I-129F March 2017 Filers

[Nathan&Amy 204]

7 hours ago, DalilaAdnan said:

Hi Peeps,

 

Please could you submit  the link or the phone number you were checking your case at NVC?

I went through the posts here backward but cant find any, on VJ looking by NVC topic i found some old posts and links are not ok. Is it mandatory that petitioner needs to call NVC or beneficiary can call as well? 

Any hint would be much appreciated  

People waiting for NOA2 good luck hope today is your day!

Beneficiary can call as well.

[Justtwoofus 158]

7 minutes ago, Nathan&Amy said:

Beneficiary can call as well.

Thanks! I sent an e-mail today asking for status, i think it is soon as tomorrow is 7 days after approval, but anyways it can not harm.

 

 

[Holly♡ 401]

3 hours ago, KozmicBlues said:

Ah wow, fellow Phoenician!  I'll definitely let you know the response I get. I initially called and talked to the person at the office who handles immigration issues. He looked up the processing times and told me they are currently working on Jan 5th cases per their website. I explained that it just recently went back to January after it had been updated to February. I told him I completely understand that I am within "normal" processing time, but explained that the information they provide us at USCIS is inaccurate since people have been approved after the dates they tell us and with no updates to the tracker. He of course said they must've been expedited applications and I said I know many instances which were not. He understood my frustration and said he would send an inquiry to USCIS with the understanding that he will likely receive the same response. 

 

I totally understand that I haven't been waiting longer than others, but my fiance is from India which is known to be a difficult embassy. We had consulted with a lawyer who advised us that it is in our absolute best interest for me to attend the interview with him (the embassy does allow it) in order to improve our chances of getting approved. It's not required of course, but it will make us feel much better about our chances. We don't have any major red flags, but India is just known to be a tough embassy especially for interracial couples with different faith/cultures. Due to my work the only time I can travel to be out there this year is in September so I booked the trip hoping our NOA2 would arrive within to schedule his interview for while I am there. If we don't receive the NOA2 by the end of this month then there's no way that will happen so that's why I reached out to the senator. If it doesn't work out for me to attend the interview then I'm sure it will all still work out, but hopefully we get some good news soon.  

 

And I hope you get your NOA2 this week!! You are much longer overdue than I am! 

If it doesn't happen while you are there, maybe they will let you schedule something to come in and talk with them so they can see that everything is genuine and there is much effort on your part, but due to the slow down things just aren't working out in your favor and you did try. Just a thought. It could help =)

[AnJ Co 1,676]

18 minutes ago, Majuuu said:

Got NOA2 today!!! Notice date July 19th. I can't believe it!!! 

Congratulations!!!!

[BahamaIslander242 244]

20 minutes ago, Majuuu said:

Got NOA2 today!!! Notice date July 19th. I can't believe it!!! 

Congrats!!! 🎉🎊🎈🍾 

Edited July 25, 2017 by BahamaIslander242

[FutureMrsBennett 69]

NOA1 March 16th still waiting. I am furious with this entire process...can't even be happy for others that have sent theirs in after me, that have received a response from the same processing center...sigh

[Nathan&Amy 204]

3 hours ago, gob332 said:

Just received Packet 4. Time to schedule to the interview!

Our case is "In Transit" from NVC to the consulate. We haven't received anything from NVC (I called and got the case#) and obv not from the consulate yet. Can I go ahead and submit the DS-160?

[KB2015 54]

1 hour ago, twoDs said:

The soul-crusher days to us are when someone gets a visa near our file date. Not that we blame them at all.

 

I've mentioned before we used a lawyer and his paralegal dropped our case not once, but twice, due to family emergencies. Every document needed to file the K1 was provided by Jan 20th, and our case wasn't mailed until 3/8. Even a week sooner and we'd likely have avoided the massive delays. Honestly when you see a visa or even a POE from someone that's less than a week before you and you don't even have a NOA2, it puts you on the verge of tears. We've had a couple bad days because of that lately.

That sounds just like us. We also used a lawyer whose assistant was filling out the wrong paperwork for over a month when we had submitted everything to them in January. I keep thinking if I had just done this myself we would've had everything sent by Feb. I've lost lots of precious time and some money. Ugh. 

 

I thought being Canadian we would get our approvals faster. Seems like it's the opposite. My fiance wasn't born in Canada so perhaps the background checking is taking longer? 

[gob332 420]

6 minutes ago, Nathan&Amy said:

Our case is "In Transit" from NVC to the consulate. We haven't received anything from NVC (I called and got the case#) and obv not from the consulate yet. Can I go ahead and submit the DS-160?

From what I understand, the DS-160 is valid as long as the information you include on it is also valid. So if anything changes after submitting your DS-160, you would need to re-submit. Check out our timeline to see how long it took us to get to packet 4 (Montreal is a bit slow).

 

However, if nothing is going to change on your DS-160, there is no harm in submitting now. Obviously keep good records of your receipt. Also, you will pay the visa fee when you schedule your interview, NOT when you submit DS-160.

Edited July 25, 2017 by gob332

[twoDs 590]

8 minutes ago, KB2015 said:

That sounds just like us. We also used a lawyer whose assistant was filling out the wrong paperwork for over a month when we had submitted everything to them in January. I keep thinking if I had just done this myself we would've had everything sent by Feb. I've lost lots of precious time and some money. Ugh. 

 

I thought being Canadian we would get our approvals faster. Seems like it's the opposite. My fiance wasn't born in Canada so perhaps the background checking is taking longer? 

We mutually came up with the theory that five-eyes countries (it's an intelligence gathering thing, includes US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) have a lot more information on their citizens, so there's more to check and it slows things down. With the exception of Australia, all these countries lag. It's a bit odd that Ukraine, Brazil and Russia lead NOA2 approvals for March, while the UK and Canada are near the bottom (though as mentioned, Philippines, Columbia and Dominican Republic really trail.)

[troika 307]

12 minutes ago, twoDs said:

We mutually came up with the theory that five-eyes countries (it's an intelligence gathering thing, includes US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) have a lot more information on their citizens, so there's more to check and it slows things down. With the exception of Australia, all these countries lag. It's a bit odd that Ukraine, Brazil and Russia lead NOA2 approvals for March, while the UK and Canada are near the bottom (though as mentioned, Philippines, Columbia and Dominican Republic really trail.)

Possibly .. I too as @KB2015 mentioned, wasn't born in the UK, but I am now a UK citizen and filed as a UK citizen. I have lived here for about 11 years, so I was wondering if that is why ours is taking so long, possibly background checks ?? 134 days today, same as you @twoDs

[Holly♡ 401]

All this talk about different countries being more laggy than others has me thinking... There is not much happening with Romania, he and I both do not have common names nor have either of us lived anywhere else nor is there anything to complicate anything for either of us.. so, what will our story be?  lol

[twoDs 590]

It's really hard to say for countries with a low number of applicants because the sample size screws up the statistics. The majority of countries have a single application for month -- there's 33 countries with a single applicant in March alone! I really think it can so either way, when my work slows down maybe I can look back and see if low-volume countries have any correlation in processing times.

[p-ana 933]

They only have so many officers to look at cases and they don't deal with just i129f petitions. It's very unrealistic to think that all petitions sent at the same day would be adjudicated at the same day. They are reviewed by different officers, who may be slower, more thorough, have a heavier workload, take sick days... you name it. 

 

[twoDs 590]

6 minutes ago, p-ana said:

They only have so many officers to look at cases and they don't deal with just i129f petitions. It's very unrealistic to think that all petitions sent at the same day would be adjudicated at the same day. They are reviewed by different officers, who may be slower, more thorough, have a heavier workload, take sick days... you name it. 

 

Some variation is to be expected, I agree, but you also end up with crazy situations like this one where the delays appear to be completely unjustified where the inquiry triggers processing (meaning that they weren't waiting on a background check when the inquiry came in.)

 

Here's another horrific timeline that just leaves you scratching your head about how a RFE happens seven months later when there's non-expedited cases from March with completed interviews.