Wedding Planning

[vogann 221]

56 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

Normal processing falls within a range.  It's not a specific number.  No one is lying to you.

 

Some cases are faster than others depends on many factors.  It's not a single line where it's first in, first out.

Nope.. it's not just me. You say some cases get processed faster than others.. I was talking about the whole month worth of cases.

Who cares about the processing times listed on the official website?!.. they're always wrong. For instance.. currently it says that they are working on August cases.. well that ain't right, since more than 97% of Sep and over 85% of October K1 petitions were already approved. Even if those dates are for oddly tough cases then those processing times are still wrong - just a few days ago an odd K1 case from May'16 was approved.

I said that they lied only because when I called them just a few days ago they told me that there are no delays and that everything is being processed at the normal pace. (Well it's NOT). Let's see.. By the end of November over 90% of September K1 cases were approved. (about 40 days from Noa1 till Noa2 for them).

If USCIS were up to its normal speeds - over 90% of Nov cases should've been approved by this time. Not the case... less than 5% of Nov cases approved as of today and less than 1% of Dec cases. I'm already at 80 day mark from my Noa1 date.

Some people from Vj forum figured it out when there was a complete standoff on approving fiance petitions: Dec 9 - Dec 26. And of course those people on the phones there at USCIS wouldn't have a clue anything about it. To me it's seems like USCIS hired 3rd party customer support service which can check your case status from the official website or take information from you to change DOB/address for your case. That's it. Ironically, last time I called them they told me their system were down, so there weren't even able to check my case. So my guess is you can find more information online - than from their customer support (they don't even know that most Sep/Oct case are already approved)

Edited January 27, 2017 by vogann

[KimchiLumpia 315]

We were in the same situation as yourself.  

 

We wanted to have a ceremony/wedding/vows all at the same time, but, ultimately decided to have a civil marriage license first, get our AOS submitted soon as possible, then have our wedding ceremony at another date.  Because the K1 Visa process is already complicated, time consuming, uncertain, and filled with financial hurdles - we felt it would be less stress to focus on the "technical" part of the K1 Visa process, and get it out of the way first.  

 

For example, my fiance is from Vancouver BC Canada.  Just last year, the US Embassy in Vancouver stopped doing K1 Visa interviews and forced us to do my fiance's interview in Montreal.  That alone will cost us another $1000+ for flight, hotel, etc.  Also this past Dec 23, 2016, the USCIS raised their K1 Visa and other application fees.  

 

Planning a wedding is stress enough.  Planning a wedding that hinges on a timeframe set by a government time table is insanity.  We'd rather make sure all the K1 Visa expenses, legal marriage, and AOS out of the way first.  Then we can have more certainty planning our wedding and inviting friends and family.

 

Sure its not traditional, but, neither is having a long distance relationship with someone from a different country isn't traditional.  

Just things to consider.  

[Dianalorena 1,153]

I understand your frustration! We wanted to go for the K-1 but got married instead, which left me to plan a wedding in... A MONTH AND A HALF. I kept it simple, bought my dress online, 25 people, in Cozumel which thankfully is beautiful.  A lot of things go wrong including the weather,  it is not ideal, but the importance is marrying the person of your dreams anyway, right? the good thing is you do save up money when you go smaller or just do a civil wedding. 

Immigration is rough. We have to sacrifice certain things and it isn't as ''normal'' but it is definitely worth in the end. An they're right, many factors influence each individual case and we can only remain patient and remember that it's a small portion of time compared to hopefully, a lifetime hug!