I-129F February 2018 Filer

[kabney110 129]

52 minutes ago, americaninlove said:

Trying to keep positive while waiting waiting waiting. My fiancé comes in FIVE DAYS so that’s all I’m thinking about right now. To keep the mood light for those of us with no news, I’d love to know how you met your partner. What got you into this mess in the first place?? Lol. Help me pass the torturous waiting time!

Lol I was just thinking this morning, I didn't even take any makeup to Haiti and I was drenched in sweat, covered in dust...how did this happen?!

Edited August 26, 2018 by kabney110

[dkmfan85 832]

54 minutes ago, americaninlove said:

Trying to keep positive while waiting waiting waiting. My fiancé comes in FIVE DAYS so that’s all I’m thinking about right now. To keep the mood light for those of us with no news, I’d love to know how you met your partner. What got you into this mess in the first place?? Lol. Help me pass the torturous waiting time!

One of my very good friends married a lady from Russia a few years ago. I was staying with them for a few days, in the state where they live, and my friend's wife started asking me relationship questions. She told me she had a friend with a very similar personality and sense of humor to mine and hoped we would agree to talk with each other and see how things go. I thought it might be a neighbor of hers, or someone from around where they lived, but it ended up being a former coworker of hers that she still kept in touch with over the years. We chatted via text and skype for a few months before my first visit, and our relationship and love has grown more over time with subsequent visits and making each other cry from laughter in every conversation.

[americaninlove 381]

I love hearing these stories. We met when I was in Germany for business in January 2017. My fiancé manages an Irish pub there (he’s Irish) and my colleagues and I went to that pub a few nights in a row. We talked a ton those few nights and he told me he was off the next night so we friended on Facebook to messenger and ended up having a fantastic night together. We were both newly divorced and sowing our wild oats at the time lol. After I left we kept chatting on messenger and then I asked him to come visit on a whim (did not think he really would...he was a little afraid I was luring him in to chop up his body in my basement or something!) He came and then visited four more times that year plus we went to Ireland together for a fantastic vacation. We’ve done a ton of traveling together this year and he’s been able to come here five times too. We are very lucky. We literally FaceTime every single night. I think In the year and a half I’ve known him we maybe have not FaceTimed a dozen times. I never, in a million years, would have thought I would meet someone who I click with so well who lives across an ocean. What a mess! I don’t think I would wish this craziness on anyone. It’s got to be easier to fall in love with someone local, right???

[americaninlove 381]

I will say that it’s super cool how technology enables us to meet great people who are so far away. And to hear others’ stories too!

[Bure 161]

14 hours ago, Greenbaum said:

What steps does an USCIS agent take to adjudicate my case at USCIS.

 

First, I would select a case file/folder. All petitions/files are kept in folders that a have a scannable bar code identifier. This folder has everything that a person submits on the left side of the folder and all the agency generated documents on the right side. They should be in date order, Petition and then most recent from top to bottom.  The left side has the pictures on top.

 

You begin by looking at the petition for correctness by checking the information via several databases depending upon what type of petition you are adjudicating. Also if the form was complete and everything was in order.  Discrepancies in people's names from what the database had vs. what the petition said, birth dates, things like that all had to be resolved and could generate a RFE if the adjudicator couldn't figure it out with the tools he had.

 

There were some standard criminal and background type databases that were required for all petitions. A "hit" in any of these databases would flag the petition and it would be sent to a special group who worked to resolve why the "hit" occurred. Sometimes it could be something simple as a similar name of a bad guy, but every hit had to be resolved.

 

I remember that certain surnames would invariably cause a hit, but they could be resolved rather quickly by comparing the applicant's background information with those of the "hit" name. There were various ways to do this of course, and it took time. That's why some applications take longer to process because there are stumbling blocks along the way that must be worked through before approval. Consequently, all the other petitions that the officer was working get set to the side. or, the adjudicator/officer might set the difficult one to the side and work on less complicated ones. Remember it was a production environment where you had to be accurate but fast. Getting a petition kicked back for mistakes to be re-worked hurt your overall stats, so, you tried to be a thorough as you could, but also as quick as you could.

 

After clearing an applicant through the various mandatory database searches, then you could begin to review the various information on the petition. Sometimes there would be stupid mistakes like forgetting to sign it, or using a copy when an original signature was required etc... Kind of careless mistakes or from not really understanding the instructions type of thing. Anyway, these would generate an RFE, and the file's status would be update in the computer as awaiting response to RFE or something like that, I don't recall the exact terminology.

 

Anyway, instead of sending the newly RFE'd file back to the large file storage area, it would be kept at the officers desk in a holding cue. Then when an RFE reply would come in, I would pull it (the file) off the shelf and rework it. I tried to clear all my answered RFE's out first thing every morning because it was "old" work as compared to the dates I was working at the time. If the RFE had the required information, it would continue to be processed and/or approved and sent on its way. If the RFE did not address the item, then another RFE would be generated and back on the shelf it would go.

 

A word about RFE's. It was my experience that no two officers would always see eye to eye on if an RFE was required. Some officers could or would spend some more time digging around the file or a database to find the information  (if they thought it could be found) and others would just as soon rip off an RFE. So it varied. Then there were some times that an RFE was required because of the situation. Again, it depends a lot on who was looking at your case and what the question was / what information was needed. No hard and fast rule.

 

Also, each adjudicator/officer had a master list of RFE "phrases that they could pull off their computer and plug into a standard RFE form depending upon the situation. Each of these "phrases" could be further "wordsmith" to suit a particular situation. Again depends on the officer.  That's why you may see some RFE's that are similar but not exact. We would borrow each other's RFE phrases to add to our list as we came across one that fit a particular situation. 

 

It would be like "Hey, cube mate. I've got this situation, do you have anything in your RFE library that might fit?"  answer "Sure, try this one. I'll email it to you". And that's how that worked.

 

You asked about country of birth etc.. Yes and no. There were "watch lists" of certain countries that meant that certain procedures had to be followed when processing petitions from these countries, but it was just a couple more things to check/verify along the approval process. It didn't slow things down dramatically. So, I wouldn't worry about that being a big factor.

 

Additional review. Mainly if you came up as a "hit" for a surname of a bad guy (or gal) that would have to be resolved. Marriage Fraud. Overstaying your visit. Lying. Criminal activity/organized crime, police reports, things that would be outside of a "normal" person's life you might say.

 

So back to the approval process. So if no RFE was needed then i would "approve' the petition, affix my stamp with my identifier # , sign and date it. I would then scan the file, update the status and send it on its way to the next stop wherever that was. Actually, all the approved petitions/files were placed in a separate box and those were collected as you went along and taken for final disposition/processing.

 

Then you start all over again with the next case.

That means the officer working in my case is really really slow.  😑

[Bure 161]

2 hours ago, americaninlove said:

Trying to keep positive while waiting waiting waiting. My fiancé comes in FIVE DAYS so that’s all I’m thinking about right now. To keep the mood light for those of us with no news, I’d love to know how you met your partner. What got you into this mess in the first place?? Lol. Help me pass the torturous waiting time!

I met my fiancee while we were both undergraduate students in college/university then as friends. She  then migrated to the US in 2011 with her family and had to continue with her education/life in the US. We continued to chat everyday on facebook and became integral part of each others lives. By Dec 2014, we started dating. We have me four times since then (UK 2016,  Dubai 2017 and Nigeria twice 2017/2018 and got engaged ) with loads of pictures and fun!. Viber has really helped me to keep in touch with her daily (every hour I mean😁) as I have been denied b1/b2 thrice. Can't wait to get over this K1 process and start a family with the love of my life.  LDR is like the hardest thing ever. 

[FromBtoZ 125]

2 hours ago, americaninlove said:

Trying to keep positive while waiting waiting waiting. My fiancé comes in FIVE DAYS so that’s all I’m thinking about right now. To keep the mood light for those of us with no news, I’d love to know how you met your partner. What got you into this mess in the first place?? Lol. Help me pass the torturous waiting time!

I met him on a work trip to San Diego in Aug 2016. There were plenty of them work trips we could have met on, but this is the one our lives chose to introduce us on. Less than two months later and 4000000 FaceTimes snapchats and whatsapps later we decided to give long distance a go. What’s your story if you haven’t told it yet? X

[FromBtoZ 125]

25 minutes ago, FromBtoZ said:

I met him on a work trip to San Diego in Aug 2016. There were plenty of them work trips we could have met on, but this is the one our lives chose to introduce us on. Less than two months later and 4000000 FaceTimes snapchats and whatsapps later we decided to give long distance a go. What’s your story if you haven’t told it yet? X

Just realised I didn’t elaborate as much as others!  We have been lucky enough to visit each other (mainly me going to him in USA) around 13 times. We also have to opportunity to travel with work together, so have made lots of memories in places like Barcelona, Las Vegas, Orlando, London and Amsterdam. I am Looking forward to staying put  though when I get There! I’m going for our birthdays next Friday for two weeks, hoping for visa news before I go Or when I am there! Can’t wait for the website to work again tomorrow and wishing everyone speedy approvals this week x

[FromBtoZ 125]

1 hour ago, americaninlove said:

I will say that it’s super cool how technology enables us to meet great people who are so far away. And to hear others’ stories too!

FaceTime is everything - no one else knows the immediate frustration when you start getting the “reconnecting / poor connection” screen though haha

[Daniela M_______ 410]

3 hours ago, kabney110 said:

I didn't even take any makeup to Haiti and I was drenched in sweat, covered in dust...how did this happen?!

I met my fiance 1 month after I moved to Mexico, I was new in the country and I was going through a major crisis due to adaptation (I came here alone due to my country's humanitarian situation)... I had bad acne, gained like 10 kgs in that one month, my hair was falling in the worst way... I tried my best to look decent but I was feeling out of my comfort zone and too insecure about me... but he thought I was beautiful and now I'm not sure if he was a little blind at the moment lol

[Juliette2784 130]

1 hour ago, Daniela M_______ said:

I met my fiance 1 month after I moved to Mexico, I was new in the country and I was going through a major crisis due to adaptation (I came here alone due to my country's humanitarian situation)... I had bad acne, gained like 10 kgs in that one month, my hair was falling in the worst way... I tried my best to look decent but I was feeling out of my comfort zone and too insecure about me... but he thought I was beautiful and now I'm not sure if he was a little blind at the moment lol

It makes the world of difference when you are at a bad time and somebody loves you out of it. My fiancé was a friend and everything for me after going through a divorce and having a new Born recovering from a stroke and blood clot in my brain I am better now because of him he has been there non stop and I have exceeded expectations of recovery and I owe that to God for sending me an angel 😇 I can’t wait to spend my life with him that experience helped me to see find True love and mt true best friend. I traveled overseas for the first time in my life and have felt like a princess even on my worst day

[Snuffles 394]

2 hours ago, FromBtoZ said:

FaceTime is everything - no one else knows the immediate frustration when you start getting the “reconnecting / poor connection” screen though haha

Haha!!! Yes. And when it’s ‘reconnecting’ you just hope it’s not going to drop out 😆

[Toastbear 149]

It is so interesting to read your stories about how you guys met, so i decided to post our story too <3.

 

Me and my Fiance were both invited to an Early Access day for contentcreators for a video game called Friday 13th. The video game is based on the horror movie Friday the 13th and is about Jason hunting the people at his camp crystal lake. When i joined the lobby I heard the voice of my future husband the first time and was thinking to myself already: oh wow this man has such an awesome voice. Sadly he died that Game really fast and left the game. Just a few minutes later we randomly were back in the same lobby and we started talking a little bit. Since it was an early access day for content creators i was  hoping to find his youtube channel or twitch stream and typed his name on twitch and found his livestream. I followed him and we started talking after he ended the livestream. It all started as a friendship but we felt a lot for each other and I fell in love without knowing how he looks. Then after a few weeks we started video chatting and he bought me a flight from germany to america 1 month after we met. So i flew 3 months later to him and it felt like we had known each other for several years. I stayed 20 days at his apartment and these were the best days ive ever had. Shortly after that we started talking about how we could be with each other and decided america would be easier for us than germany since i am still in university and he has already a build up credit and etc. In january this year he came to germany and proposed to me. Fast forward until now: Our whole community knows about us, we record youtube videos together and have all these young viewers standing behind us, being happy for us and asking when we can finally be with each other. It feels like we are role models for our fans and it feels nice to show these young little humans that love doesnt care about distance!  Youtube is now our both job and i mainly help him with editing his videos and also managing everything (talking to companies etc.). I have a channel too but i am not gonna start uploading again until i moved completly to the states because i wanted to make a vlog channel for our community. They are really interested in us doing videos about our lives. 😂 

[madameMaison 204]

7 hours ago, americaninlove said:

Trying to keep positive while waiting waiting waiting. My fiancé comes in FIVE DAYS so that’s all I’m thinking about right now. To keep the mood light for those of us with no news, I’d love to know how you met your partner. What got you into this mess in the first place?? Lol. Help me pass the torturous waiting time!

I was having a bad day, in 2013,and tweeted it out. He was always my follower but never really knew him. Then out of nowhere got his message in the DM and he asked me if I was okay and to talk about it with him.. I was truly smitten , that he could care so deeply about me without even knowing me. We fell in love almost instantly the more we continued speaking, and when I told him I'm actually South African thinking he missed that in my bio, he didn't flinch. He said I'm his and distance doesn't matter, he made the first trip to meet me in my country. And the stars collided. I adore my fiancé, he's my heartbeat, lover and soul. Can't imagine a life without him and honestly, I'd go through this a million times over if I had to(but preferably not). I wouldn't want to be with anyone else.

[Greenbaum 12,259]

5 hours ago, Bure said:

That means the officer working in my case is really really slow.  😑

Maybe you have some deep dark secrets and they haven't decided if you should be approved.  If that's the case I hope they take longer.