Ring Surprise

[Phillabuster 5]

Hello everyone! I'm happy to say that if the counter on the Processing Times page is anywhere close to accurate, we should (hopefully!) be recieving our NOA2 sometime in September. Woo!

I'm currently prepping all the stuff she's gonna need on my end, but I did have a question for you visa vets out there: I've included her engagement ring claim ticket/a photo with the petition. Thing is... she has no idea I have a ring, and I was going to surprise her with it when she gets off the plane from the move to the states!

I know you're supposed to send two copies of the petition to your partner- one for the embassy, one for her own notes- but I was wondering if I could leave out that claim ticket so there's no chance the surprise will be spoiled. At the time, I wanted to include it in the original petition just to make absolutely sure we looked dead serious about this big life decision.

If I can't leave it out entirely, would it be okay to put it in a sealed envelope and just tell her not to open it? I'm the one researching the paperwork, so she'd probably believe me that it's 'just procedure'. : P

Thank you to everyone who's been helping us answer these finicky questions. We are looking forward to our long, long, long wait being over. It's been a year since we've seen each other. Soon!!

[p-ana 933]

Hello everyone! I'm happy to say that if the counter on the Processing Times page is anywhere close to accurate, we should (hopefully!) be recieving our NOA2 sometime in September. Woo!

I'm currently prepping all the stuff she's gonna need on my end, but I did have a question for you visa vets out there: I've included her engagement ring claim ticket/a photo with the petition. Thing is... she has no idea I have a ring, and I was going to surprise her with it when she gets off the plane from the move to the states!

I know you're supposed to send two copies of the petition to your partner- one for the embassy, one for her own notes- but I was wondering if I could leave out that claim ticket so there's no chance the surprise will be spoiled. At the time, I wanted to include it in the original petition just to make absolutely sure we looked dead serious about this big life decision.

If I can't leave it out entirely, would it be okay to put it in a sealed envelope and just tell her not to open it? I'm the one researching the paperwork, so she'd probably believe me that it's 'just procedure'. : P

Thank you to everyone who's been helping us answer these finicky questions. We are looking forward to our long, long, long wait being over. It's been a year since we've seen each other. Soon!!

There's no need to send it with the petition. Keep the surprise, she will be thrilled, no doubt.

Congrats and good luck

[LilAus 4]

A ring receipt is not necessary, sure its handy as extra fluff but you definitely dont need to spoil the surprise to put it in there. So long as you have sent photos and evidence that you met in person in the initial petition, you'll be fine. Especially for Australia as we are a low risk country. Proof of ongoing relationship could just be a few screenshots of ongoing communications or gift receipts... little stuff like that.

You must be a similar timeline to us, we are due for NOA2 in Sept sometime too... Good luck!

[Phillabuster 5]

Thank you for your reassurances! I will exclude the claim ticket from the next stage of the process. Much appreciated- and good luck, LilAus! Are you following the currently processing section on the Processing Times section of this site too?

[LilAus 4]

Hmm I'm keeping an eye on Igors list and also the June filers thread, are those what you mean?

[Phillabuster 5]

Hmm I'm keeping an eye on Igors list and also the June filers thread, are those what you mean?

I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I'm just keeping track of this!

http://www.visajourney.com/content/times

Seems like it's the same result no matter what you follow... I'm interested to know what those things are though, especially if they're more accurate!

[LilAus 4]

AH, well Igor's list is a graph showing the approvals each month in graph form. Currently about 25% of the way through the June filers... and a couple of July filers but I would say those are due to being expedited. Its too early for July yet.
You can see the graph on the right. Also bear in mind no month will ever get to 100% because people forget to fill in timelines or abandon cases and such.

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthly_filers.php?form=1&visa=1&scenter=1&option=3&sortby=2

The June filers thread is here, so you can see people getting approved and stuff:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/598559-k1-june-2016-filers/page-42

[Phillabuster 5]

AH, well Igor's list is a graph showing the approvals each month in graph form. Currently about 25% of the way through the June filers... and a couple of July filers but I would say those are due to being expedited. Its too early for July yet.

You can see the graph on the right. Also bear in mind no month will ever get to 100% because people forget to fill in timelines or abandon cases and such.

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/monthly_filers.php?form=1&visa=1&scenter=1&option=3&sortby=2

The June filers thread is here, so you can see people getting approved and stuff:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/598559-k1-june-2016-filers/page-42

Oh my gosh, people from around my timeframe are being approved already! We got our NOA1 on June 24th. SO EXCITED! And here I thought we had AGES to go yet. Looks like they're CSC filers too, which is where we are. Ohhhhh gosh thank you what wonderful news! Even if she were to be approved we would have to wait until the holidays but the holidays are so terrible at work it would be the best thing ever to have something so extraordinary to look forward to and to be able to SEND our INVITES. ;w; Thanks for the tips!! Now to just hope we're not like that rare person who just gets skipped for months...

I also got a tracker on my phone so hopefully we'll know without even having to wait for the NOA2 in the mail. So many helpful things available!

[LilAus 4]

Oh my gosh, people from around my timeframe are being approved already! We got our NOA1 on June 24th. SO EXCITED! And here I thought we had AGES to go yet. Looks like they're CSC filers too, which is where we are. Ohhhhh gosh thank you what wonderful news! Even if she were to be approved we would have to wait until the holidays but the holidays are so terrible at work it would be the best thing ever to have something so extraordinary to look forward to and to be able to SEND our INVITES. ;w; Thanks for the tips!! Now to just hope we're not like that rare person who just gets skipped for months...

I also got a tracker on my phone so hopefully we'll know without even having to wait for the NOA2 in the mail. So many helpful things available!

Lol speaking of, we just got approved today and our NOA1 wasnt until July 7th... (we are CSC too) so yours definitely cant be that far away! They seem to be jumping all over the place at the moment. Both the June and July threads are going off. Check your tracker daily!!

We're waiting until after Christmas too so its really good to see things moving along quickly, it makes it SO much easier to prepare. And you're right... fingers crossed always that our cases dont go MIA. I fear that worse than RFEs.

Keep checking

Edited August 23, 2016 by LilAus

[Phillabuster 5]

Aaaaaaa, congrats LilAus!!! That is exciting news!!! Oh man, I hope my case didn't go MIA... but I'm very happy to hear it's happening for two months at once, that's always exciting! Hopefully we won't be too far behind you. Maybe y'all and my fiancee can high five on the way into the embassy, LOL!

(And I've been obsessively checking it every day. Sometimes several times a day even though I know they update once a day, hehe. Can't help it!!)

[LilAus 4]

Aaaaaaa, congrats LilAus!!! That is exciting news!!! Oh man, I hope my case didn't go MIA... but I'm very happy to hear it's happening for two months at once, that's always exciting! Hopefully we won't be too far behind you. Maybe y'all and my fiancee can high five on the way into the embassy, LOL!

(And I've been obsessively checking it every day. Sometimes several times a day even though I know they update once a day, hehe. Can't help it!!)

I'm sure you'll be fine Still got all week! I think the transition from USCIS to NVC is the scary bit where they can go missing isnt it? Seems to be roughly a two week wait for the case numbers. Everything fluctuates and bounces around so much its hard to have any idea of an estimate lol.

[Phillabuster 5]

Sadly we are now overdue for our NOA2. I am really worried we may be stalled out because we are both transgendered... Does anyone know if the app will tell you if you've gotten RFE'd? Or if it changes the instant they approve, or if it only shows if a letter has been delivered?

I know some people wait extra time but I'm so disappointed it looks like we will be as it's been well over a year since we've seen each other and we're currently both waiting to get married to start working towards other life goals... hopefully we're not delayed too long.