Longer than usual

[dvensel1 5]

Hello everyone.

I can now sympathize with all of you regarding immigration into the USA. I've seen it myself. Here's a brief synopsis of our journey.

1) Filled out and submitted our I129F form for my lady.

2) Petition approved by Home Land a month later and sent to the NVC

3) Approved by the NVC and sent on to the US embassy in Manila.

Time frame for all the above: about 2 months; a new record from what I've been reading on here.

But this is where it ended. The embassy recevied it on the 2nd of December.

It sat in Manila for weeks. First came Christmas which shut down the embassy the daya before, the actual holiday, and the day after Christmas. This took us to the weekend. The next week it was open Monday and then Tuesday, then shut down for the day before New Years, New Years day, and the day after, and then the weekend. Total working day in 12: only 2 days.

Then the pope stopped in for a visit to the city. This shut it down for another 3 days or course. Now they're back-logged naturally.

Fast forward to February when we finally got the OK to head to her physical in Manila. Upon arriving at St. Lukes, we found it closed for the Chinese new year. Not one single word of this on their web site or even their door. In fact, people who had been there the day before were told to return only to find it was closed the day of their return. Imagine THEIR surprise. This required us to return on Friday. Now we're here until they finish on Monday which then required us to take an early flight out on Tuesday back to Bohol. 5 days!! Obscene! And the people there aren't even Chinese!!

Again, fast forward to the interview which went off perfectly. We were told she'd have her visa once we sent one more white paper. This was an NBI certificate under her marries name. We did this on the day we returned to Bohol and sent it out that very day with their accredited courier, 2GO. 2 weeks pass. Nothing. I called the embassy and was told they never got the NBI. Off to the city to visit 2GO to see what happened. It had indeed been sent and signed for by someone at the embassy. And that's as far as it got. It sat on his desk until I raised hell about it. 14 days had passed when I did this. They denied getting the NBI until I provided the dates, tracking number and the name of the guy who signed for it. I then sent them a letter of complaint indicating that they should have better communication. In turn, they assigned a case number to it on the 17th of March. The visa was cut on the 19th. But wait, there's more. They sent it to the wrong address. Instead os sending on to the address that was on every single piece of paper I filled out, they sent it to an address of the travel service my fiance had used 8 months prior to obtain a tourist visa (which was of course denied). I called them about it and they told me they had sent it to the address I had indicated on the papework. WRONG! I told them I was not happy with the way they handled an international document and if it hadn't been for my fiance's friend, we'd still be waiting.

What a bunch of incompetent clowns! No wonder it takes so long to get a visa. My fiance and her mother both said it's because they have Philippine people working there that have no need to care about this stuff and that they're primarily too lazy to care. THIS coming from their own people!! I declined to respond out of respect for their country however and just took it on the chin. Frankly, I love the people and the country and their laid back attitude but this didn't cut it for us. Especially my filipina fiance!

But now I find we need an NOA2 which has yet to appear. We never got one and now we need it for the AOS. We have something marked as I-797C however but nothing to indicate it's the thing we need. Can anyone help here?? is this the actual NOA2? It does NOT state "approval" or anything else for that matter. Enlighten us O' Great Experienced Wizrds of the Visa world........PLEASE???

So, that's our story in a nutshell. I hope this serve to enlighten at least one person on what's ahead of them.

[NikLR 13,227]

I-797C should be the letter you need if it says uscis approved the petition.

you should have 2 of them. One says the petition was accepted for processing: the other says its being sent to the embassy.

Edited April 11, 2015 by NLR

[dvensel1 5]

I have one that states: I-797, Notice of Action.

Also: one that states she was approved and eligible to schedule an interview. (no number or anything on it. Just a letter)

Also: one that states that the "NVC has received her approved I129F". It says it will forward it to the US embassy in Manila. This one has a barcode on it but no numbers of any sort. It's from the US Dept. of State. It has her case number on it too.

Then we have one that at the top has: Form I-797C, Notice of Action. It too has a barcode on it at the bottom.

Are these the ones I need?

Doug

[NikLR 13,227]

Should look rather like this

or

Edited April 11, 2015 by NLR

[NikLR 13,227]

The top may be different though according to USCIS:

http://www.uscis.gov/forms/form-i-797c-notice-action

So You should have one that says

I-797 Notice of Action

I-797C is for NOA1

http://www.uscis.gov/i-797-info

[j&ana 363]

Two months is not a record for petitions being approve at the USCIS for the Philippines. Most petitions for there are being approve rather fast at the USCIS stage my wife petition was approve in a little over two months

The NOA2 is the letter stating that the petition has been approve

your experience at the embassy seems to be an exception and not usually normal for K-1 visa from the philippines at the embassy. A member on here name hank has a great link in his signature for k-1 visa that would of help you had you follow his advice. However the embassy sending it to the wrong address is a big mistake that should not have happen

Edited April 11, 2015 by j&ana

[TBoneTX 45,288]

Welcome to the forum.

[dvensel1 5]

Welcome to the forum.

Thank You!

I wish I had found this sooner. So much help available on this site. It surely would have aided us in our quest.

I wish someone would post a copy of what the NOA2 looks like though. Nothing I have thus far indicates anything of this nature. I have letters stating the petition was approved and sent to the embassy and I have the case number letter, etc., as well as the official looking I-797 NOA1 form. It seems a little odd they would even ask for it considering she's in the states now and obviously has it and was approved and completed on all levels. Isn't a copy of the visa enough or are they just maing it hard for us?

Doug

[Pitaya 2,577]

Welcome to the forum.