February 2017 I-129F Filers

[mauropac10 18]

1 hour ago, iamdegie said:

Feb cases updated 17-Apr: 4

 

Approved: 3

RFE: 0

Others: 1

 

Raw data here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7wWQs77fPiIUUZGNE9tMUdQRjA

 

PS. Going forward, I will no longer be including cases which have already been approved or withdrawn in my scan list. This will shorten my scan list as the days pass by (and more cases are approved), which in turn means a shorter scan time for me. =)

Are these cases expedited or did they finally started processing february cases?

[Angel&Eric 185]

It looks like the 3 approved cases were all from 2/6, making it unlikely they were expedited.

 

Possibly good news!

[TexasHeartsIndia 371]

1 hour ago, Angel&Eric said:

It looks like the 3 approved cases were all from 2/6, making it unlikely they were expedited.

 

Possibly good news!

I hope so! Oh my goodness, how exciting! 

[pattyandvern 282]

Yayyy!! They touched first Feb cases! I was not expecting that until beggining of may! Although, there is still a lot of cases from december and january that are waiting for approvals. But we are one step closer, hopefully we all get our approvals soon in next 3-4 weeks  

[RaptureSongbird 533]

8 hours ago, Lovemycroatianman said:

Fellow February filer here...so nice to see everyones weddings plans...my case is a bit different....he is much younger than me and is scared of being here with no family and relying on me for everything...its kinda a try out for him to come since he was rejected a tourist visa...it can be disheartening to go thru so much for something that could end bad....anyone else having similar issues? We've been talking since Dec 2015 and I've been there 3 times. i wish coming here wasn't such an ordeal.

I'm in a similar situation as well.  We have a fairly significant age difference (15 years) and I am the older one being the USC.  My fiance is from Romania and we knew that the likelihood of him getting a visitor's visa was slim to none.  He now lives in London and I have been lucky to visit him a few times with another trip coming up in about 2 weeks.  Being with someone who is not a US Citizen, going through the Visa process and seeing how difficult it can be to get visa, certainly has made me frustrated with the whole system.  At one point I decided to look at where I could go in the world just having a US Passport in comparison to other passports and, while it was nice to see my all my options, I also found it a bit ridiculous that I can go almost anywhere in the world that I want with just my passport because I was born in the USA.

 

My fiance is excited to move here to be with me and start our lives together but he's also nervous in coming to a country where he's never been before and where he has no family or friends.  He's also very headstrong and independent so I think he's gong to go a little crazy having to depend on me while we start on the AOS process and wait for him to have the ability to work.  We are just going to have a courthouse wedding with just the two of us.  Our goal is to bring his mother over to the states once my fiance becomes a US Citizen and then, at that point, we'll do a larger ceremony and celebration.

[pajobra 1,395]

21 minutes ago, RaptureSongbird said:

I'm in a similar situation as well.  We have a fairly significant age difference (15 years) and I am the older one being the USC.  My fiance is from Romania and we knew that the likelihood of him getting a visitor's visa was slim to none.  He now lives in London and I have been lucky to visit him a few times with another trip coming up in about 2 weeks.  Being with someone who is not a US Citizen, going through the Visa process and seeing how difficult it can be to get visa, certainly has made me frustrated with the whole system.  At one point I decided to look at where I could go in the world just having a US Passport in comparison to other passports and, while it was nice to see my all my options, I also found it a bit ridiculous that I can go almost anywhere in the world that I want with just my passport because I was born in the USA.

 

My fiance is excited to move here to be with me and start our lives together but he's also nervous in coming to a country where he's never been before and where he has no family or friends.  He's also very headstrong and independent so I think he's gong to go a little crazy having to depend on me while we start on the AOS process and wait for him to have the ability to work.  We are just going to have a courthouse wedding with just the two of us.  Our goal is to bring his mother over to the states once my fiance becomes a US Citizen and then, at that point, we'll do a larger ceremony and celebration.

March filer here but wanted to chime in on the age difference which I don't think matters much as you age. My fiance is 10.5 years older than me. Most of the time the age thing doesn't come up because both of us love the same things. I am what one considers an old soul and probably born in the wrong era. Although sometimes things come up like me DJing online the other week and playing Happy Nation by Ace of Base. He said oh that brings me back to the end of my college years. I coughed and said I was 14 when this came out and in the beginning of Grade 9 in school. But thats the only time it makes a difference is when we think about years ago when I was a kid. lol Now I am 38 almost 39 and he is 49 almost 50. My Stepdad was 10 years older than my Mum and they got married when she was 40 and he was 50. She said to me the other day that she wishes Bill was still around because he would have loved my fiance and they would have had many great talks and its true. My fiance is a lot like my stepdad. My stepdad was a wonderful man. Since I am the one who is moving its not as difficult for me since I do live in Canada and have been to the states many many many times since I was born. We lived in the states til I was 6. I often wish I had dual citizenship already like my siblings but alas I came a month early and my Mum was visiting her parents in Canada at the time so here I am with all of you going through the process but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

 

Good luck to you all and I enjoy seeing February approvals. May the process speed up now!

[RaptureSongbird 533]

10 minutes ago, pajobra said:

March filer here but wanted to chime in on the age difference which I don't think matters much as you age. My fiance is 10.5 years older than me. Most of the time the age thing doesn't come up because both of us love the same things. I am what one considers an old soul and probably born in the wrong era. Although sometimes things come up like me DJing online the other week and playing Happy Nation by Ace of Base. He said oh that brings me back to the end of my college years. I coughed and said I was 14 when this came out and in the beginning of Grade 9 in school. But thats the only time it makes a difference is when we think about years ago when I was a kid. lol Now I am 38 almost 39 and he is 49 almost 50. My Stepdad was 10 years older than my Mum and they got married when she was 40 and he was 50. She said to me the other day that she wishes Bill was still around because he would have loved my fiance and they would have had many great talks and its true. My fiance is a lot like my stepdad. My stepdad was a wonderful man. Since I am the one who is moving its not as difficult for me since I do live in Canada and have been to the states many many many times since I was born. We lived in the states til I was 6. I often wish I had dual citizenship already like my siblings but alas I came a month early and my Mum was visiting her parents in Canada at the time so here I am with all of you going through the process but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

 

Good luck to you all and I enjoy seeing February approvals. May the process speed up now!

I'm not really too concerned with the age difference (I'm 38, he's 23) but I do sometimes have those thoughts of "Oh wow, back when I was in high school he was just a toddler".  However, I know how we feel about each other and somehow it just clicks and feels right and perfect.  Plus, there are many ways where it helps both of us to balance each other.  He helps to keep me spontaneous and interested in trying new things while I help him have stability (which he hasn't had much of during his life) and introduce him to the things I have found and loved during my life.  I think we've both shared those moments of sharing something we love with the other person and gaining a new appreciation for it seeing it from their perspective.  I also think that sometimes I am the only one that thinks of the age difference, when I've mentioned it to friends or family or coworkers, they don't even flinch or see any problems.  I don't even think it will come up during his interview, from what I've read on the forums, London is one of the "easier" embassies to interview at so I think we'll be fine.

 

And, yes, it's certainly exciting to now see some movement on the February cases besides minor changes/expedited cases being processed.  I know we're still a ways off but it's a good feeling to finally see some movement starting to happen with February.

[pajobra 1,395]

1 minute ago, RaptureSongbird said:

I'm not really too concerned with the age difference (I'm 38, he's 23) but I do sometimes have those thoughts of "Oh wow, back when I was in high school he was just a toddler".  However, I know how we feel about each other and somehow it just clicks and feels right and perfect.  Plus, there are many ways where it helps both of us to balance each other.  He helps to keep me spontaneous and interested in trying new things while I help him have stability (which he hasn't had much of during his life) and introduce him to the things I have found and loved during my life.  I think we've both shared those moments of sharing something we love with the other person and gaining a new appreciation for it seeing it from their perspective.  I also think that sometimes I am the only one that thinks of the age difference, when I've mentioned it to friends or family or coworkers, they don't even flinch or see any problems.  I don't even think it will come up during his interview, from what I've read on the forums, London is one of the "easier" embassies to interview at so I think we'll be fine.

 

And, yes, it's certainly exciting to now see some movement on the February cases besides minor changes/expedited cases being processed.  I know we're still a ways off but it's a good feeling to finally see some movement starting to happen with February.

Yeah most don't even either when they ask me how old he is. lol I agree it probably won't come up at the interview at all especially since yours is London. I also do not expect mine to come up when I go for the interview in Montreal. I think both Canada and the United Kingdom are probably fairly easy from what I have seen reading various experiences from interviews.

[Eric&Olya 881]

58 minutes ago, RaptureSongbird said:

  At one point I decided to look at where I could go in the world just having a US Passport in comparison to other passports and, while it was nice to see my all my options, I also found it a bit ridiculous that I can go almost anywhere in the world that I want with just my passport because I was born in the USA.

 

 

My American fiance's mother is still reluctant to understand why I can't come to visit it's difficult for her to realise that not everyone can travel as easily as US citizens

[pajobra 1,395]

Just now, Eric&Olya said:

My American fiance's mother is still reluctant to understand why I can't come to visit it's difficult for her to realise that not everyone can travel as easily as US citizens

Or as easy as Canadian citizens either as in my case. I feel for you all overseas so much being so much further than I am from my fiance. As I am only 1 hour ahead of him timezone wise and 16 hours by car.

[pattyandvern 282]

We got age difference too! Don't worry  it is not my concern at all  we love each other and age is just a number. Our families accepted our relationship so hard part we already got behind us. We got many proofs that our love is real, maybe even too many  I would be worried if it was not true, but at this point, come on, we are together 5 years, didnt meet online but in person, spend together 2 years living with each other. And some people got approved while only saw each other one time  

[Eric&Olya 881]

36 minutes ago, pajobra said:

 Although sometimes things come up like me DJing online the other week and playing Happy Nation by Ace of Base. He said oh that brings me back to the end of my college years. I coughed and said I was 14 when this came out and in the beginning of Grade 9 in school. But thats the only time it makes a difference is when we think about years ago when I was a kid. lol Now I am 38 almost 39 and he is 49 almost 50.

I am 36 and my fiance is 32. Not a big difference but we have some funny moments, like me talking about a movie he never watched because he was too young and not interested

[RaptureSongbird 533]

7 minutes ago, pajobra said:

Yeah most don't even either when they ask me how old he is. lol I agree it probably won't come up at the interview at all especially since yours is London. I also do not expect mine to come up when I go for the interview in Montreal. I think both Canada and the United Kingdom are probably fairly easy from what I have seen reading various experiences from interviews.

Yeah, I'm sure you won't have a problem with the interview in Canada.  And that's another thing that drives me a little crazy as well.  Since all interviews take place at US Embassies, I feel like they should all be consistent.  I don't think there should be "easy" embassies and others where it's an hour interview process.  I can understand that there may need to be additional paperwork for local laws and customs but I think the embassy interview process should be consistent across all embassies.  Of course this is coming from a person with an HR background who sometimes gets too caught up in consistent processes, policies, and procedures

[RaptureSongbird 533]

10 minutes ago, Eric&Olya said:

My American fiance's mother is still reluctant to understand why I can't come to visit it's difficult for her to realise that not everyone can travel as easily as US citizens

I'm seriously almost at the point of recording myself on my phone explaining why my fiance can't come to the US to visit so easy and explaining the Visa process. 

[mkm1993 92]

On 4/11/2017 at 11:31 AM, mkm1993 said:

Day

My and my girlfriend have talked and planned a little bit but are taking it day by day honestly. What we have come to conclusion is that we want a ceremony with her family which is very big... she wants all of her family to be there which is fine by me but I will not understand a word that is being said because they all speak Portuguese lol!! Her family is huge and her father and step mother live on a farm in rural Brazil... I'm anxious none the less. I've already met her father and step mother from previous travels. I prefer small and quaint but she is wanting it to be a big deal with her people because she is very close to her family where as I am content on having my immediate family present and our pastor marry us... an in home wedding would be very fine by me... so I expect a big bash at her fathers farm, meeting all of her cousins, aunts and uncles and all that. So in essence we will have a ceremony with all of her family when I go for her as soon as this dreadful process is finally over, and then we will wait towards the end of the 90 day period to marry here because we plan to do marriage counseling with my pastor and adjust to life together... I work quite a lot and her coming to a completely different culture is huge, so we feel that her becoming comfortable first is more important than tieing the knot the day she arrives... most importantly we want to go into our marriage with a strong foundation which is why we are taking marriage counseling from my pastor... we want to enter into our marriage covenant with the right perspectives and feel that Godly advice will help us dramatically. As far as the ceremony at her fathers place, she has a cousin who is a Methodist minister and speaks English (Thank God) whom is from Rio and she wants him to do our ceremony. For me marriage is more about the seriousness of the covenant that you are entering into with your spouse, not having 100 people there to celebrate which of course is all great. But I am more of a conservative, do every thing small kinda guy... our ceremony here with my family will be small, I want my mother, siblings, father, and step mother to be here, the 2 or 3 cousins I actually have to be there and that's it. I'm excited to party with her huge family and celebrate marriage with them, eat, drink and be happy... but I'm more excited for the day we board the plane together to travel to America together, her step off of the plane onto American soil and begin our life together... if there is one thing I'm learning from all of this waiting is that We love each other more everyday and if we can deal with separation like this than the challenges that come along with marriage will be nothing compared to what we experience on a daily basis. God bless, God speed and cheers to future marriage bliss.