K1 Visa I-129F Stage

[Michelle & Jessie 51]

We submitted the I-129F package on March 13, 2017 to the Dallas Lockbox address. Our case was routed to USCIS California Service Centre for processing.  By March 16, the Receipt Notice was issued. I suppose this is the NOA 1. From our research, we understand that it will take an average of 3-5 months. I just checked the case status online and the message on it was the same one since March 16. The message stated was, "On March 13, 2017, we received your Form I-129F, Petition for Fiance(E), Receipt Number -------, and sent you the receipt notice that describes how we will process your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you do not receive your receipt notice by April 12, 2017, please call Customer Service at 1-800-375-5283".

 

I am wondering if this is the standard message for everyone. Do you get different messages on your case status? There are no instructions on the receipt. Just the details of my fiancee. 

 

Anyway, I checked the processing time for the California Service Centre. The processing time here is as of February 28, 2017. It shows that the USCIS is still currently processing cases as of November 15, 2016. Does anyone have any updated info on this since I don't know if they have updated this from February 28. 

 

We are not really in a hurry but we would feel better knowing the timeframe for the case so that we could plan for a wedding and my fiancee could start arranging the move to the US. She's a working professional and it would take her some time to tie the loose ends on her current job. She's also completing an online MBA from an American university soon so she's looking at graduate offers in Houston. She would need to have her status adjusted to permanent residency in order to secure one. I don't think she will  have any problems getting a job considering she has a perfect GPA score. I actually suggested her to put in a few applications with a note stating that she will receive full working rights by 2018.

 

Any thoughts on these? Would really appreciate some heads up...

[Dashinka 24,514]

The general advice you will hear here is to not plan anything, especially as it pertains to putting out money until your fiancé has a visa in hand.  That being said, you certainly can look at or do research on different weddings, or travel plans, but do purchase anything yet as there have been numerous stories of people getting burned financially due to delays or denials.

 

As to timelines, I would do a little more searching via Google as the numbers hear may be a bit stale, or too small a sample size.  I seem to remember CSC processing I129s fairly quickly, but those things do change occasionally.  Three to five months seems reasonable from what I last heard, but again, don't lay out any money until your fiancé has their passport back with the visa affixed.

 

Good Luck!

[Michelle & Jessie 51]

Do you remember anything about the case status on the online application account? Nothing changed on mine since March.

 

We aren't planning anything with exact dates. My fiancee has a 10 year multiple entry travel visa so she can come and visit frequently if it was't for her time consuming job that requires frequent international travel. I teach high school so I'll be getting summers off. For this summer, I will be visiting my family in California for a few weeks and spend the remaining six weeks in Malaysia. I will be joining my fiancee and her family for a Europe trip. Sounds like a lot but we really don't get to see each other that often.

 

We are doing some general planning as my fiancee is planning to apply for some jobs that usually take months to reply. Do you think that she could put in a few applications with a note stating that she will receive full working rights by 2018.  Will she have working rights before the full status adjustment process has been completed?

[Perfect two 💑 1,147]

In my opinion, since you receive your NOA1 in March 2017, you will be able to get visa within this year (maybe by end of this year if everything runs smoothly). However, under K1 visa, your fiancee is not allowed to work. You can apply for EAD together with AOS, your fiancee doesn't need to wait until full adjustment process to be completed. Submit your application for EAD and AOS as soon as possible after you get marry. Good luck! 

[Michelle & Jessie 51]

2 hours ago, MalaysiaUS said:

In my opinion, since you receive your NOA1 in March 2017, you will be able to get visa within this year (maybe by end of this year if everything runs smoothly). However, under K1 visa, your fiancee is not allowed to work. You can apply for EAD together with AOS, your fiancee doesn't need to wait until full adjustment process to be completed. Submit your application for EAD and AOS as soon as possible after you get marry. Good luck! 

Hopefully, it wouldn't get till a RFE is required. We did spent some time researching, getting everything together. We met in 2012. However, we didn't have any proof before 2014. We didn't know that we have to collect proof of ongoing relationship. Both of us dug through our chat log archives when we found out about the requirements on February. Anyway, we managed to find something for every month from May 2014 to the present. We screenshot a few conversations for each month. We also managed to find an email from 2013. I didn't include all the emails. Just a screenshot on my account on the summary of emails we sent each other. For Skype, we included a few screenshots for our conversation record in 2015 to 2016. Nothing after that as we started using the video and voice calls feature on Facebook messenger. We cannot retrieve records for those though, as Facebook doesn't work that way. Nevertheless we did include photos from our trips together over the years, photos of meeting family members, my fiancee's 10 year multiple entry travel visa, gift receipts etc. Our evidence pack was 87 pages long. Hope that suffice.