I-129F Filers, March 2015 NOA1 date! TSC only!

[rms171 20]

We are a community here, whether Texas or California. If we have friends on this journey who have erroneously marked their processing centers with Texas, it probably is not asking too much for someone to send a gentle email to them and request they update their profiles. I'm happy to do so with direction from someone, but we can work with each other to scrub the data so it helps all of us get to a happy place - The Land of NOA2.

R

[dza 46]

Guys we can hope for the best wish is speedy approvals and nothing wrong with that, and prepare for the worst , ok now we know that some other people having their approval after 7 months, but nothing wrong with hoping and praying for the best, i remember there was a member here she was a December filler , she was waiting for something but so negative saying i know i will not have my approval until august or September and guess what she had her approval i think in 156 daysss which was so unexpected for her, so let hope , nothing is impossible, i will hit my 5 months next Sunday day 26 and cant wait to have my approval, how knows maybe i will be blessed to have my approval soon, i keep praying and hoping, we need to be strong, i still have a long road, because here in Egypt as i noticed just to set an interview could take from 1 to 3 months plus the nvc, but i need to be strong, because deep inside of me i am dying of being away from him, lets support each other by positive thoughts and info please as much as we can we need that

[dsldesch 27]

I've been lurking on this thread, reading every post but not commenting on most of them, but I feel a few people have said a few things that may be brightened with some additional perspective.

First, I understand the need for speculation: for some people, it helps make the waiting more manageable, even if for others it would drive them insane. I think we need to respect our differing needs and coping habits while we wait for our hopefully inevitable approvals.

Second, I also understand the potential for speculation to be incredibly destructive: setting our hopes possibly unrealistically upon sooner approval dates may cause terrible disapointment if, and probably for some when, those days pass without any news. Hope is a powerful contagion that makes all this waiting possible, but I think we can frame our hopefulness at a distance, so as to be cognizant of the overall averages we're facing. For example, we are March 3 filers, so our five-month date is literally two weeks away (although my one senator's office told me expected processing time is now six months, not five), so hearing the possibility of having our NOA2 within the month is remarkable. However, I still have my hopes set on Harel's being here (or really there, since right now here is where he already is) in April, thirteen months after our filing. Barring any unforeseen delays, he should be in the US by then, and should we be fortunate enough that he's there earlier, we'll be even more elated to not have to wait as long as we anticipated. April may be further off, but it's still a point on the horizon we can train our eyes toward for hope and strenght to keep moving.

Finally, a couple members remarked that being apart literally feels like dying, and having just spent six and a half months apart from the love of my life, I can attest to how slow that dying is, yet how deep it reaches inside you, and how suddenly it can be turned around the moment you're reconnected with your loved ones. We each face immense challenges as we go through this journey, some financial, some time apart, some unstable countries, and many others I couldn't even begin to articulate. Hope helps us hold onto a slim glimpse of the life we were truly living the last time we were with our fiances (spouses) and of the life we'll continue to live once we're together in the US without threat of separation. The time between the two is a cold crypt we can at best only hope to crawl through, but we are here together, to hold each others' hands when hope seems too small a light to see at the end, when upsets shake the ground beneath us, and to celebrate every small step for each of us, because every approval, every realization that another couple has completed the process, reminds me that this grey haze will eventually lift and a life of vibrant colors will appear in its place.

So however you find your hope, cherish it, and if it's not your own personal hopefulness, don't belittle it for someone else. But please, hope wisely, because misplaced hope can cause tremendous heartache.

We are a community here, whether Texas or California. If we have friends on this journey who have erroneously marked their processing centers with Texas, it probably is not asking too much for someone to send a gentle email to them and request they update their profiles. I'm happy to do so with direction from someone, but we can work with each other to scrub the data so it helps all of us get to a happy place - The Land of NOA2.

R

I think you're right, and I think people would be responsive if you explained this to them. If I were at home with a more-reliable internet connection, I would offer to help, but in the mean time it would be difficult for me. If you're able to make a list of allegedly mistaken profiles and draft a letter, perhaps you could recruit a couple volunteers, divide the list amongst yourselves, and go about it that way. I think, even with my questional Mexican internet connection (not true of all internet connections here, mind you), I'd be able to help then.

[Tom and SooGyeong 87]

I had no intention to open a can of worms, nor offer false hopes, nor cause frustration. I only wished to share hope.

However, that seems to not be the case.

So, I'll keep my numbers and thoughts to myself, unless asked.

That is all.

[estoyconestupido 4]

Tom I think your list is great. It makes me feel better seeing some kind of progress no matter how small it may be. I am sure that there are many people who also feel that way. If someone believes it is giving them false hope then they shouldn't be a part of the group. The purpose of all of this is to provide hope and help each other along. If you want to bury your head in the sand and just wait then that should be that persons prerogative without upsetting the rest of us.

[dsldesch 27]

I had no intention to open a can of worms, nor offer false hopes, nor cause frustration. I only wished to share hope.

However, that seems to not be the case.

So, I'll keep my numbers and thoughts to myself, unless asked.

That is all.

While I can't speak on behalf of others, I can say that I did not intend to suggest your numbers and thoughts are offering a false hope; in fact, I wish nothing more than they are an accurate predictor of what's to come, but that cannot be assured until it comes to pass. Rather I said, for me (and not necessarily others, for we each find hope in different places, and we should not speak against the hope of others if it differs from our own), that I believe it is a dangerous hope, for if it turns out to be incorrect, it may lead to frustration and disappointment for some people. Perhaps not all people, but some, and I think it's important for people to realize that. It can be easy to cling to glimmers of good news, but some people may suffer more than others if that turns out not to be true.

By all means, please continue sharing your numbers; I'm sure there are many who appreciate them, and as I said, I hope by all means they turn out to be correct. But I also think it's important for people to realize the limitations and possible shortcomings of anyone's speculations, and to be wise in choosing where to place their hopes.

[Unshakable Faith 493]

We are a community here, whether Texas or California. If we have friends on this journey who have erroneously marked their processing centers with Texas, it probably is not asking too much for someone to send a gentle email to them and request they update their profiles. I'm happy to do so with direction from someone, but we can work with each other to scrub the data so it helps all of us get to a happy place - The Land of NOA2.

R

If I see someone with very short time at TSC, I send them a short message and ask kindly if they will check their receipt number and I explain a bit. Everyone I've ever asked to do it has been very nice and changed it. Edited July 21, 2015 by FN&KO

[Unshakable Faith 493]

"Hey- I see that you seem to have gotten your NOA2 very quickly for the Texas Service Center. If your receipt number begins with WAC, you are the California Service Center. If your receipt number begins with SRC, you are the Texas Service Center. You could please update your service center based on this information?

If you have input the incorrect service center, it throws off our data for visajourney. Thanks!"

That's the message that I send

Edited July 21, 2015 by FN&KO

[cook511 3]

My Partner and I filed in mid Feb and are hoping for a late August/early Sept NOA2 at the latest. With this process I've learned to be hopeful but not surprised when the government is slow. Luckily the embassy in Ankara has very good reviews and it should be quick after that. Best of luck to everyone!

In the mean time I'm happy for another excuse to fly to Turkey to visit. Beautiful country and wonderful people.

[Pennycat 880]

Whilst I understand the need to be realistic, there's nothing wrong with keeping hope to. We have all suffered until this point and everyone deals with it differently. Optimism can be a strength and any signs of an improvement in processing times should be celebrated. Pessimism should be avoided, but that's just my opinion.

I'm not saying don't hope and if that's what you get from *realism* that says more about you than it does me. I'm trying to point out long standing trends, real numbers, and personal experience with how federal agencies operate plus pointing out a flaw in numbers analysis above (of course the early approvals will have shorter average waits. ...they're the early ones). I'm sorry but the fact, not my pessimism about the situation, but the cold hard provable fact of the matter is that less than 15% of Feb has even been touched and less than half that approved.

Hope that you're one of the early ones, hope they speed up, whatever works for you. But don't give yourself or, really, others false hope with incorrect data, flawed analysis and a lack of understanding about how they operate.

We are a community here, whether Texas or California. If we have friends on this journey who have erroneously marked their processing centers with Texas, it probably is not asking too much for someone to send a gentle email to them and request they update their profiles. I'm happy to do so with direction from someone, but we can work with each other to scrub the data so it helps all of us get to a happy place - The Land of NOA2.

R

People have done that before and have been asked to stop by the VJ mods for "spamming" or whatnot. You can try though.

[Kyle and Linh 64]

I am an optimistic person given my prediction below, so here goes my 2 cents....

Catherine I think is on Immifairy as am I. ImmiFairy has somehow has figured out a way to get 100% of the applications via inputting the confirmation numbers on a daily basis and mapping the results. All I can say is Sarah who runs it knows how to mine data. It is a great website and worth joining. We are prevented from discussing the data, but the trend is similar to what I and others have said above. I am talking trend, NOT specific location. But I am optimistic at my chance of getting a NOA2 on my date below.

The data on ImmiFairy is very good. I think Catherine is correct that the system gets gamed by processors, but, I also see that it does fall into a normal distribution pattern. As such, while there is some gaming, there comes a time that the herd needs to get processed. Right now the herd is January 2015. Yes there are remaining people in Q4 2015, and yes they have barely touched February but progress is being made.

The TSC Black Hole contains all of us up to the end of Q1 2015. I think we are all on average within 75 days of getting approved (average here with some being sooner and some being 45 days longer) I don't see them having many old NOA1 to deal with after September 30.

Keep the faith. Good Luck to ALL

[myAlexa 2]

 

I had no intention to open a can of worms, nor offer false hopes, nor cause frustration. I only wished to share hope.

However, that seems to not be the case.

So, I'll keep my numbers and thoughts to myself, unless asked.

That is all.

 

Hi Tom.

yes please keep on sharing your numbers. It sure makes me feel better to be able to speculate the statistical average based on your data. Thank you for sharing hope

[ant330ci 8]

I had no intention to open a can of worms, nor offer false hopes, nor cause frustration. I only wished to share hope.

However, that seems to not be the case.

So, I'll keep my numbers and thoughts to myself, unless asked.

That is all.

I can only speak for myself. I have been trying to do numbers on my own. I think it is great that you are sharing your numbers and thoughts. Please continue to share.

Thank you

[Tom and SooGyeong 87]

   

Hi Tom.

yes please keep on sharing your numbers. It sure makes me feel better to be able to speculate the statistical average based on your data. Thank you for sharing hope

Sent you an email message

I can only speak for myself. I have been trying to do numbers on my own. I think it is great that you are sharing your numbers and thoughts. Please continue to share.

Thank you

I sent you an email message

[P&F 3]

Hi Tom,

I can also speak only for myself and I really appreciate those numbers and your work you put into it. It keeps me stay positive that there may be some progress coming soon...so if you could pls keep us updated

Thank you