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

[dsldesch 27]

The USEM uses the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) as their standard operating procedures (SOPs). Section 9 is all about how they handle different kinds of visas. Right now, that part is under construction (online), but the PDF can be found here: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/87391.pdf

It says:

9 FAM 41.81 N6.2 Validity of a K-1 Petition

An approved K-1 visa petition is valid for a period of four months from the date of USCIS action and may be revalidated by the consular officer any number of times for additional periods of four months from the date of revalidation, provided the officer concludes that the petitioner and the beneficiary remain legally free to marry and continue to intend to marry each other within 90 days after the beneficiary's admission into the United States. However, the longer the period of time since the filing of the petition, the more the consular officer must be concerned about the intentions of the couple, particularly the intentions of the petitioner in the United States. If the officer is not convinced that the U.S. citizen petitioner continues to intend to marry the beneficiary, including instances where no action has been taken on the application for a year (while refused under INA 221(g)), the petition should be returned to the approving office of USCIS with an explanatory memorandum. (See 9 FAM 41.81 PN5 for revalidation procedure.)

Here are a few other posts:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/574726-noa-2-expiring-soonwhile-im-still-on-ap/#entry7888884

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/574754-help-i-need-help/

Thanks you, Amhara! I feel much more relieved after reading these threads.

It's 250 days today.

That is ridiculous. I wish there were some way we could all help.

[Amhara 460]

I wanted to share our experience today, in case it will help anyone else here. You all WILL get to this step. I know you have been waiting for so long, so maybe this will help you in your future journey.

SSN

We married less than a week before he landed, and I was thinking we needed to wait two weeks. I was checking the SAVE database each day, but we had his I-94 shortly after the holiday; we had it by November 12th. We married that following Monday on the 16th. However, I am seeing threads of where people applied and were approved for SSN's after their I-94's are showing. I should have at least tried on the 13th for his SSN. We couldn't get one today as they said us being married changes his "status". I accepted that as I'm hoping to file the AOS within three weeks.

Health Insurance

I had consulted with my HR benefits specialist before he came. I found out that my insurance allows us to add a fiance up to 31 days before the marriage. I asked if we could do that (at that time, I had not scheduled our JOP marriage date) when we have the marriage planned seeing how he won't have an SSN for an unknown time. She told me that it's required that he have his SSN. Again, yesterday, I came across a VJ thread which suggested we do not need SSN for health insurance. I read the instructions to the form that I will use to add him and sure enough, the instructions specifically say that benefits will not be withheld if no SSN is provided! (Reading is fundamental...) We need to get all his vaccines, so we need to add him to the insurance, we can get his vaccinations without an out-of-pocket cost at Walgreen's and I finally found an CS that will transcribe on the I-693. (Some wanted $600!!! HA!!)

What I would have done differently:

1) Read the day-gone health insurance form rather than ask...

2) Added him to my health insurance before he landed

3) Applied for SSN before marriage.

(I would add that we planned to get all his vaccines in the Kabul clinic, but for some reason, they only vaccinated him for Polio and didn't administer him for all the other vaccines. Result of miscommunication? I don't know, but that's all spilled milk anyhow...)

[Unshakable Faith 493]

I wanted to share our experience today, in case it will help anyone else here. You all WILL get to this step. I know you have been waiting for so long, so maybe this will help you in your future journey.

SSN

We married less than a week before he landed, and I was thinking we needed to wait two weeks. I was checking the SAVE database each day, but we had his I-94 shortly after the holiday; we had it by November 12th. We married that following Monday on the 16th. However, I am seeing threads of where people applied and were approved for SSN's after their I-94's are showing. I should have at least tried on the 13th for his SSN. We couldn't get one today as they said us being married changes his "status". I accepted that as I'm hoping to file the AOS within three weeks.

Health Insurance

I had consulted with my HR benefits specialist before he came. I found out that my insurance allows us to add a fiance up to 31 days before the marriage. I asked if we could do that (at that time, I had not scheduled our JOP marriage date) when we have the marriage planned seeing how he won't have an SSN for an unknown time. She told me that it's required that he have his SSN. Again, yesterday, I came across a VJ thread which suggested we do not need SSN for health insurance. I read the instructions to the form that I will use to add him and sure enough, the instructions specifically say that benefits will not be withheld if no SSN is provided! (Reading is fundamental...) We need to get all his vaccines, so we need to add him to the insurance, we can get his vaccinations without an out-of-pocket cost at Walgreen's and I finally found an CS that will transcribe on the I-693. (Some wanted $600!!! HA!!)

What I would have done differently:

1) Read the day-gone health insurance form rather than ask...

2) Added him to my health insurance before he landed

3) Applied for SSN before marriage.

(I would add that we planned to get all his vaccines in the Kabul clinic, but for some reason, they only vaccinated him for Polio and didn't administer him for all the other vaccines. Result of miscommunication? I don't know, but that's all spilled milk anyhow...)

Thanks for the info!

You married before he landed on a K1? I'm assuming you meant after lol

I guess we'll apply for my fiance's SSN when he arrives!

Edited November 24, 2015 by FN&KO

[Amhara 460]

Thanks for the info!

You married before he landed on a K1? I'm assuming you meant after lol

I guess we'll apply for my fiance's SSN when he arrives!

Lol! Yes, less than a week *after* he landed!! Doink!

It seems that many have gone into SSA after one week or less and we're able to get SSN! So much for my planning!

[Unshakable Faith 493]

Lol! Yes, less than a week *after* he landed!! Doink!

It seems that many have gone into SSA after one week or less and we're able to get SSN! So much for my planning!

Aww! Thank you for the info! I'm so ready to get him here that all I think about is the wedding and not the other stuff lol

[Amhara 460]

Hello all,

I wanted to share this site with you in case your spouse/fiance is here (or when they get here) and they need something to keep them occupied. Right now, we have about another two more months until my husband's classes will start, and probably about another three months until he will work. This site has many, many useful classes that can cover basic topics. While you can buy each class, I found that you can enroll for a year for a great price! It will be at least great exposure to topics, so they may be less foreign for our loved ones later. For example, they can cover the US government topic so the naturalization test in some years won't be so alien!

https://www.universa...s.com/index.htm

[ant330ci 8]

Thank God! Finally we are approved!

[KASH2011 382]

Thank God! Finally we are approved!

Congrats!

[teamwolfsheart 1]

We finally got approved after our RFE. So happy things are moving again!

Congrats, ant330ci!

[ant330ci 8]

Congrats to you as well, teamwolfsheart

[KASH2011 382]

We finally got approved after our RFE. So happy things are moving again!

Congrats, ant330ci!

Congratulations!

[waiting24 1]

Congrats everyone who got approved and i am sure no one is left in our group still waiting for approval...? Please can someone let us know what we need to wait on once our case is sent to department of state for processing..As per the status our case was sent to DOS on 20th Nov...please can anyone help on how to check the status...Any response is very much appriciated....

[Unshakable Faith 493]

Congrats everyone who got approved and i am sure no one is left in our group still waiting for approval...? Please can someone let us know what we need to wait on once our case is sent to department of state for processing..As per the status our case was sent to DOS on 20th Nov...please can anyone help on how to check the status...Any response is very much appriciated....

Look on this thread for a post made by Tom, he wrote a great instruction document!

[Amhara 460]

Congrats everyone who got approved and i am sure no one is left in our group still waiting for approval...? Please can someone let us know what we need to wait on once our case is sent to department of state for processing..As per the status our case was sent to DOS on 20th Nov...please can anyone help on how to check the status...Any response is very much appriciated....

You need to call NVC at (603) 334-0700. Customer Service Representatives can speak with you Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight EST, excluding holidays.

You will use the immigrant section (IV) rather than the nonimmigrant section (NIV) to call. Give them your USCIS case number, both parties names and both DOB.

Then you use ceac.gov to track your case using the IV section until approval: Check My Visa Application Status

You can also complete your DS-160 on ceac.gov. You will get an NIV AA# case number which won't change much - until your approval.

[Stir it up 4]

Unfortunately we are still waiting for ours cause we had to request for a case transfer. Since our case got to NVC last October 19, we immediately requested for a case transfer and until now, we have no update. :'(

This is getting hard, frustrating and tough.