating as that is. However, it doesn't seem to mean anything other than their web service is poorly managed (as are most things at TSC, so I wouldn't be surprised).

(2) The data on VisaJourney is not perfect, and I don't know how TSC determines which months they report. There are also examples of expedited cases that, for whatever reasons, are processed before others. I personally don't pay attention to either one very much. I'm not a fan of waiting, and I feel, for me, checking the dates and processing estimates too often will just make it harder to bear. Others on VisaJourney do great work with numbers, so seek them out if you're interested in fine details like these, but realize that most of these reports are speculation and not indicative of what's actually happening at TSC.

(3) Near the end of March, USCIS began routing all I-129F petitions to the California Service Center, which is aeons more efficient thatn TSC, which is why most people from the end of March as well as through April, and maybe even more recently (I stopped paying attention to CSC for obvious reasons) have already received their NOA2s. It's unfortunate that this leaves us at TSC waiting in uncertainty for far longer than is fair, but it's all we can do at this point, besides perhaps writing our representatives to try to get something changed.

(4) I'm also in a same-sex relationship, and from everything I've heard, you have nothing to worry about. Since the June 26, 2013, ruling in the United States v. Windsor, which struck down the section of the Defense of Marriage Act that prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, USCIS has honored fiance and spousal petitions from same-sex couples, even if they lived in states that did not permit or recognize same-sex marriages. Obviously, since Obergefell v. Hodges just two weeks ago, this last part is now a moot point. If you're interested in connecting with other same-sex couples on VisaJourney, please follow the binational same-sex couples thread, at the link below:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/441524-binational-same-sex-couples-show-up/

Finally, as far as feeling discriminated against goes, despite the injustices in the immigration system, there is no reason to feel this way. Right now, it seems as if you're simply in the same long waiting line as the rest of us, so the best thing now is to gather your patience, write letters or make phone calls to your representatives and lobby for change if you're so inclined, and just hold out hope that your NOA2 will come soon.

[gtessier 17]

Hey there, Brian, welcome to the VisaJourney community!

You raise a few different points, so hopefully I can address each of them.

(1) Calling TSC usually doesn't help, from what I've heard, but I haven't ever called directly so I can't speak from personal experience. Don't feel too bad that they weren't helpful. It also takes different amounts of time for them to update their website, as frustrating as that is. However, it doesn't seem to mean anything other than their web service is poorly managed (as are most things at TSC, so I wouldn't be surprised).

(2) The data on VisaJourney is not perfect, and I don't know how TSC determines which months they report. There are also examples of expedited cases that, for whatever reasons, are processed before others. I personally don't pay attention to either one very much. I'm not a fan of waiting, and I feel, for me, checking the dates and processing estimates too often will just make it harder to bear. Others on VisaJourney do great work with numbers, so seek them out if you're interested in fine details like these, but realize that most of these reports are speculation and not indicative of what's actually happening at TSC.

(3) Near the end of March, USCIS began routing all I-129F petitions to the California Service Center, which is aeons more efficient thatn TSC, which is why most people from the end of March as well as through April, and maybe even more recently (I stopped paying attention to CSC for obvious reasons) have already received their NOA2s. It's unfortunate that this leaves us at TSC waiting in uncertainty for far longer than is fair, but it's all we can do at this point, besides perhaps writing our representatives to try to get something changed.

(4) I'm also in a same-sex relationship, and from everything I've heard, you have nothing to worry about. Since the June 26, 2013, ruling in the United States v. Windsor, which struck down the section of the Defense of Marriage Act that prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, USCIS has honored fiance and spousal petitions from same-sex couples, even if they lived in states that did not permit or recognize same-sex marriages. Obviously, since Obergefell v. Hodges just two weeks ago, this last part is now a moot point. If you're interested in connecting with other same-sex couples on VisaJourney, please follow the binational same-sex couples thread, at the link below:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/441524-binational-same-sex-couples-show-up/

Finally, as far as feeling discriminated against goes, despite the injustices in the immigration system, there is no reason to feel this way. Right now, it seems as if you're simply in the same long waiting line as the rest of us, so the best thing now is to gather your patience, write letters or make phone calls to your representatives and lobby for change if you're so inclined, and just hold out hope that your NOA2 will come soon.

All very well said...

TSC doesn't care if you are in a same sex relationship. They are backlogged farther than CSC and have been for quite a long time.

Also, you will learn quickly two things....

One, don't compare your situation to others here on VJ. Each case is different and has it own set of challenges. We are all here to help each other by telling our experiences but at the same time, one situation's outcome does not ensure the same result on another case. My fiancee' recently had the challenge at her medical interview of not having her letter from NVC (we never got it) and they were not going to let her do her medical. After a lot of PM's back and forth with Tony (aka "Tony and Daisy") and brainstorming, we came up with a "hail Mary" play that worked. I really don't even want to publicly say what we did here because I don't want others to try it and be disappointed if they try it and it does not work out for them.

Two, don't accept everything USCIS, NVC, etc tells you as fact. For example, on the day you finally do get your NOA2, after about 10 days you can begin calling NVC for your case number. If they don't have it yet, they will tell you wait 30 days. It usually takes about 7-14 days - 10 being average.

Hope that helps add some extra light to dsldesch's thorough and excellent post.