I-129F November 2016 Filers

[fishe23a 240]

45 minutes ago, amybeth said:

I have been lurking here for awhile and thought I would introduce myself.  My fiancé and I filed in mid-November and have a received date of 11/21.  Does anyone know how grad school works after entering the US?  We would really like him to start grad school after he arrives.  We were hoping he could start this fall, but with the slowdown, we're not sure if we'll be married in time.  Thanks for the wealth of information in this thread; it has really helped me get a clearer picture of how this process works.

 

-- Amy

 

 

Hi there! I can't add too much info, as my fiancée and I abandoned that plan! However - it is somewhat difficult if finances are a concern for you prior to your fiancé (at that point spouse) getting a green card. I know that my fiancée wasn't going to be eligible for student loans through the American government in any substantial amount as an international student, but once she has her green card / permanent resident status, she is eligible for MUCH more in the way of federal funding. It made enough of a difference with that and transfer of credits (she would need to take some prerequisite courses, and those would be better done at community colleges in the US than in England, to make sure the credits transfer) that we put off thought of her starting school until she has her permanent resident card, at least 1-2 years. Good luck!

Edited January 15, 2017 by fishe23a

[caputo 25]

2 minutes ago, fishe23a said:

Hi there! I can't add too much info, as my fiancée and I abandoned that plan! However - it is somewhat difficult if finances are a concern for you prior to your fiancé (at that point spouse) getting a green card. I know that my fiancée wasn't going to be eligible for student loans through the American government in any substantial amount as an international student, but once she has her green card / permanent resident status, she is eligible for MUCH more in the way of federal funding. It made enough of a difference with that and transfer that we put off thought of her starting school until she has her permanent resident card, at least 1-2 years. Good luck!

I think you get a provisional Green Card in a few months that you have to convert to an unrestricted Green Card in two years.  It is my understanding that the 2 year Green Card is a "Green Card" while it is valid.

[Chelleyandaaron 528]

5 minutes ago, caputo said:

 

This is great stuff!  Thanks.

Is it something that is going to take  all day every time you do it?  Or, are additional times that you do it quicker somehow?

It could be a bit quicker now I have the first and last WAC # but not much quicker to be honest as the process is a bit laborious and you can't filter the search - you have to filter the results - and in many cases it requires manual counting of cases for particular dates and notes of how many dates overlap in case numbers.

 

I could give approximate indications of cases being processed - or just watch particular batches of case numbers as a 'sample' of cases on that date. that wouldn't take as long but would be far less accurate.

 

However, having done this today - I could pick a date and give a weekly update - that would take less time   I think we are going to be here a few weeks yet...

[fishe23a 240]

6 minutes ago, caputo said:

I think you get a provisional Green Card in a few months that you have to convert to an unrestricted Green Card in two years.  It is my understanding that the 2 year Green Card is a "Green Card" while it is valid.

 

Oh! Yes. What I mean is, as soon as she has the Green Card she could be eligible for loans, but with timing getting the card with finishing prerequisites, taking the GREs, and beginning a graduate program, it will end up that she will start graduate school 1-2 years later than we originally planned. 

[MapleLeaf29 247]

11 minutes ago, fishe23a said:

Hi there! I can't add too much info, as my fiancée and I abandoned that plan! However - it is somewhat difficult if finances are a concern for you prior to your fiancé (at that point spouse) getting a green card. I know that my fiancée wasn't going to be eligible for student loans through the American government in any substantial amount as an international student, but once she has her green card / permanent resident status, she is eligible for MUCH more in the way of federal funding. It made enough of a difference with that and transfer of credits (she would need to take some prerequisite courses, and those would be better done at community colleges in the US than in England, to make sure the credits transfer) that we put off thought of her starting school until she has her permanent resident card, at least 1-2 years. Good luck!

Thanks for sharing your experience.  We looked into FAFSA and realized we would have to wait until he was a permanent resident, so we're trying to figure out if we have any other options.  We thought about having him take some general courses at a community college, but we have to wait for that anyway because the out-of-state tuition costs are so high (he has to live in Minnesota for a year before he gets in-state tuition, even if he is married to a resident).  So many things to think about!

[fishe23a 240]

3 minutes ago, amybeth said:

Thanks for sharing your experience.  We looked into FAFSA and realized we would have to wait until he was a permanent resident, so we're trying to figure out if we have any other options.  We thought about having him take some general courses at a community college, but we have to wait for that anyway because the out-of-state tuition costs are so high (he has to live in Minnesota for a year before he gets in-state tuition, even if he is married to a resident).  So many things to think about!

 

Yes - that was what did it too for us. Realizing that she couldn't file a FAFSA or get greater than $3,500 in federal loans yerly as an "international" student, which she will be technically until her green card arrives. We just decided to put that off until the green card so she could file FAFSA. There are certainly many things to think about and the journey seems long and fraught with bureaucratic complications! Good luck on your journey, whatever you choose!

[Nico22 68]

My notice date is on 11/22 but everytime i run my App, all i can see is case received Lol

[ShanghaiSurfer 135]

9 minutes ago, Nico22 said:

My notice date is on 11/22 but everytime i run my App, all i can see is case received Lol

Me too. Everybody says NOA1 notice date is most important but it appears CSC is going by receipt date not by the notice action dates. 

[Nico22 68]

2 minutes ago, ShanghaiSurfer said:

Me too. Everybody says NOA1 notice date is most important but it appears CSC is going by receipt date not by the notice action dates. 

well if they are going by receipt date. then mine is 11/17. Lol

[biggiehuggie 40]

11 hours ago, Jing&Kuting said:

We are celebrating!!!  It looks like our plan of getting married in our anniversary will happen.. I am so happy.. 

 

Hang on there guys... We should see some more good news from our group...  

Congratulations Jing&Kuting! Good luck with your next journey!

[geowrian 22,337]

On 1/13/2017 at 4:58 PM, Ybhamster said:

Another thing, do yourself a favor and do not read the horror stories on VJ that people post everyday regarding their fiance coming here and it not working out. Have confidence in your relationship and use this time to have a stronger relationship with your soon to be spouse. Plus I assume these stories are few a day far between. If you know your SO enough to want to spend the rest of your life with them then the only bad thing in this process is the waiting, stress, and forced LDR. 

Actually, I feel the opposite. When I read one, I usually pass it along to her and we both go over it. We've already addressed several issues that others only found out about after coming to the US.

[JimJesDuma 472]

11 hours ago, CMJuilland said:

I understand your anger and frustration, I really do. However, I don't think that canceling your I-129F at this stage would be a good idea. First of, you would have the long wait again, and only God (and USCIS) knows how many more people filed between the time you did and now. Waiting for NOA2 is something that happens extremely rarely; it is really not as common as your post indicates it must be. Secondly, nobody can guarantee you that your wait would not be even longer this time, and that would come on top of the weeks and months you have already had so far. Finally, the fees have increased, so you would not pay another $340, but $500+ (I don't know the exact amount). 

As for contacting your congressperson, I read in a Q & A with a former USCIS adjudicator somewhere here on VJ that congressional inquiries make your case a priority under most circumstances. However, your congressperson will most likely not inquire about your case after "only" (yeah, I know...) three months as they would go by processing times posted online, and officially, USCIS is working on cases received on August 16 right now. 

I know it is cold comfort, and trust me, I hear you loud and clear, but just because USCIS started to make a move on people filing later than you did does not mean that everybody else gets pushed to the side. We filed later than you did, but I have still seen a handful of people whose petitions were received on the same date ours was or later being approved, whereas our petition hasn't even been touched anymore since it was put into the system. I'm really sorry you feel so desperate, but please try hanging in there a little longer; I think everything else would just cost you even more time, energy, and money. 

Nowrya, I would have to agree 110% with everything  CM just said. 

I think you are almost there.

This is the month.

 

Jim

[JimJesDuma 472]

11 hours ago, Chelleyandaaron said:

So this is what I spent the day doing:  (All WAC # are WAC17900...)  I have only gone as far as 9th November.  The WAC ranges are first and last that I can find - I have a few stray numbers and there is some overlap on certain dates/ranges but I have tried to count cases accurately according to date - which is why it has taken a while -  a lot of adjustments to charts etc...).  Hopefully this will provide a little help.  I think we just have to be patient.  At 30 cases a day this could take a while...  Figures correct after 13 January processing.

 

there were 978 applications in the week beginning 31st October

 

		WAC # 1st	WAC # last	approved	rejected	RFE	other	total
31-Oct		49058	49978	100	3	44	220	367
01-Nov		50660	51943	1	5	0	78	84
02-Nov		51793	53516	3	13	3	113	132
03-Nov		53118	55591	0	4	1	186	191
04-Nov		55234	62802	1	8	1	194	204
								978
07-Nov		59691	60374		11		323	334
08-Nov		60469	63418		12		132	144
09-Nov		62435	63942	1	6		117	124
				106	62	49	1363	1580

This is awesome thank you so much for putting this together.

It really does appear for the most part that they are trying to work cases as they get them.

Can't wait for next week. 

Jim

[JimJesDuma 472]

7 hours ago, Nico22 said:

My notice date is on 11/22 but everytime i run my App, all i can see is case received Lol

The APP for some reason is based off of receipt date but everything else goes by NOA 1 notice date including the VJ timelines.

 

Jim

[ShanghaiSurfer 135]

10 hours ago, Nico22 said:

well if they are going by receipt date. then mine is 11/17. Lol

Yes if they go by receipt date much better. Lol. My guess is they go by case#.