WHY IS THIS YEAR TAKING SO LONG FOR NOA2?

[RJandHamid 1,133]

All things considered, the K1 visa is still one of, if not the fastest visas that allows someone to permanently immigrate to the USA.

Yes it can be costly, and I agree that it is hard to see that 2017 have paid higher fees than previous years and yet they have a turnaround time that continues to slow down. I'm not really sure what was going on at USCIS during mid to late 2016 where K1's were being approved NOA2 is as little as 1 month. 

 

I'm not a fan of the new administration, however I don't really think they are to be 100% blamed for the slow down. There were a few years (2013-2015) where K1 visas were taking 4-5 months for NOA2, sometimes longer. I really do believe that there was an overall increase of visa petitions of all types, and perhaps some overhauls at USCIS as well. 

 

As for the cost, I do think it is quite high, especially for K1 and subsequent AOS. Yet we have to remember that immigration to the US is a privilege, not a right. It's your right as an American to fall in love with whoever you want, including foreigners, but it is not within your legal right to bring them permanently into the United States without going through the lengthy immigration process. Even then, the US has the right to deny any non-citizen from entering the country. I do wish there would be an immigration overhaul where the process was simplified and that there would be a process that made sense and was transparent in terms of timelines, fees, eligibility, ect.

[Little_Vixen 1,869]

15 minutes ago, David & Zoila said:

You have no idea what you are talking about.  I am a government investigator and I do background checks on people.  It can take hours, sometimes days to search official government data bases.  Then you have to wait for results from several agencies, depending on the kind of background check, sometimes waiting days for responses.  Then you have to wait to get "hard copies" via mail to confirm what you were told or what you saw online.  Then going over facebook and other social media making sure that the person applying is not a terrorist.  And that is a basic background check.  The background checks required for these cases involve much more work than you could ever imagine.  Not to mention the USCIS agent having to go through dozens of documents, sometimes hundreds of documents/pages that have been submitted by the petitioner, photos, forms, letters, etc.... I have no idea where you get an idea of 20 minutes but it's insulting.  Not to mention each agent is saddled with hundreds of these cases on their desks daily.  It's not like you are the only person applying.  There are tens of thousands of people.  Please be more considerate of others when you speak of things you have no personal knowledge of.  My wife got here 8 months almost to the day after we applied for a CR-1 from the Philippines and it was worth all the waiting and the money spent.  I don't think that was an unreasonable amount of time at all.   BTW:  I think President Trump is well aware that he is married to an immigrant. God Bless America,  david

I am a government official myself and I totally see where you come from. I have battled trying to explain to the public why some things take so long a hundred times. And I agree, it has to take the time and effort needed and an appropriate fee should be attached to that. 

 

I'm sure you agree with me that staffing the offices with more qualified personnel would solve a lot of the issues we currently see. You mention it yourself, thousands apply and officers get hundreds of files to go through. You can't tell me that an 8 month wait period now is acceptable when an application can be processed in three months? (Bar of course the exception) as we've seen a few months back. It's not the paperwork that's taking this long. It's being understaffed.

It's not just unfair to the immigrants and partners but also to the officers themselves. I read stories about grumpy and stressed out interviewers on here all the time. That's no way to do your job. 

 

Of course whatever wait we have to endure is worth it. In the end we all go through it to be with our loved ones and I dont care how long it takes I will go that road. But that does not mean we should just accept the long wait because of understaffed offices. That's ludicrous. 

Edited September 29, 2017 by Little_Vixen

[Delirium 114]

6 hours ago, John & Rose said:

4 months would be nice.  Starting with May filers it is going over 5 months and soon will hit 6 months just for the NOA2!

Oh wow! Maybe I was thinking about last year, when we filed for our K1 Visa. Hopefully you guys get your visa soon!  

[Delirium 114]

1 hour ago, Little_Vixen said:

The ones for the countries on the terrorist watchlist come to mind. The possibility of ending the diversity visa.

The change in wether or not the 'dreamers' will be granted a visa. The press release about looking deeper into social media channels of immigrants and anyone dealing with immigrants.

 

You can agree or disagree on either of these, thats beside my point. (Cause believe it or not I agree with some) But the way I see it, he is trying very hard to limit immigration and that scares me. Cause he not only bars the possibility for the terrorists and the moochers and the bums, he will also make it very difficult for the regular people who actually fell in love and want to be together. It scares me. I feel like if you wish to fall in love with a foreigner you better well make damn sure you're part of the upper class cause the common man won't be able to afford it very soon. 

 

And yes, I would totally agree with 3 weeks and 100 bucks. 

No seriously. It has to cost what it costs. The paperwork, the people, the stamps, the overhead costs ect. But it should not become a) a milk cow or b) a deterrent. Second, I think it's ridiculous the procedures last as long as they sometimes to. In the Netherlands we have a code of conduct for the government in which they need to come to a decision within a certain period, usually 8 weeks. You will be notified at the beginning within what period a decisions will be taken. If it has not been decided on within that period the request is granted. Period. No questions asked. 

If they think immigration is such a hot topic and they want to monitor the people coming in more they should put more and better educated people on the task. 

In my opinion it's not fair to have people put their life on hold for almost a year just cause the government doesn't employ enough people.

 

Just my opinion. Like it or leave it.

From what my husband has told me, it's much harder for me to immigrate to the Netherlands than it was for him to come here. The Netherlands seem to be incredibly strict when it comes to immigration (they don't even let their citizens hold a dual passport).

[John & Rose 7,239]

7 minutes ago, Delirium said:

Oh wow! Maybe I was thinking about last year, when we filed for our K1 Visa. Hopefully you guys get your visa soon!  

Just trying to make us jealous????   Congrats on your journey!  Please stay around as once this is done we too will move to the AOS/EAD process!

[Little_Vixen 1,869]

Just now, Delirium said:

From what my husband has told me, it's much harder for me to immigrate to the Netherlands than it was for him to come here. The Netherlands seem to be incredibly strict when it comes to immigration (they don't even let their citizens hold a dual passport).

I don't know when he inquired but that's not true anymore. At least the dual citizenship isn't. I can keep my Dutch citizenship if I decide to become an American citizen. 

Not sure about immigrating to the Netherlands though. Since my bf is a single father of four (14, 16, 18, 22) I didn't even consider taking them from their friends and family, nor their father from them. 

[Delirium 114]

1 minute ago, Little_Vixen said:

I don't know when he inquired but that's not true anymore. At least the dual citizenship isn't. I can keep my Dutch citizenship if I decide to become an American citizen. 

Not sure about immigrating to the Netherlands though. Since my bf is a single father of four (14, 16, 18, 22) I didn't even consider taking them from their friends and family, nor their father from them. 

Would you mind messaging me about the details on this?   We read this and that's what made us believe that he wouldn;t be able to obtain dual citizenship https://www.dualcitizenship.com/countries/netherlands.html Maybe we misunderstood! It would be awesome for him to be a dual citizen. He just didn't want to lose his Dutch citizenship, which I agree with.

[Delirium 114]

4 minutes ago, John & Rose said:

Just trying to make us jealous????   Congrats on your journey!  Please stay around as once this is done we too will move to the AOS/EAD process!

I'll definitely be around!  You guys will get your visa before you know it! The AOS process is even more daunting but you'll get to be with your loved one so it makes it way easier. 

[BuiQuang 95]

3 minutes ago, Delirium said:

Would you mind messaging me about the details on this?   We read this and that's what made us believe that he wouldn;t be able to obtain dual citizenship https://www.dualcitizenship.com/countries/netherlands.html Maybe we misunderstood! It would be awesome for him to be a dual citizen. He just didn't want to lose his Dutch citizenship, which I agree with.

read what u post.  ur husband exempt

[pmeyer1229 331]

18 hours ago, geowrian said:

Please be aware that typing a post in all caps is the Internet equivalent of shouting.

 

There's an ebb and flow. The I-129F's NOA2 was taking a very short time up until Q4 2016. Then a lot of petitions came in, holidays, a fee hike in Dec. 2016 (1st in 6 years), etc. Now there's a big backlog again. A couple years before that it was taking close to a year. It constantly shifts based on petitions coming in, priorities, etc.

Perhaps shouting was his intention as I know we May 2017 filers are going into month 5 waiting for NOA2 and some March 2017 filers waited 6 without RFE.

[pmeyer1229 331]

22 minutes ago, Delirium said:

I'll definitely be around!  You guys will get your visa before you know it! The AOS process is even more daunting but you'll get to be with your loved one so it makes it way easier. 

Wow....got your NOA2 in 3 months. May 2017 filers are going into 5 months now with no NOA2. People are anxious and worried. Wedding dates cancelled, more trips overseas to see our fiancé is occurring due to the wait....This is not very fun  

[Mrsjackson 300]

18 hours ago, geowrian said:

Please be aware that typing a post in all caps is the Internet equivalent of shouting.

 

There's an ebb and flow. The I-129F's NOA2 was taking a very short time up until Q4 2016. Then a lot of petitions came in, holidays, a fee hike in Dec. 2016 (1st in 6 years), etc. Now there's a big backlog again. A couple years before that it was taking close to a year. It constantly shifts based on petitions coming in, priorities, etc.

Internet shouting? Really? Lol. Don't take it so seriously.

[geowrian 22,338]

1 minute ago, Mrsjackson said:

Internet shouting? Really? Lol. Don't take it so seriously.

It's just suggesting proper forum etiquette. Don't take it so seriously.

[Mrsjackson 300]

19 hours ago, jackyjimenez said:

I WAS SEEING 2015 AND 2016 AND SOME PEOPLE GOT THE NOA2 THE NEXT MONTH LIKE AUGUST OR SEPTEMBER, BUT THIS YEAR IS TAKING AROUND 4 OR 5 MONTHS.

I READ THAT THEY DID NOT WANT TO HAVE A LOT OF WORK FOR HOLIDAYS BUT HERE WE ARE. 

 

Another user in a different post touched on this in a way that made a lot of sense. He/she theorized that USCIS might be stretched with a huge workload and so they have to prioritize, which explains why there are periods when K1s (and other visas) are being processed really quickly and then there are times when they're taking longer. USCIS tackles certain things once they pile up a bit. Sounds like this year they might have focused on other things (keep in mind they have a lot to process not just K1 visas) which is a little unfortunate but don't worry your NOA2 will come! And probably any day now since it's already been so long so just hang in there. 

[David & Diana R 1,005]

1 hour ago, Little_Vixen said:

I am a government official myself and I totally see where you come from. I have battled trying to explain to the public why some things take so long a hundred times. And I agree, it has to take the time and effort needed and an appropriate fee should be attached to that. 

 

I'm sure you agree with me that staffing the offices with more qualified personnel would solve a lot of the issues we currently see. You mention it yourself, thousands apply and officers get hundreds of files to go through. You can't tell me that an 8 month wait period now is acceptable when an application can be processed in three months? (Bar of course the exception) as we've seen a few months back. It's not the paperwork that's taking this long. It's being understaffed.

It's not just unfair to the immigrants and partners but also to the officers themselves. I read stories about grumpy and stressed out interviewers on here all the time. That's no way to do your job. 

 

Of course whatever wait we have to endure is worth it. In the end we all go through it to be with our loved ones and I dont care how long it takes I will go that road. But that does not mean we should just accept the long wait because of understaffed offices. That's ludicrous. 

I know.  I understand.

They need more staff, and more knowledgeable staff but as we know it takes time and money to hire and train staff.

8 months seem excessive however imagine the pressure and the workload they have to handle.  It's all about staffing and we know they are short-handed, no doubt.  The piles get bigger and bigger each day.

So what do you suggest?  How is the problem, to be fixed?  Increase fees so they can hire more staff?  Everyone cries about the costs.  Can't make everyone happy.  Personally, I feel the fees charged are very reasonable for all the work that I know is needed to vet these immigrants.

 

Aloha, david