August 2017 I-129F Filers

[MandW 310]

In 2005 when I did this it took 8-10 months on average, that case was 9 months from NOA1-Interview , seems its not AS long as 2005 but still long. I never heard of NOA2 arriving one month after NOA1. Keep in mind each country is different, for me Taiwan is on average 3 months between NOA1 to NOA2 while China is 5 months on average. Last 4 cases I read on Taiwan they were right at 3 months between NOA1-NOA2.

[patientguyinlove 92]

7 minutes ago, MandW said:

In 2005 when I did this it took 8-10 months on average, that case was 9 months from NOA1-Interview , seems its not AS long as 2005 but still long. I never heard of NOA2 arriving one month after NOA1. Keep in mind each country is different, for me Taiwan is on average 3 months between NOA1 to NOA2 while China is 5 months on average. Last 4 cases I read on Taiwan they were right at 3 months between NOA1-NOA2.

I was researching timelines and found someone on VJ that applied last September. Their NOA2 was received in October. The beneficiary is from the same country as my fiance. 

I contact the person through VJ and they confirmed the timeline and said the case wasn't expedited. I was in shock. 

 

I'm surprised to hear there is that much of a difference between countries like Taiwan and China. I can imagine for certain countries that are adversaries with the US or severely underdeveloped so much that a background check is a lengthy process. I would think that in 2017, most of these background checks are electronic and completed in a short time frame. 

 

Here is the timeline.

23 days from NOA1 to NOA2. Total from start to Visa....about 4 months. 

 

I-129F Sent :	2016-09-23
I-129F NOA1 :	2016-09-28
I-129F RFE(s) :
RFE Reply(s) :
I-129F NOA2 :	2016-10-21
NVC Received :	2016-11-17
Date Case #, IIN, and BIN assigned :	2016-11-17
NVC Left :	2016-11-19
Consulate Received :	2016-11-26
Packet 3 Received :	2016-12-22
Packet 3 Sent :
Packet 4 Received :
Interview Date :	2017-01-25
Interview Result :	Approved
Second Interview (If Required):
Second Interview Result:
Visa Received :	2017-01-30

Edited September 7, 2017 by patientguyinlove
added timeline reference.

[MandW 310]

I wish for a one month noa1-noa2 right now!

Most of the background checks are done in a international database but....some countries don't provide that info freely or highly slow at providing that information to the consulate, China being a communist country there is a lot more procedures and that's what takes a lot of time.

Taiwan is a free country (no visa needed for US citizens) unlike China, you need one. 

[MK2017 29]

26 minutes ago, patientguyinlove said:

I just wish I had more insight into the delays.

 

Questions such as, is the backlog expected to continue? For how long? Will conditions return to about the same as last year when I-129F petitioners were receiving their NOA2 after ONE MONTH? Will the DHS budget be approved? If so, how many USCIS visa processors will be hired? How long does it take to train them and get caught up with the backlog? Is the emergency Haiti visa issue still causing the backlog or is this mostly due to the surge in H1-B petitions before the suspension of premium processing? Is this just the regular summer slow down?

 

Maybe I shouldn't think about it, but having answers provides peace of mind, right?

I wish it was like last year!!! I would be waiting happily for my NOA right now!! 

Patientguyinlove you are way deeper at the research around all than I'am! But I saw as well that they say that after august things speed up! Hope that this is true

[patientguyinlove 92]

1 minute ago, MandW said:

I wish for a one month noa1-noa2 right now!

Most of the background checks are done in a international database but....some countries don't provide that info freely or highly slow at providing that information to the consulate, China being a communist country there is a lot more procedures and that's what takes a lot of time.

Taiwan is a free country (no visa needed for US citizens) unlike China, you need one. 

Bless you for doing this twice. I just couldn't.

 

[geowrian 22,337]

32 minutes ago, patientguyinlove said:

I just wish I had more insight into the delays.

Don't we all...

Quote

Questions such as, is the backlog expected to continue? For how long? Will conditions return to about the same as last year when I-129F petitioners were receiving their NOA2 after ONE MONTH? Will the DHS budget be approved? If so, how many USCIS visa processors will be hired? How long does it take to train them and get caught up with the backlog? Is the emergency Haiti visa issue still causing the backlog or is this mostly due to the surge in H1-B petitions before the suspension of premium processing? Is this just the regular summer slow down?

• Yes, the backlog will continue at the current rate.
• The processing has slowed down, but the number of petitions received per month has increased as well, which makes a small backlog explode.
• It's probable that conditions will return to where it was only taking one month for approval, but who knows when that will be...the backlog always follows an ebb and flow. Most Oct. 2016 filers waited ~30 days for approval. Not too long before that, it was taking closer to a year.
• The DHS budget has little to no impact on the process. Except for some small side-services (i.e. e-Verify), USCIS is self-funded via their fees.

From my experience, there is little impact across foreign nationals at the I-129F stage (Edit: Except for certain high-risk countries where background checks are suspected to take longer). The I-129F is primarily about the petitioner. The searches take a little bit, but:

 

URL: http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/filterlist.php?cfl=

Options:

Visa Type: K-1

Beneficiary's Country: <Varies>

Service Center: CSC

Date I-129F Sent to the Service Center (start) : 2017-01-01

Date I-129F Sent to the Service Center (end) <empty>

 

Taiwan (2017 filers): 116 days from NOA1 to NOA2 on average

China (2017 filers): 115 days from NOA1 to NOA2 on average

UK (2017) filers: 111 days from NOA1 to NOA2 on average

Ghana (2017 filers): 100 days from NOA1 to NOA2 on average

India (2017 filers): 119 days from NOA1 to NOA2 on average

 

Edited September 7, 2017 by geowrian

[patientguyinlove 92]

Just now, MK2017 said:

I wish it was like last year!!! I would be waiting happily for my NOA right now!! 

Patientguyinlove you are way deeper at the research around all than I'am! But I saw as well that they say that after august things speed up! Hope that this is true

I studied political science.

Recently, as part of my job, I reviewed the congressional budget submissions for FY18. You can imagine I took a few extra minutes looking at USCIS' budget request.

 

[patientguyinlove 92]

3 minutes ago, geowrian said:

• The DHS budget has little to no impact on the process. Except for some small side-services (i.e. e-Verify), USCIS is self-funded via their fees.

I appreciate the insight. Do you have any data to share?

 

I understand ELIS is being funded by premium processing fees, but from what I understand, E-VERIFY is being subsidized by tax dollars (with a requested increase of 15M for FY18). I'm not sure that's exactly a small service and with any budget constraint, certain expenses taken precedence over others.

 

USCIS is NOT an entirely fee-funded agency. While visa fees are the primary source of revenue, USCIS states clearly they are a "mostly fee-funded agency" not entirely fee-funded. That means if they have a surge of visa applications and additional FTE's aren't approved in the budget, this WOULD have an impact on the processing times (not a question about the process). Correct?

 

Reference (DHS Congressional Budget Submission FY18) - https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/DHS FY18 BIB Final.pdf

[Ocelot 30]

Geowrian thank you for the link and process. I just checked Thailand and I got 86 days. This eases my pain a little bit haha!

[patientguyinlove 92]

I checked that link also...

I looked at the NOA1-NOA2 time frames for the country my fiance is from.

Someone had 14 days, while another had over 400 with no RFE.

 

Think I can obtain accurate data from USCIS with a FOIA request?

[Jeffreyyu 303]

On 9/5/2017 at 11:28 PM, geowrian said:

We said we first had contact via OK Cupid, a dating website. Then we chatted via facebook and met in person on these dates & locations: [yada yada yada...all backed by evidence provided with the I-129F]

Question its important  to mention the name of the site you first meet on?  Because we just put that we met online 

[geowrian 22,337]

Quote

USCIS is NOT an entirely fee-funded agency. While visa fees are the primary source of revenue, USCIS states clearly they are a "mostly fee-funded agency" not entirely fee-funded. That means if they have a surge of visa applications and additional FTE's aren't approved in the budget, this WOULD have an impact on the processing times (not a question about the process). Correct?

 

Reference (DHS Congressional Budget Submission FY18) - https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/DHS FY18 BIB Final.pdf

I never said entirely. I said "Except for some small side-services...USCIS is self-funded." Maybe "small" was not the best word, but in relation to the total budget, it's pretty close. USCIS brought in $3.6B in fees last fiscal year, with a $3.8B budget. That means 95% of their budget was self-funded. They are expected to bring in $3.4B in FY2017 with a $3.6B budget, which makes it 94% self-funded. Funding is divided and allocated into separate accounts based on the types of services provided...so killing/reducing the funding source for something like e-Verify doesn't impact other services offered (except maybe for the ~$120M discretionary bucket). I said there would be little to no impact, which I believe still holds true.

 

USCIS doesn't collect any visa fees nor process visa applications.

 

Edit: As for FTEs, budgets can be (and regularly are) revised. If the process entails more petitions than expected, more workers than originally anticipated can be hired without a net impact on the bottom line.

 

2 hours ago, Jeffreyyu said:

Question its important  to mention the name of the site you first meet on?  Because we just put that we met online 

A question that comes to mind for me (acting as devil's advocate) is "Did you meet through an IMB?" If the CO asks themselves the same question and there isn't evidence to answer it, then an RFE makes sense. But as for whether or not they will ask that question, I certainly can't say. Some people have been approved just fine without going into detail, while others have received an RFE. A good write-up on the IMB issue is here: http://www.visatutor.com/meeting-k-1-fiance-imb/

Edited September 8, 2017 by geowrian

[Ocelot 30]

3 hours ago, Jeffreyyu said:

Question its important  to mention the name of the site you first meet on?  Because we just put that we met online 

You might get an RFE for that. Apparently not only do they want you to list which website but include the terms of service. I read that some people get lucky. I put that I met my fiance on Thaicupid.com but I'm ready to sent the TOS in case I get an RFE. 

Edited September 8, 2017 by Wibblet

[Jeffreyyu 303]

7 hours ago, geowrian said:

I never said entirely. I said "Except for some small side-services...USCIS is self-funded." Maybe "small" was not the best word, but in relation to the total budget, it's pretty close. USCIS brought in $3.6B in fees last fiscal year, with a $3.8B budget. That means 95% of their budget was self-funded. They are expected to bring in $3.4B in FY2017 with a $3.6B budget, which makes it 94% self-funded. Funding is divided and allocated into separate accounts based on the types of services provided...so killing/reducing the funding source for something like e-Verify doesn't impact other services offered (except maybe for the ~$120M discretionary bucket). I said there would be little to no impact, which I believe still holds true.

 

USCIS doesn't collect any visa fees nor process visa applications.

 

Edit: As for FTEs, budgets can be (and regularly are) revised. If the process entails more petitions than expected, more workers than originally anticipated can be hired without a net impact on the bottom line.

 

A question that comes to mind for me (acting as devil's advocate) is "Did you meet through an IMB?" If the CO asks themselves the same question and there isn't evidence to answer it, then an RFE makes sense. But as for whether or not they will ask that question, I certainly can't say. Some people have been approved just fine without going into detail, while others have received an RFE. A good write-up on the IMB issue is here: http://www.visatutor.com/meeting-k-1-fiance-imb/

Thanks much 

[Johannab143 14]

Hi Everyone!

 

Filed on 21.08 and received NOA1 on 31.08, not sure if this puts me in here or September filing? Either way Good luck 🍀