I-129f June 2017 filers (merged)

[brifreeman58 0]

2 hours ago, Elaine282017 said:

This wait must be nerve wracking if your visitors already have tickets! I have the same problem like yours. My fiance though is in the Military and he will only get Christmas break,  so we really need to get married during that time, otherwise we dont know when we can get a chance. I know we will be qualified for expedite but he is still underway and cant request until he is back. 

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry about that! I understand the stress. I hope for all of us that they will speed up the process. Thank you for your response! Let's keep our fingers crossed!

[Dekd22 53]

Just gave USCIS a call for any time of update. Apparently they are still working on cases from February. Had I know it would be this long I would have gotten married in Brazil and applied for the K3. My optimism of her getting here within the next year or so is getting pretty slim

[DandY 134]

35 minutes ago, Dekd22 said:

Just gave USCIS a call for any time of update. Apparently they are still working on cases from February. Had I know it would be this long I would have gotten married in Brazil and applied for the K3. My optimism of her getting here within the next year or so is getting pretty slim

Yes, given that the change in priorities has significantly impacted all of us here, we should have no optimism at all. 

 

But as many will tell you, the USCIS reported time is very inaccurate. One theory is they report the oldest case the are working on. VisaJourney members represent approximately 8% of the visa applications and in theory are a random sample of them so there should be a high correlation between VJ members and the population at large. That said, they are almost 50% of the way through April's K1 applications. So while it is true there are applications from February they are processing, they are much further along than that. Basically all we know is that there seems to be little logic to the processing and prediction is near impossible.

 

On a bright note (I guess), USCIS has always advertised its processing time as about 6 months. It is true that most of the time it has not taken that long, but anything less is within advertised processing times. A March filer did a nice historical analysis and he found that historically it is VERY RARE for an application to take more than 180 days. Right now predictions are running about 135 days for us. 

 

As a side rant that I have done before (sorry audience), I feel your frustration. If this were last June, we'd all be past NOA2 now. It also pains me because I have read how they process our applications and it could be almost entirely automated (automating work processes similar to the USCIS approval process is EXACTLY what I do for a living). I could reduce the time on task to process an application by at least 60% and possibly 80% (I'm extrapolating likely exception processing time from the little data on exceptions I have).

 

Good luck to us all and I'm sure none of us walks through life as happy campers right now.

[Dekd22 53]

1 hour ago, DandY said:

Yes, given that the change in priorities has significantly impacted all of us here, we should have no optimism at all. 

 

But as many will tell you, the USCIS reported time is very inaccurate. One theory is they report the oldest case the are working on. VisaJourney members represent approximately 8% of the visa applications and in theory are a random sample of them so there should be a high correlation between VJ members and the population at large. That said, they are almost 50% of the way through April's K1 applications. So while it is true there are applications from February they are processing, they are much further along than that. Basically all we know is that there seems to be little logic to the processing and prediction is near impossible.

 

On a bright note (I guess), USCIS has always advertised its processing time as about 6 months. It is true that most of the time it has not taken that long, but anything less is within advertised processing times. A March filer did a nice historical analysis and he found that historically it is VERY RARE for an application to take more than 180 days. Right now predictions are running about 135 days for us. 

 

As a side rant that I have done before (sorry audience), I feel your frustration. If this were last June, we'd all be past NOA2 now. It also pains me because I have read how they process our applications and it could be almost entirely automated (automating work processes similar to the USCIS approval process is EXACTLY what I do for a living). I could reduce the time on task to process an application by at least 60% and possibly 80% (I'm extrapolating likely exception processing time from the little data on exceptions I have).

 

Good luck to us all and I'm sure none of us walks through life as happy campers right now.

Just curious, is there any reasoning why it has become so slow? 

 

i know I can get through it as we have spent 9 months apart, it just sucks that we may have to wait that long if not longer 

[Habitaters 96]

2 hours ago, DandY said:

Good luck to us all and I'm sure none of us walks through life as happy campers right now.

You bet!!! LOL! I was actually looking for my shrink's phone number the other day.

[DandY 134]

1 hour ago, Ilovemyfamily17 said:

where i read more about change in priorities ?

There was quite a bit about it in the March K1 thread. USCIS announced it early April (I wanna say April 5 was the announcement). It seems they decided to work the backlog of H1B visas. Nobody knows the reason. Could be because current administration threatened the foreign companies gaming the system, or could be because it is what big business wanted. But it did effectively put K1s and some other types on hold for over 1 month. There is some good info in the March thread, but I don't know of anyplace that has a concise summary, nor have I seen an official reason for it, but one of the guys in the March thread pulled the database and did find a significant decrease in H1B backlog and a significant increase in K1 backlog.

 

The part that saddens me is that I-129F and I-130 petitions are submitted by Americans (or lawful residents). It seems that requests of citizens for services should be the highest priority, not the lowest, I mean, let a few Indian companies wait to get more workers here so we can be with our loved ones sooner.  But I know I'm a crazy dreamer!

[Catseal 268]

Regarding the NOA1 date, did you all put in the Received Date or the Notice Date in your timelines? I am still unsure which is considered to be the NOA1 date.

[DandY 134]

20 minutes ago, Catseal said:

Regarding the NOA1 date, did you all put in the Received Date or the Notice Date in your timelines? I am still unsure which is considered to be the NOA1 date.

Received Date. If you look at the USCIS system, that is the date they associate with your petition and when the SLA clock starts ticking.

[Elaine282017 36]

22 hours ago, brifreeman58 said:

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry about that! I understand the stress. I hope for all of us that they will speed up the process. Thank you for your response! Let's keep our fingers crossed!

I am so happy when me and fiance got engaged because we have been going out for awhile. Being a military girlfriend plus the distance is totally a lot of work! Sad that this waiting time kinda ruins that excitement, plus the pressure of getting married on December. There was a lot of sleepless night since I cant really talk to him about this (he is underway). I did everything I could, I called the USCIS but they said they can only talk about the case to the petitioner, it was not the answer I wanted to hear but it gave me peace of mind that I tried. If I am you I would call and try to request for expedite, there is no harm in trying. These are the criteria for expedite. Maybe you can be under Severe financial loss to a person.

 

 

Expedite Criteria

USCIS reviews all expedite requests on a case-by-case basis and requests are granted at the discretion of the office leadership. The burden is on the applicant or petitioner to demonstrate that one or more of the expedite criteria have been met.

USCIS may expedite a petition or application if it meets one or more of the following criteria:

• Severe financial loss to company or person;
• Emergency situation;
• Humanitarian reasons;
• Nonprofit organization whose request is in furtherance of the cultural and social interests of the United States;
• Department of Defense or national interest situation (These particular expedite requests must come from an official U.S. government entity and state that delay will be detrimental to the government.);
• USCIS error; or
• Compelling interest of USCIS.

God Bless!

[Catseal 268]

10 hours ago, DandY said:

Received Date. If you look at the USCIS system, that is the date they associate with your petition and when the SLA clock starts ticking.

We put in the Notice Date. When you fill out the timeline, there is a pop-up window indicating the NOA1 date is the Notice Date, but the example document where it shows where to find this date has a different style then the one we got (probably an outdated version). Either way, if it really is the Received Date (as it appears to be, according to the USCIS App too) our timeline just moved 4 days in the right direction.  

 

[Greenbaum 12,259]

On 9/4/2017 at 9:32 PM, brifreeman58 said:

Hi! Thank you for the response I realize I should have clarified better: If our visa doesn't get approved before our ceremony, we would NOT get legally married that day. Instead, we would have a commitment ceremony where we would not get legally married (and not apply for a marriage certificate, etc.). Just "married in the eyes of God" and have a day where we can celebrate with our friends and family. Sorry I realize my post may have been confusing haha! 

As another member state "be careful" as we have seen many who showed "innocent" photos of a "ceremony" but to the interviewing CO they interpreted that it was a "wedding" and declined the application. At that point the file is DEAD and returned to USCIS where it will disappear. You will not get a chance to explain. Done, over. Sad to say but it's the truth and what others have experienced. 

 

So, recommendation is to not show any pictures that look like a ceremony nor speak an such thing to the CO during your interview.

 

If you search VJ you will see lots of cases that have failed because of this same situation.

[Kween 167]

I put the date that uscis says recived. I figure it will be more accurate....i sent of our paperwork June 19th however when I receivedthe noa1 by mail it says July 26,so I use the 26th

[Paul & Mallory 1,398]

On ‎9‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 2:20 PM, brifreeman58 said:

Hi everyone, 

 

My fiancé is from Sweden, and we got our NOA1 on June 5th. Our wedding is set on December 16th, and now I'm nervous seeing all the delays here. I guess worst case scenario, my fiancé and I don't get legally married on December 16th but married "through God" on that day and wait until it gets approved. Does anybody else have this problem? We can't move the wedding because everyone has bought their tickets and we have payed for the wedding. 

Mine is from Sweden too We filed June 5th and got our NOA1 June 12th. We haven't made any wedding plans, because I was too afraid of delays or something messing it up. We plan on getting legally married one everything's done and approved, and then planning a later wedding. We hoped to be together for the holidays, at least by the end of the year, but I'm not sure if that will happen. Things have been moving backwards, it seems, and just generally delayed. I think this time of year is not the best time of year to apply; I'm not sure if it's just a slowdown in general because people go on vacation during the summer, or what. But it seemed people who applied beginning of the year moved much faster than mid-year applicants.

 

Best of luck to you! I would definitely put together a contingency plan, such as what you mentioned (having the wedding even if you can't legally get married). You still deserve a celebration with friends and family regardless!! We're kind of the reverse, but similar concept; our actual wedding will be after the fact and technically we will already be married, but we agree the wedding will be before God and our friends/family, and be the date that really matters. XOXO

[DandY 134]

3 hours ago, Paul & Mallory said:

Things have been moving backwards, it seems, and just generally delayed. I think this time of year is not the best time of year to apply; I'm not sure if it's just a slowdown in general because people go on vacation during the summer, or what. But it seemed people who applied beginning of the year moved much faster than mid-year applicants.

While there is a summer slowdown, that is not the bulk of our slow down. It has been discussed on this site and even this thread some of the current factors. In the last several years, you could expect NOA2 in 60-75 days (the summer slow down pushed it up to 90 days). Many other things going on now that make us the longest waiters in years. For a very depressing graphic, see this:

 

[Konor94 6]

day 75 hoping I'm more than halfway.