Fiance Petition- California Service Center Backlog

[viltud 1]

Yes it's long process. We received NOA1 14 March and still waiting for NOA2 but I saw that part petitions from February was approved already. People wait 2-3 months. I know is hard to wait but we have to be patient, that's all. Good luck

[yuna628 9,676]

Look at the USCIS site though. It doesn't make any sense. That date they give is within the "standard" 5 months (the chart is "as of March 31st"...remember that game they play) but they still give a date. I think (as I said just now) that they either made a mistake (some newbie put a date that was 5 months ago instead of posting "5 months" to mean "within 5 months")......or they're manipulating things like they did at TSC.

Clearly that Dec 2015 is not what's happening NOW but that's not even what was happening on March 31st. I wonder if they're playing that date game because they see a backlog coming and are getting ahead of the call volume or if having the "5 months" up there was flipping people out (as you can see here) and they tried to address that....and failed? Because Dec 2015 was 5 months ago.

Manipulation at the USCIS, just like they did at TSC?

Yep. That would be my wager.

[Pennycat 880]

Yes it's long process. We received NOA1 14 March and still waiting for NOA2 but I saw that part petitions from February was approved already. People wait 2-3 months. I know is hard to wait but we have to be patient, that's all. Good luck

Right but the OP here is confused because the people on the phone incorrectly told him that they are *currently* working on December 16, 2015. That is just simply untrue on many levels. First level, that's not even what the chart says. The chart says "as of March 31st" they were working on December 16, 2016. Second level, we know from VJ data that on March 31st, they were probably working on January 31st or thereabouts.

This is either because (First possibility) the person whose job it is to update the chart was told that I-129fs were "5 months". They, like basically everyone who has ever seen that intentionally misleading chart, may have assumed that it meant that the I-129fs were taking 5 months. This is NOT the case! Read the chart. It says that if the center is meeting it's goal, it will state the goal. That goal is 5 months. See this archive chart from just last month. It says "5 months". That means "within 5 months". Dates are given when they are outside that time.

It is super confusing (and is meant to be), and I would not be at all surprised if some new guy was given the task of updating the chart this month, got confused and calculated the dates . 5 months ago *today* was December 16, 2015. All of the other petition types also show dates, when just a month ago they were reporting "within goal" months.

Or (Second possibility), they changed the goal time to 3 months and are now outside of it and are playing the beautiful little USCIS game of messing with their dates so that no one can call in with a service request (this game is outlined in my post above). Basically buying themselves months and there's nothing you can do about it.

The more I've looked at this, the more it seems the first possibility. That chart is too confusing and out of date to be useful, ever, but even to the point that their own employees don't know how to use it. If it makes you feel any better, at some point last year at VSC someone got the year wrong and so in April of 2015, the spouse petitions were showing October 2013 and they weren't allowing anyone put in a service request unless they'd applied before then :/.

[Pennycat 880]

Manipulation at the USCIS, just like they did at TSC?

Yep. That would be my wager.

Or blind incompetence. Seems like some USCIS newbie got confused and actually calculated the goal dates? Look at this month's chart, compared with last month's.

Or they're cutting out the "if we're meeting goal, we'll post that goal timeframe in months, if we're not meeting goal, we'll post the last petition we handled before publishing this chart" to cut down on the confusion that leads to. But it's so useless because the chart is always between 6 and 10 weeks out of date (or more like last year), and either way that December 16, 2015 is a lie.

Who knows? This is so incredibly crazymaking, even a year later, and even though these CSC folks still have timelines I'd have gladly paid extra for. It's just the principle of the matter. How can they constantly be this.... wrong?! This manipulative?

[Wayne Black 0]

One issue I have with the process is that VJ says that petitions with an NOA1 of March 9th are being processed...

I have an NOA1 date of March 1st, no RFE (yet), and still no NOA2. I assume that the problem lies in the algorithm that VJ uses. Their data shows that they should have petitions completed sooner than they are, but over time it will probably smooth itself out as later and later NOA2 dates come through.

[Pennycat 880]

One issue I have with the process is that VJ says that petitions with an NOA1 of March 9th are being processed...

I have an NOA1 date of March 1st, no RFE (yet), and still no NOA2. I assume that the problem lies in the algorithm that VJ uses. Their data shows that they should have petitions completed sooner than they are, but over time it will probably smooth itself out as later and later NOA2 dates come through.

I agree with you there but at least it is *significantly* better than USCIS telling you "6 weeks ago, we were meeting our goal time of getting these done within 5 months". Tells you nothing. There was a subscription service last year during the whole TSC backlog which scraped data from the USCIS case status site. That was cool because you could see 100% of the applicant pool, not just the self-reported ones here at VJ (and you could rely on it being filled out correctly). They don't do it anymore, I don't think. Interest probably bottomed out once the backlog was finished.

You could take a look at Igor's list and see if you can get that into your own sheet and mess with the algorithm yourself, or ask if that could be open sourced (don't count on it).

The timeline estimates are based off of an average and average is average, some will be a bit faster and some a bit slower. I think VJ's "currently processing" dates report the "newest" complete. So that will always show the best-case scenario. With the average being 68 days today, and you being March 1, you should probably hear sometime this week or next.

[Scandi 4,166]

This is true generally, but only CSC processes I-129fs at the moment. This could change at any time, but that's what's going on now. See above for what they're probably playing at.

Only one service center, California, does I-129fs.

I wasn't talking about many different Service Centers, I was talking about different local offices and field offices. I imagine CSC has quite a few of those, and I think the petitions are divided among all of them.

Edited May 16, 2016 by Scandi

[kjem 11]

After carefully browsing through the K-1 Visa timeline page here on Visa Journey, I have noticed a pattern. Many of the February petitioners received their NOA2 by the month of may. If can safely assume that Marche petitioners should be getting their NOA2 sometime this month.

[Pennycat 880]

I wasn't talking about many different Service Centers, I was talking about different local offices and field offices. I imagine CSC has quite a few of those, and I think the petitions are divided among all of them.

No. That's not how this works, I'm sorry. You can imagine it, but it's not true.

Your petition was sent from the Lockbox you were directed to mail it to one of several Service Centers (in this case, CSC because it's the only one accepting I-129fs right now). It will be handled there until it is passed to a new agency (the State Department)-- their National Visa Center. They in turn will pass it onto the correct US consulate, where your fiance will be interviewed and they will issue the visa. The field offices don't enter into this part of the process.

You can verify this by checking each of the field office's processing times and look for any that have the capability of accepting I-129fs. There aren't any. You'll see that TSC and VSC are still showing I-129fs as an option. That means, I suppose, that they could open back up to I-129fs for K1s at any point, or that transfers could happen. But NSC does not.

During Adjustment of Status, after your fiance has the visa, has immigrated and after you're married-- yes, you'll deal with your local office. But not before. The field offices handle interviews for green cards and naturalization, process EAD and perform biometric scans etc.

[Pennycat 880]

After carefully browsing through the K-1 Visa timeline page here on Visa Journey, I have noticed a pattern. Many of the February petitioners received their NOA2 by the month of may. If can safely assume that Marche petitioners should be getting their NOA2 sometime this month.

Yes. You can verify it by clicking on the "Trends" link next to "K1 Fiance Visa Timelines" and see the average time for Step 2-- NOA1 to NOA2 is 68 days. 68 days ago was March 9, so yes, the bulk if not all of February applicants should have gotten NOA2 by now.

Remember, this relies on user input. If someone starts a timeline and doesn't update when they get their NOA2, they throw it off. Or if they get their NOA2 and wait a few weeks to update their timeline. It's a guide, and an estimate and is better than anything USCIS has (but still could be better).

[Chomsung 1]

They already processed most of the january/february 2016 petitions. we are looking forward to start with us, march filers

I saw NOA1 of February 26th is being processed for NOA2. I hope difference between Feb 26th and my NOA1 date is the wait time. I hope for the best.

[yuna628 9,676]

I wasn't talking about many different Service Centers, I was talking about different local offices and field offices. I imagine CSC has quite a few of those, and I think the petitions are divided among all of them.

Local offices and field offices don't handle fiancé visas. Only one place, as of early last year - CSC does.

After carefully browsing through the K-1 Visa timeline page here on Visa Journey, I have noticed a pattern. Many of the February petitioners received their NOA2 by the month of may. If can safely assume that Marche petitioners should be getting their NOA2 sometime this month.

Yes. I'd say within this month for sure. There are on occasion some stragglers, but there could be many factors at play. Busy case worker, case worker on vacation, case worker with a Candy Crush addiction.. misplaced files.. who knows. I used to play around with case numbers, and knew when a few numbers before ours had been approved, that ours would come soon.

[jozelle26 9]

I placed a call to USCIS to inquire about my Fiance Visa Petition. The person on the phone informed that the California Service Center is currently processing the F-129 Finance Petition applications for December 2015, which means there is a backlog for those filed in April 2016 such as mine. Do any of you know of petitions that were filed during January 2016 and on, if any has been processed and approved by the CSC?

Hello, where did you get this pdf file? Yes, the CSC has approved petitions until February but not everyone just yet. I am still waiting for my NOA2 and I'm a February filer. It's different for everybody but like their website states, the official wait is 5 months from your NOA1 and when it's not out yet, that's when you can start calling.

[jozelle26 9]

I saw NOA1 of February 26th is being processed for NOA2. I hope difference between Feb 26th and my NOA1 date is the wait time. I hope for the best.

Hi, where did you get this information? My NOA1 is dated 26 Feb, I am still waiting for my NOA2 at this point. Hoping for the best!

[Chomsung 1]

Hi, where did you get this information? My NOA1 is dated 26 Feb, I am still waiting for my NOA2 at this point. Hoping for the best!

You can see applications with late February NOA1 were getting NOA2's. Good luck to both of us!

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/k1list.php?cfl=&op1=5&op2=d&op3=1&op4=1&op5=5,6,8,10,11,13,14,15,16,17,18,20,21,22,25,26,27,28,108,110,111,208,210,211&op6=All&op66=All&op7=All&dfile=No&adv=