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

[hampguy 9]

There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. We just got approved!!! USCIS case Status app just notified me now, and we were approved. At long last, after 212 days!! Still more way to go but still!!! Elated but have to keep calm.

You times will come. I have a feeling tsc is catching up.

Congratulations. Hopefully we will be in your shoes.

_{Sending out a Special Thanks to Kyle for his feedback along the Journey. We were able to change our interview date from December 7 to October 20, thanks to his instruction. (sigh)}

_{Hat's Off To Ya, Master Kyle!!!}

That is wonderful news Tom!! Glad to hear it!!

[ant330ci 8]

Seems to be somewhat normal on the approvals numbers again. Hope they keep up the numbers so all of us will be approve soon. Praying for everyone.

[Tom and SooGyeong 87]

Seems to be somewhat normal on the approvals numbers again. Hope they keep up the numbers so all of us will be approve soon. Praying for everyone.

Before September, the average approval rate was 57 per day.

For more than 3 weeks in September, they averaged less than 5 per day.

They have come up from that with 31 one day, and 64 one day.

One day at half-rations and one day at 'normal' is an improvement, but does not make for a trend.

The 3-week drought put them 750 approvals behind their formal schedule.

I am hopeful that they will leave the spigot on full throttle.

But, It's TSC . . . . Hope for the best, but Buckle-Up and don't count any chickens just yet.

[Grafx85 4]

Called my senator's office today and they said they'll call tsc to see what is going on with my case. Saw on immifairy that the reports are slowly moving again. What do you guys think, should I still have my senator call tsc??? or wait the next coming days as tsc is rolling somewhat again and maybe expect an approval...

[Mad & J 25]

There was no post. He gave me the information personally.

In a nutshell, when you Escape from TSC, (approval and shipped to NVC) Your Petition receives a Case file and is sent to your Embassy. Your beneficiary must do 2 things, (pertaining to the interview date). Your beneficiary must go online and print a pass receipt to take to the in-country specific bank to pay the Visa fee, and Keep that receipt. Then they must log on to CEAC and start a profile to fill out (electronically) the DS-160, which is a Nonimmigrant Visa Application. When finished and accepted, it displays a DS-160 confirmation Page. That also must be printed to take to the interview.

It is important to remember that your beneficiary's medical Must be completed before going to the interview at the embassy, so ideally, your beneficiary should contact the appropriate medical facility and schedule an appointment before choosing an interview appointment date.

The Visa Payment Receipt and DS-160 Confirmation receipt each have a receipt number. Those two numbers are used at the USTRAVELDOCS website. Your beneficiary should create a profile with an email address and password, as well as those two receipt numbers. Once that is done, and the questions answered about local shipping addresses and phone numbers, CEAC Case file number etc., a calendar is made accessible for choosing the best Interview Appointment Date.

This is all good info! If I might add something for others preparing for these steps, it's to make sure that the process described by Tom applies to your consulate/embassy, as the details can vary. For example, in Canada, the DS-160 part is the same, but we book our interviews on ais.usvisa-info.com (this is also where you pay the fee, which we did by credit card). We can only book our medical after the interview is booked, as the medical clinic requires an interview date to issue an appointment. Basically, you can't book anything until you have received Packet 4.

Anyway, I'm happy to help with Canada-specific questions, here or via pm.

Tom, I am envious of your interview date! It's great that you got to reschedule. I'm hoping I might do the same but I'm not holding my breath, Montreal is very busy and open dates are rare. I will keep checking, though!

Edited October 1, 2015 by Mad & J

[Mad & J 25]

There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. We just got approved!!! USCIS case Status app just notified me now, and we were approved. At long last, after 212 days!! Still more way to go but still!!! Elated but have to keep calm.

You times will come. I have a feeling tsc is catching up.

Congrats! And I certainly hope you are right about TSC!

[hampguy 9]

Congrats! And I certainly hope you are right about TSC!

Congratulations.

[Tom and SooGyeong 87]

This is all good info! If I might add something for others preparing for these steps, it's to make sure that the process described by Tom applies to your consulate/embassy, as the details can vary. For example, in Canada, the DS-160 part is the same, but we book our interviews on ais.usvisa-info.com (this is also where you pay the fee, which we did by credit card). We can only book our medical after the interview is booked, as the medical clinic requires an interview date to issue an appointment. Basically, you can't book anything until you have received Packet 4.

Anyway, I'm happy to help with Canada-specific questions, here or via pm.

Tom, I am envious of your interview date! It's great that you got to reschedule. I'm hoping I might do the same but I'm not holding my breath, Montreal is very busy and open dates are rare. I will keep checking, though!

If Soogyeong had already completed the Medical Exam, (could have been scheduled earlier), then this early am when we changed our interview date, she could have chosen Monday 5th. We ended up using our second (THERE ARE ONLY 2) changes to move her interview back from Oct. 20th to Oct 27th. Her medical is on the 19th, and Her thinking is, 'If ANYTHING goes awry with the medical', (need a vaccination, but can't have until the next day or so), there would be available time to accommodate a small correction. So, now we have 5 working days to make any last minute tweaks.

WARNING TO ALL:

YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO CHANGE YOUR INTERVIEW DATE TWICE. IF YOU ATTEMPT A THIRD CHANGE, YOU LISE YOUR VISA FEE AND MUST PAY AGAIN.

Thanks to all for the congrats. Soogyeong and I have burned our candles at both ends, every chance we had, including our time in Purgatory. . .er-uh TSC. Our speedy processing in-country took a lot of our free time, a lot of internet digging, thread reading, etc... but in the end, is soooo worth the effort.

We are not there yet, but we have some great momentum.

Soogyeong found blogs posted in South Korea by several ladies who have been through the Gauntlet, and found their postings very valuable. So please consider leaving some instructions in your wake. A trail of breadcrumbs for the next poor wander to find their way.

[rms171 20]

Hello all, let me clarify Tom's posting as I am the practice dummy that learned a lesson the hard way what happens when you change the appointment too many times.

After you schedule your appointment on USTRAVELDOCS.com, you are permitted two changes thereafter. If you cancel your second change your visa fee is cancelled and you have to pay it again. I screwed myself because I wasn't paying attention when I modified the appointment the second time. It was a mistake that I made, but no matter how much I pleaded with the embassy, they said "we regret to inform you." Mind you this screw up happened within a 30 minute window, but still no sympathy and no help. When I asked, 'well if i can't afford to pay this again, does this mean I cannot bring my beneficiary here? Over a mistake, the government is telling me sorry?" Response "we regret to inform you". I hung up.

So the sage advice is this. When you go to schedule your appointment, think the date through very carefully with your beneficiary. Each country is different of course, but don't just run to take the earliest date only to find out you can't make it.

Today's lesson cost me $265 times two beneficiaries, all to end up taking the same appointment date I had started the morning with.

A very costly lesson indeed.

Edited October 2, 2015 by rms171

[Tom and SooGyeong 87]

Congratulations on the Interview date!

[Tom and SooGyeong 87]

Hello...? Hello...? Hello...? Hello...? (echoes on and on, ever fainter ...)

Wondering where everyone went....

[Odogwu 5]

210 days and still waiting for NOA2?????

[Honey_B 9]

We just hit the *magical* 200 day mark...I could not even find an emoticon that expresses how I feel. This is so ridiculous and frustrating I think it might be healthy to stop checking my case status and just wait for my fiance to hopefully, someday very soon, get that notification. We tried calling, it's a joke

[hampguy 9]

210 days and still waiting for NOA2?????

Day # 210 for us as well...... it gets more ridicules every single day that goes by without an approval. A very unfair process in every way.

[Macy&Giselle 1]

Hello every one, i think they are transfering New TSC cases because i saw people from New York that are routed or transfered to CSC