NOA2 has a processing time of 5 months (as of August 31st)??

[Abdeslam 47]

3 hours ago, shawarma_frites said:

You received your NOA2 but didn't get the visa? Isn't that rare? What happened?

it more common to get the K1 visa denied for MENA countries (Algeria , Tunisia , Morroco) only few people get approved 

[Murph4865 597]

1 hour ago, loveneverfails17 said:

That's was awful, How did you guys find out about that? 

My office where i recieve my postal mail at i asked them if anything come in and it did so a pict was sent to me i can see approved and the date on it was dated 10/10/2017. Nvc was called last night before midnight n was given MNL# and invoice# they recieved it just couple days ago even after 17 days of time lapse, so who knows what date they actually got it.

[shawarma_frites 21]

1 hour ago, Abdeslam said:

it more common to get the K1 visa denied for MENA countries (Algeria , Tunisia , Morroco) only few people get approved 

I had a consultation with an excellent immigration lawyer and she said the denial for MENA countries is pretty rare granted you file correctly (and it's authentic and meet requirements, obviously). She said the denial rate it disproportionately high for MENA men for OTHER visas, but not the K1. 

 

MENA being Middle East as well as North Africa. 

Edited October 28, 2017 by shawarma_frites

[Highmystic 234]

9 hours ago, shawarma_frites said:

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do;jsessionid=abcjbTo7vex9hcw7yCH9v

 

150 days, seriously? Does anyone know if the recent processing times have gotten better, worse, or have stayed the same?

 

Anyone who filed after June 2017, have you received your NOA2?

 

I was a May 3d filer,  got my NOA2 in 149 days, and then 19 days at NVC,  which was the 19th of Oct.  your time line should show estimated date of receiving it,  and I believe they are accurate.  The estimate USCIS is working on is May 20th (as of Today.  Could be a week or two longer wait, but it will get done.  Just hope you don't get an RFE which will delay another week or two.

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

the use-to-bes is what u see on processing times

in 2009 our july application was at interview in November

the big difference is the number of applications received 

Immigration receives approximately 6 million apps a  year now

https://www.uscis.gov/tools/reports-studies/immigration-forms-data

according to the table the K1 approved forjust  Algeria was 3,695 and now for 2016 was 13,704

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/AnnualReports/FY2016AnnualReport/FY16AnnualReport-TableXIX.pdf

another site says only 1900 immigration officers including POE and border crossing and embassy

the question really should be 

Since our fees pay for immigration (not part of the federal budget) , then why don't they hire some new people?

Jeanne

[kalo 28]

11 hours ago, shawarma_frites said:

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do;jsessionid=abcjbTo7vex9hcw7yCH9v

 

150 days, seriously? Does anyone know if the recent processing times have gotten better, worse, or have stayed the same?

 

Anyone who filed after June 2017, have you received your NOA2?

 

I am May 26 or 157.... and nothing. They are still working on May 10-15 

[Abdeslam 47]

3 hours ago, shawarma_frites said:

I had a consultation with an excellent immigration lawyer and she said the denial for MENA countries is pretty rare granted you file correctly (and it's authentic and meet requirements, obviously). She said the denial rate it disproportionately high for MENA men for OTHER visas, but not the K1. 

 

MENA being Middle East as well as North Africa. 

some people here from mena got denied even after  4 visit , this lawyer don't know what he talk about 

[EandH0904 1,184]

15 minutes ago, Abdeslam said:

some people here from mena got denied even after  4 visit , this lawyer don't know what he talk about 

I agree completely. I know MANY people from MENA denied and very few approved K1. Most approved are female beneficiaries. 

[geowrian 22,338]

4 hours ago, shawarma_frites said:

I had a consultation with an excellent immigration lawyer and she said the denial for MENA countries is pretty rare granted you file correctly (and it's authentic and meet requirements, obviously).

A proper filing absolutely helps, but we've seen many people from a good number of MENA countries (not all...i.e. KSA is strict but not particularly "difficult") denied even with what appeared to be a good amount of frontloading. It's certainly not "rare"...check the threads here almost daily.

[usmsbow 802]

4 hours ago, shawarma_frites said:

I had a consultation with an excellent immigration lawyer and she said the denial for MENA countries is pretty rare granted you file correctly (and it's authentic and meet requirements, obviously). She said the denial rate it disproportionately high for MENA men for OTHER visas, but not the K1. 

 

MENA being Middle East as well as North Africa. 

 

Does she know Morocco & Egypt are a part of MENA?  Because it seems a LOT of K-1 visas are denied from those two in particular, at least when the beneficiary is a male. Maybe she thinks MENA=Israel, Turkey, and the Gulf States only... 

 

 

[pmeyer1229 331]

13 hours ago, shawarma_frites said:

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do;jsessionid=abcjbTo7vex9hcw7yCH9v

 

150 days, seriously? Does anyone know if the recent processing times have gotten better, worse, or have stayed the same?

 

Anyone who filed after June 2017, have you received your NOA2?

 

I am a May 15 filer....I think close to 170 days of waiting now. Almost everyone in the month of May is waiting this long...some longer. I have seen March filers with over 200 days get approval with no RFE...Everything has changed...no more NOA2s in 60 to 90 days. It is impossible to plan a "real" wedding...we are getting married at the courthouse when we get approved...if you want to read some depressing posts...go to May 2017 filers and look at the last 50 pages or so....IT SUCKS...and calling the USCIS does nothing...they just say "we are processing April filers" even though we know that is not the whole truth. Most folks in the beginning of May still have not been approved but many have...no one can figure out how they do this and it is straining the relationships of many couples...Thank God my princess understands there is nothing we can do to speed things up. Calling your Congress person is a hassle and they do not even start to investigate until after 6 months of waiting and then it takes them 30 days to inquire about your case...welcome to the US government...interesting how fast they cashed my 500+ dollar check.

[shawarma_frites 21]

3 hours ago, usmsbow said:

 

Does she know Morocco & Egypt are a part of MENA?  Because it seems a LOT of K-1 visas are denied from those two in particular, at least when the beneficiary is a male. Maybe she thinks MENA=Israel, Turkey, and the Gulf States only... 

 

 

Hmm. I wonder what the "NA" of MENA stands for? Of course she knows it stands for North Africa--it's a top notch immigration law firm in a big city. I mean this law firm is very familiar with the various immigration policy changes and which countries they have affected (e.g. the so-called "banned" Muslim country fiasco). 

 

Anyway, the K-1 approval rate (percentage-wise) for Algeria has historically been better than Morocco and Egypt. 

[shawarma_frites 21]

4 hours ago, Abdeslam said:

some people here from mena got denied even after  4 visit , this lawyer don't know what he talk about 

You cannot cherry-pick data and then extrapolate. Of course there are people with repeated denials. 

 

However, I am university educated, concise and very attentive and thorough about the procedures and paperwork. I've published academic papers--I know how to write and I know how to manage bureaucractic paperwork. 

 

We have never been married, have no children, only 4 years apart in age, have similar university educations, and no language barriers. 

 

Both of our families were involved in our traditional engagement and that is proven with multiple notarized documents and photographs. 

 

There is nothing particularly weird about our case and I've already circumvented the most common RFEs by providing extra documentation. 

 

I hate to say it, but I feel that the level of education and social class of both the petitioner and beneficiary can be a critical component in the approval process. 

 

Is it a single mother sponsoring a low-level merchant who speaks broken English? Or is it a childless university educated woman sponsoring a multilingual young professional with a graduate degree (studied in French)?

[JenD 180]

18 hours ago, shawarma_frites said:

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do;jsessionid=abcjbTo7vex9hcw7yCH9v

 

150 days, seriously? Does anyone know if the recent processing times have gotten better, worse, or have stayed the same?

 

Anyone who filed after June 2017, have you received your NOA2?

 

It seems to have gotten worse, actually. Sorry. :-(

[Scandi 4,180]

17 hours ago, shawarma_frites said:

You received your NOA2 but didn't get the visa? Isn't that rare? What happened?

Getting the i-129f approved is the easy part, it's at the embassy/interview stage people encounter the most issues.